December 2023

The rest of us had stuff to do, so Clifton and Sarah ran the Colder Boulder alone this year.

Decorating the tree is my favorite part of Christmas as we dig out a mish mash of ornaments. Some are from Clifton's and my childhoods; others are homemade treasures from our girls when they were little; and lots and special ornaments that we've collected from our family trips over the years.

Annika had fun playing basketball at her school. They have a huge intramural program where everyone is welcome and is pretty evenly divided by age and talent and they play against each other. Eighth graders on the team serve as coaches and captains and get to practice leadership skills. It's a great set up.

And then there is a travel team that plays the other schools in the district. Annika loved being a part of that this year.

I was super impressed that they had a pep band at the girls' games! I don't think we ever had that for my varsity high school games. Speaking of 1992, check out the scoreboard technology we've got going there. That hasn't changed.

Annika had her soccer team over for a Christmas party.

They had a never ending White Elephant exchange.

And decorated Christmas cookies...

...and belted out karaoke songs together

Luna watches Sarah walk to the bus stop every morning.

Annika performing with her Pops Orchestra.

Naomi is backstage with her ballet friends -- it's Nutcracker time of year!

Here's a couple sneak peaks that I took from the wings during rehearsals.

Full Nutcracker blog to follow because there are just too many pics.

Christmas photo 2023

Aaaand the intentionally overposed JCPenney catalog version of the Christmas photo.

It's Luna's fifth birthday! Youbetcha we're those people that get their dog a birthday present.

Girlfriend's looking good in her vest!

Naomi worked her butt off and finished her finals a day before the other girls were done for the semester so we snuck in a quick pedicure.

We spent Christmas in Florida -- the last time we were there for Christmas was when I was pregnant with Naomi! So a few things have changed... We flew into Tampa, crashed in Ginny and Pete's empty house (they were in Colorado -- we keep missing each other like this), and the next day made our way down to Ft Myers.

First stop: Manasota Beach where we went looking for sharks' teeth. 

And soaked in the sun and the heat and the humidity.

It was great to be back at the church I grew up in.

It was powerful to sit again in the same sanctuary that I was sitting in when I was the girls' age. This church was the place where my faith really started to take hold.  Sitting there I was flooded with memories of the youth group which changed and defined me at an age when I longed to be changed and defined. This was where I made my profession of faith, where I came home to during college and med school. This was the aisle I walked down towards Clifton almost 17 years ago. Looking around the sanctuary I could still see some of the faces of those who mentored and prayed for me over the years, and I remembered the ones no longer here. There is something so beautiful about being back in a place that I love and that has loved me so well.

We went straight from church on Christmas Eve to the beach. Floridians might've said it wasn't nice enough to be on the beach, but we thought it was just right.

I love that Naomi is trying to look cute for the picture and the other girls are just all in.

The destruction from Ian is still quite obvious around Fort Myers. This is what is left of the pier.

So strange that it's just gone.

This is how Ft. Myers Beach does a Christmas tree.

This is the Christmas tree that the girls made of seaweed on the shore.

A fun tradition at our church is a Christmas Eve sunset service. A few hundred people singing carols on the beach is memorable for sure.

We traveled with our stockings.

They think they're being funny but this pretty much sums up my life.

Christmas morning!!

We considered it but ultimately didn't make Mom and Dad wear matching pajamas.

Mom had a Nutcracker record that she got as a reward when she was 10 for selling magazines for the Dutch Bible Society.

These crazy kids got in a 65 degree pool. From the look on Naomi's face before even making contact with the water, it was clear that the pool time would be short lived.

A day at Bunch Beach.

There were lots of great sandbars we could walk to. No sand dollars this trip.

Drip castles!

If there's a Rita's, we'll be there.

This is downtown Fort Myers -- I love me some palm tree lined streets.

Dad loves a good campfire, and these girls love a good smore.

We visited with my Aunt Gerda and Uncle Dwight one afternoon.

This man is 80 years old and is still one of the strongest people I know.

On our way to the Everglades, we stopped in Everglades City for the girls to get a taste of some fried gator. When in Florida....

They were slightly creeped out by the soft shelled crab.

The rain stopped just in time for our tram ride through a portion of the Everglades.

It was very different than any other national park we have explored.

Due to the rain/clouds/cooler weather, there weren't as many gators out.

The view from the observation tower.

Back in Ft. Myers at Six Mile Cypress Slough.

Ginny and fam got back from CO in time to spend a day with us at her mom's place. It's crazy to me that this friendship is 37 years old. Ginny's been through everything with me. She was an anchor for me through years when we were just figuring stuff out, reminding me who I was and making sure I didn't try to be anyone else. Hers is the kind of friendship I pray all of my girls have during their childhoods.

Clifton, Naomi and Annika hit the Edison-Ford winter estates for an afternoon.

One last evening at the beach. Not another soul in the water (because all the other souls were wearing sweatshirts and jeans and were wrapped in blankets like normal souls!)

These three? Not so normal. But living their best life.

Don't ever make me choose between a mountain sunset and a sunset over the Gulf.

Oma was home prepping olie bollen for us.

We flew home from Tampa the evening of New Years Eve. It was cool to be in three different time zones, hitting three different new years. We were still in eastern time zone when they announced it was midnight overhead on our flight, and then we were still in the air now over central time zone when their year turned over.

And we welcomed in 2024 in mountain time zone at the baggage claim. Another beautiful end to another beautiful year.