Merry Christmas from the Christensen family
We have been blessed this year to do some fun small trips. In February, I met my sister in Utah, and we went and visited my aunt Marsha in Elmo. Kirt and Garret went to Provo the next weekend and went to the BYU/Gonzaga game. Garret even cheered for BYU. (He is a huge Gonzaga fan in case you didn’t know.) The kids and I spent a week in Boise with my brother Ryan and his family playing volleyball, bowling, hiking, playing games and going to Sodalicious. Kirt and I celebrated our 25th anniversary and went to Priest Lake where we went on our honeymoon. We had a great family reunion with Kirt’s family in St. George, and a family reunion with my family at Spirit Lake. We love family time. Garret and Kirt went on a amazing 110 mile 3 day bike packing ride along the Palouse to Cascade trail. We also had a lot of fun hiking this year.
Tanner finished his mission in Argentina a few months earlier than expected because of Covid and came home on March 30th instead of June 1st. He was a little sad to be coming home early, but I can’t say that I was. He was going to come home for a few days and then head off to school right away for summer school. Instead, he was home until the middle of August. I was grateful for the extra time with him. (Although it sometimes felt like I had two 13-year-old boys, because he and Garret were like 2 peas in a pod and had a great time being goofy and silly.) Tanner worked for Uber Eats and worked out at the gym at Kirt’s office while he was home for the summer. In August he headed to the University of Idaho. He wouldn’t even let us drop him off. He just loaded up his car and drove off. I guess he really isn’t a typical freshman, but I would have loved to take my 1st child to college. His classes are mostly online. He has loved getting to know his ward and participate in institute. And of course, he is loving basketball. Thankfully things are going pretty well for his season despite the rocky start. Go Vandals!
Katie started the year playing on the varsity basketball team at her high school. She had 3 division 1 bound players on her team and her team was ranked number 6 at the beginning of the season. Let’s just say that they did not live up to her potential and it was a very rough season. Katie unfortunately hasn’t been able to play any organized basketball since March, but she still goes and shoots every day at the gym at Kirt’s office. Katie turned 16 in February and got her driver’s license, and I haven’t seen her since. Since she didn’t have basketball, she decided to get a job this summer and has been working at Hobby Lobby since July. She likes it most of the time. Our kids have been doing online school since March and will probably be doing it through the end of the school year. I don’t think there will be any school sports this school year either. We really should have moved. Katie actually likes online school. She gets her schoolwork done in about 3 hours and then hangs out with her friends all day. She takes after her Grammy and is a great cruise director and plans all kinds of fun things for her and her friends.
Garret has almost grown taller than his sister. She is not going to be happy when he passes her up. He is still so skinny and could use to put on a few pounds though. He has been lucky to be able to still play some basketball this fall with his AAU team. His team has found a gym at someone’s house that they have been able to practice at. He has also played in 2 tournaments in Lewiston Idaho. (Which is perfect because Moscow is on the way to Lewiston, so we get to say hi to Tanner when we go.) Garret doesn’t love online school. He hates being on Zoom. He does love going biking with his dad and can’t wait to go snowboarding again.
I have been working quite a bit the past few months. We have lost a bunch of employees for one reason or another and so I have been trying to fill in more than my one day a week. We have finally got some new people hired so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. One day a week is plenty for me. In October I was called as the YW’s president in our ward. I love working with the girls, but it stinks trying to figure out how to run the program with all of the silly Covid restrictions.
The best thing that happened to Kirt this year was that he was released as Bishop of our ward. He loved serving, but it was exhausting, and he was so grateful to be done. He is now working with the Deacons and has had lots of fun working with Garret and his buddies this year. Kirt has enjoyed lots of mountain biking with his friends and Garret. In March he went to DC for a Webinarcon Seminar. He got to see a bunch of the DC sites in addition to attending the seminar.
We feel so blessed to have had such a great year despite all the hard things that are going on. We love the Savior and are grateful that we can focus on him and celebrate him this time of year.
Love Kirt, Emily, Tanner, Katie, and Garret
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