It's past that wonderful time of the year, but is still a winter wonderland around here. Hope it finds all blessed with good health, bountiful blessings, warm memories, and loved ones nearby!

We have been blessed with a very good year. Our family is healthy and growing quickly. Shalee is now 5' 7 3/4", Chase is 5' 9 3/4", Kaylee is quickly catching up with Shalee and I. Caleb, Bethany, Hadassah and Abby are all getting so much bigger too. Won't be long and we will have 3 teenagers in the house. Our children are a wonderful blessing and some of our best friends!

Shalee is now 16, and in the 11th grade. She is in her second year of 4-H. She is taking Horse and Horse Science again this year. Shalee really enjoyed getting to participate in two gymkhanas last year, plus the county horse show. She took 4th place in show halter, in her age category, at the horse show. The last gymkhana she participated in was a pretty exciting one for us all. Shalee was on her way back to the starting line during the flag race, when both her cinch straps broke, and she and her saddle came off as Zorah ran for the finish line. She took a pretty good tumble, got dirty, and a bit banged up. Scared her folks to death, but we all came out thankful that God had been in that saddle with her. It was amazing that both straps broke at the same time. If they hadn't, Shalee could have ended up under Zorah. Shalee rode Zorah in the Los Alamos County Fair and Rodeo Parade this summer. She had a ball, even though Zorah almost took out a clown who got too close to her backside with a noisy, plastic bag. Shalee also rode in the Grand Entry of our county rodeo.

Shalee's hobbies and loves include anything to do with horses, sketching, sculpting & painting horse models, studying horse genetics & blood lines, horse conformation & nutrition, and horseback riding. She also enjoys gardening, playing basketball, baseball, hiking, running, Ultimate Frisbee, and reading about ancient history and archeology. She is also learning cake decorating. She decorated Bethany and Abby's birthday cake that they shared. She enjoyed it, but not with the same enthusiasm that Kaylee has. Shalee would rather be messing with sculpting clay then buttercream icing!

Shalee, Kaylee, and occasionally Chase, all still keep busy working for people over at the stables. Their clientale has expanded quite a bit this year. Besides numerous horses and a few goats, they frequently take care of a gentleman's 90 chickens and 3 onery roosters. Keeps them on their toes, those roosters do!

The 4 oldest kids tried their hand at goats last year and decided that goats were better to take care of for someone else, then own for themselves! I could write a book on what they learned about owning goats.

Chase is now 13, and in the 8th grade. He is in his second year of the Civil Air Patrol. He has flying in his blood as bad as his daddy did/does. Chase is now known as Airman First Class Britton. He has moved up two ranks this year and is currently working on a third promotion. Chase received "The Most Improved Cadet" award this year at their CAP award ceremony.

Chase's hobbies and loves include anything to do with flying; building and shooting off rockets; flying RC planes; playing football with his siblings and dad; basketball; hiking; running; playing Ultimate Frisbee; riding his motorcycle; horseback riding; and reading books on aviation, space and science. He and his dad are currently studying for their Ham Radio License.

Chase and Caleb had a lawn mowing business again this year. They added two more clients this year on our block, but lost one due to the family moving. It kept them pretty busy, but they would have liked to had another client or two. Chase has also been trying his hand at part-time newspaper delivery boy. He did that for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Kaylee is now 11, and in the 6th grade. She is in her second year of 4-H. She is taking Horse again this year. Kaylee really enjoyed getting to participate in two gymkhanas last year, plus the county horse show. She took 5th place in show halter, in her age category, at the horse show. She and Shalee didn't do too bad for basically learning everything on their own, as their horse project leader was always gone barrel racing. The girls switched clubs this year hoping to learn more. Kaylee also rode Anitta in the Los Alamos County Fair and Rodeo Parade this summer. She did a great job and is looking forward to next year!

Kaylee's hobbies and loves include her horse, Anitta. She also enjoys reading, sewing, embroidery, playing with her Breyer horses, computer games, and is learning cake decorating. Her favorite sports are basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, tennis, and baseball. She decorated Hadassah's birthday cake this year and did a great job on it! She really enjoyed herself and her little sister thought she did the coolest job. She is really learning her way around the kitchen.

Caleb is now 9, and in the 3rd grade. He is still our super laid back guy, but he sure is growing up. Caleb has about as many interests as his big brother. As a 9 yr. old, he thinks he wants to be a helicopter or airplane pilot, an astronaut, or an aerospace engineer when he grows up. Yes, he knows what an aerospace engineer is! He talks a lot about designing and building new airplanes, and spends many hours doing just that with his Legos. He also dreams of going to the moon. One of his favorite videos is called "Indescribables", a truely awesome video on God's awesome creation of what is out in space!

Caleb's hobbies and loves include building and shooting off rockets, flying RC planes and helicopters, books about planes and space, buffalos, hiking, trail riding with his dad and brother on their motorcycles, playing basketball, football, tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, and horseback riding.

Bethany is now 7, and in the 1st grade. She is growing up way too fast. She is a very sweet big sister to her two little sisters. She is also a great helper and enjoys just being in other's company. She is quiet like Caleb, and more of a listener then a talker. She is a real sweetheart! She enjoys doing crafts and is wanting to learn to sew. My sewing/craft closet intrigues her.

Bethany's hobbies and loves include dogs! Anything to do with dogs! She hopes and wishes for her own dog, just like Kaylee used too. One night as I was tucking her into bed, she asked me, "Mom, when do I get to get my big birthday gift?" I told her when she was 8 or 9. Then she said, "Do I have to get a horse, or can I get a dog?" I guess she was worried she was going to get stuck with a horse. Even though she likes to ride horses, she would rather have a dog! She also loves riding her bike, playing with her little sisters, playing games, playing football with her brothers and dad, and being outside with her brothers.

Hadassah is now 5, and in Kindergarden. She is my most talkative student to date! She absolutely loves everything about Kindergarden, except for coloring! To her that is the biggest waste of time! She would much rather be learning to read, add and subtract, or telling time. Not a day goes by that she doesn't have me rolling with something she says during school. She is an absolute character! She seems to have a new weekly vocabulary word that she uses very well. One week it was gorgeous and everything was 'gorgeous'. The next week it was gruesome and everything was 'gruesome'. She said she choose gruesome because it started with 'g' just like gorgeous. Lately, she has been fine tuning her 'autograph'. Where she comes up with these things???

Hadassah's hobbies and loves include talking, expanding her huge vocabulary, learning what words mean, and playing with her sisters. When she isn't talking, she is playing with her sisters, Bethany and Abby. She also loves dodgeball and is a real go getter. Even her daddy can't scare her. For her tiny size, she is one brave little player! She also likes riding her bike.

Abriannah is now 3, and busy as usual! She is really becoming a sweet little lady. She is such a big girl that loves to keep up with the other six. Her vocabulary is so grown up too. I guess that comes from being the littlest in a house full of people all bigger then you. She always has something that she 'needs to tell us'.

Abby's hobbies and loves include using her imagination to dream up all kinds of monsters to keep Hadassah and her folks from getting a good night's rest. The latest monster was a pink dinosaur she called 'Black Beauty'. It was a mean creature that wanted to eat Abby, but not her sisters. She would drag poor Hadassah out of bed nightly to safely escort her to our room till she could crawl into our bed. Then her daddy convinced her that we had bed sharks in our bed that liked little girls. After that, she would send Hadassah in to get us, while she stayed safely in the hallway. This was getting very old, till her Grandparents Miller wrote her that a big pink dinosaur, named Black Beauty, had showed up at that their house wanting to live with them. Her Grandpa had shot it and buried it in one of his fields. She believed that and now can't wait to go to his house to see where that pink dinosaur is buried. It is great to be getting a good night's sleep again! That is Abby's wild imagination.

After 20 yrs., DeWayne is still my bestest friend. When he isn't working for Data Ventures, he is busy teaching Algebra I and II, Chemistry and General Science. He is also involved in CAP, and an RC plane club. He plays basketball as often as he can find the time too. For an old guy, he can still outmanuever his oldest daughter and son on the ball court. He is pretty good at dodgeball too with his little girls, although Hadassah sure likes to give him a run for his money! Right now he is also working on a whole new look and feel to our family website. So stay tuned!

Lord willing, we will have a new addition to our family in March. It has been a wild and wonderful pregnancy. God has been very good to us through it all!!! After 5 miscarriages in a row, we have been blessed with another miracle. At 10 weeks, I hemorrhaged yet again. We ended up in ER believing that we were about to lose yet another precious baby. But when they did an ultrasound, their our precious baby was safe and sound! It was a miracle!!! Turned out to be a subchorionic hemorrhage. After a couple weeks of bed rest and my mother's incredible care, I was back on my feet. The next ultrasound showed a blood clot in my uterus, but thankfully, not in the amniotic fluid. It eventually dissolved. Then Dec. 3rd sent me back to the hospital in incredible pain. Thought I was having an appendicitis attack. Turned out to be a fibroid tumor in the process of 'red degeneration' (dying) on the outside, right side of my uterus. I spent the night in the hospital and then a couple more days in the hospital on Dec. 9th and 10th. Through all of that and all the pain medication they had to put me on to get through it, our little baby has done incredibly well. We are thankful that the tumor I had was one that took care of itself by dying, rather then one that would have to be surgically removed after delivery. God has always been so good to us, and continues to daily care for us all!!

Lord willing, we will meet this little one in March. We have had to have 6 ultrasounds with this little one and the last 3 have said that we are going to be blessed with our 6th little lady. Time will tell, but we are just so very, very thankful that God has allowed us to make it this far and we are all looking forward to meeting the newest member of our growing family.

Well, I guess that catches ya'll up on our family. We wish you and your families a blessed and wonderful New Year.

God Bless,

The Britton Bunch,

DeWayne, Debra, Shalee, Chase, Kaylee, Caleb, Bethany, Hadassah, and Abriannah Britton