December 2025
To our family and friends,
Camryn – Camryn turned 8 this year and celebrated with a fun Emoji-themed birthday. She’s loving 3rd grade and continues to excel in school. In gymnastics, she advanced to the Xcel Silver level and is now practicing nearly twice as much as last year. Her hard work paid off—she qualified for state and earned 3rd place all-around. This fall, she had an amazing group of girls on her soccer team, and together they won both the SVYSA end-of-year tournament and the championship at a Thanksgiving rec tournament in Everett. Camryn also gave spring basketball a try; even though it wasn’t her favorite sport, she enjoyed the experience. She has steadily progressed through swim levels and loves practicing her skills in the summer—whether at Lake Louise, Tiger Lake, the river, or anywhere else she can get in the water. On her annual “date day” with Briana this summer, they went ziplining in Leavenworth. It was one of their most memorable days together, and Camryn declared it “not scary at all” as she zipped over canyons at more than 35 mph on lines longer than the height of the Space Needle. Now, she’s counting down the days until ski season begins!
Blake – Blake turned 6 this summer and celebrated with a party at the local bike pump track. He also lost his very first tooth— though in true Blake fashion, he gave it a good yank and twist to get it out himself! Now in first grade, he’s thriving in class. His teacher calls him a “chatty guy,” but he’s doing great academically. He’s in his third season of basketball, played soccer this fall with Phillip as his assistant coach, and advancing quickly through swim lessons. Blake is happy doing just about anything, and he’s especially excited for ski season—he can’t wait to try some “big jumps”!
Briana – Briana is now in her eleventh year at Seattle Children’s Hospital, continuing to split her time between the Bellevue and Seattle campuses and the Prenatal Center. This fall, she co-coached Blake’s basketball team with Phillip, even though basketball is far from her area of expertise—but it certainly made for a memorable experience. The kids’ schedules keep her constantly on the move, yet she still finds time to volunteer in both of their classrooms and join a few field trips. She’s been enjoying longer hikes now that the kids can keep up, spending most winter weekends on the ski slopes, and soaking up summer days at one of the parents’ lake houses.
Phillip – Phillip continues to stay active with any sport he can squeeze in between work and parental shuttle bus duties, but most notably, he continues to spend time playing indoor soccer, skiing, and mountain biking. Professionally, he continues his managerial duties on the M2D2 project, a proposed aircraft carrier-capable dry dock at PSNS, but is really starting to look forward to the end of the seemingly unending project. The project has one more year of design remaining, followed by approximately 9 years of construction. Managing that project limits the time he gets to spend “out of the office” on dive jobs, but he still found a way to squeeze a couple of days in the water this past year. He enjoyed his annual camping trip with “the boys”, and celebrated some of their milestone birthdays, reflecting on over 35 years of friendship.
Us - Once the snow finally arrived, we spent as many days as possible skiing up at Snoqualmie last winter. In the spring, we headed to Temecula, CA for a family vacation with Kay and Colin’s family, followed by a fun long weekend at Great Wolf Lodge with the Olson crew. Over Memorial Day, we camped at a new spot— Bumping Lake— and later in the summer camped along the North Fork of the Snoqualmie River with friends. Summer was packed with swimming, boating, and jet skiing between Lake Louise and Tiger Lake, making the most of the beautiful PNW weather. Our garden absolutely exploded this year, producing enough squash and tomatoes to feed all of North Bend. We also took the kids on their first rafting trip, floating down the Yakima River with the Olsons. This fall, both kids enjoyed “Grandma Camp” while Phillip and Briana took their annual international getaway—this year to Switzerland. Most of the trip was spent hiking through incredible scenery (check out the photos under our travel adventures). We hopped between trains and gondolas throughout the Jungfrau region, eventually reaching the “Top of Europe,” where we walked on a glacier, explored ice caves, and took in sweeping views of the entire area. A big highlight was paragliding out of Mürren and landing in the valley of Lauterbrunnen—an unforgettable thrill! After returning home, we celebrated Josh and Erin’s wedding in Spokane, followed by Barb’s 70th birthday surrounded by family and friends. We spent Thanksgiving in Yakima and will be staying close to home for Christmas this year.
We are so blessed to have the family and friends that we do and wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy 2026!
Love,
Phillip, Briana, Camryn (8) and Blake (6)