2009 Quist Family Christmas Letter

M is for Months that have Passed. It has been at least 12 months since we last sent out Christmas cards and Christmas letter and we just wanted to update all of our wonderful family and friends on everything going on in our lives. Since the end of this year has been so busy for us we were not able to get cards out on time. Sorry for that.



E is for Education. Thom is still teaching 8th grade Language Arts at Lake County Middle School. This is his second year and he is still enjoying it. This year the middle school has switched to a block schedule, and it has been an adjustment only seeing his classes every other day, but he still enjoys it, and he loves the people he works with.



R is for Reunion with the Hortons. This summer we drove down to Arizona for the annual Horton Family Reunion. It was nice to spend time with most of Laci's family. There were a few who were not able to attend and we missed you guys. We spent our first night camping and the rest of the time at a resort in Sedona. We went to a place called Wet Beaver Creek and went on a small hike, then we found a great place to play in the creek. Tailynne really enjoyed that part. Other activities we did were: swimming at the resort, our annual Horderve party and gift exchange, shopping in Sedona, spending time with family, and playing games. We were sad to see the time pass so quickly, but we look forward to next year's reunion that will be in Breckenridge.





R is for Reunion with the Quists. We also had the first ever Robert and Wanda Quist Family Reunion in Hermit Park. Hermit Park is located near Estes Park, Colorado. It was a beautiful location to have a family reunion. Thom's family used to go on family trips to Hermit Park when he was growing up, and it was great to be there again with everyone. Thom's parents, all of his siblings and their families were all there, along with Thom's Uncle Glenn and Aunt Bernadette (making 41 people total). Most of the families stayed in cabins, but our family stayed in a tent, which, thankfully, didn't let the rain in. Some of the activities we particpated in were the Q-lympics, hiking, games, catching up with family, holding babies, and shopping in Estes Park. It was a lot of fun and we look forward to the next Quist family reunion in 2012.




Y is for Y-Chromosome. That's right, we added a Y-Chromosome to our family! On November 15 at 5:45 pm Camden Robert Quist joined our family. He weighed 3 pounds 10 ounces and was 15.25 inches long. He was not due until the beginning of January, so he came about 8 weeks early. He spent 4 weeks in te University of Colorado Hospitals NICU. When he was released, he had grown to 4 pounds 12 ounces. He is a handsome little guy and is welcomed and loved by his parents and his older sister, Tailynne.





C is for Church Callings. Thom is staying busy serving as Elders Quorum President in the Frisco Ward, and Laci is serving as the Ward Librarian. Tailynne loves to attend nursery or "church" as she calls it. Camden has not yet attended our ward.




H is for Home at last! Due to complications with Laci's pregnacy she was admitted to the Summit County Hospital at the end of October. She went for her first, and hopefully last, ambulance ride to University Hospital in Denver, where the doctors are trained for high risk pregnancies. We found out that she would be in the hospital until she had the baby, which was not very encouraging for our family. Thom had to work, so with Laci in the hospital, we had to find someone to keep Tailynne for us. We were very blessed to have Thom's mom and dad take care of Tailynne, but this meant that our family of three was in three different cities. This was a huge challenge for our family but we are so happy to say that after eight weeks of living like that, we are home at last and instead of a family of three, we are a family of four!




R is for Running a 5k. Thom decided to run in the Manassa Pioneer Day's 5k race. He started training while he was coaching middle school track. In July, Thom spent a week with Laci's sister Micah and her family where he helped them work on their new house. On Friday of that week, Laci and Tai came down for the weekend. Saturday morning Thom got in the starting line for the 5k. When the gun shot fired, he took off running and ran around "M" mountain. He did awesome, Tailynne and Laci were so proud of him.


I is for Imagination. We have loved watching Tailynne grow and change this past year. One big change is that her imagination has gone wild. We love to watch her play. She cooks pretend food for us, she has her barbies (and her silverware) have conversations, she talks on pretend phones, and she plays with her cousins even though they are nowhere near her. For about a week, she talked about birds flying around in her bedroom. These are just a few things that she does on a regular basis, but daily she uses her imagination and surprises us with something new.



S is for Smiles. Tailynne is all smiles. We love to hear her running around and laughing. If she knows that you are looking at her she will trun and give you the biggest cheesiest smile you have ever seen. She has a way of making others smile when they are having a bad day. We love having this little girl in our family.



T is for Theatre. As if Thom is not busy enough, he had a great oppertunity present itself and how could he resist it? The High School Drama Coaching position opened up and he decided to apply for it. He was offered this position right after the interview. It has kept him busy in the evenings. This fall was his first set of shows. He directed 4 one act plays that turned out great. During the Spring semester he is preparing for an improv night and a musical. Thom has always loved Theatre so when this came up there was no way he could let it pass him by.


M is for Museum. Laci spent her second summer working at the Healy House Museum here in Leadville. She works as a tour guide and a sales person in the gift shop. The gift shop is actually where she spent most of her time this summer. Laci loves working at the museum because she meets great people from all over the world, and she learns a lot about Leadville's history. While Thom was out of school, he took care of Tailynne, but when he started work again Tailynne joined Laci at the Museum. Tailynne also enjoyes the museum and loves getting spoiled by Laci's boss.




A is for Answered Prayers. We have had many answered prayers this past year, and we are so grateful for them. We are grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves us and blesses us daily. We are also grateful for the many prayers on our behalf that have also been answered! In all the weeks that Laci was up in Denver, Thom was able to make it up to see her every weekend. Even in the winter storm the weekend Camden was born, Thom was able to find a safe place to stay the night, and make it up to Denver in time to be there for Camden's birth!



S is for Safe and Happy Holidays! We wanted to wish you a Safe and Happy Holiday Season. We hope that as you celebrate this Christmas Season that you will have the Spirit of Christmas with you!





Merry Christmas!

Love,

Thom, Laci, Tailynne and Camden

Nesting

Well I had my last day of work on Wednesday and I am now home for good (except for a couple hours on Thursday, but close enough). Well my house has been very neglected needless to say, so yesterday I sat down to make a list of things I need to get done. It is long let me tell you. So yesterday I spent a big majority of the day working on it. Have you ever noticed as you cross one thing off your list you think of at least two more things to add. Well maybe I should go see if I can get a few more things crossed off today and a lot more added to it.

My Little Girl is Getting Big

It has been a while since I have taken pictures of Tailynne, and she has gotten lots bigger. So one day while I was at work and it was really slow I took my camera and took lots of pictures. I may have had to much fun.

I love this little girl!

ABC's about Me

Ambitious

Beautiful (says Thom)

Crafty

Dedicated

Enthusiastic

Fat (I am pregnant what do you expect)

Gifted

Happy

Intrigued Easily

Jumpy

Kind

Loving

Motherly

Nervous

Optimistic

Procrastinator

Quist

Republican

Sometimes sane

Trouble

Understanding

Versatile

Worrier

Xenophobic (not really)

Young

Zesty

Here are the ABC's about me. I thought it was a fun idea I hope you enjoy!

20 Second Update

Wow this summer has been crazy. I can not believe that it has been over 2 months since I have taken the chance to blog. We have been traveling here and there and have some fun pictures to share when I get a chance. However I should be getting ready for work, but I am feeling really guilty. So here is a fast update on us.

Tailynne: Makes us laugh everyday. Loves to explore. Hates dirt between her toes. Will talk your ear off. Loves to dance. Could spend every moment out doors. Charms everyone she sees. Begs to see her cousins and grandparents daily. Loves our new cat, Baby Doe.

Thom: Is enjoying his time with Tailynne this summer. Is currently in Alamosa helping my sister move to her new house. Will be the new drama couch at Lake County High School this year. Busy being Elders Quarum President.

Laci: Is working full time at the Healy House Museum, and enjoying every minute of it. Is pregnant and finally getting over the morning sickness faze (wohoo!) Has had a great time traveling with my family but I am looking forward to August when I can stay home on my days off. Is dreading the start of school for Thom (It is so nice to have him home.

There you have it. Our quick update. I will try to post more at a later date, but for now I should get ready for work.

Story Hour at the Airport.

Tailynne and I started going to the library for story hour since about September. This is an activity that Tailynne has truly enjoyed and looks forward to every week. It will be hard when she stops going through the summer. Anyway they always do something fun at story hour and this week was a field trip to the Leadville Airport! We got to learn how airplanes fly and helicopters, also. It was lots of fun. They even had an airplane flying by when we first got there. I wish I would have caught Tailynne's reaction to that because it was too cute, but I was too slow. Here are some pictures I took. I hope you enjoy.

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

You may want to pause the music at the bottom of the blog so you can hear it. I think it is really funny, and I hope you do too.

Spring is Here Love Tag

So I have never done this before but thought I would give it a try cause this is a fun one. I was tagged Here so here is my info.
1) What was your wedding date? August 5th 2004
2) How long from "I will" to "I Do" 4 1/2 months
3) Where were you married? Denver Temple
4) What were your wedding colors? Baby Blue and yellow
5) Who was in your wedding party? Nancy Quist (now Merkley), Amanda Horton (now Hill), Cody Horton (now Bruce), Darcie Wendelin, and Christy Smith (now Moffit), David Quist, John Quist, Jared Hall and Nate Howe.
6) Honestly, could your bridesmaids REALLY have worn the dress again? I think they could but I don't know if any of them ever did. I thought they were really pretty and not to formal. I wanted one for myself.
7) Did you LOVE your gown? Would you choose the same gown again? Yes I loved it. It was not my first choice but thinking back I think that I like it better then my first choice plus I saved lots of money! If I were to marry again I would choose the same gown, but that is not going to happen because I am happily married so there is no need.
8) Flowers: Real or Silk? Silk, not gona lie much easier then real flowers.
9) Reception: Full meal or Calling reception? We had two calling receptions. One in Loveland One in Monte Vista.
10) Dance or no dance? We had a dollar dance. Everyone who wanted to dance with the bride or groom had to pay at least $1.00. We were able to pay for gas to our second reception and treat ourself to breakfast. It was very nice.
11) What would you have done differently? I would have had an open house in Monte Vista rather then a reception. It was to much work for the amount of people who came. Oh well It was still nice though.
12) Any disasters?
One minor one It was the day of our reception in Monte Vista. We had gone to Zapata Falls and all of our spare clothes were at a bed and breakfast in South Fork. Anyway I fell in the water and was soaked. I didn't have a change of anything with me. Luckly Thom had a spare pair of shorts in the car so I changed into that, but everything else was wet. I know not really a disaster but some of my family made fun of me when I got to the reception wearing Thom's shorts. But in the end I dried out and all was fine. I know not much of a disaster but a funny story.
13) Best Gift you received? There are so many I am not sure. I am still using lots of them and so I would say those are the best.
14) Strangest gift you received? 23 packages of Lime Jello and 1 pack of blue jello (inside joke from the person who gave it to us) and a Statue of Liberty figurine that grew when you put it in water. There where a few others also.
15) Most Memorable moment that day? There are so many good ones but the one that first popped into my mind was at the reception. Thom wrote a song for me and sang it too me at the reception. I had no idea that he was planning to do it. It was a beautiful song. I made him record it for me so I can listen to it when ever I want. Another one is being sealed together for time and all eternity in the Denver Temple. There is nothing like knowing you can be together forever.

Hope you had a Happy Easter...

... we sure did!!



















Friday night we let Tailynne die Easter eggs with lots of help. She still came out with her hands all different colors. So she took a bath and then posed with dad for a picture of the finished project. Saturday night we did an Easter egg hunt for her. She loves looking for an Easter egg hunt.



















Sunday morning she got her Easter basket with her new dress and hat. Can I just say how much I love this girl! Not a minute goes by that she doesn't do something that makes me laugh. Even watching her sleep make me smile!

Random Pictures

Wow I can not believe that it has been two months since our last post. Here are some random pictures that we took over the last few months. These pictures are not in any order.

We went snowshoeing up on Fremont Pass. It is a beautiful area.

I went and stayed with my niece Karissa and nephew Brock while there older brother was recovering from surgery. One activity we did was the Denver Museum on Nature and Science. We had a great time.

Over spring break we went to Rocky Mountain National Park with Thom's parents. This picture was taken on Trail Ridge Road where there is some beautiful scenery.

We went to the Colorado Mills Mall and ran into the Easter Bunny. Tailynne was fascinated with him.

Tailynne got a new bed, and I had a good time sewing sheet to match the quilt I made before she was even born. She does pretty well at sleeping in the bed, however there have been a few nights we put her in the crib because she wont stay put.

Over spring break we got to see some of Thom's family. This is her cousin Tessa who she gets along with so well. She also got along really well with her cousin Josiah but I don't have any pictures of them on this computer. She had a great time.

This picture was taken at Nanny's funeral. The good thing that came from the funeral was that my whole family was there. It had been a long time since that has happened. This is a picture of all the girls. From left to right Shelley, Micah, Amanda, Lorraine (mom), Cody (she really isn't bald it is just bad lighting) and Me. It was great to see all my siblings again.



I hope you enjoyed my pathetic attempt at catching up our blog.

Nanny Nona

I just wanted to take a minute and blog about a great woman who I am going to miss terribly, my Grandma, Nanny Nona. She passed away on the evening of February 13th 2009. She was loved and respected by many. All who knew her always had good things to say about her. She was a great example to all of her family, which she had a lot of. She had seven children, over 30 grandchildren, over 90 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren (so far). Nanny loved all of us and always welcomed us at her house. The picture above is a four generation picture. In the back is my mom, Lorraine, Up front is Nanny Nona, Me and Tailynne

I have so many wonderful memories of Nanny. I have multiple memories of times I got to spend at her house. Any time we went to her house she would always have something freshly baked. Two of my favorite items that she made were her home made rolls and her chocolate cake that she made from scratch. Another thing that she made, and introduced me to, was apple butter, which she made from the apples she grew in her yard. I remember walking through her yard and picking the apples from her many trees. Whenever we left her house during the summer she would make sure that we took a bag of freshly picked apples.

Another loved activity at her house was wading in the canal out front. Nanny always kept a drawer full of shorts in a variety of sizes, so if we forgot our own we wouldn’t miss out on wading. There is one time in particular that I remember going wading and Nanny sat on the bridge with her feet in the water. After I got tired of wading I remember sitting by her on the bridge with my feet dangling in the water and talking about all the important things of life. I would not trade those times for the world.

While I was growing up we would always look forward to going to spend the night at Nanny’s house. We only lived a little over an hour from her (which sometimes felt like forever). She would always have a fun activity for us to do, when I was younger she would teach us to paint, she was an amazing painter, then when I got a little older we would play canasta or another card game late into the night, or sometimes we would just sit and talk. There were a few Christmases that I got to stay at Nanny’s house. Once she had my whole family stayed with her. It was fun for me as a little girl sleeping right by Nanny’s bed waiting for Santa to come visit us. When I was about 15 I got to spend a Christmas with Nanny. It was something that my whole family looked forward too. Each year one of my siblings would get to go and deliver the gifts to Nanny and spend Christmas day with her. That year for Christmas, she gave me a necklace that she got while she was on her mission, before I was ever born. I loved the necklace; she said someone made it for her while she was on her mission. I still to this day love and treasure that necklace, and I always will. The last time that I spent a Christmas with Nanny was just a few years ago. Thom and I were married and living in Alamosa, but Thom had to work the night shift so I went to spend Christmas with her. It was nice to not have to have to be alone on Christmas, but it was even better to spend time with Nanny and Toby (her son). I always love to listen to them tell stories about my ancestors.

Nanny was always a great example to me and the rest of her grandkids. She raised a very strong family. In fact out of 17 grandsons, 16 served missions. I think that a lot of that has to do with her example. As long as I remember, Nanny always served in the church. The calling that I remember her serving as was the Relief Society President; she served there for a long time. Nanny was always visiting those in need and stopping by to check on those who she was prompted to visit. One very important thing that I learned from her was to love everyone. She took every opportunity she could to tell others her testimony of Jesus Christ.

Nanny was 92 years old when she passed away. She had spent more of her time single then the time she was married. Her husband Troy died when my mom was 16 years old, but Nanny always told us stories about him so I really felt like I knew him. I am so glad that Nanny is reunited with her husband Troy. I know that she missed him terribly and was so excited to join him. I believe that they spent a great Valentine’s Day together. I know that she was also welcomed in Heaven by others who left this life before her, including one of her daughters , a son-in-law, a great-grandson, and many others. I am sure it was a very happy reunion on Friday night. So though it will be hard for those of us left behind, I am sure that she is very happy.
I love you and will miss you so much Nanny.

Popcorn Popping

We love to watch Tailynne dance. Tonight at family home evening we were singing Popcorn Popping and Tailynne joined in. Sorry about the lighting, it wasn't the best.

Airborn

Tai's Sledding Video

Snow Angels

Tailynne LOVES Her Baby

Every day Tailynne carries her babies around with her. It has become a game to have Mom or Dad wrap the baby up. Then she unwraps the baby right away, and then asks us to wrap the baby again.

Also, she will say "baby sleepy" and she will make a bed to put her baby in. Her most common "bed" is made out of wash clothes and hand towels. She really takes care of her babies.

Tailynne is talking quite a bit.

Tailynne is really starting to talk to where we can understand it (part of the time). She calls dogs, god. Tonight there was a dog barking outside and Tailynne says "Whats that...god?"

Sledding

For Family Home Evening we went sledding. We ended up doing our activity first since we were not to excited to go sledding in the dark. So right when Thom got home from school we got all bundled up and headed for Leadville's sledding hill. We had lots of fun. Here are a few pictures we wanted to share with you.

Tailynne had a great time riding down the hill with both mom and dad. You could hear her laughing the whole ride.

Needless to say when you are sledding in fresh powder and going fast you get blasted with snow.

"Mom, Dad what are you crazy people doing?"