Christmas Letter 2010

Highlights from 2010

Shauna and Matt traveled to Panama in December and then headed north to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, then spent Christmas in El Salvador and continued on to Guatemala. Shauna decided to stay to take advantage of the opportunity to attend Spanish school in Antigua. Matt unfortunately had to return to work. Breanna joined Shauna in Guatemala for a couple of weeks then Jessie went down to play with them. Breanna and Shauna traveled to Belize before returning home in time for our family cruise in February.

Matt and Shauna in the San Blas Islands of Panama

Breanna, Shauna, Jess in Semuc Champey, Guatemala

We all headed down to Southern Cal for our cruise. My parents went with us also. Matt was not going to be able to go, but surprised Shauna, showing up late one night. Ryan and Shannon were not able to go which was very sad. Before leaving out of Long Beach we revisited one of our favorite places, San Pedro and stayed on Fort Mac just across the street from our old home.

We played steal the flag on the parade ground,

played some volleyball at Redondo beach

and some football....







and enjoyed eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant "Jolly Burrito".


We spent some time exploring the tide pools at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, and wandered through the aquarium.

Searching for sea creatures

Kyle, Shauna and Breanna

Neal and Bonnie

We LOVE the ocean!

It was so much fun to be together on the cruise ship.

playing hacky sack on Catalina

Catalina Island

Kyle's first taste of lobster

Ensenada

Mom & Dad (Ken and Peggy Styles)

We really missed having Ryan and Shannon with us, but we went to see them in San Diego when we got off the ship. Everyone enjoyed visiting and some time in the hot tub at their place.

Since we love the ocean so much, we returned to San Diego in April for some spring break fun on Coronado Island. We were able to stay right on the beach and enjoyed some good beach BBQ hot dogs, bonfires and more Mexican food as well as being there for an earthquake. Ryan and Shannon were able to spend time with us surfing and touring. Everyone except Jacob and Matt were able to be there. I think we’ve found the trick of how to get everyone together. Go to a beach somewhere!

Heading out for a little surfing

General Conference weekend, so the men headed to Priesthood meeting.

Jess & Shauna

Historic Coronado Hotel

Ryan& Shannon headed our way in June. While they were here we took advantage of our last time together before Matt and Shauna moved East. It is always so much fun to have everyone at home. Now we have one family on the west coast and one on the east. Thank goodness for flight benefits!

In September, we added another member of our family. Breanna had a baby girl. Shauna came home to be with her and share this experience.

In October Neal and I celebrated our 30th anniversary by going on another cruise. My parents went with us to celebrate their 58th anniversary as well. We left out of New York, so Shauna and Matt came down from New Hampshire and spent a couple of days with us touring the Big Apple.


We spent 12 days cruising and had a great time visiting some new territory. We went to Samana, Curacao, Aruba, Roatan and Cozumel. Neal got me to go snorkeling then he spent time some scuba diving while in Roatan. We were able to go to Tikal and take a tour of some Mayan ruins. It was nice to just soak up some sun and relax. Oh yeah, and to eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was a great trip.

Cozumel

Ryan and Shannon made their last move, for now at least, from San Diego back to the Bay Area in California. Ryan completed a 2 year training program with Intuit and received a permanent position working in the Corporate Office in the Finance Center of Excellence. Shannon is now working in a special education program at a high school in their area as a teacher's aide and is loving it.

Shauna’s husband, Matt, graduated from Weber State in Health-care Administration with emphasis in Long term care. Unfortunately that required a move to New Hampshire to take on the responsibility of a nursing home in Milford. Thankfully they are only about an hour away from the Boston airport and not quite that far from Manchester. They can’t get away from us that easily! We were pleased to find out soon after they left that Shauna is pregnant. She is due April 1st and it's a GIRL! She has been horribly sick, but it will be worth it. They are both very excited to be parents.

Jon

Kyle

Kyle and Jon

Jon and Kyle both made job changes this year. They are currently working together for a manufacturing company. They are also trying to start their own business doing auto and motorcycle repair work. Jon and Kyle both enjoy camping, dirt biking, four wheeling and hanging out with their friends, which they have done several times on many trips to the sand dunes in Southern Utah. Kyle has a very nice motorcycle and loves to go for long rides all over when the weather is good. Kyle is also the lead singer and lyricist in a band they call Never Ends and performs on occasion locally.

Kyle with Shauna

Neal, Shauna, Kyle, Jess and Jon at the Dunes

Jacob returned home after living in Washington DC. working for an environmental nonprofit research and advocacy firm. We were happy to have him home, only to have him take a job as a road biking tour guide. He spent most of the summer in Yellowstone, then spent some time in Oregon, Washington, California and Arizona and returned once again in October. He spends a lot of him time in Salt Lake with friends and he is definitely the traveling man. He is currently in China and plans to get to as many countries as he can before his flight benefits run out in April! He is looking into grad school options for the fall.

Breanna worked for a child care center before having a baby girl in September. Her name is Alaina Rose. She was born on the 20^th of September and was 6lbs. 5 oz. She is a sweet little thing. We have enjoyed having a baby in our home. There is nothing like holding a brand new baby! Breanna is doing great and enjoying being a Mom. She will be going back to school in January and has started selling Mary Kay Cosmetics to try to earn enough money so she doesn’t have to leave Alaina.

Jessie headed to China in August to be a head teacher for an English program. Last year she was a teacher in Kiev, Ukraine and they asked her to be a head teacher this year. She was supposed to go to Mexico, but they had to close the school and asked if she would go to China instead. She has taken advantage of every opportunity that she has been given. In November she finally went to Shanghai to see a doctor for a cold that was continually getting worse. The doctor ended up admitting her with Pneumonia saying that both lungs were filling and that their wasn’t much air flow in her lungs. She stayed in the hospital for 5 days. Luckily she took her little computer and we were able to be in touch with her through skype. They told her she would need to rest for a week or two after getting out, so she decided to come home. She stayed home for just about 2 weeks, then headed back to finish up what she had committed to do. She will be home on the 17^th of December then she will head to Provo to start school at UVU next month.

Josh is in his senior year at Layton High. I can’t believe he is going to graduate this coming year! He is doing well and trying to enjoy this last year of school. Josh worked at Lagoon again this summer. He is ready to do something different and plans to attend the technical college next fall. Josh is currently working on his Eagle Scout project.

Josh loves being an uncle

Neal and I are both doing well. We just keep on going. Things are never boring at our house. I hope they never will be.

I hope that you will enjoy this wonderful season when we focus on the Savior. I am grateful for the joy that I have in my life because of my understanding of the Saviors love for us. I hope that our focus on Him, will not just be during the Christmas season, but throughout the whole year.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and hope that 2011 will be full of great things for you and your family!!!

Love, The Booher Bunch