Christmas 2017

Well, somehow another year has passed, and 2017 is rushing to a close. We continue to enjoy life and do our best to balance hard work with plenty of fun.

Jake is studying chemical engineering at the University of Utah, and is doing well, despite the difficult courses. He still works part-time for Delta Airlines at the SLC airport. In April, he ruptured his ACL while performing stunts on a trampoline, and had knee surgery in July to repair the damage. The recovery has been slow, but he’s still rehabbing it, and getting stronger week by week.

Heather is still working for the University of Utah as a writer for Health Sciences Strategy. She is also still teaching her beginning Italian class for the Italian Club of Salt Lake, teaching private language lessons when the opportunity arises, and teaching one cute flute student from our ward.

We added a new member of our family this year: a bright white Subaru Outback that has already proven to be an excellent companion for adventuring. She carries our bikes, snowboards, and all the gear we need, plus we can car camp in the back, already saving us from more than one extra cold camping night. We’re still trying to decide on a name. Heather wants to call her Snowball, while Jake wants to call her Stormtrooper. Decision pending.

Since last December, we have been serving in the Brighton Gardens Branch, a church congregation in a residential care facility in our area. Many of the members that we serve are elderly individuals that yearn for visits to pass the long days, while others are younger people that are in the facility recovering from serious trauma, or sometimes memory issues like Alzheimer’s.  Regardless of their circumstances, they each need love, help, and someone to care. We have many special moments serving them and doing our best to share a message of love and support from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

TRAVELS

We rang in the new year on the magical streets of London. We walked (a lot) to see the sights of the city, and stood between Westminster Abbey and the House of Parliament to watch the fireworks over the London Eye when midnight struck. It rained every single day we were there, but we still absolutely adore the city and its culture and diversity, even though our socks and shoes were soaked through the entire time.

Over President’s Day Weekend, we headed south to Southern Utah with the Estrada Clan. We had a blast visiting Zion National Park for hiking, and rappelling off of Dixie Rock in St. George. Jake spent some time living there in high school, and always enjoys getting to go back to his old stomping grounds.

March usually brings Spring Break, and a chance to get a respite from the winter. Jake headed back down to Southern Utah to spend time with friends, and Heather went on a girls trip with some close friends to Phoenix.

We started off the month of April with a weekend trip to Oklahoma to visit Jake’s brother and his family there. We had a great time hanging out and playing with nieces and nephews, until the fateful areal on the trampoline that blew Jake’s knee. We made it home in one piece, and visited a sports medicine doctor as soon as we could. Later that month, we headed to Southeastern Utah for a writing assignment for Heather. It was her first freelance assignment for Outdoor Sports Guide Magazine. In their June 2017 issue, her article on Bears Ears National Monument was the feature for the edition, and one of Jake’s pictures was chosen for the front cover. We loved getting to collaborate on a creative project together, and of course, the hiking and camping in the monument was top-notch.

In May, Jake rested from finals week and the end of the semester. Heather took a trip with her sister, Jenny, to Europe. They stayed for 4 days in Lisbon, Portugal, then headed to Paris, where they met a friend for a weekend of exploring the City of Love. In Lisbon, they waked the streets of the city, admiring the architecture, tilework, and, of course, the food. They also got to visit a beautiful castle and estate in the town of Sintra, and spend a little time catching some sun on the beaches of Cascais. In Paris, they wandered the gardens of Versailles, visited the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral and new LDS temple, and had a fairy-tale brunch at LaDuree on Champs d’Elysee.

Jake’s little sister, Jessi, got married in June in the Mt. Timpanogos LDS temple. We loved helping the family prepare for the celebration, and sharing that special day with them. Towards the end of the month, we headed to the Aloha State for a different kind of camping trip. We backpacked all 25 miles of the Kalalau Trail along the Napali coast with six other close friends. We hiked through the lush greenery, along one of the most beautiful coastlines we’d ever seen. The group was rewarded at the end of the hike with an exclusive beach where we camped, played in waterfalls, and just soaked it all in. The rest of our time on Kauai, we snorkeled, swam in ocean pools around volcanic rock, cruised on a catamaran, and played on several beaches.

During the first week of July, Jake finally got the knee surgery he needed. His skilled orthopaedic surgeon harvested a graft from his hamstring to replace the torn ACL. The surgery went well, but the recovery can take 9–12 to be back to 100%. He was down most of the month, except for one trip that we did to Orlando, Florida with the Coates Family for the bi-annual Costello Syndrome Family Conference and Symposium. We had fun hanging out with family, and all of our Costello friends that we have come to know over the years. We did take one day and go to Universal Studios. Jake still was walking with crutches, so we rented him a motorized scooter for the day. Watching him scoot around all day and get us to the front of most lines was hilarious. Ask Jake to tell you the story of when he accidentally plowed over an unsuspecting park-goer.

As the summer waned, Jake was starting to walk better and better. Heather competed in her first bike race - a 20-miler around the Morgan valley in Northern Utah. It was beautiful! We also took a trip to Waco, TX (Jake’s hometown), for his sister’s second wedding reception. While there, we got to drive around the area, seeing the house that Jake grew up in and the schools that he attended. We also visited the famous Magnolia Silos, and Heather has deemed it “The most interesting thing in Waco.”

Once school is back in swing, the days get a little less adventurous and more studious in our house. We did take a quick trip with the Estrada clan to Yellowstone National Park over Labor Day, where we hiked, camped, pet baby deer, and Jake got a little too close to a herd of buffalo.

At the beginning of October, Heather did a quick trip to central Utah to hike in the San Rafael Swell with a good friend. They ended up in a beautiful slot canyon with narrow walls of red and orange sandstone. They were wading in water up to their chest during some of the trek, but made it through the 8-mile trail unscathed and with smiles on their faces. Later in the month, we headed to the east coast to visit Heather’s grandmother and other family in Maryland. We spent many hours with Grandma Johnson in the care facility where she now resides, and visiting aunts, uncles, and cousins. We walked along Ocean City Beach in a windstorm and watched the surf break, and fished on the Choptank River for rockfish. It was a great trip! The last week of the month, we did a quick weekend trip to Disneyland. We stayed with some friends on property at the Disneyland Hotel, and ran around like little kids hitting up as many rides and shows as we could.

As northern Utah prepares for winter, November is a great time to head to other areas of the state. Early in the month, Heather headed to Moab with her brother and sister to do some hiking in Arches National Park. Just two weeks later, both of us went to Moab again, this time with a group from University of Utah to rock climb. We camped in very cold temperatures at night, but had great weather during the day to climb the famous “Wall Street” area. For Thanksgiving, we headed way south to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Heather’s dad lives. Other than cooking a ton of food and eating leftovers for the rest of the weekend, we watched lots of movies, visited downtown Baton Rouge, and walked along the levee on the Mississippi river.

So far, December has been a crazy mix of finals for Jake, and trying to get in on some of the Christmas magic for both of us. We love this time of year! We are excited to spend time with family over the holidays in Utah, California, and Texas.

WE HOPE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF OUR LOVED ONES IS WELL AND HAPPY, AND THAT WE GET TO SEE YOU VERY SOON.