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
Back in March I took June and Ross to Moab to go hiking. We nearly froze to death at night, but it was worth it for the awesome hikes we did during the day.
The Fiery Furnace was super fun to explore!
Corona Arch was impressive and taught us a good lesson at the end… As we descended the trail back to the parking lot, we saw a canopy set up. The people inside beckoned us over. They were giving out really cool stickers that said, "Moab Trail Steward" with a picture of a big horned sheep.
They asked us if we enjoyed the hike and if we stayed on the trail. We said yes, and they gave June and I each a sticker and thanked us for being good stewards.
I looked around for Ross so he could come get one. And there he was, not on the trail. Doh! So instead of calling out to him, we pretended not to know him. LOL
He met us at the van shortly after that and we got away before they made the connection and revoked our stickers. So much for being good stewards! LOL
Just as we approach Christmas 2025, I find my notes of our 2024 year-in-review that I never typed up! Go figure! So... I'm sharing them here, a year late, so we can all remember!
JUNE (11) “Fancy June" is back. She's into hair-dos, clothes, nails, and even make-up! She never holds still and is always jumping up to touch the ceiling, much to her mother's shagrin! She is a literal saint to Bryce. Seriously. She's a Bryce whisperer. I don't think he would survive this family without her. And we wouldn't survive him without her! She broke her arm in September in a biking accident and had to miss a lot of soccer and drop out of band! Bummer! She loves "drinks that aren't water," also to her mother's shagrin. LOL Lots of her friends are in her 6th grade class and she's so grateful! Just like her dad, she tested into the gifted program at school!
ROSS (9) is still as unique as they come. Inspired by his love of owls, he made a goal to become nocturnal. It's been hard because the rest of the world isn't! LOL Ross loves fishing, Portuguese, and soccer. He discovered Minecraft this year and he loves that, too! He's best frenemies with Bryce. Bryce always says, "Right, Ross?" after every sentence. Bryce couldn't even tell us what he wanted for Christmas without consulting Ross first! Ross wore a santa hat from October to December. He loves Christmas! He was brave this year! He overcame his fears and participated in the primary program, sang in a children's choir in Stake Conference, and even gave a talk in primary! Who is this kid?? He took 1st place for the second year in a row in his school's mini marathon! He got five staples in his head on Christmas day after a heavy flashlight fell off a shelf and hit him! His best Christmas present was an electric blanket. Hopefully it eliminates the 50 other blankets he piles on his bed! (At least I think there's a bed under there!)
BRYCE (7)...Okay, maybe this is why I never sent this out...because it wasn't finished! I don't have any notes about Bryce! But... most of the blog posts these days are about him, so go read those! And I promise I'll write extra about him in next year's review! One memorable thing about his year this year was when he broke both his arms an hour before he was to compete in the kid triathlon at Stansbury Days! He slipped off the top shelf in his closet and put his hands out to catch his fall. Snap! Poor kid!
The boys’ elementary school recently had a school-wide read-athon. Students could bring a blanket and a stuffed animal to read with. The only rule was they had to fit in your backpack.
Ross took his electric blanket and plugged it into the wall while he read. LOL.
Bryce ditched his regular backpack for a backpacking backpack and strapped Big Bear inside. This caused quite the sensation. The second he set foot on the playground a bunch of kids ran over to him. When he walked into his classroom his teacher said, “Ay yi yi, Bryce.”
“Ay yi yi” is right!
Bryce started his own hot wheels YouTube channel. I overheard him recording his first episode and heard him say:
“Oh, and FYI…this wont have any swear words or “dog” backwards because I’m. A. Christian.”
Another blast from the past:
The mini marathon is a BIG deal around here! You know this already. But let me tell you how superstitious the boys have become about it: Very!
Here’s what they did leading up to the big race of 2024. (Ross was racing the 3rd graders. And it was Bryce’s first go at it as a 1st grader.)
Ross had me get him new Puma shoes cause that’s the brand he was wearing last year when he won first place.
He also got new Puma socks. Then he crawled around the house after putting them on so he wouldn’t squish their cushion before the race.
He wore his white soccer uniform “for five reasons:” 1) white doesn’t attract the sun, so it would keep him cool, 2) it’s his favorite kind of fabric, 3) mosquitoes don’t like light colors, 4) it’s shorts and short sleeves, 5) he can’t remember the fifth one… LOL
Bryce got a haircut to be more aerodynamic. (Then he wore a jacket with the hood on all day cause he didn’t want the attention. LOL)
Both boys took Prime, their favorite sports drink, to “prime” them for the race.
They asked to be driven to school so they wouldn’t use up their energy biking. That was a no. Instead, we left 30 minutes early so they could bike super slow.
They swore off any playing at recess before the race. When I saw Ross at recess he was lying on the asphalt. I told him if he was gonna lie somewhere, at least lie in the shade so the sun couldn’t sap his energy. (Yes, I fed into his superstitions. LOL.)
And the result? Ross took 1st! Again! And Bryce took 3rd—beat only by Colter and Theo. They were so excited!
