Dear family and friends,
As we wrap up another year in the Weston family, it is so fun to look back and see all of the exciting things that happened to us during 2013. One of the highlights of our year was our annual summer vacation. This year we traveled nearly 3,000 miles over a 3-week period of time. We began our vacation by visiting family in northern California including Juliette’s brother and Toby’s siblings and family. Then we headed to the Central Coast to visit Toby’s dad. From there we headed across the Mojave desert over to Las Vegas where we stayed at Circus Circus and enjoyed checking out the various theme casinos. While we were there we visited Hoover Dam and Boulder City, where Juliette’s mom grew up. We then headed north to Utah and spent time at Bryce and Zion national parks before heading up to Salt Lake. We enjoyed spending time with Juliette’s dad and visiting many church sites while there. We stopped in Boise on our way back home. It was the longest road trip we have attempted with our kids, but they did really well.
Benjamin, now 7, is looking forward to getting baptized next year. He is now in second grade and loves his class at school. Ben’s favorite subjects include math, reading, art, music, and P.E. He is also excited to be studying Chinese as one of his specialist classes at school. Outside of school, Ben loves making lego creations, reading comic books, collecting Pokemon cards, and using his imagination to invent creative games and activities.
Nathaniel, now 6, loves being in the first grade. He is well-liked by his classmates and is always fun to be around. Nate’s hobbies seem to change quite often. This year he has gone through phases when he was really interested in legos, then magic, and now he is most interested in making bracelets with his Rainbow Loom. He also likes riding his bike and reading, and he recently started taking a ballet class, which he loves.
Mary, who when asked her age will tell you she is 4 and a half, can hardly wait to start kindergarten next year. She is currently attending preschool at the same school where Ben and Nate go to school. Mary has turned into an avid reader and is quickly catching up to the boys in her reading skills. She also takes ballet, and she loves to give dance recitals whenever anyone wants to watch her dance. Mary recently began listening to Taylor Swift and loves to dance to her music, too. Mary loves attending her primary class at church and participated in our ward’s primary Sacrament program this fall for the first time. She did such a good job of saying her part and singing all of the songs she knew.
Juliette has kept quite busy this year between teaching ESL classes at nearby Marylhurst University and teaching online classes for Ashford University. Outside of her teaching, Juliette enjoys running several times a week. She is able to volunteer in the boy’s classes at school each week, and this year Mary gets to come along, too. Juliette also enjoys bargain hunting at thrift stores, bike riding with Mary, and accompanying Toby to the Oregon Symphony Concerts we attend once a month or so. She is still serving as a ward missionary at church.
Toby has had an enjoyable year of teaching music in Vancouver. His strings program has continued to grow, and this year for the first time his school had to break the 6th grade into two classes because there were so many of them. His program is bursting at the seams. Outside of teaching music, Toby began pursuing a side business selling cell phone service with a company called Solavei. He has grown his business a lot this year and is enjoying the challenge of building up his own business. Toby is still serving as our ward executive secretary.
This summer we tackled a lot of house projects. We began by painting the outside of our house, a project we had started last year but never finished. After painting the outside walls, we decided to repaint all of our outside decks and porches (there are four of them altogether). It ended up being a major undertaking, but in the end we loved the results and hope it lasts for many years to come. Juliette’s mom, who has been living next door to us for the last few years, took a one-year position working as a school psychologist in Juneau, Alaska this September. We have missed having her around and are excited that she is having her own adventure. Also, we said goodbye to our cat Micah this summer. He was diagnosed with Renal Kidney failure in June and ended up not living much longer after his diagnosis. We have missed having him around. However, rather than get a new cat, we all agreed to buy a mouse for our new family pet. Wrestler has been a fun pet to have – and the kids are becoming quite attached to him. They are also learning about responsible pet ownership as they have to help clean his cage twice a week.
We hope that this Christmas season finds you and your family well and happy. May you remember to keep Christ in Christmas this year and to focus on what is really important.
Love, The Westons – Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathan, and Mary
Friday, December 13, 2013
Dear family and friends,
As we wrap up another year in the Weston family, it is so fun to look back and see all of the exciting things that happened to us during 2013. One of the highlights of our year was our annual summer vacation. This year we traveled nearly 3,000 miles over a 3-week period of time. We began our vacation by visiting family in northern California including Juliette’s brother and Toby’s siblings and family. Then we headed to the Central Coast to visit Toby’s dad. From there we headed across the Mojave desert over to Las Vegas where we stayed at Circus Circus and enjoyed checking out the various theme casinos. While we were there we visited Hoover Dam and Boulder City, where Juliette’s mom grew up. We then headed north to Utah and spent time at Bryce and Zion national parks before heading up to Salt Lake. We enjoyed spending time with Juliette’s dad and visiting many church sites while there. We stopped in Boise on our way back home. It was the longest road trip we have attempted with our kids, but they did really well.
Benjamin, now 7, is looking forward to getting baptized next year. He is now in second grade and loves his class at school. Ben’s favorite subjects include math, reading, art, music, and P.E. He is also excited to be studying Chinese as one of his specialist classes at school. Outside of school, Ben loves making lego creations, reading comic books, collecting Pokemon cards, and using his imagination to invent creative games and activities.
Nathaniel, now 6, loves being in the first grade. He is well-liked by his classmates and is always fun to be around. Nate’s hobbies seem to change quite often. This year he has gone through phases when he was really interested in legos, then magic, and now he is most interested in making bracelets with his Rainbow Loom. He also likes riding his bike and reading, and he recently started taking a ballet class, which he loves.
Mary, who when asked her age will tell you she is 4 and a half, can hardly wait to start kindergarten next year. She is currently attending preschool at the same school where Ben and Nate go to school. Mary has turned into an avid reader and is quickly catching up to the boys in her reading skills. She also takes ballet, and she loves to give dance recitals whenever anyone wants to watch her dance. Mary recently began listening to Taylor Swift and loves to dance to her music, too. Mary loves attending her primary class at church and participated in our ward’s primary Sacrament program this fall for the first time. She did such a good job of saying her part and singing all of the songs she knew.
Juliette has kept quite busy this year between teaching ESL classes at nearby Marylhurst University and teaching online classes for Ashford University. Outside of her teaching, Juliette enjoys running several times a week. She is able to volunteer in the boy’s classes at school each week, and this year Mary gets to come along, too. Juliette also enjoys bargain hunting at thrift stores, bike riding with Mary, and accompanying Toby to the Oregon Symphony Concerts we attend once a month or so. She is still serving as a ward missionary at church.
Toby has had an enjoyable year of teaching music in Vancouver. His strings program has continued to grow, and this year for the first time his school had to break the 6th grade into two classes because there were so many of them. His program is bursting at the seams. Outside of teaching music, Toby began pursuing a side business selling cell phone service with a company called Solavei. He has grown his business a lot this year and is enjoying the challenge of building up his own business. Toby is still serving as our ward executive secretary.
This summer we tackled a lot of house projects. We began by painting the outside of our house, a project we had started last year but never finished. After painting the outside walls, we decided to repaint all of our outside decks and porches (there are four of them altogether). It ended up being a major undertaking, but in the end we loved the results and hope it lasts for many years to come. Juliette’s mom, who has been living next door to us for the last few years, took a one-year position working as a school psychologist in Juneau, Alaska this September. We have missed having her around and are excited that she is having her own adventure. Also, we said goodbye to our cat Micah this summer. He was diagnosed with Renal Kidney failure in June and ended up not living much longer after his diagnosis. We have missed having him around. However, rather than get a new cat, we all agreed to buy a mouse for our new family pet. Wrestler has been a fun pet to have – and the kids are becoming quite attached to him. They are also learning about responsible pet ownership as they have to help clean his cage twice a week.
We hope that this Christmas season finds you and your family well and happy. May you remember to keep Christ in Christmas this year and to focus on what is really important.
Love, The Westons – Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathan, and Mary
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