Let's see, what should I call this? A Christmas Letter? No, it's too late for that. A New Year letter? No. How about: THE LETTER.

Greetings to our family and friends! 2008 was a wonderful year for us. Here are a few of the highlights.

Lincoln (almost 2): He started out the year as a scrawny baby in the 13th percentile for weight. He grew quite a bit this year, and now weighs in at a whopping 32 lbs. (92nd percentile!) He's always happy and full of energy. He's sweet, obedient, laid back, and pretty much the most perfect baby anyone could ask for. My only complaint is when I have to lug him out of bed with his four blankets and any stuffed animals that might have napped with him. My arms definitely get a work out with this one.



Alyssa (4): Alyssa's life revolves around all things girly, pink, princessy, & glittery. She spends hours pretending and dressing up. She loves being with her family and helping me cook. She always takes her spot up on the counter to help me knead bread or make cookies. She loves to play with her friends, too, and "Blinkin" (Lincoln) is usually nominated as the handsome prince who has to dance with and marry all of the girls. He responds by trying to take off with their dollies and hide.



Joseph (8): Joe's biggest highlight of the year was his baptism in May. He's super smart and super sweet. He loves to read, roller blade, play games, and ride his bike. He says his favorite moments of 2008 are: a date with Mom and Dad to Kangaroo Zoo, winning the reflections contest with his painting titled "Colors", Friday night pizza and movies, and our annual trip to Bear Lake. He constantly stumps us with his deep questions.



Isaac (10): Ike is also super smart. He started piano lessons this year, and amazes us with his ability to sight read music. He also had fun this year playing basketball on Jr. Jazz, racing around on his bike and roller blades, winning everyone he plays in any game, and winning his school science fair with his project called, "Magnets R Cool." He is a great example of spiritual strength to his little brothers and sister.



Me!: My favorite things this year were spending time with family, being in our beautiful new house, serving in the church as a Young Women advisor then Wolf den leader, and getting in shape. I'm so grateful for my family and feel like with them by my side, I could lose everything else and still be happy.

Swen: Swen is staying busy as the Elders Quorum President of a giant ward, a Realtor in a stinky economy, and a Daddy of 4 kids. He has been a trooper this year, working extra hard to make things work since real estate isn't exactly booming right now. We're all excited when he can spend time at home with the family because he always makes us laugh.

We are grateful for our Father in Heaven and his watchful care for us. We are grateful for our Savior and his love and sacrifice for us. And we are thankful for the strength we receive from all of our loved ones. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we know 2009 will be a fantastic year for us all!

Love, The Howards

P.S. Feel free to comment, and come back as often as you'd like for Howard family updates!

Happy New Year!

This is our first official picture of 2009, taken a little after midnight January 1, 2009. Yes, we are crazy, and allowed all of our children to celebrate the dawning of the new year with a sparkling cider toast at the stroke of midnight. We had a great night filled with LOTS of family, some games, movies, and a little Wii playing.

Happy Birthday, Alyssa! (a.k.a. Princess, Lissy, Lulu, Cutie, Lyss, Beautiful, Lissy-Lou)

Alyssa celebrated her 4th birthday on December 5. To celebrate her life so far and the joy that she is to our family, I'm posting some highlights out of her journal.

January 2, 2005--1 month old

"They put you right onto my belly, then Daddy cut the cord. You were so sweet and little. I couldn't believe you were mine. We cuddled for a long time...You were so sweet and content... Your head was perfectly round...You peed all over the warming table while they were testing you" :)

"When you were 5 days old, Daddy and I finally decided on a name. I had been calling you Aubrey, and Daddy had been avoiding the subject totally. I finally MADE him discuss it with me. We decided on Alyssa Grace Howard."

March 5, 2004--3 months old

"One of the times you look the cutest is when Daddy wears you in the front pack. He made German pancakes this morning with you looking around attached to his belly. You were happy as can be. You're about my height or a little taller when he's carrying you like that, so every time we pass, you grin at me."

September 10, 2005--9 months old

"Oh, my beautiful Alyssa. It is hard to imagine anyone that's more loved than you are... You love to smile at people and babble... It's like you're on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what comes next. When we push you in your stroller, you slide up as much as possible, sit straight up and you hold onto the bar in front."

Nov. 26, 2006--almost 1 year old

"You love your brothers so much. You call them I-key and Jo-Jo. They love to play with you, too. Sometimes too much, but you're good at standing up for yourself. You yell, 'Stop!' or, 'No, Jo-Jo!'"

"Some fun things about you are:

-You love baths. You would stay in the bath for hours if you could.

-You love books. You sit and read books for long periods of time, or if you're lucky enough to find someone sitting down, you bring them a book and say, 'Lap!'"

- You love your Daddy. You are always excited to see him in the morning and when you've been apart.

-You're starting to get a few long hairs...It's still so sparse, though, that people are surprised when I tell them you're almost 2."

July 7, 2007--2 1/2 years old

"You are such a fireball. You exhaust me every day, but you also make me laugh every day. You fill my bucket with happiness. You constantly tell me how much you love me, that I'm beautiful, and that you love my 'dress' (my clothes.)"

"You have such a sweet little spirit, but you haven't caught on to the idea of reverence in prayer. You always carry a book with you and struggle to keep it closed during the prayer. You repeat, 'listen and to pray' under your breath a few times, then you walk around. During personal prayers, you won't repeat anything we say, and you usually end up laying on the ground by the end."

January 11, 2008 3 years old

"During the middle of the night you came tearing out of your room, FLAMING MAD yelling, 'Isaac, give it back you stinkin' monkey!' You came into our room to tattle on Isaac and we had to convince you it was only a dream. It was so funny because I have no idea where you came up with the phrase 'stinkin monkey.' I laugh every time I about it! You're so feisty!"

"Another funny thing that you've been saying is 'Mom, don't say no, or I'll have to do this in the other room.'"

November 12, 2008--almost 4 years old

"Alyssa, you love mustard! When I'm not looking, you put mustard on strange things. On Monday you put raisins in a bowl, doused them with mustard, and gobbled them right up. Today, you spread mustard on a piece of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Where did you come from? I can't even stand to smell mustard! Almost every day you ask for a mustard sandwich. A mustard sandwich consists of mayo, mustard, 'red mustard' (ketchup), cheese, and ham if we have it. YUM!"

November 23, 2008--almost 4 years old

"You're hilarious! You make me laugh every day!"

Alyssa is our beautiful, happy, sweet little princess. She had a wonderful birthday filled with lots of pink, princesses, friends, and dress-ups.

Missionary? Nah.

Tonight I read the story of Ammon to Alyssa and Lincoln out of their picture scriptures. When I was finished reading I said to Alyssa, "Ammon was such a great missionary. Maybe someday you could be a missionary just like him." She crinkled up her nose and replied, "I don't want to be a missionary. I want to be a princess that's in love with a handsome prince!." Okay, then.

Hello, Allow Us To Introduce Ourselves. We are Mitchell Montpelier & Walker Winnemucca

YOUR REAL NAME? Rebecca Tadje Howard ... Swen Robert Howard

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name> plus'izzle') Rebizzle ... Sweizzle

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal) Red Seal ... Yellow Tiger

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street) Tadje Bellingham ... Robert Bellingham

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name) Howrecos ... Howswboy

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Green Smoothie ... Green Agua

YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (Men: father's middle name and mother's middle name-Women: mother's middle name and father's middle name) Cosper Phillip ... Robert Lorraine

YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your {current or former} pets) Black Nil ... Black Gato

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Butch Odyssey ... Libby Toyota

NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Phillip John (Funny if you think of Fill-up, John :) ... Doc Dell

TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Mitchell Montpelier ... Walker Winnemucca

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Summer Jasmine ... Autumn Iris

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now) Pineapple Shades ... Passion Pinstripe

HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Muffin Magnolia ... Nada Willow



Give it a try... it made us laugh!

Alyssa's Preschool Pictures

I have never put a flower on Alyssa's head before. Imagine my surprise when I got these pictures back and- HELLO, huge flower! It's kind of cute, though, don't you think? I'm sure the photographer (or maybe her teacher-Charity, was it you? Fess up!) put it on to hide the giant ka-chunkie that Lyssie cut out of her hair a few weeks ago. Waaaaaaahhh! After all these years, her hair had only grown a couple of inches in the front, and she cut it down to the scalp. Luckily with her curls and an ingenious comb-over technique, we can mostly hide it.

This picture is totally Alyssa. She's about to wag her finger and say something like, "Mom. First we need to roll out the cookies, the THEN we can bake them."

The little boy sitting next to her is Liam. Lyssie's teacher said that Liam doesn't even know Alyssa's name. He calls her "my princess." "Don't mess up my princess's curls!" "Come here, my princess!" They plan their wedding during preschool. She get's all of her dramatic tendencies and love for romance from Swen.

Thanksgiving Advice

Some important lessons to learn:

#1: NEVER add flour to your big flour bin that has an expiration date of 1998. It's really not a good idea.

#2: If you DO happen to add the rancid flour to the flour bin, DO NOT attempt to make rolls out of it. They will smell so bad that you will have to throw out the entire bowl of dough.

#3: If you happen to stupidly overlook lessons #1 & #2, DO NOT repeat step #2 with another can of rancid flour. People will begin to wonder at your IQ level. Plus, you will have to throw out your second bowl of dough, which will consequently make your outside garbage smell really bad. You might even have to call your sister in law and ask her if she happens to have any Rhodes roll dough she can pull out of the freezer. If this happens, it's quite possible that the dough could be freezer burned, and the usual favorite item could be forgotten in the background under a lovely plaid cloth.

#4: Please remember to put the homemade stuffing in the oven. It's really not very good unless it's cooked. If you don't put it in the oven until dinner has started, not only will people have to suffer through Thanksgiving dinner without stuffing (a travesty), but when it finally comes out of the oven, people will be so full they will not even be able to sample it.

#5: Making gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving is fun. The only drawback is you might eat so much candy that you have to pass on raspberry bread pudding with vanilla sauce, ice cream, and pumpkin pie. That would be a real bummer.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We did, in spite of some very blonde-ish mistakes.