Holiday Season 2025 recap in photos

2025 brought another full, busy, beautiful and fun holiday season filled with many of our favorite traditions and wonderful times together.  And it also brought a little bit of stress with horrible flooding, Nana recovering from knee surgery, etc.  It certainly was a memorable year!  Here were some of the highlights:

Thanksgiving

Christmas Tree

One of my most favorite photos of these two ever!

Visiting Santa

Historic Snoqualmie Flooding

Cameron's school right after I picked him up!

Garden D'Lights with Gramma & Grampa

Early Christmas with the cousins

Nutcracker

Santa Train

Cookie making with Nana & Pops

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

  

                    

Vancouver

We loved our winter break trip to Vancouver, BC a couple years ago so much that we decided to do it again!  We did a lot of the same stuff as the last trip with also a couple new activities and a new place to stay--the Fairmont!  It was a great little getaway--such a fun city!

And that's a wrap 2025!  Thanks for being a pretty good year!

Ready for 2026!!

Cameron's 11th Birthday

Cameron is 11!  We are fully now into the tween and teen years in our household. It's been tricky at times, but mostly it's just so fun to watch these boys grow up, change, learn about themselves and become more of who God created them to be. 

We had a super fun celebration with all of Cam's closest friends at the Sky Zone trampoline park.  It was the perfect place to take a large group of active 5th graders. They had tons of trampolines, foam pits, this awesome slide that launched you into a foam pit, things to jump off of or areas to battle someone and throw them into a foam pit, etc. The kids played hard for an hour and then we had a pizza lunch. 

Cam's friends who came were Vander, Devin, Jackson, Warner, Keegan, Ellis, Torin, Isabella, Willa and Liam. Such a fun group!  

The big gift this year was an electric scooter that we gave to Cam earlier in the summer so he could enjoy it and ride around with friends all over Snoqualmie. 

Here are the aspects about Cam we want to remember from this age:

• Cameron is a really good friend. He has always had a pretty easy time making friends and he is close friend with a variety of people. He of course has his closest friends which would be Vander, Liam, and Jackson probably, but he is able to move between groups and hang out with multiple people.  Social stuff is getting trickier this year--you can see the middle school stuff start to creep in even early in 5th grade. So we're navigating that with him and trying to teach him how to navigate when friends are hurtful or clique-ish. But for the most part he has a really fun group of friends who hang out all over the Ridge and are always up for some adventure
• Cameron still continues to amaze us with his artistic skills. This year he's been very into drawing. He can look at a picture and replicate it almost perfectly or even better than the original. He draws lots of different subjects--cartoon characters, scary creatures, cars, animals, scenes, etc. And he'll stay up in his room for hours just drawing--it really is his happy place. He still likes to watercolor too and then this year he's gotten into building little models of houses/stores. It's so amazing to watch his creativity come alive in so many ways. 
• His soccer skills have grown a lot this year and he's even been asked to play on the Green team--the top team in his age group as a guest player in multiple games. Those more challenging games have really helped him improve his ball handling skills and he's much more aggressive and tough when going up against opponents.  And he's one of the younger ones on the team so he's really had to learn how to hold his own. Next year the soccer league shifts to being by grade level instead of year you're born so Cameron won't play with most of the boys he plays with now. But we're excited to see where he ends up and how he continues to grow in the sport. 
• Cameron really used to struggle with managing his big emotions and this year we've seen so much growth and progress in that area. We took him to see a counselor a couple times last summer which he really enjoyed and she was helpful for giving him some language and imagery to describe what he experiences when his emotions are high. We definitely see less major breakdowns or him struggling to control himself. Probably some of that is to do with age, but also I think Cameron has learned some good coping skills to help him. 
• Some of Cameron's favorite activities right now are: playing Lucky Rot on Fortnite with friends, playing Roblox and Rocket League video games, playing basketball or football outside, riding his e-scooter around Snoqualmie with friends, drawing or painting, playing with Ollie, watching shows like Stranger Things, doing Facetime with friends on his iPad, and reading funny mystery novels. 
• His 5th grade experience has been a little tougher than his 4th grade experience. His teacher, Ms. Weiss (who Nathan also had) has been a little more strict and tougher on the class. Cameron gets along well with Ms. Weiss but I think there's a lot of tension in the class and misbehaving and she gets grumpy often. I think she looks to Cameron to be a leader, but sometimes it's hard when a lot of the kids are struggling to connect or get along with Ms. Weiss. Cameron makes the most of it, but I wish it was a little more fun for his last year at elementary. Ms. Gjurasic from last year set a high bar!
• Cam is a fashionista much like his brother. In fact he's always sneaking into his brothers clothes hand-me-downs to get new sweatshirts or shoes even if they're too big for him. He loves to put outfits together and be intentional about looking cool. This year he also got his first cologne too! 
• Cameron is still our sweet boy with such a tender heart. He snuggles with us and is very caring and sensitive. If we get in a disagreement we are both quick to say sorry because it just doesn't feel right to not be in a good place with each other. I really enjoy our times in the morning together. We have great 1:1 time after Nathan and James have left for the day. We eat/make breakfast together, practice spelling words, play with Ollie and just talk about how life is going. Conversations before bed are always so special with Cameron as well. Just love those little connection times with him and getting to see more into his heart and mind. I hope his sensitive, empathetic personality always stays a part of him. 

So grateful for 11 years with amazing and special Cameron!

Summer 2025 Highlights

 I always enjoy doing the summer look back posts--always nice to think back to one of my most favorite times of the year with all the fun and special memories.  This summer wasn't as busy as last summer with as many trips, but there was still a lot going on and it was a good summer.  

The part I liked the best was this was the first summer the boys were mostly home, had the least amount of camps or pre-planned activities, and were old enough to have a lot more independence. And it was so fun watching them be true summer kids--riding everywhere on their bikes or e-scooters, exploring the Ridge and old Snoqualmie with friends to get Starbucks, go to the park, ride around or meet up with other friends, play at friends' houses, play soccer or football, set up lemonade stands, go to friends' pools, have sleepovers, etc. It reminded me of my summers with less screen time and tons of time outside wandering with my parents barely knowing where I was. 

New Roof

The first major event of the summer was we got a new roof for our house! I sadly didn't get any photos because it mostly looks similar to how our house looked before. But the roof is much more quality. That was a project hanging over our heads for awhile so we were VERY happy to get it accomplished.

Hiking

Right after school ended the boys and I kicked off summer with a fun hike to Rattlesnake Ledge. It was the first major hike the boys had done and they loved it!

Camping with Spauldings and Antis'

Our first major trip of the summer was the annual camping trip with Spauldings and Antis' to Lake Kachess.  It was a pretty warm weekend considering it was early July--summer showed up right away in July this year. We had a fun weekend of playing in the lake (although sadly it was a pretty low level this year), playing with Ollie and Ivy, making food, sitting around the campfire, playing cornhole, going for walks, paddleboarding, playing games, and enjoying the forest.

Young Life Camp

As I mentioned in the prior post, Nate went to his first overnight camp this summer!  He went with the Snoqualmie Young Life group to Washington Family Camp Creekside in Antelope, OR. And had the TIME OF HIS LIFE!  He went with some buddies from school and they had tons of fun playing in the incredible pool, playing games, having good cabin discussions, participating in worship time, wandering the camp, meeting friends from other schools, etc. I grew up going to Young Life Camp so I was soo happy Nate finally got to experience it!

Soccer Tournaments

I didn't realize but looking back we were at a soccer tournament pretty much every weekend in July! They were fun, but whew! Definitely made for busy weekends!

Kayaking

One of my favorite days in the summer was when James and I took the day off work and took the boys kayaking in Lake Union. We rented kayaks from Agua Verde and rode on Lake Union towards Downtown Seattle.  It was a gorgeous day. And since it was Seafair weekend we also got to watch the Blue Angels do their show above us. Then we stayed and had a yummy Mexican food dinner at Agua Verde. James and I did that activity a few times when we were dating and when we lived in Seattle so it was really fun to experience and enjoy it with our boys finally.  Sadly no photos--I was too busy being present.  :)

Idaho with Friends

Our cherished summer trip to Idaho with friends didn't disappoint!  We joined the Faders and Ridges at the Stevenson's property again in Priest River. This year we had more storms and rain than before, but we didn't let that stop us--we just made the best of it. We played in the water, us girls had a nice long walk day and also a day in Sandpoint this year which was fun.  One night we all went into town for dinner to celebrate all the friends birthdays (James, Leslie, Brie, Brandon and Carter all have birthdays around the same time in August--Brandon, Brie and James are all on the same day!).  This year we added on an extra night which was a special treat and helped make the trip not feel so short.  Such a magical place for us!

Lumineers Concert

We took the boys to their first major concert!  Technically SYML was their first concert back in Fall 2024, but this concert was their first large concert.  We saw the fun band Lumineers play at T-Mobile Park. And we found a new favorite band--The Head and the Heart who opened for them. It was fun to be in an outside venue on a beautiful August evening and we had great time as a family seeing one of our favorite bands.  

Whew!  Such a fun summer and it totally flew by as it always does. Time is so fleeting with these amazing kiddos so we're just soaking it up as much as we can!  Looking forward to seeing what Summer 2026 has in store for us!

Nathan's 13th Birthday

Well it's official!  We have a TEENAGER in the household. I can barely even believe I just wrote that word and that we are at the teenager stage! Crazy how time flies and also please send help!  LOL!

To celebrate his birthday, Nathan had a very sweet, simple ask. He wanted to spend a day in Seattle just the four of us going to Pike Place Market, visiting the new waterfront, and eating dinner at The Pink Door. So that's what we did!  It was a wonderful day--so much fun to just be present with each other, wander around one of our favorite Seattle landmarks, enjoy a very yummy dinner, and explore the gorgeous new Seattle Waterfront area. It was a lovely day.

Then the following week we had a celebration BBQ with the whole family.  At one point we went around and everyone spoke to Nate about the character or personality aspects they love most about him. We wanted to send him into his teenage years feeling confident and being reminded about the wonderful aspects that make Nate the unique person he is. It was a really special evening. 

Here are the aspects and memories about Nate at 13 that we don't want to forget:

• Nate has an insatiable appetite and love for history and maps. He loves to especially read about history (really loves the Nathan Hale graphic novel history book series). And all the time we catch him looking at maps on his phone--he loves to learn about places, the geography of areas, and what exists in various towns. It's fun to see him so fascinated by these things.
• Nate also still loves art and drawing. He'll spend hours on the weekends drawing maps especially. He also loves to create and design logos for various sports leagues that he makes up. He's always making up pretend leagues for minor league lacrosse, soccer and baseball.  Then he researches the city where the team is from and creates logos related to something the town is known for. It's very fun to see what he comes up with!  He has pages and pages of logos. Maybe someday he'll be a graphic designer??
• Right now Nate's major sports are soccer (he's doing Cascade FC soccer all year) and skiing. This year he made the A team for his age group in soccer! They've had a tough season, but he's doing great and really developing in his skills. He also loves skiing. Last winter he did ski bus for the first time and got to ski with his friends every week. That helped him to up his skills so much! When we went as a family he blew by us and was waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain every run! He really bonded with his friends last winter on ski bus which was so great for him. He still LOVES sports so much and is constantly reading his Sports Illustrated magazines or looking at ESPN. He remembers players and stats like no one else I know. 
• Friend and social life has been a bit up and down all through middle school. And this past year hasn't been any different. Nate has a couple solid, consistent friends like Patrick, Carsen, and Colin. There is a separate group of boys and some girls that I think Nate considers to be the "popular" people that are kind of fickle.  Sometimes they include him and other times he's left out. So that's been tough and we've had a lot of conversations about what good, true friendship looks like. I think it's starting to click but I also think he still wants to be part of the "popular" crowd. So he's still trying to navigate all those dynamics. Our goal is to create a home that feels comforting and be a place where he can just truly be himself and take a break from going out and facing the tricky world of middle schoolers every day.
• One bright spot with friends this past summer was Nate went to Young Life camp for the first time with a group of guy friends from school.  That was an incredible experience for him and he definitely grew closer with those guy friends. But that group of guys have been friends since elementary school so it's a hard group to really be fully accepted into.  Still he had a really great camp experience with them. And it also helped him to grow in his faith a lot more. This was his first overnight camp experience and it was amazing for him! It took place at Washington Family Camp Creekside in OR and I think it'll be an experience he will never forget. Hoping he can go again next year!
• Speaking of growing in his faith, Nathan decided to get baptized this past January at our church. He was the only person to sign up to get baptized that Sunday morning so it was extra special. Both sets of grandparents and Jacky and Johnathin were there to support him. It was a really emotional and special moment and we were so proud of and excited for him. He made the decision all on his own and went to the preparation meeting with our youth pastor and everything. Such a major life milestone!
• Nathan's big gift for his 13th birthday was he finally got a cell phone! He had been begging us for a long time and was so excited to get a phone of his own. So far he's been doing pretty well with it and we're daily navigating how to allow him more freedom with appropriate boundaries. It's quite the challenge that we never had to deal with when we were kids so often we feel out of our league. As most parents do I'm sure. We'll see how it progresses....
• Nate still loves fashion and is very thoughtful about putting together trendy outfits and figuring out his own style. His hair is also a work of art. Great amount of fluffy bangs which is the style with boys these days. 
• He also has a very wide range of music tastes thanks to the influence of his parents and his grandparents. He loves rap, country, folk, classical,  and all the classic bands from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. 
• One thing we love is that Nate and Cam still have a special bond. They fight a lot of course as brothers, but they also still enjoy spending time together. One thing they love to do is make up mini sports games of either soccer or football in the living room. Those games keep them occupied for hours! Remind me of when they were little boys wrestling in the living room after dinner. 
• Finally even though Nate is officially a teenager, he still snuggles and gives us hugs. He's not afraid to give kisses on the lips too. I try to be really mindful of hugging him a lot because I think it's super needed in this time of life. Adolescent years are tough and I just want him to constantly be reminded that we're on his side and cheering for him. And also here to hold him accountable and help him build strong character. I'm grateful that James is affectionate because it's made the boys affectionate and I hope they keep that aspect as they move through adolescence and into adulthood.

Happy happy 13th Birthday Nathan!!  We love you soooo much!

See the great fluffy hair?  :)

Ollie is 2!

 

Ollie is now 2 years old!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown. So I guess officially he is no longer considered a puppy.  But he will always be our sweet puppy in our eyes.  Unfortunately we were gone in Hawaii for his birthday, but Lizz our trainer and her team did a great job celebrating him and making him feel special.  He even got a special doggie cupcake for a treat.  Plus he was already at the farm (aka Dog Heaven) so he had a great birthday.  

Here are some things about Ollie right now that we don't want to forget:

• He still loves his stick. The very same stick we started giving him early on as a puppy. He still loves to cuddle up with us on the couch and have us hold his stick while he chews on it. Still one of his favorite pastimes.
• James and Ollie have full on conversations with each other each day when James gets home from work. James says "tell me" multiple times and Ollie actually "talks" to him through noises and grunts to tell him about his day LOL
• He loves to go for walks and sniff a lot. He especially likes going on the trail behind our house--lots of good smells back there
• Every morning he has soaked dog food with cheese sprinkled on top. At night he has soaked dog food with a couple scoops of Fresh Pet as a topper
• He goes to "camp" at the farm in Fall City twice a week and loves it....and is absolutely exhausted for the rest of the day after he gets home. There is another Cavalier that goes to the farm named Maui and they are buds. Sometimes Ollie gets to go into the large meadow field at camp and he is especially tired after that. 
• Ollie is still a pretty good water dog. He'll get into a body of water and swim around for awhile He doesn't like to be in the water for a long time, but he'll do a pretty good swim--especially if people are in the water with him to help.  He also likes baths. He gets the zoomies after he gets wet so try and dry off
• At night Ollie likes to come up with us and lay on Cam's bed while we're helping the boys with the bedtime routine. He'll even sleep on Cameron's bed with Cam for awhile, but eventually gets off and wants to go in his own crate
• We can now leave him in the house for a longer period of time. He's really chill usually and just curls up on his spot on the couch.
• He definitely barks more now which we're trying to nip in the bud. He mostly barks when other dogs walk by the front of the house--he gets very protective. We're working a lot on being calm when seeing other dogs on our walks and he's gotten much better at that.
• Ollie loves to play fetch with the ball and with any tug of war toy
• Ollie loves to lay in the sunshine--either on the desk or as it's streaming through the window.
• We brush Ollie about every other day and even more when he's shedding. He gets groomed every 2 months. A mobile groomer comes to our house to do the service.
• Ollie has now had to go to the emergency vet 3 times because he's ingested either my sock or multiple pieces of my underwear he chewed up. Luckily each time we got him there early enough for them to give him meds to vomit. But still every time was a scary situation. That resource guarding just doesn't want to go away....even with age
• Our next door neighbor has a Bernese Mountain Dog named Maggie. Maggie and Ollie are buddies because they go to camp together. Sometimes Maggie is in her backyard and when I'm taking Ollie for a walk he always wants to go say hi to Maggie if she's outside.  They touch noses under the fence gate and it's so cute.  
• Ollie has the most calm, sweet demeanor. He is the happiest when he is with us and serving as our companion. While I work he's close by laying on the carpet taking a nap or just chilling out. If we're watching TV or a movie he's right on the couch with us snuggling. He is such a snugglebug and we love it!

Ollie is such the joy of our family. We don't know what we ever did without him. Love you Ollie and Happy Birthday!