Christmas Letter, 2006

December, 2006

Dear Friends & Family,

Seasons greetings to you! The Armstrong family has had quite a year full of many experiences. Some of our experiences we will treasure and keep with us always, others we hope to forget or at least laugh about later on.

Our year started off with a Disneyland trip in February. We hadn't been since 2004 and this would be Brady's first time there. It started off really great, the weather was nice and we were having lots of fun. Then the weather turned rainy and very cold. We weren't prepared for either the rain or cold so we were at the mercy of the Disneyland shops and their highly priced merchandise. From there on we just made the best of our circumstances and we think the kids were able to remember the experience fondly.

With Audra in school this year we didn't do a lot of traveling except for weekend trips here and there. Nate and Audra were able to travel to Denver, CO for our anniversary weekend in March. It was lots of fun, especially since we had a break from the kids and could be alone. We were able to see lots of things and the highlight was an anatomy exhibit at the Denver Museum.

It was nice to have family come and visit us in the summertime. Little did we know what a blessing that would become. In mid-July Brady broke his left femur. It was a very bizarre circumstance but the outcome would be him in a body cast for 6 weeks. With his age, the body cast is the best option in order to immobilize the joints involved with the femur. Those 6 weeks were quite challenging but we know Heavenly Father looked over us and blessed us. After the cast came off it took Brady about 2 weeks to be back to normal but now you could never tell anything ever happened. It helped that Audra was in her final quarter of school and could help Brady stretch his muscles out and loosen them up so he could walk normal again. The doctor assured us we could still have a football player in the future and with the way the femur was set back in place it's probably even stronger than before.

In the beginning of October Audra graduated from massage therapy school. She was able to earn a 4.0 GPA, which shocked her. She has taken all the certification exams and is now practicing in a Chiropractic office. She loves working with people that are in need and she loves making a difference in their health and well-being. In June, Audra traveled to Denver, Co, again, to train in Infant Massage. She will be teaching it to parents of infants in the beginning of 2007. It's a very rewarding opportunity.

Nate has enjoyed working from home more often. He's able to get the same amount of work done, if not more, at home and can wear his pajamas all day if he wants. The kids love it when he's home and they can go down and say "hi" every now and then. It also helps Audra out when she has to work for a little while because he's usually able to watch the kids and work too. Nate is still traveling for business quite often but, luckily, it's only for a few days at a time. Nate worked hard to get our grass in this year and we are looking forward to finishing the landscaping next year. He loves fountains and we're hoping to install one.

Elise is in her second year of pre-school. She will turn 5 next year and start Kindergarten in the fall. She's learning how to read and loves all her many books. She's also in ballet and jazz and enjoys that. She's a typical 4-year-old, full of drama and defiance but she has her tender moments too and we treasure those. She's quite bright and it's amazing what she knows and remembers. Elise is a Sunbeam and her teachers say she does really well. She enjoys Primary quite a bit.

Brady is almost 2-years-old. He's very tall and broad for his age. We went through one costly growth spurt after another this year. He's talking fairly well and is a good listener. He's strong-willed, just like his sister, so there's a lot of conflicts between the two but every once in a while they play nicely together and we hope that'll be the norm eventually. Brady loves music and loves to dance. He even sings too and is cute about it. Brady still likes to cuddle with mom or dad sometimes but also loves to wrestle and dogpile on dad. He likes to help mommy clean and he has volunteered himself to make sure all doors are closed and lights are on. Brady loves going to Nursery and plays very well with the other kids.

For Christmas we are heading to Disneyland again. Audras parents are going as well as most of the rest of the family. We hope the weather will cooperate this time and we'll have a wonderful experience. It'll be weird not to have our regular Christmas-day traditions but we're sure it'll still be great, especially spending it with family.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope 2007 brings you wonderful blessings and experiences and may the Lord watch over you and bless you.

Love, Audra, Nate, Elise and Brady Armstrong