Sunday, January 11, 2015

2014 Adventures


2014 Adventures
Well, you must not have had your fill of holiday letters/family chronicles because here you are reading yet another!  I noticed how many of the letters that have come from family and friends seem to have a theme.  Some are all about beginnings (babies, jobs, seasons of life) others about endings (both happy and sad) still others show a year of transitions.  I think if I had to choose a theme for this past year it would be “continuing.”  Here are how our adventures are continuing –

We continue to love living in Colorado and camp and hike in the Rockies as often as we can.
 

We continue to enjoy living closer to my parents and grandmother.

We continue to participate in programs, services, events at our church.

We continue to enjoy getting together with our neighbors.

 We continue to revel in the good times and learn from the tough times.

The kids continue to thrive in their school. 

David (13) continues his love for music.  He enjoyed his role as Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls (Jr) at his middle school.  He is in band and choir at school and is at the piano every chance he gets. 

Micah (10) continues to love to build . . . anything!  He is really into all things penguin, too.  His sense of humor continues to keep us laughing.

Joel’s (10) continues to be a ready camper – the more rustic, the better!  He continues to be an intuitive and determined young man.

Ben (8) continues to be a well-rounded, happy guy.  He played baseball this spring and is looking forward to his rock climbing class this January.  

Catherine (8) continues to love creatures in all shapes and sizes.  She treasures her new pets – 2 fancy mice!  Her dream at the moment is to be a veterinarian. 

Todd continues his work as a bookkeeper.  A highlight of his year was his fall hunt – 8 days in the Rockies with venison in the freezer to show for it.

I continue to enjoy my online work - teaching with International Virtual Learning Academy and writing for Global Student Network.  I love having a job that lets me interact with families all around the world right from home.

While “continuing” describes most of our year, we did have some adventures in the truer sense of the word this past summer.
In April, I flew to Nevada (yes, all by myself!) for the weekend to meet my wonderful bosses.  I was wowed by the beauty of the desert!



 
 

In July the kids and I drove to NY, visiting family along the way.  After some ocean side camping with good friends, we picked up Todd from the airport and headed to Camp Taconic where we camped, visited with good friends, and relived some of our favorite memories from our time there. 


Pennsylvania was the next stop!  There the order of business was lots of games, a visit to Knoebel’s and precious time with family.  We then drove home together. 

 

In August, we welcomed Emmanuelle to our home for 3 weeks.  Emmanuelle is from France.  Her father was our exchange student when I was in high school!  Emmanuelle fit right in with the family and we had a great time giving her a taste of American life including camping in the Rockies and a rodeo.  We’re already looking forward to her next visit.
In December, Todd and I celebrated 20 years of marriage - how's that for an adventure??!!


















While no doubt your ornaments are boxed and put away and likely this is the last holiday greetings you may read, we pray all your adventures of 2015 are replete with the hope, peace, and joy of Christmas. 

And if you’re making any travel plans for the New Year, be sure to consider Colorado – we’d love to have you!

Blessings,
The Hoffmans

 
The last harvest from our garden. :)