Christmas 2016

We have now officially lived in Grants Pass for one year. It's been an amazing adventure. Here are some of the highlights:

January - Kenna was baptized this month! We had our first trip to the Oregon coast, spending a day at Brookings. It was so nice to see the ocean - finally! We miss our daily ocean views!

Brookings, OR

Hannah was in a car wreck on the freeway (not her fault) and her car was totaled. So grateful our girl was completely uninjured in this accident. We then had the joy of a rental car, followed by car shopping to replace the car we'd purchased only five months prior.

February - Natalie and Kenna are enrolled in public school for their first time, in 1st and 2nd grades. They really love their teachers and are making friends! The kids and I snuck back to Fort Bragg for a fun friend visit. Brynne joined the track team for her first time. Logan started golf lessons and turns out, he really likes golf!

First day of school!

PGA here we come!

March - Natalie turns 7! We took the youngest three to a place called Wildlife Safari to celebrate her birthday and enjoyed driving around looking at the giraffes and other crazy cool animals up close and personal.

Wildlife Safari adventure

Hannah was invited to Mardi Gras. We took a trip to California to visit our friends in Windsor and see them play basketball (yes, we love them that much). Brynne celebrates her Sweet 16 birthday. Hannah threw her a huge surprise party.

April - Logan celebrated his 13th birthday. Josh and his buddy took a trip to London and had a blast visiting C.S. Lewis's home, Oxford, and other sites. We did our first Easter Egg hunt outside and found out that eggs with candy in them are consumed by little skunks during the night, broken and discarded (luckily we didn't do only candy-filled eggs).
Brynne decided that she really likes track. I am teaching Primary and loving it. Hannah gets accepted to BYU Provo and BYU Idaho and has to choose which school to attend!

May - Hannah turned 18 this month. Our first duckling becomes a full-fledged adult! Hannah and Brynne attend Prom with their good friends Matt and Alex and host the after-party at our house. Hannah gets a job at Little Caesars. Brynne got her Driving Permit!

June - Graduation month! Our first high school grad. So not ready for this. The kids started Junior Golf. We headed out on our summer road trip. First stop - Summer Regional in Portland where we visited OMSI and the Portland Rose Garden. Amazing. Then off to Rexburg for a BYU-I tour and fun with our Hathaway friends. We spend several days there and I think Hannah got pretty excited! She is going to have such a great time in Rexburg. Good thing she is excited to live in a snowy area!

Portland Rose Garden

July - As part of our road trip, we had a wonderful family reunion in Ogden with the Richardson side. This was so much fun. It's the last reunion before the oldest grandkids head out in their various adult adventures (boo-hoo). July also took Kelly and Brynne to Girls Camp for a week.

Not to mention an incredible adventure in Prague, Czech Republic for Josh, Kelly, and Hannah. What a beautiful, history-rich area.

Prague

August - Kelly abandoned her family yet again for a trip to Education Week. And came home to a new calling as RS President, which has been a challenge, adventure, and a blessing. We had a family camping trip and Logan went to Scout Camp and Aaronic Priesthood encampment and loved them both. Soccer started for Brynne and her team did so much better than last year. Makes it more fun when they are actually winning!

the 5 Amigas!

September - Logan enrolled in public school as an 8th grader, Brynne is a Junior. Hannah is home for fall semester working. Kenna and Natalie are homeschooling again.
Kelly enjoyed a sisters weekend in Arizona. Josh got a new calling that totally takes him out of his comfort zone - as Varsity Scout coach.

October - the highlight this month was three weeks of conferences, including one with an Apostle in our little stake. Elder Christofferson came and the kids were all able to shake his hand. He spoke about being a Light to those around us and left a beautiful Apostolic Blessing for our stake.

One thing we love about Grants Pass are the seasons - look at those colorful trees. We can't get enough!

Scout Campout

Visiting Grandpa's office!

November - we celebrate 12 months in Grants Pass with a visit to Fort Bragg to see beloved friends and our favorite ocean haunts.

MacKerricher

Heading home - Westport

We spent Thanksgiving with some friends from our ward. Faith did her first real hike on Thanksgiving morning. You know you've got a big kid when you can actually hike with her to the top of a mountain. I was so proud of her!