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.