Our Dearest Family and Friends,
We hope this letter finds you all well!! As a family, we want you all to know how much we love and appreciate you and would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas. This time of year is a wonderful time to reflect on how truly blessed we each are. For us, we started 2009 living in El Dorado Hills, CA. We really enjoyed our time there and made some great friends. However, in March we had a wonderful opportunity to rent an attached apartment at my Great Uncle and Aunt’s home in Fair Oaks, CA. It was something we couldn’t pass up. We have been incredibly happy here! My Uncle and Aunt have been such wonderful neighbors! All of us have become very attached to them as they are a part of our everyday lives.
Andalyn and Ryan love to watch Uncle Merlin in the backyard from the sliding glass door. They knock on the door and scream at the top of their lungs, “Hi Uncle Merlin” with so much excitement. Another one of their favorite things is to walk Daddy out as he leaves for work. They also scream at the top of their lungs, “Bye Daddy”, I’m sure the neighbors love that wake-up call!
Dave is still working at Verizon Wireless and really enjoys it. We are so blessed to that he works for a company that takes such great care of us! He manages a retail store in Placerville California. Dave works really hard and has a very abnormal schedule; this has been the case for about 2 years now. We are always adjusting to it, but those times that Dave is able to be home, we make the most of it by spending time together as a family. Due to his crazy schedule, Dave has had to start working Sundays and ended up being released from his calling as the Gospel Doctrine teacher. Because he still wanted to serve in some way, he creates the programs for Sacrament meeting every Sunday.
I am enjoying staying home with Andalyn and Ryan. My two kiddies are everything to me and I wouldn’t miss these years at home with them for anything! From cleaning up mess after mess, to sharing a moment of belly laughing with them, it is my greatest joy! Once we moved into our new ward here in Fair Oaks, I was called into the Young Women’s Program as the Laurel/Mia Maid Advisor. I have never loved another calling more than this one! To be able to serve with such wonderful women, see the girls faces every Sunday and teach them about the gospel brings me so much joy.
Dave and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary on June 4th. We decided to take a trip down memory Lane by driving to San Francisco. Dave not only proposed to me there (at Fort Point, underneath the Golden Gate Bridge), we spent some time there prior to heading to Las Vegas for our Honeymoon. We had dinner at the Carnelian Room on the 52nd Floor of the tallest building in SF, overlooking the Bay. We really enjoyed going to all of our favorite spots and added walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a perfect way to look back on and celebrate the last 5 years.
Andalyn Belle has grown leaps and bounds in 2009! She started out as our precocious little “Baby Girl” and is now our little Jr. Kindergartner! She just turned 4 and is such a big girl. Our sweetheart never ceases to amaze us. She knows every letter of the alphabet by sight, knows how to write her name and can count to 30 all by herself, and 100 with a little help. She just had her first “Thanksgiving Presentation” at school with all of her little preschool friends. They sang some songs and had a mini-feast for all the friends and family that came. She also took some ballet and tap classes this year, which she LOVED! She asks on a very regular basis when she can go back to her dance classes. Her little testimony is also budding. She loves to say prayers and have Family Home evening. The day before Halloween she prayed that it wouldn’t rain so that she could go trick-or-treating and had her first testimony builder when the forecast was wrong; it didn’t rain! She was so grateful that Heavenly Father answered her prayer. It is a beautiful thing to watch! We are looking forward to her first Primary Presentation in a few weeks. She even has a little speaking part in the program. It is only 5 words long but we are very excited to watch our little girl being part of the program.
Ryan has grown up so fast...we can't believe that he will be 2 in January! This year has flown by! He started out 2009 as our little baby and is ending it as a full blown toddler. He has amazed us with how fast he is learning and growing! He is so adventurous and has no fear! It was a huge shock when our 18 month old boy wanted to follow his sister all over the playground, even to places that should scare him. It definitely scares Mommy! Luckily he is very resilient. We really enjoy watching him figure things out and just being a boy. Watching the world through his eyes is so much fun! We are trying to enjoy our kids as much as we can while they are young because we know how fast it will go by. I had a feeling come very strongly regarding this when we took my brother Logan to Utah. He was entering the MTC to serve in the Canada Calgary Mission. Before we headed into the MTC we were taking the “normal” pictures of Logan in front of the MTC sign. We then put Ryan in front of the sign and started taking his picture. I realized as I was taking his picture that this time for him will come before we know it. It was a very bitter sweet realization! He made a very cute “Future Missionary” as he had a tag on with that title on it that Uncle Logan got for him. We love our little Momma’s boy!
2009 has been a wonderful year for the Cashdollar family! Although we have downsized our home and dealt with some financial setbacks, we have come to appreciate our blessings so much more! We have each other and the Gospel, and those are really the things that make us happy. We hope that this Season finds all of you happy, healthy and blessed. Let us all remember that the Savior is the reason we celebrate this time of year!
With love and warm Holiday Wishes,
Dave, Courtney, Andalyn & Ryan Cashdollar
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
