The Spencers : A 2013 Year in Review

There are many things that we, as a family, are stellar at. Laughing, making party treats and things of that nature.
Sending out an annual family Christmas/New Years card/letter? Not so much.

You would think that wouldn't be too hard. It is like the most simple of Christmas recipes.

Grandma's Holiday Christmas Cards

1. Take a picture. 
2. Go to Walmart/Target/Costco/Walgreens/AnyRandomPhotoProducingLocation
3. Make selection and order them. 
4. You don't even necessarily have to send out a letter with it. All you have to do is have a little "Merry Christmas from the Spencer Family!" or "Happy Holidays!". 
5. Throw it in an envelope
6. Add address and stamp
7. Send

There are some that are Christmas Card/letter superstars. First of December rolls around and their card appears. As the month progresses, letters and cards continue to roll in. The fact that people can even find addresses is amazing. The letters are well organized. Some are even witty.

An example of what could be but never is

We, the Spencers, Chris and Heidi and Co or Chris, Heidi, Alex, Alysse, Chloe....we do not do this. We have great intentions. Those intentions end and go down in a fiery ball of flames shortly after we have the idea to send a card. To do so, one would need to get a recent picture taken. And then get it printed up. And do all the other aforementioned things.

What to do?

Well, this year, we start ..... THE BLOG YEAR IN REVIEW. Then a link will be created and said link can then be emailed or posted in a very quick and somewhat lazy fashion getting to all those who happen to be in our address books. How convenient and festive! Yet in the end, pragmatic as we will have effectively achieved our goal : Spread our feelings of holiday wishes to one and all and feel good about having shared a few happenings in our lives with the ones that we know. care about and obviously don't get to see as often as we want.

So here goes. The first annual Spencer family year in review.

2013 has been a good year for us. Things continue to be exciting and different and a lot of that stems from the uniqueness of our little family. We did a couple 5Ks, developed new hobbies, discovered Netflix, continued to love raclette and all things yummy, went camping, finished a couple of large home renovation projects (gutted Alex and Alysse's rooms), got older, wiser (some of us more in the smarty pants department), and generally, just continue to learn and grow. Let's break it down by individual.

Chloe, A.K.A Moe, A.K.A Schmoe, A.K.A MoeMoe, A.K.A Moe-isha, A.K.A SchmoeMoe, Not A.K.A Chewy (unfortunately) turned 11 and is in grade 5 (5th grade).

 

It is amazing to believe that our baby is getting so much older. It was a crazy year for her. She did gymnastics part of the year and then proceeded to break her arm doing some sort of gymnastics related maneuver at school. This led to a few months in a cast and finding out that she could be ambidextrous. She has been growing on and off which is great. She is doing really well in school and is as excited about every cause or contest or campaign that happens to cross her path. She is Dad's fishing buddy although showed her big heart and continual love of all animals when she caught her first fish and went from super excited to very distraught when she realized that it wasn't going to make it. She likes mustaches or at least drawing them. She is a sweet girl (although we are very excited for her to be out of the pre-teen and early teen years) that we really love.

Alysse, (still) A.K.A Peanut is 14 (going on 20).

 

She is much taller (there was and continues to be much debate about whether she passed Heidi this year) and has had a great year. She is in her last year of junior high (grade 9) and is still enjoying school. She did really well in the school's Model United Nations (top delegate) as she represented the UK which must have been because she followed her father's advice and didn't call anyone a wanker.
She also decided to make a goal of trying out for the basketball team. And she made the team! It has been a great learning experience so far with the highlight of the season for sure being when she shut down a 6'5 girl and limited her to 1 point in 2 1/2 quarters.
Alysse continues to love to cook, watch Studio C and listen to (and sing along with) music. She is a goofball and we really love her.

Alex A.K.A Alex is 16.

 

He has had a big year and alot of that has to do with his size. He continues to get taller (which is only annoying when he decides to comment on the sparseness of hair on the top of Dad's head). We think he is about 6'3 but it could be closer to 6'4. He is doing well in school and looks forward to graduation next year (even though Mom and Dad aren't ready). He took the ACT this year, got contacts, made the tennis team, took driver training (and can get his license whenever Mom and Dad are ready to add him to the insurance), got asked to his first formal dance and continues to act more grown up all the time. He is great with his cousins and is generally a really nice guy who is willing to serve others and just lend a helping hand.

Heidi, A.K.A. Mom

Heidi had a big year as she turned the big 4-0 this year. She took it in stride and she continues to amaze all of us with her ability to do many many things. She bought herself a Kindle and basically spends alot of her spare time with "the boyfriend" (as we call it) reading. She still works at IMFT (Intel-Micron Flash Technologies) and still loves it. She is a counselor in the Primary presidency at church and also went to girls camp this past summer to take care of the food. It apparently went well since she is going back again this summer. Heidi had some health things this past little while that she has taken in stride as she does all things. We are continually blessed by her efforts whether it be the 4 AM runs to FedEx/Kinkos to print off papers for school or making amazing treats for any one of the different things we go to. We love to hear her laugh and cheer. It is like music to our ears.

Chris, A.K.A Dad, A.K.A Dance Master Thrilla D (this last one might be made up)

Chris continues to be the 4th child in the family. He still works for Ancestry.com and likes it alot. This summer was about discovering and developing a new hobby : Fishing which also involved a new found love of Mountain Dew and Salt and Pepper or Bacon flavored sunflower seeds. He also continues to enjoy watching football (enjoy seems like a bit weak when describing that) and basketball as well as reading and doing things with the young men at church. He has been the inventor of several epic dance moves which have been displayed in the newly created family disagreement resolution method of "DANCE OFF". He continues to enjoy embarrassing the kids when taking them to school in the morning. He tries his best to 

We live a good life. We are blessed seemingly at every turn. We have a wonderful family both near and far, good friends both near and far, and enough experiences to inject spice and variety into our lives. We are looking forward to 2014 and all of the fun things that we will see and do. We wish all of the success possible to all of you in the coming year and as much happiness as you could possibly stand. Happy Holidays and may the love and Spirit of the season continue with you all year long.

Love, the Spencers (Chris, Heidi, Alex, Alysse and Chloe)