New Years

We went to Utah for New Years and had a great time at the cabin with Jeremy & Jen's family and Suzy & Brannon.

Ethan & Elise


Treyton


Carsten


Brian, Carsten, & the jackalope


Chanda, Carsten, & Elise being chauffeured by Jeremy

Carsten's 1st Christmas

2009

We finally got our Christmas cards mailed off today (with two days to spare)! :)

Brian
His chiropractic practice is doing well. He enjoys helping people be healthy and can recommend a vitamin or supplement for nearly any ailment. :)
Brian has also done a lot of work around the house. In addition to all the maintenance and minor upgrades he does endlessly, he just finished two major projects: 1) RV gate he's been planning for six years and 2) additional cupboards and computer desk in the kitchen. Both projects turned out great. Brian replaced his truck with an Armada to accommodate our growing family, so the RV gate is used to store a trailer (to replace the truck bed).
Brian is serving as secretary in the Young Men's organization at church. He especially enjoys chaperoning the water and snow skiing activities.

Chanda
I spent most of the year being uncomfortably pregnant, so it feels great not to be pregnant anymore. :) I'm still working for Brian, although he hired an assistant to whom I've been able to turn over the day-to-day operations after the baby. I continued sewing a lot this year, including Elise's Halloween costume, but now Carsten takes up most of my time. He'll be my new hobby for quite a while. :)
At church, I play piano in Relief Society and am on the Committee Formerly Known As Enrichment. :)

Brian & I celebrated our two-year anniversary last January by going skiing in Arizona. We're looking forward to celebrating three years next month. :)

Ethan
Ethan is in 5th grade. He completed Cub Scouts, earning his Arrow of Light, and is now in 11 year old scouts. He competed in swim team over the summer and played flag football this fall.

Elise
Elise is in 1st grade and loves her teacher. She took swimming lessons in the summer and dance class in the fall. Elise loves to help cook at home and also enjoys covering the refrigerator with her artwork. She even colored a picture for Carsten before he was born.
Elise lost her first tooth this month. She asked the tooth fairy for candy and received chocolate "coin" candy (and a real dollar).

Treyton
Treyton is in 1st grade and, although he's doing well, looks forward to all half-days and school holidays. He took swimming lessons in summer and also attended summer school where his favorite subject was cooking class (he apparently didn't realize they were secretly incorporating math and reading).
Treyton lost his first two teeth in October. He got a gold Sacajawea dollar for the first tooth.

Carsten
Carsten was born!!! :)
That was the highlight of his year, as well as ours. :) We're so glad to have him! He is so precious and adorable. He smiles and coos which mesmerizes us all. He will be two months old on Christmas Eve. :)


We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year!!! :)

Carsten @ 3 weeks old

Carsten Sterling Wright

The one day I was not expecting him to show up was his due date... so, of course, that's when he arrived! :)
24 Oct 2009
11:27pm
8 lbs 7.4 ozs



Here he is hanging out on the blanket his aunt Jen made for him.

Wright Reunion

Brian's extended family reunion was the same weekend as mine. He went to mine last time, so we went to his this year.

It started out in Jackson Hole, WY on Friday. We set up camp and then had dinner at a park in town, complete with clown for the kids. :)


Saturday we went rafting down the Snake River. We all did the tame float in the morning. Then Brian and Ethan also did a white water trip further down river that afternoon.


Sunday we went to the Grand Teton museum and all the kids started working on Junior Ranger badges. Then we went to a lake until it started raining.

Monday we packed up camp and stopped off to picnic and swim at String Lake on our way to our Yellowstone campsite.


Tuesday we saw Old Faithful and visited a lot of other hot pots and geysers.

(Click on picture to open video in new window)

Wednesday we drove and drove and drove in search of wildlife. The majority of what we saw, though, was the bison that kept stopping traffic by meandering into the road.


Thursday we packed up and headed toward home.

Babymoon

I calculated several months ago that the weekend of July 10th would be the one weekend before the baby is due that we would have no children at home... So, I was adamant that we utilize it. :)

We had a couple of free frequent flyer tickets to use, so we initially were planning to fly somewhere. However, with only a two-day weekend available, there weren't many options that wouldn't 1)waste half the weekend traveling and/or 2)waste the tickets on cheap, nearby locales.
We finally opted for a "local" babymoon. We were technically out of town (i.e. a different suburb of Phoenix than the one we live in) but we didn't need a rental car or anything. :) Surprisingly, it was very easy to forget we were close to home and it really felt like a vacation. :)

When we weren't hanging out in the pool, we turned the A/C down as low as it would go (something we would NEVER do at home) since it was 114 degrees outside.

We mostly ate at the hotel, since I had booked the room with a meal package. However, there was a Melting Pot nearby and I'd heard great things about it so I wanted to try it. I had also heard that dessert was not to be skipped, so I lucked out in finding this coupon for free dessert right before we went. It was delicious and I'm glad we got to try it. We had our own little booth with a curtain and it was very fun. :)