2023 in Review

Yearly Update: 

 January: Joe and Jamie were still teaching at Milford High School and Nathan was in the 9th grade. At the end of January, Jamie made a hard decision. although she loved teaching and loved the students, she just was not spending enough time with her family so she decided to quit. 

 February was just another winter month. And winter 2023 in Minersville, Utah meant lots and lots of snow and cloudy days. We didn't think we even remembered what the sun was like. 

 In March, the school district was faced with making some changes because of the closure of the Smithfield Pig farms. They lost students so they had to also lose teachers. They asked Joe if he'd mind teaching 1/2 time at the high school and then the other half at two different elementary schools. At first he was willing. Then KayLee started thinking about home schooling and called Jamie about it. KayLee (jokingly) requested that Jamie just move down to Sahuarita so she could help with the math part. The idea got brewing and because we had really like the southern Arizona area when we had visited in October, and Joe saw potential for a full time private studio, we decided that we'd move.  So we traveled down to look at houses. We like the houses and we liked the area so we called a Realtor and thought that it would take a few months for us to get our house ready to be staged and sold. 

 Jamie also go to spend a week in Kansas helping out with Melissa's family because she had a cute new baby boy!!! And visiting the other grand children that live in Kansas.

April:  Well, the rumor spread around Minersville that we were moving.  And before we could even get our house listed a young couple who had been looking for their perfect house in Minersville for nearly a year, called and asked to see our house.  We showed it to them and they made us an offer within one day.  So much for taking months to sell our house.  Now we had a closing date of June 5th.  

We also needed a house to move into. The universe must have been watching because as we kept checking Zillow, a house in Sahuarita was listed for sale.  It wasn't like anyone the ones we had looked at but it was the right size, the right price and had a VA assumable mortgage with a 2.37% interest rate.  So we made and offered and it was accepted.  Unfortunately assumptions take between 4 and 6 months to close (which we did not know at the time.)

Also in March and April, competed with his Drama team at region and state where he received Superior ratings with his monologue and his team took 1st in the 1 act plays and region and did really well at state!!

May was a crazy month.  We spent our time teaching that last crazy month of school and trying to pack and get ready to move.  We spent  hours going through things and as we had decided to downsize, deciding what we really didn't need.  We ended up taking two trailer's full of things to the Deseret Industries and one trailer full of stuff to our older children who have their own houses.  We all gave away or sold a lot of furniture  and bookshelves.  We also left several pieces of furniture and our washer and dryer and grill for the new owners.  We wanted to move light.

June:  We were very grateful that the buyers of our house gave us 10 days after the closing to finish packing and get our stuff moved.  Can I just say, I hate packing.  We really appreciated all of our friends in Minersville who helped with the last bit of packing and loading the U-haul.  Leaving them was the hardest part of moving. 

U-haul is packed

But since we didn't have a house to move into, we had to move all of our stuff into a storage unit.  And then we spent the last few weeks of June in an Air B&B in Sahuarita.  It was actually kind of nice because we didn't have a lot to do so it was like a vacation.

June was also a fun month because EmmaLee submitted her portfolio to be accepted into the animation program and BYU and she got accepted.  She has been working toward that goal for years!!! We were so proud to see all of her hard work pay off.

The "Mothia" one of her projects.

July was a fun month.  We spent it traveling and spending time with family.  The first week we were in Kanab where our son Ben and his family and KayLee and her family were also visiting. On July 4th we headed to Vegas for our flight to Florida to see Joe's family as his brother was getting married there.  Wouldn't you know that our airport luck continued.  Our flight was canceled and rescheduled for the next day so we got to spend the night in Vegas and fly to Florida the next day.  From the Orlando airport we drove to Ft. Meyers. It was a long day.  Then we got to spend some time visiting Joes Mom and family.  The 7th was the wedding.  And in the afternoon Joe's mom treated us to a lovely dinner at a sea side restaurant and a sunset cruise in Sanabell bay.  This was the bay and area destroyed by Hurricane Ian in 2022 and it was interesting to see all of the destruction mother nature can cause. A lot of the places were still rebuilding.

While in Florida we also went to the beach and spent a day at Universal Studios.  (Note: Universal Studios is hot and humid in July!!)

We flew back to Kanab where we got to visit with DeeAnn and her family for a few days.  Then we went with Joe on a mini concert tour when a band he is in called Legends of Rock, played in Idaho and then the next day in Heber City, Utah.  That was fun.

August:  Because we had no closing date in sight for our new house, the sellers decided that they would rent it to us.  So yay!!! we got to move in.  So we loaded stuff from the storage unit and moved it to our house.  Luckily we had beds and a kitchen table but that was about it.  We didn't want to fully furnish the house until we signed the mortgage papers so we lived with one tiny couch we had brought with us and lawn chairs.  But we did get a few bookshelves (the most important thing.)

Our dog Max was getting old and had been not normal for a while. We had planned on getting him to a vet right away when we moved.  Sadly, that came sooner than we'd planned.  The day we moved in he was to the point of not even being able to move.  We took him to the emergency vet and the few tests they did run showed that there were lots of things going on.  So we had to make the hardest decision and have him put down.  It was a tragic day for us all.

The hard goodbye

August and September saw us getting into the grove of homeschooling, unpacking, and planning what furniture we wanted. Joe also began teaching students in his private studio.  Word spreads quickly and thanks to Arizona's ESA funds for homeschoolers the slots are filling up.

October:  Finally!!! A closing date.  The house officially became ours on October 5th.

Our pet luck continued when our cat who was used to the farm and outside life, got out and did not come back.  We were very sad again.

November:  So since we had all the cat stuff and we couldn't let it go to waste, in November we adopted two adorable black kittens, Hex and Luna.  They didn't like Spot at first but now they are friends.

We also took a quick trip to Utah for Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving day with Jamie's parents in Kanab.  The next day we drove to Provo where we got to visit EmmaLee and Ben's family(who were in Lehi for Michelle's sister's wedding)  as we attended the Orem Temple Open house and went to dinner.  Saturday we spent some more time with EmmaLee and then drove back to Kanab.  We were very disappointed that we couldn't work out spending time with Darin. 

December in Arizona is the best!!!  The weather is perfect, sunny and in the 70's.  We decorated for Christmas then spent a week in Kanab visiting Jamie's family and Joe played in two Christmas concerts with a country band from Hurricane, Utah. 

At the end of this trip, our pet bad luck continued.  Spot started throwing up and acting really lethargic.  He'd drink water and then throw it all back up.  He was getting worse so we took him to the emergency vet where after waiting for hours and a bunch of tests, he was diagnosed with Parvo, which is weird because he was vaccinated.  He spent the night at the vets and then came home with a lot of medication and some iv's for us to do subcutaneously.  After a week of giving him shots and liquid under the skin and feeding him through a tube through his nose, he recovered.  We were excited not to lose another pet!!!

Spot hospital at home

Christmas vacation was relaxing.  EmmaLee was able to visit and we got to spend Christmas morning with KayLee's family.  We went to the zoo, visited Mesa to see the temple lights and to go to our favorite place, Organ Stop Pizza, and slept in a lot!!!

We did have a crazy year and we are loving Sahuarita.  We just wish we had all of our family and friends from all over the country here with us.

Love the Costello's

Updates on everyone else:

KayLee's Family:  lives in Sahuarita Arizona. Joshua is a CRNA in Tucson and KayLee homeschools and is working on a Betrayal Trauma coaching program.

Ben's Family lives in Winfield, Kansas where Ben was promoted and is now the head facilities manager and the college. Michelle stays home with her two cute girls, Hazel, 4 and Grace, 21 months

Darin's Family lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Darin works at Adobe and Amy makes everything.  She put pavers in their backyard, paints their house, knits gorgeous sweaters, restored an old pickup and is writing a book!!! Micah is in the 2nd grade and is such a cutie.

Melissa's family is in Shawnee, Kansas where Nolan works as an IT pharmacist and Melissa is taking care of their two kids, Alex who is 4 and Rowan is 9 months old. 

DeeAnn's family lives in Lawrence, Kansas and Julien works in Overland Park as a pharmacist.  DeeAnn cuts hair at great clips a few days a month and stays home with their 1 year old, Myron.

Adam moved back to Cleveland, Ohio and I think that is way to far away!!

The Costello's 2020-2022

2020: Covid year.

Jamie taught part time 7th grade at Minersville School.  Nathan was one of her students.

Joe: Taught music at Milford high and started his own teaching studio in Minersville

EmmaLee: Began taking college courses working toward her Associate degree while still in high school

Nathan: 7th grade at Minersville school

We also discovered that ADHD runs in the family.  So many things now make sense in Jamie's life.  But that's a whole other story.

2021:        Spent 2 weeks in bed and 4 weeks on oxygen at night due to contracting COVID Delta variant in October.  It was a scary week.

Joe: Also got COVID but wasn't as sick.  Still a lot of coughing.  Still teaching at Milford and building his studio from a rented office space in Minersville.

EmmaLee: Started her senior year.  Still working on her associates degree.

Nathan: Started 8th grade at Milford High.  Still had to have his mom as a teacher in Math and his dad as a teacher in Choir.

2022: Jamie still teaching a Milford.  It was hard but she really loved the students and the challenge of lesson planning. Jamie also got her dream puppy, a mini golden doodle named Spot.  She decided to share him with Nathan because we got him on Nathan's birthday.

Joe: Still teaching at Milford High and his studio

EmmaLee:  graduated from Beaver High School and from SUU with her associates degree.  We were proud of all of her hard work!!

Nathan: Started 9th grade at Milford High.  High School classes were very challenging for him.

In July, We had a fun vacation in Miami Florida.  Mostly we just hung out on the beach and enjoyed the break.

Christmas 2022 was also an adventure.  We didn't do any decorating because we had house painters in our house.  But we planned on spending Christmas in Kansas visiting kids and especially seeing DeeAnn's baby.  Unfortunately we got stuck in the 2022 Southwest airlines mess.  

Our original flight on December 22 was delayed and delayed, We finally boarded the plane, sat for a while, and then were deboarded.  This was at midnight.  Southwest could not get us another flight until Christmas afternoon. So we found a sleazy motel to spend the rest of the night in and scheduled the next flight we could find which was on Frontier airlines the 24th.  Well, our luggage had been checked so we all had no changes of clothes.  Las Vegas is 3 hours from Minersville.  We debated on driving home and then driving back the next day but decided just to hang out in Vegas in our stinky clothes.  We finally made it to Kansas late the evening of the 24th where it was freezing.  Found our luggage after a long search and got to Melissa's house where we had a great Christmas day and got to visit all of our Kansas children.

When it was time to return home, we kept checking flights, we watched our flight get delayed and delayed and delayed.  There were also no rental cars available.  So we didn't want to get stuck at the airport and not be able to get another rental car.  We decided to just drive the rental car home.  The weather looked good but it ended up snowing on us over the Rocky Mountains  We made it home at 3:00 am slept a few hours and then drove the rental car to Vegas and picked up our car.  It was an adventure!!!

2023 started with the same old same old....but who knew what it would bring?

Merry Christmas 2019

So, here it is.  The long awaited and greatly anticipated 2019 update of the Costello Family.

Joe, Jamie, EmmaLee and Nathan:  We are still hanging out in Minersville, UT.

Joe is still teaching music at Milford High School and is doing a great job.  The highlight of his school year is when his friends Dutch Workman and John Houston join his choirs and guitar ensembles to really add to their year end concert.  He spends a lot of time teaching and preparing for his classes.  During the Summer he spends his time practicing the guitar and working on the yard.

Jamie worked at her dream job until school started (that was being a librarian) but because our small town library is only open in the afternoon and evening, it was too hard to be working when the kids were home.  So she decided to take on another challenge and started working at Minersville school as an aide.  It is very rewarding to be able to help the kids and the teachers each day.

EmmaLee is in the 10th grade and keeps busy with homework.  She is still pursuing her goal of being an animator.  You can check out her animations on her YouTube channel called Valzelous. (Click here) (She is always looking for people to subscribe.)

Nathan is in the 6th grade.  As always, he keeps us on our toes.  He really has enjoyed being in Young Men's this year. (The church group for young men ages 12-18)  He likes making YouTube videos and has more channels than I can list. (14 to be exact he tells me) And he works hard in school.

It seems a little strange that we only have 2 children left at home but I think most couples our age are empty nesters.  We'd be lonely with out our two "bonus" children.  Here's a little bit about what our other kids are doing:

KayLee and Joshua:  are living in Queen Creek Arizona while Joshua is pursuing his CRNA degree.  The triplets started Kindergarten this year (how did they get so old?) and the twins are 3. And KayLee keeps track of them all. She also started working part time.

Benjamin and Michelle:  are living in Washington state where Ben is working at Boeing.  I wasn't too thrilled about them being so far away especially since grand baby #7 was born to them in July, an adorable little girl they named Hazel.

Darin and Amy: still live in Salt Lake City.  Darin works for Adobe and Amy does wood working and chip carving projects on commissions.  Micah is adorable and loves cars of any kind.  He can spend all day pretending they are racing and driving around.

Melissa and Nolan: live in Overland Park, Kansas.  Nolan works as a pharmacist there and Melissa is a stay at home mom to grand baby #8, Alex.  She was born the end of August and one of the highlights of Jamie's year was going to Kansas to spend time with them.

DeeAnn and Julien:  Yes, DeeAnn got married this May.  We loved welcoming Julien into our family.  They both live in Salt Lake City where Julien is going to pharmaceutical school and DeeAnn is taking a break from school and working at Great Clips.

Adam:  is living in Cleveland, Ohio.  Yes that is too far away.  He works in a bakery at night and takes a class at Cleveland University.  We got to see him at DeeAnn's wedding.  But once  every 18 months or so is not nearly enough.

Our family is growing by leaps and bounds and we couldn't love them more.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2018

So, what started out as a family blog has turned into a once a year digital Christmas Letter.

2018 What a  year!!!  Here's the lowdown on us.

JOE is still teaching at Milford High School.  He has settled into his 2 year and is really enjoying the challenge of teaching music in a tiny high school (200 kids 7-12 grades).  He spent the summer working on the sprinkling system in our yard and getting the garden plot ready so hopefully we can learn to garden next summer.  He also got a  new grill and a smoker box and has had fun learning to grill and smoke meats.  We had a delicious smoked turkey for Thanksgiving.

JAMIE spent the first part of the year doing what she always does but in June applied for and got her dream job....a librarian.  Our tiny Minersville library has just two employees and she is the assistant librarian.  But as such she gets to catalog new books, shelve books, check books in and out for patrons, discuss her favorite books with patrons, and be the story time lady (her second dream job.)
Then in November she also started substituting at all the local schools.  After 30 year as a stay at home mom, she is finding a new challenge in juggling working and still helping kids with homework, cleaning, laundry (never caught up) and cooking dinner (frozen pizza has become a staple as there are no take out places in Minersville.)

KAYLEE AND JOSHUA spent most of the year still in St. George while  Joshua continued to work at the ICU and take online grad school classes, and KayLee  juggled 5 kids under the age of 4 and worked as a therapist a couple of days a week.  We loved it when they came to visit and they never left without us doing a fire in the back yard and roasting marshmallows and making s'mores.  I'm still finding hidden packages of chocolate bars from all the s'more making.  We were sad when they moved to Queen Creek, AZ in November.  We will miss having them so close but Joshua needs to be there to finish Grad School.

BEN and MICHELLE spent the first part of the year apart, Michelle finishing her degree at BYU and Ben working for Boeing in Mesa.  They were happy to be back together in May and I was happy to think I'd have two kids to visit in Arizona when we could make the trip but Ben got a new job at Boeing and to do it needs to be in Washington State.  So they will be moving there at the end of the year.

DARIN and AMY are still living in Salt Lake.  Darin started the year in Grad School at the University of Utah but decided that teaching at a University wasn't really what he wanted so after a couple of months of job searching, he now works at ADOBE in Lehi. Amy graduated from BYU in April and worked for a furniture builder for part of the year but now she writes freelance for a woodworking magazine and she does woodworking commissions.  And Micah is adorable.  He loves counting and counts everything from how many cars he is playing with to how many drinks of his water is takes. We love when they come to visit.

MELISSA and NOLAN are living in Kansas.  Melissa spent the year working and finishing her degree online.  She graduated in August. Nolan finished his Pharmacy Residency in Salina Kansas and now is working as a pharmacist in the Kansas City area.  We don't get to see them as often as we'd like to but Melissa planned a great family reunion for us this October and we loved seeing them then.

DEEANN spent the first part of the year living in Provo (with Michelle when Ben was in AZ) and finishing her associates degree and UVU.  Then she decided Provo was not for her and she moved closer to us (YAY) and is pursuing a degree in Vocal Performance at SUU (her parents alma mater) DeeAnn also cuts hair at Great Clips.

ADAM is living in Cleveland Ohio working as a chef and saving money so that he can start school there.  We miss him being so far away but he fell in love with the East when we lived back there and so that's where he wants to  live!

EMMALEE is still our artist.  She gets better and better every day.  She switched high schools and this year is going to Beaver High (Yes, if someone in my high school days would have told me I'd have a child going to our biggest rival High School I wouldn't have believed them.)  She is making friends and loves that she can take art classes and digital media classes there.

NATHAN is in the 5th grade and is a budding YouTuber.  He loves making YouTube videos and would love some more subscribers to his channels...yes he has multiple.  Here is the link to one of them. He also finished cub scouts earning his Arrow of Light.

And a whole slew of pets:  We still have Max our sometimes great,  sometimes annoying Maltese, Jupiter our new cat because Phil, the cat we loved, was hit by a car in the middle of the night last May. Jamie has her planted fish tank finally up and running with a lot of fish.  And we inherited some guinea pigs from KayLee and her kids when they moved.  We had 6 but one passed on and we gave two away so we are down to 3, Chewy, the dad, The United States  of America (yes that's the name given to it by Linus) the Mom and Rosie/Disel (depending on if it's a girl or a boy) the new baby born the first part of Dec.  And we can't forget Squirt, Nathan's Turtle.  How that thing is still alive I will  never know.

Happy New Year 2018

I guess it's that time of year.  Or rather after that time of year.

If you would have told me at the beginning of 2017 that at the end of 2017 I'd be living in Minersville, UT, I would have laughed in your face.  But here we are in Minersville.  (Google map it...yes it's in the middle of nowhere.)

So 2017,  what to say about that.  I guess I'll just do the whole person by person run down.

Joe:  Spent the first few months taking classes at Dixie State University working on getting a teaching certificate.  He applied for several jobs in the Washington County School District and two jobs in the Beaver County School district.  Guess which one he got?  Yup. Joe is now the music teacher at Milford High School.  He enjoys it.  He's doing something with music and both he and his students are learning a lot.  He teaches Jr. High Band, Jr. High Choir, High School Choir, High School Band, a "Madrigals" choir and several guitar classes.  Milford High School has not quite 200 students from 7th to 12th grade.

Jamie:  Nothing new.  I'm a stay at home mom so I just help with homework, drive kids places, etc.  I spent 12 days in June watching KayLee's kids and boy did that ever give me a great perspective on her life.  5 kids age 3 and under.  I now know she is superwoman.  We spent the summer packing, selling a house, buying a house, moving and unpacking.  Our house in St. George was on the market for 1 day before we had a full price offer.  We feel really blessed and lucky about that.  There weren't a lot of choice for houses in the Milford area.  Most were 1100 sq feet or less.  There was one house in Minersville that we felt would work with our family and all the grown up kids coming to visit so that's the one we bought.  It has three stories (which I'm not to thrilled with) But it's on .6 acres.  Lots of room for playing outside. And hey! we're in the country I can have chickens if I want.  And best of all...no HOA.  The kids have way less homework here an there aren't too many opportunities for lessons etc.  But grocery shopping  means driving to another town and we still drive to St George for Orthodontist appointment and other things.

KayLee and Joshua:  Still live in St. George with their adorable triplets and twins.  KayLee works as a therapist one day a week and Joshua is still an ICU nurse. He's doing online classes working towards a degree as a CRNA (nurse anesthetist)

Benjamin:  Got married in September to the perfect girl for him.  We love Michelle.  Ben graduated from BYU and got a job with Boeing.  He'll be moving to Mesa this month and I think he's happy to be moving back to where he considers home.

Darin and Amy:  Darin graduated from BYU in May and was accepted as a Doctoral student at University of Utah.  It has something to do with computers (yeah, I'm not great at remembering the names of everyone's degree).  Amy also finished her degree this December and got a great job with a furniture building company in Salt Lake.  They moved there the end of December. Their son, Micah is so adorable!!!

Melissa: Got married in May!  She and Nolan tied the knot in St. George.  It was a beautiful wedding.   They are now living in Salina, Kansas where Nolan is doing a pharmacy residency and Melissa is working for a non profit organization that helps people with employment.  She is also taking online classes working toward her Bachelor's Degree.

DeeAnn:  Spent the first part of the year going to Dixie State University and working at Fantastic Sam's.  But since her parents up and moved on her, she decided to transfer to UVU.  She is taking classes there and working at Provo City Library shelving books.  You'd think that would be a boring job but DeeAnn really enjoys it.

Adam: Moved, with his girlfriend, Aubrey, to Cleveland Ohio in January 2017 where he has been working nights in a bakery and taking piano lessons, working toward auditioning for music school.  We are proud of him for being able to live so far away from home and take care of himself.

EmmaLee:  EmmaLee loves art.  She especially loves doing artwork on the computer.  For Christmas she wanted Adobe Animate so she could learn how to do animation.  She's having an adjustment going to such a small high school but she is really making an effort.

Nathan: Keeps us on our toes and in laughter.  Nathan would love to be a famous YouTuber and spends a lot of time videoing all aspects of his live.  He actually does have a channel called nunnelvision and he'd be thrilled if you'd subscribe.Click here to see his YouTube channel.
He's in the 4th grade and he has no problem making new friends.  I think the whole town of Minersville know who he is.

So that's it for us.

Hope you have the best 2018!!!

Merry Christmas 2016!

Dear Family and Friends,

 Merry Christmas from the Costello’s.

This year has been one of changes, trials and blessings.  Here are just a few highlights.

Joe:  Retired from the Army Reserve’s after 33 years.  An army regulation glitch, however, has left us without his retirement pay until he turns 60.  In the meantime and after applying for and not getting 4 teaching jobs, Joe has returned to school to get his teaching certificate.  He is hoping to teach high school band/orchestra/guitar in the future.

Jamie:  Still just holding down the fort. About a year and a half ago I was diagnosed with a disease….now don’t worry too much; I’ve had it since I was 11 or 12.  It was just nice to know that there is an actual name for it and that I’m not crazy.  It’s called AERD or Samter’s triad if you want to google it.

KayLee and Joshua:  Had twins in March.  We all admire her and feel for their little family.  5 kids ages 2 and under is really hard.  

Ben:  Still attending BYU.  Planning on graduating this Spring!

Darin and Amy:  Still attending BYU and graduating this Spring!  They had a darling baby boy in May bringing our grandchild total to 6!

Melissa:  Living in Kansas and working as a Nanny.  She got engaged! Watch for wedding announcements for their May wedding.

DeeAnn:  Graduated from Hairatage Hair and is working at Fantastic Sam’s.  She also got a scholarship to Dixie and is going to school full time!

Adam:  Graduated from High School!!!!  He is working at Kneaders in the bakery.  We love when he brings home extras or “mistakes”  He is planning to move to Ohio in January and study piano.

EmmaLee:  Finished 6th grade and began 7th.  She started art lessons and is a budding artist.

Nathan:  In the 3rd grade this year.  He is still “so excited’ and every day is his “best day ever”  We love his enthusiasm for life!

As always we wish you the Happiest Holidays and the best 2017!   Love   The Costello’s

And here it is....for some reason I can only blog once a year.  So for anyone who wants to read the yearly update of the Costello's here it is.

I looked back at my pictures to see if I could remember what we did each month this year and well, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures.  My picture file contains mostly selfies that Nathan took and then they were uploaded to my pictures through the Photo Stream.  So following is my best guess of the highlights of our year.

January - Melissa moved back home.  She was at a crossroads and needed some down time and family time to decide what was next for her.  We really enjoyed having her here.

February - The big highlight was that Darin returned from his mission to Tempe, AZ.  He had grown over the 2 years and it was so great to have him here!

March - This was a month of competitions for Adam and DeeAnn in school.  They played at various Solo and Ensemble competitions and at Band and Choir competitions.  All of their groups did very well.  The exciting thing was that DeeAnn got a I on her vocal solo and got to go to the state competition where she received a I-. Darin and Melissa both got jobs as call takers for the Alexandria Yellow cab Company. (Thanks big brother Ben) and the set up shop in the garage.

April - We got out back yard landscaped.  That was exciting because it meant the kids now have grass to play on as well as a trampoline and swing set.  Yay!!

May - DeeAnn graduated from Tuacahn High School.  All of DeeAnn's grandparents were here along with most of her cousins.  We had a Costello reunion with Joe's Mom and step Dad, his Dad and step Mom, his brother and sister in law and their 12 kids.  And his other nephew.  It was great to reconnect with them.

June - A month of swim lessons and summer camps.  Nathan and EmmaLee enjoyed several sessions of swim lessons.  And Adam participated in a Band/Orchestra camp with Tuacahn.  He also went to the Boy Scout National Jamboree.  They did a quick tour of Niagara Falls, Palmyra, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Gettysburg, and Washington DC. before spending a week at the Summit.  A new high adventure camp in West Virginia.

July - We had a great reunion with Jamie's family as it was her parent's 50th wedding anniversary.  All of her brothers and sister and nieces and nephews were there except for one niece who is serving a mission.
     July also brought two items of exciting news:
       1.  DeeAnn got her mission call to the Argentina, Cordoba mission!!!
       2.  KayLee and Joshua announced that they would be the proud parents of triplets!
Also in July Melissa decided it was time for her to move back to Kansas and attend school at Johnson Community College doing prerequisites for Dental Hygiene school. We will miss her!

August - A big change for us and Jamie decided it was time to send the little ones to school. It was a tough decision but we all felt it was the right decision. So Adam continues at Tuacahn High.  EmmaLee enrolled in George Washington Academy, a great charter school near our home.  Nathan wasn't quite ready for being gone all day and GWA had all day Kindergarten so he enrolled in Kindergarten at Crimson Elementary a new STEM elementary also near by.  After a couple of months of "school is too long" he now loves it.

September - Darin left us to attend BYU.  He still gets to work for Alexandria Yellow cab so that was great for him.

October - Just plugging along with school etc.  The most exciting thing was that Nathan turned 6!! and he was  a purple minion for Halloween.

November - A lot of November was spent getting DeeAnn ready for her mission.  Girls are a lot harder to get ready for than boys.  With boys it's go to J.C. Penny or similar store buy a couple of suits and a bunch of white shirts and some sturdy shoes and you are good to go.  Not so with girls.  But DeeAnn was really good to go shopping with her cousin and a friend (because she knows her mother hates shopping and is no good at it.)
      Also in November--Thanksgiving.  We had a nice dinner at our house with all of Jamie's family that live close.  And even her brother from Arizona made it.

December - DeeAnn needed to be in the MTC on December 4th.  And we woke up to something that never happens in St. George....SNOW!!  There were a couple of inches of snow on the ground and the snow was still falling.  After checking road conditions and weather for the next couple of days we decided to brave it and take her to Provo.  We arrived safely.
      Three days later it snowed for over 10 hours here.  And over a week later we still have at least 4-6 inches of snow in our front yard.  There have been a couple of days when the temperatures here in St. George were colder than the temperatures in Salt Lake.  And Adam informed me that on one of the days we were colder here than Moscow Russia.
        And our last bit of December news before the Holidays.....Joshua got a job here in St. George so KayLee and Joshua will be moving in with us for a few months before and a few months after the triplets are born.  We are really excited for that!!!

Joe still works in California but he's able to come home for holidays and special events so we see him  every 4 to 6 weeks.

2012 What a year!!!!

It's time for my yearly blog post.

We began 2012 in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia and we are ending in Washington, UT.  We've had quite a  year.  Early in 2012 we got notice that Joe would be getting a new assignment. His new assignment would be at Camp Parks California. We began looking at housing and prices etc in California but not really liking what we saw.  Then sometime in March one of us (not sure who) had this crazy idea.  Since this assignment would most likely be the last, and because we didn't want to live with California prices and Jamie was tired of living in the city, why not have the family move back home to Southern Utah and Joe would work in California and come home to visit.

We flew to Utah for Easter to look for a house.  After a day of looking at all the houses the size we wanted and in our price range and rejecting them all, we found a neighborhood with exactly what we wanted so we signed the papers to have our very own new house built.

We had all of our stuff packed and moved out of Virginia in early June but our house wouldn't be done until mid-August.  So Jamie and the kids moved in with Jamie's parents for the summer.  It was fun living in a small town again. Life was a lot slower.  One day Jamie marveled that she dropped EmmaLee off for an activity, did an errand at the grocery store, played with Nathan at the park for 30 min., picked up EmmaLee and got back home in less than an hour!

Finally our house was finished and we moved in the end of August.  It has been an adjustment moving back to Utah but I think we are finally getting used to it.

Joe is working at Camp Parks California, near Dublin.  He lives in a rented room in Castro Valley and rides his bike to work.  He gets to come home to visit when he has 4 day holiday weekends or when he needs to take leave so we see him at least once a month.

Jamie is trying to get a new house set up.  Everything is unpacked but windows still need dressing and no pictures are hung.  (This may take a while.)  She is also homeschooling EmmaLee for 3rd grade and they are involved with a fun homeschool co-op.  Nathan occasionally joins us for homeschool.

KayLee graduated with her Master's degree in Social Work from BYU in April!! We are so proud of her.  She is currently working for a non profit organization.  Her husband, Joshua, earned his RN degree and is working at a couple of hospitals.  He is also finishing up his bachelor's degree this year!!! You can read more about them on their blog The Dunn 411

Benjamin spent Spring Semester in Mesa, Arizona going to MCC and working for the Alexandria Yellow Cab Company.  In June they called him and asked him to move back to Virginia to work in their office and they told him he could name his salary.  So he named a salary, they accepted it and after spending the 4th of July week here with us, he moved back to Virginia.  He is now attending Northern Virginia Community College and working (and living) at Alexandria Yellow Cab.

Darin is still serving his mission in the Arizona, Tempe mission.  He has served mostly in the Metro area, Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek etc.  He loves the work and is looking forward to his return in February.  Due to our move and being in a couple of wards that split, by the time Darin gets home is missionary records will have been in 5 different wards.

Melissa is still living and working in Kansas.  She finished her CNA certificate and has been working for a home care company and also still working at the mailbox store.  She moved into an apartment and is loving being independent.

DeeAnn chose to go to Tuacahn High School for the performing arts this year.  It's 30 min from home but she car pools with her cousin who also attends there.  She made the madrigal choir and is busy performing with them.  They competed in Cedar City's Shakespeare competition where they took 2nd place and recently they performed at several venue's in Las Vegas. DeeAnn is really enjoying her Sr. year which is great as she has gone to a different school for each of her high school years.

Adam is also attending Tuacahn High School this year.  He is doing well after spending three years doing homeschool.  He has made a lot of friends and is taking percussion lessons.  Adam is still working on Scouts and is hoping to be able to attend the National Jamboree in West Virginia this July.

EmmaLee turned 8 years old in June and was baptized.  Since her birthday is close to the 4th of July all of her brother's and Sisters (except Darin) were able to attend.  It was a great day!!! EmmaLee is still doing homeschool this year.  She loves her co-op group and is making new friends.

Nathan is well...Nathan.  He is either super excited and happy or he is not.  Thankfully he is happy most of the time.  We love his exuberance!!!  He loves birthday's. He gets excited no matter who's birthday it is.  And he really keeps that little kid joy of Christmas in our home as every day he asks "Is it Christmas?"

Whew!!! I shouldn't have had so many kids!! But that is in a nutshell what we are doing this  year.

We'd love to hear from you!!

Love the Costello's

Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! has it been a year already.  Time has flown by and it appears that blogging has been the lowest of my priorities.  So I guess it's my yearly "catch up."

Joe continues to work as the MIRC chief of training.  It keeps him busy and often traveling.

Jamie is still trying out the homeschooling thing.  Keeping up with 3 kids ranging in age from 17 to 7 is tricky as she can't really dovetail any of their curriculum.  Add one very busy 4 year old and you will understand why blogging has been a low priority.

KayLee and Joshua are doing well in Spanish Fork.  KayLee will finish her master's in Social work this Spring. We are quite proud of her.  She is much better at keeping her blog up to date.  You can see all her info at Dunn Dunn Duuuuunnnnnn.

We loved having Ben home for 8 months.  He works for Alexandria Yellow cab.  It started as a temporary job helping to install screens in cabs and they liked him so well they hired him full time.  He worked with them here in Virginia until he moved to Mesa in September to go to MCC.  He still works for them taking calls.  Yea for comptuers and technology!! After some paperwork problems, he is finally registered to attend Spring Semester at Mesa Community College.

Darin is currently serving in the Arizona, Tempe mission.  If you recall, that is the same mission Ben served in.  And the most interesting thing is that they also had the same first area.  He is doing well, learning a lot and loving the people.

Melissa graduated from Mount Vernon High in May.  In September she flew the nest and moved to LaVerkin, UT where she lived with Aunt Sherece and Uncle Tom and worked at Dairy Queen.  In November, she moved back to Lansing, Kansas.  She will be working at a mailing shop and attending KCKCC working towards her CNA.

DeeAnn decided that she'd try homeschooling this year so she is taking some of her Junior year classes from BYU independent study and some of them from her mother.  She is enjoying setting her own schedule and moving at her own pace.  She auditioned for a musical with a HomeSchool theatre group and will be a Narrator in an upcoming production of Aladin Jr.  She keeps busy attending all of the practices.

Adam continues to work on scouts.  His goal is to have his Eagle by the end of 2013.  He also continues to homeschool.  He's a big help around the house and is always willing to babysit.

EmmaLee is 7 and amazes us with her vocabulary.  She uses such interesting words.  We wonder where she learns them.  She's a great big sister to Nathan and loves playing with him.  She joined a homeschool group called Classical Conversations this year and it's unbelievable all the things she has memorized.

Nathan continues to grow and entertain us all.  His imagination has really blossomed.  He loves angry birds and usually spends his day playing with a myriad of toys but always including his angry birds.  He's also joined the "brony" ranks as he loves playing "My Little Pony" with his sister.

2011 has been quite an eventful year for us.  We started it out on the beach in Florida as we'd spent Christmas with Joe's mom.  We spent another week on Virginia beach in August.  Half of our kids have now graduated from high school and moved into the "grown-up" world.  (And Jamie likes to say Half my kids have graduated but sadly one hasn't even started school yet." Jamie was in an accident and totaled our car so we had to get our other van back from Melissa in Utah which precipitated her move to Kansas and got Ben home for Thanksgiving.

We'll be having a quite Christmas at home as three of our children will be away.  But we are very excited to see Melissa!!!

Cherry Blossoms

We didn't want to miss the cherry blossoms so we drove to D.C. one evening for Family Home Evening.  Unfortunately by the time we got there it was dark so we checked out the Jefferson Memorial and bought a few souvenirs.

A few days later we made it in time to see them.  Wow!!! They are beautiful!!!

Adam is good at taking close ups of still life.

DeeAnn and Melissa

Adam and the Washington Monument

We also decided to check out the Franklin Roosevelt Monument

Nearly Killed by a Tree

Friday, after having gone to the store for a few things, I drove up to the garage and pushed the opener.  Nothing happened.  Think that our garage door was broken or messed up again, I sent Adam into the house to open it from the inside.  He returned a few minutes later to inform me that the power was out.  So I left the car in the driveway and went inside.

DeeAnn works at a nearby library and it was time for her to go to work.  She called them and they still had power so I took her to work.  I was just pulling into my driveway again when she called to say that the library power was out and they were clearing the building so I needed to pick her up.  I left Nathan in the car and ran in the house to make sure Adam was home as he had not been before.  He was home and since the power was out and they had nothing better to do Adam and EmmaLee got in the car with us to pick up DeeAnn.

On the route I drive to the library there is a really strange road Map of Road (click here to see it) One direction stops (going east on 23rd @ Bixby) the other direction can either travel straight on 23rd or curve on Bixby.  Hardy anyone signals so if I'm stopped at 23rd and there is an oncoming car, I wait.  Well on this particular day waiting saved our lives.  A car was coming in the opposite direction, no signaling to turn but I waited anyway.  After I realized that it was going straight I began to make the sharp turn onto Bixby when we heard a loud cracking noise.  I slowed and looked around and in a split second a tree fell right across the road.  None of the branches that were attached to the tree hit the car but a lot of flying debris which broke off the tree as it fell did hit us.

At first I thought that it was just a branch that broke off a tree and fell.  So seeing that the road was blocked and that no one was hurt I turned around and took another route to pick up DeeAnn.  It was a couple of minutes later as I was driving that the enormity of that close call hit me.  We were literally 3 feet from being smashed by a falling tree.  Our guardian angles were certainly watching out for us.

After we got home I sent Adam to take some pictures of the tree.  By that time there were workers trying to clear it of the road and they had a perimeter set up so he couldn't get very close but here are a few of the shots he did get.
Side Note:  our power didn't come back on until 10:53 pm. Lot's of downed trees from the wind kept the power company busy.

Mount Vernon

We visited Mount Vernon on President's day.  It was cold, and because it was free, there were a lot of people there.  But it was fun to see the historically dressed soldiers and hear the band.  We also got to hear a Pres. George Washington speak.  Hopefully we'll get to go again and see more.

Darin Leaves

On February 16, 2011 very early in the morning we dropped Darin off at the Reagan National Airport.  From there he flew to Salt Lake City and from there caught a shuttle to take him to the MTC.  He will be serving for two years in the Arizona, Tempe mission.

When his call came, Joe and I were out.  When we got home all the kids were kind of laughing and said we needed to sit down to hear where he'd been called.  Earlier in the day I was thinking it would be funny if he was called to the Tempe, Arizona Spanish Speaking mission.  For some reason I always assumed that Darin would be called to a mission where he would need to learn a language.  Anyway, I jokingly said to Darin "It's the Tempe, Spanish speaking mission." He said, "Well one of those is right." So then I thought, "Oh, South America somewhere." So when he said, "Arizona, Tempe English Speaking" I was totally blown away.  Ben would get home from that same mission in December and Darin would leave in February.  We called the mission home and got special permission for Darin to call his brother to tell him he'd be serving in the same mission.

Time4Learning Review

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as an online homeschooling curriculum, afterschool tutorial or an online summer program. Find out how to write your owncurriculum review for Time4Learning.

New Year on the Beach

It's still unbelievable that we were on the beach New Year's Day.  It was a gorgeous day. The water was cold but the kids didn't mind. And when they weren't swimming they were making a sand sculpture.

KayLee spent the week with us!!!

It was a family effort.

And the creature is finished!!!

Burying EmmaLee was also fun.

Joe and I just read, watched and relaxed.