Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

In my haste to get our Christmas card out early in the season this year, which I was excited that I accomplished, I totally forgot to write our letter! I’m a dork. So here we go.

We have been very blessed this year. We are healthy and safe. Jarom’s business is growing. We welcomed a sweet new baby to our family. And we are loved and blessed with wonderful family and friends (that’s you!)

Easton – We welcomed Easton to our family in September. He is literally a little “bundle of joy”. He is 12 weeks old and loves smiling faces and singing. He will sing and talk right back to you! Isaac loves to hold him; Emmett loves to sing to him; and both are very gentle big brothers (to my relief).

Emmett turned 2 this summer. He is adored by all who know him as he instantly wins them over with his sweetness and is very social. He is quite the little chatter box as his vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Emmett loves to play with cars, drum on anything that makes noise, color, and play in the sandbox. He is a ray of sunshine!

Isaac turned 4 in September. He is still very passionate in all he does. He loves his Sunbeam class in primary at church, especially Sister Johnson who loves him and ALWAYS has treats for him. He started preschool in the fall and has fun doing cooking projects, having teddy bear picnics, and for Christmas he is VERY excited to wear his PJs as they board the Polar Express and drink hot chocolate! Isaac loves to go camping, fly his RC helicopter, drive Daddy’s rock crawler, and he loves to draw, paint, glue and cut, and his is the official “battery changer” of the house.

Jarom has been working hard in his IT business and is partnering to create a new company that specializes in server migrations at the beginning of the New Year. He continues to work with the Young Men at church planning their activities which this year included a giant plastic ball to walk on water (picture a hamster ball), hiking the Narrows top to bottom, Jeeping, and an aqua bike. He loves it, and those boys are lucky to have him! He is a great Daddy and husband and we are lucky to have him too!

I enjoy being home with my boys. They ware me out EVERY DAY, but I love them to pieces. I am coming to terms with the fact that I am cannot keep up with the tornado of diapers and crumbs on the floor without spending the whole day cleaning, and have decided to swallow my pride; so if you drop in, you’ve been warned. I spent the majority of the year working with the women in Relief Society at church helping to plan our meetings, but have recently been assigned to work in the Primary. I am excited for the change and love the sweetness of the children.

We put our backyard in this spring and are SOOOOO happy to have a safe and fun place to play and enjoy the sun. The boys LOVE the sandbox and swings. I love the grass. Jarom loves that it is done.

We are grateful for the holiday season as it brings us back in touch with friends and family outside of our daily hubbub, and for our Savior Jesus Christ who gives purpose to everyday and season. We love you all and are grateful for the joy you add to our life. You can see picture highlights of our year at www.Renfeldt.com.

With much love,

The Renfeldts- Jarom, Rachel, Isaac, Emmett, & Easton

Isaac's First Two Years

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A snapshot of 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas 2010!

Emmett is 17 months and a ray of sunshine. He loves to give and get kisses (his favorite are butterfly kisses), play with balls and cars, spin in circles to get dizzy, and climb. His language is starting to blossom as he plays with imitating our words. He loves wearing shoes and playing outside. Emmett is our little couch potato or “Tater Tot” as we call him because he loves TV. I have mixed feelings about this since he is too young to watch, but it sure makes long trips and making dinner easier. He loves to snuggle his pillow and blankie, and roll around in the pillows and blankets of Mommy and Daddy’s bed after bath time. We love, love, love him!

Isaac is three and is very passionate. He is very excitable and entertaining to watch as he jumps up and down flapping his little arms like a humming bird with excitement at a new toy, anticipation of a yummy treat, or news of a fun outing. With his passion come a quick temper and a stubbornness which is best pacified by a few moments alone and then loving arms to comfort him. Isaac loves to help Daddy work in the garage and in the yard, and help Mommy sweep and cook. He likes playing with his Jeep, digging in the dirt, swinging on the swings, and wearing zip jammies, and his froggy rain boots. At school he likes to paint and cut paper (until it’s in a million tiny pieces). His favorite color is green. He impresses us with statements such as, “That’s incredible!” referring to a rock crawling Jeep, and prayers such as “Thank you that that the angels (missionaries) could come and bless him.” Isaac’s laughter is contagious and we love, love, love him!

Jarom is our hero. He works hard for our physical needs and dedicates his spare time to our emotional wants playing with us and making sure that we feel loved. Jarom’s business keeps him busy but he loves the freedom of being the boss. Jarom injured his tailbone over a Thanksgiving motorcycle/campout (doing a wheelie going full speed was not such a buena idea) so life for him has been literally a pain in the aft. Rachel has had to drive him around to his appointments the last couple weeks as he still cannot sit to drive. We are grateful he was not hurt more seriously and look forward to when he is feeling himself again. We love, love, love him!

I enjoy the special time I have each of my boys (big and small). The kids and I attend a “Mommy and Me” class twice a week to play and see our friends. I have loved my calling this last year planning the monthly activities for the sisters at church. We have had some really fun and really beautiful evenings (if I do say so myself)! My new passion and hobby is cake decorating. I relish in making something look too good to eat!

We are grateful for this Christmas Season to remember and celebrate the gift of our Savior. We know he was born, lived, died, and lives again for us. We are grateful for His example of sacrifice, love, and service. We love spending this special time of year with our families and hearing from family and friends who we love and miss. Here is our year at a glance.

Hugs from The Renfeldts- Jarom, Rachel, Isaac, & Emmett

January: Cute boys and potty training Feburary: Snow trip, and Jeeping trip
March: Jeeping and camping at Lake Morena


April: Strawberry Patch tour and picking with Grammy and Aunti Kaelin

Anniversery: Celebrity homes tour through Beverly Hills on Segways

May: Isaac's fall out of 2nd story window landing on his head, a trip to the hospital, he walked away with scrapes, all is well, THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER!

July: Renfeldt Family Reunion at Campland on the bay

July: Emmett's 1st Birthday

August: Backyard fun, eatting dirt, cousin Wesley

September: Isaac's 3rd Birthday Construction Party

September: Back to school for "Mommy and Me"

September: Utah and Idaho Roadtrip, Utah Fair, and cousins

September: Fishing with Grandpa

October: Superbaby vs. Itsy Bitsy Spiderman

November: Pretend City, toy trains

December: Merry Christmas!

My Cakes

For everyone that keeps saying, "Oh, you should post your pictures online", or "I want to see your other cakes," here you go! This is my new hobby and I think I am love. I imagine that I have my own desserterie (I even have a name for it and bought the domian for it, but I'm not telling what it is-he he!) and I make fabulous sweet creations that people travel great distances and pay lots of money to experience.  The idea will remain in my mind, however, so that I may enjoy making sugary concoctions that are "too pretty to eat" and have people gush over them, avoiding the inevitable hobby turned "job" syndrome.  Enjoy!  I do!

Well Dad Gum! He Did It!

My excitement and motherly pride are high at the moment. Isaac successfully used his potty on his second AND third attempts! And I was not even even really going to seriously start potty training yet! He has taken more interest in the toilet the last few days wanting to sit on it, so I thought I'd get him his own potty to play with and touch to satisfy his curiosity a bit. You know, an initial step to help get ready for training. This morning he investigated it and sat on it before getting dressed. Then we went about our day as usual. After dinner we went upstairs to put our jammies on and I thought I'd let him sit on it again, since I was going to change his diaper anyway. He sat, stood, sat, stood, sat, stood...about 95 times looking into that potty. (He really can't hold still for more than 4 seconds.) And then I saw his face light up; he stood up (again) and I could see a little trickle coming down! I had absolutely no expectation that he would actually go, so my shock and excitement were overflowing!

Then about an hour later while we were reading books before going to bed, he told me he wanted to go to the potty. OK, why not? So we relocated the bedtime stories to the bathroom and sat and read as Isaac sat, stood, sat, stood...about 95 more times. Story time done, I walked away for a quick second to get a new diaper and when I returned, the potty was singing the "Congratulations" song and Isaac had an accomplished look on his face! Way to go Little Man!

Our New Yard

Well, it took about 10 months, but we finally got our front yard put in. Jarom worked VERY hard for about 6 weeks. He really did a great job! Steve and Brian also helped several days and we are very grateful to them for their muscles and sweat. Cost was an issue in the planning of the landscape; with the high cost of water right now and a fairly large corner lot, we decided to make about 2/3 of the yard gravel with a grassy area protected by a cute picked fence where the kids can play safely since our street is pretty busy. The project included 20 tons of gravel (most of which Jarom shoveled himself in the 100-110 degree summer heat), moving all the sprinklers, design and building of the fence and gate, install of two 10 foot trees and one 30 foot tree, and laying sod. I think it turned out pretty darn nice. Good job my love!

I love the swing. A nice little touch and so nice to relax on in the evening.

Here is the tree installation. Jarom, Steve, and Brian installed a 30 foot, 2 ton tree without the use of a crane or Bobcat. Instead, they backed the trailer holding the tree over the 4x4x4 foot hole, and used engine hoists on either side of the trailer to hover the tree in the air as the trailer was pulled out from under it. The hoists were each secured in place by the tire of a vehicle to keep it from giving with the weight of the tree. Jarom and Steve then lowered the tree down into the hole while Brian kept it level with a rope while the wind picked up. It was quite the sight! Neighbors came out to watch the event. I'm pretty amazed and grateful that no one was hurt and out house is still intact.

Isaac always wants to be in on the action and is very sad when he cannot be. This is one of the piles of gravel.

The laying of the sod was the most rewarding day. So many WEEKS were spent doing work that didn't seem to make much differance in the appearance of the yard, and then in half a day we had lovely green grass!

Emmett's Blessing

Sunday was sweet Emmett's blessing. Jarom gave him a lovely blessing saying he has a "kind and gentle soul", that he will "love and know love", that he will "touch hearts and be a powerful influence for good", that he will have a "strong mind, with quick wit, and a helping hand", and that he will be "a joy to have as a member of our family". I'm grateful to Jarom for blessing our home and family through the priesthood.

There are only a few special events like this in our lives that bring us all together, and we are glad and grateful for our families who joined us, many traveling very far to be here.

Heavenly Father sure knows how to make us fall in love with these little bundles. Emmett is pure sweetness. I don't know how else to describe him. He smiles and laughs so readily. He loves to be spoken to and smiled at. He even loves to laugh and talk to the fish on his mobile over his crib. He is comforted so easily just by holding him close. He is so easy to love and we sure do love him.