Love the one you're with

Leah with cousins Michael and Melodie.

Brian and Kristin help Leah in the kitchen.

Thanksgiving we had a leisurely stay with Brian's sister Leah. All kids were in attendance except Sarah, who stayed in Portland to do homework. Where are her priorities? It was great though; Brian's two cousins (and kids) and his aunt Merrilyn and uncle Don paid a visit so it was quite a family fest, without all the cooking and cleaning (for me).

Yesss!!

This brilliant child (he was trying to show me how to use my camera correctly), who will, I'm sure, run a small country some day or discover a cure for dull people, is Toby. Toe, as his parents -- our friends Jason and Brandy -- call him. We got to spend a few precious hours with him during a quick trip to the beach in October (our 6th anniversary, yeah!!).

It was amazing. He's a genius and pretty damn cute, too.

Get outta town

Jessie, Travis and Damon. Don't they look like neo-fascists waiting to check your ID?

Labor Day weekend saw us in Portland (again) surrounded by all manner of outlandish creatures from storybooks. Oh wait, those are our children. Yes, it was time for Kumoricon and Travis was ready for Round Two in his love fest with all things dedicated to Japanese animation. His good friend Damon from New Jersey flew over for the weekend and Jessie, who discovered manga this year, was allowed to go for part of the weekend. The boys bought their elaborate costumes online but I made Jessie's from altered thrift store clothes with lots of embellishments. She was SOOOO excited to be there.

This summer we made a quick trip up to Portland for a reunion (of sorts) for Brian and two old his oldest friends, Dan and Debbie. Debbie was graduating from PSU and Dan was in town for his sister's big day so Brian took advantage of the proximity to spend time with them as he sees them so infrequently. Debbie took us on a tour of the physics lab at school where she completed her masters thesis, very interesting stuff.

Love this image of Leah. Grandmas Week was a family affair this year and included not just kids and Nanas but their parents! And Tara, in her first ever Grandmas Week. We camped on the edge of Banks Lake near Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. Leah brought her boat over so watersking, tubing and other water fun as a big part of the equation. Now that the kids are getting older the future of the kids' dedicated time with the Grandmas is tenuous, so it was decided to try something new this year. It hovered around 100 degrees but with all that water we managed fine. Except for the thunderstorm that threatened to take a few of the smaller kids to OZ, minus the farmhouse. But that was another story.

A really big deal

Travis, the new graduate, with his dad Scott

Gramma Nana with Josh at his Progression from 8th grade

Can't believe neither one of us wrote a post in June because it was a big month here. Josh 'graduated' from eighth grade and Travis Graduated (with a big G for Thank You God) from high school. It was a fun week. Travis normally doesn't like to be the center of attention but this time he seemed into it. His dad Scott flew over from Hawaii and spent a few days here and lots of Brian's family came into town to help us celebrate. We were so happy to get to this milestone; Travis' high school career was quite a roller coaster ride (and it looks like Josh will provide the same amusement park thrills and chills).

Yee-ha.

King of the Mountain

The crest above Dry Canyon trail west of Redmond (Aunt B).

Three Creeks Lake

Every year we make plans to do all this hiking...and some years we do. This year we didn't. We did get out in early summer to hike a new (to us) canyon west of Redmond. Aunt B accompanied us on this very scenic, but dusty hike.

Later in the summer Brian and I hiked Three Creeks Lake, an incredibly scenic trail with the worst mosquitos I've ever encountered. It was like being in a scene from "African Queen." Unfortunately, they were worse slightly away from the water or we may have jumped in for relief.
Plans were also in the works for Brian to take Josh and Jess on their first honest-to-goodness backpacking trip, overnight and the whole nine yards. But summer was too packed and fall went by too quick.

Next year maybe.

2010 hasn't even arrived and we're already filling up our recreation time with outings and trips. There's never enough time to for it all.

Will this show in Peoria?

Wow, very few posts in 2009 -- not that we didn't have that much interesting going on, just a bigger priority to DO the things than write about it. It was a very busy year for both of us at work, Brian had many big projects going and my book was published (not to mention reduced staff at my job, making more work for everyone left).

This photo makes me laugh every time I see it; me and Trish getting interviewed by the local TV station when the book was released. A very surreal and uncomfortable situation, as you can tell by the awkward smiles on our faces.

We'll give a few brief recaps to what we were up to this year.