Our Christmas Card

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings and warmest holiday wishes from the Martels! We hope that everyone is doing well this Christmas season and we hope that you have enjoyed a wonderful year as we have. It has been quite an eventful year full of school, awesome family vacations, fun-filled birthdays, and, well, more school. We are happy of the memories that have been made, and thank you for helping create those memories.

RAY

Ray has had a wonderful year, full of accomplishments. Towards the beginning of the year, we were blessed with an acceptance letter from Southern Utah University's Nursing Program. Out of 100+ applicants, Ray was chosen as one of the 20. He is loving the nursing program, as he has just completed his first semester. While working diligently in his demanding studies, he always makes time for his family and his video games (which luckily, he has a wife who likes to play them with him). He loves spending time with friends and family and is always there to help a friend in need.

SHAY

Shay has just completed her bachelors in accounting this December. She has also received her acceptance letters for the Masters of Accounting and Masters of Business Administration by Southern Utah University and will be attending come this January. She finds much satisfaction in taking on what seems to be simple crafty projects that always manage to turn into big "what was I thinking" projects. She relishes the time she has with her family and friends and loves anything that doesn't have to do with studying and homework.

MADELYNN

Mady is growing up so quickly, she is 21 months and is quite the little sponge. Her favorite things to do are: reading books, dancing, coloring, playing outside, watching Yo-Gabba-Gabba, playing with Dori (her friend), playing with babies, and doing anything Mom or Dad is doing. She is at the stage of wanting to do everything by herself, which at times is hilarious. She is talking all the time, although most of it is Japanese, or maybe Albanian; its so stinkin' cute. Mady loves going "potty". Except potty right now means getting naked and sitting on her cute pink potty for two seconds at a time. We're still working on that. Mady loves playing with her friends, family, and especially her extended family. There is never a dull moment without Mady, and we wouldn't want it any other way.

This year has been full of fun adventures. Two of our most memorable vacations were Disneyland with the Waymans and Lake Powell with Martels twice.











Lake Powell with the Martels is always such a treat. Our first trip was right after spring semester finals. It was also Mady's first time at Lake Powell. The water was FREEZING! But we were able to go again at the beginning of August when the water was super warm. Disneyland with the Waymans was a trip to remember. With 14 people in all, it made for one of the funnest trips. Mady loved going on the rides and it was so fun to see her reaction. It was also nice to have so much help when Ray and I wanted to go on rides together. It was such a fun trip, we were so grateful to be able to go.

We want to wish you a most Merry Christmas and that we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family, such as yourselves, in our lives. Thank you for making this year so wonderful for us. We hope that you are celebrating the end of a fantastic year and looking forward to an even better 2012.

Love you all,The Martels

Remember Me?

Wow.....I am such a bad blogger. Has it really been 3 months? Geez! I promise I will be better. But while I'm here, I guess I should update on those past three months.

School has been a beast. My semester wasn't hard, but two of my teachers sure made their classes ridiculous. It was very frustrating. Ray has been such a hard worker with his classes. He loves the nursing program, despite how hard it is and the not so great teachers. And with all that he still found the time to play with Mady, help around the house, and take me on dates. What a man eh?

Halloween was so fun this year with Mady being old enough to actually know what trick-or-treating was. I love dressing everyone up as relatable characters. I just think its adorable. So this year I was debating between Peter Pan costumes or the Flinstone costumes. I really wanted to do the Flinstones with our really good friends who have a little boy around Mady's age that she always plays with, Dori.Then they could be Pebbles and BamBam. And we could be Velma, Fred, Barney, and Wilma. But that fell through. So PeterPan it was. My Mom found Mady this adorable Tinkerbell costume. I also had green water shoes to match her outfit. She loved carrying around her pink bucket. And once she understood that it was for candy, she would not let anyone else hold it. Even when it got really heavy. I found my costume at D.I. It was an XXL, so I had to do some sewing. But it turned out good. At least when I had my Tinkerbell and Peter, people would get the idea of who I was. Ray's costume was a little harder. I found the hat, leggins, and shoes online. I wasn't sure what to do for his shirt, until I found a huge XXXL green men's shirt. So I just cut that up to make it Peter Pan-y and Wa-la! PeterPan, Wendy, and Tinkerbell! Thanksgiving was our next break, that was very needed. We were able to spend it with both of our families this year. We first went to Ray's house in Lindon. It was a quiet Thanksgiving with them, only 6 of us were able to come. Ethan was in Mexico on his mission, Jemacob in Japan, and SueSue and her family (Barb's sister) were visiting other family. It was nice though, and the food? AMAZING! Mady loved having Joey and Naketa around. And notice Mady's outfit? Barb made it. So cute. It was also such nice weather. Ray and Mady had the funnest time playing outside. Or well Mady did. Ray was hard at work. He is such a hard worker, even when he's supposed to be on "break". Mhmm handsome guy right? Mady was so cute to watch play in the leaves. Just look at this adorable face! Thankgiving at the Martel's is all about food, naps, and movies. And believe me, we did plenty of both. Mady even watched a good 15 minutes of 101 Dalmations. Which is quite impressive. She wont' sit through anything unless it Yo-Gabba-Gabba.Ray and I were able to do some Black Friday Shopping. We had planned to go to a few stores, but after being trampled and roughly handled at Walmart, we just went home. Friday was super fun. My Dad's side of the family always celebrates Thanksgiving on Friday so that everyone can come. We had a great time in the cultural hall of the church playing dodgeball, basketball, Christmas activities, and eating the most amazing food!

And then it was back to school and studying our hearts out for finals. Mady helped us out a lot. But for the week of finals, Ray's parents were sweet enough to come get Mady and watch her until our finals were done. We got so much more done without her. But I was missing her soooo much! It was really hard to focus at times, I missed her so much. But it was always so comforting to know that she was in such good hands.

And now we are DONE! Oh how I love that I have two weeks of no studying, no homework, no classes, and no tests. Oh it makes me happy! Now I can finally focus on working on my Christmas gifts, which Mady is a real big help with.
Oh! And did you notice our new family picture? Adorable eh? (a cute one of Mady is on the side) They turned out amazing and I love them. Thank you Rae!

PS: I decided that I'm not going to be private anymore. I have come to realize how many people do not have google accounts, among other things. So for now, public it is!