Every year, we email out a digital Christmas card and letter to friends and family! I loooove the practice of sending out Christmas cards and especially letters, but I’m too cheap for it, so hooray for the digital route!
Here’s what we’ve been up to in 2025 :)
2025 has been a special year for us because we created something we’ve wanted for a long time: community! Though we’ve lived in the same home for 10 years and put forth a lot of effort, we’ve struggled to build strong ties with other families. But this year, some new families moved into the neighborhood, and we connected right away. We hosted and attended more family gatherings than ever before, and we even went on a multi-family cabin trip to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks! We set up a babysitting swap with another family, so we have two dates out every month, and our kids get to play with their friends every Friday. We’ve also gained greater community at our homeschool co-op, at work, and with other friends and family in the area. The best things in life center around good relationships, and we feel blessed to have so many.
Our kids have been mostly screen-free for the last year and a half, and it really works for our family. Peter and Holly love the occasional home videos they get to watch, and Ada loves special dates to the movie theater with mom, but mostly our kids are happy to play or read all day long. We also spend a lot of time outside in a quest for 1000 hours for the year – we won’t quite make it, but we’re on track to pass 900 thanks to our daily walks, every meal eaten outside all summer long, and other outdoor adventures.
Peter (2.5) has been our most chill and sweet toddler, and we all can’t get enough of him! He is excellent at independent play, and specifically loves playing with cars, blocks, and magnatiles. He mastered the two-wheeled balance bike late this summer, and he flies down the hills! He is talking so much and so clearly, but my favorite things he says are the words he can’t quite master, like “exca-gator” instead of “excavator.” He loves all “diggers” and when asked what his favorite book is, his face will light up as he says, “The digger book!” (Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.) He is pure joy!
Holly (6 this month) officially started homeschooling this year. She’s easy to teach because she either teaches herself before I get to it, or she soaks up information I provide because she’s so interested. She loves learning just like her sister! She and Ada are enrolled in a program called Options Day this year, which basically functions as the special subjects in traditional school (plus some extras): art, PE, games/strategy, and world culture. They enjoy being with other homeschoolers doing fun activities for four hours every Monday. Holly loves listening to music, drawing pictures, and playing with friends as often as possible. She is extremely opinionated and fiery, so I look forward to seeing where her determination gets her in life!
Ada (9) is such a helper, and she’s so thoughtful and empathetic toward others. There are times when I’m the one freaking out and she’s the one to help everyone calm down. She is such a light! She is an avid reader of books and listener to audiobooks. She especially loves reading a new Harry Potter book together every October (just finished book 3!). Each girl now takes one turn each week as the “daily chef,” planning and cooking both breakfast and dinner for the family. While Holly still needs a fair amount of help, Ada is quickly becoming more independent in the kitchen. Her specialty is pancakes from scratch, but she’ll have many more recipes in her toolkit soon!
I spent 2025 focusing on my health. Bit by bit, I built up from only walking last year, to now spending an hour at the gym six days per week, plus taking nearly 15k daily steps. Next, I started learning about more balanced nutrition, so I’ve been making and eating huge portions of delicious foods that fuel my body with all the good stuff. All these changes translate to 25 pounds lost in ’25 and muscles you can see! It has been so satisfying to see all the things I’m capable of as I’ve set and reached various goals. I’d reach my goals faster if I could only lose my sweet tooth, but that doesn’t sound like much fun 🙃 I continue to preserve family memories in the form of photobooks and home videos, and this year I also got started on digitizing my childhood family photos. In June, I got called as the Primary Music Leader at church, so I spend my Sundays singing with the little ones, which is pretty fun, even if the prep work can be time consuming. Thanks to Russ’s wonderful parents who took care of our kids, Russ and I celebrated 13 years of marriage in Mexico this summer; our yearly trips together are always a highlight!
Russ has also been setting goals and making huge progress this year. He is back in the cockpit, working on his instrument rating and getting more comfortable with every flight. He also became a master gardener this year! He grew a few things last year, but his garden really flourished this year when he added a watering system and spent more time tending to his vegetables. We’ve eaten beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, corn, kale, peppers, potatoes, strawberries, and tomatoes from his garden. If only gardens produced small amounts at regular intervals instead of large amounts all at once! Russ’s big project of the year has been building a cold plunge. After buying a cheap cold plunge (his projects always seem to start this way!), he found that he really enjoyed the forced meditation time a cold plunge provides. However, he wanted a more permanent and insulated setup, so he opted to build one to his exact specifications. He cut down pallet wood, fitted the pieces around a stock tank, ran new wiring in our garage, and created a beautiful project that he’s only slightly less excited to use now that it’s winter!
Life always seems to be throwing curveballs, but we are surrounded by wonderful people, and we are supported by God through it all, so we’re excited for whatever 2026 has in store for our family! We wish you all the best things in 2026 ❤️
Click to see previous year reviews!