A Year of Growth (Jacob)

Well 2010 has been an excellent year full of trials and adventures. Our biggest adventure was our month-long voyage around Europe. We made it all the way from Tunis to St. Petersburg on our fantastic 30-day Disney cruise. Our family was also able to squeeze in a few trips to San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles for some weekend getaways.

Beside travel, I’ve been busy with swim all year long. I had a great high school swim season this fall, but unfortunately got sick just as the state meet came around. Our relays did very well, but my individual performance was not what I had anticipated. However, I’m excited to start training again, and head out to some big meets next spring. Another highlight is the fact that Jesse joined me on both the club and high school teams this year!




Over the past couple years I’ve tried without much success to narrow down choices for college. But good news! I believe that I have finally settled on the University of Arizona as my destination next year. I’m both scared and excited to see what college has in store, and I hope to use the next few months to spend lots of quality time with my wonderful friends and family.

Speaking of school, this fall I jumped into my first full load of community college classes. It was certainly a challenge the whole way, but I really appreciated and enjoyed the learning process. I learned not just about the subjects themselves, but I believe that through this I have begun to develop skills and understanding that will serve me through my college career and beyond.

Overall, 2010 has been a busy year, and one filled with growth. My relationships with both my parents and my Lord have grown in meaning, and I hope to honor both even more through the coming year as God continues to form me into the man I will become. It’s been quite a ride, and I can’t wait to see what the coming year has in store.

A couple more of Jacob (magic man and post wisdom teeth) ...

Wow! (Jesse)

Wow. What an amazing year! I am so very thankful for the opportunities that have been given to me. I have done pretty much everything this year, from visiting San Francisco to touring Europe. Very quickly, I would love to present just a couple of highlights from my awesome month-long trip to Europe.

As many of you know, our summer family trip this year took us to Europe, with many amazing stops such as Rome, Berlin and Saint Petersburg. I judged each of our visits by two main factors, historical meaning and beauty. While the winner of most prevalent historical visit must go to Rome for its amazing architecture and history, Berlin was a close second with many WWII relics. However, in my opinion, Oslo, Norway jumped ahead of all other cities in beauty by a mile. Oslo wasn’t just beauty however. we were also privileged to see many amazing artifacts, including an ancient Viking ship! Our trip to Europe was absolutely incredible!

In conclusion, 2010 was an amazing year and while I would love to hang around, I am looking forward to another awesome year.

Thanks to everyone for your great support.

And a few photographic highlights from Jesse ...

Merry Christmas! (2010)

As we talked about our somewhat sporadic and certainly non-traditional year-end letters, I recalled the blog that we established and leveraged for our trip this past year (www.loweryadventure.com). We decided that there was no reason why we need to treat the blog as a point-in-time or event-based item. After all, life is a great adventure. As a result, beginning with this entry and for the coming year, we are going to attempt to provide regular posts of our activities and some photos (that way you can see more than just the one on Beth’s beautiful card).

This past year was a good one. The highlight of the year was clearly our month long trip to Europe (late May through June). We spent the month aboard the beautiful Disney Magic, visiting 14 countries and a host of cities, including Tunis, Malta, Lisbon, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Olso. This blog was originally dedicated to sharing our travel experiences and you are welcome to find the older posts and relive the adventure with us (lots of photos too).

Several times this year we visited San Diego, first for our business team meeting (Beth and Rob), then in April for a family outing and again in October (Beth and Rob). Each time we visited the San Diego Zoo; what a great zoo (family at the zoo below). Shhh, we are heading there again the first weekend in January for what will be a final trip to the zoo for many years as the boys are moving on. We also managed a few beach get-a-ways (July, August and September), a visit to the Getty Villa in Malibu, a couple of trips to San Francisco (family in February and Beth and Rob in September). March was centered around the hope of a new year for the Chicago Cubs (spring training).



Beth has been busy working on getting the house together on the inside and I have been managing the endless stream of projects on the outside. The wiffle-ball field, flag-football field, trampoline and pool are all in. We are currently working on the bbq, the fireplace and the basketball court, hoping to finish in the early part of the year. Perhaps we will provide a few photos in coming blog entries. However, the best way to experience is to visit. Please do stop by.

The boys had a busy year with swim, school and activities (below are the boys talking with Dr. Barry Asmus - world-renowned economist), although I will let them add their own blog entries summarizing their highlights. Beth is as beautiful as ever, really more so! As for me, I am a bit smaller at the end of the year than the beginning of the year, a trend I hope to continue and am looking forward to the quiet time of the season and the adventures of the new year.



More in the coming months …

By the way, here are a few of the photos that didn't make the card.