2025 Year in Review

 Merry Christmas! It's the best time of the year in our best year yet! 2025 was so much fun! Here's an update on each of us:

JASON still loves his job, and even more so after they sent him to New Zealand for some conferences! I got to go, too, and we had a blast! He wasn't half bad at driving on the opposite side of the road from the opposite side of the car. He bought some nice hiking boots while we were there and I have high hopes that next year will include lots more hikes with him by my side. Besides his new hiking hobby (wink, wink) he also learned to turn pens on his lathe and smoke queso. The queso pairs well with Cougar wins! He's loving that his two favorite teams, the BYU Cougars and the Colorado Avalanche, are both having great seasons. Jason loves helping people out and does a lot of service in the neighborhood. Bless him! We finally made it over to Thailand to visit his dad and had the most epic trip ever! A+++!

ASHLEY. I sewed myself a hiking shirt this year and wore it on many adventures. It took the edge off on all our freezing camping trips! We hit all Utah's National Parks except Canyonlands and loved them all! I got a new job as a lunch lady at the junior high so I can spy on June. I spent a big chunk of my life this year sanding, priming and painting the pergola in our backyard. Audiobooks and the promise of fun future gatherings beneath it saw me through. I'm cooking my way through my 7th and 8th cookbooks simultaneously and loving them both. The book "The Half Diet Diet" has been my guiding star this year and I've never loved eating more! I've learned that God really can turn our weaknesses into strengths! 

AVERY (14) loved going to Thailand this year and wants to be a world traveler now! She's learning Dutch on Duolingo because they don’t have Thai and because she thinks it’s easy. She was doing Spanish until it got too hard. LOL She got her braces off this summer and started high school this fall. She made the high school basketball team and it's kept her super busy. Two of her best friends are also part of the team and they're having too much fun! Her heart's greatest desire is to move to Sigurd, Utah by my cousins so she can grow up a country cowgirl. She's planning to win the lottery so we can buy land and build a house there. Her lawn mowing and babysitting wages weren't enough. It'll take a Christmas miracle! She loves music, books, camping, and being home alone! 

JUNE (12) This was a big year for our little Juniper Berry. She started Young Womens, got a phone, started junior high, got braces, and got her first boyfriend! The worst thing that happened to her was when her best friend, Peyton, moved to a different state. We're still recovering from the loss! June joined the junior high cross-country team and took 5th at Region! Soccer is still her #1, but she’s been begging to do gymnastics again! When she's home she's listening to audiobooks—usually Harry Potter. She loves making cookies, but always quits the project before they're all baked. She sings songs from her favorite movies at the top of her lungs and drives us all crazy, but we can't get too upset with her because she's still the sweetest sister that ever there was! 

ROSS (10) We only had one broken bone this year and it was Ross's wrist. He broke it while playing goalie at soccer practice. That brings our broken bone count to 7! Eek! His best part of the year was getting a new road bike. It helped him win his age group in the Stansbury Days Kids Triathlon! He loved his first time mountain biking at our family reunion in Oregon and is hoping to get one of his own. He's growing out of his owl obsession and no one is sad about it. We won't miss "owl mode." LOL He's been trying super hard to stay on top of his school work and discovered a love of reading this year. He loves listening to songs by Imagine Dragons, fishing, shooting with Grandpa Ross, playing with Bryce and hiking with me! Yay! 

BRYCE turned 8 and got baptized on his birthday! He grew up so much this year! He finally likes going places! Halle-freakin’-lujah!!! He stopped asking to be homeschooled. He’ll be in pictures now AND smile! That last one might be because he was an absolute celebrity in Thailand! They loved him because he’s small and blonde and they’d bribe him with treats to take his picture—the least he could do was smile for them! LOL We’re loving this new Bryce! He still wears shorts year round, buuuut… you can’t have it all! He also still says everything was terrible when asked, so I try not to ask! This is his second year on a competitive soccer team and he loves it. He beat all the 2nd graders in his school's mini marathon by a full quarter of a lap! He was cookin’! He has a goal to get a 6-pack and does a hundred situps every day. He's my best cleaner, eater, and helper in the kitchen. He loves math and devours graphic novels. He wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. The 5th graders call him “Mini Ross.” He wishes the girls in his class would stop cheering for him when he plays soccer at recess! It’s so embarrassing! LOL

We feel so blessed and so grateful for all God has given us, especially his Son, Jesus Christ! He fills our lives with light and love. May you find peace in Him this Christmas season. 

Love, the Eldredges