Custer State Park, Black Hills South Dakota

The Needles of the Black Hills

Finn with his brand new sword before he melted it in the campfire.

Wildlife Loop, Custer State Park. It's all Erik's fault.

Beautiful Colorado

Glenwood Springs Weekend Trip with the Kahlers

Bed Head

Erik got a new canoe for his birthday in June. He's old...

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. The last summer of Finn in the child carrier.

Aubrey and Finn (Click on photos to enlarge)

Monkey see, monkey do....

Aubrey has as dress up doll and he talks!

Yearly tulip picture. Aubrey is on her knees in the picture.

Finn just because...

Winter Fun

Erik went on a ski-in hut trip last January above Leadville, Colo. Awesome weather, great company, and ample rich food (and the exercise to make it guilt-free).

It was so cold in February that we were able to instantly vaporize a cup of boiling water.

Christmas 2010

Christmas was spent in California with Gelerie's family. Here's a picture of the three girl cousins with Alyssa, Kylie, and Aubrey (L to R). Gelerie did the facepainting (backup career plan).

2010 update

A while ago a friend told me about the concept of a Personal Annual Report. It works on the same principle as a business annual report. So what did the Stenbakken's care about in 2010? In January we drafted a Personal Annual Report with blanks for tallies under categories like "Family & Social" with sub-categories like backyard cookouts, Mom & Dad date nights, and friends over. The category "Personal Improvement" had headings for books read, exercise days, etc. Other categories included "Church & Service," "Long-term Financial" and "Adventure" with tallies for nights camping, canoeing, skiing and 14ers climbed.

What we quickly found is the difference between what we *want* to do and what we *actually* do. We saw how much time we invested outside the home. Some of that is a good thing, but we could see the lack of tallies in other categories that paid for it. So what difference did that make? Lots. We both cut back on runaway obligations that monopolized our time and invested in the things we *wanted* to do. Result? A better year for us. There were losses and issues, BUT we found that by LIVING INTENTIONALLY we did so much more of what we wanted to and wasted less time on the trivial (example: we disconnected TV/Cable). Result? Less "where did the year go?" and more "we're glad we did that." The stats of the Report aren't relevant to anyone but us. But the results have been very positive. (If you're interested in a sample of a Personal Annual Report, drop me a line via stenbakken.com and I'll send you one.)

Annual reports are a great summary of a year. But how does one summarize a lifetime? Businesses have tag lines, mottos, and mission statements and we think it normal (in fact, we think it foolish NOT to have one). But what about a family? What kind of *life* goals do you have? While I encourage you to answer that for yourself, here's our family's motto: Neighbors Together Forever. Items like "date nights" and "14ers climbed" have some value… but not at the trade-off of eternity. We are Christians and Adventist ones to boot. That simply means that at Christmas we think of the first Advent (coming) more than sales rebates and toys (though we enjoy both). It's our belief and faith in a second Advent that gives us real hope and satisfaction -- yes, even more than some hashes by "nights camping." That philosophy is more than an add-on, compartmentalized philosophy; it goes to the core of what motivates us and fills us with hope. We could wish nothing better for you too.

And now, on with the highlights of 2010…





Here's our 2010 annual family card. If you missed this great deal on sale, too bad. You'll just have to settle for a blog entry. At least we're regular… every year we update it! So here is a 2010 retrospective (minus December since it's end of November as I write).




Gelerie has been practicing face painting. You can tell who holds still longer. It's our backup career plan for Gelerie.



Erik has made it a goal to climb as many 14ers as he can. Total this year: 6. This shot is by Jeremy Jacob on a failed attempt at what should have been a simple 14er (as 14ers go): Mt. Sherman. Turned around when winds hit 50 - 70 mph and visibility dropped to 30 feet (and you may have noticed, it was rather cool out). Live to climb another day.



Oh, the kids both got glasses.




Took a great vacation to South Dakota. Stayed at Custer State Park and re-took our family photo in front of the faces (compare to last year's shot).



We harvested a LOT of pie cherries from our two trees. Not sure how many, but maybe 5 gallons. Gelerie has worked hard on perfecting her pie making skills and has done deliciously well.



Not many people know this, but as the air thins at altitude, gravity has less and less effect. Some days, it's just plain hard to stay on the trail. When people say they get "winded" what they usually mean is "I was just kinda floating and the wind pushed me along." This is a rare photo of that phenomenon.



More pics… just because.





Went camping west of Fort Collins at Tunnel Campground with Erik's parents, grandpa, Rikki (Erik's sister) and her family and inlaws. Everybody smelled like campfire = good times.



They let you pretty much do anything up in Wyoming. Thought we'd give Finn a shot at driving.







Camping in Wyoming with our friends the Kahlers. Aubrey caught her first trout (on a dry fly no less!).



Yes. That's a 40 on the cake. Forty is now the new 30. Or 20. (I can't remember -- I'm over 40)





Scenes from our "What would it look like if we went to Hawaii" photo contest. We won.





We'd heard great stuff about the Great Sand Dunes National Park down by Alamosa and the spring runoff. For a few weeks every spring a river forms right along the dunes. It's generally quite wide and very shallow. Kind of like a very gentle beach with tiny waves (like 3") that roll down the river every 20 seconds or so. The kids loved it and we did too. Went with the Kahlers on this adventure too.



Annual "Aubrey in the tulips" photo shoot.



After reading time, it's tickling time. Not sure who enjoys it more, the kids or the parents. :-)



Finn pulled it off right before his first birthday: his first steps. By now he's running of course. Not with the scissors, we talked about that. But he's running with all kinds of other stuff and having a blast. We, of course, are spending more time running too: "Finn, put that back!" or "Finn, where did you get that?" or even some times, "Finn, how in the world did you get that?" So if any of you need a tiny person who can get into virtually anything (think Ocean's Eleven) … give us a call. We've got a gem for you!

2009 Family Update

If the theme of this year's card is eluding you, think "Tchaikovsky" … and if that doesn't do it, think "Sugar Plum Fairy" … and if that doesn't do it, here it is: Finn is the Nutcracker.

Woo hoo! 2009 is just about done. Where did it go? Ah, right. Diaper changes. Midnight bottle feedings. Diaper blowouts. Baths. Repeat. The good news is He's turning into a little boy -- and a pretty good one too.

Yes. Finn Christian Stenbakken is the big news of the year. Born Jan. 19 in the usual way. Alien cone head went back to normal within an hour or so, but made for some great dramatic photo ops. Those'll be handy when he starts dating. Gelerie took four months off work for maternity leave and we all enjoyed that. She went back to work "part time" (that is, about 40 - 50 hours a week) and is still enjoying her work in the Fort Collins group. We still live in Greeley though.

Aubrey is enjoying first grade and is now sooo much older than the kindergartners. In June, Aubrey, Finn, and Gelerie visited family in California. Aubrey got to go to Disney (do they make traps for mice that big?). Daddy had to stay and work. In other Aubrey news, she's now riding her bike without training wheels. Four wheels to two … then back to four as a teenager *sigh*.

We tried camping in the Westy at Mount Rushmore. Hmmm. Let's just say that I now recommend children be over six months old before you attempt to sleep in a very small, enclosed space. So that vacation was shorter than we'd planned. We're looking forward to this summer when he's more like 18 months old. Glenwood Springs in the fall was great, though. Finn did much better (and so did the rest of us as a result). We all loved the warm water and had fantastic Colorado fall weather.

We had a great harvest of cherries, by far the best so far. Apples were good this fall too (Galas and Red Delicious). We now have a great supply of home made applesauce. Good thing Finn likes it too.

Erik is still doing the photography thing. Work is slower than last year (no surprise, the economy what it is). I'm now getting my toes into video. We'll see where that goes. I finally got out and did a 14er again (that is, a mountain over 14,000 ft high). I did two at once with Stan Kahler [Grays and Torreys in mid Oct.]



There's this funny story about Craigslist and child seats… 



And the rest of the photos are pretty much self-explanatory. And before Child Protective Services calls, that black eye is Aubrey as self-painted kitty (see the ears above her eyes?) Her friend, Sofia is a, um, different animal. Enjoy. Drop us a line.










Don't forget, you can see past years' card photos in our past blog posts! Enjoy.