Year in Review

Happy New Year!!!

I’ve decided that in keeping with tradition, I will send out a New Year’s letter again this year. We have had a fun year with lots of exciting events. We hope that this letter finds you and your family doing well and having lots of fun.

Kyle is now 12 years old and 5’3” tall. He started 6th grade at the middle school this year and adjusted quickly to the 6 different classes and teachers and was elected student council representative this year. When we went to his parent/teacher conferences all the teachers told us he was a great asset to their class. It was nice to hear he is doing well. Kyle continued with JBQ and did a good job. Kyle’s big highlight of the year was baseball. His team did VERY well this year and went to the district’s Tournament of Champions where they took 1st place. Kyle plays 3rd base, pitcher and once in a while, catcher. Kyle attended two different church camps this summer and had a blast making new friends and renewing old friendships.

Kevin is 7 years old and 4’ 6” tall. He is in 2nd grade and loves reading and math, he does not like writing though. It takes too long but when he does sit down and writes, he has a vivid imagination. His teachers also commented on how nice and helpful he is in class. Kevin played “coach pitch” baseball which he enjoyed so much more than T-ball. He did a great job hitting the ball into the outfield and really enjoyed playing catcher whenever the coach would let him. Kevin also plays soccer in the fall and loves that too. He plays goalie half the game and then plays in the field the second half. All his baseball experience pays off on the soccer field as he can throw the ball over half the field as goalie. Kevin is continuing with Scouts is now a Wolf and enjoyed Scout Day Camp this past summer.

In April, Chris and Wendy flew to Dallas, Texas for vacation. Wendy just could not handle the rain anymore and wanted sun and warmth. We were able to catch up with old friends from church who had moved down the year before, meet new friends from Wendy’s work whom she had only spoken to over the past 15 years, visit with cousin Angie who we had not seen in about 15 years and just drive around the Dallas/Fort Worth area just playing tourist.

In July the entire family went to Palmer (near Wasilla), Alaska to visit Wendy’s brother, Paul and his family. We had so much fun and it was great seeing all five, yes five, of our nieces and nephews. We watched baseball practices, soccer games, mined at Hatcher’s Pass, drove to Seward in the rain, watched the candy parade in Eagle River, watched fireworks at midnight from the Wal-Mart and just hung out together as a family. This is also where Chris damaged his knee taking pictures of a moose, which resulted in surgery in September.

August brought the annua family camping trip. This year we went to Lake Wenatchee thinking for sure we would not have rain but warm sun for the week. We were wrong; it rained for two of the days. There were between 24-28 of us on a given day and we had lots of fun. The boys loved riding their bikes, playing at the lake, playing at the playground, making s’mores (Kyle is a professional) and just hanging out as a family.

Chris is in his 5th year as a radio personality on KVI on Sunday afternoons and is still having a blast as a “techie” with his business. He is continuing with the photography hobby and had one of his photos included in Pentax Photo Gallery in the Premier section.

Wendy is still at 7-Eleven working with facilities and construction. She continues to serve with Cub Scouts and added the Little League board to her list of things to do. She is also involved in planning her 20 year high-school reunion. She is an avid sports fan and supports her boys by cheering loudly at all their games.

We love keeping in touch so drop us a line when you have a chance. Make 2009 a great year!!

Chris, Wendy, Kyle and Kevin

If you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see the wonderful collage I was able to make.

Happy Anniversary - 17 Years

17 years ago today, Chris and I were married. We had an evening wedding with lots of friends and family.

17 reasons I love my hubby...
1. He loves me.
2. He loves the boys.
3. He will drive out of his way to make sure his 85 year old grandmother is okay.
4. He takes awesome pictures.
5. He loves taking us on vacation.
6. He will go camping in the tent with the family.
7. He puts up with my whims.
8. He lets me go on girlfriend weekends.
9. He makes a mean prime rib.
10. He can drive in the snow.
11. He can fix my computer when it breaks.
12. He has a radio show on KVI.
13. He also loves the movie Down Periscope and laughs at the fart scene every time.
14. He has a huge extended family and loves to get together with them.
15. He loves football.
16. He's a Huskie fan.
17. Oh did I mention, he loves me!

Our wedding picture taken December 21, 1991.

Family Photo 2008

Here is our family photo taken at the park across the street. Chris took it. Don't we all look so cute. We were freezing as it was about 23 degrees out and we were standing in the snow but we knew it would be a cute photo.
Here is Kyle and Kevin. Kyle had to have his signature baseball hat on and Kevin loves those antlers (they play music) but we only let him wear them at Christmas time.

Winter Snow 2008

Okay so it's been snowing and snowing and snowing for a week. But most of the snow fell between Friday and today about 10 inches at our home and more in other areas. School was closed Thursday and Friday and it's a good thing it's Winter Break or the boys would not have school again tomorrow and probably the next day.

Here are the boys at their grandparents house playing around.
Kyle surfing down the hill at the school.

Kevin sledding down the hill.

Scouts Singing at the Retirement Home

On Saturday, Kevin's scout pack went singing at the local retirement home. We had lots of fun.

We had a pretty good group. After we sang, our cubmaster read the story, "Night Before Christmas". Don't you just love Kevin's look.
Here are the boys, Kevin has the reindeer antlers in the back.

Christmas Production at Church - My Date

I'm a little behind on my blogging....

On Saturday, December 13th Kyle and I went on our "date" to watch the Christmas production at our church called "Joy to the Children" a story about George Muller from Bristol Downs, England in 1841. Mr. Muller founded the New Orphan House of Bristol. He relied entirely on God to meet his needs and over his 60+ years of meeting the needs of thousands of orphans, God provided over $7,500,000. It was such a cool story and a wonderful production.

Chris and Kevin really do not care for musicals so Kyle agreed to be my date and go with me.

Here we are with all the dancing toys. Our friend Abigail is the doll behind me.
This one I took of ourselves in our seats waiting for the show to start.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is my birthday and the boys made me a cake. We had Ezell's chicken and chocolate cake at grandma and grandpa's house.
My cake made by my boys.

Thanksgiving Weekend - Saturday Dinner

Saturday we had dinner at my parents house with my sister's family. Chris made the stuffing and cooked the turkey at their house and we all just hung around watching football and talking.

My nieces arrived about 3:00 and the boys and girls played until my sister, brother-in-law and nephew arrived for food at 5:00. My sister made the bread. It is sooo goooood.

Here's a picture of my parents after dinner.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at Uncle Kevin's and Aunt Kelli's this year. We made the rolls, fruit salad and fudge, Kelli's son Ryan made the green bean casserole and Kelli made the rest. It was great food.

We arrived early enough to watch the Seahawks vs. Cowboys game and have the kids play, play, play. We had dinner then stayed after to watch a movie. We watched Ironman, and it was great. It even kept all 4 kids interested, even Kimber who is 2 but then again, if her Kyle is sitting next to her, she is happy.

I paused the movie to take this picture. Can you see how happy Kimber is to sit next to Kyle? And how unhappy the boys are that I stopped the show.Here are the adults relaxing after eating all that food.

Tagged....

I was tagged by Kelli at...All-K-names.........:

8 Shows I Watch: (not in any favorite order)
1. CSI New York
2. The Big Bang Theory
3. Greys Anatomy
4. CSI Miami
5. Dancing with the Stars
6. How I Met Your Mother
7. Two and a Half Men
8. NCIS

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. Took a shower
2. Worked
3. Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner
4. Went to Kyle's parent/teacher conference
5. Played on Facebook
6. Watched NCIS
7. Took Kevin to school
8. Made my shopping list

8 Places I Like to Eat: (not in any favorite order)
1. Fin n Bone
2. Jack's Bar & Grill
3. Torero's
4. Romio's
5. Ipanema Brazilian Grill
6. The Cheesecake Factory
7. Red Robin
8. Zeke's Pizza

8 Things I Look Forward to: (not in any favorite order)
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas
3. The day after thanksgiving (shopping)
4. A clean house
5. Vacation in the sun
6. Going on a cruise (someday)
7. Going on vacation with my husband
8. Buying a house

8 Things on my Wish List: (not in any favorite order)
1. Healthy family
2. New car
3. Clean house
4. Clean car
5. Loose weight
6. House
7. Couch
8. Promotion at work

I tag:
1. Carrie B
2. Tiresa D

Have fun

Happy Birthday Paul

Today is my "little" brother, Paul's birthday. I am very proud of him. He is the associate pastor at his church in Wasilla, Alaska. He is married to a very wonderful woman and has five, yes five, great kids. Each of them with their unique personalities and a lot of fun.

Here is Paul at 4 years old. It was taken in 1978. Wasn't he cute.
Paul and my nephew Issac flew down from Alaska for my parent's 60th birthday party in 2006.

Here is Paul and I with Anchorage in the background from our family's last visit in June 2008.
I started this saying it was my little brother's birthday. He is only little by age, as you can see that he is much taller than me and has been since he was 16.

Happy birthday, bro. Hope it is a great one. Love ya!!

Kevin's Last Soccer Game 2008

Saturday was Kevin's last game and soccer party. Kevin had a fun time this season and the boys on the team were a blast to play with.

Kevin with his trophy.

Kevin and his goofy look for daddy.

Kevin scoring the last goal of the game, of the season.

GGGOOOAAALLLL

Rain

This morning when Kevin and I were leaving to take him to school, I commented it was raining.

He said, "no it's not."

I said, "yes, it is, I can feel it."

He said, "it's sprinkling mom, not raining."

Only from a 7 year old's mind.

Then we talked about how only in the northwest, it can rain, pour, shower, sprinkle and downpour and only in the northwest do you know the difference.

Halloween

Tonight we went to a Halloween party of sorts. We started out at one home with a group of friends and all the kids loaded up in the back of a tractor and we went from neighborhood to neighborhood trick or treating to end up at another home that had dinner. Yea! We had all dropped of our food earlier so when we got there at 7:00 we had hot chili, spaghetti, corn bread, chips, etc. Then it was off again to trick and treat some more. The boys came home with 2 huge bags of candy.

Here is Kevin and Kyle at grandma & grandpa's house. Kyle changed clothes into this other costume as it was cold tonight and he knew he would freeze in this one. But isn't he a cute geek?
One of the moms had wigs for us other moms to wear. Don't we look like we are having fun.

Here is a picture of most of the kids before getting on the trailer. Kyle is now a 7-Eleven clerk.

Pumpkin Patch

I'm a little behind on the blogging. We went to the pumpkin patch last Sunday. We went on the hay ride tractor and walked on the pumpkins. Oh yeah, we also had some roasted corn, yum yum goooood.

Kyle and Kevin as pumpkins.
"mom, we're done with the thing...."

My guys.... waiting for everyone to load up.

Our family picture. We had a passerby take the picture. They did not fully focus but this is the best of the four she took.

Kyle's Birthday Dessert

Today we went to Baba's house for Kyle's birthday dessert with the family. We had 25 people there from Kyle's great grandma to great uncles and aunts, cousins, cousins kids. Its a blast when we all get together.

Kyle and Kevin on Baba's couch after cake. Kyle has his rubik's cube. He bought it with money from his nana and papa for his birthday.
Kyle with his cake and cupcakes aunt Kelli made. The cupcakes had parts of a Hershey's bar in them, so good.

This is aunt Kelli and Kimber. Aunt Kelli makes cupcakes, all sorts of cupcakes and they are all good. Kimber is the "little sister" that Kyle and Kevin love to play with.

Kyle's Birthday Dinner

Kyle loves Chang's Mongolian Grill so for his birthday he got to pick the restaurant and Chang's is where we went. Here is Kyle with his food. I made him wait until I took the picture before he could dig in.Here is Kevin with his plate. You will notice it is mainly pineapple. Chang's is not Kevin's favorite. But he was a good sport since there is ice cream at the end.

Kyle with his mom, enough pictures look. He got a big bowl of ice cream.

Kevin Scout Meeting

Monday night at Kevin's scout meeting the boys dressed up their den leaders as a book character. Kyle volunteered to get dressed up and of course the den leader was all for that. Kevin's den could not agree on one character so they brought different items and made Kyle "Harry Potter spell gone wrong." Aren't the two of them so cute.

Happy Birthday Kyle

Yesterday was Kyle's 12th birthday. Chris still remembers when I called him at work and asked him when he was going to take lunch so he could come home and take me to the hospital. He said he would come home right away and not wait for lunch. Kyle was born 7 hours later. We stayed at the hospital for two days and then came home. Two days later we went back to the hospital because Kyle had jaundice and stayed for another two days.

Here is Kyle's official hospital photo and below is his school picture for this year. He's growing up to be a very handsome young man.

Love ya dude.

Birthday Fun

Here are the boys watching Iron Man. I made them stop watching and smile at me, they did grin but immediately went back to the movie.

I filled the table with snacks and soda for them to have for the rest of the night. The plan is, from what I understand, is to stay up all night and watch another movie and play the Wii and XBox. I will let you know how well they did in another post.

Homecoming Game - Theirs (and Kyle's birthday party)

Tonight we went to "their" homecoming game. This was Chris' high school and the school the boys and their buddies will go to when they get to high school. It was not cold but it was rainy. This was also part of Kyle's birthday party. We started at grandma & grandpa's and had pizza. Then we all climbed into the cars and went to the football game. Here are the boys at the beginning of the game. The stands progressively became more crowded as the game started but emptied out quickly after the half time homecoming festivities.

The boys had a fun time. We left in the 4th quarter with 5 minutes left and the other team had just scored and was now ahead. When I posted this, we did not have the final score yet. Although I do have to admit, it would not hurt my feelings none if they lost their homecoming game too.

Homecoming Game - Mine

Okay, I'm a little late with some of my posts. Last Friday was my high school's homecoming game and I made my family go. Yes, actually I had to beg and plead to go to a football game in this football crazy house because it was not "their" high school's game. Anyway, we met up with an old friend, Nate and his wife and family. They have two adorable little girls and of course, I did not take pictures of all of us.... But I did catch the boys being silly.
We had a good time catching up and running into old friends and if you could not tell, it was COLD that night. I think it was the reason we lost. Not really but it sounds good, doesn't it. Smile.

Colonscopy

Today I was talking to a co-worker from Florida and told her I needed a laugh. She sent me this and it was PERFECT! Enjoy the giggles...

Dave Barry's Colonoscopy Journal:

... I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an
appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed
me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over
the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis.

Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough,
reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really
hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO
STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for
a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a
microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it
to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's
enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous.
Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In
accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I
had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor.

Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder
together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water.
(For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.)

Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because
MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and
urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great
sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose watery bowel
movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off
your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but:
Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep
experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the
commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the
bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you
figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of
MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the
future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my
wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried
about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of
MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you
apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and
totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a
room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little
curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital
garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on,
makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand.
Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already
lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep.

At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered
what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom,
so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no
choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where
Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the
17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I
was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side,
and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my
hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was

'Dancing Queen' by Abba. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that
could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' has to be
the least appropriate. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from
somewhere behind me.

'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time,the moment I had been dreading for
more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am
going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, Abba was shrieking
'Dancing Queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine ...' and the next moment,
I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was
looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even
more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had
passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.

COLONOSCOPIES
Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during exams were quite
humorous...... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments
made by his patients (predominately male) before or after their
colonoscopies:

1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!

2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'

3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'

4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'

5. 'You know, in Arkansas, we're now legally married.'

6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'

7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'

8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'

9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!'

10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'

11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'

12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'

13. 'How far up did you go? I now have a sore throat.'

And the best one of all..

14. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is
not up there?

Soccer Pictures

Kevin at soccer last week. Look at that sun. It was gorgeous.
Kevin at soccer this week. It was wet!! and cold.
Kevin as goalie throwing that ball back out into play.

Week in Review

The week in review....

Monday, I had a Renton Class of '89 reunion committee meeting. We've almost set a date and a location then we can start planning the fun stuff and leave the finding classmates and dealing with the menus and facility to someone else.

Kevin had a Cub Scouts meeting that Kyle helped at. Almost forgot about that meeting, remembered at 10:00 so Kevin did not have his uniform. We're also selling popcorn if anyone is interested in buying.

On Tuesday, I had a Renton Little League baseball meeting. We're getting ready for the 2009 season. Our general membership meeting to elect the new board is in a couple of weeks. I can't believe I'm planning for spring ball in October.

Thursday was soccer practice day for Kevin and Kyle helps out there too. Kyle joined the basketball club at school and played basketball after school was done. He's so funny, he can't believe how out of shape he got over the summer with no gym or sports. He does not have gym until next semester. The biggest event of the night was Chris going to the "Wrap" party for Sig Hanson (see the post below).

And today is Saturday which means soccer and football. Kevin played soccer in the pouring down rain. I mean it was pouring. One of the first time parents asked if I thought they would stop the game early since it was cold and rainy. I thought, poor man, soccer does not stop. I'll post some pictures once I get them from Chris. Then of course we watched the UW Husky game, which they lost. But we're purple and gold in this house all the way until the end. Maybe next year.

Deadliest Catch - KOMO TV - Sig Hansen...

Okay for a bit of a setup to this....


Chris's Uncle Mike, an attorney has a client and family friend who owns a chain of Mexican restaurants called Torero's. They were shooting a TV commercial there last week and wanted a group there eating lunch to use as "extras" so they invited Mike's entire office down and a few others. Chris gets there and the cameraman is an old friend, Mark. Mark is married to Debbie, not only a very old friend of Chris' but they also dated in high school (yeah this is really going way back). Mark works for KOMO TV and has for a long time and Chris sometimes bumps into him at Fisher Plaza when he is there for meetings or doing his radio show.

The funny part was that morning Mark tells Debbie that he is shooting a commercial at Torero's in Renton, Deb says hey the first time I went out for Mexican food was with Chris at the Torero's in Renton. So Mark thought it was pretty funny when Chris walked in. Mark was part of the crew from KOMO TV that just finished up a special on Sig Hansen and the Northwestern of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" that is taking the world by storm. Mark was one of the people behind the scenes of this special and they were having a "wrap" party for the crew and cast to watch the show as it aired Thursday night at the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. Mark invited Chris to tag along and meet Sig. Apparently he had a good time, didn't make it home until well after midnight and had quite a few stories about Sig to share.


Here is a pic of Chris and Sig

And here is Mark with Sig

High School Football

Tonight the family went to the local high school football game. This game is one that we try to go to annually as it is Chris' former high school against my former high school. The winner gets bragging rights for the rest of the year. This year we left the game at 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter due to the score. It was 43 to 0 with my school winning. Yea!! Chris is not really happy but I am. Go red & white!!

Kevin Soccer - September 20, 2008

Saturday was another soccer day. This time, it was a true soccer game as it rained. Fall is here. Kevin played goalie during the first half and then played in the field the second half. He had a fun time but did say his hands were COLD when we were going back to the car at the end. We have to remember to buy him goalie gloves this week.

Here is Kevin kicking the ball out of the goal box.
Kevin throwing the ball out. You will notice his teammate is running hard to the other side as Kevin throws the ball past the half mark and almost to the other goalie each time. We're working on getting his teammates to run hard the other way as soon as Kevin has the ball and working with Kevin to slightly rein in his throw to over the half mark but not quite to the goalie. It's a work in progress.
Look at Kevin trap that ball.
Have a great week. Tomorrow Kevin will go in for a root canal. Keep him in your prayers. Thanks.