Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas!!!




The Platt Letter
UPDATE ON THE PAST YEAR
Christmas 2008

Family Forecast
↑ Family Size -25% growth in ‘08
← Location -Over 400 miles away from where we were
↑ Vehicles -Up one motorcycle
☺ Adult:Kid Ratio -Kids up by 1!
↑ Male:Female Ratio -Female #’s take a dive
↑ Scars on Gabe’s face -200% growth in ‘08

Our newest addition arrived on January 19th, and we can’t imagine life without Jacob Ephraim. You might think that he’d be crawling by now, but no – he’s a scooter. He’s perfectly content to shimmy his way around to get his hands on any desired object. With two big brothers, he can really make some noise if something he wants is taken away, but most of the time, he’s full of smiles and giggles that delight the whole family.

Since moving, Gabe’s gained two new scars and a chipped tooth. Both revolve around rowdy playing with Jonathan and one resulted in 7 stitches, a trip to the ER, and a full paycheck’s bill! But it doesn’t stop him! He keeps chasing Jonathan. Gabe is the funnest little snuggler, content to fall asleep with your arms around him, holding at least one hand. He loves watching “shows” of any kind, eating “treats”, and pretending to be Scooby with his older brother Shaggy, to whom he calls out, “Shaggy!!!!!! …Are you????”.

And Shaggy, that is Jonathan, has just completed half a year of preschool, where he informed me that he’s reminded to turn his voice box off. He loves going to school, unless Daddy’s home and he fears he’ll miss out on some fun “tool-containing” project. He is convinced that Daddy should quit his job and just work with his tools and his favorite helpers. Jonathan really enjoys scripture study and primary. He begs for the chance to do more chores and help mom around the house (that is, if Dad’s gone, and nothing “fun” is going on!). He’s always saying things that surprise his mom to tears.

In May, we sold our house in Wyoming, and bought a new home in Idaho around the middle of July. In the interim, we lived with Cynthia’s parents. With the money from the sale of our old home, we were able to make some cost-efficient changes like new windows and roof insulation, and a much needed shed for Garrett, who was used to having a whole garage to himself. We were also able to pay off most of our debt and we feel incredibly blessed.

Garrett works just down the street at the local hospital on the med-surg floor. Things are a lot busier here, but he, as always, remains dedicated to supporting our growing family. When he returns home from a long day at work, the boys scream in delight and Cynthia’s internal delight is almost as loud. His days off are filled with projects, family, and fun! Garrett bought a motorcycle this fall and is looking forward to the upcoming summer of bike rides and fishing! He blesses our family with his thought-filled and careful decision-making skills.

Cynthia keeps herself busy as a Sunbeam teacher, part-time employee in pscho-social rehabilitation, and full-time mother. As she watches the kids grow and learn and change, there are mixed emotions. It’s such a joy to see them learn new things; yet, it’s with the realization that these days won’t go on forever, but are literally once in a lifetime. Being a mother is so rewarding and fulfilling!

At this Christmas season, we express our gratitude for the Savior, His example, and the Atonement. These gifts are what makes life so meaningful. On top of this grand blessing, we are so grateful for family and friends. Our lives are so rich and full and we owe all this to a loving Heavenly Father.

Merry Christmas! May your holidays be wonderful.

Yours Very Truly,
Garrett, Cynthia, Jonathan, Gabe, & Jacob
The Platt Family

P.S. This letter is formatted after the Kiplinger Letter. When Garrett’s brother Joseph left on his mission, he explained that he didn’t want huge long letters, but just the highlights. So, this letter is dedicated to Elder Joseph in the Knoxville Tennessee mission! We are so proud of him, as well as Cynthia’s youngest sister, Stephanie, in the Adelaide Australia mission! They are such good examples for our boys!

Happy 6-Month B-Day Bradyn!

The middle of this year – It was June twenty-third.
Some quite exciting news, from our Brandon was heard.
He and Mandi had just had their third baby boy.
Since they were first married, their lives had tripled in joy.

First Corbin, then Hadley – Now Bradyn was here,
And all of our family let out three loud cheers!
But in the excitement (Our move didn’t help)
Bradyn didn’t get a poem – and truly bad I’ve felt.

But today is 6 months since he was first born
And it sure is reason to toot another horn!
So your Happy Birthday poem has finally arrived
And we happ’ly add you to our fam’ly list with pride!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

1 Silly Boys and 4 Happy Jacob's

Jonathan and Gabe are laying inside our closet....Interesting!
Jacob's had ear infections and has been teething. While I was getting things done, these two darling men fell asleep together.

Jacob at Grandma's house!

Jacob in the tub (look at the smile and then imagine taking him out of the tub ;{

He knows what toys his brothers love - Gabe was sleeping and Jonathan was at school, so he knew he had a monopoly on the toys. YEEHAW!

Playing in the Snow with Dad!

Garrett's showing me that Gabe's been eating snow with his shovel. Yum! Yum!
Here's the boys on the 4-wheeler with Garrett! What good-looking guys!

Here's the boys getting all dressed up to go outside! Since then, Gabe's been living in his boots. We have to insist that he put them away to go to bed!

Pre-Christmas Highlights!

We took a weekend to go and see my grandparents - The kids loved it as you can see! It was wonderful. Jonathan got to hear Grandpa explain about each of his tools. They loved the new toys - toys I played with as a child. And, Jacob had lots of new things to check out!
This is also at Grandma and Grandpa's - my family will recognize the afgan in the background.
I believe that Gabe is trying to tickle Jacob...

Before going up to my grandparents' house, we hung out at my parents house and played with cousins. This picture shows Sarah, Gabe and Katie.


From the other direction, Katie, Brooke, Jonathan, Rachel and the backs of Sarah and Gabe.



And this is my stockings! Aren't they cute. My friend Marci (a kindred spirit) let me have a copy of the pattern and helped me with the tags. My mom helped me pick out some material, but I sewed it all. I'm quite pleased. The boys picked out their material (from a pre-chosen bunch of fabrics). I have material for another in case we end up needing to hang another sock someday... (this is not an announcement!).

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Christmas Tag!

50 Question on Christmas

1. Does your family send out Christmas cards? Yes, but we sure aren't going to get to it this year!

2. How soon do you start shopping? Oh, maybe on December 1st

3. Who do you shop for? Mostly the kids, but parents, and one of Garrett's siblings (whoever's name we have for the year - this year it's Uncle Joseph)

4. Do you put up a Christmas tree? Yes, meaning I put the decorations on with the kids after Garrett gets the tree up with the beautiful lights

5. If so, is it fake or real? It's definitely not pretend, but it's not from a forest, just a store.

6. Do you like tinsel? It looks nice on other people's trees, but I don't want to mess with it.

7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments? Both, some of the bulbs are store bought that we got when we were first married, but the rest are just a hodge-podge of random ones that we've been given.

8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house? I don't think we have since we were first married, but we did this year and thanks to us living on a corner, we got lots of compliments (way to go, Garrett!!!).

9. Do you put lights on the tree? Once again, yes, meaning my husband did (and they look fantastic!)

10. How about popcorn and cranberries? Well....we eat popcorn and I've been making myself fresh cranberry juice (pretty tart!, but very good for me!)

11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door? No, it wouldn't fit, so Garrett's got it hanging on the wall.

12. Do you celebrate it? Do I celebrate the wreath??? I don't understand the question....

13. Do you hang up your stocking? Yes, yes, yes - I made my own Christmas stockings this year and they look terrific! In the past, we've had storebought ones, but then, on Christmas morning, we filled up some other more stuffable stockings!

14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?" We read a book of Christmas stories the month of December and I believe that "Twas the night before Christmas" may be one of them, but I'm not sure.

15. Favorite Christmas Movie? I have always loved Miracle of 34th Street

16. Favorite Character from any Christmas Movie? I love my brother's rendition of Jimmy Stewart freaking out after he gets his life back....truly classic!

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Any one of them, if I'm singing with family around the piano.

18. Favorite Christmas Memory? Surprising my parents w/my scholarship to USU by wrapping it and tossing it under thetree.

19. Give or Receive? Honestly, I love both.

20. Eggnog or Cider? I detest store-bought eggnog and salmonilla poisening ruins my family recipe for homemade eggnog; I'd have to agree with Necha, Wassail is the way to go!

21. Red or Green? Green is my favorite color, but I love the red and green together for Christmas.

Ham or Turkey? I love those spiral hams for Christmas.

Star or Angel? Star, but I do believe in angels (but I want the star at the top of my tree!)

White Lights or Colored Lights? We have colored lights, but I just love any lights.

25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights? We have still lights - I prefer them!

26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year? Probably some of both, but I will make new year's resolutions to be nicer next year (as always).

27. What do you want for Christmas this year? I'm getting the one thing I wanted, which is a guitar; however, my true excitement lies in seeing my boys' faces as they open their gifts!

28. When do you open your gifts? Usually one on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas day, but this year, Garrett's got to work Christmas, so we'll be opening most of the presents on the 26th, but the kids won't care as they don't know the difference.

29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? I don't know - probably the lap top my husband got me this year for Mother's Day. It's been the most used gift - I use it all the time, for cooking, cleaning (the music), budgeting, keeping in touch, well, just everything!

30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten? The thing that comes to mind is the worst gift my sister got - which was a pair of cowboy boots with fringes and frills and Christmas lights that you plug in. It was a gag gift to make fun of the year mom got her these boots for Christmas that were cute, but not her style and she didn't know what to say, but wasn't going to wear them. Really funny!

31. Who gives you the most gifts? Garrett - He is the king of gift giving. He can think of gifts I would love, that I would never even think to ask for!

32. Have you ever had a secret Santa? I think so.

33. Do you like wrapping gifts? Yah - it's fun. I prefer wrapping with someone else, but it's fun either way.

34. Do you put change in those red buckets? Yes, I feel guilty if I don't. This year I let Jonathan do it, so maybe I've started a new life of guilt....

35. Do you burn a yule log? I don't really know what that is....

36. Can you name all the reindeer? Yes, but I have to sing the song.

37. Do you bake cookies? Yes, I'm actually typing with the smell of our latest batches of sugar cookies and chocolate mint browies.

38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause? No, probably because my dad isn't the Santa Clause type, and my mom doesn't kiss anyone else.

39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe? Not that I can think of.

40. Do you go caroling? I like to sing carols, but I prefer to sing them in warm houses and skip the walking around in the cold, but I have been caroling as a child with my family and for some YW/YM activities.

41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights? We have before, but we haven't this year.

42. Have you ever left Santa cookies? I don't remember ever doing it.

43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap? Yes, I think so.

44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with? The handsomest man in the world (Garrett) and the three cutest boys to ever live (Jacob, Gabe, and Jonathan).

45. Where do you celebrate Christmas? At my home, wherever that happens to be...

46. Have you ever had a white Christmas? Of course...

47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to? All the fun things that lead up to Christmas and the anticipation of Christmas morning.

48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa? I believe so.

49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas? We've tried to, but didn't get one this year.

50. What is the meaning of Christmas? Our Stake Presidency has really encouraged us to remember the gift of the atonement during this Christmas holiday. This is the greatest gift. I am so grateful for the Savior, for his birth, his life, his example, and the gift of his atonement. I think Christmas is all about remembering and celebrating that - and hopefully those feelings will stay in our hearts all year long!

I am tagging my family (mine and Garrett's!)...

Monday, December 15, 2008

Happy Birthday Little Sarah!

Shayla was the first one of my sisters to wed.
Our dear David became her new family head.
That was seven years ago from this very day.
Of this stalwart couple, there’s much that I could say.

Instead my poem will tell of a gift that they got
After they’d been married five years on the dot!
For that’s the happy day sweet Sarah did arrive;
And from the start they found, her only gear was “Drive”.

She has this smile that makes both her blue eyes twinkle.
Bringing lots of grins – she’s also caused some wrinkles.
Her parents would n’er complain – They love her little antics.
And all who are around must say that she is quite fantastic!

Today is her birthday – Two years old is she!
And there’ll be more to share before she turns three!
Until then, let’s all sit back and enjoy this darling lass;
And sadly, like all children, she’ll grow up much too fast!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Festival of Trees

Jonathan got to sing with his Preschool class at the local Festival of Trees. It was fun to watch him perform and he was so excited.

If you can pick the three microphones out, there is a little boy who looks like he's singing right into the microphone farthest to the right. Jonathan is to the right of that little boy.
Here's Grandma with the three boys! We had a hard time keeping Jonathan still for the picture.

And this is one very excited little boy!

Catching Up on November

So, to catch up, since I am terribly behind....

This is Uncle Joseph who entered the MTC in the middle of November. I thought it would be good to have a shot where you can see how tall they are compared to their missionary uncle. Then, we'll have an after shot when he gets home to see how much they've grown!
This is handsome little Jacob with Uncle Joseph - His little smile just melts my heart!

This is Jacob - loving the rides every where we go (at least in this shot!)

And this is when the car ride is the most peaceful!

We spent Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Warnick. If you ask the boys about it, they'd say "Lots of fantastic food and great toys!" I'd have to agree!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Come What May - And Love It!


Elder Worthlin died last night. His last conference address has really impacted me. He quotes his mother as saying - Come What May - And Love It! This has become a favorite saying of mine! I'm sad to hear of his death, but happy to imagine him back with his wife. I'm sure his family here on Earth is really missing him! I'll always remember this last talk of his - and I hope I can always remember to come what may and love it!