Merry Christmas

*This year we are sharing our family blog with all of you. What a great way to stay in touch.

We have been so blessed this year and look back, with great memories, over the last year.

We have had much to be grateful for and with that comes great blessings and also much heartache.

*In August we lost Jeff's mother, Maxine, to pancreatic cancer. We were able to be with her and Jeff's family before and during her passing. It was such a wonderful, spiritual experience that we will remember our whole lives. She is greatly missed and we love her so much. I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us we will be together again someday. We take great comfort in that and knowing we are an eternal family.

*Looking back over the year we have also had alot of fun and have been very blessed.

1. We have enjoyed several trips to Lake Tahoe with our trailer to enjoy the lake and the festivities of Tahoe. We have enjoyed it with many of our friends and family.


2. Jeff still works for Newtron and has been with them 11 years now. He is their General Foreman. The company is so good to us. We are so thankful for them.


3. Joy is still working hard teaching preschool and watching a few children in our home. The economy has forced us to downsize but has made it more enjoyable for Joy and given her more time with our own children.


4. Jessica is still working for Home Depot. She still has the same boyfriend Chris. Nothing serious, that we know of.


5. Matt is working for Olive Garden and training to be a manager and soon will be opening up a new store in possibly, Stockton.


6. Jennny has survived her first semester at Santa Barbara City College and being away from home. She now knows what it means to be a starving student but she is enjoying every minute of it.


7. Beau is a senior at Liberty High School this year. He has been enjoying every minute of it. He has been going to semenary every morning (when he goes) and he played football this year, which he lettered in. He also lettered in Volleyball and Wrestling last year. He is looking for a job and anxious to start college and get his EMT so he can train to be a firefighter/paramedic.


8. Emma will be 4 in January. She is enjoying preschool with her mother in the mornings and preschool in the afternoons, three days a week, at one of Joy's friends, preschools. She is looking forward to having her ears pierced for her birthday. She just experienced ice skating for the first time the other night and watched her first 3D movie, Bolt. She is enjoying keeping her parents on their toes and helping take care of her younger brother, Jake.


9. Jacob is 19 months. He is a wurl wind. He keeps Joy hoppin all day long. He enjoys fingerpainting everything including his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all over the table. He has been participating in Joy's preschool program and is finally starting to talk a little bit. He likes to say Beau's name over and over and over again. His favorite past time is running from his mom when he has a stinky diaper and splashing in the bathtub.


10. ALthough our children are all at different points in their lives right now, we love each and everyone of them so much. We are so proud of who and what our children have and are becoming. We know that through others like our friends and family that help teach and mold our children and co-parent them is what truely makes them the successful people they are and will become.


11. We are so blessed to have our health and strength and the love of our friends and family. We would like to invite all of you to help us celebrate this year. While we give thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the love he has for us and also to celebrate his life and the great example that he is to us. Wishing you all the best for 2009. May it be a healthy and happy year. Love, The Hepworth's