2018

GREG had a relatively mellow year. He is still working at General Motors as an IT project manager. The annual “boys trip” to see an away ASU football game was a roaring success this year as the team beat USC at the LA Memorial Coliseum. If you haven’t been to the stadium, it’s quite a sight to see having been built for the Olympics in the 1930’s. After much research (and cajoling from Heidi) Greg stayed true to his mantra to not purchase any vehicle powered only by fossil fuels when we bought Heidi a BMW i3. She loves to zip around in her little electric “fancy car”. Greg is also an early reservation holder for a different kind of vehicle called an Arcimoto FUV (fun utility vehicle) and when an opportunity to drive the three-wheeled tandem-two-seater electric vehicle presented itself he jumped at the chance. While he enjoyed the drive, it was Heidi who wowed the Arcimoto rep by the speed of her lap. We earned the “fastest couple test drive” award - so we have that going for us, which is nice.

HEIDI has had a busy year! She became a Norwex Independent Sales Consultant in August. She has enjoyed learning about the effects of chemicals on our health and educating people on chemical free cleaning solutions. She continues to love Zumba and appreciates how it “tricks her into exercising!” For her birthday this year, we did goat yoga. It was a fun and unique experience. She stepped out of her comfort zone and did an eight week improv class, and serves on the Hamilton High School Site Council and Soccer Boosters.

CHLOE is now a licensed driver and enjoys her new found freedom! Soccer and school continue to keep her busy. At the beginning of the year, she was invited to play with the Alaskan Olympic Development team in a tournament. It was a great experience for her. She is captain of her new team playing for the Utah Royals FC Development Player League part of the Real Salt Lake AZ soccer club (that’s a mouthful). This new team takes her to play in California many weekends and has been demanding on her time, but also rewarding. She also is a starter for her high school varsity soccer team. When she is not on the field, she is hitting the books and it is really paying off for her. Carrying a load that includes four AP classes, she manages to carve out some time to participate in Model UN. She was awarded Outstanding Social Studies Student of the Year and we just got word that she is in the running as a National Merit Scholar.

PAIGE became an official teenager this year. She continues to love the arts and participates in her junior high school choir and art program. She auditioned for an honor choir called Cantaremos. The performance was amazing. *Click on the links below for video of the performance. She continued to nurture her art skills taking a ten week art class at ASU where she explored drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics. She also enjoyed participating in an improv class over the summer. In addition to swim team, Paige participated in sports at her Junior High playing basketball and track and field. She demonstrated an affinity for discuss placing third overall in the east valley conference. Paige was inducted into National Junior Honor Society and continues to be a straight A student in the Chandler Gifted Program.

OUR FAMILY has had some wonderful adventures this year. We took a 10 day road trip through San Luis Obispo, on to Oakland and San Francisco, with our final stop being in Aptos, CA. The highlight of the SF portion of the trip was was biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. We incorporated college visits to Berkeley, Stanford, and Cal Poly SLO. We met up with family in Aptos (near Santa Cruz) for a reunion and spent our time together hiking, playing games, cooking, and enjoying each other's company. We also took a cruise with two ports of call, one to Catalina Island and the other in Ensenada, Mexico. On Catalina Island we drove a golf cart around the main city and marveled how an “island” could be so desert-like. On Ensenada it was a bit cloudy and overcast but we decided to try a beach day and wound up taking a tour that put us on our own private stretch of the beach (no one else was brave enough to join us) and we had a great time playing volleyball, eating tacos, making sand castles, and finding dead manta rays washed up! As a family we attended several Phoenix Rising soccer games cheering them on to a first place finish in the western conference of the United Soccer League but a disappointing loss in the USL Cup. We attended musical concerts from Pentatonix, Evanescence, and Lindsey Stirling, they were all amazing to see live! After two separate kitchen leaks (ruining cabinetry in the process), we decided that we would “take advantage” of our dire situation and remodel our kitchen. Little did we know that the decision would drag on for months and months. The final product was well worth the wait! Heidi architected the new layout of the kitchen including an enlarged island, a lowered counter, a giant single tub sink, a fancy new faucet, a new gas cooktop, and the piece de resistance - the granite countertop. The kitchen is a dream come true and has already brought joy and happiness to our cooking hearts.

We hope that each of you find time over the busy holiday season to spend time with the ones you love. We strive to reach out to each and every member of our family and friends during the year to at least connect and create new memories together. If we missed you this year, 2019 is just around the corner!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Joyful Festivus, Happy Hanukkah, and a wish for a peaceful and Happy New Year!

Leave us a NOTE to let us know you stopped by!

*Choral performance

https://glecko.smugmug.com/2018/November/Canteramos-/i-CLz8Xh5/A

https://glecko.smugmug.com/2018/November/Canteramos-/i-ZbBS8KL/A

https://glecko.smugmug.com/2018/November/Canteramos-/i-mcxBmqx/A

https://glecko.smugmug.com/2018/November/Canteramos-/i-ZvZfTbr/A