Christmas Letter 2022
Dears Friends and Family-
“Hans Family, party of six” Growing up as the oldest of four siblings I vividly remember hearing this when we went out to restaurants, I guess for some reason I thought that was enough to be ready for having four kids ourselves. That was a lie.
We started the year by welcoming Huxton to the family. After years of our lives (and Christmas letters) being dominated by babies and pregnancies, I would like to think we are set. I mean I got fixed. Four car seats and three in diapers at times has been… an experience. We call it a circus, but it’s our circus.
This year we never bought an RV. The truth is we are probably not going to buy an RV anytime soon. However, I did partner with two friends to buy a small airplane. Though we haven’t adventured as far or as often as I had hoped so far, we have been able to go flying as a family and have designs to go further and farther as the kids become better self-loading luggage.
Work for me this year has taken some turns that nobody expected. I began the year at Climb Capital and still working the Navy Reserves. In March my business partner and I made an investment in Velocity Restorations, a high-end Classic Ford Bronco restoration company. As part of that transaction, we agreed that I would spend six months at Velocity and that Bob would run Climb during that time. However, as the 6-month time came to an end we realized that the team at Climb had more than stepped up in my absence and that Velocity could still use my service as an executive. So, over the last couple of weeks we have started to promote some of the team at Climb Capital to partners and I have officially stepped away from day to day. I’ll still have a board seat at Climb, but my full-time focus is now on building Velocity.
Heidi is thriving as a super mom with four kids. We have a pretty clear break that Lily is a daddy’s girl and that all the boys are momma’s boys. With all three of the boys having an “X” in their name I was hoping to have intense, action-oriented, and extreme kids ready to take on the world. But for now, we have babies, toddlers, and little boys who still need naps and always want to be held by their mom. However, there is still hope! If the amount of noise they make and the amount of running around inside the house is any indication of their future I may still get my wish.
Lily is in first grade, has started reading, and continues to be more like me. She is very sweet until she flips to teenager mode and gives all the sass. She is old enough with Hux to actually be helpful and has the other two wrapped around her finger. This summer she mastered swimming and is going to run the world someday or will at least continue to think she runs the house.
Dexter is in his last year of preschool. He likes to follow the rules and report on those who are not. He loves playing and watching sports but has a terrible habit of switching loyalties to whatever team is in the lead. He continues to be the slowest clothes changer of all time. He and Lily are starting to really get along and create trouble together and he is our jokester with a big laugh.
Maxwell, or Maxie, as he likes to call himself, is also in preschool and started talking clearly around Thanksgiving. He is using his newfound voice to be very specific in his requests. Almost every night he wins the contest on not eating dinner. He is also the sweetest kid, with big puppy dog eyes, including when he is told to stop doing something. He will sweetly agree, look you straight in the eyes, and then immediately do it again.
Huxton rounds out the family, he is already standing and is by far our most chill baby. Other than when he wants to eat, he is the happiest baby we have had. He is also going to be tough after all the “love” his siblings give him both intentionally and unintentionally every day.
We don’t know what next year will bring, but that has been pretty standard practice the last few years. The plan is to make Pensacola home for at least a few more years and raise these kids to be Jesus loving productive adults. We would love to have you at our 10-seat dinner table!
Sincerely
Jeremy, Heidi, Lily, Dexter, Maxwell, and Huxton
