Happy Holidays from the Schuknechts!

2019 has been a fun year! The year started off the way we like best - lots of skiing! We took trips to Monarch, Sunlight, and Ski Cooper, plus many great days at "home" at Loveland. Donovan's skiing progressed a lot last season, when he skied his first double black run! Eleanor also had many days on the slopes and is starting to get the hang of it, and is now asking when she can "ski fast."

The ski season finally turned into spring and Donovan capped off his first year of elementary school with a kindergarten celebration where he proclaimed that he wants to be a robot when he grows up. Donovan also played t-ball in the spring and can't wait to play again.

We kicked off summer with the kids' first backpacking trip in nearby White Ranch Park. For our summer family vacation we rented a house outside of Pagosa Springs and had a great time seeing everything it had to offer - hiking, hot springs, fishing, horseback riding, and relaxing. Kelly's sister, brother-in-law, and brother came to visit so we played tourist and checked out Mt. Evans and a nearby gold mine. Donovan spent a week with Mama and Papa at Dinosaur National Monument and Eleanor relished the time alone with Mommy and Daddy.

In August, Donovan started first grade and Eleanor started preschool - they are growing up fast! Although school had started, we weren't ready for summer to end so we borrowed Jim and Barb's trailer and spent a relaxing weekend up at beautiful Kenosha Pass.

We settled into the school year routine and the beginning of birthday party season, starting with Donovan's 6th birthday in August and then Eleanor's 3rd birthday in October. In September, Nate started a new job as a Principal Mechnical Engineer at Array Technologies in Albuquerque. No, we didn't move! (We love Golden!) Nate works from home most of the time and travels about once a month for face to face meetings in Albuquerque.

In November, Nate and Kelly celebrated 8 years of marriage! Unfortunately our anniversary celebration weekend started off on the wrong foot with a car crash, but we eventually made our way up to Fort Collins and had a fun weekend. We are grateful that the kids and dogs were not in the car and there were no serious injuries. Things didn't turn out so well for the Pilot, which was ultimately totaled and has now been replaced with a Subaru Ascent. Hooray for being a two-Subaru family again!

Now we're back in winter and have already kicked off what looks to be another great ski season. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with family, followed by a fun Friendsgiving in Evergreen, and we are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas. Our year will end with our second annual New Year's Eve bash, and then it's on to 2020!