State of the Fisher Union Address

Time flies on wings of lightning, a favorite saying of Grandpa Christenson's. Another year gone, and what do we have to account for it? We sometimes wish life was as easy as 11 years ago when Kulani and I were a-courtin'. During the semester break, Kulani and I spent most of our hours jumping from one "dollar movie" to another. Our only concern was each other. But now we have three other "concerns," that of our three children, and truthfully, life seems more full and fun.

It's good to take stock of this past year. Most of our days were likely spent like many of yours: get up to the alarm after pressing snooze seven times, brush teeth, get dressed, get kids up and dressed, have breakfast, lunch, dinner, read stories, brush teeth, go to bed. But there were a few stand-out days here and there this year that caused us to either cry or laugh, and just generally make us grateful for this adventure called life.

• On February 3rd, Nohealani was born. She has been our biggest child. She's a lot of fun. She is furniture walking now, and prefers that to crawling. She's already running for Congress, as she loves to give back pats. She is the youngest in nursery, because Mom and Dad were just called as nursery leaders, so she gets to start nursery early. She still looks most like Kulani and may even keep her brown hair.


• Melissa is her own little self. She doesn't like me combing her hair, and she likes to choose her own clothes. I'm really not sure how mothers with girls who have perfectly coifed tendrils do it. Melissa is loving preschool, and the teacher tells me she even has friends who fight for her attention. My Melissa? Our biggest success: Melissa being potty trained. The secret: giving her a cold shower every time she wet her pants. That sounds harsh, but it worked (and it was our last resort). It only took three cold showers for her not to wet her pants anymore.


• Lilia is finishing up her last year of preschool with the wonderful teachers and friends at Deerfield Preschool. Her class has less than 10 this year, and she's been progressing very well. Her speech teacher says she's really catching up to others her age. She loves to talk. She's a fun-loving girl who loves to run, swim, and be with family. She ran in two races this year: the Provo 4th of July Fun Run and the Orem Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. She enjoyed her experiences with each.


• Cindy is still working part (part)-time at home for DHI. She's lucky to get in 10 hours of work per week. It's more of a hobby than anything else at this point. She really enjoys writing help documents and user's guide, just like some people like doing scrapbooking and crafts. Cindy also competed in two triathlons: Hawaii Half-Ironman and Spudman. Starting after the new year, training commences again for the Vikingman.


• Kulani is still at Workman Nydegger in downtown Salt Lake City. Kulani's job is similar to Cindy's, only on steroids. Think of watching paint peel all day, then times that by 20 and you get some idea of what Kulani does. It's not so much that it's boring as that it's boring and difficult. But he's sticking with it on behalf of the family, and one of the side benefits of his job is that it affords us a yearly trip to Hawaii. Besides his usual Hawaii Half-Ironman pilgrimage, Kulani will be competing in the Arizona Ironman in November. Ouchy, mama! Kulani also bought the family BYU season football tickets, and we all went to every game except the Utah game. Kulani took his friends who would really appreciate being there and not get cold and start complaining about wanting to go home. Another victorious year over the Utes! That was definitely a highlight.

A few downer days included:

• Grandpa Christenson having quadruple bypass surgery on his heart. All seems well now. He eats less chocolate cake with Mom's awesome chocolate frosting.


• The cement guys taking our money to finish the cement drive on the east side of our house, but never seeing the cement truck show up.


• BYU's loss to UCLA (at the first part of the season). They barely squeaked out a win at the Las Vegas Bowl.


• The late-summer ban on children swimming in public pools in Utah County. Swimming was our life until then. Kulani even got sick from the outbreak (lost six pounds in one week).

Now it is on to weightier matters and budgetary spending appropriations. The New Year is full of possibilities and potential adventures. Please allow this blog to be your guide to our life. If we could, we'd include you in our family, but you have your own lives to live; your own blogs to create. You're busy, we're busy. But you're always welcome here.

Thank you. We love you. And God bless you!

Sincerely,

President and First Lady Fisher of the United Family of Fisher