Dear family and friends,
2009 was one of the quickest in our memory. We’ve been married four years now, and this was the best one yet. The biggest news is our new baby, Emma-Leah Elisabeth Bryant. It was a rough nine months. The late night cravings, the cramps, the growing belly…and that was just Jason! Kimberly took everything on with strength and determination, and was helped by Jason as much as possible. We appreciate all of the friends and family who helped throughout the year, or just gave some pregnancy advice or a helping meal now and then.
A recent youth activity at church invited us to be contestants in “The Newlywed Game”. We fell far behind at first, but caught up in the last round to tie for the lead. One of the questions asked was, “How many children would your spouse like to have?” We matched on our answer, an answer which also stunned the crowd. Seven kids. Seven! Holy cow! Seriously, we would love to have as many kids as we can manage within the bounds of our sanity, and hope to be good parents to all of them. We both come from great families of at least seven kids, so why not?
We also took on the challenge of a Shiba Inu this year. Reba, our red-haired Shiba Inu, is a Japanese breed of dog which looks sort of like a fox, and is a natural hunter. We don’t use her for hunting, but it is always interesting on her walks when she insists on tracking the scent of a rabbit which lives in our back woods, track the next door neighbor’s dog path she walked earlier in the day, or digging up worms in the yard. She is a beautiful dog, but will need more space in the next couple years, as she loves to run, and when inside for too long at a time she eats Christmas ornaments (yes, the glass ones) and toilet paper rolls. We actually got her when a local Amish family, who were her original owners, found she had killed one of their chickens. They said they would either find her a new owner or shoot her, so what else could we do? She joined our family now consisting of 2 cats, 2 adults, a new baby, and Reba.
We found out we were pregnant on Easter morning, very very early in the morning, We took a pregnancy test at Kimberly's grandparents house, but didn't quite wait long enough for the line to appear because we were so tired. We just looked after about two minutes, said, oh well, there’s one line, and went back to bed. The faint line only showed later after we double checked when it was actually light outside. Not quite believing it, we took another test the next day, and the line was even darker. Yes! This was the moment we looked forward to for three whole years. We celebrated with family and friends and shared the exciting news on a surprise trip to Kimberly's grandparents the following day, and calls to family.
We went on some special trips this year. We went to Boston for Nick’s (Kimberly’s step-dad) 50th birthday celebration. We went deep-sea fishing, and Jason caught a couple sharks. The weather was pretty and the waves were mild, but Jason made the mistake of eating too big of a breakfast before going out on the open ocean and needed to sit down now and then and let his stomach stop churning. Nick and Grandpa Haag caught some good carp, but none long enough to bring home. We also went travelling to Jason’s brothers wedding. Ben married Rachel Evans in the Winter Quarters, Nebraska Temple in August of 2009. We got to participate and see Ben and Rachel’s marriage, see them at their wedding reception at a beautiful manor-house, and take pictures as they danced together. All of Jason’s brothers and sisters are now married, so the next marriages we attend will likely be for nieces and nephews. Looking forward to Mara and Kiana’s eventually.
Kimberly expanded her home-skills this year. She helped with dozens of scrapbook pages for events in the last year, made some at relief society activities, and also for her sister Katie’s high school graduation. She experimented more with cooking, and also started to compile as her relatives family recipes to be able to pass down to future generations. She sewed the baby curtains for Emma-Leah’s room. She also spent time with her friend Allie, her steamer and pressure cooker and was able to learn canning and preserving of food. So far we have canned potatoes, chicken, steak, soups, apple pie filling and applesauce. She gives a lot of her time to family and friends, supported others, babysitting, and managing the home. She is amazing at supporting Jason in his worthy endeavors, and will help people at the drop of a hat. She has created a craft room in the apartment, complete with labeled drawers and shelves, organized bins of shears, tools, sewing materials, and everything else necessary for her hobbies.
Jason has been toying with many hobbies, and probably has to cut back to actually get good at any of them. His dream has always been to be a writer, and he began many short stories this year, researched the biographies of authors such as C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Ursula K. LeGuin, and dozens of others, and met with his friend Dain to throw around story ideas. Jason also researched plans and worked on designs for cabinets this year. He would like to build his own cabinetry and furniture when we have our house someday. His biggest time-burner this year, which has also been the time-burner for the last 2 years, has been our apartments. We own 2 four unit apartment buildings, and when we first bought them the units were rundown, some were unlivable, and others were unsanitary. Since owning them, with the help of family and friends, and an occasional contractor, 4 have been completely remodeled, 2 kitchens built, 2 bathrooms built, all have been completely re-carpeted, dishwashers put in, a roof replaced, a furnace replaced, and many other jobs. Jason still doesn’t know plumbing too well, but has learned to do his own electric, cabinets, flooring and tile, and windows, as well as preparing the baby’s room and refinishing furniture for it. Whew. This year he is going to rebuild deck fencing, do some irrigation, and plan on converting the garage space into the beginnings of a 9th apartment. Jason also finished his Master’s degree in January, after 4 long years of part time work.
Kimberly’s pregnancy cravings progressed from orange juice, to salads, to a looong period of pumpernickel bread with cream cheese. Each week, when she thought she couldn’t grow anymore, the baby got bigger anyway. It is true that near the end of pregnancy is miserable. Kimberly couldn’t sleep and was so uncomfortable, and Jason felt helpless watching his wife going through something he could do little or nothing to help ease. Luckily, we got through it, and have a healthy baby girl as an eternal reward. After being a week over-due, a long sleepless night of contractions and then 7 hours of active labor we expanded our family when Emma-Leah Elisabeth was born on December 28th at 5:30pm. Which Kimberly called on the dot.. We have hope for her future, and believe in her. She has something special about her. We’re looking forward to all the new experiences with her this year. We’re looking forward to her first word, seeing her crawl, and watching her personality and temperament emerge.
Emma-Leah Elisabeth has strawberry-blonde hair, and looks a lot like her Daddy when he was young, but also looks a lot like her Mom when she was young. We argue over features, but we’ll just have to see who she grows up to look like. We wrestled over a name, and our favorites for a long time were Emma-Leigh Elisabeth or Aerabella Ruth. When the baby was born we made a list of each girly name that we liked a lot, prayed that as we looked down the list we would know which one was right, and started eliminating this one or that one. It came down to a short 3-4, but when we looked at Emma-Leigh Elisabeth and thought it sounded right as Emma-Leah instead, none of the others felt even close. This was the right name. One day, if we have another girl or two, you might still hear one or another from our shortlist.
This year we’ve accomplished a lot, grew a lot, and had a lot of fun too. Please feel free to keep track of us on here or our facebook pages. We love you all and wish you the best of 2010. Keep those resolutions.
Hope this letter finds you happy and loving life.
Kimberly and Jason Bryant and Baby Emma
And didn’t mind at all going sledding.
