Family Newsletter

Here is our 2008 family newsletter hope you enjoy!! Hello family and friends, We are not really sure what happened with our family newsletter last year… so this year I am planning to try to recap for the past 2 years!! Bill and Charlotte- Mom and Dad are still as busy as always. Dad is working hard at Pfizer. He is serving as the Ward and Stake Employment Specialist. Mom is still homeschooling me and serving as the Weldon Spring Ward Relief Society President. Mom and Dad have a total of seven grandchildren! They have had a great past two years with lots of trips to visit family. Daniel, Meridith, and family- Dan is working at Fireman’s Fund in St. Louis MO. He finished his MBA program in the fall of 2008! Meridith is a stay at home mom to their four children, Lexy, Ben, Grace, and Ally. Her vinyl lettering business still continues to grow. She trained for and completed the Lake St. Louis Triathlon this past August!! Lexy is a sophomore in high school and was on the varsity softball team this fall!!! Ben is in 2nd grade and doing very well. He will be 8 this January!! Grace will be 5 in March. She will start kindergarten in the fall. Ally will be 4 in April. They are both attending a preschool a couple days a week. They have started a dance class that they both enjoy! It is very fun to have them so close! Sarah, Marc, and family- They have been living in Blacksburg VA, for the past two years. Marc has been attending Virginia Tech, to receive his Masters in Urban and Regional Planning. He graduated in December. Sarah is a stay at home mom with their little boy Joseph. This past year she has been teaching a class on Social Work at Radford University, about 30 minutes from their home. Joseph will be 3 in March! He is growing up so fast! Mom and I enjoyed our visit to Blacksburg this fall. He is very active and fun to play with!! Joanna, Ryan, and family- Ryan and Joanna had a new addition to their family this year a little boy named Carter Ryan Hawkins. He was born on May 25th 2008. He weighed 8lb. 1oz. and was 21 inches long. We love having him in the family!! Ryan is working for Acme Brick. He is also in the bishopric in their ward in Grand Prairie TX. Joanna is now a stay at home mom for two! Some of Joanna’s many hobbies are being with her kids and running! She also completed a triathlon in Texas in September!! Ellie just turned 3 on Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving/Ellie’s birthday with them in Texas. You can tell she is a Texas girl by her little accent. Carter keeps growing fast! He is very cute! David and Ayanna- While still living in Liberty MO, David has started his own company along with some partners. It is a company that provides home healthcare for patients with hemophilia. It is called Affinity Biotech. He has also started his own social networking website for people with hemophilia, www.mybloodbrothers.com. David is our newest author in the family, publishing an article entitled, “Rethinking Social Media”. Ayanna is teaching 4th grade, she loves working with the kids at Warren Hills Elementary. As an additional activity Ayanna is teaching aerobics classes in Liberty. In October they both did the Men’s Health Urbanathlon in Chicago IL. Jacob and Nanitzi- On May 22, 2007, we had the pleasure of welcoming Nanitzi Guzman into our family. She and Jacob were married in the San Diego Temple. Mom, Dad, Andrew and I really enjoyed going to their wedding reception in Mazatlan, Mexico, where Nanitzi is from. Jacob graduated from BYU with a degree in Construction Management and began working in June in Denton TX, which is where they are living now. Nanitzi is working for WIC as a Public Health Dietitian, evaluating and helping improve nutrition needs for woman, infants and children. They live about 30 min. from Joanna and Ryan. It is fun for them to be so close to family. Catherine and John- This past year Catherine married John Rains on May 30th 2008 in the St. Louis Temple. Catherine also graduated from BYU-Idaho in April of 2008 with a degree in Public Heath. They are living here in St. Louis while she is getting her Masters in Public Health at Saint Louis University. John has a degree in Biology from BYU-Idaho. He is currently working at Millipore as a research lab assistant. It is really fun having them so close. Andrew- In October, 2007, Andrew received his mission call sending him to the Canada Winnipeg mission English speaking! He entered the Mission Training Center on the 16th of January 2008. We were all very glad that he was able to stay for Christmas. He had graduated from high school in May 2007 with the St. Charles Home Educators. Andrew worked very hard at Target to help pay for his mission. We love hearing from him in emails every Wednesday! He has served in Saskatoon, Selkirk, Fort Francis, International Falls MN, and he is currently in Winnipeg. He will be home in January 2010!! Hannah- Well once again I got stuck with writing the family letter. This year I started my freshman year of high school!! Mom is still homeschooling me, and I love it! This past May I was in the homeschool drama production of “Annie”. I am excited for this coming June when we will be performing “Beauty and the Beast”!! I enjoy singing and playing the piano. In November I turned 15 and received my permit!! It is very exciting!! I also enjoyed being able to go to EFY this past summer along with all the stake dances! I am looking forward to everything that 2009 holds for me and my family! We love hearing from all of you every year. May your New Year be filled with much happiness! The Moore’s Pictures to come!!

Thanksgiving... A month late!

I just got these pictures and wanted to share them with you all!

For the past several years we have gone down to my sister Joanna's house in Texas for Thanksgiving!! This year Jacob and Nanitzi have moved down there as well. It is always fun to be together with family! Catherine and John came with us to Texas this year. It was fun having them with us on the 10hr drive! We have also started this tradition of doing a 5K run/walk, called a Turkey Trot, in downtown Fort Worth on Thanksgiving morning. I guess the thinking behind it is... as long as you run 3 miles in the morning, you can eat as much Thanksgiving dinner as you want!!! At least that is what we do!!! :) Even last year when Andrew was working at Target and had to be here to work on Black Friday, we decided not to leave him here by himself on his last Thanksgiving home before his mission!! But.. we were still able to find a Turkey Trot here in St. Louis!!

Catherine-Dad-Me-Mom-Joanna-Jacob-Nanitzi. In the front Ellie- and Carter is in the stroller! John and Ryan decided to skip out and play football with some of Ryan's friends from church!

Before the race!

-Elliehaha ok! So Catherine was taking random pictures on the way to the race so i decided to be a little crazy!

Gingerbread Houses!

Last Saturday night Catherine and I made gingerbread houses. Hope you enjoy our pictures!

My gingerbread house-Catherine's gingerbread house-

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!

This past weekend we went down to Pea Ridge Christmas Tree Farm. We have gone there to cut down a tree ever since I can remember!! This year Ben came with us, along with Catherine and John. We introduced John to one of the many Moore family Christmas traditions! It was very fun. In keeping with Moore family Christmas tree tradition, we didn't all agree at first. Surprisingly enough, we found a tree we all liked! There weren't that many tears! :) Ben enjoyed helping Grandpa and Uncle John cut down the tree!

Dad, Ben, John- After cutting down our tree! (above)

Catherine and I- We decided to wear matching outfits!

John and Catherine- Me, Ben, John, and Catherine

Dad and Mom!

Blacksburg!

Ok, I admit I am a little slow with the whole blogging deal! During the first week of November, Mom and I went to Blacksburg ,VA to visit my sister Sarah, her husband Marc, and their little boy Joseph. We had a great time. We took Joseph to the park and the library and walked around downtown Blacksburg. It was really fun to just hang out and relax!! Here are a few of the pictures I took!! The leaves were at their peak when we were there! It was very beautiful!!! Enjoy!

-Joseph "fishing for dolphins"

-Joseph and me at Pandapas Pond

Me, Joseph and Grandma at Pandapas Pond-

-Joseph showing off his cup!

-Sarah and Joseph

We found this beautiful spot in downtown Blacksburg. So we just decided to take some pictures!!

-Joseph

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of him!!