Thanksgiving

Well this year we couldn't talk any of our family into braving the snowstorms, canyons and long drive to come see us for Thanksgiving. Then our friends all headed off to their families for the day, so we spent it all alone this year...sniffle. We cooked way too much food and spent way too long in the kitchen for something that was over in 20 minutes. I'm thinking pizza next year!

Halloween!

Miles officially broke all previous records in how much candy he collected trick-or-treating. We had to measure it in pounds instead of pieces, and even that almost broke the scale! I can just see his dentist rubbing his hands with glee over all the future work he'll need. Shay proceeded to drag her bag between the houses, ("I do it, you no help!") and left a trail of candy as the pieces fell out of the hole she scraped in the bottom. She insisted on running between every house, but fueled by a sugar high, never even came close to winding down before we finished, chased in by the cold and not by a lack of desire to continue. Lisa even channeled a little cross between a witch and Elvira and donned said costume.

Even my work got in on the action, and I went as the "40-year old Boy Scout." Andrea is the "wicked witch" (and oxymoron for any who know her) and Cheryl went as "Major Pain," (my contribution to her costume.)

Football 2008

Football is once again upon us. Miles played this year for the first time, and despite breaking his pinky early in the season, had a great time playing receiver, cornerback and special teams. This was his first taste of football, being a converted soccer player this year. Cole came back for a second year of flag football with pretty much the same team as last year. Cole helmed the team as QB and is now busy trying to decide which college he's going to play for. Gotta dream big! Gage and Shay (along with mom and dad) were pretty much kept busy running from one game to another. Gage played soccer and did much better at actually playing this year and not sitting on the sidelines asking when it was time for the treats! Unfortunately since I was coaching and Lisa was chasing Shay everywhere we actually didn't get a single picture of Gage in action.

Cabo Wabo

In October we (meaning Lisa and I) went to Cabo San Lucas with our friends the Reynolds. We left the kiddies with Aunt Nikki (kudos to her for coming out despite being sick due to pregnancy with twins! If that didn't swear her off any more kids, nothing will!) We had a great time at a "adult only" spa, so needless to say, it was so quiet, I pretty much slept the entire trip. We had great weather and caught up on all our missed sleep for the past year, by the pool, while being fed fish tacos intravenously. Of course the highlight of Aaron's trip was snapping pictures of a vulture eating a dead animal on the beach, or the giant rhinoceros bug outside our room. Lisa's was the baby turtles being released into the ocean. Fun was had by all. I'm not sure if Brooke left any sun in Cabo, she pretty much sucked it all up while we were there. I even got a chance to pull out my "prison Spanish" (a patient of mine once asked me if I had learned my Spanish in a Mexican prison, guess it's pretty bad!) and wow the locals with my dictum and accent. I'm sure that they never figured out that I wasn't a local, but a gringo on vacation instead, I'm THAT good!

Are you looking at me?!

Back to School!

After a great summer, it was back to school. We did one last trip with the Reynolds and the Strattons over to Lake Chelan for Labor Day, but unfortunately we forgot our camera, so no photos of the backflip I did on the wakeboard. Bummer! We had a great time boating, playing at the park by the house we stayed at, eating way too much food and playing games. It was a great way to end the summer and now the kids (including Gage) are headed back to school.

Shay's 2nd Birthday!

Shay celebrated big number 2! We teamed up with Max again since his birthday is only a few days later. Shay got all the girly stuff she loves, a purse, necklace, shoes and cell phone. I'm not saying it's genetic, but she sure hasn't learned that from the boys! Her cake was shaped like one of her two favorite things (the other being hair)...a flip-flop! If you don't know, Shay is obsessed with shoes, especially flip-flops, and has been known to not only steal other peoples shoes if they are left lying around, but actually took a shoe off of a little girls foot at the park so that she could put it on her own foot. Max also got his favorite cake shape, a car (which to him is like shoes to Shay.)

NOT her shoes!

Birthday kiss from good buddy Max!

Seahawks game

The boys and I, along with the Reynolds, caught the Seahawks game againt the Bears. The boys have been wanting to go forever, so we finally got there. The game was bookended by a marathon walk to and from our car, just so we could save a buck (or 40) on parking.

Wheeee!

Seaside

We made the trek down to Seaside, Oregon, for the beach volleyball tourney, but the weather was pretty much cloudy and cold. Didn't stop the kids from jumping in the ice cold water though.

Mariner's Games

Alex, Mindy and clan came up to see us, or in Alex's case, he came up to see the Boston Red Sox series against the Mariners. As you can see, we got lucky at one game and sat on top of the Mariner's dugout. The boys ended up getting 3 balls out of that from the players as they went into the dugout.

Torchlight Run and Parade

The annual kick off for SeaFair was this weekend, the big Seattle party on Lake Washington where the Blue Angels perform and the hydraboats race. The kick off is in downtown Seattle, and there is a 5K and 8K run and then a parade through downtown. We went down with the Strattons so the older kids could run the 5K race. Lisa, Miles and Cole all ran in it (and the boys even did it in very crappy shoes, all the more impressive.) The boys did amazing, finishing in around 25 minutes, beating a lot of adults in the process. They are quite the little runners. Lisa ran with them, and I don't know who had the harder job, her running, or me chasing Gage and Shay all around the finish line while we waited. Luckily they had lots of booths set up to distract them with hand outs and candy. They even got interviewed by the local TV station since it was a family affair. Or it was just they we looked like freaks since between us and the Strattons we had 8 kids there. They're not quite used to that many in a family up here. They guy behind them in the interview picture, dressed as a pirate isn't there to shanghai some crew for his boat. The theme for SeaFair is pirates, and a lot of people dress up and run the race as pirates. The shirts Miles and Cole are wearing have the pirate theme on them too. In fact the SeaFair pirates, a group of middle aged men who like to dress up and play with swords, are fairly well known and have even been in Sports Illustrated. After the race we hit the parade where they kids waited in vain for someone to throw them some candy. Shay had fun dancing with the UW cheerleaders when they came by.

Cole's Baptism

Cole was lucky enough to have all his family around as he was baptized on July 6th. He waited until we came out to Utah so that they could all be part of it. It was a very special day and one that Cole will hopefully always remember. We had the baptism in Smithfield at Grandma Gayles church, and then we all went over to Mack Park and had a picnic. Then all the little kiddies proceeded to strip down to their diapers (or tighty-whities in Karsten's case) and play in the river. It was fun to be around everyone and have them all share in Cole's important day.

Summer Vacation in Logan and Bear Lake

As usual, we spent the 4th of July in Logan with family. 10 years now in Washington, and we still can't stay away!




This was the actual size of the pizza we bought. Needless to say, it fed everyone, plus some! Of course Dave is kind of weak, so it probably didn't weigh more than 80 pounds.

Strip down to the diapers and jump on in!

Summer Vacation, part II