Our Christmas letter to you!

Family and Friends...

I am trying to be a bit more frugal and green this year and am opting to post our Christmas letter rather than mailing out a couple hundred copies. So hopefully this post finds you all healthy and happy. We send our love to you all...happy reading!!

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What an amazing year this has been for the Wyke family. I will try to report chronologically the events of 2008 as best as my absent mind can remember!

*January 11: The birth of our second baby boy, Benson Elliot at 3:34 in the morning. Only 45 minutes from the time that we arrived at the hospital until he appeared. I pushed once…ONCE! What a different experience than my 2½ hours of pushing with Sulli! Ben is really close to walking, has 5 teeth with 2 more coming soon. He “talks ” constantly and is such a happy guy. He brings endless joy, laughs and smiles.*February 26: Our first niece was born. Dylan Renee Wyke was born to Evan’s brother Andy and his wife Erin. She is beautiful!

*April 8: I turned 30! Wow. I celebrated a few weeks earlier with some friends by having dinner and going dancing. On my actual birthday I was lucky enough to have one of my childhood lifelong friends, Tabitha Ward (Thompson) come visit. That next weekend I got another visit from a college roommate lifelong friend Jennifer Chalmers (Eliopulos). It was great to see my girls and have them meet Benny.

*April 24: Our first trip with 2 kids…we traveled to California with Evan’s parents to meet our new niece and introduce Ben to his Aunt, Uncle, several cousins and Great-Grandma Lil. The boys did great on the plane and had a wonderful time with the family. The trip included a visit to the LA Zoo and playing in the waves on Manhattan Beach.

*May 6: My Grandpa Alvin passed away exactly one year after his wife. Many friends and family gathered to celebrate his life on the 17^th in Twin Falls. The day before that, we celebrated my dad, Doug’s 60^th birthday.

*June 13: We took a trip to the family cabin with my girlfriends Jen and Tab so that we could all celebrate our 30^th birthdays together. We had a great time getting to know each other’s spouses a bit better and reminiscing about our childhoods, college days and fun times together.*July 19: Sullivan celebrated his 3^rd birthday pirate style! He is an amazing little boy who loves wrestling his daddy, cooking with mom, and cuddling his brother. He started preschool this fall and is loving his time there. I just can’t believe how fast it is all going. He is a bundle of energy with nonstop running, jumping, talking and playing!*July 21: Evan and I celebrated our 7^th wedding anniversary. We continue to enjoy serving in various ways at our church, participating in two different Bible study groups, and going to the Broadway shows that visit Boise. Evan is still with ReBath as part owner and production manager. He continues to keep Wyke Building Company alive by focusing on remodeling projects. He is also doing some property management work. All in all, he is a very busy man. I went back to work “part part time” for a staffing company. I do fill-in work at various hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient therapy offices around the valley. I also am seeing some home health patients. I am able to do this with the help of a dear friend who worked out a kid-sitting swap with me so that we could both get in a little bit of work but also stay home with our kiddos.(Sulli is our budding photographer)

*September 4: Our annual Lake Powell trip with my family was a wonderful success. The kids had a great time and we were able to relax a bit. Sulli was a little fish in the water and Ben enjoyed splashing around too.

*September 18: The boys, my mom and I took a road trip to Missoula, MT to visit my sister Laurie and her boyfriend Carey. The weekend was filled with cooking and canning. It was a great trip and fun to see their "new-to-them" house. We took some fun walks down to the river and Sulli played in Auntie Boo's garden and fished with Uncle Carey.

November 16: Benson was dedicated at our church and we were able to celebrate this occasion with lots of family and friends. We even had family from California here visiting at the time.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Evan’s grandma Bertie and parents this year. And then we made a quick trip up to McCall because we heard a rumor that Santa would be there. We will be spending Christmas with my family in Twin Falls. We continue to be blessed beyond all measures. Economic slump and all, we are so fortunate to have such wonderful family, friends and good health. We pray that God is a part of each of your lives and that we see you very soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,

Evan, Nicole, Sullivan and Benson Wyke