You are getting this letter because you are a part of our lives and we love and appreciate you! We really do hope and pray that your lives are full of love and joy, and we encourage you to appreciate the good that can come from enduring through difficult times if that's where you find yourself right now.
Well even though our marriage is about to enter into it's third calendar year, it has only been just over a year since we fuzed our lives together and still, there has been much that has happened in that short amount of time.
Last winter seemed overly long (don't they always). We stayed indoors mostly (for a change), as we enjoyed, and at times struggled, to get to know one another better in a marriage context. We have been looking for many ways to simplify our lives and save money for more important things, so instead of traveling much, except to see family a couple of times, or constantly going out to do activites, we tried to have lots of our friends over for dinner and card/board games as often as we could.
We did actually get to go on quite a few fun trips though, mostly when it got a little warmer. We went down to Kansas City, MO to visit Zach's sister Christa twice; once in February with the Liens, and again over Memorial Day weekend but this time just by ourselves. She was doing an internship at a ministry school there and it was so nice to spend some time with her, and check up her, because we know it can be scary and sometimes lonely without family when you move out of the house for the first time. Also in February, after a surprise Valentines Day where we got to spend more time at the Hotel we stayed at after our wedding and skipping out on work the next day, we drove out to Pine Ridge SD to visit our good friends Jake and Lizzie (and their soon to be baby) Ladd who were living out there for the year to volunteer in the community. It was so nice to be out of the city and in the open air with nature, instead of cars and buildings, all around us. We played lots of games, drank coffee, rested and had many good talks. At the end of March we went, on what we thought would be a much more inexpensive and relaxing trip, to Florida for a few days. We both got really burned on the second day and spent most of our time carefully walking around our room with chilled wet towels hanging all over our bodies. We spent Easter up north with the Liens and Stephens, mostly relaxing and enjoying the family we unfortunately don't get to see often enough. For the first half of the summer we didn't travel much because Hope was helping the Ladds prepare for the little one to arrive and she wanted to be close by to support them when the baby was born. We did take one weekend though to go camping in Wisconsin with our friends Mark and Jacquie Nordling. It was a lot of fun except for the fact that we were extremely unprepared compared to them. I guess we didn't take into account that it might rain, so we got pretty wet and had no dry place to sit, but the Nordlings were nice enough to share their towels and chairs with us. Friends are great! In July we met Hope's parents, Mark and Diane Asprey, in Austin and then drove out to Indiana to help out with and attend Hope's cousin Rachel's wedding. It was really great to spend more time with Mark and Diane on the trip and It was nice for Hope to see her cousin again and for Zach to meet her for the first time. For Labor Day weekend we had our third annual end of summer gathering with our friends at the Asprey cabin near Backus, MN. At the end of September we were fortunate enough to get a couple of buddy passes to fly to Alaska to visit our good friends John and Renee Smith, and their two boys, one of them brand new!; Levi and Emerson. We had a great time with the Smith family. Emerson was so cute and Levi has gotten big enough to talk and play without ceasing. Zach was able to help John and John's dad winterize their somewhat new home. Hope had a great time helping out around the house, catching up with Renee and spending time with the boys. We celebrated our first anniversary up there by taking a day to drive along the coast to a ski resort. It was the off season so we got a really nice room for cheap, and we took the tram up to the top of the mountain to take in the view and eat a fancy dinner. It was just what we needed to reminisce about our first year being married and make some great speculations about the next one! Each season can sneak up on us pretty quick and then it's gone before we know it. We were able to go home to see each of our families once during the fall, as well as making it out to Chicago for a weekend finally to visit our friends Jamie and Andy Engelhardt, who Hope grew up with. Again, there were good talks and fun games. We had an early Thanksgiving with the Lien's and Stephens at Zach's sister Hannah and her husband Mark Sylstad's new home in Grand Forks ND. It was awesome to have the whole family there! Matthew and his new wife Kayley, both sides of grandparents, and even Christa and her friend David made it up from down south! The actual Thanksgiving weekend was spent in Austin and Owatana with the Aspreys and Heils. Again, it was great to spend a long weekend with all of the family. We are so blessed to have both of our families and many relatives all within a days drive. We are planning on being up north for a few days over Christmas and then heading down to Austin the next weekend. Wow, so I guess we did go to a lot of places this year.
z
