Our 2009 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas 2009 Everyone~
Christmas is one of our favorite times of year because we get to hear from so many of the people we love—namely YOU! We have loved getting the cards and letters so far. Thank-you very much for being a part of our lives, we are better for having known you. Here is just a little of what is going on at the Vail home front.

Matt continues to be a tad too busy working as the VP RBC Manager for Wells Fargo Auto Division. He is mighty fine at what he does in every area of his life. He continues to stay busy helping neighbors, needy children that suddenly appear with a crisis, traveling, reading, home repair projects and being on the high council. His favorite part of 2009 was going on a cruise with his wife to the Eastern Caribbean.
Kara (12) started the 7th grade and will be our fourth and last child to have teenage-itis, beginning February 28. We are hoping it will be little better with a girl, but only time will tell. She is already showing all the signs by loving clothes, make-up, hanging out with her friends, wanting a cell phone and wanting to be on face book. Luckily she still loves going to school, YW, singing, playing the piano, soccer, and the gospel. Her favorite part of 2009 was participating in the Draper Temple Celebration.
Colton (16) is a junior this year and has been filling the application at our home for assistant man of the home. His qualifications are being able to handle a snow shovel very well on any cement surface without being asked. He cooks dinner, cleans, knows all the cheat codes for important work related programs and he does and excellent job at building things. He is cooperative, very willing and always is asking what he can do to help someone out. He has his permit and is taking a 2 week driver’s Ed class this January so he can get the important license. His favorite part of 2009 was working at cub country this summer.
Spencer (19) is a sophomore in college and works full-time at Progressive. Spencer is often missing and we just don’t know where to find him. Sometimes when I want to file a missing person report he just happens to call or show up. The places where he seems to be the most are at various friends’ homes, with his girlfriend, at work of all places, class, Institute, and ward hopping. He is just always on the go. Spencer is a lot of fun to be around and he knows everything and anything about sports. He plays a mean game of air soft guns. He is a great brother to his siblings. Spencer’s favorite part of 2009 is playing air soft guns, and meeting Allyson who is an amazing girlfriend.
Coby (21) is a senior in college. He came home from his mission on 9-3 and started classes at BYU on 9-4. Coby is majoring in Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic/ German Literature. He wants to be an ambassador in various foreign countries and make us travel very far to see our future grandchildren! He is planning to go to Europe this summer. He works as a genealogic extractor in German. We have loved having Coby back home; but most of the time he can be found studying. In January he is moving to Provo which will be much more convenient for him (but we are sad). Coby’s favorite part of 2009 was being a missionary, coming home to his family and always living in the present moment.
Cami (me) has loved having all of my children live at home. I started working in Commercial Real Estate, since it has been a slower market I thought it would be a great time to learn. While doing this I have also been getting my real estate license and that has made things a little too crazy. My goal is always to keep trying to cut back, but it doesn’t seem to be working, but someday I will master that one. I have a lot of favorite parts of 2009, but my favorite part was when Coby came home from his mission. I love having everyone together again!
Included is our CRAZY picture that just made me laugh. It was taken at almost ten at night (way too late at our home) on a school night. Matt wasn’t feeling well and Coby was sick with a cold in the midst of finals with no sleep. The cropping was good the way we turned it in, but obviously it was altered. Spencer and Colton are almost cut off and we really do like them, really. We do hope you have a Merry Christmas and that the New Year will be filled with joy, happiness, and peace!
We love you all~
The Vails

Southern Caribbean Cruise November 7-15th 2009

Matt and I just love going on cruises. It is one of our most favorite ways of traveling. So fun to get on a gorgeous ship with some much to do, amazing entertainment, food and a great staff to anticipate your every need. And then to be able to wake up every morning to a new exciting location where all you have to do is get off the ship and you are instantly there to tour and explore and do fun activities is just so enjoyable. This is one of my favorite ways to travel. For this cruise we left on a Saturday with our good friends Marti and Barbi Cooper who we have traveled before on with on cruises. They are a lot of fun to travel with and are good sports. They picked us up at South Towne Mall at 6:55 in the morning. Coby was nice enough to drive us that morning bright an early on a Saturday morning. We had a little problems with our travels getting to Puerto Rico. Apparently the wing flap on our plane wasn't working so they had to find a different plane for us to go on. Well after a long journey to Puerto Rico we finally made it there at 12:45 Puerto Rico time, but 9:45 our time.
We rented a minivan and then attempted to drive straight to the Hampton Inn and Suites where we were staying. . It was difficult because the roads were so crazy and people were EVERYWHERE. I was so glad we weren't driving poor Marti. The night life is exuberant on a very late Saturday night. Our hotel was situated next door to a cock fighting arena, and across the street from many cantinas and resorts. Police, it seems were taking care of situations everywhere. But our hotel was nice, quiet and clean. I would recommend it for anyone heading in that direction.
We unfortunately overslept going to church because we didn't set the alarm right. We were sad about that, but because of that we ended up getting eight hours of sleep. When the rest of the group got back we did a little bit of touring of the island as we looked for a Wal-mart since we got lost. We saw our ship and got really excited so we dropped off our luggage when we saw the long lines and decided to see around the island.






The main focal point being the Raices ("Roots") Fountain. Maybe you will notice, but everyone in this fountain is naked! The artist, Luis Sanguino, and architect Miguel Carlo, are depicting the history of the people of Puerto Rico, for the 500th Anniversary of the Columbus' New World discovery, by recognizing the Taino, Spanish, and African cultures, heritage, and influence. I have not been able to find more information on the inspiration for this fountain, but I can only imagine that we come from God in our birthday suit, so he loves us all equally the same. There is a family, a man riding a horse, a woman riding 2 dolphins, and cowboy singing and playing a guitar for a woman, and the woman in the middle looking toward heaven. The fountain is really beautiful. Something for everyone to see. Apparently, the best time to experience this most romantic place is at sunset. The humidity here was amazing too. I couldn't believe how strong it was. It made you want to just stay in the shade. I was grateful they were selling water all over the places.

Here is our group that day minus Rollin and Vi . Here we are standing in front of the San Juan Gate. This is a gate that they left closed at night to keep the mauraders out of the city. The door and gate were stamped with the date 1749. I didn't really take very good pictures of the water in front but they were beautiful.

Our first night at dinner was formal night and we were at sea. We had a big table which made for great company and great laughs.

Day 1 - St. Thomas - U.S. Virgin Islands
Being only about 50 miles from Puerto Rico, I am sure we did not take long to arrive. Well, we decided to get together outside the explorers lounge at 9:45am to meet our ride taking us to Coral World and Coki Beach for some fun and snorkeling. The driver took us up the mountainside through very narrow and winding streets, driving on the left side (That's what they do here..strange). What a beautiful island. Lush and green, Hot and Humid..expecting about 85 degrees with very high humidity. Coral world is a miniature sized sea world. Sea life exhibits outside, including sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, a couple large aquariums, and a building in the ocean that allows you to go below sea level and watch the natural sea life in the area. Matt and I snorkeled and had a great Coki Beach next door. I snorkeled, but Barbi wasn't up to it. Kevin and wade spent most of their time snorkeling, but we all enjoyed the exhibits. For a little extra, you could swim with the turtles. The hermit crab to the left below was HUGE! I would find my own starfish like the one above later in Aruba! Cool. There were Iguanas roaming around. Norm fed one some beef jerky..too funny! There was a Lorikeet aviary that you could feed the birds, and a pen with local tortoises and ducks. The snorkeling at Coki beach was awesome. Plenty of room to roam around the rocks. You could buy a dog biscuit on the beach and use it to feed the fish. They would literally swarm to get a bite of the biscuit. Kevin, Wade and I snorkeled over to the building that sits in the water at Coral World and swam down to the winto wave at the people inside.

Colton's Week long to White Pine Trail Head August 3rd to August 9th

(I am sooooooooo behind) This week long happened on August 3rd through 9th 2009! Colton went on a scout week long backpacking trip with his varsity scout troop. It was a very memorable week and one he won't forget for the rest of his life! Seriously and neither will his mom! Here are just a few pictures from it. During this very eventful week they ran out of water, their trail ended after only going 4 miles, and they climbed over great boulders. And I was only worried they might see some bears or mountain lions?! But Colton says it was the most spiritual week of his life. He came home 36 hours late, but we were just so grateful that he was home! And boy did they have a lot of stories to tell!

Girls Camp July 20th-July 24th

Kara got to go to her first week of girls camp this summer at Heber Valley girls camp. There wasn't much roughing it though because they had cabins with showers, ice machines, and all the luxuries you could ask for. There was a lake there that they got to go canoeing on and they worked on certification each day. She got to know the girls better that were in our ward and in our stake. I had told her a little bit of what to expect when you go to girls camp and one of the first thing she said to me when I picked her up was, "The girl camp you talked about was nothing like the girls camp I went to. We did no roughing it at all." She came home exhausted and slept that night for 16 hours. I was so grateful for the camp leaders that gave up the whole week to spend time with the girls and planned all of the activities. They did an amazing job! Thank you so much.

It is about time!

I am making my blog page private. I got a quick kick in the pants when I realized the blog page I am doing for the middle school (which incidentally has 900 students) is linked to my personal blog pages. So just letting everyone know this will be private page after I come home from Education Week!

A little of what has been happening this month!

Below are pictures of our vacation to the Puget Sound area. It was gorgeous with all the greenery, trees and heavenly temperature (well maybe a little too cold during part of it). We stayed in Port Townsend for one whole week at the time share my parents bought in my youth. Matt and I hadn't been there since I was pregnant with Colton and that was just for a day or two so it was so nice to return and make more positive memories. And to bring Colton and Kara who had never been there before. We were sad Spencer couldn't go too, but were happy for him that he found a great job that he very much needed. Below are some pictures from our trip, and some other things from our home that have been going on this month.


Isn't this adorable? This is a birthday gift that my friend Linda made for me. Does she have talent or what. I can't believe she made the flowers out of pineapple.
Celebrating my birthday!
Above is Colton trying to get as tall as his grandpa!

A clearing Matt made with Herb so the parents could have a better
view from their deck--gorgeous view.


Kara and Colton playing on the beach at the resort at Kala Point.
The unit we stayed at! It was so nice!


Colton LOVES to dig!
There is this cool car show in Port Townsend that Matt went to
that Matt had a blast in. Cool cars, and all kinds of car stuff from all over.
Inside a Nifty Thrifty store that Herb and Melisssa and family came with us too while they came and visited us in Port Townsend.
The cousins and I walking along the beach at the coolest park in Port Townsend.

The kids burying Michael and Bella in the sand.


In Port Angles we went to this store that was dedicated
to Twilight stuff. Pretty crazy stuff. Kara and I had a big kick out of it. We laughed at some of the stuff in there and near by they had the restuarant where they claimed Bella and Edward met at and they filmed it in and several other stuff. If we drove another 60 miles we would have been in Forks and 20 more miles we would have been in La Push. Kara was really banking on us driving to La Push, but Matt and I really weren't that happening of parents.


Here we are celebrating Grandma Vail's birthday on the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun to get together and see everyone.




Ferry Ride from Bainbridge Island to Seattle, what a beautiful
ride.
Matt and I worked for TNT (fireworks) as merchandisers. We were in charge of inventory and it was a lot of fun. The tent is where the distributors sold the fireworks.

Counting the boxes one by one to put in the tents.
The beautiful rainbow that we had in Sandy!
A better angle of it here!