If you are taking some of your precious time to slow down and read this, I appreciate you and I hope the Holiday Season is treating you and your loved ones well! This year has been so good to us.
At the end of 2024 and into 2025, we had a small interior bathroom renovation project that all went smoothly and turned out amazing (thanks to John at the Welsh Construction crew!). Later into the summer we started a more extensive outside project of turning our front yard into an oasis for our kiddos to live their best lives in. We dug a pond to fill their primal needs of getting muddy, sunburnt and exhausted and they fell right into the routine.
All that mud might mean we will need a new washing machine or have to renovate the bathroom AGAIN sooner than later, but we are so happy to watch them be dirty, scruffy, smiling kids and wouldn’t change a thing.
This summer, I deleted all of my social media accounts and have found myself being more present, getting SO MUCH more done, and being a better mother and wife to the people that mean the most to me. I don’t hear all the gossip and I don’t know all the trends but I realize how much I was wasting time and energy on things that don’t have anything to do with me.
This has been the greatest gift I have given myself and I hope we can all continue to come back to living in the moment and living for ourselves rather than for recognition on the internet. Without being preachy, I would highly recommend it if you need a 2026 resolution!
Cody is still working with the Iowa State Patrol and has thankfully had an uneventful year. He is surrounded by amazing, highly capable co-workers and loves what he does, which is more than most can say! Calvin, Carver, and Carissa are all doing well in school at CLS and are happy and healthy and good hearted little humans. They spend their non-school hours on a field, court, dance floor or wrestling mat… making new friends and memories along the way. Each year they become more independent than the last and we just try to chase them and be with them for as long as they’ll allow. (Sidenote: Every summer, I test whether my kids still think I am “cool” to be around by asking if they want to go off the diving board with me… so far they haven’t rolled their eyes and told me “NO! Get away” so I will continue to categorize myself as COOL!! I know it will be short lived so I hang onto those YES answers very tightly!) We went on a few roadtrip vacations together, we tried new things and met new people, and we had our share of ups and downs but are all still here to love and support each other. We are so blessed.
And my clients – the best clients in the world!
Some bring me holiday treats, some send me a card, some send a quick text or phone call… some are way too busy with their own plans to think of me at all and that is perfectly fine too! I am so stinkin’ lucky to get to do what I do with people that I enjoy being around. I appreciate everyone who gives me their trust and confidence and don’t take for granted how big of a responsibility that is. It is good pressure that is a blessing to live up to.
I hope everyone reading this could just as easily fill a page of blessings that have found them this year and that 2026 is even better. Life is Good!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Ashlea (Kleitsch) Jones
Financial Advisor
Prime Capital Financial
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
primefinancialcedarrapids.com
(319) 269-7143
Advisory products and services offered by Investment Adviser Representatives through Prime Capital Investment Advisors, LLC (“PCIA”), a federally registered investment adviser. PCIA: 6201 College Blvd., Suite#150, Overland Park, KS 66211. PCIA doing business as Prime Capital Financial | Wealth | Retirement | Wellness.
Ashlea Jones