2025 New Year’s letter

Here’s our family update for New Year’s 2025:

Dominic

Dominic (19) completed his machine gunner training with the U.S. Marines infantry and is stationed in Southern California. He continues on exercises with his platoon to advance his combat readiness. Last summer, he purchased a used VW Jetta and uses it for excursions from the base.

In November, he attended his first Marines Ball in Las Vegas, spent a long Thanksgiving weekend with us, and then returned home for a couple of weeks around Christmas and New Year’s. We loved having him with us at home a few times last year, during July, November, and December. This June will mark the end of his second year of active duty and the start of year three of his four-year Marines contract.

Eliana

Ellie (23) is in her second year as a dental assistant at Pioneer Valley Dental in West Valley City. She lives in the Sugarhouse and loves that area despite the immense road construction (which seems familiar everywhere along Utah’s Wasatch Front).

This year, she has been on several trips to see her favorite artists in concert. She saw Billie Eilish, Lana Del Ray, Tyler the Creator, and Chappell Roan, among many others. We love that we live close enough to get together for dinner, games, family activities, and celebrations.

Vickey

Vickey enjoyed the summer family trip to Vermont (more on that below). She loved playing host (and second Mom) to Olympia (and Taylor, her boyfriend) and Penelope Nelson at different points this year. Not to mention a long-needed visit with their real Mom and one of Vickey’s best friends, Ellen. We hosted several visitors throughout the year and loved seeing everyone who had visited and getting caught up.

One of her favorite memories of 2024 was going on a road trip with her Mom, sister, and nephew. The trip’s main objective was to reunite her Mom with her best friend from high school, Jane. It was a treat to see some of the most beautiful landscapes, eat at different local restaurants along the way (Grand Junction was a surprise “foodie” town!), and see/hear all the fun stories about her Mom and best friend (who exclaimed: “You don’t look a day over 50!” when they hugged each other for the first time in many years). The last stop on the trip before dropping Rachel off in Albuquerque was in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We met up with several of the family’s women and had a great time playing games, eating, and shopping our way through the town.

Pete

As 2024 began, I rehearsed and then performed about 50 shows of Fiddler on the Roof at Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy in two months (here’s my photo album from the production). The show played during the Utah legislative session, which always adds a layer of complexity and additional meetings to my regular work in the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. It was a hectic time.

I’m still the managing director of business services at GOEO, overseeing a team of about 30 state workers who administer seven federal and state programs supporting Utah small businesses and entrepreneurs. August marked the completion of my sixth year at GOEO.

Last summer, I played Sam in the Sandy Arts Guild’s production of Mamma Mia! (Here’s my photo album from the production.)

I serve as a Sunday school teacher for some of our neighborhood teenagers and as a West Valley City My Hometown initiative service missionary at church.

The Family

Vickey and I celebrated 25 years of marriage last June and marked the occasion with a 10-day trip to visit and be with my sister’s family in Hyde Park, Vermont, where we attended her oldest son’s high school graduation. My brother and his family joined us for the outing. Vermont is beautiful. We enjoyed a slower pace of life, lots of time exploring on hikes, visiting lakes and waterfalls, downhill mountain biking at Bolton Valley Resort, and a couple of visits to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I especially enjoyed the apple fritters from North Country Donuts in Morrisville; they were the best I’ve ever tasted and might be worth a trip back to Vermont.

In 2024, we played host to our good friend Charles, who is married to one of our best friends (Tracey) while he prepares to join the U.S. Air Force. We have loved getting to know Charles. Our dog, Jetson, particularly loves having a jogging buddy in the house and will keep up with Charles for 6- to 8-mile runs.

Last year, we started a family holiday bake-off tradition based on the popular Great British Bake Off. Vickey and Pete took first place with their Yule log creation. This year, the selected theme for the bake-off was a Christmas-themed snow globe. We went from five entries last year to seven this year. Our neighbors, the Fillmores, came to judge for a second year. Just for fun, here are our bake-off entries from 2024 and 2025.

For Christmas 2025, we’re looking forward to whatever challenge my brother and his wife, the 2024 first-place winners, choose for us.

We hope you and yours have a wonderful New Year’s filled with opportunity and fun. And we thank God for the gift of His beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.