Dear friends and family,
We can hardly believe it’s been another year, and already time for another Christmas card! We started 2022 like we begin every year in Utah: freezing. So naturally, we spent most of January looking for warmer places to visit. Devri and I took a trip to Florida in February with friends, and we booked a last minute cruise for all five of us for Spring Break. Since we finally thawed out in mid-June, we thought it would be a blast to drive 20 hours to the much hotter and humid-like-a-swimming-pool midwest for the Saville Reunion. While we enjoyed our time with family, we were happy to drive to cooler Star Valley, Wyoming for the Chadwick Reunion (well, as happy as you can be driving 20 hours I suppose). Finally, we drove 4 hours back home to enjoy the really hot (but thankfully dry) Utah weather. Thank goodness for pools, lakes, and air conditioning! As the weather finally cooled and we hit that only week in Utah that we love to call perfect fall weather, we decided it would be great to go to California (fortunately, it was cooler than forecasted). Now, at the end of the year, we are back in the cold weather, surviving on hot chocolate, seat warmers, Christmas movies, and planning trips to warmer weather for next year.
And what would our year be like without house projects? We added a cover for our back deck, redid all of the flooring on the main level and up the stairs, and completely revamped the laundry room. Next up: Devri says “Just a few more little projects” (refer to next year’s Christmas card for more info). Now for each person in the family with a review of how they felt about it:
Gabe (“I loved it”) is much taller than he was last year, but only 1 year older.(Be sure to place your bets as to when he’ll pass Rachel in height.) Just over a month after his accident at the pool that gained him 9 stitches but lost him half of a molar, he lost his first two teeth within 10 minutes of each other (no accident needed this time!). He is busy in more ways than we can count: Let’s Play Music, tumbling, soccer, drawing/coloring, puzzles, and he’s IN SCHOOL ALL DAY (can you tell which one we’re really excited about?).
Rachel (“it was amazing”, in a sing-song voice) is still older than Gabe, yet not much taller. She is dancing through life quite literally with classes 3 nights a week and preparing a solo dance on top of that. In the spring, she competed in her first series of solo competitions, earning 1st place at one of them! She is our local mermaid/princess/mermaid-princess artist, story writer/playwright, and Haunted Mansion lorist.
Michael (“it was cool”) doesn’t look a day over 45. He is finally in middle school and enjoying the freedom that comes with it, including killing it in woodshop and band. After giving competitive soccer a try, he decided to switch gears and become a football player instead for the fall season (and we agreed somehow!). He loves all things sports and especially BYU, and he remains as creative as ever.
Devri (“it was heart-pounding”) is never as old as her body thinks she should be. After adding Atrial Fibrillation to her heart arrhythmia count (she also has SVT) in March, her body forced her to slow to a snail’s pace. She read countless books, considered taking up knitting after one too many “You’re too young to have AFib” comments, and trudged along at half capacity for most of the year. In August, she had a cryoablation in her heart, and after recovering for the last three months, she is FINALLY feeling like her old self. Look out world!
I/Me/Brian (“never saw the plot twist coming, 4 stars”) am feeling great after getting into a rhythm of working out 5 days of week doing kick-boxing. I also worked on improving some handyman skills such as plumbing (including replacing a toilet with more holes in it than expected) and sheetrock. I am still loving my work at Adobe, though they actually make me go into the office twice a week now (the nerve). Still, I get to work with the love of my life three days a week at home.
Through all of the highs and lows this year, we have realized just how much we need the Lord and all our family and friends (you all). You have helped us through a very difficult year, and you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. Our goals for next year include not climbing Mt Everest, never running 4 marathons, avoid 20 hour road trips, and maintaining a strict no-yoga policy.
Love,
Brian, Devri, Michael, Rachel, and Gabe Saville
And for our Blog Readers, here's the special Unabridged Version (but edited by Devri)
Dear friends and family, we can hardly believe it’s been another year, and already time for another Christmas card. Shortly after last year’s fiasco of a card, Devri was promoted to Christmas card writer. However, in a surprising turn of events, she made a lateral move to “card designer” and left us all in a lurch. I, unfortunately for you all, was forced to step in again and write this year’s letter. (He’s lying. I, Devri, would never take back the Christmas letter; Brian is far more entertaining than I am.)
We have affectionately decided to call 2022 The “Year O’ Parks” (it’s a working title), since we hit a grand total of 7 theme parks throughout the country. We started off the year with a couple’s trip to Bonita Springs, Florida for Devri and me (surprisingly no theme parks were involved, just a State Park on the beach), then took a cruise with the kids to Ensenada and Catalina, ending with a visit to Sea World. (If you ask the kids, cruising is the best vacation ever and would prefer to call this “The Year We Went on Our First Cruise”). In July, we hadn’t yet visited enough parks for our “Year O’ Parks”™, and headed off to Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun in Kansas City en route to the Saville Reunion in Branson Missouri and visited Whitewater/Silver Dollar City in Branson with the entire extended Saville Clan. We followed that epic 20 hour road trip up with a bonus 20 hour road trip to Bedford, WY (thank goodness for audiobooks, tablets, and actual books) for Devri’s family reunion. After recovering for a couple of months, we finally decided we could drive again and ended up at Disneyland/California Adventure during Fall Break in October.
And what would our year be like without house projects (“we’re nearly done”, she said)? We added a cover for our back deck, redid all of the flooring on the main level and up the stairs, and completely revamped the laundry room. Next up: “just a few more projects” she said (refer to next year’s Christmas card for more info). In all honesty, we make a good team and feed off of each other a little too much for our good sometimes. Now for each person in the family with a review of how they felt about it:
Gabe (“I loved it”) is much taller than he was last year, but only 1 year older.(Be sure to place your bets as to when he’ll pass Rachel in height.) Just over a month after his accident at the pool that gained him 9 stitches but lost him half of a molar, he lost his first two teeth within 10 minutes of each other (no accident needed this time!). He is busy in more ways than we can count: Let’s Play Music, tumbling, soccer, drawing/coloring, puzzles, and he’s IN SCHOOL ALL DAY (can you tell which one we’re really excited about?).
Rachel (“it was amazing”, in a sing-song voice) is still older than Gabe, yet not much taller. She is dancing through life quite literally with classes 3 nights a week and preparing a solo dance on top of that. In the spring, she competed in her first series of solo competitions, earning 1st place in one of them! She is our local mermaid/princess/mermaid-princess artist, story writer/playwright, and Haunted Mansion lore expert.
Michael (“it was cool”) doesn’t look a day over 45. He is finally in middle school and enjoying the freedom that comes with it, including killing it in woodshop and band. After giving competitive soccer a try, he decided to switch gears and become a football player instead for the fall season (and we agreed somehow!). He loves all things sports and especially BYU, and he remains as creative as ever.
Devri (“it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”) is never as old as her body thinks she should be. She went to Daytona Beach, Florida for a girls’ trip as well as to Girls’ Camp for our local congregation, where she visited Bridgerland Adventure Park. After adding Atrial Fibrillation to her heart arrhythmia count (she also has SVT) in March, her body forced her to take it easy. She read countless books, considered taking up knitting after one too many “You’re too young to have AFib comments,” and trudged along at half capacity for most of the year. Thankfully, the theme parks had electric scooters that she could rent so she didn’t spend all those days feeling dizzy and deflated. She had a cryoablation in her heart in August, and after recovering for the last three months, she is FINALLY feeling like her old self. Look out world!
I/Me/Brian (“never saw the plot twist coming, 4 stars”) am feeling great after getting into a rhythm of working out 5 days of week. I’m in the best shape of my life, and worked on improving some handyman skills such as plumbing (including replacing toilets with more holes in them than expected) and sheetrock. I am still at Adobe and still love my work, though they actually make me go into the office twice a week now (the nerve). Still, I get to work with the love of my life three days a week at home.
Through all of the highs and lows this year, we have realized just how much we need the Lord and have been relying on Him much more throughout everything we do. We also wanted to acknowledge how much our family and friends (you all) have helped us through difficult times. We truly could not have done it without you, and you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. Our goals for next year include not climbing Mt Everest, never running 4 marathons, and maintaining a strict no-yoga policy.
Love,
Brian, Devri, Michael, Rachel, and Gabe Saville
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