Neal Family Christmas Letter 2013

Merry Christmas 2013 from the Neals

Jared continues to serve on the High Council at church and thoroughly enjoys visiting other wards for speaking assignments each month.  His new “passion” this year is being healthy and he amazes us with his incredible discipline at living a healthy lifestyle.  He hasn’t eaten any candy in over 3 years and this year he eliminated desserts from his diet!  He had fun coaching Daniel’s football team with the help of a lot of other great dads.  He also led us on an adventurous vacation this summer to Seattle for his brother Josh’s graduation this year in our 12 passenger van.

Heidi has a new appreciation for schoolteachers after she decided to try a new adventure in homeschooling this year so she could have more one on one time with the kids and accelerate their learning.  After 4 months of juggling homeschool with Daniel, piano teaching, family history, Relief Society calling and housework with 2 little ones on the loose, she decided to wait and revisit homeschooling in a few years.   She started a family history blog (nealfamilyhistory.blogspot.com) in addition to her family (nealfamilyforever.blogspot.com) and piano (heidispianonotes.blogspot.com) blogs.

Rebecca’s best friend Ashlee moved away this summer and she also had to switch to a new middle school.  She surprised us all by trying out for the basketball team, and although her team didn’t fare so well, she had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends.  She is on the yearbook staff at school and in choir, but the hobby that she enjoys the most is blogging.  She posts delicious creations on her own blog “Heaven in a Dish” and includes funny anecdotes from her life that make us smile.

Jacob was thrilled to get to play tackle football in pads this year. He especially enjoyed watching the BYU football games with plenty of snacks in the comfort of our own home with his friend Conner.   He received the Arrow of Light award in Scouts.  Probably his favorite scouting achievement was learning how to cook a delicious steak dinner on the grill with his scoutmaster.  

Daniel fills his life with football any chance he can get.  He won 2^nd place in the ISU Pass Punt and Kick Contest for his age division.  He has worked really hard at home school, but is pretty excited to return back to public school in January so he can play football at recess with his friends 3 times a day.

Emily started gymnastics this year and was quickly able to do the splits.  Her school teacher reports that she is the perfect student at school, so polite and studious. We can always hear when she’s home because she loves to whistle tunes around the house or do acrobatic feats across the family room floor.

Alyssa has become quite a socialite now and is always begging to play with her friends Bailey, Claire and Addie.  Her bedroom floor is usually covered in clothes as she likes to change her wardrobe several times a day.  She fractured her tibia this summer while jumping on the trampoline, but was amazingly patient and adaptive as she scooted all over the house for 2 months of the summer while it healed.

Joshua doesn’t say much other than Dad, Mom, CaCa (Becca) and Baaa (bath) but his energy and curiosity make up for it.  I think he’s decided to enter the “terrible twos” early as he is pretty independent about feeding himself without a bib, climbing or dragging a stool around to get whatever he thinks he needs.  We’re hoping he’ll be mechanically inclined as he already seems adept at taking things apart, plugging and unplugging appliances, pushing buttons, and removing the battery cover on the bathroom scale.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend” (Melody Beattie). We have so much to be grateful for and are especially thankful for good friends and family. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the greatest gift of our Savior.

Love,

The Neal Family

Jared, Heidi, Rebecca, Jacob, Daniel, Emily and Joshua