Fall & Winter Happenings - 2024/2025

School started back again in August and all Fall activities started up immediately. Kaitee and I headed out one Friday afternoon to enjoy the Moline homecoming parade (Will joined the Culver's crew to walk the parade). 

The next weekend, my sister came for a visit. It was great to see her and hang out with the family. 

We welcomed Maddie home from her 3rd trip to Guatemala in October. It was so nice to have her home!

We voted (Maddie for the first time!), enjoyed dinner dates (I love that our kids surprise us and pay the bill occasionally!) and took in the beauty around us on our evening walks around the neighborhood.

The kids traveled to Peoria to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender in concert. 

The girls & I drove to Oregon, IL to enjoy an afternoon away. We walked the steps at Castle Rock, taking in the scenic views, shopped at a few Goodwills and stopped to play at a playground for a bit.

Fall came & went too quickly - But we were able to get away for a few day trips, enjoying the beautiful fall leaves in the Midwest. 

One day trip was spent in the Dubuque, IA area. We started our day by driving north along the Mississippi River on the IL side - exploring the scenery of the Palisades.

We loved seeing these pumpkin fields along IL 84. 

Continuing north, we stopped at Chestnut Mountain near Galena to see if the Alpine Slide was open (sadly, it wasn't) but we took time to enjoy the views as we walked around the resort. 

Driving into Galena we found a few letterboxes and explored the area a bit (even after visiting for 25+ years, we found some new places!).

Driving Hwy 20, we crossed the river into Dubuque, stopping downtown to find a letterbox and walk along the riverfront. The city has done a great job beautifying that area!

We also spent some time at Eagle Point Park in Dubuque. This park has many special memories for me as we held our Swartout Family reunion at this park every year.

Leaving the park, we drove south to Mines of Spain and walked out to the Julien Dubuque monument - which offers an amazing view of the Mississippi River Valley.

Our last stop for the day was a hike along the trails of Swiss Valley Nature Preserve. It was a wonderful spot to end our day, taking in the fresh air, seeing the Fall colors - all during the golden hour just before sunset.

We loved reading the adventures of Acorn (kids book) along the trail. 

November 15th, we headed to Vibrant Area (downtown Moline) to watch our Iowa Hawkeye boys basketball team take on Washington State, in a pre-season exhibition game. It was a great game (we pulled out the win!) and a fun way to watch the boys again!

Just a few weeks later, we were celebrating Thanksgiving with the Barman family. Teri, Steve & Judah came to visit for the long weekend - it's always wonderful to have the family together!

As is usually the case, there was no shortage of delicious food and an array of games...

Look at Matt - he's ready for Thanksgiving! 

And Maddie ran the 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.

The first part of December, Matt & I took the plunge of purchasing a "new to us" vehicle. We were having a lot of issues with the vehicle that Maddie drove, so we traded that one in for a 2017 Lincoln MKC and we love it! It's much smaller than the minivans that we have driven for the past 20 years, but it gets good gas mileage and is so comfy! Maddie is now driving our Nissan minivan, so that is available for transporting bigger items or when we have all of the kids with us for a longer drive. With the exception of the car loan (ha!), it is a win win for all of us! 

I am officially Over the Hill now (as I start my 51st year), I reached the peak of 50 last year and am now heading downhill. LOL. I had a wonderful day with work & family.

The kids surprised me with flowers...

And I received lots of goodies from my work family. 

That evening, we celebrated with the family. The kids surprised me with a walking pad! This allows me to continue walking during the winter/colder months. I'm so excited to use it!

We had a LOT of sweets in the house thanks to our Christmas baking, so we opted to not make a cake for my birthday. The twins came up with the idea of using a Lindt chocolate with a candle, lol. It was a great day - truly blessed!

Kaitee bought tickets to the Jim Hensen Exhibit in Peoria, IL for her & Matt. I tagged along for a day of shopping while they attended the exhibit. They really enjoyed seeing all of the puppets and reading some of the history. 

January tends to be a hard month for people - the excitement of Christmas is gone, the house is empty, it is cold and snowy, etc. Luckily, we have 2 birthdays to celebrate! We got together with extended family a few days before Maddie & Will turned 19. 

Pizza, cake, fellowship - it was wonderful!

We also celebrated Hunter's birthday (Kayla's boyfriend).

We celebrated the twins on their actual birthday (the 19th - it's their star/golden birthday this year). 

Time to open gifts - they received cash from us

Artwork from Kaitee...

And from each other - Maddie got a Polaroid Lego Set, Will got a playstation controller

Early February, Matt & I drove south to Burlington, in hopes of spotting some bald eagles along the river. We weren't disappointed! 

From Burlington, we crossed over the Mississippi and drove to Macomb (slightly out of our way) to shop at the Goodwill and to hunt through Oakwood Cemetery for my great grandfather's grave (Harold Raymond Huff). Matt has recently gotten lost in the Find-a-Grave website - adding and linking family members. It has been a lot of fun researching and finding new connections. One of the missing cemetery entries was Harold Raymond Huff. We knew that he was buried in Macomb but not sure where. My mom had a photo from a visit to the cemetery many years ago, but it didn't give us a clue as to the location of the marker. We were limited on daylight but took our chances (luckily, I had been with Mom when we visited Oakwood Cemetery so I was able to pinpoint the area where I thought he was buried). I was so excited to find his gravestone! Since then, Matt has been able to add the plot to Find-a-Grave and added all the family connections - we are pretty excited to have everything documented and connected!

We came home from church one Sunday afternoon and found our neighborhood fox hanging out, enjoying the sun and a good nap. He's been very busy every night - finding food for his young family. We often see him coming and going throughout the night on our cameras.

Love warm temps in January!! I got out for a walk around the neighborhood on this nice day.

A few days later, Matt & I drove to Peoria for a day away - we grabbed lunch and shopped at a few Goodwill stores then went hunting through Springdale Cemetery. We were looking for the grave of my Great-Great Grandfather (Harold Raymond Huff's father). Springdale has a wonderful tool - a QR code to scan as soon as you enter the cemetery. The code takes you to their website where you can search the name you are looking for! It was so easy. Unfortunately, we had issues locating William Ernest Huff Sr's grave (as well as his 2nd wife) because they are both in unmarked gravesites. Their plots are near the brown grass area. We drove away really bummed but thankful to have found where they were.

Matt was able to fly out to Oregon to visit his family for the better part of a week in February. He really enjoyed his time with them. We were so thankful for good weather (albeit COLD!), allowing minimal delays with his flights. 

Matt noticed the high school as he flew out of Moline - it is always neat to see things from an aerial view!

Ken & Connie's driveway - their property is beautiful!

While Matt was spending time in Oregon with family, the rest of us celebrated Valentine's Day with our annual Valentine's dinner. I also put together a few puzzles while he was away.

Matt was awarded "Top Driver Performance of the Year" for 2024 from Medilogix. Considering he had driven over 81,000 miles this past year, with the safest driving record in the company (120+ drivers) - that is a huge accomplishment! We are so proud of him!

It only took me 19 years, but Maddie & Will's baby books are officially done! LOL. I wasn't going to write in the books - it had taken me so long (many many years) to finally get the pictures into the books. I couldn't muster enough energy to finish the books. Matt encouraged me to take my time in finishing them at my own pace and reminded me how special the books will be with the handwritten notes. So, I set out to work on them and planned to finish them as a Valentine's Day gift to them. Mission accomplished. I think I surprised them.

It is now March 1st - I'm calling winter CLOSED for the season! Hello Spring! How we have missed you and look forward to all that you have to offer in the upcoming weeks!