Happy New Year!

 Wow!  2026 is here!!!!  We cheered in the New Year late last night with some of our best friends!  Eating sushi and drinking Ruthies sweet tea along with a bundt cake sliced at midnight, after watching the ball drop in New York on TV ... it's a great start to 2026!  The house fire alarm only went off just a bit from the sparkling candles.

The free, wild, mountain tree is drying up fast!  Ashlyn and I took off all the ornaments and lights and now we need Mike to haul it back outside for me!

Linda and I still meet at the park for daily walks.  It's been challenging to meet over the busy holidays and we are taking a break while the kids are off of school but she texted me on Friday and said she needs out of the house and needs a walk!  We meet at the park and it felt amazing!  30 degrees with a real feel of 7 degrees but we walked and chatted and got some vitamin D on our winter faces!

Matthew smoked a huge rack of ribs on his smoker and brought it over on Wednesday night.  Some of the kids are still under the weather and fighting off colds but we ate some pork and relaxed!  So good!

I made some goals to read books in 2025!  I'm proud of the books I got read!  I began with the book Atomic Habits and went from there!  It was a great read for the New Year and all these books were fun, inspiring and learning books for me!

And now we go from the old planner to a brand new one!!!  So much of our lives get recorded on these pages and it's how I can keep a busy schedule organized!  I would be lost without this kind of a system!

Mike cut up the tree and hauled it out!  He swept up so many pine needles and it's putting our brand new vac system to the test!!!!  

I am going to use the Bible Recap bible reading plan again in 2026.  I've done this for I think five years now and I don't think I'll ever stop!  I love reading through the entire Bible, in one year, in chronological order!  After reading scripture, I then listen to a recap of what I just read!  It's great!

And a few years ago, I started having a word of the year.  This is a word that I would think about as the year went along!  Last year, it was Seek Discomfort.  I saw it on a sweatshirt that Nata wears and I it took a lot for me to just write out these words on my calendar because I DO NOT LIKE DISCOMFORT!  I'm the queen of normal!  I don't like risk!  It's not in my DNA but I knew it would bring out some courage in me!  Digging through emotions that I didn't like about myself and praying through self motives and letting God deal with my religious beliefs all brought discomfort and growth!

When reading 1,2,3 John just the other day, the words LOVE DEEPLY came to my mind.  Or maybe just the word LOVE.  These verses are all full of love commands and you should read it!  I'm convinced that if I would love like Jesus loves, my worries would be gone.  My attitude would adjust!  My selfish motives and many expectations would improve!  I'm gonna try to make this my word for 2026!

New Years Day we ate pork and sauerkraut with Matt and Lena and our children!  With a heaping scoop of mashed potatoes and a side of brussle sprouts ... it was delicious!

Our house is still glowing at night.  The New Year is here and the lights will be taken down soon!

We met Hadassah and Gunnar at Fashion Cents as the kids and I went through our clothes and took some to sell.  We scooted up to Strasburg Creamery to sample their sauerkraut ice cream but decided to get a scoop of snickers!  🤣 Just don't like that flavor of ice cream.  Then we got some food at Speckled Hen and came back home!  I'm so glad Gunnar is feeling much better and his cold/cough is well!

We still have a few more days of Christmas break but it is time for the kids to get back to their studies and off to a new start of learning!

After Christmas!

 Well, Christmas is over.  All that gift buying and gift wrapping is over.  All the menu planning is finished.  All the gatherings are now cleaned up.  We are left with many new gifts, new memories and a bare Christmas tree that needs to be hauled back outside.

We scooted to the cabin for the weekend and it was an ice storm there.  Freezing weather and all ice!

We got there Friday evening and threw in pizza and wings into the oven.  We played Code Names and relaxed!  I was just so ready to relax and not be pressured to cook to clean or do anything.  This was a nice break from all of that!

We came home Sunday and watched football.  The Petersheim's are under the weather but Matt and Daisy came over for awhile.  

I took one more photo of our Christmas tree before we take it down.  I really liked this free mountain tree and all the twinkling lights and ornaments and bows made it so festive and a favorite!

Ashlyn helped me take off all the ornaments and lights and now Mike needs to haul it back outside.

Monday night football had us snuggling on the couch as a family and we saw an iHop commercial and I jumped up and said let's make pancakes!  So we did and they were good!  Except, during the night, Austin came over to our room and said his belly doesn't feel good and feels like he could throw up.  Right then and there, at 2:30 AM, he threw up.  We got all cleaned up in the middle of the night and Austin laid on the couch and I was on the other couch beside him.  He said, "That pancake just needed to come out."  He woke up feeling fine and had a good day!

The kids are off school and it's time to clean up pine needles and throw out the greens!  The upstairs and basement got a good sweeping today and it feels refreshing!  When Linda texted and asked if I want to meet her at the park and walk, I said YES!  Ashlyn and I went out and it felt so good to get fresh air and clear my head!  It's 30 degrees but the real feel is 7.  So cold!  It's not even January yet and the plants are pushing dirt!

2025 is coming to a close.  The New Year will be here soon!  

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We went to a Christmas Eve service and then got sushi afterwards!

The kids opened up their stocking stuffers!

The tree has a lot of gifts to be given on Christmas Day!

The table is set and I can't wait for the family to come!

Then we gave gifts!

Matt and Daisy brought the bean game and we learned how to play it.  The Chiefs lost.  The night was relaxing and fun!  Jere and Gunnar were under the weather though.  Get well!

It was past midnight and the house was quiet again.  All the gifts given.

Jesus was born to save us from our sins!  

Thank you Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with family!

 We gathered on Sunday morning with our church family!

The children had a program and it was beautiful!

The Saturday before Christmas, the Riehl's gathered at my parents farm!  We had a brunch and good food all day long!

Everyone got presents!

We walked next door to my brothers house and the guys all sat in the sauna!  Then did a three minute cold plunge.

We had a fun day together!  

Then on Sunday after church, we gathered with the Lapps at Mom's house.  Again we ate great food and more gifts were exchanged!

Christmas is special spending time with family!  Merry Christmas everyone!