Timeline 2025

 In January Oscar's parents came to visit and see Tyler get ordained to the priesthood. Tyler was also able to attend the temple for the first time a few weeks later with the other youth at church. In late January I had mid-urethral sling surgery, and we got new counter tops in our kitchen. In February we went to the Garden of the Gods for our anniversary. Tyler had his braces removed which was soon followed up by having his last baby tooth removed. And in early March we celebrated my 43rd birthday. Read more in January - early March 2025.

On March 12th we flew to San Diego for the kids' Spring break. Oscar's parents joined us for a few days after attending a wedding in Arizona. Before they arrived we spent a few hours at Sea World the first day, spent the entire day at Universal Studios the next day, and enjoyed relaxing at our beautiful resort. On the day they arrived we explored Newport Beach before meeting up with them at the LDS temple to let Tyler do baptisms for the dead. The following Monday we explored downtown San Diego then Marcus treated us to a whale watching tour. Read more in Southern California Trip 2025: Part I - Sea World, Universal Studios, Newport Beach, and San Diego.

After they'd started their drive home, we spent two days at Legoland and one day at Knott's Berry Farm. Read more in Southern California Trip 2025: Part II - Legoland and Knott's Berry Farm.

And for the final days of the trip we had fun at Sea World and spent a day at Cabrillo National Monument. Read more in Southern California Trip 2025: Part III - Sea World and Cabrillo National Monument.

In the spring we had our house painted, we had a big snow day in mid-April, we had a fun Easter, our car had to be towed from Denver due to a mechanic error during our oil change, we played at Urban Air, Tyler participated in a car wash to raise money for Young Men's camp, my sister camp to visit, I played Aunt Bartolo in "The Barber of Seville in California," Uncle Willie came to visit for Oscar's birthday, and we celebrated Tyler's 12th birthday with a Minecraft cake. Read more in Spring 2025.

After the kids were out of school we took some small trips to see more of our beautiful state. For our first trip we visited Breckenridge and Frisco, and the kids earned Jr Ranger badges at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and Florrisant Fossil beds National Monument. Not even a week later we were on the road again driving to Rifle Falls, Dinosaur National Monument, Steamboat Springs, Fish Creek Falls, and State Forest State Park. Read more in Exploring Colorado on I-70 and I-40.

Less than a week later Allison and I flew to Buffalo, NY to see Niagara Falls and spend a day riding fantastic roller coasters at Canada's Wonderland. We also visited Clifton Hill, ate lunch and had an amazing view of the falls at Skylon Tower, and visited the Buffalo Zoo. Read more in Mother Daughter Trip to Niagara Falls and Canada's Wonderland.

A week after we returned we drove up to Silverthorne so Oscar could run the Slacker 1/2 Marathon in Georgetown. The afternoon we arrived we went up to Copper Mountain, purchased their summer day pass, and got to ride the Copper Mountain coaster. The next morning after Oscar's run, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park and spent 3 days there and in Estes Park. Read more in Rocky Mountain National Park Trip 2025.

During the summer Oscar and Tyler attended Young Men's camp, we got to see the Anderson cousins on their way to and from Utah, Oscar took the kids camping, we visited Rainbow Falls, I got a hematoma on my leg, we played the Summer Camp game several times, Oscar's parents came to visit, and Tyler learned how to ride a bike. Read more in Summer 2025.

The kids went back to school in early August, but we still had lots of fun. We celebrated Allison's 10th birthday, and she and I spent a day at Elitch Gardens. Oscar traveled to Minnesota for a Ragnar Relay and to Philadelphia for a work trip. We did some leaf peaping and saw Rita the Rock Planter in Cripple Creek, Tyler had his first band concert of the school year, and we had fun Trick or Treating on Halloween. Read more in Back to School 2025.

During Labor Day weekend, we took a trip up to Devil's Tower, WY and the Black Hills region of South Dakota. We played at Rushmore Tramway Adventure, toured Jewel Cave, visited Badlands National Park, and did a cave tour at Wind Cave National Park. Read more in Black Hills Trip 2025.

During the kids Fall break in mid-October, we took mom and aunt Kathy to Florida to take mom on her first cruise. Before the cruise we spent a few days in Orlando. See more in Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove 2025

And in Sea World Orlando 2025.

Our cruise was a 4 night Carribean cruise with stops in Nassau and Ocean Cay. Read more in Caribbean Cruise 2025.

During Thanksgiving week we took a trip to Utah to visit our families. On the way we stopped off at Arches National Park. Read more in Utah Trip 2025: Part I - Arches National Park.

We also visited Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park before driving north to see our families and celebrate the holiday with them. Read more in Utah Trip 2025: Part II - Canyonlands and visiting family.

During the final months of the year, Allison had her 4th grade showcase, we saw the northern lights, I had a great concert with Ascend Choir and Orchestra, Allison and Oscar went to the daddy daughter ball, I had a few Christmas performances, we went to the Denver Zoo, we met Santa at Culver's, we had a girls' night at Elitch Gardens, and we had a fun Christmas at home. Allison and I got the flu and weren't feeling well for the next week, but we were able to make it out to Urban Air on New Year's Eve, and Tyler and I stayed up until midnight with the La Rance family. Oscar ran a New Year's Day race and Tyler made "2026!" out of cubes. Read more in End of the Year 2025.