What a year it has been!
Thankfully, we still have each other and even with the ups and downs, life is good. For us, 2021 has been the year of travel (I think we used most of my sweetie’s overtime money on our adventures, but it has been SO fun!). Our travel plan is paid for so now it is cheap to go anywhere. We picked up $99 condos for a week on a flash sale that took us to Island Park, ID. They were so inexpensive that we even got Grandpa his own room. It was a working trip for my sweetie, but he did get away one day so we could see Yellowstone. It is amazingly beautiful in the winter and you have to shuttle in.
In March, my sweetie took me to see Lake Superior for my Christmas gift. We spent a week in Door County which is the little peninsula on Lake Michigan. It was so strange to have one side of the peninsula frozen and the other side open water. Then we drove up into Minnesota and followed the border of Lake Superior. Such beautiful country!! I wish we would have known that Sport would be sent to the Bismarck North Dakota mission in October. We would have driven further west into that area.
April and May took us to St. George several times for Curly’s baseball tournaments. It was cold and one tournament was canceled halfway through. But we had so much fun just hanging out in the outdoor hot tub with snow falling all around us.
In July we headed to Scottsdale, AZ in the heat of the summer. It was our last chance to have Sport and Crafty with us before they left on their missions. Crafty was reassigned to the Wichita Kansas Mission, but her original assignment of the Philippines is still possible if COVID is under control. (She loves Kansas though, and is happy to serve the people there.) My sweetie was working in the air-conditioned condo while we played in the outdoor pool. We were fascinated with the cactus plants there, so we stole away for an afternoon and visited Saguaro National Park. Baby Doll’s fourth grade pass was still active, so that weekend on our way home we visited as many national parks as we could. Honestly, it got a little crazy! I had no idea we had that many parks.
Near the end of August, we took the kids on our only truly planned out trip, supposedly another baseball trip, to Cooperstown. Curly’s team pulled out because of COVID issues, but we didn’t want to lose all the money we had already put in, so we made it an amazing family trip. It had many firsts, including an airplane ride for Baby Doll, Curly, and Scout. Lake Champlaign was our favorite, but Cape Cod and Boston with Teach’s family was a close second. Sport stayed home with Grandpa since he was trying to earn some money working at the Tire Pros. He left on his mission in early October; one week of Home MTC, 2 weeks in the Provo MTC, and then a trio in Dickinson, North Dakota. He was just transferred to Aberdeen, South Dakota. So far, he is loving his mission. The people are awesome and the food is familiar. What could be better?
In November, my sweetie took me on our first (and last) cruise. I got incredibly seasick! But that is another story. We visited the Dominican Republic and Bimini in the Bahamas. Afterwards, we spent a few days in Florida seeing the sights, my favorite being the Kennedy Space Center. We also rode on an airboat and saw some gators.
We got back just in time to unpack and repack for Curly’s football tournament in Mesquite. They were his last games in the youth leagues and he had a lot of fun. We also enjoyed bowling together with Bossy’s family. Burrito was playing with his team as well, so we stayed in the same hotel and watched games for both boys. So much fun being together!!
Last one, I promise. It was also a working trip for my sweetie, but on Black Friday we took off for Steamboat Springs, CO. It was another flash sale and we have a hard time resisting such a great deal. Grandpa went with us too. We had car trouble and it was difficult to get home. An amazing bishop we had only met for about 2 minutes on Sunday took great care of us and had his friends replace our broken water pump so we could get back in time to host our ward Christmas party. We are so thankful for miracles and good people in our lives.
I hope you had an amazing year as well.
With much love,
Sandy
1 comment:
I loved reading your family update Christmas letter. I did enjoy following many of your trips. You had some fantastic ones. I don't know how you get such good deals. I love that you can do it.
I love that you have two had trips together, which is the best. You do have a fun and active family.
Having two missionaries out at once, will bring the blessings.
Sending hugs your way!
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