Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!

Well, this Christmas letter has turned into a Christmas/New Year letter.  But we are grateful to share our lives with such wonderful friends and family, so you’ll excuse our tardiness!

2011 was a wonderful year.  We welcomed our sweet Wade Raymond on May 20^th, and are grateful for the chance to have a family and become parents.  He is a sweet, patient, and tender little guy.  He is healthy, but skinny (second percentile for his entire life so far) and has just started getting up on his hands and knees.  Crawling will be very exciting, and I might cry when he does it.  When he first giggled it was such a surprise that I about burst into tears.  Tender moments of motherhood.  Perris and I are blessed to have a greater understanding and eternal perspective of what really matters in life as we entered the realm of parenthood.

Wade was a bit “late” in arriving, according to the guesses, anyway, and I quit my job as Recreation Therapist at New Haven Residential Treatment Center 11 days before Wade was born.  I hope to keep up my certification and license so I can continue practicing one day.  3 days after Wade was born we headed down to St George to live for the summer while my parents and youngest sister were in Ohio.  We had a nice, relaxing summer where Wade kindly introduced us to life with a baby.  Perris worked at a fitness resort and we moved back up to Orem for Perris to begin his final year at BYU.  He graduates with a bachelor’s in Information Systems in April.  He was offered an internship from Ernst and Young in Minneapolis, which he will start after graduation most likely.  The plan is to apply to the masters program at University of Utah in March to start in the fall.  Then we may very well be mid-westerners permanently.  We shall see!  I constantly look at Perris and can’t believe he is my husband.  I definitely got the better end of the deal.  He is a sweet, kind, hard working man.  And he’s a little silly.

One of my goals this year was to learn how to book bind, which I did.  I love it.  I made Perris a huge wedding album for Christmas and hope to sell some books on etsy in the coming months.  I went to Ohio for about 7 weeks starting in September to help my Mom care for my sister, Katie (and to make the cross country drive) during some major surgeries.  Wade and I enjoyed our time with them, but missed Perris sorely.  We made the trek twice, since my maternal Grandpa passed away while we were there.  We love Grandpa Boyce!  So glad for the restored gospel and plan of Heavenly Father, that we can be families together forever through the temple ordinances.  It is all that matters.  Adjusting to being at home full-time wasn’t the easiest, but I know it is the best place to be and I’m glad for the chance to do it.

We are looking forward to the future, and are again grateful to share moments and experiences with you.  Our best to you in the year to come, and may we always look toward our Savior that we may be like Him when He comes again.

Love you,

Perris, Ali, and Wade

Please, keep in touch.