As other people we know have sent us their Christmas letters
this year, I’ve noticed a trend towards sending a shorter “Top 10” or “Top 12”
list of the highlights for that family in that year. It works as an abbreviated version of the
Christmas letter that gives you a quick rundown on what’s happened to the
family during the year but without forcing you to read through a lengthy
letter. I’m intrigued by the structure
of this, and as such I’ve decided to craft my letter this year in that kind of format,
however you may be disappointed to know that I’m not going to hold myself to
any of the brevity that the other lists I’ve seen contain. I’m unabashedly going to wax eloquent on each
of the Top 10 list, so buckle up and get ready for the . . .
JONES FAMILY TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012
(It’s worth mentioning from the outset that it’s really
weird to pin down a relative ordering of these things, so know now that the
ranking is somewhat fuzzy and does not necessarily represent relative value of
these things. Though I have tried to
order it roughly on cumulative impact of each happening on the whole family.)
10. Keith ran in two 5k’s
That’s right, you heard me.
Two of them. That’s a total of 10 kilometers that I ran
this year. Well, at least during
races. Lisa was able to find a
zombie-themed 5k this year in St. Louis (which was one of the craziest
experiences I’ve ever had since this race had obstacles, mud, and people
dressed as zombies out on the course trying to steal flag-football-esque flags
from you as you ran. I ended up covered
in mud and had no flags left by the end), and in a burst of energy I went to a
Veterans Day 5k in Hannibal.
9. Alex can write his
name
His penmanship is not amazing (though maybe for a 3 ½ year
old it is), and he doesn’t necessarily write all the letters in the correct
order (he has more of an avant-garde attitude about his signature), but he
knows the correct order and once, when asked, wrote all the letters in the
correct order. And that counts! I’m actually really excited about this,
because it means he’s inching closer to being able to read (this has to be some
sort of precursor, right?) and I think he’s really going to enjoy reading.
8. We bought a
minivan
A slightly-used Toyota Sienna, to be exact. That’s the Swagger Wagon, for those of you
who remember the commercials from a couple years ago. We decided we’d get ahead of the curve (see
highlight #4) and get a minivan before we were absolutely crammed into our old
Honda Accord (which we were kind of getting to as the kids got bigger). I like to think we’ve happily taken to being
one of “those people” who own minivans.
They’re honestly pretty awesome—we’ve managed to haul some pretty
amazing things we never could have in our Accord (a kitchen table and six chairs,
all manner of luggage, rolled up carpet inside
the vehicle without opening any windows).
It’s also made it a lot more enjoyable to go on road trips, which we’ve
done a few of this year (the built-in DVD player does help with the kids,
though now we have to have the frequent conversation with the kids of “No,
we’re not putting in the movie—we’re only going to be in the car for 3 minutes
as we drive home from church!”). I’ve
heard that there are license plate covers that you can get out there that say “Swagger
Wagon” but I still haven’t found them.
I’m keeping an eye out, though.
7. Keith graduated
(for the 2nd time)
April was the culmination of about two years of coursework
and effort as I was awarded a Masters of Business Administration from the
Marriott School of Management at BYU. My
MBA had an emphasis in Organizational Behavior/Human Resources and a got a
Minor in Information Systems. It was a
fascinating two years and I learned a ton of things that I’m proud to say I
actually use at work and at home (highlights include teaching some coworkers
about decision-making and carrying on a negotiation with a door-to-door
salesman). Along the way, I met a ton
of impressive people amongst both my professors and my classmates!
6. Savanna grew from
crawler to runner
Considering our youngest started out the year 8 months old
and ended the year 20 months old, this isn’t really a shocking highlight, but
it has definitely been exciting to watch her as she’s grown and progressed
along the way. She babbles all the time
now and actually uses a somewhat extensive vocabulary of understandable words
(given her age). The newest phrase I
heard this evening (see, you wouldn’t have gotten this if I’d written this at
Christmas) was “Mommy time out”, which she said as Lisa left the room to go put
our son Alex in time out. It feels like
we hear a new word out of her every day, almost, and it’s nice to be able to
communicate a little more with her than before.
5. Our children can
play together
Somewhat, at any rate.
With Savanna at 20 months old and Alex at 3 ½ years old we’re actually
getting to a place where they can play with each other without too much adult
spurring and still have fun together for an extended period of time. Their most favorite game seems to be any one
of a number of variants of chasing each other back and forth around the house
(I suspect this is a favorite because it doesn’t really involve sharing toys,
which is still a sore point with them).
On the occasions when it does happen, it’s really helpful (especially to
Lisa) to know that they can entertain each other for a little bit. We are still working on their interpersonal
skills, though. J
4. Lisa’s pregnant with our third baby
We are right about halfway through the pregnancy (Lisa’s due
towards the end of May 2013), and we should know the gender in about 3
weeks. If it’s a boy we’re going to name
it Cadwallader Humphrey Bogart Jones, and if it’s a girl we’ll name it
Tinkerbell. (Just Tinkerbell—no last name
or anything like that—we’re trying to stay true to the character.) Actually, we aren’t really even going to
start coming up with names until we know the gender. But we’re excited to have a third child join
the family and to see what adjustments come with that! (One of those adjustments will NOT be getting
used to a minivan, I can tell you that for sure!)
3. We’re part of an
LDS branch, rather than a ward
With our recent move (more on that later), we are now part
of one of the Church’s branches, which is the first time either Lisa or I have
been in a branch since we were on our respective missions. As branches go it’s actually a rather large
branch, with sacrament meeting attendance between 85-100 people each week. It’s meant that there are plenty of places to
pitch in and help, especially calling-wise.
I’ve been called as the 2nd counselor in the Branch
Presidency, but was also simultaneously 2nd counselor in the Young
Men’s Presidency until I was just recently released from the Young Men’s
calling. Lisa is Primary President, but
also occasionally moonlights as Activity Days Leader and Nursery Leader. There’s plenty to do in the Branch, but it
also feels like a more tight-knit group as a result. Savanna just started in Nursery in October,
and Alex is about to become a Sunbeam at the start of 2013. One of the pluses of being in a branch is that we’ve been able to
interact with the missionaries a lot more than in previous wards (especially
Utah wards) and we’ve enjoyed having them over for dinner…a lot.
2. We live in a house
We’re only renting, so we’re not homeowners yet, but we’re
still enjoying the first time that we’ve lived in a house since we’ve been
married. We were getting very cramped
with the four of us in our 2-bedroom apartment in Utah, and it’s been wonderful
to have the space of a house for the kids to run around in. We love that we still haven’t maxed out
storage space in here, and the kids are really enjoying the unfinished basement
as a tricycle-riding play area. The
house has a rather nice yard as well that the kids have loved playing in and
that I rather enjoyed decorating up for Halloween this year and that Lisa has
had to mow more times than I would care to admit to. I think what I really enjoy the most is
seeing the kids actually have space to run around in, and that we have room to
have more than 2 or 3 people over
without it being ridiculously cramped.
1.
Keith started working for General Mills and we
moved to Hannibal, Missouri
The big change in our lives has definitely been the move to
Hannibal and the new job for me. I’ve
been working as an Associate HR Manager in the HR department of General Mills’
Hannibal plant for 7 months so far, and have really enjoyed it for a number of
reasons. The plant I work at employs
about 900 employees and makes around 10 very different kinds of products, which
has meant that there’s always something going on and that there’s been a ton
for me to learn. I’m finding
opportunities to work on projects that play to my strengths and that are
interesting for me, and I have a very supportive group of coworkers. And I really like working for a company that
manages such well-known brands as Cheerios, Chex, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and
Larabar.
Hannibal has been a fun city for us to live in so far. There’s only 19,000 people in Hannibal, so
it’s definitely a smaller city than what I’m used to, but we haven’t found that
we’ve missed all that much being out here.
Lisa has made some great friends from the Branch out here, and they get
together often (and are frankly doing a much better job of staying in shape than
I’m doing with my two 5ks). Hannibal is
Mark Twain’s hometown, and as such has a lot of local areas and people which
served as inspiration for things in Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. But we’ve also enjoyed the few opportunities
we’ve had to serve as a waypoint for friends and family from out of state who
have been typically on their way to Nauvoo or other areas in the vicinity.
So that’s the list. It’s definitely been an eventful year! We’re continually grateful to have all of you
in our lives and for the chances we’ve had to interact with you during the
year. The Lord has truly blessed us
throughout this year in a number of ways, and as 2012 comes to a close we’re
keenly aware of all that he does for us.
I hope 2013 ends up being a wonderful year for all of you, and if you’re
ever in the Iowa-Missouri-Illinois area let us know—we’d love to have you over
or at least see you, if it works out!
Happy New Year and may God bless you during this coming year!
Love,
The Jones Family (Keith, Lisa, Alex, Savanna, and little
baby Buford/Hilda/Carlisle)
Chasing is our kids main mode of playing together too, though recently, they've added "huggies" which is pretty much tackling and just kind of worrisome from my perspective.
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