We started the year feeling quite sad as we said goodbye to our sweet Lucy a few days before Christmas, due to cancer. She was the perfect dog for our family and we hope that we gave her at least half as much love and happiness as she gave us. The squirrels in the park are being kept in line with Linus and the newly renovated park across the street has a bench facing our home, complete with dedication. “The Joy we feel has little to do with our circumstances and everything to do with our focus” – Russell M. Nelson. Lucy spent every day focused on seeking joy and spreading it to those around her.

Jack makes sure to remind Linus daily who “wears the pants” until a basket of clean laundry appears and his priorities shift. Linus gets some puppy wiggles out by running along Cheryl as she rides her bike, and he enjoys pulling Amber on the plasma car (complete with antlers). He has enjoyed several garbage eating sessions resulting in rather unpleasant follow up experiences in urgent care. We love him very much though and we’ve helped each other through the pain of losing Lucy.

Luke completed his High School Equivalency and graduated seminary too. He’s the first in our family to ever have surgery (outside of wisdom teeth) with a septoplasty tomorrow, leaving time for a week of healing before starting his mission on Dec. 15^th. His Service Mission will allow him 2 more years at home while he works in the temple and in the community. It also means he can continue piano lessons and help his grandparents who live across town too. Red Robin was sad to see him go and is ready to welcome him back upon his return. He’s produced quite a few podcasts for The Logray Show and continues to be our resident entertainment critic as well as a champion of patriotism, free speech, and quality animation.

Emily frequently reminds us of the importance of oxford commas, any and all appropriate Bee Movie quotes or Weird Al lyrics and keeps us laughing (or completely silent if she’s trying to focus). She saved up and met Weird Al after a concert, performed some beautiful violin solos at school and was invited to guest perform at the Renaissance Festival. She’s spent more time in the allergist’s office than behind the wheel getting driving hours but hopefully that’s about to reverse….beep…beep…beep. Fortunately for us, her art skills have expanded to trim and baseboards, creating profitable opportunities for her and some tasks off the honey-do list. We enjoy hearing all the Celtic music coming from her blue violin, and the occasional vent about how we’d all be better off if the earth orbited Jupiter, the first more than the second 😊.

Amber has fully planned out the next 10 years of her life down to where she’ll stay in college and what her monthly budget will be. She is in her book-era having read 17 books as of this writing. Her Christmas list is completely dominated with future reading aspirations, except for a clip-on book-light. Her skills are improving greatly on her black carbon fiber cello and she’s excited to join the Chamber Orchestra at Twin Peaks when she returns to finish out 8^th grade in January. Her love of The Hunger Games has shown up in dioramas, cake decorating, watercolor, and crochet. She was able to get her lip balm into The Tumbleweed Art Collective and made some good money at a few craft fairs and at the Arnott Farm Store in Southern California.

Ryan GREW! Cheryl stopped suggesting he eat and began requiring it, since he’d much rather be reading or pacing in the backyard, contemplating. He’s been successful in taking some 6^th grade classes online but has decided he won’t be ready for college classes until sometime in 7^th grade, when hopefully he “can spend all his time studying fractals”. His annual visit to the Optometrist resulted in a 20/20 diagnosis – No more glasses! Shame, they were cute. He’s discovered that he loves crazy waterslides, ziplining, and repelling. Since he’s quite a homebody, our recent trip to Mexico was a stretch but he was glad we made him do it! As he approaches adulthood, his aspirations include working at Dairy Queen or Hammonds and moonlighting as a YouTuber…

Andrew and Cheryl are now old, since we no longer have children in single digits. As such, we go to bed earlier than the kids and enjoy watching reruns of JAG. Andrew is enjoying his first Season with permanent Christmas Lights on the house which he can change on his phone from the comfort of the couch. The Cryptocurrency world still holds his interest (HA!) and he’s been amazing at helping Ryan with math (since it’s passed Cheryl’s capacity). He continues to fund the mental health needs of everyone else in the house as well as Cheryl’s dream of taking the family to New Zealand in March. She’s dabbled in formal dress alterations and helped JoAnn’s clear out their fabric department. Since the kid-car was totaled while parked on the street, she decided to “make lemonade” and buy a stick-shift Beetle which has made running errands a pleasure. Sorry kids, you get the minivan!

We love our home in Longmont and its proximity to Cheryl’s parents and the amazing support group of friends and neighbors who are helping us and our kids thrive. We wish you and yours a beautiful Christmas Season as well as wonderful adventures in the year ahead. May you be blessed to see the hand of God in your life – Thank you for being a part of our journey!