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