Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! We hope you are all doing well and are having a wonderful Holiday Season. This has been a year of faith, learning, loving, and growing. It started out jobless as Mark was laid off in October last year and was unemployed until May. In May, after much prayer and reliance on the Lord, our prayers were answered when he got a job with CR England as the Director of Accident Prevention. It is such a departure from what he has done the past 15 years. Overall it is a fantastic job, and despite the learning curve, he has grown in so many ways. Recently Mark was featured in an article published by SL Tribune. His team at CR England donated a tree at this year's Festival of Trees. The story behind the tree is what caught the eye of the Tribune. It turned out so beautiful! He and his team did a great job. The one good thing about Mark having some "time off," was that he did lots of projects around the house. He made us an amazing headboard out of a knotty alder door. Then he built a beautiful mantel over our fireplace. and the creme de le creme-- he remodeled our kitchen! We are still working to complete the tile backsplash but the cabinets look amazing! I will take pictures of everything he did and post them soon...stay tuned!
I have been very busy this year with the kids being involved in their plays, piano and dance. I am teaching 17 piano students and am so grateful to be able to work from home. I've also had the great opportunity to be a part of Jenny Phillip's fireside choir. (Jenny is a Deseret Book recording artist.) It has been a great opportunity for me to go out and share my testimony through song all over the state. I've been taking a tap class for the past few months to get ready for Singing In The Rain; a play that I will be in in the spring. I've really come to love tapping, and am looking forward to dancing more in the show! Lately I've been more in the mood to read a good book when I get some free time, but every once in a while I make cards and scrapbook too. I love being in the Primary and I have wonderful counselors that make my job easy and very fun!
Maddie is turing 12 this month and will be entering YW. She is so excited, though I have to admit I get a teary eyed each time I think about it. Mark is in denial and refuses to let her grow up. She has really grown into a sweet, young lady this year. She loves to babysit and has been able to earn some of her own money this year by babysitting neighbors and cousins. She enjoys 6th grade, though I wouldn't say she loves it. She is finding out that there are a lot more responsibilities when you grow up. But she is doing well in school and with friends and is really improving her piano playing. In addition, she has also become quite the seamstress since taking up sewing lessons from a member of our Ward. She also had fun being in 3 plays this year. She did Honk, Once Upon a Mattress and Aladdin with her sister Abby. Check out the pictures on the blog to see fun snap shots from their shows. They get better and better each time and love it more and more!
Abby is in 4th grade this year and loves it! She has a wonderful teacher and her best friend is in her class--what could be better? She is really growing up too, but is still our cute and funny Abby. She really enjoyed being in plays with her sister this year. In her most recent production, Aladdin, she got a lead role as Iago, the Parrot. She was amazing! It was our favorite play of the whole year. She also took a couple of dance classes this year; a ballet workshop in the summer and Irish Dancing in the fall. She is quite the little pianist and LOVES to play with her friends.
Zach is our little man of the house. He is in Kindergarten and LOVES it! He has a fantastic teacher and never complains about having to go to school everyday. He is really starting to love to read and finds words everywhere that he knows or tries to sound out. He loves playing outside, riding his bike, playing with his trucks, hanging out with his Dad, and playing Wii games. I started teaching him piano this fall and he is doing really well! I think he looks up to all the boys that I teach in piano and wants to play like them. (A great motivator!) He is such a sweet boy and loves his new pet cat, RUDY.
Paisley is our little 2 year old caboose who makes sure we know she's here! She is such a stitch! She loves to imitate her brother and sisters--both the good and the not so good. Because of this she acts so grown up. She LOVES to play dress up and "pretend". She is a huge fan of Barney and even knows how to turn on the DVD player in the playroom. (Very convenient!) She also loves to play outside at the park. She would spend hours there everyday if we could. This cold weather is cramping her style. She really is the spark in our family and we love her for it.
Maddie is turing 12 this month and will be entering YW. She is so excited, though I have to admit I get a teary eyed each time I think about it. Mark is in denial and refuses to let her grow up. She has really grown into a sweet, young lady this year. She loves to babysit and has been able to earn some of her own money this year by babysitting neighbors and cousins. She enjoys 6th grade, though I wouldn't say she loves it. She is finding out that there are a lot more responsibilities when you grow up. But she is doing well in school and with friends and is really improving her piano playing. In addition, she has also become quite the seamstress since taking up sewing lessons from a member of our Ward. She also had fun being in 3 plays this year. She did Honk, Once Upon a Mattress and Aladdin with her sister Abby. Check out the pictures on the blog to see fun snap shots from their shows. They get better and better each time and love it more and more! 
Abby is in 4th grade this year and loves it! She has a wonderful teacher and her best friend is in her class--what could be better? She is really growing up too, but is still our cute and funny Abby. She really enjoyed being in plays with her sister this year. In her most recent production, Aladdin, she got a lead role as Iago, the Parrot. She was amazing! It was our favorite play of the whole year. She also took a couple of dance classes this year; a ballet workshop in the summer and Irish Dancing in the fall. She is quite the little pianist and LOVES to play with her friends. 
Zach is our little man of the house. He is in Kindergarten and LOVES it! He has a fantastic teacher and never complains about having to go to school everyday. He is really starting to love to read and finds words everywhere that he knows or tries to sound out. He loves playing outside, riding his bike, playing with his trucks, hanging out with his Dad, and playing Wii games. I started teaching him piano this fall and he is doing really well! I think he looks up to all the boys that I teach in piano and wants to play like them. (A great motivator!) He is such a sweet boy and loves his new pet cat, RUDY. 
Paisley is our little 2 year old caboose who makes sure we know she's here! She is such a stitch! She loves to imitate her brother and sisters--both the good and the not so good. Because of this she acts so grown up. She LOVES to play dress up and "pretend". She is a huge fan of Barney and even knows how to turn on the DVD player in the playroom. (Very convenient!) She also loves to play outside at the park. She would spend hours there everyday if we could. This cold weather is cramping her style. She really is the spark in our family and we love her for it. We hope that this new year brings you all much happiness and joy! One thing we have learned this past year through our struggles, is that family is the most important and that we must do whatever we can to strengthen our eternal bonds. By being close to the Lord, one can endure anything and become a better person for it.
Merry Christmas!
Love, The Fillmore Family
1 comment:
WOW! What a year! Your kids are so beautiful! What an amazing family.
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