09 January 2009

Annual Family Letter/Update (2008)







Hello, Family and Friends!

As we draw close to the end of another year, we again want to send our holiday wishes to each of you and update you on our lives this past year.




As a family, we took some enjoyable vacations this year to Colorado to visit with family and friends. We then took a scenic route home and visited Mesa Verde and Arches National Parks. A few weeks later we visited Zions National Park in Southern Utah and also visited the Tuachan Theater. We also spent a fun filled three days “playing tourist” in the Salt Lake area. We drove over 3,000 miles in just over two weeks!




Raeli (9 years old) is in the 4th grade and does very well in her school work. She is also part of the Youth 2000 student government group at her school. Aside from school she has started playing the violin this year and also continues playing the piano.

Raquel (12 years old) is in the 7th grade, has been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA and was selected as Student of the Month at the beginning of the school year. She is currently serving as the Beehive President at church and is enjoying working on her Personal Progress requirements. She attended her first Girls’ Camp and came home extremely sunburned! She enjoys playing the piano and can frequently be found shooting baskets on the basketball court we poured in our backyard this summer. She was excited when her intramural volleyball team took 2nd place!

Roxanne (14 years old) is in the 9th grade, was selected for the Student Responders Team and has maintained a 4.0 GPA. She continues to enjoy playing the piano and played very often for her Seminary class. She also is active with the Young Women’s group in the ward, is currently the MiaMaid President and even sprained her ankle playing “church ball” (volleyball).

Ruth has been serving as Relief Society President since February when our ward was split and that occupies a good portion of her time in a ward of nearly 600 members. In September, Ruth made the decision to disband the Northern Utah Children’s Choir that she spent 4 years building and enjoying. Since then, in addition to keeping our household in good running order, she has also started selling Avon products.

Kelly continues teaching seminary in Smithfield and teaching online classes with the University of Phoenix. He was also invited to contribute a chapter to a new book, Laws of Communication, that will be published in January 2009 – the book details the correlation between leadership and communication. Kelly is currently serving as the Stake Young Men’s President and played a large role in carrying out a Stake Youth Trek in June.

We hope each of you have a wonderfully joyous Christmas season and a prosperous New Year!


Kelly, Ruth, Roxanne, Raquel and Raeli Anderson