Well, I just checked the mail and we got a bunch of Christmas letters from friends and family and it made us think that we should probably do one as well. Since we waited so long, however, we are just going to put it up on our blog instead of mailing it to each person individually. Yes, it’s lazy. Yes, it’s cheap.

And yes, it’s very, very efficient (We’re being “green” this year and saving paper. If you feel so inclined, I would encourage you to print out our picture and hang it on your refrigerator for all of your friends to see.)

So, without any further ado, here’s our year in a nutshell:

I worked really, really hard and took a bunch of high-stakes exams, jumped through a lot of bureaucratic hoops, graduated from dental school, and got my dental license. Meanwhile, Rachel was busy being social and stuff, while at the same time raising our three wonderful kids and getting NIC certified (a crazy hard national ASL interpreting certification test). We moved from Cleveland, which was a bittersweet event in our lives, and hung out with family for a couple of months before I started working. During this time we went to Mexico and considered throwing the whole “dental” idea out the window and just living our lives out on the beach in a foreign country. Also, around this time we found out that Rachel is expecting our fourth child- a girl- who is due on February 16th. We’re pretty sure that her name will be Maren.

In June, we moved to Coeur d’Alene, ID (actually Post Falls) where we lived for a stint in a smallish duplex next to a truck stop. That was…noisy, but also a lot of fun as we discovered what a wonderful corner of the country we had moved to- I think that God designed this place with us in mind. Also, I started my job and can honestly say that I love going to work every day. Yes, I am a total dental nerd. After living in our yard-less rental for about three months we finally found and purchased the house of our dreams where we hope to be living for the next several years.

3-year-old Evelyn is finally starting to adjust to her new surroundings even though we’ve been living here for half of the year. The move was actually a little hard on her, and she still asks from time to time when we are going to see her Cleveland friends again. She is involved in pre-school though and is making a lot of new friends. One thing she has definitely caught hold of is the fact that we live in a great place for outdoor recreation, and has taken a strong interest in camping, hiking, swimming, rock climbing, and “campfireing.” She is definitely a daddy’s girl (and I am writing this letter, so I can say things like that).

Adalie and Jackson are two-year-olds in every sense of the word. Cute, lovable, noisy, and curious, they have definitely “taught” us how to baby-proof a house. Nonetheless, they love having the space to run around that our new home offers, as well as the large backyard and swing-set. They are both growing up faster than we are able to keep up with, and it is fun to watch them as they grow into real people. Jackson has a very sweet personality and loves to give hugs, whereas Adalie is spunky and defiant and loves to wrestle. We love both of them.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. For those who are interested in knowing more about our very exciting lives, check out loganandrachel.blogspot.com where a certain person who happens to be a very good writer, father, and husband, shares his thoughts and stories on a weekly basis about family life.

In closing, we wish you all a Happy Christmas. We are so thankful for all of our friends and family who have shared their lives with us, and we pray that 2012 will be a great year for everyone.

God bless,
-Logan, Rachel, Evelyn, Adalie, and Jackson

Here is the promised family picture for your printing pleasure.

Illustrated by Evelyn Hazard

A couple of weeks ago we went and got a Christmas tree and decorated it. The next day when I came home from work, Rachel suggested that we put the tree on our front porch, or the roof, or the garage, or anywhere that was out of reach of the kids. Thankfully they have started to do better with the tree and we are all getting excited for Christmas. Rachel's been going crazy with her sewing machine for all of the presents she is making.

So, this week Rachel has had some exciting developments. She is starting to get back into the interpreting world! She met a lot of people around the area who are interpreters, she went to an interpreter's gathering/workshop, she had two community jobs, and she may be starting up more regular work at North Idaho Collage in the pretty near future (but not until after the baby comes, so not too near.) Anyway, I am excited for her. She is a wonderful mom and wife, but she is also so good at so many other things that I am glad she is able to take some time for her own personal and professional development too.

Anyway, it's going to be a quick post today because Evelyn is waiting for me to make peach cobbler with her and we want to finnish before Addy and Jack wake up from their naps. Here's some pictures.

 Pajama Party!

 I got in on the action too even though I wasn't wearing my PJ's.

This is pretty typical of Addy this week. She is crazy. She is overly dramatic. She cries a lot.
Oh wait- she's a girl!

Real Life

Well, this week has been awesome but unfortunately I can't write too much about it. Don't worry- it will all come to light in due time. Until then, just be patient and know that life is good. And no, we are not having twins again. That would not be awesome. That would be frightening.

So, besides the awesome part, we also did some fun things. We had our ward Christmas party. We (Rachel and I) went to the temple. We had some friends over to our house for dinner. Nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary- but just an overall good week.

Since it was a pretty normal week, I want to pull out my soapbox for a little while and write about something that has been bothering me lately (I warned you last week that this was coming). So, what is the thing? Guys. Not all of them, but there is definitely a certain minority that is giving the rest of us a bad name.

Sometimes, I want to walk up to a guy and punch him in the face just to get his attention (and I'm really not a violent person), and then tell him to join the rest of humanity in a little game called "real life." And no- the Xbox is not real life. In fact, nothing with a screen qualifies as "real life" material- not the TV, not the smart phone, and definitely not the computer. Also, real life is not to be found in a book or in a magazine. And it shouldn't be exclusively in the workplace, although it does come into play a little bit.

See, I have noticed that so many people (most, but not all of them, guys), seem to have totally lost connection with reality. Here's a news-flash for you guys- REALITY IS GOING TO HAPPEN- with, or without you. You can't choose not to play- that's not an option. But by pretending that it is, all you are doing is allowing yourself to lose at the game. And that might be okay with you, and that's all fine and good, but it's NOT okay for your wives and your kids.

You made the decision to take on the responsibilities of a family, so step into the game and start playing your hearts out for them. That's what a husband does. That's what a father does. Your families need you to be present- and that means taking an active role in their lives and not just being another piece of furniture that your wives have to clean around and that your kids have to watch out for. And it is sad that while they are sitting there begging for you to notice them, the fake little man on the screen gets more of your attention than they do. Really, it's disgusting. Stop doing it. It makes the rest of us look bad.

Okay, (deep breath). Now I'm going to step down, slide my soapbox back into the closet, and finish this post so I can have the rest of the night to spend time with my beautiful wife.

Have a good week!

Here's Evelyn giving a haircut to Jack. They both really liked this. A lot.

One of the many reasons that I love my backyard. Beautiful.

Ok- it's been a busy week. We did a lot.

First things first though. I'm sure that the pending results of the gingerbread house contest have been weighing heavily on everyone's minds. Well, here's the bottom line. Team A won. The official count was 21 votes for "A" and only 15 for "B."

Now for the part you've really been waiting for: who was on which team?

Team A:

Team B:

As you can see, it was a guys vs. girls thing. And it shows. I think it is really intersting that, except in a few rare instances, guys voted for team B and girls voted for team A. I also think it is interesting to note that the audience for this blog is mostly female. I'm not trying to make excuses or anything- just stating a fact.

I also think it was interesting that Lindy, one of my dental assistants, said that she thought I was on team B. I asked her why. Her response: "It just looks like it was built by a doctor or an engineer or contractor or something." I kid you not. Those were her exact words. The irony? I, of course, am a doctor. Brandon was a contractor and is also a mechanical engineer. Wesley is going to med school. I think she had us pegged pretty well- but she didn't know any of that when she made the comment.

She is right though. It DOES look like it was made by more "analytical" minds. It was really interesting to listen to the two teams talking as we made the houses. It was something like this:

Team A: Oh- that is such a cute little boat, giggle, giggle. We need to put a person on it!
Team B: So, 39 minus 7 is...alright, and add 4 to that...okay, minus 3. Got it. So there we have the possible dimentions of the exterior walls.
Team A: twitter, twitter- what a funny little marshmallow man!
Team B: Now, structurally, what kind of candy would work well for the internal cross-bracing?
Team A: Oh, oh- I know- we should make a PALM TREE! That would be awesome!
Team B: ...and to reinforce the walls we can use Ritz crackers. Go get a ruler and a level so we can draw a structural footprint.

All said and done, I would say that both teams did a great job and that we had a lot of fun doing it. Thank you to everyone who voted, and thanks to Rachel's family for making our Thanksgiving such a good one.

On to the next subject. "Campfiring." This is Evelyn's word, and it has stuck in our family. On Tuesday night we used left-over graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows to make s'mores. Evelyn loves that we can do this in our back yard and she was very "helpful" in teaching Jackson how to effectively start things on fire using a flaming marshmallow. Addy was grumpy so we put her to bed. She will have to campfire with us a different night.

Also, this week, not to be outdone by the grown-ups, the kids made their own gingerbread houses. Well, technically I made the structures, cheating just a little bit with a hot-glue gun for the sake of time, and the kids decorated them. They all won awards too: To Jackson goes the best decorator award. Evelyn earns the "tell-everybody-else-what-to-do-but-don't-do-much-yourself" award, and Addy gets the award for eating the most candy without allowing it to come anywhere near her gingerbread house. It was a fun activity.

We also made some upgrades to our house this week. The biggest one is that we now actually have some furniture in our family room! WooHoo! Rachel has been searching diligently on Craigslist for couches ever since we moved here, and finally she hit the jackpot. Two matching microfiber couches in great condition, the color matching perfectly with everything else in the room while also being dark enough that you won't be able to notice little stains (not that we'd ever allow that to happen...), and the couches themselves being comfortable enough for me to easily fall asleep on either one of them- Final price: $50 for the set! I have to say, I sometimes make fun of Rachel for speinding so much time browsing the offerings on craigslist, but she did good on this one!

Well, this post has actually gotten pretty long. I was going to step onto my soapbox and rant for a little while about "Real Life," but I guess you'll be spared my personal opinions until a later day when we've had a slower week. Too bad.

Here are some pictures. Enjoy your week!

 You'll notice small snowflakes in the first picture. The kids got cold after a while so we came to our other "campfire" in the house instead.

Even with the couches this room still feels massive. We need to get a pool table or something...one day.

Please- we need your help!

I was hoping the title would get your attention. But it's true. We really do need your help. If nothing else, please go to the bottom and vote (in the form of a comment) on your favorite gingerbread house. Thanks.

What a great week it's been. I'll sort of tell you about it, and then show a bunch of pictures, and then ask a HUGE favor from you as a reader of this blog. First, however, scroll down and read the next post if you haven't seen it already. It is about buying a new car last week. It was pretty exciting.

This week, obviously, was Thanksgiving. This year we decided to extend the invitation for people to come up and visit us instead of us going to them. Family started arriving on Wednesday night, and they kept coming in waves up until yesterday. We actually postponed our big Thanksgiving celebration until Saturday night so that more people could be involved, which meant that on the night when most of the country was sitting down to turkey dinners we were eating pizza and watching a movie.

We did a few different things with family. Of course there was a lot of talking and stuff. On Friday we went to the big Coeur d'Alene Christmas celebration. That was cool- they had a parade followed by an awesome (like, best I've ever seen) fireworks show over the lake and a big lighting ceremony where they turned on all of the lights at the resort. It was a very festive atmosphere with a live band and the weather was pretty nice and it was just a bunch of people having a good time. I think this celebration is something we'll probably go to every year we live here.

Saturday was filled with cooking. There was, of course, the traditional dinner that we all pitched in to make. After dinner we had a dessert cook-off where we broke into teams to make our various different sweet treats. I am proud to say that the unanimous decision among everyone was that Shannon and I literally took the cake (pun intended, ha ha) with our copycat recipe of Chili's Paradise Pie. Oh man- that was good.

Finally, after all the kids were in bed, we had our first annual gingerbread house contest. We broke into two teams. We each had one night to make a gingerbread house. The judges, I am pleased to announce, will be you- my loyal readers. So go to the bottom of this page, look at the pictures, and cast your vote in the form of a comment, either here or on Facebook, for which house you like better.  Do not be a fence sitter. I know you have an opinion and you will not hurt anyone's feelings.

Basically, it has been a lot of fun having everyone up here.

Here are the pictures. Don't forget to judge the houses!


The Food:

The Dessert Competition

(The Winners- Go Shannon and Me!)

The Kids:

 (This is Evelyn being a superhero)

The Gingerbread Houses:

Team A:

This cozy bungalow is located on prime beachfront property where you can enjoy all of your favorite activities. From sunbathing on the sandy shores to entertaining in the outdoor gazebo, this place has it all! The front of the house is landscaped with lush tropical vegetation that is sure to provide a break from the long Idaho Winters. When you need a place for fun, this is it- but watch out for sharks!

Team B:

This sprawling mansion is sure to catch you fancy if you are looking for a place to settle down in luxury. Nestled in the mountains, you get seclusion and a great view from the upper levels. In addition, you can relax in the security that the house is built to be storm proof, earthquake proof, fire proof, wind proof, volcano proof, tsunami proof, bullet proof, and baby proof. There is nothing that is bringing this baby down!

I am breaking tradition this week and doing a second blog post. Amazing, isn't it.

The reason I am doing this is that on Sunday I didn't really get a chance to tell about our week, which was actually quite eventful. First of all, my car died. I know, it's very sad. I loved that car. For those of you who don't know, it was a 1990 Honda Accord. The front speakers didn't work, it had no A/C, and the driver's side window was held together entirely with heavy-body dental impression material. The car was great.

But alas, it was not meant to last. We knew this from the beginning, but it was still a sad day when I was driving home from work and suddenly the transmission started making horrible clunking/grinding noises. I pulled off to the side of the road and put the car in park. That was the last time the car shifted gears. It is stuck. The transmission is a mangled mess of gears and twisted metal. The car is a gonner.

It served its purpose though. See, I refuse to have a monthly car payment. I just don't like it. So this car was purchased with the intent that it would get us through to a time when we were a little bit more financially stable and we could buy a better car with cash. In that, at least, it was successful. On Saturday I drove home a new/used Prizm. I like Prizms. I like that they are, by Toyota's own admission, Corollas with a lower price tag. I like looking at all the mechanical parts and seeing "Toyota" etched, printed, or engraved on everything there is.I like that they go forever, are economical, and are even a little bit fun to drive. I like my new car. I think- *hope* that we have a long history together.

There is a story about getting it though. Without going too much into detail, we found ourselves caught in the middle of a family feud where the son, who owned the car, was trying to sell at whatever price he could get. He was looking for quick cash. Apparantly he had just been released from prison and needed to pay for court fines, but his behavior was suspiciously similar to one who needed cash to buy more drugs. He was continuously strung-out on something because he was totally incapable of forming full sentences. Also, he made it very clear to us that he wanted to be secretive about the transaction. He trusted nobody and did not want to let the car out of his sight.

On the other hand, you have loser-boy's father, a man who doesn't speak a word of English, but is excellent at communicating via hand gestures, facial expressions, and voice intonations that he doens't like you and thinks you should go jump off a cliff. Even though the title was not in his name, he was the person holding onto it and was intent on seeing a fair price offered for the vehicle. He also seemed to have trust issues and was not willing to let the car out of his sight.

Then there is us. We wanted the best price possible (obviously). We also wanted to take the car to a mechanic to have him confirm that everything was in good working order.

So we all caravaned over to the mechanic- Us (with all of our kids), Loser-boy, Grumpy old man, Loser-boy's girlfriend, and some young kid who acted as Gumpy's translator. Add the mechanic to the mix, who also had a colorful personality, and we were a sight to behold. There I am, insisting that an admittedly low-ball offer is more than fair. Loser-boy is saying "that sound's good- just show me the money." Grumpy is yelling and screaming like a maniac in a foreign language, and the mechanic is just sort of laughing and stiring the pot at every chance he gets. In the background you can hear our children wailing that they are hungry and cold as if we had just picked them up off the street on our way over.

Suffice it to say that in the end of it all we came out with a good car at a great price.

Well, that's pretty much all that I have to write. Work has been interesting...more on that later. For now you can be thankful (on this Thanksgiving Day) that I updated again and told you this story.

This post is dedicated to my Dad. Today is his birthday and he deserves to have the best birthday ever. I could not have asked for a better father.

Instead of sending a card, Dad, I’ve been working on a little video. It’s for you. Watch it. Listen to the words- they are so true. As I grow older and begin raising my own family I rely more and more on the example you have set for what a father should be. As I do this, I start seeing myself doing a lot of the things that you did as a Dad. I truly “see my father in me,” and I couldn’t be happier about it. If I can be half the dad that you were then I will have very lucky kids.

Thanks for everything, Dad. You’re the best.

Love,
Logan

By the way- click HERE to see a tour our our house. Remember, it's about 20 min long.

I’m sitting here in our new house and looking out of our big back windows at the mountains. The weather is getting cool and there is snow on the peaks but it hasn’t quite hit us yet. This week has been a whirlwind of unpacking and organizing, and finally I think we are about done with the move. I have to say, we love this place!

Just when we were starting to relax and think that our work was done (2 days ago) we received a call on the phone. Would we speak in church this Sunday? I’ll tell you what- we are totally reliant on technology in the Hazard home. Our internet still isn’t connected (don’t even get me started) and preparing a talk without the online resources was NOT the easiest thing I have ever done.

We finally finished everything, but then last night after we put the kids to bed Rachel realized that somebody (I’m thinking Addy) got on the computer and deleted her entire talk. Two days of hard, internet-less work went down the drain. Rachel was devastated. Church starts at 9:00am and she was to be the opening speaker. Not good.

So last night I spent driving around town trying to find somebody’s unsecured wireless line so that I could rip off their internet. It was for a good cause, right? I finally ended up at McDonalds and got the stuff I needed before racing home to report to Rachel. She worked hard, and finally finished last night around midnight. We gave our talks today and all went well. Now we need to take naps.

Last night while Rachel was re-writing her talk I took a part of it, and in order to stave off the boredom of watching her think, I wrote a poem on a whim. I haven’t done this since my grade-school days, but back then I was a very prolific writer and I have to say it was sort of fun. I like writing.

Anyway- Rachel wants me to post it, so bear with me. Feel free to skip this next part if you want.

My Nameless Poem That Was Written in the Middle of the Night When I Had Nothing To Do

 -By Me

I don’t think I can handle this

High school’s such a drag
My girlfriend won’t talk to me
I hate my mom and dad
No one understands me
And I don’t have any friends
Surely when I move away
I will be happy then.

Now I am in college

And man, this stuff is hard!
I miss my easy teenage years
When family wasn’t far
I wish I had somebody
With whom to share my life
I know that I’d be happy
If I only had a wife.

I’m married now, I’ll tell you what

It’s everything they say
Except nobody mentioned
All the bills I’d have to pay
The rent, the car, and don’t forget
The student loans and gas
A job would bring such happiness
And then I could relax.

Work, work, work- that’s all I do

My life seems all amis
Those days of college suddenly
Seem easy next to this
My life seems unfulfilling now
I’m needing something more
I’d be happy if I had kids
We’re thinking three or four.

Crying, yelling, whining, screaming

It’s all I hear all day
I know that I’ll be happier
When children move away.

My kids are gone now, how I miss them

Hour after hour
I can’t wait till I can visit them
As soon as I retire.
Then my wife and I will travel
We will live out all our dreams
That surely is the ticket
To happiness it seems.

Turns out with all that travel

That it surely took its toll
My body cannot handle this
I don’t like feeling old
So I keep on enduring
But I’m not having any fun
I’m glad they say that happiness
Is in the life to come.

Today I had my interview

With God- here’s what he said
“If you weren’t happy during life
You won’t be once you’re dead”
Turns out I sort of blew it
Always looking for tomorrow
Wish I didn’t have so many “nows”
So filled with grief and sorrow
So take advice from me, my friend
And chalk it up to learning
Forget the destination
‘Cause the joy is in the journey!

The end.

Anyway, that’s my poem. There really isn’t much more to write about this week. I finally got the garage cleaned out enough that we can put both cars in there. It is nice not having to scrape the windows in the morning before driving to work.

Oh- and for those who are interested, be watching for a tour of our house (comming soon...hopefully. This has been so much trouble trying to get it on here. I hope you appreciate it!). It’s about twenty minutes long so make sure you have time to see the whole thing before you start it. Also, I made this on the day after we moved in so things are still kind-of all over the place. Just know that we really are clean people!

…Most of the time.

This week has been super busy...and that is my excuse for not posting until now.

Let's start at the beginning. Monday was obviously Halloween night. We had already carved our pumpkins and made our decorations and the kids were excited about trick-or-treating. When I got home from work that evening our friend Katy and her daughter Ava were already at our house. We had a quick dinner and then everybody got dressed up in their costumes, we turned off our porch light, and we were on our way.

Boy, was this fun! Our kids are naturals when it comes to trick-or-treating. They ran from house to house and held up their pumpkin buckets and even said "thank you" at most of the houses that we visited. Jack got a little bit carried away at first and as soon as the person would open the door he would bolt into the house before anybody could hold him back. He soon caught on, however, that all he needs to do is hold the bucket and the candy will come to him.

After we were done collecting the candy we all went back to our house and enjoyed the spoils of the night. Then Addy and Jack went to bed while we had scones and hot chocolate. We let Evelyn stay up with Ava and pass out candy to the other kids in the neighborhood while the adults enjoyed good conversation and guitar music ;)

The next several days of the week were spent preparing for our big move. Packing, cleaning, organizing, and planning took up pretty much every bit of spare time that we had. In the meantime, I had an awesome week at work- just a little FYI.

Finally, on Friday night Rachel's mom flew into town and everything was ready.

Saturday was crazy. All morning I made trips back and forth from our little duplex to our new home. The goal was to get all of the breakable things moved in before we turned the Elders Quorum (a group of guys from the church) lose on the house. While I was taking trips, Wendy stayed at home with the kids and Rachel stayed at the new house organizing thing. I'd say we did pretty good because by noon she had the kitchen pretty much completed.

Around 1:00 the Elders started showing up. In short, we moved everything in two trips and got the stuff all put into the rooms where it belongs. There was only one casualty- a bottle of laundry cleaner spilled. That's it. Not too shabby. That same day I put the beds together and got the kid's rooms pretty much organized to they way they will be.

On Sunday we all went to church and met our new ward. We like them. We also did a lot of unpacking and organizing.

We are getting close to being done. Our house is looking a lot more like a home and we absolutely love it. Can I say that again? We absolutely LOVE it! The previous owners took very good care of things and made a lot of improvements. Specifically, I love our kitchen. I like cooking and this kitchen is like a cook's dream. The kids love having the space to run around (outdoors or indoors) and we love having the space for them to do it.

You know, it is amazing what space will do. That, along with some thoughtful organization and lots of child-proofing has made our home such an easy place for our family to be compared with any other home we have been in. Our kids can pretty much go anywhere or do anything without us ever having to keep a super careful watch on them. Even in the back yard, our huge windows allow us to look out and make sure they are fine and happy (which they always are) without having to actually go outdoors.

One of the other things that I am really excited about is the ability to do projects. Some people I have spoken with see this as a major downside to owning a home. I think, however, that since this home is already in really good shape, the projects we do will be fun instead of frustrating. Sure, there will be repairs to make along the way and things that don't go exactly according to plan, but by and large I think that the improvements we do will be focused more on making our home into something that is uniquely ours.

And after years of apartments and rental homes, we are finally in a place where we can just "be." No more moving. No more landlords. Just living. What more could we ask for?

 Here we are about to leave the house.

 Our kids are natural trick-or-treaters.

Reaping the benefits of their hard work.

 My pumpkin. I know- I was boaring

 Addy's pumpkin. She wanted circles.

 Rachel's Skull pumpkin. At least one of us was creative this year.

 Jack's pumpkin. He insisted on the off-center nose.

 Evelyn's pumpkin- designed entirely by herself. I especially like the teeth- that was all her idea.

 The "other" pumpkin.

 The ghost wreath that Rachel made with the kids

 Egg-carton spiders.

Evelyn's creation. She came and got me and asked me to take this picture. His name is Mr. Square-Head (it was more square before) and he has hair. That's all.

I made a 20 minute video-tour of our house for those who want to see it. We haven't yet gotten the internet at our new house though, so for now we are leaching off of a neighbor's unsecured wireless connection. The connection is sort of spotty though, so I haven't been able to upload this video. I'll post it sometime in the next couple of weeks.