2016 - The Year in Review - First Trimester

I can remember one year when we did the traditional “Holiday Letter.” It was the year that we were in the process of trying to adopt Quinton, so we were “marketing ourselves” to our family and friends that year. Looking back, it was a fun letter to do, even if it was not necessary from the salesman side of house. I thought it would be fun to condense 2016 into a bit of a letter to our family (thank you both of my readers) and so that future versions of ourselves might enjoy reading it as well. So, here it goes!

2016 was definitely one for the record books in Grady annals. No, we didn’t relocate from one state to another - that was SO 2015. But we did hit many milestones that are worth noting.

January

January started out at the tail end of a LONG trip “home” to the midwest. We spent New Year’s Day with friends and family up in the UP of Michigan where we spent New Year’s Day. While it was a lot of fun, it was tempered with the reality of the 17 hour drive back to Colorado shortly following…

January was also a month where we were deep in the throes of home improvement, this time our kitchen.

The boys and Jenny were able to take part in a Martin Luther King march in downtown Denver where they were able to hookup with the local Black Lives Matter crew for a little walk. I imagine they all have FBI files now.

On our way to the airport, it was fun seeing the city get behind their football team. I’ve only ever experienced Wisconsin during a Super Bowl run prior to this, so it was amusing and interesting to watch these Coloradans work themselves into a frenzy for their (I guess “our”) local team.

No winter is complete without a couple of ski days in the mountains!!!

The home improvements didn’t stop in the kitchen. Here we are working on wiring up a new entry light, which was complicated by the fact that it was 14 feet in the air!!!

February

February started out with a storm! I swear, there is never a dusting of snow out here. It’s either no snow, or it is 8+ inches!

The home improvement bandwagon continued full force in February with more kitchen fun.

Basketball is a main attraction in the winter as well, something Quinton likes to do quite a bit. Of course, two weeks after our “major” snowstorm, he was able to take his new birthday present outside and challenge his older brother to a quick pickup game.

Of course, mandatory trip into the mountains!

Oh, and did I mention, we finally were able to bring Mireille into our home in February!!! I won’t even attempt to rehash that whole episode, but if you are interested, go back and re-read the posts from that time period. What a ride!

Additional Reading:

• Two Days on the Hill - Brandon heads to DC to lobby Congress.
• She’s Coming Home! - Brandon heads back to DC to pickup Mireille!!!

March

March was pretty devoid of posts. After the February that we had, it was a time to unwind. But we did take a ton of pictures! Go figure!!! Mireille attempted to get settled into a new setting, complete with snow (she wasn’t impressed). Quinton continued his domination of the basketball courts (OK, they never won a game, but he liked it), and we took a nice spring break vacation down to the Phoenix area to visit Grandpa and Grandma Grady. Spring went by in a blur, for sure - so many changes. If I haven’t said it before, adjusting to three children continues to be the hardest thing I’ve had to do.

April

With April came Spring! Home from our spring break, it was back to acclimating to life in the United States for Mireille, and acclimating to life with Mireille for the rest of us. Soccer continued, home improvements resumed as we updated our home from its vintage roots. We also made the first of our three driving trips to the midwest, this time to celebrate Jenny’s nephew’s wedding along with her family. Also, a big event in Ethan’s religious career, he is now able to tithe as he is a full on Catholic having been confirmed this month. He celebrated like any good Catholic would - by skipping mass for the next several weeks.