Beautiful Boston Temple grounds with our handsome Stewart two days before his 8th birthday.

Three-year-old Ella Sophia creations are delightfully present all over the house.

She seatbelt taped her Playmobile girl into the car (above and left).

Noah’s Ark animals being fed cut-up Twizzlers (below).

Happy, Fresh, Blessed, Wonderfully Successful, Positive, Chocolatey, New Year.

Love,
Mike, Liz, Stewart, Ella Sophia and Thomas Dunford

A family highlight during the Christmas season was visiting the nearby Golden Living Center. We put on a show with some good friends. The program featured a five year old author/illustrator reading his own work, improv dances, vocal selections, pianists and a good old fashioned sing-a-long accompanied by the accordion.

Following the nursing home, we met at our house for an egg nog tasting and vote. We had eight or so varieties including some New England batches. While hoping a local would win, the hands down winner was Land O Lakes from Costco. Shoot.

The egg nog season is too short.

Happy Thanksgiving. We have many blessings in our life for which to be thankful. And the things we revisit the most in our conversations about gratitude almost always have to do with family. It is with family that we smile the most. Throughout the day our time is divided by our busy schedules of school, work, church service and family time. We find ourselves the happiest while with family. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us family relationships and the teachings of Jesus Christ to nurture those relationships.

We spent the holiday in NYC with cousins: Jared and Ruth Sine family and Christy and Romney Evans family. It felt so good to be with our extended family.

It was our first time seeing the Macy’s Day Parade. Well worth the crazy crowds and arctic winds.

At only nine weeks, Thomas is weighing in at a whopping 15 pounds and charming the pants off of all of us.

Robbins Farm Park in Arlington, Massachusetts features a pair of 50 foot slides built right into the hillside. A trip to the slide has become our most powerful incentive for good behavior. Chocolate still works best for Mike and Liz.

We spent General Conference weekend in Provincetown with Grandma Dunford. There is nothing like a Grandma’s love.

Looking at Massachusetts on a map, Provincetown is the very tip of Cape Cod. Provincetown has more art galleries than fudge shops and that’s saying something. We made sure to appreciate both sufficiently.

Chatham (also on the Cape) was an especially good find. Our first impression as we drove into the town: brightly colored chairs hanging from a cedar-shingled garden house was a foreshadow of more charm to come.

We did a photo shoot of the little ones on Light House Beach. The seamless meshing of three vibrant colors: ocean blue, green grass and golden sand was breathtaking. Constant Thomas at five weeks was unconventionally upset for the photo shoot. E and S tried out their soothing skills on their brother.

Half-eaten English cucumber and string cheese wrapper found around the house are evidence of Ella Sophia’s self-sufficiency. We’ve loved the fact that she opened the fridge and helped herself to a snack. With the blessing of a newborn in the home, come new responsibilities for three-year-old Ella Sophia.

Early riser Stewart asks, “Could you please make my lunch? I’ve made it the last two days. I can’t get to the protein in the fridge (turkey in a drawer) ‘cause it’s too noisy.” He was worried about waking us up.