Halloween

Halloween has come and gone like a bat in the night. The kids loaded up on candy and fun under warm, but dry clouds.

Sophie Jane was a witch. A scary witch, but only according to her. If you look closely you'll notice it is barely a costume, but she loved it and we love her. Out of the three, she came home with the most candy and was only out half the time. When you are 3 you get 3 per house, or so she says.

Most people thought August went as a girl. Some thought he was a musician, but he was much more than that, he went as Nigel Tufnel. Nigel is best known as the lead guitarist of Spinal Tap. It was a cold costume, but he was committed to the character and made it through the night. Special thanks to his sister for leading him the pants. Why Nigel? you ask...because most amps only go to 10 and his goes to 11.

Eden could have been anything, but she decided to go as a traditional black cat. This choice was made because she wanted to wear her black boots and the cat ears & tail matched the black boots. Eden took the lead on design and make-up and nailed both. We used black markers for the whiskers, nose and eyeliner. In hind sight it would have been a good idea to use washable markers. (Of course we used washable markers...we are pros after all.)

Trick or Treat

What we have been doing . . .

Eden has been creating.

August #7 has been making plays...

And Jane has been with Dupree...

Morning...

Noon...

And Night....

(Yes, Dupree is an indoor dog. If he wasn't, Sophie would be an outside girl!)

Firsts

First day of school. Eden's and August's first day of school turned out to be really wet. We walked anyways. How can you not on the first day? Eden finally gets to go all day and she couldn't have been more exited. She got to take a lunch and wear her rain boots! August is now charged with taking his football everywhere!

August's first football game. We won 26 to 0. He is officially the smallest player on the team, but that doesn't stop him. He plays outside linebacker always, and fullback (only when we are up more than 26 points). Football is so much fun to watch! It has completely changed our routine and I'm still reeling from the crazy schedule we are now keeping up! August has NEVER had this much fun, it is awesome.

Sophie's first dance class. Sophie was so exited to finally get to take ballet. She loved every minute even if she wasn't' always paying attention. It is the cutest studio with a dress code and everything.

We were lucky enough to get the girls classes back to back, and as an added bonus they both get to do ballet and tap. It makes life really easy when you can walk to dance! It has been a busy fall, but by far the best one yet. It is so great to watch the kids grow up and take on new challenges. Parenthood just gets more and more rewarding.

Manzanita

We took a trip to the Oregon coast. This is on the Beach in Manzanita, Oregon. It was a little cold the first two days then it warmed up and the weather was perfect. The coastline is so beautiful there, we stayed in a beach house overlooking the ocean. It was amazing. Thank you Val and Emilee!

August enjoyed running around like crazy at the beach. He also perfected his kite flying skills.

Eden, Grandma Emmy, Sophie, and Ove enjoying Indian Beach. Ove had a difficult time eating due to the sandy hands phenomenon.

Sophie and Eden decided to try their hand at surfing. Due to a lack of wetsuits they needed assistance from Pete and Ben so they wouldn't get wet. This was such a great trip! We had great company and yummy seafood. The kids are now serious steamed clam fans. I guess its officially time to say goodbye to summer and embrace fall, and who doesn't love fall?

Dupree

This is Dupree, our new puppy. He is obedient and smart. As you can tell by the pictures the kids love him and he loves them back.

Eden and "Pre" just hanging out.

Sophie and Dupree on his first "walk."

Photo Shoot

Who knew how difficult it is to get three kids to look at the camera at the same time. Out of maybe 30 pictures of the three of them this was the best one! We took the pictures on top of a hill overlooking Snoqualmie valley. No wonder we don't do this very often!

Bear Lake

This year Bear Lake was awesome. August got to fly down by himself and spend a week with his cousins. He sat next to a guy from "Polland". (After translating from August to English we discovered he was actually from Holland). Needless to say he had a blast! Thanks! We had a fun weekend with Grandma Emmy and Grandpa Val. Then we made it to Bear Lake, the weather was perfect and the company was great!

Aug and Sophie Jane digging in the sand.

Eden enjoying the water.

Emery, Brighton, Sophie, Eden, Avery, and Hayden having way too much fun!

The Godzilla Brothers practicing their Navy Seal training (Jensen, Louie, August, and Beck.) There was a few close calls but "no man was left behind". There were a few minor skin irritations and a couple of eye rolls, but altogether a great time was had by all. Thank you Grandma Dixie and Grandpa Jake!!

Niko 1998 - 2010

After 13 strong years our good friend and faithful companion Niko was put to rest. She was a terrific dog. The kids loved her and are very sad to see her go. We didn’t think she would survive the move to Seattle, but she did and still had enough in the tank to make her presence felt to several dogs that got to close. Her health had been on a steady decline in the past 6 months. She had lost most of her ability to see and hear.

Libby and I had many exciting times with Niko. In her early days she was great to take on hikes and got to make the trip into Ryder Lake several times. At our first house in Bountiful we would often wake to find dead rats placed outside of our bedroom window. This offering was small token of her efforts to keep us safe throughout the night. Vermin and critters, both large and small could find no harbor on her watch. The adrenalin rush of standing outside in your underwear in the middle of the night shining a flash at a raccoon up tree as she went nuts at the base will not soon be forgotten. She never really made much noise unless she was treeing a Coon or barking at the Jehovah’s Witnesses. (This was fine unless you lived next to Jehovah’s Witnesses…like we did in that first house).

She was all business with other dogs, but she couldn’t have been kinder to the kids. My true affection for her came from watching her with my kids. She was always gentle and tolerant. The kids never had trouble sleeping at night for fear of monsters because they knew Niko was watching the house while they slept and Niko ate monsters.

Dodgers

Augie's baseball season has come to an end. This picture pretty much sums the year up. Aug loved every minute of it. Most of our games were played in the rain, but the it made no difference to him. As long as he got to play he was smiling.

Dance Recital

Eden had her dance recital on Saturday. She looked adorable in the corsage that her Grandma Dixie sent. Grandma Emilee and Grandpa Val graciously sat through an hour and a half of dancing for the three minuets that they got to see Eden dance to "Let it Be." She did an awesome job!! This girl has some major stage presence!

Eden and her friend Kesley at the dress rehearsal. They had a great year of dancing where every Tuesday night after dance the highlight was getting a gum ball. Needless to say we are completely out of quarters.

We also went to the bike rodeo and in "biker" style August gave a real tribute to his mother.

We had a surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa. They flew in late Thursday night after the kids went to bed. The kids woke Friday morning to the steady buzz of Grandpa snoring (allegedly) and two familiar faces. As you can imagine, it was exciting. We hit many of the wonderful places Seattle has to offer including Pikes.

One stop was the Experience Music Project (shown above, courtesy of the EMP website). The EMP is a Rock & Roll museum. The current exhibition called "Taking Aim" is collection of unforgettable Rock & Roll photographs.

Grandma Dixie was drawn to this photo of Johnny Cash. The photo caption read "Jon Cash reacts to the news of his horses being sold by his brothers". This was the only time I heard her say "I miss Chris".

Grandpa Jake saw himself in this photo taken in 1994 of the hand of legendary blues man John Lee Hooker. Note: John Lee Hooker was born in 1915. Grandpa Jake was not. However, playing the blues for 90 years has the same affect on your hands as being a radiator man for 40 years.

The "Fab Four" with the "Threatening Three".

This photo was chosen to be the album cover of our self titled debut "Tight Genes". Tragically, the album will never be released. Band turmoil arouse between Grandpa Jake and Sophie Jane. Jake wanted more fans, while Jane wanted more stage. Citing creative differences, the band has agreed to part...for now.

Mariner's tickets for three $165...Stadium Parking $10...Fried clams, "Rally Fries", chocolate covered popcorn and drinks $50....Going to see the M's with your Best Bud and Old Man...priceless.

We hope they had as much fun as we did. We loved having them here and can't wait to see them again. Bear Lake is right around the conner.

Mother's Day Tea

Eden's kindergarten class did a Mother's Day Tea. She was so exited she made me a banner and some paper flowers to commemorate the event. They did a play about the signs of spring. It was really sweet. I can't believe Kindergarten is almost over.

The Tulip Festival!! It was amazing, this is definitely something I want to do every year. Polly and Ove came out for a few days and this was the highlight of the trip.