Holiday Newsletter 2007

The Bryner’s Holiday Newsletter 2007









We are glad you are able to read our Holiday Newsletter this year. We did not want to have to print this out and send it to everybody and we knew we wouldn't be able to send it on time, so we just decided to write it on our blog. This year has been very eventful for all of us. Most important, we have a new adorable, fantastic, beautiful, cute baby sister Alexandra who was born on October 20. Well, this year also had many trips to the hospital not mention the birth of our new family member. The biggest thing was Christian getting his gall bladder out. It was kind of annoying knowing that he pretty much had to get it out, or else the pains would keep coming, but we are glad for the surgery. It went well. Here are some of the big things we did this year other than cleaning up messes, trying to get more organized, and keeping the twins out of the streets and in the house.
This summer we did a lot of great things. Paul turned eight in June and was baptized by his Dad. Soon after, Paul got to attend his first Cub Scout Day Camp. We went on two trips to Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo. For the Fourth of July, Joe and Haylee (Prete) and their family and Rob and Becky (Doig) and their family and Sarah (Prete) all came down. We watched fireworks, went swimming in the new Helper pool and then went to the Bryner family cabin. There we did many crafts, played outside, rode in canoes, and enjoyed each other.
We also spent a lot of time at the pool. Anna did two sessions of swimming lessons and Paul and James did three sessions and they all improved dramatically. Anna is currently in Level 5, Paul in Level 4 and James in Level 3. Paul and James also did a session this fall.

Our family got two tickets to each BYU football home game this season. Anna and Christian went to three, (Played: Arizona, Colorado State, Utah) and Paul and Christian went to the Air Force game. Anna also got to attend the Air Force game because her uncle Bryan had an extra ticket to the game. Anna and Bryan were in the seventh row up from the field and Anna loved it! The other two games we did not attend because Alexandra was born the day BYU played Eastern Washington. Also, the game vs. TCU was on a Thursday night and Christian did not want to get too tired. The BYU Cougars are an absolute favorite team to us Bryners and we love cheering them on.

This summer we also went to our cabin a few times. As we mentioned earlier, we went once with the Prete side of the family. Some of the other trips consisted of the following; We watched the Meteor Shower in August and slept outside. Christian, Anna, Paul, and James slept on the deck but Anna and Christian both got cold in the night and spent the rest of the night inside. Christian, Anna, Paul, and James went up to go fishing at Electric Lake but it was so cold the lines started freezing. Also, we went up in June so Liz could sing a solo at the Helper Stake (Our Stake) Girls Camp which is nearby our cabin and then we got ready for the Prete side of the family to come.

In May, Christian, Paul, and James all went on the Fathers and Sons campout and had a fun time.

This year Paul, James and Anna entered the PTA Reflections competition again. Paul and Anna competed against each other this year. Anna and Paul both won. Anna won first in everything she entered in: Music, Literature, and Visual Arts. Paul entered in Literature and Visual Arts and won third place in Visual Arts. James however didn't win but maybe if he did them when he was told to instead of at the last moment...

This fall Anna, Paul, and James all entered school at Creekview Elementary. Anna entered 5th (skipped second grade so she would have entered 4th) and her teacher is Lynn Hunt. Paul entered 3rd and his teacher is Brenda Martinez. James entered Kindergarten and his teacher is Janice Spillman. They all enjoy their teachers very much and feel very blessed to have them. Pierce and Garrett and Alexandra have all stayed home this year and Liz is glad to have more time to spend with just them and not have to drive kids to preschool all the time and it is somewhat easier to get out of the house knowing she would just have to leave them somewhere instead of worrying about James too.

During the summer, here are the other camps that the kids attended. Paul and James both attended Carbon Recreation Baseball Camp which lasted two weeks and did not like it because of the very strict leaders. Anna did a two-week Carbon Recreation Basketball Camp and had the same leaders, but didn't think they were as mean as they were to Paul and James.

This fall, Liz’s mom came and helped out our family a lot about a week after Alexandra was born. She was a huge help and some days she was the only one to get up to help the kids get to school. She also helped with shopping, cleaning, and taking care of Liz who had a kind of painful sickness that she got from having Ali. (Ali is what we call Alexandra for short.)

In probably September, we got to have Liz’s sister-in-law Emma come for an evening to spend with us. Her sister Careen and Liz’s sister Sarah came too.

This year Liz’s sister Sarah has been visiting a lot. We have really enjoyed having her. She came down to visit one weekend with a bunch of friends and they all went hiking at Arches the next day. We all had a blast.

In the summer, Liz and Christian went on a Range Creek Tour. They both had fun but aren’t sure they would do it again. Paul also went to his first scout camp and had tons of fun. Although he mixed up pants with his friend after swimming in the lake, he is really looking forward to it next year.

This fall and winter we have been working on our big room in the basement. We have painted it and we are now doing finishing touches. We are really glad we are finally getting it done and are really happy about it. We have also added a lot more of the doors that belong down there and it is really looking a lot better.

We had a great time at Thanksgiving celebrating with all our family and friends. It was really fun playing games, partying, eating delicious food and all the other fun stuff we did.

Well, I think we got most of the big events written down but for more information, contact us. We would put our number, but it is not safe on the web so leave a comment on this post and we will e-mail you the Newsletter, plus more information posted on it.

Now we will write a little bit about each family member.

Christian is doing well being an attorney, but still busy as ever. He owns his business and has two partners who he shares a building with; his dad, Bryce and his other partner is Mike Jensen who is currently on and LDS Mission President in New Hampshire. Christian bought a family B-DAC pass and enjoys going to work out. (The B-DAC is the main CEU athletic center.) He also enjoys going to LaVell Edward Stadium and watching his team defeat their foe and loves following the Cougars as much as Anna does. He is very glad to be getting the big room done and loves playing games with his family as much as ever.

Liz is enjoying being the mother of six children and loves looking at the cute baby which she gave birth to. Besides taking care of Ali, Liz enjoys spending time with family very much, cooking, and I don’t know if she likes cleaning that much, but she does do it a lot. Liz is very eager to get back to jogging in the mornings and having more time for the piano and other things like that, but is glad to have time for what she does. She has been painting our basement a lot as well as Christian and is doing a great job.

Anna is now glad to be in the fifth grade and enjoys school a lot. She loves doing crafts and is always thinking of new ones and likes many other things too. I will list some of them. She likes piano and is succeeding in it,(she just had a recital), likes playing computer, making presents and things for her family, listening to all kinds of music, watching plays/ mimes and she recently saw the Nutcracker, she likes activity days very much, reading scriptures, writing in her journal, not doing chores, playing games, watching movies at the theater, swimming with her friends, school, playing games, visiting in an adult conversation, organizing things, scrapbooking, taking pictures, entering in Reflections, cooking, spending time with family, reading, and much more. She loves playing with friends, getting letters, and posting to the blog as well. She is now ten years old. Here are her favorites: (Color) Blue, Purple, (Foods) Spaghetti, Pizza, Chicken Enchiladas, Tacos, Cougar Dogs, BYU Creamery desserts, and cookies, (Thing to Do) Crafts, Scrapbooking, Cooking, Reading, (Sports) Basketball, Football, Baseball. She is totally obsessed with BYU and if you looked at her, chances are that half of the time you would see something that says BYU or Cougars on her somewhere. She absolutely loves following the Cougars and getting some channels with their sports, although the TV channel set up is bad.

Paul is really enjoying reading and ever since school started he has been reading like crazy. He is currently in the third grade and is eight years old. He was baptized this year by Christian and is very glad that he was baptized and that he is now a member of the true church of Jesus Christ. Paul likes piano, cooking, earning money for his Mission, playing games, crafts, scrapbooking, computer, taking pictures, watching movies, entering in Reflections, holding Alexandra, playing with his brothers, and much more. His favorite foods are Corn Chowder, Macaroni. His favorite sports are basketball, football, and baseball. His favorite things to do are reading, playing with friends, and doing crafts. His favorite colors are blue and orange. Paul is obsessed with Harry Potter so if you have any questions, contact Paul. He read the whole series in about 2 months! Impressive.


James has become a much bigger BYU fan. He understands basketball pretty well. He likes piano, playing with friends and his brothers, holding Alexandra, defending BYU when Ute fans come along, playing sports, attending Kindergarten, and more. His favorite foods are candy, stuffing, limes, and cupcakes. His favorite sports are basketball, football, and baseball. His favorite things to do are all of the above so that explains that.
His favorite colors are orange and green. He is an excellent reader and has been reading well since 2006. He started Kindergarten this year and he loves it – especially on Fridays. He is pretty good with Alexandra and good at cheering for BYU. He will watch their games and he is very eager to know if BYU won or lost when he knows they are playing but we can’t see the game.


Garrett has made some progress, as well as Pierce. Garrett has learned to speak a little bit better but he still says “You don’t can’t …” and “ That’s mine blue blanket” and stuff like that but he is doing better. Over this past year he has become more obsessed with movies and quoting things from them, such as “come on, man, it’s the holidays.” He has also become a bigger Cougar fan and is still really cute. Over this past year, he has gotten into a lot of trouble but it’s a good thing he is so cute … otherwise he might not get away without a spanking.


Pierce is pretty much the same as Garrett. They have both also learned to say “Yes” or “Yeah” but that was just toward the end of the year. They turned three this year.
Pierce is usually the leader of trouble and someone once said “I think that Garrett will work for Pierce when they grow up”. Just being an older twin doesn’t make you the boss apparently. Nephi was chosen to rule over his three older brothers so since Pierce is so smart, and has so many ideas and is the fourth boy, maybe he has sort of a case like that. I am sure that an angel will never appear to all of the boys stating that Pierce was chosen to be a ruler over his older brothers because of their afflictions, but Pierce is quite the leader. Many times he tricks Paul, Garrett, and James. He is one smart, silly, funny three-year-old and so is Garrett.


Alexandra is the biggest blessings that has happened to us this past year. She is just so CUTE!! Everyone who sees her agrees. She looks a lot like Anna did. She is very smiley now that she can smile. She makes very cute coos too and when you make sort of a cooing sound to her, she kind of tries to imitate it. Anna once had a friend over and they were playing with her. While they did, they talked to her a lot. She responded often and Anna and her friend (Annika) loved how cute it was. She has many cute outfits from very kind people, and that is very nice, because, we only took out all the boy clothes and tried to decide which one a girl and a boy could wear. Well, thank you if you gave her a cute little outfit because those are much cuter than most of the yellowish – light greenish outfits. She was born on October 20, 2007. We all love her so much and think she is very adorable.

Well, we hope that we have given you the main information that happened this year. We hope your year went as well as ours did.

Love,
The Bryners
This Newsletter was written by: Liz Bryner