Mark

For me in passing the year is marked as thus :

• Work : I completed my 10th year at Amazon (no I don't agree that the NY Times article was balanced or representative) and my first full year in a new team : Pay With Amazon. I love working with my team and helping to build a new business for Amazon. 
• Church : I have continued my service as an early morning Seminary teacher (6-7 am M,T,Th,F), I enjoy the time spent with teenagers in the early morning attempting to have a conversation about faith and the Old Testament. The past is a foreign country, an ancient culture even more. 
• Family : we had some great great times this past year. We spent spring break in Europe, mostly in Germany where we visited with Stac's host family from her High School exchange over 25 years ago and ended the trip in Copenhagen. In June Stacey and Mark celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary camping in an RV in beautiful Washington back country. In July we drove West to see Kiah and Ramon both graduate from BYU Idaho, while doing that we bought a house and moved in (easiest move ever thanks to Morgan and Amy) on Squak Mountain. In August we welcomed baby Nev into the world as Ramon and Kiah had their first child, our first grandchild (GULP Grandparents!) We spent Labor Day together as a family at Scottish Lakes, where the kids complained about no wifi,  no electricity or running water or bathrooms (outhouses : with ash for a "flush") but we had a great time with good old fashioned fun. In November we visited family in Phoenix for Thanksgiving and went to Disneyland for a few days with Josh and Sarah.  Christmas and New Years was extra special as baby Nev and Kiah and Ramon joined us for a wonderful holidays, I took at least 500 photos of little Nev.
• Personal Note :  I was Santa again, though this year I only temporarily dyed the beard.  For my personal hobbies of mountains and photography. I finally sold off my last Nikon body and bought a second Sony Alpha body. The size and weight of the cameras is so much better than Nikon, not to mention the dynamic range of the sensor, built in wifi, tilt screen, focus zoom and focus peaking etc etc. I also upgraded one of my Sonys to the new super small and lightweight Sony RX1M2 which blows me away for the quality of the lens (f2 at 35mm) and the fact it's so compact with full frame AND a macro setting to boot. I've also enjoyed the acquisition of "old" inexpensive manual focus lenses like the Nikkor f8 500mm and the Russian 135mm. You can see all my photos on Flickr and a few on blog, and my fav 24 photos of year 2015. As far as the mountains and outdoors goes. Seth and I failed to have a major epic outing this year due to Kiah’s and Ramon’s graduation, Nev’s birth and Seth and I's move, however there were many good times in the outdoors. This last year in Washington was a weird one weather wise. We had almost no snow pack over the winter. Which meant that I could do hikes in Jan and Feb that shouldn't be possible until May (summit Snoqualmie Mountain) and stuff in April that shouldn't be possible until July (hike to Rampart Ridge). My fav times were those spent with my son : March trip to Ancient Lakes and our May trip canoeing and camping on Cooper Lake. My most epic trip was a climb with Adrian of Mt Stuart (9240 ft via the West Ridge). Route finding proved difficult and we got benighted and spent an extra night out on a ledge as we ran out of daylight. Long day but a great trip! It was a great year for hiking. 
• Media : Lastly I’ll mention my favorite book, album and movie for 2015. The song I seemed to listen to over and over again to the point of driving Stacey crazy was Learning to Relax by Dan Deacon who I saw on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, super funny guy, puts on a great show and has hypnotically addictive beats. The movie that I most anticipated and enjoyed the most was Star Wars : The Force Awakens. I had not seen a single preview when I went on the Saturday after opening. The book series that I enjoyed reading the most was The Martian by Andy Weir, great movie but an even better book.

Stacey

For me this past year has been about the arrival of Neville. We were told they were expecting in December of 2014 and when Kiah was around 4 months along, Sofi and I went to Rexburg, Idaho for her ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. It was a lot of fun to travel with Sofi and we had a lot of fun driving from SLC to Rexburg to be with Kiah and Ramon. It was so fun seeing the look on Kiah and Ramon's faces when the doctor told them they were expecting a boy. Once I heard the it was a boy I started making tons of blankets and burp rags and I maybe did a little shopping.

It was a special trip in April to Germany where I was able to see my host family and introduce them to Sofi and Miles (Mark and I met them about 6 years ago during one of Marks work trips). We had a wonderful Easter weekend with them. They were sad to hear of my parents passing. They had spent a few days in Logan at my parents home when I was younger and a wonderful bond was formed between them. I never thought I'd be back to see them after living with them in 1986 and now I've been able to see them twice at their home in Hiddenhausen. What a blessing.

In May Kiah and Ramon flew up for a baby shower and for their break. A couple good friends and I threw them a wonderful baby shower. Many friends came and it was fun to see Kiah showered with love with many women that she has known from the ward for years. It was a special trip to Rexburg to see Kiah and Ramon graduate from BYU-I. I was a little teary eyed as I watched Kiah receive her BA in social work and then to see Ramon follow right behind her. About three weeks later she had Nev and we were all there to witness his birth. It's an experience I will never forget and felt very honored to have been there. Throughout this year as the kids have gotten older and watching Kiah graduate and then Neville's birth, I can't help but wish my parents were still around to see these things with us and to see their grandkids grow and then to meet their great grandchild. It makes me sad at times but then I am reminded by tender mercies that they are never far away. I see something the kids do and it reminds me of my parents or a laugh or they will say something my parents always said and I feel their love. It's been a hard year at times but there have been more positive and amazing moments that far outweigh the struggles.

I'm so grateful for my family. Kiah, Sofi and Miles continue to amaze me in their growth and the great people they are and continue to become. I feel so grateful to have Ramon as a son-in-law. He's so good to Kiah and Neville and a wonderful example to Sofi and Miles. I am forever grateful to Mark and all he does for our family. He is the love of my life. Neville is beyond cute and such a happy baby. When I see him I have to quote a line from one of my favorite movies, Raising Arizona : "He's an angel sent straight from heaven".

Kiah and Ramon

As previously mentioned Kiah and Ramon announced in February that they were expecting Baby Tangiora. While pregnant Kiah finished up her internship and her degree in Social Work and Ramon finished up his degree in Communication with an emphasis in Journalism and Video Production. As mentioned we watched them graduate in July and the birth of Nev in August was amazing. Three days after Nev was born they moved down to Salt Lake where they live while Ramon completes a paid Internship with the Welfare Department of the Church. We loved having them around for the holidays, we played a lot of games, ate a lot of great food and played just a little bit with baby Nev.

Sofi

Sofi turned sweet 16 this year! She’s continues her Jr. Year of High School online, which requires self discipline and dedication. She is still working on getting her driving permit and there is a car in wait when she gets it completed. She wants a new car and Dad is negotiating for something with four wheels that moves. Sofi is our artist in residence. She designed her own headboard, she decorated her room, she has made a dress and several pairs of pants; she can bake legit real French Macaroons, she makes a mean banana bread and has just completed baking her first apple pie. She continues to train and compete in gymnastics and she loved taking ski lessons with Dad over the Christmas break. She is debating returning to Issaquah High next year and wants (currently) to go to school in anthropology.

Miles

Mr. Miles turned 12 this year. He is still in loves Legos, he got a Millennium Falcon and X-Wing for Christmas which he has already put together. He loves Minecraft and often plays with his friends Dane and Nick as well as other X-Box games like Disney’s Infinity series.  Miles is still not into eating foods that are outside his norm.  Hamburgers and hot dogs are still plain, no ketchup. Spaghtetti still has no sauce.  His favorite food is Terriyaki Chicken from Toshi's by QFC in Issaquah. When Toshi went on vacation over the break to Korea Miles was so sad that Toshi gave him a big plate of chicken and his homemade teriyaki sauce so that we could make the dish while he was gone.  Miles made Dad buy him a PC so that he can play cool preview games available on STEAM, like Slime Rancher. Miles is not really into hiking right now as it requires too much effort, though we did find that getting him orthotics for his shoes helps his feet not hurt as much. Miles does still enjoy camping with his Dad.

Hope

Hope is getting older just like all of us.   She has enjoyed another great year of hiking with Mark, but she is starting to show the years and to slow down a bit. She had some surgery on Christmas Eve to remove some lumps that thankfully just turned out to be fatty tissue and not cancerous.

We wish you the best in the coming year, may your hopes and dreams come true.  May you acquire memories and experience over possessions and may you find peace and happiness.  (Go here to subscribe for next year's letter or find us on Facebook, Flickr and Instagram.