The Cox Family Circus

WELCOME 2008!!

Well, it is here. 2008. Another year here. Another year gone by. 2007 was a good year, but with lots of hard times. We started off the year worried about the health of our unborn baby. We went through dozens of test and scary procedures only to be blessed with a perfectly healthy, baby girl on March 15. After Claire was born, we had another health scare with her heart, but the problem resolved itself before she was 2 months old. We were so fortunate to have wonderful doctors attending to both of us. As the year continued, we weathered Kyle testing for Sergeant. That is a lengthy, miserable process that involves several (ridiculous) steps. He passed the test and was #9 on the list for promotion. We assumed that he would be promoted soon. We were wrong. They never got to #9 and now he will start the testing process all over again soon. When you test for promotion with Metro, the results of the test are only good for one year. So, here he goes again. Spring brought Claire's baby blessing and lots of visitors. Those few months are a blur of guests and baseball games and sleepless nights with a new baby. We had a rough summer filled with lots of sadness. My brother-in-law Alan's father passed away on the same day that one of Kyle's good friends, Scott died suddenly. It was a hard time for Kathy and Alan's family and a hard time here in Logandale as everyone was mourning the loss of Scott. I was able to go to Utah to attend the funeral of Kathy's father-in-law and make it back in time to attend Scott's funeral. Those events really put life in perspective. We went to Utah for summer vacation and a one week trip turned into 2 when Kyle's Grandma Lake passed away. We were able to attend the funeral and see many family members that we hadn't seen in years (or ever, in my case). In late summer, we started the process of building a new garage. It has been quite the process. A lot harder than we thought. It is still ongoing. We have learned a lot and been blessed with a ton of help from friends and neighbors. The kids started school the end of August and I was left home in the day with just Eli and Claire. All fall, we continued construction on the garage, but took time off to go to Utah for Thanksgiving. It was a nice visit and we learned that we will have a new nephew in May when Janna and Andy welcome their first baby. The week after Thanksgiving brought more sadness. Aaron Harkness, the husband of my friend, Leslie, passed away. Ansley, Claire and I returned to Utah so that I could attend the funeral. It is horrible to see my friend in such pain. She not only has to mourn her husband, but continue with the responsibilities of being Aaron Jr.'s mom. She is a strong woman with abundant faith. I am in awe of her. I hope she is able to find some peace in this new year. Christmas was lovely (see previous blog entry), but came and went too quickly. I felt like I didn't take advantage of the Christmas season to teach my kids more about serving others. It just seemed to fly by. I will do better next year. So, now the new year is here and I have many New Year's resolutions. I will spare you all the details of my lofty goals, but I am grateful to have another year with my family to work on bettering ourselves. We have a long way to go. There are so many things to look forward to in the new year. We have so incredibly blessed this past year, we only hope those blessing will continue coming our way in the new year.

Here is a list of things coming up in 2008:

*Our 13th wedding anniversary.

*Kyle's 38th birthday.

*Karrin's 32nd birthday.

*Ansley's 12th birthday.

*Nate's 11th birthday.

*Josh's 7th birthday.

*Eli's 4th birthday.

*Claire's 1st birthday.

*My parents' 50th wedding anniversary.

*Kyle's 20th high school reunion. (Vernal here we come!)

*The completion of the new garage and family room. (hopefully)

*Our 9th year in Nevada.

*Kyle's 9th year with Metro.

*Our 4th year in Logandale.

*Ansley's going into Young Women's and her first year at Girls' Camp. (tear in my eye)

*Eli will start preschool and Sunbeams. (poor, poor teachers)

*Our first trip as a family to Disneyland.

*Kyle and I will kick the Diet Pepsi addiction for good!! (fingers crossed)

*Nate will start playing Little League Football.

*Claire's first steps and words.

*Many, many hard and many, many happy times.

The upcoming year should be an exciting one for us. We send our love to all our family and friends and hope you have many things to look forward to in the new year!!

Kyle and Tuna all ready for the massive New Year's Eve celebration on The Strip. Working on New Year's Eve is mandatory, so the kids and I have spent most of the last 8 by ourselves. We watch movies, play games and ring in the New Year by drinking sparkling apple cider in fancy glasses while talking to Kyle on the phone. He hates working that night, but has no choice. He does always end up with some great stories to tell, as you can imagine. Don't they look burly? It is the bullet-proof vests that make them look like that. =) It was the first time ever that it occurred to Nate why Kyle would wear a vest. It was a sad realization for him to come to and it took some reassuring from Kyle that everything would be fine. (Drunk people don't have a very good aim!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!