Blake, Tiffanie, Emery, Everett, and Delaney: Christmas 2021

"I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.

I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you." Isaiah 41:10 MSG

New Job
Our big news for 2021 is that we moved to Arkansas in October! Blake accepted an administrator position as the Assistant Provost of Student Success and Retention at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. We are still adjusting to 75° December days and traffic and a new house and new schools and new friends. We miss Laramie a bunch. Tiffanie continues to work part-time, remotely for Northern Virginia Community College.

New Kitten
In July we added a new family member, a kitten named Ginny. She already had this name when we met her, but we decided that it’s short for Virginia, which is a perfect choice! When we met her at the animal shelter in Laramie, she was nervous and when there was a loud noise, she huddled in Emery’s lap. This is the moment we fell in love with this sweet kitty! She was born in March and has grown a bunch since we brought her home. She’s sweet with the kids, loves to cuddle, gets a little feisty on occasion (read: she climbs the Christmas tree!), and we love her so much!

Highlights
We began 2021 celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary with dinner and a movie. We celebrated Emery’s 9th birthday with a painting party with 2 of her friends. Emery is bold and confident, she loves stories, fun facts, kitties, and reading. We made it through a mega snowstorm in March with snowdrifts taller than our kids!

This spring, we decided to put our Virginia condo on the market. In July, Delaney and Tiffanie traveled to Virginia to visit Grandma and Grandpa Klud and check on the condo. During that trip, Blake, Emery, and Everett traveled to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Delaney turned 2 at the end of July. Her birthday happens to also be Avocado day, which is her favorite food! Delaney loves babies, kitties, all things Frozen (the movie), and singing loudly for all to hear. She likes to play dress up and put on fancy clothes, but she also likes being outdoors and playing in the dirt. She surprised us in November by reading the word Frozen at an ice cream shop. She can also read Zoo, No, and Yes.

This fall, Emery started 4th grade and Everett started his second year of preschool in Laramie. We miss these schools and friends!

Blake was offered the position at the University of Arkansas at the end of August. September and October were busy months for us. We put our beloved Laramie house on the market and traveled to Fort Smith to buy a house. We chose a beautifully renovated two-story home in a quiet neighborhood within walking distance of an elementary school and middle school. Then we packed everything up and left town mid-October. The weekend prior to our move, Blake drove one of our cars to the Fort Smith airport and flew back to Laramie. The night before Tiffanie, the kids, and the cat planned to fly to Fort Smith (while Blake drove), Laramie gave us a delightfully cold send-off: about 4 inches of snow that closed the highways and eventually canceled our flights. So, in our cram-packed car, taking the only open road out of Laramie, we rode with Blake all the way to Arkansas. Instead of a 9-hour travel day for us, it ended up being 30 hours of travel with 3 kids and a cat in a car not big enough for all of us. It was an adventure!

Everett turned 4 a few days before we moved. This boy loves sports and games, he is tender-hearted, and he loves our kitty. He likes playing baseball and football (Delaney sometimes tackles him!) and jumping through makeshift obstacle courses. Everett can read very well and is starting to learn to spell.

In Arkansas, Emery joined a 4th grade class at the school near our house. She walks to and from school. She joined their Gifted program which meets once a week and will be in their school play in the spring. Everett started 3-day-a-week preschool and he enjoys his class.