Reflections on 2017

Reflections on 2017

Much like in 2016, it continues to dawn on us that we have created another human. We enjoy watching him grow into his own person.

This video time-lapse condenses Caleb's first 6 months into 2 minutes

As the video shows, Caleb got a rough case of the flu in January 2017.

Shaunda's grandmother passed away in February so the family gathered in California to celebrate her life. We enjoyed a long weekend in the beautiful Napa valley catching up with friends and relatives.

With Renee & Andrew in the redwoods

David married a strong, riveting woman

In May, we returned to California for Philip and Mien's wedding in Chico

Shaunda's family visited us in August

We drove up to Idaho to watch the solar eclipse

Eclipse time lapse

Darkness at totality was a totally awesome experience

Eclipse glasses are delicious

The sun's corona

The Great American Eclipse Traffic; our drive was 3 hours out and 9 back

In September, David climbed Mt. Whitney with 12 other guys to celebrate their friend Dan's 40th birthday. Dan's idea of "over the hill" involved backpacking 60 miles in 4 days from west to east across the Sierra Nevada mountains.

On top of the highest mountain in the land

A time lapse of our final campsite below Mt. Whitney

A hot spring by the Kern river

Dan standing below a creek that took the high road

Great Basin National Park in September

Prometheus tree with Chad and son Mark (Shaunda behind the camera): That's not a rock we are standing behind, it's a tree stump from a previous record holder for oldest tree. Its location is semi-secret and it's storied past is well worth reading on Wikipedia. Speaking of Great Basin and Wikipedia, David wrote the article about the Forgotten Winchester, a rifle manufactured in 1882 that a park service employee found leaning against a tree in 2014.

In October, we celebrated Caleb's first birthday and his great-grandfather Robert's 90th birthday.

We spent Thanksgiving with David's family in Washington. James and Mendi hosted Thanksgiving dinner, and Caleb had fun playing with his cousins.

Piano lesson

Learning ping pong from Grandma

For most of the year we had a wonderful nanny that Caleb adored. In October Caleb started daycare, which means we all got sick a lot. One of the more notable illnesses we got was Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.

Caleb's hand

David's hand

We had our first Christmas that we stayed home in Salt Lake City. Shaunda's parents visited and watched Caleb while we skied on Christmas Day.

We spent most of 2017 shopping for a new house. We decided we liked our neighborhood so we bought a newer house 2 blocks away. And we immediately started remodeling it. We'll tell you the saga in next year's newsletter.

How the kitchen looked before. Those countertops really were Pepto Bismol pink.

How it looks now

A computer rendering of the layout we are aiming for

Shaunda started a new job at the beginning of 2018 at a slightly larger law firm where she can specialize in employment law. David continues working at Open Legal Services. David and his coworkers put together a humorous Field Guide to Lawyers, which was featured by the Lawyerist and the American Bar Association Journal. This past year he also published an article in the Utah Bar Journal about the legal market and access to justice in Utah.

And now for what everyone wants - a bunch of pictures of Caleb!