Mom and Dad Christine Stephen Liz John Mark Emily
News

January-March 2008

Mark went skiing at Shawnee with Megan and Rachel, skiing in Utah with his dad and brothers, and snow tubing in PA with the youth. Cathy competed in a Stadium Trek running/climbing race and sang a medly from Annie (with the girls) in the ward talent show. Megan visited Harford Glen, received the patriot award at school and gave a speech at the assembly. Megan, Rachel, Abby, Mark, Karen and Grandma celebrated birthdays. All the girls took dance lessons and had spring parties at school. We all went to Mark's parents for easter. Daniel's favorite word is Go! Go! Go!

 

In 2007– we were grateful for:

 
My mom’s quick recovery from a broken hip. Megan running a 5K with me in October, and Karen running one with me in September. Mark surprising me with 40 days of small birthday gifts, plus a big theater trip to see Wicked and Mary Poppins on Brodway. Six happy  kids. 40 years on earth. (Cathy)
 
Family skiing and to Disney World vacations, my loving wife, 6 red headed children, Lake Placid bobsledding with the scouts (Mark)
 
Watching Daniel take his first step. Being an enchanted salt shaker in Beauty and the Beast. All my friends and my family. Nature. (Megan, 11)
 
Trips to the Great Wolf Lodge and Disney. Passing the swim test at the arena club. Our goldfish Nemo, who lived five years. (Rachel,9 )
 
My family, my house, my food, and all our furniture and beds and blankets. Being a patriot (a school award). Jesus and Heavenly Father (Abby, 7)
 
Sharing a room with Rachel. Christmas, snowflakes,snowballs, snowmans, presents. And my blankie (Julia, 5 1/2)
 
My bed, presents, Christmas, sesame place.  Being a sheep in the “boy who cried wolf” (in the summer) And in the Christmas pagent at school. (Kelly, 4)
 
Trash cans to dump. Toilets to throw things in.  Graham Crackers. Grandma. (Daniel, 1)

 

And we are all grateful for our home, our health, our friends,and the Savior Jesus Christ, who is the source of all our blessings.

 
Have a wonderful New Year!
 
 
 2006

· Mark completed an MBA with honors from Strayer University. He is in his 9th year with NQGRG. Hic calling as Young Men's president gives him an excuse to go white water rafting, rappelling, and next year, bobsledding!

· Cathy appeared on stage in Harford Community Colleges production of the Sound of Music. On Thanksgiving Day she ran her first ever 5K race, and finished ahead of four other people!

· Megan finished 3rd grade with straight A’s. Her destination Imagination team took fourth place at regionals, and she worked hard at art, swim, and drama lessons over the summer. This fall she is in chorus at school and is learning to play the flute. She loves reading more than anything.

· Rachel got straight “O”s on her report card- they stand for outstanding, but Mark told her they were zeros. She is constantly drawing, and also was involved in art, swim and drama classes and destination imagination. She and Abby sang in a choir concert at the community college.

· Abby started all day kindergarten and loves it. She and Rachel sang in choir at the college, and she also took art and swimming. Her big accomplishment was learning to ride her bike in just two days!

· Julia is in the 4 year old class at preschool. She also took swim lessons this summer, and she loves to play with dolls and animals. She is a great singer and brings home songs to sing for Mom.

· Kelly is the youngest girl in her preschool class, but is extremely bright and opinionated. She can read and write the letter K. She is a fierce but devoted big sister.

· Unbelievably, we had a boy! Daniel Mark Koncurat was born on Setember 23rd. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation, but we think he is the best baby ever!

 

Happy Holidays! Mark, Cathy, Megan(9), Rachel(7), Abby(5), Julia(4), Kelly (3) and Daniel

(This year, a blue Christmas is a good thing)

 
 
2005 Year in Review
 
  • In January, Megan was baptized. It was honestly my favorite day of motherhood so far- even topping her birth. Standing by the font with a towel, I just felt so lucky and honored to be her mom and have her in my life.
  • In July we headed out to Utah for the first time in 5 years. We started off in Salt Lake, attending “This is the Place” Heritage Park and hitting the Days of 47 parade. Then we headed up to Park City for a couple of days of hiking, swimming, and alpine sliding. Mark even did the Zip Line. We took a side trip down to BYU one day and relived some good memories for me. We ended our trip back in Salt Lake were we visited temple square and the surrounding museums. My favorite part of the trip was watching “Music and the Spoken Word” in the tabernacle on the last day. Apologies in advance to those friends we didn’t get time to see!
  • Before leaving on their mission, Mark’s parents asked if anyone wanted to use their Hawaii Time share. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance. So in October we cashed in 10 years worth of frequent flyer miles and spent a week on Oahu.  It was awesome- we snorkeled, parasailed, went to the Temple, Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor… The highlight of the trip was an excursion where they took us out on a boat, found a pod of dolphins and dropped us over the side. The water was warm, turquoise and crystal clear, and you could hear the dolphins calling to each other in their squeaks and clicks. Amazing.
  • In December we ended our first decade of marriage in the same place we began it- the 6th floor of the DC temple. We were able to be sealed for my Irish great-grandparents and great-great grandparents in the SAME ROOM we were sealed in 10 years ago. We felt really grateful for our marriage and the gospel.

Our Family

  • The older girls will be 9, 7, and 5 in a couple of weeks, with Julia turning 4 in May and Kelly three in August. They love art, singing, dancing, gymnastics, reading, being together and fighting, not always in that order. They are in 3rd grade, 1st grade, and 3&4 year old co-op preschool, so helping in all those classes keeps me hopping. Megan and Rachel take piano, and we all sing together, frequently in church. We have a rotating schedule so one girl gets a “date” with mom or dad each weekend. As a family we finished the BOM three days before the deadline
  • Mark has completed all his coursework for his online MBA. He has a project to finish and then will graduate next summer. His web design work at his own firm “Host Designs” gets better and better, but his full time job is still as IT Manager with a law firm in Baltimore. He really loves serving in the young men’s presidency, and can’t wait for high adventure camp each June, where he gets to raft, bike, rock climb, and get in lots of the male bonding time that is lacking at home!
  • My sister Karen continues to live with us. In between working fulltime at Applebee’s, pursuing a communications degree and hanging out with her boyfriend, Kenny, she is a huge help to me. Between Karen and my mom I’m able to get most shopping, doctor/dental visits and school volunteering done without extra girls tagging along. The girls really love their grandma, and she adds plenty of humor and confusion to our days.
  • Most of my time, of course, is spent running the family, as listed above. For myself I belong to a great book group, get up at 5:30 every morning for scriptures and jogging (when I don’t wimp out), work on squeezing every penny out of budget, and dream of our next vacation! The girls are enjoying having me back as primary chorister (although I got really spoiled teaching relief society for the last two years!) One of my goals for 2006is to try out for a musical.