January 2026

We had a lot of basketball in January with the end of Allison’s JV season and the start of Sarah’s Cadet season.  Allison’s team continued to have a few regular season games during the month, but the highlight was their city tournament.  They won 3 games in 4 nights to be city champs and celebrated a 35-32 win over Heritage Christian.  Allison contributed by scoring 8 points, several assists and even had a chance to play point guard for part of the game.  Their season ended during an invitational held at Chatard on January 31st. Sarah’s team won both of their games in January and Sarah has hit a few 3 pointers in those games.  She plays good team defense and does her best to provide help-side defense when needed. 

 

            As I mentioned last month, the company I work for was sold to a new partner in mid-December and after the holidays, there has been a lot of things going on.  We enjoyed a nice “closing” dinner in Carmel with our previous owners and board of directors to celebrate a job well-done.  The bank we worked with since I’ve been in my role took us out to dinner and a Pacers game.  Finally, we got to meet up with LDI (new partners) and discuss 2026 plans and meetings.  After those meetings, a few of us when to Wisconsin and Illinois to have a planning session with our divisions to do some strategy planning for this year. 

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah has continued going to Genesis to work on strength, speed and agility.  She has also continued her 2-3 softball practices per week with her “Midtown Machine” team that should be fun to watch this spring. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

             Allison has started a few practices and 2 tournaments for her CROI volleyball team.  This team includes 2 other girls form Chatard and her participation has increased in February with basketball being over. 

 

A few more items from this month:

• We had a new garage floor installed in early January.  It looks very nice and was an improvement to the cracks and holes that we had before. 
• We had a large snowstorm in late January which shut down schools and much of the city for a few days.  After the storm, it was very cold, so the snow has stuck around for a long time. 

December 2025

 

            We kicked off our holiday celebrations by heading to Columbus, OH to meet up with Laura’s family and mom at a hotel for a quick one-day trip.  We arrived a few minutes after the Dodsons and we found ourselves in the hotel lobby eating pizza, exchanging presents, and watching football.  There was a conference room where the kids all went to play a few games together, which was fun to listen to them laugh and have fun given their age differences.  The next morning, everyone enjoyed breakfast before leaving. 

 

            Our church offered a 4PM mass, so we all went to that which allowed for us to hang out a little more that evening.  In what has evolved into a tradition, Deb organized an appetizer menu and the Dodsons, Cyphers and Mark were able to come.  The next morning, Anna and Randy came by to celebrate Christmas around the tree and open gifts.  Sarah got a new softball bat and Allison got new headphones.  We also surprised them with tickets to see Morgan Wallen this May.  Allison started feeling a little sick earlier in the week, so we watched some sports on TV and had a ham dinner with Randy and Anna that evening. 

 

            Julie & Kyle came to Indy a few days after Christmas and stayed with Randy & Anna.  We went to church on Saturday and then came back to our house for some chicken noodle soup and opened presents.  Julie, Kyle, Debbie, and I went to the gym the following morning and we had dinner at the Cyphers house.  Allison stayed home on the couch as she continued to not feel well and ended up being sick for about a week. 

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah had a good time going to a birthday party at the K of C for one of her classmates.  She left there to meet up with her softball team for a holiday party which was challenging to get to due to a snow storm.   She has started practice for her CKS basketball team and is enjoying someone else coaching her other than me!  She continues to have softball practices and going to a strength and conditioning gym nearby 2 times a week. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

             Allison has her first set of high school “finals” and did well.  She had a study schedule and handled it well.  She has continued her basketball season on the JV team and although she missed a few practices due to being ill over the holidays, continues to start most of the time and enjoys being part of the team and learning from the coaches.   She will be doing some volleyball this spring and has had a few practices with that team, but that will likely pick up in February after basketball is done. 

 

A few more items from this month:

• After a 9-month process, the ownership group at my work transitioned from Firefly to LDI.  While my day-to-day job does not change too much, I have learned a lot during the last year. 
• We had a holiday dinner at Cobblestone in Zionsville with the leadership team from my work.  It was a fun evening and good to see everyone out of the office. 
• I was invited for one of the department outings in December where we took our remote workers go-karting at K1 Speed.  It was a lot of fun and good to see the competitive spirit among our team. 
• We stopped by the Campbell’s house for a holiday open house.  The girls in 7th grade enjoyed laughing and carrying on while the adults saw the new renovation in their kitchen. 
• Allison and I went to the Colts game on Monday, Dec 22nd.  The Colts did not do too well and we left in the 3rd quarter. 
• I was able to get 4 tickets to the Pacers game on NYE.  It was at 3PM and we enjoyed the game and then stopped at Binkley’s after for dinner on our way home.