2024 was the biggest roller coaster ride of emotions for Heather and I.  It was a fun start, as we invited all our new neighbors over to see the new year in with us, to get to know everyone.  We had so much fun partying way into the wee hours.

 

Sadly, while we started on a high note, two weeks later Heather's mom, Sharon, passed away.  She had been battling melanoma for a couple of years, and passed away peacefully while napping in her chair.  She leaves behind a huge hole in our hearts.

 

Heather began a new job in March, as Training Manager for Sanitas in Louisville.  It was a great experience, and she got to travel to many cities, mostly on the east coast, which she had not yet explored.  She even trained a class for a week in Barbados!  However, she found herself traveling 50% of her time, plus she had a daily roundtrip of two hours to the office, so last week she handed in her notice and is looking for a new opportunity more local and with less travel.

 

I was excited to sell my Mustang after 7 years, and buy the car of my dreams for many years.  A 2017 Convertible Camaro.  After weeks of searching, one showed up in Tampa, Florida, and by coincidence I happened to be traveling there for work.  This was the perfect opportunity to get a one-way ticket, have Chris fly out to join me, and then we drove home through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas until we reached Colorado.  Together we had so much fun, and a lot of laughs!

 

Another low followed, as we had to say goodbye to our beautiful 15-year-old cat Gracie.  After having lost Coco and Gracie, as much as we love dogs and cats, we doubt we could get another, it's just too sad.

 

In September I traveled for work to India.  This was my third visit there, and I just love the place.  I stayed at Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, and of course the food was simply amazing!

 

Shortly after returning, I took a treadmill stress-test and heart scan, and discovered that I have coronary artery disease.  Heather and I joined a gym in January, and I noticed that while my weight training was improving, my cardio exercises weren't, with high heart rate, so I asked my doctor if I could get tested.  I'm so glad that I found out early though, and so with a complete change in diet, medication and annual checkups, my risk of heart attack is greatly reduced. 

 

Halloween this year was fantastic!  We went with Matt, Brittany, Isla and... our wonderful new grand-daughter Emry!!!  Isla is now two and a half, and so this was the first year that she really understood what was going on and wow she was so excited trick or treating!  We all dressed up as characters from Sleeping Beauty and had lots of laughs.

 

Matt and Brittany had another year for the books, also a rollercoaster. It started on a high note with the arrival of sweet little Emry Rhae, who joined the family on February 20th. Shortly after, they faced a low when Matt experienced a major layoff at his company. He made the most of an extended paternity leave while beginning the search for a new job. Spending extra time with family turned out to be the best unexpected blessing of the year.

 

Brittany returned to work part-time with a former nanny family, providing after-school care a few days a week. Isla has loved reconnecting with her old buddies, and Emry is loving following the big girls around and enjoys the extra playmates. Matt’s persistence finally paid off—he landed a new job and started his new position this month. While this year brought some incredibly tough challenges, it also brought the biggest blessings.

 

This year has been quite the adventure for Chris and Melissa. At the end of 2023 they decided to quit their jobs and leave the city to move to her family’s farm in southeastern Colorado. The first few months they spent the majority of their time preparing their house to sell. With crazy luck within 24 hours, they had the offer they wanted from the first showing. By May they were all packed up and moved out of the first home that they bought together.

 

After taking some much-needed relaxing time for a few weeks they embarked on the trip of a lifetime. Their first stop was to visit family in England. From there they took a train to the highlands of Scotland then off to Ireland. This whole time Chris braved driving on the left of the small country roads. From there they hopped on a plane to Barcelona to start their trek of mainland Europe. In Europe they enjoyed the beaches of Mallorca, Lisbon, and Santorini.

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They wandered through many historical cities from Amsterdam to Athens and so much more.  They obtained so much historical knowledge from the city of Pompeii and the beauty of the Parthenon. In the middle of it all they danced the night away at the music festival Tomorrowland in Brussels for 3 days straight.

 

They spent two weeks in Italy celebrating their 3rd wedding anniversary in Sorrento, Florence, and Venice with wine and fresh pasta. To end it all they had a change of scenery (and weather) to see the volcanoes and glaciers of Iceland to mark off the top location on Melissa’s bucket list. After spending 2.5 months living out of suitcases visiting 11 different countries via planes, trains, and automobiles they headed home.

 

The day after returning they moved into their new home in Swink, CO. Since then, they have been cleaning up the property and renovating the house to make it their forever home. Melissa was able to return to her job where she now works from home. In October the family visited for a weekend to celebrate Chris’ 30th birthday. Chris has been preparing the shop on the property to start his own mechanic business. Every morning, they enjoy waking up with a cup of coffee to their 2 horses, 3 donkeys, and 1 alpaca.

 

Nicole and Sam celebrated Sam’s 30th birthday with friends in Nashville.  They also got a third German Shepherd in July, named Caddie, and she's the perfect edition to the pack!  Sam was excited to buy a brand new 2025 Toyota Tundra recently.  Another highlight of their year was when they went on an Alaskan Cruise with Sam’s family in August, enjoying every minute of it.

 

Kaitlyn’s year started with many challenges, but she certainly persevered, and moved into a lovely new one -bedroom apartment in downtown Parker.  Soon after, she found and started a new job with Radiology Imaging Associates as an assistant in Revenue Cycle Management Data Analysis.  She started this new role in August and has been loving it since. She is excited to see where her journey takes her next in the new year!

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Well, that wraps up 2024... Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and new year. Love to you all <3

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus   [1 Thessalonians 5:16]