Time for Christmas!

Its time for the annual Ellison Christmas letter. I know, you’ve been anxiously awaiting it to see how many children we have this year! Once again we won’t disappoint as we have Holiday news to share that our kids keep growing...and so does the number of them!!

On November 18, 2007, Stephen and Stefani celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary. On that very same day, they welcomed home their 13th child. They say that its cheaper by the dozen ( but I am here to tell you that is NOT true) so why not do better and make it a Baker’s Dozen?

We have just had the immense blessing of bringing home Caden who is 7 years old. He was born in China too. As you can see from the picture of him on Daddy’s lap that he has a fabulous smile. We think he is a wonderful addition to our family and we are SO GLAD HE IS HERE!! He and Lan have become quite a team and they truly enjoy each other’s company.

We also welcomed our first grandchild. Little Haydin Hill is a smart and happy boy and so well cared for by his Mama Katie. Auntie Sierra makes sure to take very good care of him too. Haydin will celebrate his first birthday on January 12th.

BRANDON was deployed in the Phillipines for a year and is now back safely. PHEW!! Since 9/11, he has also made it through deployments to Afghanistan, kuwait and Iraq unscathed. We certainly are proud of him and grateful for his sacrifices so we can enjoy our freedom. BRETT works as a mechanic at Nate Wade Subaru in SLC and just bought his first house! He is recovering from a broken tailbone...ouch! SIERRA is a receptionist for home Depot Installing and a very good oldest sister. Did I mention she is such a great big sister?! KATIE works at 1-800-Contacts but spends most of her time being a great mom to Haydin. SHE ROCKS! JUNIOR graduated from high school and is in Honolulu and works as a security guard for University of Hawaii...and likely chasing girls.

MAKAYLA is getting ready to graduate from high school next May and was named November’s Student of the month at school. We hope she chooses to attend Southern Utah State University because we just aren’t ready to have her leave us yet. ShAYNA is in the 9th grade now and really wanting a phone for christmas....Hoping Santa gets a wrong number on that one. She is definitely a talker. TAISHA is in 8th grade and our very much appreciated organizer. We owe our family sanity to her. ROBERT is truly searching for a way to attend clown school. He is always joking and making people laugh...even when he should be doing other things. He is a very kind hearted boy and he keeps us humored. AARON has finally agreed to take piano lessons and expand on his musical talent. We love listening to him practice. He always takes time to make sure people are happy and included.

CADEN just joined our family and he really loves to do art and be one of the kids. He has Osteo-genesis Imperfecta. You might have heard this as Brittle Bone Disease. It doesn’t slow him down but the trampoline is off limits. Next time you see us be sure to give him a hug...just not too hard though! SHAOLAN (LAN) is as girly as a girl can be. She celebrated her 6th birthday with the princesses at Disneyland. Anything pink, purple, or princessy is what she likes. She started kindergarten and LOVES it. She is learning to read and this is so exciting!!!

AMMON is the baby and even though he is four years old, he is still has a lot of baby left in him. He had a really tough start in life and didn’t get to experience much while he waited in China for a family. We knew he had a seizure disorder when we adopted him but since bringing him home last December have learned that he has a golf ball sized cyst in the left side of his brain. He also has a difference in electrical current to that side of the brain which causes his seizures. It also affects his language and he is just now learning how to talk. He gets PLENTY of exposure to hearing people talk at our house so it’s a perfect place for him to be!!

We finally did what we have been wanting to do for years and that is to buy some ATV’s. We bought 5 and like to spend time out riding. We have a trailer and our new ATV’s...now we just need the TIME to be able to enjoy them more. Anybody want to get together and camp this summer??

The kids, except for the 3 “littles”, will be learning to snowboard this winter. How many emergency room visits do you see in our near future?!?!?!? Oh well, the doctors all know us there by name anyway.

We want to wish you and your family a warm and magical holiday season. We thank you for being part of our lives and for cheering us on. We have been blessed so much and we are grateful for that. We hope you are able to count your blessings too. May 2008 be filled with love, friends and family.

All our love,

The Ellisons