Family Christmas Greeting 2008

Greetings from the Collett Family.

As 2008 is nearing its conclusion, we are blessed with good health and have enjoyed a fruitful year. We're looking forward to another exciting year in 2009.

In May of this year, Andrew graduated from Springville High School as a Red Devil! The following month he turned 18 and started hattending Utah Valley University (formerly UVSC) since September and is planning to major in Criminal Justice. He' is proud to say that after four years, his class will be the first graduating class for UVU. He spent the summer getting his security officer certification and worked event security at Seven Peaks Water Park. In September he got a job at the Provo Shopko in Loss Prevention and is enjoying it a lot, especially when he catches shoplifters, and surprisingly it happens quite often.
And when he has any spare time he plays some hockey. He is living at home keeping me company. I'm not complaining!

Jessica also graduated in 2008. She got her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a specialty in early child education in June from BYU. She spent last winter semester teaching in Washington D.C. ,which she enjoyed immensely. She taught second grade in an inner city school right in downtown DC, and lived in Alexandria, Virginia. I wasn’t too thrilled with not seeing her for an entire semester, but I survived!!!

She is currently teaching third grade at Providence Hall, a school in Herriman, Utah. She commutes from Provo where she lives with two roommates who also graduated in June. They are all teachers and one even teaches third grade at the same school, so the commute isn’t too bad. I've had a chance to volunteer in her class a couple of times. It's so fun to see her teaching. I'm so proud of her. She has a lively class and she keeps them all in line!!

My brother Nelson and his family were here visiting in July from Chile. We enjoyed having them here. They've been in Chile now for two years.

In August, I took some time off to spend with my parents and with Effie Galant and her son Guy. Effie was an exchange student from Israel, who lived with us in Grand Junction when I was attending BYU many years ago. She was able to come for a one-month long visit to the United States.

We spent about 12 days together and did a world wind tour of several places. We started our road trip heading to Bryce Canyon and Zion’s National Park, then we headed to the Grand Canyon for a couple of days, then headed to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Then we spent three days and two nights in Las Vegas. After that visit we went to Yosemite National Park for a short stay there. Our road trip finally ended in Windsor, California where we stayed for four days traveling to the Pacific Coast, San Francisco and the Redwoods, and all the sites in and around that area. We had a great time! Jessica and her best friend Jodi joined us in Las Vegas and were with us the rest of the time. We all needed a rest from our vacation once we came home!!

Effie and Guy finished the rest of the trip in Chicago, Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C, and New York City.

I’m still working in the BYU athletic department staying busy with all the sports teams. I can’t believe that I’m starting my 27th year working at BYU and my 16th in the athletic department. Time has flown by very fast. I think it’s about time for me to start thinking about retiring!!!!

We hope this year has brought you much happiness, love and laughter and that you and your loved ones are safe and in good health. We wish you the very best of everything in 2009!!!

Please feel free to send us a post! We'd love to hear from all of you! It's really easy ... for those of you who aren't too comfortable with all the internet stuff!!