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2018 Year in Review

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Hello again! Merry Christmas! Welcome to our digital Christmas letter!

Love Always,
Jeff, Erin, Nathan (7), and Andrew (5)


Highlights from 2018

  1. Year round walks to Lake Wilderness Park and arboretum.
    • A new playground was installed in January to the delight of the boys. 
    • By spring, Nathan was playing t-ball and we would walk down for practice and games each week. 
    • In summer, the boys loved playing in the lake, splashing Jeff or me, and showing off their skills from swimming lessons. Standing in the lake in summer, watching the eagles swoop overhead, brought back so many memories from my own childhood. But man, the park and the lake is a much busier place now!
    • As fall turned leaves to golden yellow, a walk down the trails would reveal painted rocks hidden by creative neighbors. 
    • And every trip to the park includes looking for Mt. Rainier's majestic beauty over the lake. 
  2. Vacation Time: we sure do love and appreciate the time we get as a family during vacations. 
    • We enjoyed our first Mid-Winter Break in February; a week I longed for while living in SW Washington. Thanks to my dad for tickets and babysitting, Jeff and I were able to see Hamilton at the Paramount Theater. 
    • I was lucky to spend Spring Break with my dearest college girlfriends in Austin, Texas. We went two-stepping with cowboys, ate delicious food all over town, and drove to Waco to eat at Magnolia Table and visit the Silos, made famous by HGTV's Chip and Jo.
    • A family trip to Disneyland in August. We visited with friends, Meg & David, went to an Angel's baseball game (they won), and spent three days in Disney and CA adventure. It was a busy vacation, but we all enjoyed it thoroughly. 
    • In addition, we made three trips to Boise this year, visiting Jeff's family, and spent several days on the Oregon Coast for a family reunion.
  3. Love the people in our lives.
    • All four of us love the time we have with my dad and appreciate all the ways he helps us.
    • We're grateful for many visits with Jeff's family this year, both at our home and elsewhere. 
    • Neighbors with kids that we enjoy spending time with at the park or one of our homes.
    • Semi-monthly visits with college friends and their families. Five kids under seven makes it high-energy, but it's become another family for us.  
    • I'm thrilled that one of my favorite teacher-friends from Vancouver decided to move to MV after her son and his family moved here. Sue has become my local wine date and I'm grateful for her friendship, catching up on books read.
    • We love hearing from our Portland/Vancouver friends when they're in the area or want to come stay: Sam, Todd & Karen, and Jennifer & C.Todd.

      First Seattle Storm Game




      The Big Bad Wolf (Nathan)

Goals for the New Year 2019

I can hope for a Husky win at the Rose Bowl! 
  1. Jeff and I are making plans for a family trip to Austria to visit Ellen and Thomas. Having never been abroad before, this has taken plenty of mental processing, considering a wide assortment of options and possibilities. While we still make some decisions, I've started learning basic German by listening to Coffee Break Languages podcast.
  2. Andrew is in his final year of pre-school and is more than excited about Kindergarten next fall. Nathan is excited to introduce his little brother to elementary school, including the freedom to drink chocolate milk at lunch every day. 
  3. I have started working on National Board teacher certification, but have yet to decide whether I'll finish it in 2019 or stagger the work out until 2020. Jeff has taken on leadership at his school as Technology Integration Specialist, which means he is a building resource for technology.

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