Dear Friends and Family,
The years seem to be flying past faster than ever. I
am truly grateful for the opportunity to reflect on 2015 and the many
activities, experiences, events, ‘lessons-learned’ and especially the wonderful
relationships that have shaped this year’s memories.
January: Dallin starts
off the New Year with a literal “Bang!” Less than an hour into 2015, he cuts
open his head and gets a concussion from a gun kickback while shooting
tannerite. That’s the redneck way of doing New Year’s fireworks.
February: Dallin
finally gets to start playing basketball after his concussion heals. He
finishes his senior basketball season as one of the top varsity players and
even gets to dunk the ball in a few games.
Nina is released as YW president after 4 years. She
loves her new calling teaching Sunday School to the 17 year olds.
March:
Track season starts for Dallin and Kandra!! In addition, Dallin gets accepted
to BYU Provo with a discus scholarship (which he will defer until after his mission).
Kiana is also thrilled to get accepted to BYU Provo, after completing her
associates degree in Idaho.
Ben returns from his 2-year mission in Wisconsin! It’s
a such a wonderful feeling to hug your child after 2 long years! The little
kids are so excited to have “big Ben” back.
April: We pick up
Kiana from BYU-I and head down to Utah. We get some precious time with Karl’s
mom, who is battling cancer. Ben leaves for spring term at BYU Idaho.
May:Track Season
culminates with Dallin taking the high school Oregon state discus title for the
second time. Yay!
On Mother’s Day, we get to skype our sweet
missionary, Michaela, in Germany. We sure do miss our vibrant girl!
We get a special visitor, Maria Keil, from Germany,
who stays with us for a month. We all love Maria (especially our little ones)
and have fun showing her around the Northwest.
June: Dallin graduates from high school. He also
competes in the USATF National Junior Championship Meet and takes 10th
place.
Karl flies to Utah to spend some precious time with
his mother, Sandra. A week after Karl returns home, Sandra passes away. We
drive down to Utah as a family to attend a beautiful funeral/celebration of
Sandra’s life and legacy. We are touched by her beautiful spirit and the
outpouring of love on her behalf.
July: Nina is thrilled to get a horse…again. And
Ben comes home from college.
July is always our 4-H month with the kids showing
their animals at the county fair. This year Dallin showed a pig (reserve
champion) and Kandra showed a lamb.
August: Nina
accompanies Kandra and a bunch of 16-18-year-old girls on a fabulous Laurel
high adventure trip kayaking in the San Juan Islands in northern Washington.
September: We drive to
Utah again (3rd time). We spend a last week together before Kiana starts
her semester at BYU in Provo. Jonathan is baptized and we are thrilled to have
so many extended family members attend, including Karl’s dad and his wife,
Novie, from California.
School starts. Nina pulls the kids out of public
school once a week to homeschool them in German. She also continues to blog
about non-native bilingual parenting and is even written up in the fall issue
of BYU Magazine.
October: Dallin leaves to serve in the Brazil Porto
Alegre North Mission. It’s hard to say good bye.
Nina receives her Oregon teacher’s license. She
starts subbing in the local schools. She loves the flexible schedule.
November: We take a
quick family trip to the Great Wolfe Lodge. The kids are in heaven!
Karl and Nina spend a week in Oahu to celebrate 25
years of marriage. It’s our first time in Hawaii, and we realize that people
are not exaggerating when they call it paradise! It’s beautiful!
We spend Thanksgiving with Nina’s brother, Kevin and
his sweet family in Seattle. Lots of cousin bonding!
December: December is
all about Christmas. I
love that we get to end each year by celebrating the birth of our Lord. As we
think of Him and center our lives on His teachings, our hearts are filled with
peace, love and joy. May each of us share in the true Christmas Spirit that
originates from the Savior of the world, namely, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
The Shurts
Kids:
Benjamin (23)
returned home in March from serving a 2-year mission in Wisconsin. In April
he attended Spring semester at BYU-I where he is majoring in Business. He is
living at home this semester while working 2-3 jobs to earn money (classified
sub in the public schools, security guard and fast food). He’s attending the
young single adult branch and stays busy doing online classes and other
various hobbies. It’s wonderful having him around. He’s a fun big brother and
loves to play with (and tease) his little siblings.
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Michaela (Sister Shurts)(21)
is still serving in the Germany Frankfurt Mission. She has served in several
different cities this year: Herne, Heidelberg and now Friedrichsdorf. She has
fallen in love with the people of Germany (and it seems they like her, too).
People often can’t believe she’s an American, because her German is so amazing!
She recently served as a “sister training leader” where she was responsible
for all the sister missionaries in her zone. She comes home this March. We
are so excited to see her again! Her email is michaela.shurts@myldsmail.net
and her blog is http://missmichaleaann.blogspot.com/
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Dallin (Elder Shurts)
(19) has had a crazy, busy and fun senior year. He excelled in both
basketball and track. In track, he won the state discus title for the second
year in a row. He was also very involved at school as senior class president.
He worked his tail off this summer and earned all the money for his mission.
One of his jobs had him traveling the entire western United States for a
month installing displays in sporting goods’ stores. He left in October to
serve in the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission. His email is dallin.shurts@myldsmail.net and
his blog is http://eldershurts.blogspot.com/
. We sure miss our big, goofy, hard-working, happy boy!
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Kandra
(16) is in 11th grade and is excelling in school. Kandra is an
outstanding artist. She has been asked to paint several murals which are
hanging in our community. She recently illustrated a children’s book which
was written by her Grandma Krey. Check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/kandrasbook She also earned her YW Medallion and got her
driver’s license. In her spare time, she loves to play the piano and draw.
She took care of her three little siblings for a week (cooking, errands,
activities, etc.) while we were in Hawaii. She is responsible and capable,
caring and sweet. We are so grateful for our amazing Kandra.
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Jonathan
(8) is a second grader and absolutely loves school and his teacher. He also
loves spending one day a week at home with mom doing “German School.” He is
reading and writing in both English and German. He’s very inquisitive and
insightful. He loves to figure out how things work. I love to hear him
explain: “Das ist Science!” Jonathan was so thrilled to turn 8 and be
baptized. He is extremely diligent in reading his scriptures each night. He
hasn’t missed a night since his birthday! He is also thrilled to be a cub
scout! Jonathan has a tender, thoughtful heart. We sure love our little man.
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Clarissa
(7) is in first grade. She and Simon are in the same class and they both
adore their teacher. Clarissa is an amazing reader and will often read to her
brothers. She enjoys our “German School” days and especially likes French
Class. She loves everyone and is everyone’s friend. She is still our token
animal lover. She is especially in love with our horse Juniper. I’m
constantly untangling the “braids” that she has woven into Juniper’s mane. Clarissa
continues to take ballet and performed in the Nutcracker earlier this month. Clarissa
is a happy, sparkly, caring little girl and always wants everyone to be
happy.
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Simon
(7) loves being in the same first grade class as his sister. They are such
good friends. In school, they speak English to each other, but as soon as
they get off the bus, they switch to German. Simon is our active, intense,
athletic little boy. He loved participating in several youth track meets this
summer and in soccer this fall. He is constantly running, jumping, or climbing.
He also loves to be outdoors, exploring and building forts. One of our
favorite quotes (translated from German): “Why do I have lots of energy and
big people only have one energy.” Our Simon is full of life, laughter,
cuteness, and intense, sweet love.
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