Here’s a little summary of what our family has been up to.
We started out 2006 with Daniel accepting a job offer from Dell. A few months later Daniel and I flew down to Austin, Texas to do some house-hunting. We found a new home that we loved in Pflugerville, which is a few miles north of Austin. We bought the house and then went back to Provo for Daniel to finish up his last semester of school.
In April Daniel graduated from the MBA program at BYU. We were all glad to be done with that stage of life. After graduation we headed up to Yellowstone National Park for one last big trip before our move to Texas. In the middle of May we packed everything up and Daniel and our two boys started the long drive to Austin, taking Daniel’s brother Nick along with them to help out. I was 8 months pregnant at the time, so I flew with Rachel and met the boys in Texas.
Daniel began working at Dell a few days after we moved into our new house, and then our fourth child, Elizabeth, was born 3 weeks later. Life got a little busy with a move, a new house, a new job, and a new baby all at once, and I think we’re still waiting for things to settle down a little bit.
We do love our new house, however, and we’ve been having a good time in Texas. We made it through the hot summer, and we’re enjoying the Texas “winter”, if you can call it that (it’s 70 degrees outside today). We love having visitors, and have had a great time showing family members who have come to see us all the fun things to do in the Austin area (SeaWorld, Six Flags, live bands on Sixth Street, bats at Congress Bridge, Rudy’s BBQ, etc.)
Now for some notes about the kids:
Tristan, our oldest, just turned six a few weeks ago. This last year brought a lot of new things for him. In August he started playing on a flag football team that Daniel coached. He had a great time playing and has already started planning his high-school football career. Tristan also started kindergarten in August. He loves school and has been doing very well, impressing his teacher with his math skills. He can do pretty complex math problems in his head, and he always asks us to make math worksheets for him. He loves learning new things, and nothing gets past his quick mind. Tristan is a great artist and spends a lot of time drawing and making creative art projects. He also loves Legos and playing Stratego with Daniel. He’s happy to finally have a backyard, and likes spending time outside climbing trees, catching crickets, and hitting balls over the fence. Tristan is a very pleasant and obedient kid and a good helper at home.
Oliver turned four in August. He is possibly our most stubborn and independent child, but he also keeps us entertained with his creativity, story-telling, and sense of humor. Oliver loves quoting funny lines from movies; Napoleon Dynamite is one of his favorites, and I’ve been told several times to “knock it off and make myself a dang quesadilla!” He spends his days drawing (he, too, is a very talented artist), playing with Rachel, and asking me when snack time is. I have been giving him daily reading lessons, which he loves and is pretty good at – he’s starting to give Tristan a run for his money. He also loves singing and listening to music (he listens to Primary songs before bed, and I often hear him belting out “Scripture Power” long after the other kids are asleep). Oliver is just as solid as always, and watching him run down the hall and knock Daniel flat is a sight to see – that kid is a freight train, and he loves to tackle! On a more gentle note, Ollie really appreciates beautiful things, and he’s been having the time of his life with all the Christmas decorations this last month; he spent a lot of time sitting in front of the Christmas tree, “setting up” the nativities over and over again, and telling me that it’s all so beautiful and exciting that it makes his stomach hurt.
Rachel is almost 2 ½ years old. She is quite a dramatic little girl with a big vocabulary and she thinks she is in charge of the family. She loves playing with Tristan and Oliver, and can hold her own in any sword fight or wrestling match. She also loves her Dad, and likes to pretend that she is Arwen, and Daniel is Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. As much as she likes “her boys”, as she calls them, she also loves her new sister. I think adding another girl to the family has opened up her eyes to more “girly” things – she has become interested in princesses, babies, Dora dolls, and getting married. Now when she plays with “fighter guys” they have friendly discussions with each other in high voices, and when she plays with toy trucks they are often driving to a party. Rachel loves parties.
Elizabeth is now sixth months old. She is quite the explorer and started moving around much earlier than our other children did. She mastered crawling a few weeks ago, and has started crawling all over the house looking for things to get into. Lizzy is a very happy baby and a lot of fun. She smiles at everyone and has a great laugh. She also has enormous thighs.
Thank you for your love and friendship. We wish you all the very best.
Love, Daniel, Joanne, Tristan, Oliver, Rachel, and Elizabeth Mott
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