2019 Year in Review and a Decade Review

Welcome to the Jackson Family Year in Review! It has become customary for us to reflect on the year and record our Top Five events of that year.

Number Five: SOCCER! Kiersten has waited over 2 years to play soccer again and it finally happened for her in Asuncion. The Embassy formed a (large) women's team and hosted a tournament against other Embassies. The USA Women's team took third place in the tournament but not only that, Kiersten has formed more friendships because of it and broken out of her stay-at-home-mom shell.

We won third place in the tournament!

Number Four: Kiersten went back to work! We are fortunate to have a terrific nanny, without whom this wouldn't have been possible. Kiersten started training clients again and then randomly started to teach piano (and occasionally saxophone) and has more students than clients. She also started a new "career" of Day Trading. We are hoping 2020 is very profitable for her in this endeavor.

Number Three: We did some traveling in 2019. We visited Uruguay in February and played at the beach. Over the Fourth of July weekend we drove to Iguazu Falls to see that incredible natural wonder. In August we visited Bariloche, Argentina for some skiing and snow fun. And in June we flew to Utah for Scott's sister's wedding and our R&R. Oh how we love to travel!

Last time visiting great-grandma's house.

The cute flower girls dancing!

Iguazu Falls

Number Two: The Asuncion Paraguay Temple was rededicated and re-opened in November! The rededication was bittersweet however since all the families who came to work on the Temple have since moved back to Utah and we had to say good-bye to those friends. But we are happy to be able to attend this local Temple again after watching the progress for 2 years.

Number One: Scott's career continues to take us to foreign lands. This year we learned we will be moving to Kuwait in the summer of 2020. We've really enjoyed our time in Paraguay but as with any place, we are ready for a change. We are very excited to see what adventures await us in the Middle East!

That wraps up our 2019. Which got us thinking, "2019 marks the end of this decade! What else happened?" So here are the top events from each year in the last decade:

2010: Kiersten returned home from her LDS Mission in Hungary in July. Scott and Kiersten got engaged in December.

2011: Scott and Kiersten got married in May in the Washington DC LDS Temple.

2012: Kiersten graduated from BYU!

2013: Scott graduated from BYU! We moved to Virginia to start working.

Shenandoah Skyline Drive

2014: We moved to Reston, Virginia and were finally living on our own. We also traveled to Portugal and Hungary in the summer.

View from St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.

2015: We traveled to Canada for a Women's Soccer World Cup Game. We also went to Ireland. And Kiersten got pregnant!

The Cliffs of Moher.

2016: Mackenzie was born in June!

Kiersten on Mackenzie's due date. She came 2 days later.

First picture with her Daddy. They've had a tight bond ever since.

2017: We moved to Paraguay.

Our new home!

2018: Finley was born in October!

2019: See above Top Five.

Thank you, dear friends, for your continued love and support as we continue living abroad. We hope our paths will cross again soon. We wish everyone a very Merry Holiday Season and a Happy and Prosperous New Year in 2020!