Happy New Year! Our transition from 2017 to 2018 was marked by badly printed holiday cards, necessitating having to reorder them. But other than that, it was a great year and pleasant holiday season for us. Here are some of our highlights!
Sarah (20) is in her junior year at Arizona State University, and because this news organization does not have a correspondent based in Phoenix, we do not know a ton of detail about what she is doing (perhaps she likes it that way). What we do know is that she had a fantastic season playing soccer, and Kris was fortunate to travel to see her play in a tournament in Boulder, CO, in October. As for academics, she is in ASU's honors college with a pre-med focus, and recently started an internship with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. She is also pursuing a research opportunity on campus and, in the little free time she has, works at a climbing gym.
Grace (17) is in her senior year at Southwest High School. It's hard to believe that we will have two daughters in college this fall! She has been accepted to 5 schools so far (Univ. of Minn., Univ. of Iowa, Univ. of Wisc. Eau Claire, Loyola University, and SUNY Stony Brook), and we're waiting to hear from a few others before the final round of research and decision making takes place. Meanwhile, Grace played her final season of high school soccer last fall and has been very busy with her job at The Waters on 50th, a senior living facility in Minneapolis where she is a server and best friend of numerous residents.
Emma (14) is a freshman at Southwest and in the midst of her second ski season with the Minneapolis Alpine Ski Team. This means a busy schedule of meets starting in late December through mid-February, plus practice nearly every day that they aren't racing. It's an intense program, but it is incredibly fun and the results of the training are impressive. Emma is already starting to ski like a pro, and among all of the 9-12 graders is finishing consistently in the middle of the pack. Before the ski season, Emma also played soccer for Southwest, first on the JV team but was soon promoted to varsity (one of only two freshman). It was a special soccer season for us to see Grace and Emma play on the same field together.
Anne (11) started middle school at Anthony, the last Layon girl to enter its hallowed halls. She has many new friends, so things seem to be going very well for her in the social department. Academically, her favorite class is language studies, where her school has all 6th graders take 3 months of Spanish, 3 months of French, and 3 months of Japanese. It's a wonderful way to expose children to languages and cultures, and after 6th grade they choose a language to focus on for the next two years. Anne was also busy with soccer most of the year, with the highlight being a tournament win in July at the USA Cup here in the Twin Cities.
Katie (47) continues to work in urgent care for a Park Nicollet clinic in Minnetonka. She is starting to transition into clinic administration, managing the schedule for her location but still working quite a few hours in the clinic caring for patients. When she isn't at work, she is busy adopting dogs! Well, one dog, at least: Katie instigated the adoption of our new golden doodle, Gus, in March. Having a puppy has been an absolute thrill and joy, and Gus couldn't have a more pleasant personality and spirit. He is the definition of fun, full of love and energy (sometimes too much). But now that he's almost 1 year old, we see him starting to mellow... every so slightly... into a more even-tempered dog.
Kris (46) is in his 4th year at Honeywell, working as a user experience researcher and designer for building management software. In practical terms this means helping contractors, engineers, and building owners operate their buildings effectively. The software interfaces that Kris designs are installed in facilities around the world, from commercial buildings to skyscrapers and factories. The work continues to be interesting and he usually travels once a month, either to Richmond, VA (where the subsidiary that he works for is located) or to customer and tradeshow locations. When he isn't working, he's likely at a soccer field, running or cycling around Minneapolis, cooking, or shopping for records to play on his new turntable.
Time continues to fly by, often faster than we would like. And the world (and our country, in particular) seemed to be more angry and intolerant last year — definitely not a good thing. But despite this, we feel very fortunate… fortunate to have friends, family, health, and other resources that help our family live life to the fullest. So we try not to let foolish leaders and grim headlines steal the joy from our lives, and we hope you do the same. Best wishes for a peaceful 2018 — may we all find many good things to cherish and celebrate.
(and for more photos, visit Kris's Instagram stream)
Time continues to fly by, often faster than we would like. And the world (and our country, in particular) seemed to be more angry and intolerant last year — definitely not a good thing. But despite this, we feel very fortunate… fortunate to have friends, family, health, and other resources that help our family live life to the fullest. So we try not to let foolish leaders and grim headlines steal the joy from our lives, and we hope you do the same. Best wishes for a peaceful 2018 — may we all find many good things to cherish and celebrate.
(and for more photos, visit Kris's Instagram stream)
