Merry Christmas

Dear Friends and Family:

I know this is an untraditional way to send a Christmas greeting...but it illustrates the way this year has been for our family!

I (Sonya) have been going to graduate school at Utah State University for the past two years. This spring I will be finished with my Masters Degree in Educational Technology! It has been a very growing, self-fulfilling time and I definitely have nerves of steel now! My family has been very patient with me. Will is an amazing husband, I don't know how I got so lucky. We joke that he deserves the Good Housekeeping award of the year and he is going to make someone a great housewife someday! My sweet boys have also been patient with the many hours their mom has spent on the computer. All the work is paying off I have some great career prospects which will allow me to work part-time as an instructional designer or a professor.

Will is still working for the LDS church as a carpenter, in the Salt Lake administrative building. He has had some great experiences working for the church. I love to hear the stories he has about the projects he is working on and the people he gets to associate with. Will has made it a priority to take time for his hobby of horses this year. He has purchased some colts which he is breaking, and has gone on a lot of rides. The boys love helping their dad with the horses.

Liam will be 7 yrs. old in a few weeks. He is in 1st grade. He comes home from school excited everyday, he loves it and is doing very well. It is so fun to read the stories he writes, they are usually about his horses. Liam is quite the little cowboy. He is his dad's sidekick. His favorite thing to do is to go to horse auctions with his dad, and talk him into buying horses! If he is not outside playing with his horses, he is inside setting up amazing farms and corrals with his play horses and cows. Liam is also our little model. A group of photographers from Sundance have started taking Liam's picture riding his horse around the field a couple times a year.

Riley is 3 years old. He is in preschool. Riley's nickname is "Rooster". It fits him well. He is very loud and he likes to make his presence known! He loves trains and he is a mamma's boy. From the first moment I first looked into his big, beautiful eyes I could tell that he is special and he is going to accomplish great things in his life.

We love all of our friends and family. We might not be very good at keeping in contact but you are in our thoughts often! We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that you will be blessed throughout this coming year.

Love,

Will, Sonya, Liam & Riley Duke