Merry Christmas 2017 From The Barretts!

Happy Holidays everyone! 2017 seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye for Nathan and I; the years are truly moving faster and faster for us. I wonder if any of the rest of you feel the same? We hope this Christmas season finds you all happy and healthy and surrounded by loved ones.

We have had our share of ups and downs this year. Starting on New Year’s Day 2017, when our dishwasher broke, it has been one home repair after another for us. This year we had to replace several appliances (and repair several more); paint our home exterior; paint our stairwell; and repair our balcony, which rotted away during our wet summer monsoon! Both our cars were in the shop several times as well. Maybe we can call 2017 The Year When Everything Broke.

But for all these challenges, we have also seen many great blessings. In late December of last year, we gladly welcomed the newest member of our family: Coco Barrett, a beautiful and sweet mutt that we adopted from the local animal shelter. She is very energetic and loves to run as fast as she can; but she also loves being around people (especially kids!), and cuddling up on the couch. She is very personable and sweet to be around. She adores our girls and loves Mom & Dad, especially when they take her on lots of walks 😊 We can no longer imagine life without her!

Even though life in Tucson kept us busy, we found a little time in the summer to travel to Colorado and Utah. In the process we got to visit with most of our extended family on both sides. Even though in some cases we couldn’t manage more than a short visit, it was still wonderful to see everyone! We spent several days in Vernal, UT for the Nash family reunion and had lots of fun. We went speed-boating at Flaming Gorge Dam, visited Dinosaur National Monument, took in a rodeo, went swimming, celebrated the Fourth of July, and goofed off in Grandpa Nash’s old home with aunts, uncles, grandparents, & cousins. We had a great time.

In other great news, the Tucson Arizona Temple of the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was completed and dedicated in 2017. The LDS church members in the Tucson area have been praying for a temple for many years now, and to have one here is a huge blessing that we are all grateful for. In June, there was a public open house held for the temple; just before the official dedication on August 13th, there was a large cultural celebration which featured thousands of LDS youth from the region.

Nathan and I were both able to help out at the open house, and Nathan and Lorelai both participated in the cultural celebration (Lorelai turned 12 on the day of the celebration, so she was eligible to participate). It was a lot of work, but the spiritual rewards have been worth it!

Here’s a quick recap of each family member, and some of their highlights from 2017:

Nathan has been teaching seminary now for three years.  He still loves spending his morning with energetic and amazing young people.  This year he has a teaching partner, so he only teaches on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday.  Over the summer, he was asked to be a Captain of Ten for the Tucson Temple Cultural Celebration.  He had 10 youth that he cared for during the practices and rehearsals, watching for signs of dehydration (this was in the middle of August in Tucson!) and keeping track of costume changes.  The weekend of the celebration was one of the highlights of his year.  His busy schedule has caused him to switch his book consumption from dead-tree format to audio-book.  The audio-books often provide incentives to go on long walks at night, which has helped him to keep off all the weight he lost three years ago.

Adrianne’s biggest news from 2017 is that she re-entered the workforce! In January, she was hired by Great Expectations Academy as a music teacher for the elementary school students. She team-teaches with her friend Shannon and works part-time at the school each week, in addition to still teaching several private piano students (as well as her own daughters) from home. As you can imagine, this has left her with less free time. However, she still considers motherhood her “full-time job,” and works hard each week to keep her girls fed, clothed, and on top of their homework and housework. Things get crazy sometimes, but she is learning how to prioritize and balance her schedule more carefully. In her free time, she still loves to read, listen to music, jog, visit with friends, and watch TV.

Lorelai (our high-achieving, responsible, nerdy-yet-still-cool oldest child) turned 12 in August and has transformed from a kid into a teenager seemingly overnight. Even though she is probably embarrassed by Mom & Dad sometimes, she does a good job of hiding it in public. Besides participating in the temple’s youth cultural celebration, Lorelai also attended our LDS stake girl’s camp for the first time and loved it! She also kept busy performing in piano recitals, voice recitals, jazz band concerts (she plays bass trombone), and on stage.

She played Arista (one of the “mer-sisters”) in our school’s production of The Little Mermaid in the spring, and she was cast as the Mad Hatter for next year’s production of Shrek the Musical. This fall, she also ran for student body treasurer at school and won (as if she wasn’t busy enough!). In her (rare) spare time, she loves to write fan-fiction & short stories, read, & hang out with friends.

Celeste (our good-natured, outgoing, song-in-her-heart middle daughter) has tried a little of everything this year. She was a cheerleader in the winter, and is now a gymnast in the fall. She also tried out a sewing camp in the summer and loved it! She’s also been busy performing…she played a “jellyfish” and a “flamingo” in The Little Mermaid, and is playing one of the Duloc townspeople in Shrek the Musical next year (she will even have a spoken line or two; she’s pretty excited about that!).

This fall, she started beginning jazz band at the school, and has been learning how to play saxophone. She gets better every day and she loves it. Celeste also took voice lessons in the summer and fall, and serenaded us all with “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” last week at her voice recital. She just turned 10 this week, and is excited to have a new bike and (finally!) pierced ears. She is our most outgoing, thoughtful kid, and she has new friends every time we turn around. She lights the mood in our home every day!

Aurora (our intense, hard-working, sassy youngest daughter) has had a year filled with accomplishment and adventure. She took a hula dancing class in the winter and performed in several locations around town, and even went to a festival in Mesa! She also attended sewing camp in the summer and really enjoyed it. After bugging mom for several months, she was able to start piano lessons in the summer and is catching on really quickly.

But her great passion is soccer, and she had a terrific season with her under-8 team this fall. After a great season, Aurora helped lead her team to the league championship in her age group! She is very competitive, but also very generous and loves her family and friends dearly. She is always eager to “grow up” with her sisters; she can’t wait to turn 8 in January and get baptized. We love her “can-do” spirit and her joie de vivre.

We love you all and wish you the best in 2018!!