Christmas Card 2008

Well, as I've done in the past few years I decided to send out a Valentine's Day card instead of Christmas card. It just takes the stress off of sending them out at Christmas time, but still helps me keep in touch with people. However, I started feeling a bit guilty this week - wishing I had sent one out. So instead I'm going to send one to you via our blog and email. Hope you'll feel of our love and appreciation, and know of our well wishes to you and your family this year.

And as any good Christmas card will have - here's a little synopsis of our family in 2008:

• Cory has been busy as usual with our family business - The Blind Guy. In August Cory moved into his own commercial space which includes a location for shutter manufacturing (which he took on this year), a showroom and offices. The timing of this was tough with the economy taking the downturn that it has, but we have also been grateful for the business we've gained by adding shutter manufacturing to the list of our products available. Cory and Joanna also celebrated their 10 year anniversary this year! Quite an accomplishment and they look forward to many more years to come. The celebrated by taking several trips (which also coincided with work trips) to Hawaii and Jamaica.


• Joanna has kept herself busy by staying home with our 2 little boys. She has also done more and more with digital scrapbooking and does that almost exclusively now (if she could only print some of the pages she's been doing...) She enjoys keeping up the family blog, watching Gabe and Hunter learn and grow and trying to stay organized with life. Joanna was released from working in the Young Women's program in church after serving for over 4 years. Although she misses the girls she enjoys her new calling teaching in the Primary.


• Gabe has had a big year this year. In September he started preschool and a tumbling class. He loves going to school and has been learning a lot. He also loves playing with his buddy Noah and rough-housing with his baby brother Hunter. He has recently developed quite the imagination and has started to enjoy singing (which has made Mom very happy). Gabe is a strong willed little guy but can have the sweetest, loving side as well.


• Hunter is growing up way too fast! This year has been a big one for him - crawling, walking, learning to get into everything....Hunter has recently discovered stickers and enjoys sticking them on everything. He also loves wrestling with his big brother Gabe, reading stories, singing songs and making the world's biggest messes with food.

We look forward to 2009 with some apprehension, but also hope. We know that these are hard times, and will likely continue to be such. But by placing our trust in our Heavenly Father and working together as a family - we can accomplish anything. We hope and pray that your family will have a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

Love, Cory, Joanna, Gabe & Hunter