We have welcomed 2020 with lots of goals and have filled the calendar with hiking and camping trips, but let's look back on 2019 and reflect.
We started off the year with James's 4th Birthday, it was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed and his day was filled with lots of family!
He enjoys playing with Lego's and eating candy.
Heather celebrated her 26th birthday in March, alone with spending lots of time with family on St Patrick's Day.
Olivia turned 3 in April and had a blast at her jungle party. She enjoys all things to do with drawing, she will easily make her way through a large stack of paper, each picture is unique and has a lot of thought put into them.
May brought on the hardest trial for Heather as she prepared for the birth of their 3rd daughter, Heather spent a lot of time on bed rest, in and out of the hospital, and relaying on close friends and family for everyday simple tasks.
Mandianne was born on May 23rd, she is healthy and has the same energy as her older brother James. She started crawling right after she turned 6 months and finds lots of joy in climbing on people when they are lying on the floor. She enjoys the small amount of table food she can have and loves to be held by her mommy.
Matthew and Heather celebrated 6 years of marriage in August along with Abigail's 2nd birthday and Matthew's 30th birthday.
Abigail loves anything soft and fluffy, she loves dogs and talks a lot. She is very short compared to her siblings, but makes up for it with her personality. She follows close behind her older sibling in everything and her favorite food is cheese.
Matthew and James had the opportunity to go hunting together, which was more like camping with lots of hiking. Olivia is excited to go out with Matthew next year.
Matthew was able to bag 2 Antelope and Heather was able to go on the hunting adventure with him.
The kids had a blast trick-or-treating in 40°, they enjoyed buying gifts for each other, and spending lots of time making Christmas crafts.
We made our annual trip to Hardware Ranch, it is run by DWR and is a safe haven for Elk during the winter, they have a field set up for feeding the elk, we were able to take a sled ride through the field and see them up close.
2019 had its fair share of trials, some plumbing issues caused the basement to flood multiple times, Matthew pulled a tendon in his knee which ended his hunting season early, the brakes went out on the van, the washer died, and the biggest trial was Matthew’s father died suddenly the week before Christmas.
Matthew flew out to Florida the Saturday before Christmas to be there for his family, and Heather was able to join him Thursday after Christmas. The funeral was held on Saturday the 28th, and Heather and Matthew flew home the following Monday.
Even though it was a tragic time for everyone involved, there was a lot of laughing and enjoyment as we visited with family and reflected on his life.
James is becoming an expert on his bike and wants to go on long bike rides, he loves the color green, and enjoys anything to do with the outdoors. He is learning to write his name, can say his ABC’s and is working on basic addition problems using his fingers, he loves asking questions and finding the answer.
Olivia is learning how to maneuver her PICA, she loves the color green too, she can sing the ABC’s, loves to test gravity, loves to play in the dirt and get covered in everything. She also loves to dress up like a princess and wear sparkly things.
Abigail is figuring out to maneuver the trial of being short, she has a huge heart and loves her baby sister deeply. She loves to have books read to her, she enjoys anything girly, and you can often find her hiding in a huge stack of blankets. She loves to help in the kitchen and do the dishes.
Mandianne is figuring out the wold. She is crawling, jabbering, and pulling herself up to stand on anything she can find, what usually means she falls and gets a bump or too. She has a lot of allergies so table foods are hard to maneuver, but so far she loves yams the most.
Heather is working towards getting her hunters safety and has planned a large RV camping trip with all the kids this upcoming fall. She is still sewing like crazy, loves to try out new recipes in the kitchen, and has recently taken up hand embroidery, it is very daunting but she enjoys it.
Matthew has taken up the art of bread making and you can often find him in the kitchen making something. He has yet to get an elk while hunting, but he is determined that this next year is the year! He is working on sewing the binding onto Abigail’s baby quilt and then will get started on Marianne's.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Bitters
