Holiday Update!

Hi all,


So.... the Holidays were so nice for us! For Thanksgiving we went to Midland to do house decorating again this year. We go to these huge houses and decorate their homes for Christmas. It pays really well and it helps us out with buying Christmas gifts. It was great spending time with my mom's side of the family! We took our dog Tozer with us and he had fun playing with all the other dogs!


My sister Stephanie also took some pictures of Shawn and I and Tozer for our Christmas cards this year that turned out pretty cute. (see below)


This was our first Christmas together in our new house so we had a lot of fun decorating and putting up lights in the front yard.


We went to my parents house for Christmas and had a lot of fun spending time together. Christmas Eve we went to the Tharpe's house for their annual Christmas eve party that we've been going to for as long as I can remember. It was a lot of fun. Christmas morning we woke up and exchanged gifts. I hand-sewed my sister's dog Lily and my old dog Quinn a new bed for Christmas and also a new bed for our dog Tozer. I kept complaining about how hard it was to do by hand blah blah blah and for a nice surprise my wonderful husband Shawn bought me my first sewing machine for Christmas! I was so excited. I already have a few projects lined up but I'm going to have to take it slow because I've never actually learned how to sew correctly... I've just kind of figured it out on my own. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and I helped my mom make some really neat dishes that she got off the TV. My personal favorite had to be the homemade pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust and cinnamon whip cream...YUUUUM. Mike and May Tharpe came over for our Christmas dinner and we had a lot of fun talking and making elf-yourself videos. That night we also went to look at Christmas lights at a house that had been featured on TLC. We also did fondue one night and it was the first time I had ever tried it. Very good! My dad surprised my mom with all new dishes for Christmas from pier one so everything was very pretty.


We left my parents house on Sunday morning and had Shawn's brother's family over for a gift exchange on Sunday night. Shawn's mom had also flown in a few days before. It was a very fun night and nice to be able to have everyone over to our house.


Overall our Holiday was very nice and blessed. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for our little family and hope you all are doing well.


Love, Emily (TONS of pictures below)

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone,​​​​​​​​​​
We hope this letter finds you all well.  It has been a busy year for us.  Once again, we find ourselves looking back over the past year completely overwhelmed by the blessings that God continues to pour out on us.
We went on a ski/snowboard trip to Steamboat Colorado with my brother Scott, Amy and the kids in February.  While we were there we also took a day trip down to Boulder and spent the day with our friend Stacey.  We were even able to stop by and visit Emily’s brother Cary’s family on our way back home.  Overall, we had a great trip and we are looking forward to our next ski/snowboard trip.
Emily has continued to ramp up her piano lesson business and is now teaching voice lessons to a few students as well.  In addition to private lessons, she is now teaching piano to groups of young children at Montessori schools during the week.  This year she has two recitals for her students that have gone extremely well.
Emily has also starting singing with the Dallas Symphony Chorus this year.  She is extremely busy right now because they have 12 Christmas performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra this month.  They only chose a few new members this year and Emily was one of them.  To be in a professional choir has always been one of Emily’s dreams so this was an exciting accomplishment.
We celebrated the 4th of July in Houston with Emily’s family. Her brother Cary and his family were in town as well so we were able to get to spend some time with them which was great.
Emily was able to go on a Jilian Michaels wellness cruise in October with her mom.  They had a great time and visited the Bahamas, Cozumel and a private island.  While on the cruise they were able to have Jillian Michaels train them and were able to attend all kinds of cooking and wellness classes.
We took a trip to Chicago this summer and had a great time.  The highlight of this year was that I was able to see my son Noah which is an answer to prayer and miracle in and of itself.
For Thanksgiving, we went to Midland Texas for the 3rd year in a row and had a great Thanksgiving day feast at the Ramey’s.  We also did Christmas decorating at some houses in Midland with Emily’s aunt Pat and had a great time visiting with family.
I am staying busy with work and school and hope to be able to report better news on both in next year’s letter.  I am going on a mission trip to Uganda Africa in January.  The male population in the villages we will be visiting is close to non-existent because of AIDS and war.  We will be going to spend time with the children of these villages and also bring supplies and Bibles to many of the villages.
The big news of the year is that our dog Tozer will be getting some new company around the house.  Emily and I are expecting our first child due in July.  This month we were able to get our first ultrasound and see the baby’s heartbeat.  We are very excited and will be busy getting things ready for our new addition over the next few months.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well.  Follow us on twitter for more up-to-date news @EmRoller and @shawnroller
Love,
Shawn and Emily (+1)