Merry Christmas from the Westons, December 2014

Dear Family and Friends, December 2014 As we begin this holiday season and think about our plans for next year, it is fun to look back on all of the amazing memories that we have created over the last 12 months. One of the most lasting memories we have is of our summer vacation that we took to Canada. We spent 2 ½ weeks camping and sightseeing in southwestern Canada, stopping to spend time in Vancouver, B.C., Whistler, B.C., Banff National Park, Calgary, Alberta, Waterton National Park, and Glacier National Park. We took our bikes with us and spent a lot of time biking and hiking all around the places we visited. We tried fishing and stand-up paddleboarding, and Mary and Nate went horseback riding. We stayed up late most nights playing Uno in our tent and enjoying the long summer days. It was a trip we will never forget.

Benjamin turned 8 this year, and in March he was baptized while we were down in California. For his birthday he was given a new pet, Skittles – a corn snake. Since his birthday he has enjoyed attending cub scouts at church and this fall was proud to earn his “wolf” award. Ben enjoys reading, listening to books on CD, making Lego creations, playing soccer, and collecting international coins. Both Ben and Nate play in our school district’s after-school orchestra program, with Ben playing cello and Nathan playing violin. Nathaniel, age 7, is now in second grade, and at school he has been placed in a 2/3 combination class this year. He loves his new teacher and is always trying to keep up with the third graders in his class. He recently started reading the first “Harry Potter” book and he aims to read the whole series before the school year ends. Nate loves learning how to type and is always motivated by a challenge. He also played soccer this fall and hopes to try baseball next spring if we can make the time for it. Mary, age 5, is in kindergarten this year and is loving her all-day class. She has made many friends at school and enjoys all the time she spends there. She loves drawing and reading – and her handwriting is getting better all the time. She is also enjoying taking ballet lessons with a new and larger dance studio in Oregon City. This week she had her debut in the Nutcracker, where she took part in two scenes – as a mouse in the battle scene, and as dancer in the carousel scene. She loved every minute of it and can’t wait to be involved in the Nutcracker again next year. Mary is also taking violin lessons from Toby. Toby is constantly challenged and excited by his job teaching music at a middle school in Vancouver, WA. His program is growing, and each year his classes have more and more students. He was excited this fall that his school district took out a wall to a nearby room and expanded the space his students have to use for their music studies. When he is not teaching music, he still has his cell phone business that he pursues intermittently. Also, he swims 3 times a week as part of the Oregon City Swim Team. Juliette has kept busy this year between teaching ESL classes at Marylhurst University and teaching for Ashford University, an online university based on Iowa. This fall Juliette took a break from both of those jobs and took a long-term substitute teaching position for an elementary school in Oregon City. She taught a 3rd-5th grade special education class for three months and enjoyed the opportunity to work with kids again. Next year she plans to continue substitute teaching in the schools and to return to teaching part time for Marylhurst University and Ashford University. Juliette also ran two half-marathons this year. We are looking forward to a new year full of excitement and adventure. We wish you and your family and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love, Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathaniel, and Mary Weston

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

Merry Christmas 2012!

December 2012 Dear family and friends, The time has come once again to celebrate the Christmas season and reflect on the blessings we have received over the past year. It seems like Christmas came a bit early to our house this year. Our tree is up and our house is decorated, and it is only December 2. The past year has brought many blessings to our family. Toby has continued his teaching job in Vancouver and is loving it. Toby is on his fifth year of teaching and is excited that his orchestra program continues to grow each year. Sometimes he feels like he is living the dream but never wakes up. He also excited that our own kids are now old enough for him to teach violin and cello to each day. Juliette continues teaching online for Ashford University, as well as teaching ESL classes part time at nearby Marylhurst University. She gets to help out in Ben and Nate’s classes at school one morning a week and loves it. Juliette continues running and is looking forward to running the Hood to Coast Relay race next August. She did not run any races this year. In her free time, she dabbles in playing the guitar and ukulele. Benjamin, 6, is now in first grade and is doing well. This school year he has played soccer and basketball, and he has loved both sports. He has many friends at his school and is doing well both socially and academically. Ben’s hobbies include doing legos and drawing (he is an amazing artist). Ben and Nate both continue to take an advanced gymnastics class at the Little Gym. Nathan, now 5, started all-day kindergarten this fall and is loving it. While he may be one of the shortest kids in his class, he is also one of the brightest and most enthusiastic. Nate loves reading, bike riding, and doing legos, and he also loves playing with his sister. Nate played soccer for the first time this fall and had a great season. Nate also loves dancing and hopes to start back in ballet next summer. Mary is now 3 and a half (she corrects you if you call her three), and she is one tough cookie. She started preschool this fall and looks forward to it the two mornings a week that she goes. This summer she learned her letters and sounds, and she is now reaading Bob books. She loves Barbies, princesses, and Care Bears. She takes a dance class at the Little Gym where she learns ballet, tap, and gymnastics. She and Nate got to watch the Nutcracker for the first time this year and loved it. We enjoyed two trips to California this year. In May we drove down to see Toby’s sister Elizabeth graduate from college and Juliette’s brother Rob graduate from college. Then in July we enjoyed a longer vacation and spent time visiting Toby’s dad in Shell Beach and camping with family at Sequoia National Park. We also visited Seattle one weekend in June. This summer we did a lot of projects on our house. We replaced our dining room carpet with laminate flooring, and also painted every room and hallway inside our house. Since our walls were all previously white, having more color in the house has made a big difference. Next year we’ll work on painting outdoors. In other news, Toby was called to be the executive secretary for our ward, while Juliette is still serving as a ward missionary. Our biggest frustration of the year was having to put so much money into repairing our cars, but at least we don’t have car payments. Soon enough we will have to buy newer vehicles, but we are postponing it as long as we can. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. May the Lord bless you and your family with peace and joy throughout the new year. Love, Toby, Juliette, Ben, Nate, and Mary Weston

Halloween 2012

We had a fun Halloween -- on Saturday we went to our Ward's Trunk or treat. Then on Halloween we went to the Oregon City Swimming Pool for their Swamp Swim. Nate on first place in the costume contest as the cutest and won a free birthday party at the pool! It was tons of fun.

Easter 2012

For Easter we had several East egg hunts, we decorated eggs, and had a lot of fun. The weather finally cooperated so we could actually be outdoors for the holiday. Mary wore her new Easter dress to church.

March madness

March was a busy month for us -- between Ben and Mary's birthdays and Spring Break, hosting exchange students, etc. we were swamped. Here are highlights from Mary and Ben's birthdays.

Christmas letter 2011

December 2011

Dear friends and family,
The year 2011 has been full of adventures for our family. The nice part about 2011 is that many things have also stayed the same – so it was not a year of major life changes. We are still living in the same home, still working at the same jobs, and we are still in our same ward.

Toby has kept busy with his job teaching middle school orchestra in Vancouver, WA. He had a brief scare this spring when he received a rift notice saying he might not be hired back for the following school year. However, in June he was hired back and he was able to return to his position in the fall. One of his teaching highlights happened in November when his 8th grade students had the opportunity to perform in the lobby of the Arlene Schweitzer Concert hall just before watching the Oregon Symphony concert. Toby also teaches an after-school strings enrichment class to students in grades 1-4, and in his spare time is teaching our own kids to play the violin.

Juliette is currently teaching for Ashford University (in their online department). In addition, she continues teaching part time at Marylhurst University for their ESL department. One of Juliette’s highlights for 2011 was running the Newport Marathon in June with Toby. We had a great time training together and enjoyed the race very much. Juliette also ran Hood to Coast for her second year.

Benjamin, now 5, started kindergarten this fall and is really loving school. Whenever he is asked how his day was at school, he responds “Awesome.” He has made lots of friends and enjoys all the routines and activities at Sunset Primary School. Outside of school, Ben’s favorite hobbies include building with Legos, running, riding bikes, and doing art projects. This fall Ben played on his first soccer team – and had a blast.

Nathan, now 4, has learned to read this year – and is working hard to catch up to Ben academically. Both Nate and Ben learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels this year, took swimming lessons, and also began learning karate. Nate can’t wait to start kindergarten next year. Until then, he is attending Oregon City Preschool for his second year and is loving it. Whenever Juliette parent helps for Nate’s class, Mary gets to come along, which she loves, too.

Mary turned 2 this year and has grown up tremendously. She talks up a storm and has fallen in love with princesses, Barbies, and ballerinas. She still goes to her weekly gymnastics class and is looking forward to switching to a dance class once she turns 3. She loves to wear her leotard and tutu to gymnastics class each week. She also enjoys going to playgroup on Wednesdays and weekly playdates with her friends.

As a family we did not do a lot of traveling this year, preferring, instead, to stay close to home and enjoy the beauty of Oregon. We took a trip to Seattle in February for a few days and enjoyed seeing the city. This summer we spent a lot of time at the Oregon Coast. We also enjoyed camping at Silver Falls State Park, just 1 ½ hours from Portland. While there we made a point of hiking to see each of the eight waterfalls – and we enjoyed them all. At church, Toby is in the elder’s quorum presidency, and Juliette is the primary pianist and a ward missionary.

We have felt especially blessed by the Lord for the many ways we have been taken care of during the last year. We look forward to the adventures that 2012 will bring. May you and your family enjoy a peaceful holiday season and may you celebrate, with us, the reason for the season – the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

With love,
Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathan, and Mary Weston