What a year! Full of hardship and joy. Sounds pretty normal I guess.
Travis completed his 21st year at Nuf Said and will likely be taking over the business the end of 2024. He serves with me in the nursery at church and is the best dad ever. When I can't handle being a parent, he takes over and when he is struggling, I step in. We make a great team. Grateful we have each other and we love each other so deeply we can make it through the hardest of times.
I'm still loving my job as I enter the third year at St. Anthony North and find it humorous that I'm working in healthcare, but not as a nurse! People always wondered if I'd be a nurse like my mom. But, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I love my coworkers and helping patients move to their next level of care.
Kedzie graduated from High School, worked at CFL, nannied and successfully completed her first semester at Utah State. She is navigating so many new things, like living in Utah, finding new friends and sharing a room. She even aced her physics class! She really wants a car and a pet, but she's surviving without both in Cache Valley and her relationship with Grandma is growing stronger by the visit.
Ethan is thriving in life. He's got it all. Looks, friends, sports, grades. It's so much fun to see how much he has progressed over the past few years. His goal is to play on the golf team next year and he practices nearly every day. He has his best friends and they are together almost all of their free time. He enjoys his job at The Home Depot and still loves playing some video games.
Triston also survived his first semester of freshman year, though in high school. He saw the freedom and fun and figured out how to pull the semester together in the last month to get descent grades. He was a leader on his soccer team and is so healthy about his broken ankle. He's ready to move on and get back to doing what he loves. He loves his phone and loves his video games. Hard to believe he's already got driving hours under his belt.
Alex is finally hitting puberty! Can I type that?! We joke about it all the time. He's grown like a weed in the last few months and is ready to pass me up. He did great his first freshman semester. Enjoyed soccer and loved playing tennis last summer. We also had a fun trip with him to Florida earlier in the year. He's loving his soccer club break so he can play more video games. He doesn't love school, but he does really well. He'll be starting to drive in May.
Wiley and Phoebe are still the best dogs ever. Well, Wiley struggles, but at least he doesn't understand! Phoebe makes us so happy. They both really do. We are lucky to have dogs that love us and we love them.
That's my quick update on our family. We are grateful we are all healthy, mostly, both mentally and physically. Grateful we can laugh and cry together. Grateful for our home and cars and our jobs. We are grateful for our belief in God and Jesus Christ and the knowledge that we are a forever family.
It's been twelve years since my mom left this earth life. It's still painful almost every day. November and December are the hardest for me. I just wish she was around to call and offer advice and be friends with the kids. They need her, but my prayer is that she is able to help them from Heaven. Carol joined her this year and I think they, along with Vickie are doing some amazing things and having fun along the way.
We did spend New Years Eve with the Holland's. It was a great way to end the year and then I went to bed before midnight! I think Alex was up, alone having sparkling apple cider at midnight! We are such party animals.
As I sit back and write, I realize how lucky we are. But, it was a hard year and every day something is hard, but I love looking at the big picture and seeing the good things that have come our way. Or how much we have grown over the year. It's pretty incredible.
Looking forward to traveling, summer, second semesters, and whatever else good comes our way. I wouldn't mind a little less mental health "stuff" and less injuries. But, I'm not in charge!
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