Merry Christmas : 2014 Highlights

22 Dec Merry Christmas : 2014 Highlights

2014 Highlights : Noelle turns 24 | Outdoor winter activities make the season bearable | Hosting Wartburg College Concert bands in Rochester |  Brewing Beer | Weddings | World Cup 2014 | Community Mission Trip to Chicago | Noelle is a REALTOR® | Family Photos | Celebrate 2 Years of marriage in Red Wing, MN | Chris turns 26 | Kayak Adventure | Orchard and Vineyard | Birth and Baptism of Godson, Paxton | “Friendsgiving” | Hosting Roberts Family Thanksgiving | New Car Purchase | Family time at Christmas | Merry Christmas!

2014 went by extremely fast.  Busy years seem to go by the quickest and while we’re excited for what 2015 brings, looking back makes us realize how wonderful 2014 really was, how much we accomplished, and the relationships we’ve maintained.

We celebrated Noelle turning 24 in January along with Tripolino family Christmas.  We also aimed to do things with friends to make it through an extremely harsh Minnesota winter that included trying cross country skiing and snowshoeing (both of which we thoroughly enjoyed) Chris also played, for his second year of broomball.  Don’t know what broomball is?  Click the link.  We promised each other we’d take a trip to escape the cold weather, however the furthest we got was Nebraska.  It may not seem like much of a vacation, but Chris had never been and we went to a zoo (which means Noelle was a happy camper) That too was rather cold though.  We have decided to hold the promise a little better this year and are planning a February trip for this year.

Chris, Noelle, and friend Josh began developing a plan and have aspirations of opening a microbrewery/venue. This year we brewed 32 gallons and attended 2 beer expos. It’s a very interesting hobby and process that uses our love of cooking, mixing unique flavors, as well as sharing libations at gatherings with friends and family.

In March Noelle spent time at a Real Estate conference in Las Vegas while chris and friend Josh took a 44 hour trip to Vicksburg Mississippi to visit Josh’s brother. They spent 40 of those 44 hours in the car driving.  Both of us were happy (unfortunately separately) to spend time away from the snow.

In April we hosted the Wartburg Wind Ensemble at Gloria Dei.  We found housing for all students and thoroughly enjoyed spending the evening with some friends still in the band.

The summer brought with it many weddings.  We celebrated with good friends as well as playing our instruments for some weddings and other events.  Noelle has enjoyed her name getting around Rochester and playing more gigs this year.  It’s amazing how word travels.

The world cup was a big event in our home this year.  We spent one game downtown Rochester with about 1000 of our closest friends.  Technology failed the bigscreen, but we enjoyed being in a community that was positive about crowding around normal sized TVs.

In July we went on a community mission trip to Chicago.  Highlights for us being: working with the night ministry bus to serve meals and meet people where they’re at. Also, getting to live (in close quarters) for a week with members of our church family whom we have loved getting to know.

Noelle received her real estate license in August and has been enjoying her normal marketing position on a team as well as using her license to facilitate home sales on behalf of members of the team. Do you know someone looking to buy or sell their home?

Chris and Noelle celebrated 2 years of marriage in Red Wing, MN – a very fun and relaxing getaway.

Chris turned 26 in September.  We spent the better part of the day kayaking and having a pretty great dinner, but his birthday brought with it headaches of finding health insurance.  It took a few months, but starting with the new year he should be covered.  We continue to pray for good health and that nothing major happens though!

Chloe turned 9 in October and the fact she is an “old lady” becomes more apparent as we schedule her to have some teeth removed just after Christmas.  Chloe and Chris get along way better than either of them would like to admit and we adore coming home to such a wonderful and enthusiastic welcome.

We hosted “friendsgiving” this year in addition to the Roberts family thanksgiving.  So much turkey!

Chris also got a new car (a mazda 3) in November.  His car lost all power as he went to go through an intersection in town.  He got it restarted, but it was pretty much the end of our patience as we had put thousands of dollars into that car in the last year.  We are happy to have a reliable car now with great gas mileage.  We have, however, learned to look for cruise control before our next car purchase (we thought that was a given not an add-on) and we don’t look forward to having a car payment again, but such is life.

Attending Christmas with Wartburg in Des Moines with friends this year really put us in the Christmas spirit of preparing and waiting for Jesus. We are excited to lift the focus off of material gifts and on spending time with our family and friends this year. We pray you have a blessed Christmas and wonderful 2015.