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

2017 Christmas Letter

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1 NIV

Merry Christmas! We hope you have had the chance to reflect on the greatest gift this Christmas season. We had quite a busy year so have had to be intentional about it ourselves. Here is a bit of what kept us moving this year.

The kids got their first flight experience this year as we flew down to Disney World for spring break. As for most people, it was everything and more than we thought it would be. The kids were troopers as we went pretty much five days straight getting up early and staying up late to hit as much as we could. We were very fortunate to hit almost everything at just the right time to where we never waited too long in any line. The kids (Izzy in particular) loved the rides and we enjoyed all the food and other extras the parks had to offer. We were a little surprised at how much they didn't care to meet any characters other than the Star Wars crew, which included Jedi Training battling Kylo Ren and Darth Vader. While it started as a once in a life opportunity, the door has been opened for a return visit, probably once the expanded Star Wars land opens in a few years.

We chose to go back to Rocky Mountain National Park this year for our annual camping excursion. We made it all the way there in one long drive and then got over 25 miles of amazing hikes in just four days including one storm-shortened day. Elisha is always a trooper, but Izzy and Zeke's wills were tested. The uphill climbs were worth it after seeing the sights from the top and then getting an easier hike down. We spent a couple days in Denver after camping where we explored downtown a bit, took a tour of the Mint, and got out to the Coors brewery.

In anticipation of Hamilton coming to the Twin Cities next year, we became season pass holders of the touring Broadway theatre in Minneapolis. We've been to only four shows so far, but we have not been at all disappointed. It is something we wish we had done in the past. We were even able to take the kids to a couple: Aladdin and Finding Neverland.

Within the past year, both Ryan and Steph have started new roles within their existing companies. Ryan at the end of 2016 with UnitedHealthcare and Steph in the last month with Best Buy.

Both Ryan and Steph also ran the Tough Mudder this year, this time together, and are already signed up for next year again. It was rough this year because there was a heat advisory that day. Instead of running between obstacles, there ended up being a lot of walking. Steph also ran quite a few other races including her first half marathon. This of course means that Ryan now gets to run one with her next year.

Elisha spent a large chunk of his summer doing sports camps rather than the normal day camp he has done the past few years. He had one soccer camp and three different basketball camps. He received some recognition for his hard work and performance a couple times.

That effort translated into making a couple traveling teams this fall. First a fall soccer team and then a basketball team this winter. He surprised us by being the point guard on his shift (they have two five player shifts). He also continued playing on his school soccer and basketball teams. He started running cross country this fall too. They only had one meet, but Elisha won the fifth grade boys race. Elisha also continues to impress us academically. A new thing for him this year is playing the trumpet.

Isabella is in first grade this year and continued with dance and gymnastics this fall. She is constantly practicing both at home. Her new favorite has been basketball the past month or so. She has a couple practices and a game each week. It seems clear to us that she just loves any opportunity to be busy.

When finishing up kindergarten last year, Izzy got to show off some stage skills in their class play. She was in all her glory having the lead role in Stone Soup. She has been inspired by the couple shows she has attended with us.

Zechariah started Kindergarten this fall. He played T Ball this summer (with Izzy) and then played soccer in the fall. He is eagerly awaiting to be able to play basketball too. Zeke also was pledged to be married to Cinderella's step-sister, Anastasia while at Disney by Prince Charming. She was not too excited after finding out that he does not own a castle, but Zeke still got a peck on the cheek out of the deal.

Things have been going well for him health wise. No updates on his nevus, but we will likely find out more and/or take more action in 2018. His asthma has seemed better, but still bothers him from time to time and he had to get glasses this year. Elisha remains the only with perfect vision.

Have a blessed Christmas and New Year's. We hope we can share some of 2018 with you!

Love,

Ryan, Stephanie, Elisha, Isabella, and Zechariah

2016 Christmas Letter

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. - Luke 1:1-9 - Elisha has been obsessively writing and reciting this recently

Merry Christmas!

2016 was a fun year for our family. We spent a long weekend in June in the Duluth area with Steph's parents, sisters, and their families. We stayed in a house right on Lake Superior which had a great view and through which we got to watch a storm our last night there. It is beautiful country up there and we hope to go back sometime to do more hiking and exploring. While we were waiting to watch a boat come in one night, Izzy got pooped on by a seagull. It is one of those stories that we'll always remember.

In the middle of August, we took a road trip to Colorado. We hit each State Capitol building round trip as well as the National Parks in South Dakota. The main attraction was camping in Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days. We are excited that the kids are enjoying hiking now - we spent the better part of our time there hitting the main sites, but also took a few less marked trails. After our stay there, we spent a few nights in Denver too, including going to Pike's Peak. The trip was about 20 Hamilton soundtrack plays in length.

Earlier in August, we attended the wedding of Ryan's brother Josh. Ryan was a groomsman and Izzy was a flower girl. We partied hard that night. It was a lot of fun.

Ryan and Steph ran a few races this year - or Steph keeps signing Ryan up for races. They ran the Warrior Dash and a Turkey Trot in Madison together. They also both ran the Tough Mudder, although on separate teams. Steph also ran a 10k version of the Chocolate Run this year.

Elisha continues to push Ryan and Steph to experience new adventures in parenting. He played baseball again this summer, but this year was kid pitch and included travel. It was mostly the same kids from his team last year, so it was fun going to those games and hanging out with those families. Elisha was also able to start playing sports at school this year now that he's in 4th grade. He got quite a bit of playing time on the soccer team (4th-8th grade), although he didn't get to play in the last game which was the conference championship game.  It was a close game, but we ended up losing. He also started playing B-Team basketball. You can tell the boys are all learning as they have yet to win a game. But, they are getting better and having a lot of fun.

Izzy is in Kindergarten this year. She continues to do gymnastics and dance during most of the year. She also played T-Ball and soccer again this year. T-Ball was without Zeke, which was a good thing - they could have used the time apart during soccer. She had her first few sleepovers with her best friend. It is funny to see the dynamic of two girl pals after dealing with boys. Izzy continues to be a singer, she will definitely be a musician.

Zeke started Preschool this year, going all day five days a week. He is the humorist of the family, always making us laugh. He played T-Ball and soccer. His dermatologist checked out his scalp this year and recommended no more surgeries for a while; it looks good enough, so why bother until it has finished growing for a while. We're not sure when the next will be, but likely not too soon.

Blessings on your New Year!

Love, Ryan, Stephanie, Elisha, Isabella, and Zechariah

2015 Christmas Letter

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” - Luke 2:15

Merry Christmas! Blessings to you and your family.

This was Zeke’s first year participating in a Christmas program and the above passage was the theme. “Come and see! Come and see! Come to Bethlehem and see!” Izzy was in the same program, both in the preschool class. Zeke did his part of standing and singing what he knew and Izzy did a good job performing.

Our family highlight this year was a road trip out west, replicating much of our honeymoon, to celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary (details here and highlights here). We stopped at seven different national parks, monuments, or forests. We camped for three nights in Yellowstone which was quite a bit cooler than we thought it would be in the middle of July. We were again impressed by how well the kids did with all the driving and all the hiking/walking they did. We caught quite a few geysers at the right time in Yellowstone, but were a bit underwhelmed with the number of animals we expected to see. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, on the other hand, was a surprise as we saw way more bison there than expected and the kids had fun seeing all the prairie dogs. Another thing the kids had fun with at all the national areas was working to obtain their Junior Ranger badges. Some were easier than others, but it is a great program to encourage learning about the history and unique features of each place.

Soon after returning from our trip, we were excited to go down for Steph’s sister Danielle’s wedding. All three kids had roles and did a pretty good job doing what they were supposed to do.

A unique find of our family came from traveling to Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store, not too far from our home. They carry over 150 varieties of root beer. What started as a treat for Isabella has turned into a mission to find the best root beer of all time. We have started holding blind root beer tastings and all vote on our favorites. Once we get through as many as we can, we will start retasting our favorites to determine a winner.

Ryan and Steph were mostly up to the same things this year. As mentioned above it was our ten year anniversary this year. We can not believe how fast the time has flown. We have truly been blessed with each other and by the little family we have grown. We can not wait for the next ten years (if anything, this little family will be close to all moved out!)

Ryan coached Elisha’s flag football team and Steph ran in a couple bigger 5Ks in the Twin Cities. She even convinced Ryan to run with her in next year’s Warrior Dash.

Elisha started third grade this year. He also started taking piano lessons which has opened a whole different part of his mind. He’s done very well so far and we think he is committed enough that we bought a used piano. We bought it from a company that collects and fixes old pianos and then sells some and donates others to places and children that can’t afford them. Ours over 100 years old and is in somewhat rough shape, but sounds great and looks very cool. Elisha continued playing sports this year. He was in a new baseball league where his coach did a really good job developing the team’s skills to prepare them for kid pitch next year. He also did soccer and flag football again, and tried out a la crosse camp. It went well the first couple days, but the last day had kids of all ages, so the interest dropped off quite a bit. We’ll see what next year brings. He has kept this fall busy by being in another fantasy football league. He was able to draft his favorite player (Odell Beckham Jr.) so the rest of the results are secondary (although looking like he’ll play for a second straight championship).

Izzy started preschool this year. She goes all day three days a week. It was a bit of a rough transition at first, but she seems to have hit her stride now, and has always been so excited to go. She loves her teacher and has made some great friends. Izzy has gotten pretty good at sight reading small words. She’s ready to move on to level two pretty soon. She lost one of her front teeth a few weeks ago, but we’re not sure if both will be gone by Christmas. Izzy started a gymnastics class last winter and has been going all year. Her coordination, focus, and concentration has greatly increased and you can see those skills developing her personality as well. She tried out t-ball this summer (another thing with brother Zeke). Mom and Dad both ended up assistant coaching as it was pretty much a four station skill camp each week with a couple kids kind of participating while the others sat and played in the sand or cried. Finally, Izzy signed up for dance this fall and we were very impressed with her recital last week (dance 1 and dance 2).

Zeke started the year off with another surgery to remove his nevus. We were amazed that he was healthy enough to go, but the surgery and recovery went well. He had second surgery at the beginning of December to hopefully remove the rest. The surgeon was hopeful that we got it all, but the biopsy came back that there is still some left past the edges that were removed. We have a follow up scheduled for the middle of next year, but chances are we’ll have to have at least one more surgery to get the rest. As mentioned above, Zeke also tried out t-ball this summer. Besides that, he loves hanging out with his buddies at daycare and at home is always roughhousing with Elisha or Dad (and even sometimes Izzy). He has somehow turned out to be the storyteller of the group and always has something to tell us to crack us up.

God’s richest blessings on your 2016!

Love, Ryan, Stephanie, Elisha, Isabella, and Zechariah