2024 Christmas Card

 Luke 2:10 - But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2024 was another busy one for this group. We were able to escape to Colorado for a week in June, camping in Rocky Mountain National Park for a few nights and then a few more in Denver. On our planned big hike, we ran into a mysterious British man who advised us on danger up ahead - a north facing, unmelted stretch of trail, directly next to a cliff’s edge. However, our backup hike ended up being one of our all-time favorites. Thanks British guy! Shortly after our trip, we finished up a couple years of improvements around the house. Mostly in preparation for Elisha's graduation next year (oh boy!), but we also hosted the annual Cairney family golf outing in August. It was so great spending time with all who could make it.

Not much has changed in the work world for Steph and Ryan. They also continue to be very involved in many of the kids' activities. Steph has recently got big into sourdough. The rest of the family is very grateful to always have some freshly baked goods.

Elisha is nearly through his senior year of high school. He's heard back from about half of the colleges to which he has applied and is planning on making a decision in the next few months. He had quite the Cross Country season this fall, becoming a very strong leader. He also continually improved his PR, smashing his old record by the end of the season and qualifying individually for state, however his team also qualified as a whole. All of his hard work and dedication to staying on top of this athletics and academics never stops to amaze us. If he’s not studying, he’s probably running.

Izzy is now an eighth grader and still quite the Swiftie. She spent most of her year running, starting with being on the high school track team in the spring, running quite a bit on Varsity. After running all summer, she then ran cross country this fall, again running Varsity and also improving a lot through the season. She also made the high school basketball team this winter, mostly playing on the 9th grade team, but also getting some minutes on the B squad team. Through that team, she has had a couple opportunities to help out with some of the youngest girls in the in-house program. She really thrives there, encouraging them and cheering them on.

Zeke is in seventh grade. Over the past year, he has dived into mythical and ancient history, after reading the Percy Jackson series. He continued to read all the books by that author, Rick Riordan, and continues to consume that sort of material any way he can. Over summer, he played baseball for the first time since t-ball age. He surprised us with his ability with such limited practice over the years. He also continues to play basketball, both in a travel league and through school. Toward the beginning of this season, he got to play a game at Target Center, where the Timberwolves play, a very fun experience. He had a fun season of Robotics this year, being able to do it with just a few of his buddies. They had fun the whole season. As an early Christmas present, he just got his braces off.

Finally, Watson continues to be a perfect addition to the family. He has quite the fondness for walks, usually taking 2 multi-mile walks a day. The cold weather has slowed the frequency down a bit, but he still is a full board go every time he gets out. We love his ability to have a different personality for whoever he is hanging out with. He knows exactly what each of us needs at all times.

Have a blessed year!

Love Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy, Zeke, and Watson

2023 Christmas Card

 Psalm 117 - Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.

We waited to send out cards and write our letter so that we could include our recent trip to Arizona. We spent most of our time hiking around Flagstaff (maybe Steph’s new favorite place), with one day at the Grand Canyon, and a couple days in Phoenix. There were quite a few national monuments that we were able to visit as well. We spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s there as we weren’t able to get away for our normal long road trip during the summer. We did take a few long weekend trips throughout the year though. Two for some college tours, one to the UP in Michigan and one to the Chicago area. We also took a short trip to St. Louis. We didn’t explore too much in Michigan as we were well in winter, but we were able to see a lot in Chicago and St. Louis.

Along with us on the Chicago and Arizona trips was our new dog, Watson! He is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and joined the family in early July. He is super loving, full of energy, and has fit right into our lifestyle. He was a hit during the cross country season, coming to a lot of meets and hanging out with the team. He enjoyed the urban lifestyle in Chicago, learning to take care of business on small patches of grass, and absolutely loved our time in Arizona. Other than our hike into the Grand Canyon, where he wasn’t allowed, he was a full participant on every other hike. Up mountains and hillsides, in the cold and hot, and everything in between, he soaked up every minute. We even had to slow him down sometimes!

Steph and Ryan remain as busy as ever, being involved with kids’ activities or just running them all over the place and watching. Ryan is still with UnitedHealth Group, but Steph left Best Buy this spring. She took the summer to spend with the kids (and eventually Watson!), but recently started a new job as an admin for a financial advisor.

Elisha is now a junior. As mentioned above, he has started thinking about life after high school, going on a handful of college tours this year. He is hoping to study engineering, so has been focusing on tech schools. He has also met with a couple college cross country/track coaches to see what that would look like. This past spring, he made a lot of strides in track, placing 6th and 10th respectively in the one and two mile races in his section track meet. During the cross country season he also continued to improve and his team made it to state. He has become quite the leader in the distance running program and he runs with his team nearly every day. He continues to compete in math league and is also a class officer this year. All of his work earned him the ExCEL award for his school, excellence in community, education, and leadership. He is then nominated for the state award, with winners announced in February. He also entered the workforce as a host for a local sports bar and restaurant.

Izzy is in seventh grade this year. In the winter her basketball team continued their dominance. They were hit hard with injuries leading into the state tournament, but were still able to pull off third place. Izzy even sprained her thumb pretty bad in the first game, but pushed through and contributed in huge ways for the remaining games. She played AAU basketball again during the summer, but is probably taking a year off from that this upcoming summer. She ran with the high school cross country team during the summer again this year and was invited to run with them during the actual season. We thought this would mean tagging along, running C level races and maybe getting into some JV meets. It ended up that she ran Varsity for nearly most of the season. She finished the season running JV for sections, where her team won. Izzy likes to keep up on all the latest teenage trends, which included going to see Taylor Swift this summer. It was pretty amazing and she had a great time. One of her top requests at the moment is a Travis Kelce jersey. We’re waiting to see how long this actually lasts…

Zeke is now into middle school in sixth grade. It is really hard to believe that our baby is already that old. Zeke is taking percussion lessons and has finally started playing on the drum set he got a couple years ago. We hope he starts playing more than Billie Jean sometime soon. He played travel basketball again last winter. His team made a ton of progress toward the end of the season and ended up placing third in his state bracket, only losing to the eventual champion. He played a few tournaments in the spring as well to get some extra reps in. In the fall, he played flag football again where his team won their league. Zeke was proud to master the center button hook which was often an automatic first down or touchdown. Zeke was able to see Ed Sheeran this summer (where Izzy and a couple of her friends tagged along). For as much as Izzy likes Taylor Swift, Zeke might be as big of an Ed Sheeran fan.

Hope to see you soon!

Love Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy, Zeke, and Watson

2022 Christmas Card

Matthew 2:10 - When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

A very Merry Christmas to you. We hope you have had a great year.

Our family road trip this year took us camping in Shenandoah National Park, along with stops in several other parks. The biggest highlight, though, was spending about a week in Washington D.C. We were able to take a tour of the Capitol building and hit most monuments and several Smithsonians. Zeke, our Lincoln lover, got his fill of stops with the Lincoln Cottage and Lincoln Monument and the most important on his list, Ford’s Theatre.

On a sadder note, we said goodbye to Daisy this year, after almost sixteen years of being a part of our family. Things had been on a downward swing, but COVID forcing us home for a while helped give us two more years with her. It was hard to lose her, but we were happy that she was with us as long as she was.

Steph and Ryan are both still with Best Buy and UnitedHealth Group, respectively, but are in new roles. Beyond that, they continue to be very involved with many of the kids’ activities. Our season tickets to touring Broadway shows are now back to a normal schedule, so we are looking forward to going back to Hamilton this spring when it returns. We originally had tickets to see it in fall of 2020.

Elisha is continuing to do very well in school, now as a sophomore, and got his license a couple months ago. It has been very helpful to have a third driver who can get himself to his own things - one less trip a day for us to have to make. Elisha ran track in the spring, hitting his goal of running a sub-five minute mile. He then went straight into summer running with his cross country team. They even went to a couple sleep-away camps. He ended up running mostly JV during the cross country season, but ran Varsity for a few meets. They made it to the state meet and Elisha was an alternate. He decided to hang up the basketball shoes and commit to running full time through the winter too. He has also really got into lifting through a local gym for youth athletes. He also joined the math team at school and has been doing well at meets held a couple times a month.

Izzy is now in sixth grade. Her travel basketball team finished second in state this past year, only losing a couple games all season, including the championship game to a team that was actually an AAU team. That went straight into the AAU season where Izzy again played well and won the Minnesota Division II title. She also did summer running with the high school cross country team. She ran at school, winning the individual state championship and earning an invite to a national cross country meet. She ended up placing fifth, earning first team All-American honors. She also spends a lot of time at the youth gym. Outside of sports, Izzy likes to try her hand at new recipes (often to Steph’s chagrin) and really likes to listen to music. She is looking forward to seeing Taylor Swift in person this upcoming summer.

Zeke started fifth grade this year. His travel basketball ended up winning consolation at the state tournament last winter. He is playing again this winter and has developed quite a bit from last season. He is getting much more confident with the ball and can always be counted on for good defense. He played flag football with his buddies again this past fall and ran cross country for school. His robotics season just wrapped up where he played a big part in helping with a team half made up of new participants. He loves his time at home to sit on his electronics (hopefully with his big brother, if he can), but has also been getting into reading quite a bit. Of course as mentioned before, he got a lot of checkoffs this summer on our trip. On top of the things in Washington, we also stopped at Antietam and Gettysburg.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope to see you in the coming year!

Love Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy, and Zeke

2021 Christmas Card

 Jeremiah 29:11 - ”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Happiest of holidays to you! We hope that you’ve had the opportunity to see friends and family more this year than last.

We were glad to get a lot of everyday life somewhat back to normal this year. We spent some time during school breaks going to and hiking at different state parks around Minnesota. Our road trip this year was to the Pacific Northwest. We hit unvisited state capitol buildings in each state through which we passed (five new ones). We also stopped in to see Ryan’s cousin Luke, and his family, in Spokane. Our first park stop was at Mount Rainier. There was still several feet of snow on the main high elevation trails, so we got to hike right on top of it!  We camped for several days in Olympic National Park. It was very cool to experience mountains, a rainforest area, and hike along the Pacific Ocean in the same park. One of our hikes gave us our closest experience ever with a bear - a mama with three cubs!

Steph and Ryan are still coaching their normal activities and work is mostly the same. Steph is still working from home and hoping to keep it that way. They are leading the Outreach ministry at church, so that has kept them busy this fall, planning out long-term ideas and organizing a couple large scale events. We enjoyed some new outdoor furniture and a firepit this year along with a smoker. We are also starting to turn over some of our original indoor furniture as we prepare for life without Daisy and hoping the kids will no longer destroy it. Daisy gave us a good scare in May, but has continued relatively strong the rest of the year. She will be 16 in January, so we do our best to enjoy each day and give her the best we can.

Elisha is now a high schooler! He graduated from Good Shepherd and was confirmed in the spring. He now attends Lakeville South High School. Over the summer, he was at school or in town most of almost every morning at basketball (7 AM!), cross country, and/or strength training. He ran cross country this fall and did very well. For the first few meets, he ran on the C team and was finishing first on his team and near the top of each race. He then transitioned to running JV and still did really well, usually placing for his team (top seven). We were very impressed with how he quickly adapted to running so many miles every day. He loved it and made some great friends. We also were so thankful for a great coach who shows great interest and care for each of his runners. As soon as that season was over, he started his first season of high school basketball. Not all of his normal buddies tried out, but quite a few are still there. We’re glad because we still get to see many of the friends we’ve made over the years. Elisha self-studied Geometry over the summer to be able to test out to maximize the math offerings he can take during high school. He has started in the STEM Academy, wanting to focus on math and engineering. He loves his engineering class and already has many favorite teachers in his other classes. Last, but not least, Elisha now has his learner’s permit, so has started to drive when we can find the time.

Izzy is in fifth grade this year. She continues to want to try everything she can. Her soccer season that started in August of 2020 went all the way through July of this year! Their team did very well and she had a lot of fun. She started a new season in August, but only played in the fall for this season. She again had a great team and has asked about trying to play next spring/summer, but she was so busy this past spring that we are skipping that for this year. She was busy playing basketball. Her fourth grade travel team finished third in the state for the 2020-2021 season. They even went to play in a regional tournament after that. As soon as that season was over, Izzy started playing for 43 Hoops, an AAU team. Izzy played very well and learned a lot of great leadership skills with that team. She will continue with 43 this coming spring. Her travel team is again doing very well this fall. We are grateful for all the great coaching she receives in all these places. At school, she played soccer and cross country in the fall and is playing basketball and cheerleading this winter. It was great to see Izzy back performing after not doing dance the last couple years. Finally, she continues to play a lot of ukulele around the house. She even played for one song in her school’s Christmas concert.

Zeke is now in fourth grade. We have lost him for the most part to video games when he is home. He follows his brother and plays a lot of Fortnite. He also always seems to be learning new facts about some important event in history (often wars) and surprising us with his knowledge. He and Izzy went to sleep away camp for a week this summer. We thought Zeke in particular could be a bit homesick, but he had a great time! He played flag football this fall, scoring a few touchdowns and started getting a nose for interceptions. He is playing travel basketball this winter. He played soccer and cross country for school this fall and is now playing basketball too. He also was in robotics this fall with Izzy. They did very well for a first year, young team. Zeke has been very outspoken and happy to recently get his COVID vaccination.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope to see you in the coming year!

Love Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy, and Zeke

2020 Christmas Letter

Matthew 11:28 - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Merry Christmas! We hope that you have been staying safe this year and have been able to do what you can to stay positive and have fun!

As odd and different as this year was, we tried our best to keep family things normal. We were even able to make some extra day trips with our unfortunately freed up schedule. One big freeing up was the cancellation of a trip to Disney World over spring break. They closed the park effective for the day we were to arrive. We rescheduled for early June, hopeful that things might change, but they were still closed as of those dates.

In the spring through early summer we made trips to several state parks for some hikes. One of the first things we did was make a run to Duluth to check out the lake for a bit while still so early. We also then ran up for a hike around Gooseberry Falls. Among other trips, we also hit up Itasca State Park to walk over the headwaters of the Mississippi. Steph had done this before, but was a first for all the rest of us.

In July, we continued with our annual National Park camping trips. For the most part, dealing with COVID was much easier than expected. Obviously being in a car and hiking keep you mostly isolated, but visitor centers, gas stations, and the like all were doing a good job of making it easy to access. We made many stops, but the highlights were Indiana Dunes National Park, several Lincoln stops including his birthplace and childhood homes in Kentucky and then his home and tomb in Illinois, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Hot Springs National Park, and Gateway Arch National Park. We also visited capitol buildings in Frankfort, Atlanta, Montgomery, Jackson, Little Rock. While it was hard to give justice at our breakneck pace, it was timely to also stop at some civil rights sites in Montgomery, Jackson, and Little Rock. The drive included driving along the Selma to Montgomery Historic Trail and driving over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. While at Smoky, we camped for several days and took many hikes. We also ziplined and white water rafted just outside of the park.

We had a few times seeing family. In June we made a quick trip to Wisconsin to meet our new nephew, Everett, Josh and Amanda's son. We also spent a weekend at Tami and Curt's new place in August.

A couple weeks later, we made our way back up to Duluth for Nicki and Tyler's wedding. We had a nice time hanging out. The resort we stayed at was right on Lake Superior and the wedding itself was at a beach on the lake too. We were down in Sherburn a few weeks later to surprise Steph's dad for his 60th. On a sad note, we said goodbye to Steph's Grandpa Gary in November. We got to see him for a little bit at the birthday party. There was no formal reception, so we hope to do something more at some point next year. We already miss him quite a bit.

Steph and Ryan have not had too many changes in their lives. They both continue coaching (Steph - Cross Country, Ryan - Basketball and Robotics) and had a few races this year that went virtual, including Grandma's half again. Steph's job will continue to be at home once things are back to normal, so she is very excited about that. We've been working on building our home gym to make up for not having access to that this year.

Elisha turned fourteen this year, with one last year before high school! He got braces this summer. He still plays basketball any chance he can get. His 7th grade travel team had quite a run at the beginning of 2020 and were looking forward to using that momentum in the state tournament, but unfortunately, it was cancelled in the week leading up to it. We only got one tournament in this fall before sports were paused. We're hoping to get back at it in January. He played on a couple soccer teams this fall, including one with a lot of his normal Good Shepherd team. They postponed the school season to the spring. They still had cross country and he continued to run very well there. He is also doing robotics again this year which continues to be pushed out further  into 2021. No other major new things for him other than we rarely see him anymore. He now spends nearly all his free time playing Fortnite with his friends. It is pretty nice that he gets to socialize so easily in that way, but we sometimes feel like we've already had a kid move out!

Izzy is in fourth grade this year. She has gotten quite into messaging and video chatting with her friends through all of the lockdown this year. We hadn't really allowed it before, but it was practically a necessity and we suppose a good skill to learn and develop at home. Her 2020 travel basketball team turned out to be quite a little powerhouse. They wiped up on most other third grade teams and even held their own quite a bit against some fourth grade teams. They actually ended up placing 2nd in the state tournament. It was a really fun team and Izzy really enjoyed hanging out with all those girls. They have mostly the same team back again this year and also were only able to get in one tournament before the pause. She is also on the school team this year, fourth through sixth grade girls. She made a travel soccer team this fall and had a lot of fun learning more advanced skills for another sport. Unfortunately, Izzy broke her wrist toward the end of the season (which impacted basketball tryouts too). Fortunately, it was a pretty small fracture and she was only casted for four weeks. Soccer will pick up again a bit in the new year and more so next summer. She also ran cross country again this year, showing some great skill there. She started playing around with a ukulele during the lockdown. She's gotten pretty good at googling chords for songs and then playing them. Finally as an early Christmas present as school went distance in December, Izzy got a hamster, Smoky (in honor of her preschool class hamster). So far, so good although he is very shy.

Zeke is in third grade. He's starting to get a little busier, but gets to still mostly hang out at home or tag along to watch his older siblings. He was able to play flag football this fall with a few of his buddies from school. He also ran cross country this year. For those of you who know Zeke, you know he's not the quickest out there. He was a little discouraged earlier in the season, but kept working hard and was super proud of a PR and third place in the conference meet. He is playing basketball this winter. He started playing little bits on the piano during lockdown, but we also got him an early Christmas: a drum set. He's already starting to listen to things and trying to replicate what he hears.

Stay safe and here's to a better future in 2020!

Love Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy and Zeke

2019 Christmas Letter

Zechariah 9:9 - Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. We hope that you have had a good year and pray for a happy and healthy 2020!

For spring break this year, we went to St. Augustine, Florida for a few days to visit Ryan's parents. They go there for a month each winter, so we finally made the trek to check it out. After that, we went to Universal Studios in Orlando. We spent several days there, mostly checking out the Wizarding World. We figured out the way to get through rides quicker was to go in the single rider line; you don't really talk on the ride anyways. However, it did lead to some humorous situations with Zeke by himself with teenage girls or older adults. He even got stuck once with some foreigners and had a short conversation.

Our summer road trip was to southeast Utah where we camped at Arches National Park. We were also right next to Canyonlands National Park, so were there for a day. We also spent one day rafting the Colorado River. It was a very cool experience with some great rapids and a nice lunch at a ranch. On the totality of the trip, we also hit all of Colorado's national parks, including Rocky Mountain for our third time.

While at home, we got back on the bandwagon cheering for the Twins as they played for the pennant again. It was actually a Joe Mauer tribute year that first got us in for a few games, including his number being retired. The team was so exciting that we ended up going to quite a few more, including Ryan and Elisha going to their first home playoff game in some time - it did not go well.

Most things are normal with Ryan and Steph. Steph coached our school's track team this year and also coached cross country again in the fall. Ryan is helping coach Izzy's basketball team and also started and coached a robotics team at school. They ran Grandma's half marathon in Duluth and another Tough Mudder together. The whole family ran the Vikings 5k, a Turkey Trot 5k, and another mud run together too.

Elisha remained active as ever. His school basketball team won their conference tournament in the spring. He continued playing spring ball with some buddies, a couple three on three leagues in the summer, and is playing school ball and traveling again this winter. In between, he played soccer and ran track and cross country for school too. He placed well enough in our "state" meet to qualify for a "national" meet, however he chose to stay home for a basketball camp rather than travel for that. He also was on the robotics team at school. Elisha was a strong leader on the team helping guide the process the whole way through. We didn't move past our first tournament, but did win two awards that day. Other than basketball, Elisha likes to play video games and watch TV shows, his favorite being Stranger Things.

Izzy is also keeping busy. She continued in dance this fall expanding to four different styles in two classes. She played soccer and ran cross country this fall, using her speed in both. She won first for third grade girls  in one of her meets and did very well in her other competing with fourth graders. This winter she is playing travel basketball on a team of third graders, however they are entering in fourth grade tournaments. It is going a bit better than expected and Izzy is having quite a bit of fun and doing very well. Lately, she has been playing piano, trying to teach herself.

Zeke isn't quite as busy as the other two yet. He played soccer this fall and played in house basketball this winter. He got to keep his Abraham Lincoln streak alive for a school project this spring. He had to do a presentation on a state, and chose Kentucky since that is where Lincoln was born. Zeke is always up to play at home, sometimes with Legos and other times still getting out his golden guys - little army men.

Love to you all!

Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy, and Zeke

2018 Christmas Letter

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45 NIV

Merry Christmas! It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. Another year of busyness and fun with the kids.

Probably the biggest thing for us this year was our opportunity to finally get to see Hamilton as the touring show came to Minneapolis. Over two years of listening to the soundtrack and a year of waiting as a season ticket holder paid off. The show was better than we could have imagined. There's so much to appreciate with the music, but seeing the set and choreography added even more to love. We wished we could have found tickets to go a second time while they were here, but we'll have to wait until next time. If it comes near you and there's any way to get tickets, we cannot recommend it enough!

The love of the Hamilton characters showed up in a school project this past spring. The whole school had a living history museum. Each student dressed up as a famous figure and then stood on their spot like an animatronic statue. Once a visitor pressed their button, they would come to life and recite their one minute biography. Elisha was Alexander Hamilton, while Izzy was Eliza, the Mrs. Hamilton. Zeke, however, got to shine as his favorite, Abraham Lincoln. He was one of the hits of the night with his awesome costume and great detail of the life and times of the 16th president.

This past summer, we camped in Glacier National Park in Montana for five nights. We hiked over 50 miles in our time there including a single 13 mile total hike out and back to a spot called Cracker Lake. The trail was amazing with some makeshift bridges made out of fallen trees or stones. We were the first ones to head out on the trail for the day which made for a cool experience. On our second to last day, we came across a waterfall (Virginia Falls) that was so beautiful that we went back to it on our way out of the park. We saw so much, but know that there was so much more that we didn't get to.

We haven't got to too many Twins games over the past few years, but we did go to the last game of the season this year. There was a strong feeling that it might be, our favorite, Joe Mauer's last game. It was clear from before the game that that would be the case. His kids were on the field beforehand and each at bat received an extra long standing ovation. He got a classic Joe Mauer double later in the game and even came out to catch a pitch in the ninth before being taken out for one last ovation. It was an awesome moment to be present for.

Not much is new with Ryan or Steph this year. They had a nice getaway weekend in Duluth to run the half marathon during the Grandma's marathon weekend. It was a bit chilly, but overall was a fun couple days hanging out with some friends. This fall Steph helped coach Elisha's cross country team and Izzy's volleyball team. Ryan is coaching Izzy's basketball team this winter.

Elisha, a sixth grader this year, continues to be quite the speedster in track and cross country. He even ran a couple real 5Ks this year too. He uses his speed in soccer and basketball. After finishing out his first season of traveling basketball last winter, we got a group together to continue playing into the spring. We were even able to get a former alum of our basketball association who won a National Championship in college and played professionally in college for a bit. It was a great experience for Elisha to learn from him. He continued playing a lot in the summer by attending quite a few camps. This winter he is playing on two school teams, one for grades 5-6 and another for 6-8. He is also again playing on a traveling team making the B team this year. It keeps him quite busy between all the practices and games, but he loves it!

Now in second grade, Izzy has continued with dance taking a ballet class and a tap and jazz class this year. Always the performer, she attended a theatre camp this summer ending with a performance of a musical version of the Wizard of Oz. She played a munchkin and had quite a bit of fun doing so. She skipped soccer this fall and decided to instead play flag football with a friend. They were the only two girls in the league, but that didn't stop them. Izzy even had their team's first thrown completion which went to her friend, and was probably the team's longest completion of the season. As of now, she wants to play tackle tomorrow. We'll see if that actually happens. As mentioned above, she also played volleyball, actually a couple times times this year. She is now working on her second season of basketball. It's another that she loves doing while she is out there.

Following in his siblings' footsteps, Zeke, in first grade, also played basketball this winter. His was more camp-type style once a week, but he made the most of it. He actually probably plays the most at home, almost always playing out some game on the Little Tykes hoop. The Timberwolves are usually one of the two teams and he'll choose some other NBA, usually one from which he knows a couple players. He'll then proceed to give us some play by play and summary after the game is over. The Wolves usually win. It gives him a good opportunity to practice his math He continues to amaze us with how quick he picks up all his new math lessons. Finally, he also played soccer this fall. He said he wanted to play soccer so that he could knock people over. Fortunately, that didn't ever seem to happen, whether the opportunity never presented itself or if he came to a realization.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May you always remember his blessings and gifts. Have a great 2019!

Love,

Ryan, Steph, Elisha, Izzy, and Zeke