Merry Christmas 2018!!

Life certainly gets busy and a year after not doing our Christmas letter or cards, I am a little sad I don't have the 2017 summary to look back on, I may have to add it in!  So with that here we are with our annual Toppenberg Christmas update! We finally got family photos all together, thanks to #AnneMariePhotography.  Brody was not the easiest to capture but, glad to have the photos to cherish them at these ages. So here they are, our family photo shoot.

This location had special meaning for Maycen because she joined girl scouts this year and they did a overnight camp out in these cool open cabins in 40 degree weather.  I thought that this would be the perfect way to remember her first outing without us camping! Scroll to the bottom for our Christmas letter and the cheesiest shot of the day!

Read More here!

                                    -2018-                                   

    We started off 2018 with adding a new member to our family!  Miss #Charlottemay is our Charcoal Labrador and has spent the year keeping us busy with having a puppy who is now 70 pounds and still acts like a puppy but clearly isn't!

The biggest news this year was in May, Jared retired from the Military putting in 20 years of service with active Army and finishing his career in the National Guard.  We did not have the most exciting military career with our family but we are blessed that it brought us together in Hawaii and to have been stationed in one location to raise our kids. After two deployments and countless weekends apart we are glad to be starting a new chapter.

We are happy to announce that we moved.....only a few houses away but it gave us just enough space and didn't have to change too many things!  Someday, I will be more daring but with work and traffic we are in such a convenient location and we have always loved this house down the street!

 Last year Jared was itching for a camper or a Boat to sleep on.  After much searching we finally found a camper that will pull our toys and its been a lot easier to get up to the mountains!  We are always looking for fun families to camp with and want to plan a trip to the Redwoods or Canada in the near future.  We are planning some winter camping at the slopes so stay tuned for posts of pipes bursting ( I hope not) and other adventures!

Mnt Hood 

2018/ 2019 Goals: skiing and getting both kids comfortable on the slopes leading us to the Epic pass.  We are hoping to get up to the slopes as much as possible.  So much so that Jared talked me into a ski swap for"the kids". It was all downhill from there and he swapped out his snowboard for an unexpected Christmas present for himself, new Skis and boots and no more Board😞 

The kids are doing great in school this year.  Maycen is almost 9yrs old, this December in 3rd grade and Brody is 6 years in Kindergarten.  Many of you know some of the challenges we have faced this past year and we seem to be in a good place overall. Really happy about a lot of the decisions that I was struggling with over the past year.  

We have all been very lucky to be healthy this past year.  Maycen and I both had our tonsils removed and hoping our immune system holds up through the winter season.

I am still working Part-time at the Military Hospital on the Pediatric Oncology Inpatient unit and Jared is still growing our Advantaclean franchise #advantacleansswa.  Its going strong for the past 4 years now. We have a great team of hard working employees and we are always looking for friends that know hard workers, looking to be part of a great team.

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 We have been blessed that our families have been fairly healthy and still make efforts to come visit us!  Becky's Mom had back surgery in July and has recovered well enough to hang with the kiddos this past November and Jared's family came out for the retirement party and to help us get things put together after our move.  

     And here is the shot of the day, just seeing Brody's face makes me giggle!               2018

Thanks for taking a minute to catch up with us!  You know where to reach us and now that we have extra bedrooms you are always welcome,but now more comfortably welcome, to drop in for a visit!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, time to slow down and enjoy those we love, and a happy and healthy New Year!
                                                      The Toppenberg's

                                                          Jared, Becky Maycen and Brody

Throwback       2013