Hello family and friends! I’m sorry you didn’t get our update last year, so this year you get a two-for-one deal: 2008 brought some major changes to our little family. In March we added Creighton Heath Rogers to the mix. Two months later, Ric graduated from Westminster College in SLC with a bachelor’s in Finance. One month after that, he began working here in Salt Lake City with a company called Sovereign Financial Group. He gets to put his degree to good use helping families and small business owners (though he has still continued to do mortgages for friends and family). And by December, I had finished up the last of my online classes in time to graduate from the University of Utah with my bachelor’s in English. So 2008 pushed Ric and I from the realm of college students into the world of “young family”.
2009 has seen our pace merely accelerate. Creighton is now 20 months old and always on the go (maybe it’s just his pace that makes me feel like life is in fast forward!). He’s been running since 10 months and never ceases to get into trouble. I have our kitchen chairs tied to the table, often the fridge door is taped shut, the safety locks on my cupboards are useless (Crater figured them out), and this year our Christmas tree is tied to the wall by a nail and some fishing line. However, when he’s not making a mess or climbing up to some forbidden, breakable object, Creighton is lots of fun! He has a bright smile, blue eyes that twinkle when he’s teasing you, and a very gratifying squeal and giggle when he’s being tickled. He is also known for his obsession with food. In nursery at church, when they have snack time he reportedly finishes his snack and then goes around to what all the other kids left behind and finishes theirs (this happens at home too). You can see why one of his nicknames is “Lunchbox”.
Stratton is a fabulous big brother – as long as Creighton isn’t messing with his toy organization! He alternates between bossing Creighton around, beating him up, and doting on him. Upon writing this, Stratton will be 4 tomorrow and has really turned into a great little helper. He started “preschool” this fall (4 other moms and I take turns teaching 6 kids twice a week) and has fallen in love with learning. His passion for art has added a new dimension recently – writing. I find his hieroglyphics (aka “My homework, Mom!”) all over every spare paper in sight. And sometimes the not so spare papers too! He is very into superheroes and anything “boy”. It seems that anything possible in my home is fair game either to be used as a weapon or some kind of building tool.
As for me, my year was filled with keeping up with two little boys. I also was able to dabble a bit in gardening, art, cooking and baking, running, and occasionally even getting some reading in too. And then we found out I was pregnant. So about a quarter of this year is a blur of morning sickness to me, but it was all worth it when we found out I am expecting a girl! Yay hooray! She is due at the end of February.
Ric and I both work in the youth program at church (Ric as the Young Men’s president, me as an advisor to the 16-18 year old girls) so between that and family trips with extended family, our summer was swallowed up with one campout or another every other weekend. Whew! I’ve never been so glad to see summer go and life calm down again! Ric also is our condo association president and continues working with Sovereign Financial Group and loving it there. It’s been a struggle and more late nights than not, but he has really grown and learned a lot this year. As if that wasn’t enough, he also had microfracture surgery on his knee in September, which kept him non-weight bearing on that leg for 6 weeks, and hopping (literally) to doctor’s and physical therapy appointments ever since. And somehow in that cram-packed schedule he finds time here and there to be with us and save my sanity!
As we take a minute to think about our year and what was important to us, we think of you all and the love and support we receive from those we love – whether we see you regularly or not. Thank you for the impact you have had on our lives. We are also especially grateful for our Savior and all that He does for each of us. We love you all and look forward to hearing from you. Have a very Merry Christmas!
All our love,
Ric, Serity, Stratton, and Creighton
