2018 in Review

As much as Kris has enjoyed designing and printing cards every year, the process seems to start later and later. So this year we're salvaging an update but just doing it online, which in the past has been our archive. (which we encourage you to enjoy, by the way -- this goes back to 2006!)

This year's update starts with Gus, who turned one year old this January. He continues to be incredibly social and affectionate, wanting to be with us every moment. And he seems to love winter more than any other season, so some of our favorite Gus photos include him being in snowy situations.

If there's one word that summarizes the year for the human members of our family, it's travel. We were particularly blessed to have a number of opportunities to go to some fun and beautiful places. And while we have always prioritized our budget for great experiences over accumulating more things, this year was particularly unusual for the amount of travel that we did. 2018 began with a family trip to the Dominican Republican for spring break, though technically it was just 5/6ths of our family as Sarah's spring break at ASU did not align with the Minneapolis Public Schools calendar. (sorry Sarah!)

The most important event of the year was Grace's graduation from Southwest High School. Now that half of the girls are done with high school, we're bewildered by how quickly time flies! Grace finished high school with a strong GPA and four successful soccer seasons, and was excited to start college in Chicago.

Another big event this year was Kris's cousin's Peter getting married. Peter and Blair's outdoor wedding was a perfect summer event nearby in beautiful Scandia, MN, and we were fortunate to get a good photo of us as a bonus!

The second big trip of the year was Emma's soccer team participating in an international soccer tournament in Sweden. The three of us went, and it was a thrill to watch plus do a lot of sightseeing in between games.  Katie and Kris also left the U.S. early to travel to Denmark and Finland first, where we spent a few days visiting our friends Vesa and Eveliina Loikas and their two lovely daughters Veera and Alina before our arrival in Sweden.

A somewhat less flattering yet more exciting photo of us is above, after we ran the Twin Cities 10 Mile in October. We posted a respectable time and had a good time running together. Stay tuned as we ponder doing other races together in the future!

After going to the Dominican Republic and Sweden (plus Phoenix, Indianapolis, and Las Vegas for soccer tournaments), Emma had a third international trip: French Polynesia. She reached the high school age milestone in our family where you get to pick a place anywhere in the world to travel, and Katie and Kris take turns accompanying. So Emma chose French Polynesia, and the trip is half over as of today. The photo above was taken on Mo'orea, with Mt. Rotui in the background.

It was a great privilege to visit these places and spend time together. We hope that your 2018 was blessed as well, as we prepare for a new year in 2019.