Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas from the Sullivans. Below is our annual family Christmas newsletter...

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Christmas Recap

We traveled out to Utah for the week leading up to Christmas. We had a wonderful time and we want to share some of our pictures of the trip.

We went to visit my grandparents and let them see Claire again. It was good to see them, but also sad because their health is deteriorating, and my grandmother's dementia is getting worse every time we see her. Most of the time now, she has no idea who any of us are.

A nice family picture with 4 generations represented.

After my grandparent's house is Salt Lake we wanted to take Claire to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It was really cold so we bundled her up nice and tight. We were not able to find a parking space so my parents dropped Suzy, Claire, Addie and I off and we took a whirlwind 15 minutes run around Temple Square to see the lights. Claire seemed to enjoy the cold wind in her face more than anything else. But Temple Square at Christmas time is one of the most beautiful sights, and Suzy and I would have been disappointed it we had missed out on it.

Claire had her first real introduction to pets while we were with my parents. At first she was very afraid of Chloe, a 6-year-old toy dachshund, but over the week Claire warmed up to her, and Chloe was very gentle the entire time, what a good dog!

Claire in her new Christmas Eve pjs.

Claire enjoying some Grandma time!

Christmas morning. Claire got some great new toys that she absolutely loves.

She even got into the present opening!

Merry Christmas!

It has been a long time since we have posted. We want to wish all of you a wonderful and Merry Christmas.

Please click on the images below to see our annual Christmas letter.

If you did not receive the email of the letter and would like to please send me your email address and we will add you to our list.

4th of July a little late

I know its a little late, but in my defense, I tried this once already and the pictures wouldn't load. I couldn't get all of them to load today either, but at least I got a few. I think blogger is mad at me. It doesn't help that our internet is super slow. Hopefully we will be getting faster internet this week which will help make life a lot more efficient. Also, we have been sick for the last two weeks. Claire started it with a cold and then got pink eye. It then passed to me and I got a bad cold or something with a fever and then an ear infection which hasn't budged with two kinds of antibiotics. Casey then started in on the fun and also got an ear infection which he is still battling as well as a really bad cough. Hopefully we are on the uphill now and can finally start feeling better.

On to the topic at hand. We had a great Fourth of July including a hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park. It has some nice hiking trails which go by the ruins of an old mill which, if I remember correctly, was the biggest fabric mill in Atlanta at the time of the Civil war, but was burned during the war.

It was on the beautiful river and it was a perfect day to be out, as long as we stayed in the shade. We went the river way on the way out, and on the way back we went the forest trail where we saw two deer very close up as well as a snake and lots of squirrels and chipmunks. It was a lot of fun.

We spent the night at Casey's Aunt and Uncle's where they had a wedding/pool party. Kind of a weird combination, I know, but it was a lot of fun. They had great food, good people, swimming and fireworks. It was a great way to spend the day.

65 years ago...

Today is the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Last night as I was cruising around the Internet I ran across the speech given by President Roosevelt in a radio address on the night of June 6, 1944. I knew of the speech, but had never heard or read it before. I was particularly moved by his prayer and supplication to God, and his desire that the whole nation would join. 

Here is what he said:

My Fellow Americans:

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest.

They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

A Late Memorial Day Video

I realize that yesterday was Memorial Day, and that this will be late, but I found this video today while looking for something to do this weekend. I thought that it was inspiring and relevant.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Memorial Day...

In honor of Memorial Day and in remembering the great sacrifice that thousands have made in our behalf, I would like to share this poem that has inspired me for many years.

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Please take some time today to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for your freedom.

Happy Easter!!

I know there is a lot more to Easter than chocolate bunnies and eggs, but that's why we go to church. This just made me laugh...

I hope your Easter finds you a little better than these guys.

Some Random Stuff

So I have to brag on my brothers for a moment. They recently build a rather large snowman in their front yard in Orem, Utah. It has become a local celebrity and dominated the discussions at Church and apparently in ward PEC meeting. When my brothers arrived at Church two Sundays ago the Elder's Quorum President approached them and asked them how tall the snowman was. He told them that the height of the snowman had been the dominating conversation in PEC that morning! So how tall was it exactly? Here is a picture. . . what do you think? (hint: my brother on the right is 6'4").

I am sure my brothers would want everyone to know that they did in fact wear appropriate clothing when building this snowman. The shorts and sandals were just for the photo.

The monster snowman was about 11 feet in this picture. Then they heard about snowzilla a huge snowman in Alaska. So when the next snowstorm came through they added to the height of their snowman, pushing it to 14.5 feet.

My family says that it has drawn a lot of attention as people come from all over to take picture of it and with it. They even have had a few cars nearly crash as they were distracted by it as they drove by.

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Proverbs 22:6 says that "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

We have gotten an early start on this thanks to my brother and Suzy's brother who gave Baby Girl Sullivan these for Christmas . . .

We are already off on a good start in training her up to be a Jazz Fan!!!

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Lastly, for Christmas I received a fun toy, the Nike + iPod. For someone like me who suffers from slight OCD coupled with my strange fascination with numbers and statistics, multiplied by my competitive nature, this little device is wonderfully cool. It actually makes running fun, because while I am running I can know exactly how far I have gone, how long I have run and what my current pace is. And even better when I get home I can upload my run onto my computer and compare it against my other runs and thousands of other people.

One quick complaint about the area we live in . . . Sunday night it rained ever so slightly, which in most places would not be a big deal. But here in the land of "we don't believe in plowing our roads or putting salt on them," it was a big deal. The rain coupled with the freezing cold, was just enough to turn the road from a drivable road into an ice skating rink. The road was completely covered in a layer of ice mixed with the snow that they city did not plow. So not only was it dangerous for drivers, it was difficult for me to complete my run. The uphill parts were not too bad as long as I baby stepped my way to the top of the hill, but the downhill part was scary. The entire way down all I could think about was, "What if I fall and get a concussion or break my leg, will anyone even see me or help me," followed by "I wonder if they could pull my personal information off my iPod because that is all I have to identify myself?" I finally finished my run without falling, and as I finished a voice came over the iPod and congratulated me on my longest run yet! So fun, can't wait until the next run!

p.s. The Nike Plus programing is what created the little guy in the right column that tracks my progress.

2008 Christmas Letter

Yesterday we sent out our second annual Sullivan Family letter to our family and friends. I doubt that we have everybody's email addresses or have the wrong ones. If you would like to be added to our list, please leave your email address in the comments.

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Click on the images to enlarge and read the letter.

Don't forget to vote about when Baby Girl Sullivan will join our family!

Time to Catch Up

On December 1st I had 9 papers to write, 5 presentations to give, and 1 website to create for school, all before the end of the semester. On top of all that, Suzy and I began our child birth classes and I had three reports to edit for work. Now finally it is all done and some sense of normality can return to life.

First an update on the pregnancy. . .

Suzy at 27 weeks

Suzy at 29 weeks

Suzy at 33 weeks

For Thanksgiving we decided that instead of staying in Amherst that we would take a short vacation and head north to Canada. We drove up to Montreal and spent three days there. The weather mostly cooperated with us, though it was not exactly warm, it probably could have been much worse than it was. During our short three days in Montreal we visited 8 museums! We bought a pass that allowed us entry into most of the museums in Montreal and included a 3-day metro pass. It was a great deal and we had fun flying through the museums. 

This is the Montreal Cathedral of Notre Dame.

This is the square in front of the cathedral.

This is the stadium that they built for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. I think the tower thing is where the flame was. Next to this stadium is the Bio-Dome, where they had four different climate zones inside the dome where they have animals running and flying around. It was one of our favorite parts of the visit. The first climate zone was the rain forest, which was a nice change from the cold of the outside even if we had to carry around our 8 layers of clothes.

This is a museum home that is across the street from the stadium. This house was cool because it is actually a duplex mansion owned by two wealthy brothers.

On our last day, the first one with blue skies, we drove up to the top of Mont Royal which overlooks the city. It is a great view. We took our lunch, a baguette and dip with us but since it was cold we ate in the car.

This past weekend we got our first big snow storm. Prior to this storm we had a nasty ice storm which knocked out power for thousands around us, including several people in our ward, but fortunately we did not suffer from that one. This past snow storm was really supposed to be two different storms, but it never stopped snowing from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. It snowed so mush that even Church was cancelled. In total we got probably close to 18 inches. This is the view past our three little Christmas trees out our window at all the snow.

Notice also that we have created a new poll on the right. Vote now to place your guess on when Baby Girl Sullivan will arrive!

4th of July

Yesterday we went to the Tampa Bay game. The Devil Rays played the Royals. The Rays are the #1 baseball team in the country right now. They just swept the Red Sox. It was a fun game and they won 11-2. It was also $1 hot dog night. :) That always makes the game a little more fun. It kind of evened out the $5 soda we bought.

On the way home there was a really nice almost sunset on the bridge. It was a beautiful day and we really liked the clouds on one side.

This picture is from the other day when it rained a lot. We found a tree frog on our back sliding glass door. We see toads a lot, but the frogs usually stay in the water.

This is a turtle that we saw at the gator river. He was right up by the dock where we look for gators. He was just eating away.

On my birthday we went miniature golfing at a place I like to call Gator Golf, although that's not the real name. They had a pit with probably 20 gators stuffed in it. They didn't look all that comfortable. This one had a turtle on its back and didn't really even seem to notice.

This is a bird that we see a lot around here. It likes to stand like this to dry off its wings.

Thats all the random things we've been up to. Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Wonderful Thanksgiving Week

I am sitting here typing this wishing that this week could continue a few more days. But, alas, I must return to school tomorrow.

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. First I would like to announce that we have received our first snow of the season on Tuesday. It was an interesting day. The night before I checked the forecast and it said nothing of any expected snow. I woke up early at 5:30 am to study for a mid-term, and no snow. But by the time I left the apartment at 8:45 am there was a solid 2 inches of snow on the ground and more was coming every minute. I enjoyed the snowing part, I think watching it snow is very calming, something I definitely needed before the test.Suzy and I prepared a very nice Thanksgiving Day spread, much more than two people can eat. Before we got started on the big feasting I made some cinnamon rolls, which were oh so very good (quite possibly the best food ever). Since neither of us is a huge fan of turkey and we surely did not want to be eating turkey for the next week, we made a delicious spiral cut ham, which we are still enjoying. For desert Suzy made creme brulee, which was quite good. She did a great job making in for the first time.Oh, how I love cinnamon rolls. Seeing this picture makes me hungry for more...

On Friday, we braved the shopping scene, traveling over the Berkshire Mountains to a factory outlet mall. We found some good deals on stuff for our Christmas presents for each other. It was a fun day but quite cold. Then Friday nigh I sat on the couch with the grainy video on my laptop watching BYU beat #6 ranked Louisville in basketball (while simultaneously keeping track of the score of the Jazz game online), both of my teams won and I was very happy and thought it a good omen for the rest of the weekend.

Yesterday, we had our Elder's Quorum Turkey Bowl football game that all of six people showed up for. We persevered through temperatures in the low 30's and played for about 90 minutes. It was good to actually do some exercising that was actually fun and enjoyable for a change. Then, Suzy got to stay home and watch most of the BYU-Utah game while I went and helped a family in our ward move in. Luckily I made it back for the last half of the 4th quarter, the only really exciting part of the game. I must admit that after Utah scored to go up by one and BYU was facing 4th and 18, I did not think that they could pull it off again. But the good karma that I gained by sacrificing watching the game to give service came through, BYU scored and won the game. I am sure that I was very close to having a very serious medical condition because of the stress of those last few minutes. After that game I decided I would not, could not, watch the whole of the UNC-BYU basketball game that night, so I only watched the first half.

When I woke up this morning my body definitely felt every single box that I moved on Saturday, and I still cannot move with out aching. I really hurt in places I did not know I had muscles. This morning I spoke in Sacrament meeting with the rest of the Elder's Quorum Presidency. I spoke about the importance of Home Teaching, so I guess now I have to go do mine.

Suzy and I both hope that all y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

While having Thanksgiving by ourselves was nice in that we got to create some of our own traditions, but we both missed our families and friends and realized how grateful we are for them. And how grateful we are for a loving Father in Heaven who is watching out for us here in Sunderland.