Penultimate day of the year!

Happy next to last day of 2024 to you all. Here's our holiday card...

And here's a link to our holiday letter if you'd like to read it. (If you follow this blog, it's all been covered here...but sometimes a recap is nice, right?) I'm seeing that my link wasn't working so here's the text of it:

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Time for the annual holiday letter. Let’s see. 2024 has been full. 

Nathan and I did a lot of traveling. We flew to Phoenix in February to help watch my awesome nephews while my sister and brother in law had stuff to do on the east coast…had a fun-filled and very full few days with escape rooms and zoos and feeding stingrays and kid basketball. In March, we enjoyed a couple’s trip to Las Vegas to take in a Cirque du Soleil show, the Neon Museum, the Atomic Museum and more. In April, we were in San Francisco to watch Asher & Micah’s college taekwondo clubs compete in Nationals…and did some sight-seeing on our own, too! (Loved exploring China Town, Little Italy, Lombard Street, the piers, Coit Tower, Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz!) In June, all five of us drove to my brother and sister in law’s in Idaho for a family reunion. Our three entertained (and were entertained by) ten of their little cousins. We then spent some time on Lake Coeur d’Alene on our way to Montana to visit Nathan’s parents before finally driving home. And, in October, we drove to South Dakota and explored Devil’s Tower, the South Dakota Air & Space Museum, Badlands National Park, Wall Drug and Wind Cave National Park. Yup, lots of traveling.

Beyond that, all three sons are doing well…

NOAH (24) bought himself a new car and got a promotion at work. He’s now the assistant manager at the bank. He and Nathan took the new car on a road trip to see the eclipse in April (ended up viewing the totality in Oklahoma). Since then, he’s also taken a number of solo trips to stargaze and photograph the skies and hike. He’s still living here at home with us but is looking to hopefully change professions (back to mechanical engineering?) and move in 2025. 

ASHER (22) continues at the University of Northern Colorado, pursuing his BS in Sport and Exercise Science for his Physical Education K-12 teaching license. He’s on track to graduate in May 2026 and has been enjoying time in local schools for some of his classwork, attended a big physical education conference in Denver in October, and continues as treasurer in the UNC PE Club. As I mentioned, he road-tripped with the UNC Taekwondo Club to Nationals in San Francisco in April, where he took home the silver in board-breaking. He returned to his after school YMCA job for part of the spring and summer, helped out with the big summer Karate West promotion (both with black belt testing and by performing with the demo team), and has been busy this fall with classes and taekwondo, adding in time to help out with instructing the Karate West demo team a few times and the UNC Lightsaber Guys group with organized fight scenes. He’s been riding his OneWheel and electric unicycle and has only been to urgent care twice this year (so far, knock on wood), and neither time was due to riding. :) 

MICAH (19) lived in the dorms for the spring semester at CU Boulder and was very busy with classes and the CU Taekwondo Club. He competed with the CU demo team and individually in sparring at Nationals in April, and their team took home silver overall. Over the summer, he worked a couple short term jobs, helped with fundraising events for the club, and enjoyed multiple outings with friends. At the end of July, he moved into a rental house down in Boulder with a couple of friends. He’s now working two part time jobs, is a captain and also vice-president of the taekwondo club, and is set to graduate with his BA in Philosophy in May 2025 (thanks to having graduated high school with his AA). He still climbs from time to time and is loving college life. 

Medically, for his juvenile arthritis, Micah was doing monthly infusions during spring semester. At the start of the summer, he chose to participate in a research study which meant he went off of all medications. (To clarify, the infusions were working just fine. He chose to participate in the study in the hopes of seeing if he could manage without the meds and to help the science.) That was going okay for a while; but, by early August (with joints flaring again), he opted to end his participation in the study and go back on meds, this time opting for a weekly injection that he administers himself. Thankfully, that seems to be working well. Over the summer, he also got a small hole in his retina (likely from sparring at Karate West helping with black belt testing) which required laser surgery in September. He’s also been to urgent care a couple times this year. Fun times, lol.

As for us, NATHAN started a new job in October! He’s now working for a company called August Health, which builds software for senior living caregivers. As at Snackpass, he’s still doing computer coding and working from home. So far, it’s going well and he’s enjoying the challenge of learning new systems and meeting new people. The company is completely remote but had an all company retreat in Savannah in December. Speaking of travel, in May and in July, Nathan flew to San Francisco for Snackpass work gatherings and presentations. Also in July, he and his best friend met up in Oshkosh, WI for the annual EAA AirVenture fly-in and had a great time catching up and exploring together. Nathan also had a work convention in Scottsdale, AZ in September.

And, ME? I’ve been busy orchestrating and coordinating all of that. :) More specifically, I’ve spent time purging and selling boys’ stuff, dealing with our broken AC (which required multiple visits over four months by a great technician to finally get the motor replaced and everything working again), organizing the removal of a tree and the planting of a new one in our front yard, and cleaning and reorganizing my office. I also spent hours dealing with insurance (for medication authorizations and urgent care visits and switching when Nathan changed jobs, etc) and planning all those trips. Beyond that, I continue doing boot camp with friends, climbing a couple times a week, and volunteering from time to time. I’ve also been trying to walk more. 

And that, my friends, was our fairly full 2024. We have a good life and know it. We try not to take it for granted. Wishing you all adventure and joy in 2025!

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That was all. Just wanted to post these before I forgot. :)