Goodbye, 2024...

2024 started with Granny's joyous 90th birthday celebration...and then we went into the month of February, that was riddled with LOSS. G'ma Trudy passed away. Granny got sick and went into the hospital and then moved to a care home. Jon Eccleshall passed away from cancer. Kaitlyn's dad, Marv, passed away. Jen & Ang's dad passed, and Auntie Julie had to put beloved Ollie down. Megan was injured while at HPU, Shane filed for divorce, and Papa Greg had to get a catheter put in. We were shell-shocked in February.

Grace had her wisdom teeth out and got her license! In the fall she got her first job at High Country Orchard in Greenbluff. Josh played 8th grade basketball and Hoopfest, performed at Solo Ensemble, and played soccer for 90+ AND Spokane Sounders. He made the big transition from middle school to high school in the fall...oh, my. Micah got to compete in Math Is Cool as a 4th grader, played lots of soccer, and we took his 10-year-old trip to see SIX Nat'l Parks in a spring break week!

We had some injuries that marked the year: Josh broke his nose playing soccer...and Jeff had the infamous bike curb crash of 2024 in July that led to a root canal and a sore face. Going to Ocean Shores in August was a great way to end the summer...and we made lots of memories at the ocean with Team Bram.

All in all, a year to be remembered. Transitions. Losses. Treasured time together. 

Hug all the people, all the time!

Sending 2024 out...

Christmas break wouldn't be complete without...INDOOR SOCCER. Obviously. And we got more time with Colin & Linnea, getting to hold little Ollie and taking them out to dinner. The Birchill's Dec/Jan birthdays joined forces this year at the end of December...and BUNCO had to happen at the VanSickles! Kalei was the big COLLEGE KID winner! Perfect.

Christmas at the Farm

The farm is always our favorite holiday punctuation mark! This year Jane won MOST EXPRESSIVE PRESENT OPENER in the kids division, and Jeff won the adult's MOST EXPRESSIVE PRESENT OPENER when he opened the Zags Basketball tickets that Kelly gave him. Always good to be around family...

Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day started with NESSA, insisting it was time to open gifts at 6AM! Santa brought backpacks for Europe this coming summer, and we had a great morning of opening gifts and eating breakfast together. Then we were off to the Edencrest Lochheads to EAT and play games together. S&C's friends, Terry & Christy sent us a fun ping pong game to play for prizes--so thoughtful! And Uncle Drew introduced a solo cup/ping pong games that I bet will be returning next year! The kids won money...I am certain they'll want this to become tradition!