June 2025

Happy Birthday Rose! (10)
Lucia’s dance intensive
Lucia and GG go to Riverside Bible Camp
Lucia’s cabin group
Lucia loves carpet ball.
Now Rose goes to camp!
Rose’s cabin group
The boys and I went to SJU for Elliot’s summer orientation
Whether they like it or not, the boys can’t help but laugh at each other.
Happy Birthday, Mari! (20)
Rose at camp.
. . . and we’re at the lake.
spikeball
pad life
Gary and Kathie
Me and Susan
Liess Clan
Family Pic
Susan went to her college reunion.
I took the girls camping in Decorah
Ruben came, too.

April 2025

I need to get caught up, so here is the month of April:

Lucia did a great job in Alice in Wonderland.
Susan enjoyed a ride in Shelley’s convertible.
Rose’s grade participated in FiGBRAC.
We dyed Easter eggs.
The kids hunted for Easter baskets.
The kids hunted for Easter eggs inside, due to the rain.
Easter Dinner
Andrew didn’t make it home for Easter, but we got to watch him participate in a weightlifting showcase.

Spring Break Trip to Colorado

This year for spring break we went to Grand Lake Colorado with the Reagens for 4 days.

We stopped in Denver for pizza with Andrew.
Some of us.
The view of Lake Granby from our townhome.
Cam eating leftover pizza.

Our first day there we went for a hike at Adams Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Elliot and Cam
Hope, Lucia, Susan and Rose
Rose enjoyed some climbing.
The hot tub.

On day 2 we went tubing at the Frasier Tubing Hill.

Susan and Rob
Windy Family Photo. It got really windy toward the end. Luckily we were about ready to leave by this point.
After tubing we walked about the Winter Park ski village.
Pretty mountain view.
Snowshoeing.

On day 3 we went for another hike, this time along the Colorado River Trail in RMNP.

Crossing the Colorado River
Elliot
Toward the end the snow was less packed and we found ourselves falling through the snow a lot. This is how we knew it was time to turn around. For most of the hike the snow was packed and we could walk comfortably.
This is where we ate a snack before turning around.

On day 4 we rented cross country skis and the shop recommended we drive to where Trail Ridge Road is closed in RMNP and ski on the road. It was awesome. The weather was grat. The views were good. The girls picked it up without a problem. It was awesome to be on the road that is so busy in the summer, but we literally only saw one other person who was out snowshoeing.

Getting started. You can see Rose and Lucia is way up ahead.
Lucia, Rose and Hope
Nate, Erin, Cam and Elliot
In the evening we played games.
Our drive out of the mountains was beautiful.

Our drive home did not go so well. There was a blizzard in Eastern Nebraska and I-80 was closed across the entire state. In this picture we are in a gas station in Western Nebraska trying to figure out what to do with our lives. We were going to drive the whole way home on Wednesday, but we ended up spending the night in North Platte on Wednesday and finishing the drive on Thursday.

NYE 2024

We had the usual NYE party this year, with the Reagens, Mimi and Papa, and Mary Connor was in town. Lucia went to a friend’s house. The morning included the 2025 version of cupcakes wars.

Erin, Susan and Mary
Baking in progress
The final products

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve we went to Holy Trinity church with the Reagens and Mimi and Papa. This is where we used to go to church regularly and it was fun to be back. Then we drove around and looked at Christmas lights, including Hoi, Hoi, Hoi.

Liesland and Reagen Kids
Liesland Kids
The Lieslands
The Girls
Family photo
Hoi, Hoi, Hoi

Sun Valley Lake 2024

This weekend we made our annual trip to a lake with the Liess clan. A good time was had by all.

Hope and Mari
Lake Lounging
Des Moines Cousins
Susan and Rob
Lucia and Rose
Kathie and Gary
Liess Clan
Kathie, Gary, and the grandkids
Kathie, Gary, Susan, Erin, and Mary
Kathie being silly.
The Lieslands
Lucia and Rose
Rose and Lucia
Kathie in the hammock chair
Susan and Mary
The ladies

Birthday Week

This past week Mari and I celebrated our birthdays, with small parties on our birthdays and a bigger family party on the weekend.

Mari’s birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse.
Who is inside and who is outside?
My birthday, hanging out around the firepit.
Pool volleyball at the larger family party.