Happy Holidays!

Hello, everyone and Merry Christmas! We thank you for taking the time to visit our blog and catch up with us. Here are a few pictures showing the highlights of 2009 for the Willes family.

We were able to travel to Southern California over Spring Break in March for Cousin Kevin's baptism in Huntington Beach. We had fun freezing on the beach, visiting with family, and even travelled down to San Diego to visit Sea World. It was a great time!
For more details and photos check out our archive: http://willesfamilyarizona.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html

Summertime was spent close to home as the addition to our home began. We managed to fill the time with trips to the mall and Target, crafts and relaxing in our luxurious backyard pools. Yes, we have two pools in our backyard. Fancy.

Here is the back of our house at the start of the project. The contractor had ripped out the concrete slab a couple of weeks before. We didn't get a picture of that so this is our official BEFORE picture:

And here is our official AFTER picture. Looks like a part of the original house, eh? We love it.

We did a lot of the finish work inside. We painted, put in the floor and desks, cabinets, etc. Whew. Sweat equity is properly named because we did this in September before the air conditioning was put in. Very warm without a/c in that office.

Our amazing office addition was completed in early October, just in time for Fall Break. The kids used it extensively those two weeks. The kids now think we need to buy more computers to go with the increased space. Ahhhh. No. I can look out my big windows and watch my kids yell at each other as they play in the backyard.

We were able to take a Mini Stay-Cation to North Scottsdale during our Fall Break. We stayed at a lovely new Residence Inn and shopped at Desert Ridge Marketplace and went to the Arizona State Fair and eating out at yummy places like Islands Burgers. That was Rachel's favorite part. Oh, little did she know.... It was pretty fun and the 20 minute ride home was a huge bonus. "Are we there yet?" "Ah, yes, actually, we are!"

On Thursday, October 29, Troy awoke at 2:15am to the rushing sounds of water. He raced downstairs to find our kitchen flooded from a broken compression hose under the sink. We spent almost two hours mopping it all up. The insurance company came in later, determined we had a level three catastrophe (I'm glad the adjuster didn't check out the rest of the house!) and within 24 hours we had no kitchen cabinets, no sink or no flooring. Because of a variety of things we have lived with this as our kitchen for the past 8 weeks. We got sick of eating out that first week, but making anything more than grilled cheese sandwiches and soup was a big undertaking. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the Zachresons and felt very pilgrim-like with the meager accommodations. (Hey, that's as pilgrim as I'm willing to get, my friends.) As I am typing this my kitchen cabinets are being installed and tile is being laid. The end is in sight.

Yep, a utility sink, 4-foot camping table, a dishwasher and a stove. It's going to be hard to give up this high-society way of life, I tell ya. When the house is finally restored to at least a semblance of order I'll post the photos.

Now, normally, I feel awkward rambling on and on about how wonderful our family and children are and therefore I keep the bragging to a minimum in the letter that goes out with the card. After all, you were just an innocent bystander in a holiday game of greetings and merely opened a card from an old friend. HOWEVER, if you are reading this now you obviously wanted to know more about each family member since you took the time to find a computer, turn it on, wait for internet connection (a hassle for some of you), type in our blog address and have read the letter all the way down to...here. SO I'm gonna get my braggin' on now.

Here's a little info for each family member:

Troy attended his 2oth Year High School Reunion in Denver, CO, in June. He and Rachel took a little weekend trip after importing his mom to babysit. They had a fun time taking the Troy Willes Nostalgia Tour. He only had to travel to Northern California a couple of times but did get a trip to San Francisco for a conference. Rachel was unfortunately left behind. Dang it. Troy tried his hand at managing his Technical Marketing Engineer group until Intel found a permanent person for the job. He was glad to give up the title for the quieter life of team member. He is still serving as Elders Quorum president and grows a variety of vegetables in his garden which none of his family will eat. Sorry.

Rachel celebrated her 4oth birthday in style by hiring a hearse to bring her to her Big 40th Birthday Bash. She partied with a bunch of her friends and even lived out her Rock Star Dream by performing two songs with the band that entertained everyone. For the video of the show click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0_HSxdqVyI. She also visited her high school friend, Gwen, in New York City early in the year. The rest of the year was spent knee-deep in home renovation. She is starting her 5th year as Stake Primary President and still does bookkeeping for the old law firm. She also added recapper to her list of titles. She recaps episodes of House, MD for SpoilerTV.com. Like she had any free time to begin with. For even MORE info on her life and thoughts try out: http://www.rwilles.blogspot.com/ .

Katie is a 6th grader, top dog, at Shumway Elementary. She is receiving awesome grades but more importantly is well-liked and respected by both students and teachers. She loves the science projects at school because it combines two of her favorite things: science and crafts. She'll turn 12 in January and is very excited to be going to Young Women. She's already talking about the Pioneer Trek and Girls Camp and doing baptisms at the temple. Her Young Women agenda is already full. She sings in the ward choir and is enjoying her own room. Although it took her a while to get used to being alone. She still loves drawing and won a bookmark designing contest at school earlier this year. Her future still involves taking care of animals and saving the environment.


Emma is 9 and in the 3rd grade. Last semester she was disappointed to receive an A+ in all her classes except one...math. She only received an A...no plus. She's currently working on correcting that. She's at a ninth grade comprehension reading level, but can read and remember just about anything. Her sisters and her mom are jealous of her photographic memory. Seriously. It's not fair. Her teacher thanked us at her parent conference last semester. She said that she'll often crack a joke or make a reference and Emma will be the only one to laugh. Emma has a sharp sense of humor but still needs to learn to use her powers for good sometimes. She's in her third year of piano lessons and has performed at church with her teacher. She enjoys playing school, drawing and playing on the computer. Webkinz and Barbies still rule her world.


Claire is 6 and in the first grade. She's reading at a fourth grade level and has grasped all the math concepts she should know by the end of first grade. She's pretty much just doing crafts now at school. :-) She is quite the dancer showing some natural moves we wish she'd hide away until she was older. She took a dance class this summer with Emma and her cousin, Haylee, and although Claire was the youngest in the class she was placed front and center because she could remember and perform all the moves. She loves playing school with her sister, Emma. The two of them have set up their own classroom in their bedroom complete with a dry erase board, maps, time chart and other signs. If we ever need to know what "Today is ______" or what "Yesterday was ______" we just go in their room. Her life also is heavily involved in the Webkinz and Barbie worlds.

Zachreson Troy, aka Zach or Zach Attack or Zachy, is three years old and on the verge of attending preschool. He is a total little boy who loves trucks, tools, messes, mud, running, jumping and teasing his sisters. However, he's also quite selective about the clothes he wears. He gets that from me. He's a great helper for his dad during outside chores; more so than his sisters ever were. He'll stay out all day using his Zachy-sized shovel and tools helping dad fix up the yard. He does a pretty mean beatbox and can get down and break dance when he's in the mood. He also just learned how to wink, click his tongue twice and point at you all at the same time and it has become his greeting, mid-coversation and farewell go-to trick. We love having the boy to offset all the drama and we're doing our best to keep him macho...except for the pink hand-me-down bike and scooter he's now riding at full speed. Maybe the lightning speed will blur the actual color of the vehicle.

And so we are at the end of another Christmas letter composed at the end of another year. It's been a great one despite having to breathe in concrete and drywall dust for six months. We are grateful for the amazing lives we have and for the love and friendship of the people that surround us. We thank you all! We also testify of Jesus Christ and his love for all of us.

Have a great Holiday Season!

Love, The Willes Family: Troy, Rachel, Katie, Emma, Claire and Zach