Some folks prefer to keep Christmas music to "Christmas time," but I wanted to share the current Christmas song that I'm enjoying. Click here to listen while you read about our year.
Here we are celebrating another year with Christmas cheer and growth in our family (not literal as in numbers of people in our family)!
This year has been busy with many adventures!
In January Erik's parents retired on the same day! Woohoo! Their inaugural retirement adventure was to road trip to come see us! They spent some time traveling and seeing other sites, but also spent some time with the boys. They loved every moment. While they were in Arizona Kristin was able to slip away to Chicago for a brief visit to her alma mater and good friends.
Before the summer hit, we took a quick adventure to Disneyland with the boys. It was fun, and exhausting, but mostly fun. The summer came quickly with escalating temperatures that came in May and lingered till the end of October. Usually, we are done with high temps after about mid-September, but they wore out their "welcome" pretty quickly.
We escaped to Portland for a couple weeks to play in the sun and sand without being blasted with the heat. While we were there, we celebrated 8 years of marriage by being selected to renew our vows with The Big Fake Wedding. It was a little crazy how everything happened, but we had a blast. You can check out our event here. You can also see our video here, just click on The Big Fake Wedding.
When we returned from Portland Erik, put in his two-week notice at his job at Cactus Semiconductor. We were and are very thankful for the opportunity that Cactus brought him, and bringing us back to Arizona. Other opportunities presented themselves but felt it was time to make a change. It was a tough decision, but we are confident in the decision that he made to take a position as a Team Lead (Manager) at Dialog Semiconductor. His new job kicked off August 1st and has proven to be an excellent fit and challenge for his next steps in his career.
The end of September Erik had a two-week work trip that took him over to Germany and the UK (during Octoberfest in Germany). This was quite the work trip for both the professional and family end. We have never been apart for more than a week in about 10 years. During his trip, Kristin and the boys flew to Portland for fall break and to experience REAL pumpkin patches. The pumpkin patches in Arizona are usually a parking lot with hay bales and pumpkins. We went to three different farms and had a lot of fun with Gary and Terrie.
The boys have grown so much this year! Eli is 4.5 and in pre-school at a private Christian school in our area and absolutely loves it! This school is such a fantastic fit for him. He sings ALL THE TIME. We also signed him and Zak up for the Awana's program at the same church that hosts his school. The parenting challenges of potty training have been mastered by Eli and Zak will likely follow suit next year. Oh to be diaper free?!?! Zak will be 3 in January and is very verbal. He talks and forms sentences very well. Zak tends to be a little more reserved than Eli but parrots everything he does. Funny story: We were hosting a yard sale at our house, so we set up a table for them to "sell doughnuts for college" for $1. Some people didn't want to buy a doughnut, but an older gentleman said they were so cute that he wanted to just give Eli $1. When Zak saw this (without prompting) he gets up and goes to the gentleman and says, "Where's my dollar?" We couldn't stop laughing, and Zak was dead serious. He's bold enough to ask a guy for a dollar, but won't say hi to people he sees every day.
The year is coming quickly to an end, and we have so much to be thankful for! This holiday season, we went to Portland for a week at Thanksgiving and this Christmas we will spend time with family in Phoenix. We hope this finds you and your family well and excited for a new year that is upon us.
On a side note: If you are an ARIZONA resident and are looking (or not looking but would be willing) to make an end of the year tax credit donation, we would greatly appreciate it if you considered giving to ACSTO. This program allows donations to be used towards private education. If you decide to do so, please contact us so that we can help you direct the funds towards Eli specifically. The blessing this would be for us is beyond words and will be a great gift.
