Bob and Karen Lutz Life in the Fast Lane?!

Million Step March Progress

2010-03-02T06:25:00.001-08:00

I know I'm terrible at posting blogs and when I do they are kind of boring. I checked my monthly progress with my Bodybugg today and since I wearing it I have walked 720,240 steps. There are about 2,500 steps in a mile so it's about 288 miles.

I started out averaging about 8,000 steps a day and my goal is 10,000. I now average about 13,000 steps every day. My dogs are in the best shape of their lives. Bob wears one too now. I keep telling him it's not fair because he burns way more calories than I do. Yesterday, for example I took 3 separate walks for a total of 16,607 steps. I burned 2946 calories. Bob makes an effort to walk throughout the day and went on an evening walk with me to the dog park. He ended up with 10,076 steps but burned 3,006 calories. Secretly, I'm not jealous. I'm actually glad that he is joining me as we challenge ourselves.

Happy 30th Birthday Jared

2010-01-31T13:20:00.000-08:00

Its hard to believe that today is Jared's 30th birthday. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of my old family pictures scanned so when I went to look for pictures of Jared, I checked 2 of my picture folders. Vacation and working on the car.

Jared and Emily have joined us for some fun vacations. In this picture we were zip-lining near Coba in Mexico. We jumped from a high cliff and your eyes are not deceiving you, the landing pad was a rickety wooden platform with no railing that ended by slamming into a moldy matress. Even though Bob, Emily and I were all anxious to jump and zip, Jared opted to be the photographer and help us as we got to the end of the ride. He was generous (or chicken) enough to allow our driver to use his turn.

Some things about Jared:

If there is work to be done, or if someone needs help, you will always find Jared there.

Jared is Bob Jr. which is probably why I love him so much. He has inherited Bob's talent to fix things. It is not unusual to find Jared spending his Saturday with his Dad working on someone else's car.

He likes the same things as Bob, has some of the same mannerisms, loves family but is not a huge fan of big gatherings or crowds but will be happy to drive 100 miles and give up his weekend if you need his help.

Jared was lucky to have survived the first 5 years of his life (he was a tough 3-5 year old) but I'm glad I decided to keep him around. He was a tough toddler but a great teenager and even better adult.

Jared is a wonderful uncle and his nieces and nephews love him. He is going to be a father himself this spring and I'm sure his son will be blessed to have him as his Dad.

Happy Birthday Jared, we love you!!

My Million Step March

2010-01-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

I am not big on making resolutions that I won't keep but I do like to have goals and a way of measuring my success. About 5 years ago I made a goal of walking 1,000 miles in a year. I was able to make my goal in 6 months. I kept a spreadsheet to track my miles.

One thing I really wanted (and got) for Christmas this year was a Body Bugg . It's a device you wear on your upper arm that tracks your physical activity using sensors. The contestants on The Biggest Loser wear them. You log in to a web site where it lets you know how you are doing. It also asks you a lot of questions about the types of foods you like to eat and it develops a meal plan for you.

You are supposed to log what you eat every day but I have to admit that with the holidays, I haven't been doing that. Maybe I will if I get serious.

One of the goals of my program is to walk 10,000 steps each day. I love to walk so it doesn't seem too difficult, but it is more than I am doing now. Even with my 2 daily trips to the dog park I fall short.

So I decided if I do the 10,000 steps per day I should make 1,000,000 steps in 100 days. That doesn't seem too tough. The fun part is that it keeps a record for me and if I forget to plug in, the info is still there.

If you decide you want to get a Body Bugg, I suggest getting it from Costco.com. The price is not only lower but it comes with a one year subscription to the website. I'm not sure what it costs after the year is up.

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is the one time every year that the whole extended family is invited to my house. Last year we were snowed out but this year we had a lot of family.

There were 7 Sirrines, 4 Walshes, 11 VanderHoevens, 6 Lutzes, 3 Livelys, 4 Keenans, 2 Dukas and 1 Ojeda, so 37 people, not to mention 2 dogs.

No VanderHoeven family party is complete unless there is a ton of food this was no exception.

My family was especially blessed because we had all 5 of our kids and our 3 grandsons over. We even had Olga, Jared and Emily's exchange student who has become part of the family (dang it, is that lamp crooked?).

Emily played the piano and this year we sang Silent Night in English, Spanish, German and Dutch (my favorite part of the night)

Then there was the white elephant gift exchange with some very clever gifts. The rule was that whatever you ended up with, you had to take home. That rule was obeyed with a few exceptions. Let's just say violators will be prosecuted.

Patricia was pretty happy with her "Hander-pants" and she couldn't be convinced to trade.

I got an assortment of products from a Japanese store including a package of freeze-dried fish. They turned out to be a highlight of our Christmas the next day but I'll let someone else tell that story.

Donkey Dancing 2009

2009-12-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

I would have to say that as a mother Jacki is above average, although once in a while she can be pretty cruel.

Last night during our Christmas Eve party, a lady bug landed on Connor. He was not amused and he jumped up and danced around saying "get it off, get it off". Instead of being the kind sympathetic mother helping her child, Jacki lost control laughing. I have to admit it was pretty funny.

Connor on the other hand was not amused.

Happy Birthday Bob!

2009-12-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

I suppose I should update my blog every 2 months, although in this case I am late. Sorry for the same lame post for so long.

Yesterday was Christmas Eve and unfortunately for Bob, also his birthday. He gets overlooked sometime but on the other hand, there is always a party and a lot of company.

When we came home from our usual walk at the dog park Bob was greeted by Heather, Jason and Brooks with poppers and silly string, lots of silly string.

It's great having the kids home.

14 Things About New York City

2009-10-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have spent nearly as much time on the road these days as I do at home. This week I'm in New York City. I took the picture below on my cell phone from the conference room where I spent my day today. Now before you think it's glamorous I want you to know that I got here in the center seat at the back of an airplane that left Seattle at 7:00 am on Wednesday. I'm here for 2 days of business meetings and tomorrow I am back on an airplane for 6 hours (it always takes longer going west). For the most part I have almost no time to do anything while traveling except for work more hours in my hotel room to make up for the time I lose in the air. This time, I can't resist. Last night and again tonight I left my hotel room about 6:00 pm and just started walking.

My hotel is on 5th Avenue in the swankiest part of town, which leads me to my #1 thing about New York.

1. You can get a heck of a deal if you book on Expedia. No, this is not a commercial but I got a rate at the Peninsula Hotel at half of what the published rate is.

Even at 1/2 the price I could never afford it but when the driver from the airport dropped me off he told me I was staying at the movie star hotel.

2. Avenues run North and South and streets run East and West. There is a lot more distance between Avenues than between Streets. It's good to know if you are walking. The good stuff is on the Avenues.

3. Don't bother bringing "sensible shoes" nobody wears them. I will spare you a picture of my blistered feet but everyone must have blisters. They don't wear jeans either. Everyone is dressed up. I brought my dressier work clothes with me and I'm underdressed for business meetings. I don't own anything dressy enough.

4. Don't bother trying to find the Cash Cab. There are 13,000 taxis in the city and most of them are full. It's not easy to get one but you have to step out into the street and wave until one shows up. It's easier to walk.

5. Speaking of taxis, what are you supposed to tip them? I took a taxi from Macy's to my hotel last night and the fare was $8. I gave him a $5 tip and the cabbie, a NY cabbie said "Wow, you are a good tipper".

6. Which brings me to my next point. It's a lot easier to visit NY if you can expense everything. I'm not sure my budget will ever be able to afford a trip here on my own dollar, although I would love to come here with Jacki and Heather.

7. The top of the Chrysler building really does shine but the Empire State Building is not as tall as I used to think it is.

8. I wouldn't drive in NYC to save my life. People honk just for atmosphere. The locals know when it's safe to cross the street before the light goes green but the tourists don't. Yikes!!

9. It's amazingly safe to walk around. They say Gulliani took the city from 50,000 police officers to 150,000. They are on every corner and a local I talked to said there are twice as many in plain clothes than in uniform.

10. It's awkward to cheer for the Twins against the Yankees when you are having dinner at the ESPN Zone restaurant. The food is good and I ended up eating there both nights. In fact the seating host recognized me. It figures, millions of people in NYC and I get recognized. It has an amazing view of Times Square. Yesterday I was eating and the whole place was full of Yankees fans. When the Twins scored 2 runs I sort of applauded just a little bit. Sheesh...I got some stares. It's all in fun though.

11. Macy's has really cool escalators. The whole store is cool. They have a whole floor devoted to the fat lady section.

12. Bob would hate it. It's everything he doesn't like.

13. Bring a camera. Cell phones take lousy pictures.

14. People smoke here. Lots of them smoke. I would imagine it's a stressful place to live, especially wearing those shoes.

I Never Win Anything

2009-10-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, almost never. Two Saturday's ago Bob's company had a family day at the mill. Bob was a tour guide and I joined him on the first tour, which was really interesting. For the next couple of tours I hung around some of the booths. One booth was a raffle for the United Way. Of course I pitched in $5 and bought 5 tickets.

It turned out we won the grand prize. I invite you all to make toilet paper jokes but don't be surprised if for the gag gift exchange this Christmas, there is a big box from the Lutz family. Now we just need to find someplace to put it.

Water, Water Everywhere..But Where is the Fun?

2009-09-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

So here I sit in beautiful Fort Lauderdale. I love it here. The minute I got here yesterday a lot of great memories came flooding back. Bob and I have been here many times and we always have so much fun. Of course we are typically getting on or off of a cruise ship.

Today I'm here to work. I spent all day yesterday flying and got here around midnight. I am staying at a nice Marriott resort on the beach but I have barely had a chance to walk out to the beach. I did get up around 6:00 am this morning and took a little walk. I picked up a couple of nice shells and ended up in a hammock watching the sun come up.

Then it was back to my room, where I have been working.

I was going to go to one of my favorite restaurants, Smokey Bones for lunch but it's on the other side of town. I decided to walk out to the beach again to see if I could find a place to have lunch on the beach.
It turns out the hotel serves burgers and drinks there.
I love Fort Lauderdale.

Tomorrow I will visit a customer but I hope to have the evening to myself so I can goof off. Is it worth the 8+ hours of travel each way? Yeah, probably.

A Busy Summer!

2009-09-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

I know I have not posted a blog in a while. Ok, a long while. It was Brian's birthday and it was 1/4 of a year ago. It's been a very busy summer with a lot of travel. Here are some of the places I have been since my last blog post.

First there was San Francisco. I got to see a view that looked a lot like this but for the most part, all I got to see was the inside of a taxi, a hotel and a conference room.

One of my favorite trips of the summer was Adrian's wedding in the Twin Falls Temple. I almost didn't get on a flight but I was glad I did. We drove from Boise to Twin Falls and had a really good time. I suppose it had something to do with the company since a lot of the family was on that trip. We had a great time taking over the Wingate Hotel and we swam until late into the night.

Then there was Chicago. I can't remember if that was before or after the trip to Idaho, but it was somewhere around then. Chicago was fun because I got to visit Bob's brother Chuck and his wife Judy. Their son Jeffrey was a teen ager last time I saw him and now he is a grown man with a beautiful wife and daughter. It was nice to see them.

Sometime in early August there was Washington DC trip #1.

I thought I could fly across the country, meet with a customer and fly home in 24 hours. Washington DC is pretty hot in August and it was miserable. The highlight of that trip was the first class seat I happened to get on United Airlines.

I have never been on a 5 hour flight when I was disappointed to arrive, but this seat was amazing. 6 hours in coach on the return was not nearly as fun.

After I got back from Washington DC it was time to take Heather and Brooks and little Brooks to Pullman. That was fun too. We drove our pickup truck to Pullman, spent the afternoon helping unpack and then we spent the night in Spokane. We miss having them at our house but they have a great townhouse in Pullman and we know Brooks will do well in school. I think they are going to miss BYU football but I'm sure they will make a lot of new friends.

Then it was back to Washington DC, but this time I wanted to see some of the sites. I scheduled 2 nights and after visiting the customer, I took a tour bus around town. It was fun because you could jump off or get on at about 30 different stops in town. I got to see areas of DC that I had never been before.

I love the Smithsonian Museums so I took advantage of being there. At the American History Museum I was able to see the fully restored Star Spangled Banner.

It was awesome. It was behind glass in a darkened room with only the slightest light on it. I also got to see things like Lincoln's top hat and jacket, Archie Bunker's chair, the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz and a lot of other random historical stuff. Pretty cool.

Next there was the Natural History Museum. I have always wanted to see the dinosaur fossils and it is amazing to see how big they really are. Apparently the Hope Diamond was also on display but I missed that.

Then this past week was the longest trip of the summer and I was away for 5 nights. I started out with a trip to Rochester, NY. I was excited about that one because I knew I could go to Palmyra and see church history sites.

It was only about 20 miles from my hotel to the Hill Cumorah and the Smith Cabin and Farm House as well as the Sacred Grove.

It was different than ever before because this trip I had the entire Hill Cumorah to myself and there were very few tourists at the other sites.

After New York, I went right to Los Angeles to a town called San Gabriel not far from Pasadena. You would never know by the name or even the location but it was in the heart of the largest Chinese community outside of China. All of the signs on buildings were in Chinese as well as in English. It was a nicely maintained and prosperous community.

What would you do if you were in a huge Chinese neighborhood with a couple of hours to kill? Of course my colleague (Jolin) and I had our toenails done.

We would have had a foot massage if we had more time.

Finally, when we were done with our customer meetings, 3 of us got into the rental car and drove around Hollywood. Jolin had never been there and she had high expectations of seeing high end shops, movie stars and movie studios. Instead we saw lots of porn shops, homeless people and pawn shops.

I got back home on Thursday night and Bob wanted to get away from home for a day. On Saturday we drove over 400 miles around the state of Washington. We took the North Cascades Highway and were amazed at how beautiful it was in the mountains. There were unexpected lakes and rivers all around.

Next stop, Toronto later this week??

Happy Birthday Brian!!

2009-06-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Brian's 31st birthday.

Yes, it's true that I actually have children my own age these days.

Some things you should know about Brian:

1. He doesn't really need glasses, he just wears them to look smart.

2. He has always been interested in how things work and he still loves hanging out with his Dad.

3. He wanted to ride motorcycles at a young age, but his feet and arms didn't reach the controls so he gave it up.

4. Fish taste better if you catch them yourself.

5. He has always studied to get his sense of humor (it's not really natural).

6. He cleans up real pretty...especially when he uses hair gel or when Jason is around to give him some fashion tips.

But let's face it, more often his hair looks like this.

7. He likes celebrating birthdays, so let's celebrate his!

Happy Birthday Brian. We love you!!!!

Happy Ernesta Week!!!

2009-06-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

I love Ernesta week. It brings back lots of good memories of the kids growing up. We raised a bunch of nuts! Even better, I have an entire week where I don't have to think about what to eat for dinner? Hot dogs anyone?

Doh! Not Even Close

2009-05-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

OK, we have all done embarrassing things and as hard as it may be for you to believe, I am no exception.

We take our dogs to the Marymoor dog park twice a day. Our dogs are spoiled. Today I was sitting in my home office and Bob was ready to go. I stuck my feet under my desk, my favorite place for my shoes, and put my toes into my flip flops. I didn't think another thing about it until we were at the furthest point away from the car. I looked down and saw that not only was I wearing 2 different shoes, but I wasn't even close (sorry about the dusty feet in the picture).

All I wanted to do was scramble for the exit, but on a beautiful sunny day, you have no choice but to pass about 100 people, all looking down at the ground. Bob was no help, he immediately started dialing the phone so he could let Heather and Jacki know about my predicament.

Oh well, I could either be embarrassed or laugh at myself. I choose the later.

What was the most embarrassing thing you have ever done? By the way, this was not my most embarrassing moment.

My Weekend With the Grand-boys

2009-05-17T14:44:00.001-07:00

I looked forward to this weekend for a while. Jacki and Terence celebrated their anniversary by going to a Mariners / Red Sox game and spending the night in Bellevue. Connor and Corey spent their first night ever away from their parents.

I have to say, it was a lot of fun. Their first project was to take every toy out of the basket and spread them throughout the upstairs. We watched Monsters Inc. about 5 times and made it through Annie once. Those guys are certainly high energy. They both did a great job sleeping in unfamiliar beds. After a good night's sleep, I fixed them a delicious scrambled egg and toast breakfast.

After 10 minutes of not touching their food, they were both much happier with a bowl of banana nut Cheerios.

Grandpa and Uncle Jared were replacing a clutch for someone and the best place to do that is the barn, where Jared has even more tools than Bob has.

We figured that was where the action is so we went to the farm to play.

Corey played for hours and had a great time, but I went home to pick up my camera and he fell asleep in the car. Once again, no Corey pictures.

Connor loves tractors, as long as they are not on.

In another 15 years, he is likely to be mowing soccer fields in the summer to make some money.

I thought it was funny that Connor wanted to know how to fasten the seatbelt before he would drive.

We found some toy motorcycles at Ross, and Connor loved them. Any part that could be broken, was broken within the first hour.

Jared gave each of the boys their own brand new soccer ball, so we went out to the field to kick the ball into to goals. Will Connor be a great soccer player someday? Maybe, with all of that positive encouragement he gets from his grandma.

On the other hand, maybe he will be a dancer?

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. I like this Sears Photo Studio-like pose on the Goodyear mechanic's stool with all kids of tools and things in the background. I promise, this picture was completely unposed.

Next blog...it's going to be all about my buddy Corey!

Mother's Day - The Best Day of the Year!

2009-05-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

I love Mother's Day for a lot of reasons, but not the least of which is that I don't have to cook or do dishes for a whole day. This year Jared and Emily had us over to their house for burritos. For most of the family, burritos are a favorite meal, but it starts a day in advance with soaking of the beans. Then there is the chile and the roast beef and pico de gallo and guacamole and shredded cheese and lettuce and on and on. So the guys did all of the work last week and I got to enjoy all the yumminess (is that a word?) of a Mexican Fiesta without any of the work.

The guys seemed to be enjoying putting together dinner

Connor got to spend some quality time with his Auntie Emily.

While Corey just enjoyed playing with whatever he could get his hands on. Don't let that sweet face fool you, Corey is a one man wrecking crew these days.

Linda, this one's for you. Uncle Bob saw this trailer while we were driving through a neighborhood in Sultan. He thought you would enjoy!

Bad Ideas - A Picnic in the Rain

2009-04-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

I started this blog when we were in Utah for Brooks Jr.'s blessing about a month ago, but I never finished it. The weather in Utah for the first couple of days was absolutely beautiful and with lots of family visiting and a smallish condo, we thought it would be a good idea to have a picnic at the park a couple of blocks away. Sure, the weather forecast said it might be rain and it would be cooler but we're from Washington, how bad could a little rain be?

I wish you could see it better in this picture, but it was so cold and raining much harder than it ever does in Washington. It was windy so it was raining sideways.

Of course that didn't stop the boys from playing with their radio controlled cars.

We all dressed in layers. We put on whatever we could find to keep us warm.

Brooks and his parents made the most of a very wet and cold day.

This one makes me laugh. No, Heather is not pregnant. Brooks Jr. is the only one who did not suffer from frostbite that day. He was snuggled up in a front pack and secured under his Mom's jacket.

We had hamburgers on the charcoal grill but dessert at the condo!

Everyone Needs a Hobby $$$$$$$

2009-04-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

In addition to spending time with Heather and Brooks and their family, we have the added bonus of spending time with Jason while we are in Utah. Jason is his father's son and has taken up the hobby of running a nitro powered radio control car. His father is jealous.

It took Bob only a few minutes of driving the car before he ran it in to a curb. No problem, he was able to find the parts to fix it.

Jason doesn't change much, how often have we seen this pose?

Graduation - BYU Class of 09

2009-04-25T16:25:00.001-07:00

We have really enjoyed spending the last few days in Utah to celebrate Brooks' graduation from BYU and the blessing of Brooks Junior. On Thursday we were able to attend the commencement where over 6,100 graduates took 1/2 hour just to enter the building. Just about every seat in the Marriott Center was filled. We heard talks from Elders Nelson and Uchdorf. On Friday each individual school had their own convocation where the graduates were recognized indivudally.

Little Brooks was a little overwhelmed by the crowds and quite unimpressed, but overall, he was pretty good. He certainly was not the only baby in the auditorium.

There were a lot of young families at graduation. It was really fun to see.

We are sure happy to have such hard working sons in law and we couldn't be prouder of Brooks.

Brooks' parents and his grandfather came in from Redmond to enjoy the celebration too. Brooks' grandfather has not missed the graduation of any of his grandchildren.

After it was all said and done, Baby Brooks was happy to be home.

Another Strange Creature in Arizona???

2009-04-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

I always figured some day Bob would sprout horns.

Ok, actually this is a picture of Bob standing outside of a restaurant called the Longhorn Grill. It has a giant cow skull hanging over the door.

Snake Man - Keeping Your Carport Safe

2009-04-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

When we got back from swimming one day while in Arizona, we found a snake, about 18 inches long in the carport at Grandma Lutz's house. She was pretty convinced it was a baby rattlesnake and we were pretty sure it wasn't. There was no doubt that the markings were unlike any snake we find in Washington. Grandma Lutz did not want the snake in her carport or on her patio so Bob offered to catch it and take it across the street to a desert park.

He thought he was Steve Irwin but Heather pointed out that he took one chance too many. Enjoy the video of Bob "The Crocidile Hunter" as he attempts to catch what could be a dangerous snake.

By the way, we checked it out later and we are pretty sure it was a relatively harmless, non-venemous gopher snake. Grandma is still convinced it is a rattler.

Hoover Dam

2009-04-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Bob and I are on a road trip through the Western part of the US to visit family. We took 3 days to drive from home in Redmond to Green Valley, AZ. We left on Thursday afternoon and spent the first night in Burley, ID. The second day we stopped by to see Heather and Baby Brooks in Provo but then drove down to Henderson, NV and spent the night there. We planned on getting up kind of early in the morning to get across Hoover Dam. If you get there too late you get stuck in the traffic because there are security checkpoints to be sure you don't plan on blowing up the dam as you drive across it.

We were at Hoover Dam a few years back and the dam is an amazing thing to see in itself, but they are building a bridge that bypasses the need to drive on the dam and I'm guessing will give some pretty spectacular views to those driving over it. Bob loves to watch great feats of engineering and I have to admit it is pretty amazing to see. It is going to be completed in about another year.

As you approach the dam, you drive right by and under the new bridge. It's massive. They are building it from both sides of the gorge and will meet in the middle.

This is the road deck from the Nevada side. It looks like it is going to be 4 lanes.

This shot is taken from on top of the dam. You can see all of the electrical towers surrounding the dam and it's also a good view of the span and how they will meet up.

I like this view of Lake Mead from the other side of the dam. You can see the high water mark.

This one looks like Bob has ear plugs in his ears.

Hoover Dam has 2 things that I'm a big fan of. Lots of art deco and a ladies bathroom. The bathrooms are actually in the towers on top of the dam. You have to climb some stairs to get to the bathroom and once you do, it has an amazing view. Better than the view from any other bathroom I have ever been in.

This is the view from out of the ladies room window. Pretty cool, huh?

Do I Look Fat in This Outfit?

2009-04-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

I like to do be part of community events through work and today Expedia's CFO and CEO were part of a dedication of a new Boys and Girls Club in Bellevue that the company was a big contributor to. I was invited to the event but for some reason, they had a hard time finding someone to wear the "Point Man" costume. You know me, I'm game for anything so I volunteered. I figured I was risking my life but it was actually fun. Kids really seem to like character costumes and they were pretty cute. We communicated with nods and shakes, I bounced around and we even danced a conga line.

I always wanted to be a "mascot". I can check that off of my list now.

Happy Opening Day!

2009-04-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, it's opening day for the Mariners. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love baseball, win or lose. I have since the first game I ever went to. I remember it well. I wasn't sure about the date until I did some searching on the internet. It turns out the first game I ever went to was on August 2nd, 1968.

Dad took Ady and me to Dodger Stadium to see them take on the Mets. Dad was a big Dodger fan back then. There were some kids sitting right behind us who spent the whole game saying "Yay fo' da Dodgers, boo fo' da Mets". Ady, do you remember?

The Mets ended up beating the Dodgers 3 to 2, but it was so much fun. It's hard to see below but to see the whole box score, click on this link:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196808020.shtml

Not too many years later we moved to Kansas City, where Dad would take Ady and me to games at the old Municipal Stadium downtown to watch the games.

Then the Royals build their fancy new stadium in the supburbs and Dad would drop us off before the game, but pick us up right around the 7th inning so we could avoid the after game crowds.

There were years of baseball in between, but I'm sure most of our kids will agree that some of their best baseball experiences were in section 317 of the King Dome. Not that the seats were great but they could always count on achieving their goal of being seen on the Diamond Vison screen.

I could create a whole blog about my baseball experiences alone, but for now, I'll go home and have a hot dog and maybe some apple pie and optimistically enjoy the day.

It's Better to Look Good Than to Feel Good

2009-03-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport, hoping to somehow get a flight home. I am on a Southwest stand-by ticket. I got a great price and it worked well going to Salt Lake, but it is not as easy going home on a Sunday. I've been here since about 2:00 and it's now 7:30. I have one more shot tonight and then I'll just go to a hotel for the night. Unfortunately, my luggage and any hope of comfortable shoes went to Seattle.

Baby Brooks went home from the hospital today. He is doing well and spends a lot of his time sleeping. He is going to be a well dressed baby and he had a special outfit designated for his trip home. He was fine with what he was wearing.....

a plain white t-shirt...

He wasn't happy with the 3 piece outfit.

But he looked cute!

It was really hard saying goodbye to the baby. I guess I just got very attached to him in the past few days. I was so lucky to be able to spend the time with the family as little Brooks changed everything. It was obvious that he was left in good hands with parents that have fallen in love with him and I know will take very good care of him.

I'm looking forward to being back in Utah for his blessing and Daddy Brooks' graduation in late April.

More Baby Pictures for Jacki

2009-03-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Jacki wanted to be with Heather this week but with her busy schedule and having 2 kids of her own, it was too hard for her to get away. She wanted more pictures so Jacki, these are for you. We can't seem to get him to keep his eyes open for more than 2 seconds so it was tough getting this shot. His face looks much wider than it actually is.

Heather is doing well today with all of the tubes and needles removed from her body. She is up and walking around and feeling good, but I say she could still use more rest.

This was going to be an open eye picture but it turned out to be a yawn instead.

This is What a C-Section Looks Like

2009-03-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

I was a bit apprehensive about actually being in the room when Heather had her c-section, so I was a little relieved when they said that only one person could go in with her. When they were about 10 minutes from the actual surgery, a nurse offered to let me watch from a window. She told me that the blinds would be closed at the window but that she would open them.

Brooks did a great job of keeping Heather occupied. He was calm and said just the right things. He recorded the whole thing from Heather's perspective and we all watched the video this afternoon.

I wasn't so sure I wanted to watch when I started seeing blood. But then things started getting interesting.

Time to break out the heavy artillary

The doctor said he was very high and ended up having to do some digging to get him out.

Here he is! The whole thing took about 6 minutes.

The second he was born, they showed him to me at the window and closed the blinds.

Happy Birthday Baby Brooks!

2009-03-18T11:42:00.001-07:00

Today was a big day for the Lively family. Heather got up bright and early to do her hair and makeup so she would look good for pictures.

Then, she had to choose which clothes she wanted to have in the hospital. With a c-section, the baby and Heather will be in the hospital for 4 days.

We had to check in before 6:30 am. I am not sure I have ever seen Heather anyplace that early in the morning since seminary days.

It turned out that Heather was the 3rd c-section. There was one scheduled before her and a second was scheduled for next week, but the mom's water broke so she went ahead of Heather.

The hospital had a lovely selection of gowns to choose from.

Brooks got to wear a head to toe hazmat suit.

Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's House

2009-03-06T18:27:00.001-08:00

There is nothing like living close to the grand-boys. As I write this, Connor and Corey are just finishing up their dinner. Jacki and Terence went out to dinner and we love having the boys come over to hang with us. When you are a 2 year old as cute as Connor, you pretty much get whatever you ask for at Grandma's house. Grandpa keeps a stash of ravioli and Connor said that was what he wanted, until he remembered the Banana Nut Cheerios in the cabinet from last time he was over. He decided to have both. And Corey, he can eat in his sleep as you can see.

We had just eaten dinner, right before the boys got here, so we didn't think about saying a second blessing on the food. Connor has obviously been taught well. He insisted that the TV be turned off while he prayed. It was so cute to hear him thank his Heavenly Father for Grandma and Grandpa's house and Cheerios. I guess they were more popular than the ravioli.

I love being a Grandma!

Strong Convictions? Maybe not!

2009-03-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love baseball. My favorite holiday is not Christmas, Thanksgiving or even Mother's Day. I love opening day and we typically celebrate at our house with hot dogs and apple pie. When Patricia was born on April 9th, opening day, I thought her nickname should naturally be "Homer". Somehow that never caught on.

This year Ady came up with an ingenious idea so that no matter what, someone would end the year happy and there would be a celebration at the end of the World Series. We all got to draw a team name and that would be our team for the year. All 30 teams were distibuted and the holder of the winning team gets their own "Cinco de Miko" style celebration, complete with lots of presents. Gift cards are nice!

Some would call me lucky, but I drew the Boston Red Sox of all teams. One of my 2 least favorite teams in all of baseball. When the Yankees play the Red Sox, I root for both teams to lose.

That being said, the Red Sox have been given 3/1 odds of winning it all this year. 3/1....that's pretty dang good. So am I willing to stand up for what I believe in and trade away my team for one that is easier to root for? Heck no....3/1 odds, would you give that up?

Welcome Ady to the Big Five - O

2009-02-25T10:22:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to one of my favorite brothers. I see Judy beat me to the punch but I don't have all of those cool pictures anyway.

Ady has always been so much fun to be around. Here are some of my favorite Ady-isms and experiences.

"It had big yellow eyes when it turned it's head"

"A few of my favorite things"

Hunting for and hitting golf balls into the Los Alamos woods.

Naked mountain men (aka Bigfoot) alive and well in Provo Canyon

Nachos in Santa Fe

Not to be confused with "Nachos in Santa Fe". You know what I mean.

Pork Roast

Bandelier National Monument

And as far as I'm concerned, the best Ady line of all time :

"Please don't arrest my sister, she has 5 kids. She drives a van for heaven's sake!"

Happy Birthday Ady!! I love you!!

Congratulations Pam!!

2009-01-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

I know she won't make a big deal about it, so I am going to.

This week has been Egencia's annual Sales and Account Management meeting and last night was the Awards banquet to recognize top performers for 2008. Pam, as you know changed her role this year and was promoted to a Field Account Manager position, something no one else in the company has ever done. There are about 25 Field Account Managers in the company and most have been in the travel industry for about 20 years.

The VP started talking about someone who had a reputation for doing whatever it takes and for developing outstanding relationships with her customers. He went on to spout off some numbers including achieving 109% of goal, even with the Q4 dramatic drop because of the economy. He talked about how this person had only been in her role for about 1/2 of the year but still, let's face it, kicked everyone else's butt (my words, not his).

I was so proud when they called Pam to the front of the room to accept her award for Outstanding Performance. She got a standing ovation from many of her colleagues who love Pam (no surprise) and understand how hard she has worked to come so far in so little time.

Put your hands together for PAM!! The Vander Hoeven Machine rolls on!!

You Call That Art?

2009-01-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that of all of my siblings, I am the one with the least artistic talent. I am not a lover of the fine arts and the pink wedge is the one I try to avoid in Trivial Pursuit. That being said, I sometimes have a hard time appreciating governments attempt to add a little culture in our lives by spending our tax dollars on public art displays.

I walk my dogs every day and Bob and I recently took them to the trail in Redmond Town Center. It's been a long time since we have gone on that path. In the distance we saw what looked like some sort of a sign. There have been "junk art" sculptures there in the past so we debated whether it could be our tax dollars at work.

When we got right up to the object we could see that it was not actually a sign, but it was public art. It's a metal frame with a piece of plexiglass (Lexan) with a blue "translucent" vinyl square in the center. I went home and looked it up and found that the city of Redmond paid $3,000 for it. Does someone evaluate this stuff and see something that I am missing when they buy this stuff or is does the artist know someone who controls the purse strings. Please someone explain to me how that is art???

Wii!! Let's Exercise

2009-01-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Bob and I try to exercise but sometimes it's hard. Bob decided that we might have fun and do it more often if we had a Nintendo Wii Fit. He does love toys. I was fine with getting the Wii but I didn't want to buy the whole Nintendo system.

Luckily, Brian said we could borrow his for now. Actually, we do use the Wii Fit just about every day. It isn't the exercise that is so fun, but I am competative (you may not know that about me) and I like to see if I can beat the record and get the highest score.

The worst part about the Wii is when you step off and the poor machine acts like you just broke it's back. Oh well, here are some of my favorite games and my high scores.

Possibly the easiest game is the rhythm game where you follow the beat stepping on and off the balance board. The trick is to get "perfect" with each step. I am usually right around 300 but I always manage to get "ok" on a few of the steps.

Another one we do a lot is the ski jump. You squat on the balance board trying to keep your center of gravity even as you glide down the ski jump. Then just at the right time you extend your knees and keep balanced until you land. Your score is a combination of 2 jumps. My record is 341 meters which was sheer luck. I haven't made it past 300 since.

One of my other favorites is the hula hoop exercise. You stand on the board and swing your hips in a circle as fast as you can. Every few seconds, another Mii throws you another hoop which you have to catch while keeping the others up. In level 1 you can have a maximum of 5 hoops.

If you do it almost perfectly, you score somewhere in the low 300's, although I'm wondering how others have done on this level. I figure if I earn 4 stars, I must be doing ok.

The Wii Fit does not care if it offends you. It will happily tell you that you stink at an exercise and it doesn't mind saying "You're obese". It will reprimand you when you skip a couple of days and you have to know how to skip past the weight or you may accidentally see your. It is challenging and fun though.

One Month Anniversary - My Bad!

2009-01-25T15:13:00.001-08:00

I realized today that it has been a whole month since I have updated my blog, and I know that most of you would rather read through worthless information than see the same old pictures over and over again. So, I determined that I can't put on my night gown and lay on the couch the rest of the day until I post something.

I'll start with one picture from Corey's first birthday on January 10th. Corey had a great time with his own little cake. It looks like he is getting ready to cry in this picture, but he was actually having a lot of fun.

Happy birthday Corey (2 weeks ago). We love you!!

Merry Christmas - Random Pictures

2008-12-25T10:46:00.001-08:00

This Christmas certainly didn't turn out like I expected. It's been over a week now since things have been normal around here. The snow went from sort of fun, to almost crazy. It's Christmas morning and Bob is hobbling around on a sprained ankle (from falling on the ice) making his first attempt at tamales.

The weather really started getting bad on our anniversary, the 18th of December. It snowed hard and the roads were terrible. We had planned on going out to dinner because we have a 4 wheel drive truck that does well in the snow. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for others and once we gave up on a sit down restaurant, we found all of the fast food restaurants were closed too. We finally found KFC open and we brought that home for dinner. We ate while watching Wheel of Fortune. How romantic!

With all the snow what are boys going to do except play Halo? Jacki and Heather went out to do some Christmas shopping while I stayed home to work. Connor and Corey stayed at our house and Connor played with the guys. Terence was on line talking through the TV from his own house. While they were doing this, Corey only made it out of the doggy door and onto the deck twice to eat snow. Funny, the guys didn't take any pictures of that.

Yesterday Jason and I went to Bellevue Square to do some last minute shopping. When we got to the parking lot we noticed a whole lot of snow in the back of the truck. We built a snowman and dug through my purse for accessories. Our snowman stood guard while we were shopping.

Jason and Brooks have this crazy game called Pocket Shock it. It's kind of like a Russian Roulette game where the loser gets an electric shock through their hands. They are out of their minds if you ask me.

A kinder / gentler Connor hugging his GG bear, one of his favorite toys and a gift from his Great Grandma (hence the name GG).

With the snow on the roads, the big family Christmas Eve celebration turned into more of a birthday for Bob. The kids hung streamers and balloons and everyone wore a funny hat. No worries, we had a fire extinguisher handy when we lit the candles on the cake.

With all of the toys in the house, Corror opted for being pushed around in a crate by his Uncle Brooks. I love the picture of Brooks with his thug hat and the little pointy birthday hat on top of it.

Corey is waiting for his turn.

And Jacki is just Jacki...need I say more? And without a single drop of alcohol

So that brings us to now. It's about 10:00 am on Christmas morning and the snow just keeps falling down. Notice the sodas in the flower pot on the deck? Nice! There is about a foot of snow on the ground and we definitely have our White Christmas.

So Much to be Grateful For!! Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T07:58:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to drive to Provo to see Jason, Heather and Brooks. We started out with a 14 hour drive. We rented a big 8 passenger Suburban which we managed to fill to the gills with food (including a 22 pound turkey in a bucket of brine), luggage, a high chair, several laptop computers 2 carseats with their occupants and 5 adults. Connor calls the Suburban Grandpa's bus. It was surprisingly not that crowded. Connor (barely 2 years old) and Corey (10 months old) were amazingly good considering they were strapped into carseats the whole way. We went through 2 Eloise movies, Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid.

We arrived at Heather and Brooks' apartment just after 1:00 am. We dropped Jacki, Terence and the Boys off there. Brian went home to Jason's apartment and we went to the Courtyard.

The next morning we were back at Heather and Brooks' home by 9:00 am to get Bob's famous brined turkey into the oven.

Connor loves the stepstool in the kitchen which made him just high enough to see what was going on.

Corey enjoyed getting to know Heather while she fed him some oatmeal.

With so many people, you barely notice the kids climbing across the furniture.

Most of the men walked to the park for a while to throw a football around and let Connor play. They also went to pick up some borrowed tables and chairs which came in handy for dinner.

Matthew (Tijs) joined us for his first Thanksgiving since coming back from his mission in Tijuana. It was so nice to get to talk with him and learn about how he is doing. He bonded with both Corey and Connor.

Matthew not only played with the kids, but he did some potato mashing too. Thanks Tijs!

Of course there were cameras everywhere.

I thought we would keep things simple with 11 people in the apartment, but Heather had planned ahead with traditional Thanksgiving decorations. We had plenty of room for everyone.

The food was delicious and the company was great!

Brooks contemplates the meaning of life in the glow of the candlelight.

After dinner, there were bodies and blocks spread across the floor. Pie anyone?

I'm so glad we decided to make the trip to spend Thanksgiving with the kids. We have so much to be grateful for.

Celebrating 27 Years of Jacki!

2008-11-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

Today is Jacki's 27th Birthday!! Jacki is one of the joys of my life. She sometimes tries to hide it under a tough exterior, but she is one of the most compassionate people I know. She is determined and strong willed but she uses that strength to serve others. Jacki lives the VanderHoeven Machine philosophy of not just talking about what would be fun or a good thing to do, she actually does it.

Jacki is an amazing wife and mom. If you ever want to get something done, Jacki is the right person to put in charge.

Have a fabulous 27th birthday Jacki!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Mom and Dad

4th and 4th? Pickleball Points!

2008-11-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, if I have the rules right I open my 4th folder and post the 4th picture and then I have to explain what the picture is. This photo was taken at Oma and Opa's house in October of 2001 and it looks like Adrian is doing a pretty good job of scoring pickleball points on Sarah and Laura. He does come dangerously close to touching his victims however, which would disqualify him.

Hiring a Van and Driver - It's the Way to Go in Mexico

2008-11-22T17:59:00.000-08:00

I had this post saved in my drafts, I just haven't had the time to finish it. Ok, it's been a long time since we took our trip to Mexico, but I thought I would share some pictures anyway.

Our flight home from Mexico was on Friday morning, October 31st at 6:00 am, so we spent the last night of our trip in Cancun. On Thursday, we had scheduled a van service to take us from the Barcelo, about 60 miles to the Hotel Zone. We decided that rather than break up 2 days, we would hire a van and driver on Thursday and then after our time was up we would have them take us to Cancun.

We found http://www.playatransfers.com/ on the internet before our trip and decided to go with them. Tello, the owner of the company took us from the airport to the Barcelo and we enjoyed the service so much we decided to book the day trip with his company (which consists of Tello and his employee Raul). For $160 we had a huge van all to ourselves. Tello told us to book a car because he doesn't have any cars. That meant for the price of a car, we would have a van.

Raul, our driver, told us all about the local culture, food, and just about what it is like to live in Mexico. Our first stop was Coba (emphasis on the last syllable according to Tijs) where we were determined once again to climb the pyramid.

Coba is not just the tallest pyramid on the Yucatan Peninsula, it's a whole city of pyramids estimated to date back to about 500-900. It's way out from civilization and the area today has about 1,100 people living there. It may seem like it takes a long time to get there, but it's well worth the drive.

Once you get there the work is just beginning. There are ruins, including ball courts, right near the entrance, but you have to rent a bike and ride a couple of miles over dirt trails and roots to get to the big pyramid. It's definitely a jungle. There are various ruins along the way, in fact, so many that you tend to look right past them. A lot of the site is still unexcavated. It's 42 meters to the top of the big pyramid, so about 12 stories. The stones are uneven and the site is not OSHA approved. There is a single rope you can use to steady yourself but I don't think it would save your life if you tripped.

After touring Coba for a couple of hours we were ready for our next adventure. Pam told us about the cenotes in the area and that was what we wanted to do. Raul had asked some of the other drivers what we should do. He told us for $9 USD each we could see 3 cenotes and zip line into a sunken cenote. That was perfect.

We drove through a small village behind the Coba site and into the jungle. We stopped at the side of the road where there was a thatch hut. There were no other tourists anywhere to be seen. When we parked a small Mayan man went into the thatch hut and pulled out the zip line equipment. We hiked a little way into the jungle and strapped on our life lines.

We were not so sure it was safe and Jared decided he wasn't going to do it. He would walk down to the bottom of the cenote and take pictures. In the picture to the right you can see the Mayan zip line operator helping me in to my harness and Raul, our driver in the background. We were still a little leary so we asked Raul if he wanted to take Jared's turn. Once we saw Raul go, we figured we wanted to go too.

It was fun jumping off the side of the cliff and into the cenote but take a look at the picture below. The drop zone was a rigged wooden landing with an old mossy, moldy matress at the end. You can't see it but if you are short, like me, you also had to stand on 2 cinder blocks stacked on top of eachother to be high enough to unhook from the line. It was actually funny how primitive the ride was, but it was also a lot of fun.

After our zip line adventure we went to 2 more cenotes. The first one was a gorgeous cave with stalagtites and stalagmites, but it was not the best swimming hole. It was a little shallow.

The third cenote is the best swimming area. It was deep and cool and the water was the most beautiful blue color. Even though it was a lot of stairs to climb, it was amazing.

There was a bus load of dutch tourists there and some of them were jumping off of a platform way up high. I understand Tijs did that last time they were there. I wasn't that brave.

After all of our climbing that day we wanted to do something a bit more relaxing. Raul kept telling us about a turtle sanctuary on a beach not far from Tulum. It was late in the season but sea turtles lay their eggs on the Caribbean beaches and the facility is run by students who label and protect the turtles. He wanted to show us the baby sea turtles but there were none to see. The beach was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen though. There was one person, a student sitting on the beach. It was completely undeveloped except for the pens where the sea turtles were protected.

The day ended with a very long drive back to our hotel in Cancun. We bought food from a street vendor at a traffic light to end an incredibly fun day. At the hotel we had some really good authentic Mexican food. Yummy!!!! They have the best salsas in Mexico!

Let's go back!!

Let's Go Around the Table

2008-11-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

It's one week away from Thanksgiving and as I was walking my dogs the other day, I started thinking about the many blessings I have.

I actually had a hymn going around in my head (Sweet Hour of Prayer) and it reminded me of our amazing family. Thanksgiving was Mom's favorite holiday, she said so every year.

Let's face it, it's been a bad year for sports, politics, Dad's pain, and to top it all off, Vicky still hasn't been voted off of "The Biggest Loser" (what a creep!). But somehow, with all of that, I'm still incredibly happy and life is pretty darn good.

I was reminded of the huge Thanksgiving celebrations with our family. But instead of the celebration growing this year, with new additions to the family, we are going to be a bit more scattered than usual.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited to be packing up a rented SUV with 7 family members and driving down to Provo to spend the holiday with our kids, but at the same time I'll miss the celebration at Pam's house.

It goes something like this. We all spend a day or 2 preparing for a huge meal with Bob and Jack each making a turkey (and comparing whose is better), Judy making her yummy fruit salad with pomegranate seeds,

Pam making her cream puffs, and makes a steak or roast for Dad, and everyone else filling in with everything else. We are not a patient family, so there is no waiting for food. We have plenty of appetizers.

When we finally sit down to eat our meal, Dad talks about how wonderful it is that we are all together (he is right) and how blessed our family is. He asks Ady to offer a prayer and then the kids all say "Oh no, not turkey again" followed by Pam telling the kids that they can prepare their plates after the adults. When most everyone is done, we go around the table and tell something we are grateful for. That can take a while, since we are all so blessed.

So....I thought maybe this year we could use our blogs to "go around the table". I didn't want the season to go by without telling my family how much I love you all and how grateful I am for you and the influence you have had in my life and my kids. I'm so excited that you will all be part of my grandkids lives too.

I thought that in addition to the obvious (although it certainly bears repeating), I wanted to be more specific and go back to my thought at the dog park the other day. I was thinking, while singing to my self, about the Sunday afternoons we used to spend in Mom and Dad's living room singing hymns (sometimes badly) while Mom played the piano. I could do that for hours and I really miss it. Dad would be laying on the floor, sometimes tossing a ball or his socks in the air and catching it, but he would always be singing. I have to admit, bad voice or not, singing in the living room is one of my fondest memories.

How about you? What are you thankful for?

Limhi's Tour of Tulum

2008-11-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

We tend to take a lot of vacations to sunny, warm destinations. If we need an excuse, we say it is because we need a dose of vitamin D, which comes from being in the sun. We just returned from a 6 day trip to the Mayan Riviera where we stayed at the Barcelo Maya Tropical Beach Resort. It was our second time there and several family members have been more than once too. The first time we were there, it was just after a hurricane had hit and done a lot of damage to the grounds. This time, the grounds were perfectly manicured with thousands of coconut trees and tropical plants. There wasn't a blade of grass out of place.

On the second day of our trip, we went to Tulum. It is about 25 miles from the hotel so we took a taxi. During the drive I took our brand new camera out and played with it. We even took pictures of the driver going 120km, which was a bit over the speed limit.

It wasn't until we had hired a guide and were on the tram that we realized that the camera had been left on the cab. To make a long story short, I tried hard to recover the camera but never did. UGH! Oh well, we had a fabulous time anyway and we had a second camera with us.

There are several brothers who conduct tours at Tulum and at other archeological sites on the Yucatan Peninsula. When you go to Tulum, there is a little thatch hut near some of the stores where you can ask for a guide. If you ask for an LDS guide, you will get one of those brothers. Last year Mosiah was our guide and there were several non-LDS people on our tour. This year we got a private tour with his brother Limhi. Limhi told us that his mother was a costodian in a church building when she was pregnant with him and he was literally, born in the church. There are 9 brothers and 3 sisters and among the brothers we know of Nephi, Lehi, Helaman, Lemual and Limhi. A very interesting family. Limhi's tour includes his own speculation to some extent, but his testimony is strong and he had some very intersting stories about his experiences. The picture above is us standing at what Limhi called the tree of life.

There are buidings where the sun comes through holes on certain dates including the equinox, solstice and in the case of the picture Bob is holding, on April 6th.

Limhi told us that buildings were painted and he showed us how certain flowers changed colors when they were burned, and that was how they made the paint.

There were several almond trees and Limhi showed us how hard it was to open and get to the nuts inside the shell. He told us that Helaman's Army was so strong from eating almonds. He suggested 7 almonds every 2 hours.

At the end of the tour he told us stories about President Hinckley, who he had met on 3 separate occasions. We had a great day in Tulum.

OH BOY!!

2008-10-14T05:08:00.001-07:00

If you haven't seen Heather's blog http://brooksandheatherlively.blogspot.com/, the VanderHoeven Machine will be adding another male cog in March. She was certain it was going to be a girl but Brooks Travis Lively Jr. will no doubt be a welcome addition to the family. Jacki is thrilled that Connor and Corey will have a male cousin to hang out with. One of my colleagues wondered if we were trying to recreate the Osmond family. I wonder if any of the boys will be able to sing? I thought Army of Heleman. The male population explosion is exciting and fun. Anyone want to take on the challenge of giving birth to a girl closer than Guam? I have my debit card ready for shopping!

Rolling Out the Red Car-Pet(s) for Heather's Birthday!!

2008-09-25T16:38:00.001-07:00

Get it? Red Car? Pet? Anyway, Happy 22nd birthday to Heather!!

This picture of Heather and Brooks was taken in 2001, right after Heather turned 15 (way too young)

And the same goofy expression 7 years later, now happily married and with plenty of good reasons to smile.

Just say no to dark hair...Jenny, you too!

Just one of many pictures I have found of the kids doing stupid things. Where were we???

Heather loves Formula 1 racing and so does her Dad. Maybe a little too much!

Happy Birthday Heather, we love you! Thanks for keeping our lives EXCITING!!

Saturday, In the Park

2008-09-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

For once, we had a Saturday activity with family just 2 blocks from our house. Today the weather was gorgeous and Judy, Linda, Laura, Adam and Tyler come to Redmond along with Jacki, Connor and Corey. We decided to have a simple picnic at Anderson park. Since I only had to go 2 blocks to get home, I can be the first to post some of my pictures on a blog.

Corey had fun crawling around in the grass. That boy is always smiling! I couldn't decide which of those pictures to use so what the heck, I'll use them both.

Judy took her shift bouncing Connor and Adam on the teeter totter. We couldn't keep the boys off of his one. they had a great time.

It was nice having Laura along to keep the boys laughing and having fun.

That's a little close to the camera Corey.

I can't wait to see the pictures Laura took which I'm sure will be posted on the Walsh blog.

Connor didn't want the day to end, but Grandma's Diet Pepsi at least distracted him long enough to get him off of the playground.

When Mom is in Town, We Shop

2008-08-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

One of Heather's favorite things to do is shop for clothes and when I am with her, that's usually what we do. Since we don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl, it's too early to shop for him or her. One thing we did know, was that Heather was going to need some maternity clothes, at least eventually.

We had fun picking out some outfits but Heather has a hard time picturing herself filling out huge shirts.

Not everything she tried on was a winner. She didn't like this one at all.

In order to get the full effect, she modeled this one for Brooks with a pillow stuffed under her shirt.

Without the pillow, Heather doesn't show at all yet, but at barely 5 ft tall and not much room to put a baby, we suspect it won't be long before she fills out the new clothes we bought.

More from Arizona

2008-08-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a few more photos from our recent trip to Arizona.

Arizona is a hot place year round, but it was really hot in August. It was 112 after sunset one night.

Of course the main reason we went to Arizona was to visit Bob's mom.

Even though she will be 85 years old in November, she manages to stay active and looks great.

Uncle Jack Lutz is Bob's father's brother. He is an avid golfer and still plays nearly every day. We always love hearing Jack's stories. Notice the family resemblence?

We had to plan very carefully to be hungry enough to eat in all of the restaurants we had planned. Garduno's was one of our favorite New Mexico cuisine places when we lived there. We learned that there was one in Chandler and that was our first stop.

We got to enjoy the Fajita Express buffet, something we fondly remember from years ago, and for the first time in years we had sopapillas and real New Mexico cooking. Yummy! We post a lot of food stuff, don't we?

Getting Into the Olympic Spirit - Our Own Way

2008-08-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

We continue having a great time hanging out with the kids in Utah. Today we spent time with Jason and his friend Brianna while Heather and Brooks both had to work. Neither Bob or I had ever been to Park City and since Heather and Brooks just had a fun few days there, we decided to make a day of it.

The weather could not have been more perfect, in the low 80's I'm guessing, and the drive from Provo is beautiful. It took us less than an hour to get there. We parked near Main Street and walked up and down.

With all of the little boutique shops and restaurants in Park City, it was interesting to see what the church does to mix right in with the spirit of the town. They have a Family Tree Center right in the middle of Main Street with old time photos and props that I'm sure draw the crowds.

Jason's first Olympic event was "Wall Jumping" although his score was not even enough to qualify for the finals and the Chinese team easily beat his score.

Bob wasn't sure what to make of the costumed moose, but in Park City the Moose sculptures are similar to the pigs in downtown Seattle. They are dressed by local artists.

Main Street is just below the ski slopes and at there is a ski lift that runs right to the street. Skiers can cross a bridge to be taken right to the restaurants in town.

After we walked up and down Main Street, we drove several miles to the Utah Olympic Park, where many of the Olympic events were held in 2002.

The picture below is of a training facility but we believe that a lot of what we saw was just how rich kids spend their summer vacation. They wear wet suits and climb on the ramps. Each has a different height or curve at the end of the slope. They twist and contort before entering the water. There are plenty of coaches telling them just what they should do. Just before they hit the water, the water bubbles like Jacuzzi jets to break the surface tension making the entry to the water more gentle. We watched kids as young as 5 or 6 all the way up to adults. Some were very good.

After watching other athletes training for a while, it was our turn to get in on some action. The Olympic Park has an Alpine Slide, which is a summer luge. Jason and Brianna had a choice between that and the zip line, which actually looked a little slow. They opted for the luge and I decided to take the chair lift to the top of the mountain along with them. Bob is not a big fan of heights and he decided to hand out at the bottom and wait for us to get back.

At the top of the mountain was the ski jumping area that was used in the 2002 Olympics, and is still one of the top training facilities in the US. We walked right in to the building and to the top of the ski jumps. Believe me, it's a very long way down. Bob is sitting there on the third from the right flagpole stand at the bottom. The facility was really impressive.

Heather and Brooks have been talking for days about how much fun they had doing an Alpine Slide. They did it in a different area of town but Jason and Brianna had a blast getting to the bottom of the mountain the fast way.

This picture of Brianna doesn't do a good job of showing how fast you really come down the mountain.

I cam back down the mountain the same way I went up, because that was the ticket I bought originally. I would have loved the luge course though and next time I go to Park City, that's what I'm going to do.

Hanging With the Kids in Utah

2008-08-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

We have been in Utah for the past couple of days and are having a great time hanging out with the kids. I just wanted to share some pictures of the past couple of days.

When we are all together, even a dinner at IHOP can be a fun adventure. By the way, Jason shaved off that goatee the next day.

Last night we were looking for something different for dinner. We were about to drive 40 miles to a barbeque place when Jason told us about a place called Lon's Cookin Shack about 4 blocks from Heather and Brooks' condo. The food was fabulous and we had a great time. http://www.lonscookinshack.com/index.html

This is Jason with his friend Brianna. We enjoyed having her along with us.

The "Smokin Hot" sauce lived up to the expectation and I think between us, we used up half a bottle.

This one is funny because Bob spilled a tiny bit of sauce on his shirt. He grabbed a napkin to wipe it off and the napkin was full of sauce, which made a huge mess. Notice the hand motion.

Turns Out There is More Than One Sirrine Who Can Cook!

2008-08-20T05:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bob and I spent the day in the Phoenix area. We are flying out to Utah this morning but wanted to spend a day with just the 2 of us. We have always wanted to try Mike Sirrine's brother's restaurant Rancho de Tia Rosa, http://www.ranchodetiarosa.com/contact.asp in Mesa, AZ. We love Mexican food and we have been told it is very good so of course we wanted to try it. We were not expecting a huge parking lot packed with cars at 11:30 on a Tuesday morning.

The funniest thing was that as we walked from our car to the door of the restaurant, we were greeted in the parking lot by Nola Sirrine, Mike's mother. She had a startled look on her face and asked what we were doing there. She was there to deliver some sort of grocery they had run out of. She looked exactly like she did last time I saw her including perfect hair, make up, and matching pink jewelry to go with her outfit. Strange that we should meet her of all people walking through a huge parking lot. She introduced us to her grandchildren Julia and Clay who were the host and hostess. Oh Christopher, better call your grandmother to let her know about the birth of your son. Anyway, we were waited on by another Sirrine, Nick.

The place was huge and we couldn't believe how many people were there so early on a Tuesday. It was well worth the visit.

Pam, it turns out there are other Sirrines who can cook almost as good as you!

Politics, Religion and "Wi-Fly" Access

2008-08-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Bob and I spent the last few days in Green Valley, Arizona, visiting his 85 year old mother. Green Valley is a retirement community that among other things, is about a decade behind in technology. We needed to access the internet to check a few things so we went out to look for a place with wi-fi access. We heard the local McDonalds would be a good place to try. We were in luck, they had it for about $3. Oh sure, it's not Marymoor dog park where wi-fi is free, but we were willing to pay for it.

We went in, ordered a Diet Coke and fries and sat down to check the internet. A nice older man sitting at the table next to us decided to make conversation by asking us what we were doing and where we were from. He was having dinner with his wife. When we said we were from Washington, she turned around with her big Barack Obama button and told us how much she "liked our politics". Bob welcomed the opportunity to get into a heated political discussion that drew in lots of old folks in the McDonalds Lobby. If that wasn't enough, there were flies everywhere. I thought a horse had wandered into the dining room but it turned out to just be filthy. I didn't have a camera handy to take my picture, but this is close to what I, along with anyone else who braved the dining room looked like.

I don't know what was worse, the heated (but civil) discussion on policy, ethics, war and drilling in Anwar, or feeling like I was in Ethiopia. All the while I was begging Bob to stop but he just smiled and said he was having fun.

Finally the political discussion wound down to my own relief and I'm sure the relief of others swatting their own share of flies. The nice old man asked us why we were in town. We told them we were visiting Bob's mother and that our next stop would be Utah to see the kids. Of course the next question was "Oh, are you LDS"? (Oh swell, here we go again!) It turned out they had joined the church at one point but they retired from church along with work. Now we got to look back on everything we said and hope we said the right things. They shared all of their reasons that they just couldn't bring themselves to get up on Sunday and go to church themselves, but Their son had served a mission in Rochester, NY several years ago. He had been hit by a bus and badly injured while on his mission, but chose to remain until the end. He now serves actively in his ward and has 6 kids. Fortunately they both had positive feelings about the church. At the end of the discussion we all agreed that we had a lot in common and that we had just been to the filthiest McDonalds we had ever seen. We went back the next day with our camera in hand. We hoped to photograph the flies. We had to laugh when the first thing we saw was a man sitting outside (where there were less flies) with a fly swatter in hand.

Looking over my shoulder in the photo below, you will see that they were also smart enough to bring bug spray.

I don't know about you but if I have to bring the fly killing gear to lunch, I think I'll go someplace else.

Why I Live in Washington

2008-08-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Those of us who brave the 9 months out of the year that it rains in Western Washington know how beautiful the summers can be. Every once in a while, the hot air balloons that fly out of the Woodinville winery area in the evenings come right over our house and land at Marymoor Park. Tonight we thought they might be coming because the dogs let us know about 15 minutes before they flew over. We even went out to the deck to look for the balloons but they were nowhere to be seen. Then, Imola threw a fit and a balloon flew right bast our house.

It was sunny and 88 degrees here today. The rest of the week promises to be about the same. There is no place where the summers are more beautiful. I love living here.

What Does Your Workspace Say About You?

2008-07-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here thinking I need to update my blog, because it's no fun when people go days or even a week without updating theirs. Bob and Jared are once again in the driveway under the hood of my car, which is in exactly the same place it was last time I blogged about it. If all goes well, I hope to be driving it and turning in my rental car in just a few days. I just got back from the dog park, my usual outing, the Mariners are just about to lose ...again, and I'm looking through my photos for something to post.

In my "barfday" folder, I found these 2 pictures I took of my office (don't ask me why). Until I looked at the photos, I didn't realize how much my office says about me. You will notice that on my desk there are a couple of magnet and puzzle toys that I usually pick up and play with when I am talking to someone. If I'm not playing with toys, there are some heavy ball weights on the file cabinet. On my window sill you will see a wooden fishy puzzle I got in Cozumel. I bring that one out every once in a while. I like having my hands busy.

My bulletin board includes photos of just about anyone who would be reading this blog, my pin collection, lots of All-Star game and Mariners stuff, an American flag and one or 2 work related things. Hanging on my wall behind my monitor there is a picture of dogs that Ady drew for me and at eye level there is a picture of Connor. I don't have one of Corey because parents of second children don't take as many pictures.

Across the office on the other wall I have a bookcase. Instead of books, I have more toys, lots of trinkets that vendors give out, weights, more family photos, my 4 and a half year old laptop I don't want to give back in case the one I use goes bad, a baseball encyclopedia that someone once left on my desk (I never found out who), and some very well known candy baskets which bring in a lot of visitors, especially on Fridays. What you can't see are more framed pictures, including one of Safeco Field and an artist signed poster from the Holland Days festival that we went to in Linden, WA a couple of years ago. Hanging from my window next to my door is fishing wire with rhinestones and mirrors hot glued to it. I get a lot of compliments on that, probably more than anything else I have ever made myself except for things I have sewed. I enjoy my office and you can usually find me either there or in Pam's office

Our offices will be moving to downtown Bellevue by the end of this year and we will get to nice cozy cubicles. It's a beautiful building but it's going to be hard to decide what will come with me.

2008-07-23T12:38:00.001-07:00

My version of the 8 Things Thread

8 Things I am passionate about

1. The church
2. My husband
3. My kids and their spouses
4. My grandkids and my yet to be born grandkids
5. My dogs (yes, I really like them)
6. Traveling (especially in the Caribbean)
7. Family History
8. Walking

8 Books I Have Read And Enjoyed

I'll pass on this one. I'm not a big reader...my eyes are lousy and it takes too much time away from the family. I do like to read the latest version of Uncle John's Bathroom Readers.

8 Words or phrases I say often

1. It will all work out (I say it a lot but it always does)
2. Puppies, come!
3. I love you!
4. What the heck is she thinking?
5. I'll do it
6. The Mariners suck this year
7. Yikes!
8. What were you thinking about for dinner? (I always try to say it first)

8 Things I want to do before I die

1. See Machu Picchu and hike the Inca Trail
2. Throw out the first pitch at a Mariner's game (a strike)
3. Have a lot of grand kids and watch them grow up
4. Have lap band surgery and lose 100 pounds
5. Advance my career (I really like working) and be a big whig
6. Celebrate my husband's 90th birthday with him
7. A lot of volunteer work
8. Travel more

9 Things I have learned this past year (I am adding one to make up for not reading books

1. There are very few people I completely trust
2. It's pretty dang fun hearing a child call you grandma
3. I'm very good at my job
4. Some people are just nasty
5. Teaching Primary is a very important calling
6. Cancer is a disease of love, but it still sucks!
7. I'm very competative (nah, I already knew that)
8. My life isn't necessarily exciting enough to blog very often
9. The VanderHoeven Machine is a powerful thing

We Surrender!

2008-07-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

We looked forward to Saturday for several weeks. Bob was going to do his own thing, mainly work on my still unusable car, and I was going to watch Corey and Connor all day while Jacki and Terence were attendants at their friends wedding. Based on the times I have watched the boys before, I was going to clean the house with Connor's help and Corey was going to entertain himself. Of course I knew they would need some closer attention, like feeding Corey and playing with the boys. How hard could it be?

The day was a lot more work than we expected. Connor had been throwing up and had a fever the day before, but he was better. It turned out he was not feeling as well as we thought. He wanted to eat, but everything he took in came right back out from one end or the other. Corey is a sweetie, but he is not a big fan of bottles and he smiles a lot more when he is being held. I don't think he felt all that well either.

To make a long story (and an even longer day ) short, we went to Target and bought a fun exerciser for Corey. We bought a high chair which worked out great for Connor. Not to mention a few new toys to keep things entertaining. Neither Bob or I had much of a chance to leave the family room all day long and needless to say, the house did not get cleaned (except for the carpet getting cleaned as it was barfed on) like I thought it would.

I don't know if I have lost my touch, if I don't remember what it was like to have little ones around all day, or if it was just because the boys didn't feel well. Either way, my hat is off to you young moms and dads. Although I'm pooped today, it was great to have time to bond with the boys and I look forward to doing it again. Next time while the parents go to dinner or a movie, not a 13 hour event...deal?

Life in the Not-so-fast Lane

2008-07-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Is there anything worse than car problems? Anyone who knows my family knows that we don't have car problems, they are simply not allowed. Bob and Jared are both very talented mechanics who are known for helping others when their cars break down. I can always count on getting in my car, turning the key and knowing it will run. I am responsible for having my own oil changed, but the rest is out of my hands.

The other day I drove to work without a care. There was not hint of a problem until I got into the parking garage, came to a complete stop, and put my car in reverse. It stalled and wouldn't start again. I had to have it pushed into a parking spot by some people who were passing by. Later that night Bob and I went back to see if we (ok, he) could figure out the problem. It didn't take long for him to diagnose a problem with the timing belt. The next day I had the car towed home at a cost of $147 (yikes). He was right, it was the timing belt, but I have an "interferance" engine, which means nothing to me except big bucks. I was advised to rent a car for a minimum of a week while he removed the head and has some valve work done. UGH!!

There is a silver lining to every cloud. Jared has his busiest time of the year in July with tournaments and working 7 days a week. Tonight, during a break, he came over to help take the head off of the car. When Jared is around, what is normally very hard work, somehow becomes fun.

Fortunately, I paid for my October vacation today so we're going to have to find the car repair money someplace else. Phew!!

The Best Independence Day Ever - Seriously!!

2008-07-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's the morning after the craziest 4th of July I have ever seen and I didn't even have a camera with me. Traditionally, all of the good parties our family has are at Pam and Mike Sirrine's house. This year, it turned out that a lot of the family regulars were out of town so there was a question about whether there would even be a family gathering. Jacki, who never misses an opportunity for fun, pushed the issue and Pam said that regardless of how many were able to attend, there would be a party at her house. Fireworks are legal in Bonney Lake, and the rumor was, that there were a lot of them. So what made this small gathering so much fun? My top 10 reasons:

10. The weather was beautiful. Rain the past couple of days made everything green and there was no real fire danger. Traditionally, summer starts in Seattle on the 5th of July.

9. Watching boys be boys. Guys love to set off fireworks. It's hard wired in their brains. If I'm not mistaking, Terence hasn't had a lot of experience doing this and he set off everything he could get his hands on. The guys even bought some little plastic soldiers and set up 2 armies to have a battle. It was hilarious!

8. Everyone in the neighborhood came out. Every house on the cul-de-sac had chairs set up on the sidewalks and everyone set off fireworks. People were cheering for eachother's displays. My guess is that some of these people don't talk much throughout the year, but somehow it brings people together. Michelle accidentally set a pretty good sized bottle rocket down the street and into a family. She went down to apologize and Mike followed her. Nobody was hurt and they understood, it could happen to anyone. I'm really surprised it didn't.

7. Fourteen of us made it. This probably goes down in VanderHoeven history as one of the smallest parties ever, but Mike, Pam, Christopher, Jacob, Michelle, Opa, Jacki, Terence, Connor, Corey, Brian, Bob , Ady and I were there. We even brought Imola and Minardi (our dogs) and kept them crated in the house. I thought it would be too noisy to leave them home and that they would be scared. I had no idea of the noise in Bonney Lake, but they actually did fine.

6. Opa's harmonica. Dad got a new harmonica and he played some of his favorite tunes, including Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam so Connor could sing along. Good exercise for his lungs and he is actually pretty good.

5. The food - strawberry shortcake with freshly picked Washington strawberries. Pam is known for her amazing food and this time she went to a local strawberry farm and YUM! She doesn't spare the whipped cream either. And while were on the subject,

Aunt Pam's fried chicken. Also a family favorite. It's finger lickin good and in our family, nobody even blinks an eye if you go back for seconds.

4. Talking about how much fun we have had on our vacations together and planning for Cancun in October. We have confirmed our airline tickets and are looking forward to going with as many family members as can make it.

3. Hanging with the grand kids. Connor is a 20 month old toddler these days who is so much fun to be with. He repeats anything you tell him. He knows he is part of a family and is comfortable with all of us. He tries to speak in sentences and although I know I am biased, he is pretty darn cute. Not to mention Corey, who is the easiest going baby around. I love those boys!

2. The drive home. Driving through Bonney Lake, every neighborhood had arial displays and the noise was incredible. Coming down the hill overlooking the valley, the sky was absolutely filled with more fireworks than I have ever seen. It was that way most of the way home. Granted, there were less as we entered King County, and even less as we got toward Bellevue and Redmond. What a bunch of fuddy-duddies!

1. The craziest display of fireworks I have ever seen. We started shooting off fireworks at about 5:30 and when we left at about 10:15, we drove through an obstacle course of fire to get out of the cul-de-sac. The street was absolutely littered with spent fireworks. I would say it was like the 4th of Julys I remember as a kid, but I honestly have never seen anything like it. For most of the years we have lived in Redmond, we have watched the fireworks at Marymoor park off of our back deck. They are great but nothing like the fun of setting them off yourself. Pencil me in for next year Pam, although this time, let someone else help with the food, and we will absolutely be picking up some fireworks ourselves.

P.S. - How could I have forgotten...I think another reason why it was so much fun is that I love the USA and it was awesome having an opportunity to really celebrate our freedom! Oh, and the Mariners even won! Now that's a great day!

Barcelo Maya Anyone?

2008-06-29T17:15:00.001-07:00

It's a beautiful day in the Seattle area today with temperatures in the 90's. After church I had Bob inflate Connor's swimming pool on our back deck so I could sit in it to cool off. Yes, I know, it's not a pretty picture but the deck is not really visible to others and it felt really good. We talked earlier today (when we should have been paying better attention in church) and what we need is a vacation. I know, it hasn't been that long since the last one but we really love going to tropical places. We ran the numbers and searched the American Airlines website to see where we could get the best frequent flyer tickets, and we think we have a plan. We would leave Seattle at 11:55 pm on Saturday, October 25th. It's Opa's (Dad's) 80th birthday and we want to be there to celbrate it. We would get into Cancun the morning of the 26th. We would spend 4 nights at the lovely Barcelo Maya resort and then one night closer to the airport in Cancun, before returning home on the morning of October 31st. You may ask if we can move the dates and unfortunately, we can't. We checked all of September, October and November, and this was the best we could do. We haven't even confirmed these days yet but we will soon. Why the Barcelo? This place has some of the most amazing pools I have ever seen with swim up bars and all the Margaritas you can stand (virgin, of course). The Caribbean beach is beautiful white sand as far as you can see. It's so big, it couldn't possibly be crowded. Is that enough to convince you? If not, try this...all you can eat chocolate ice cream on the breakfast buffet and all day long. Check out the videos on You Tube. I'm in! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGEcLgJbcMo&NR=1

Catching Up

2008-06-29T16:19:00.001-07:00

Wow, how lame can you get. I haven't posted anything since Father's Day, even though it's been a very busy couple of weeks. Heather and Brooks came to visit last week and we had a great time. We hadn't seen them since Christmas, and very little since their marriage almost a year ago now. We as adults don't change much in several months, but kids do and Heather and Brooks mainly wanted to see Connor and Corey. They had never even seen Corey.

We started the fun by going to Azteca and celebrating Terence's birthday. Engracia has waited on our family at Azteca for about 10 years so she knows us all. After lunch Terence got to wear the dreaded sombrero and have his picture taken. The fried ice cream makes it all worthwhile though.

On Friday Jacki, Heather and I took the kids to Remlinger Farms in Carnation. It's a real working farm that specializes in strawberries in the spring and pumpkins in the winter, there are stores, but the reason we went was for the country fair with rides and attractions for kids. As expected, Connor had a lot of fun. When we got there, he didn't go for the ponies or the train ride, he went right for a school bus parked in the picnic area.

There is a petting zoo there and I Connor was interested, until he got his finger too near a chicken cage, and got it nipped. This photo was
snapped the second he pulled his finger back.

There is a big covered tent with a straw maze. We had fun running through the maze, crawling through the tunnels and jumping in the straw. Connor was not nearly as entertained on the roller coaster as Jacki and Heather were watching him ride it. he lasted 2 laps before the ride operator mercifully let him off.

On Saturday we had the big family race at K1 Karting in Redmond. We rented the facility for a private party. Our daughters have married some competative guys but it really was fun. You can ask them what the final results were, who cheated and how they cheated.
Racing is definitely a family favorite. Another family favorite is video games and particularly, the Rock Band game is not only popular, but very noisy around our house. The guys are all very good and they take turns on the various instruments.

Brooks chillin on the guitar and Terence intently playing the drums.

On Saturday afternoon we headed to Aunt Pam's house in Bonney Lake where we got to hang with the family, eat amazing food, enjoy a fire and make smores. Connor had so much fun swimming when it was hot outside, that he decided to do it again when he was fully dressed in his new warm pajamas, including socks and shoes. Corey, meanwhile, just hangs out and enjoys life.

Father's Day 2008

2008-06-16T20:29:00.001-07:00

I think Father's Day and Mother's Day are fast becoming my favorite holidays. Mother's Day is great, because I don't have to lift a finger, except to get ready for church. Once I get there, I get to listen to one speaker after another tell the congregation how wonderful us Mother's are. Then, when I get home I go sit on the couch and wait while my family serves me my favorite foods. Somehow, it doesn't seem fair that Jacki, who is a mother of 2 kids, is the one preparing my meal. The men clean the kitchen while I enjoy Corey and Connor.

Yesterday was Father's Day, a favorite for the opposite reason. I love just as much being the one serving Bob, as he is honored. Funny thing though, on Mother's Day at church all the speakers tell Moms how amazing they are, but onn Father's Day they tell the Fathers how great they should be.

Yesterday was a beautiful Spring Father's Day as Brian, Jared, Emily, Jacki and Terence came over along with the grandsons, Corey and Connor. Jacki spent several days last week scanning photos and creating an amazing "Daddy, This is Your Life" movie/slide show. We spent 12 minutes watching our lives flash before our eyes and it was amazing. I have always known that my life was filled with blessings and I have seen those pictures a hundred times, but this time it was different. I remember the days that most of those pictures were taken and I could even identify who the baby was in most of the pictures. There were pictures of laughter, kids doing things they would have gotten in trouble for at the time, and even happy tears. Somehow all of the difficult times we had have faded into a distant memory and we only remember the good. We have been so blessed!

Another Favorite Thing - Family History, I Am Doing It!!

2008-06-10T18:17:00.001-07:00

I remember now why I have been so bad about writing a journal. My day to day life is exciting to me, but may not be so exciting to others. One of the things that I love is family history research. I get it from my Dad who has selflessy devoted his life to genealogy research and temple work. I always thought that with all of the research Dad did, there was no need for me to get involved. Then, I realized that although Dad has found all there is to find within my direct line, there were stories about the people on Bob's side of the family, who also happen to be my children's ancestors, I wanted to know more about those people. It all started with a box of pictures in Grandma Lutz' closet. I started asking her about the people and realized that once she is gone, there was nobody left who even knows who they are. She had stories about family members but the stories handed down in a family are not always true and I wanted to learn about them for myself. I joined Ancestry.com and started doing research. I found that almost every County in the United States has a free family history site and the internet is filled with cemetery inscriptions, vital records, stories, old newspaper articles, immigration records and so much more. Not only that but it's not hard at all to find people who are willing to go to the local library or historical society to do research for you, for little to no money.

Allow me to introduce you to Mensenkamp family. The handsome person in the back row, second from the left, is Charles Leopold, Bob's grandfather. Other family members are parents Adolph and Mary Christine Kaiser. They had 8 children but oldest daughter Mary died as an infant. Sons are Robert, Charles, George, Roy and Elmer. Daughters are Elmer's twin Emma and Cora. Emma (next to her father) tragically committed suicide by drinking acid when she had a husband and 2 small children. Her sister Cora, who helped Emma's husband care for the children after her sister's death, ended up marrying him. Even though there were 5 sons in the family, there are no male heirs in this family or any of the other Mensenkamp families that came to the US together in the mid 19th century. The stories that have been handed down through the family are a start, but I have found through my research, are not always accurate. The true stories are much more interesting. Family history research, is fascinating and is the ultimate jigsaw puzzle. Thanks Dad for handing down the Spirit of Elijah to me.

Want to Try Again??

2008-06-08T08:14:00.001-07:00

http://www.citychaseusa.com/ This one looks like there are more challenges than just taking a picture in front of something and could be more fun. It last 4-6 hours so we would want to be in good shape. Looks like fun!!

Competition? Bring it on!!

2008-06-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me say that I have by no means covered all or even scratched the surface when it comes to my favorite things. I think I'll just write about some of them every now and then. If I kept going with writing about my favorite things, it would take me months and I would never be able to write about anything else. Today was great. Only 2 days ago I got an email from my former boss, and Pam's current boss, Holly. She knows how competative our family is and she knows how much we like doing things together. As I said before, Our family doesn't just talk about how much fun it would be to do something, we actually do it. Holly had learned about an event called the Great Urban Race, which was to be held on June 7th. Similar to the Great Race, a reality TV show, teams received clues and had to travel by public transportation or on foot, to about 12 sites throughout Seattle. For the most part we had to take pictures of ourselves in locations that make Seattle unique. Although Holly didn't think we would actually do it on such short notice, we formed 3 teams of 2 (that was all that were allowed on a team), made "VanderHoeven Machine" t-shirts, and were at the starting line before most other teams, at 11:00 this morning. We have always wanted "VanderHoeven Machine" t-shirts and this was our excuse to make them. We got our clues at noon and headed for Seattle Center to fulfil our first task and to plan our strategy. Unfortunately, we had just finished our 2nd task and were about 10 minutes into the event, when Pam twisted her ankle. She was in terrible pain and there was no way I thought she could go on. What was I thinking? She limped a few steps and Jeff told her to walk it off. "Don't stop or it will stiffen up". To make a long story short, we probably walked 5 or more miles today and crossed the finish line in a respectable 3 hours. There was no rule against teams working together so even though we had 3 teams, we were actually only one. When we had our photo's checked and learned that we had all accomplished the assigned tasks, we finally had a chance to sit down. Pam took off her shoe and her ankle looked like a big blue baseball. As with everything my family does, we laughed and joked about how Pam could possibly have run up and down the hills of Seattle for so many miles with her foot looking like that. Anyone who knows Pam, or really anyone else in our family, would know that her finishing the race was never in question.

What a fun day! Let's find another one and do it again. I know we could cut at least 1/2 hour off of our time.

I'll Give it a Try .... My Favorite Things

2008-06-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Succumbing to peer pressure from the rest of the family, I have decided to give blogging a try. Not only is this my first attempt at blogging, but I have to admit I have not kept a journal either. I have never been able to figure out how to start. So even though it is unlikely anyone who is does not know me very well will read this, I thought I would start by telling you, the reader, what some of our favorite things are. When I refer to I, I mean Karen. Bob is no writer.

You might think that the title "Life in the Fast Lane" is an unusual title for 2 empty nest 50, somethings, but we keep very busy and love to have fun.

We love to cruise, and Princess is our cruise line of choice. We just got back from our 10th Princess cruise, this time it was the Southern Caribbean. Next time, who knows?

On a Western Caribbean cruise a few years ago, it poured rain as we sailed out of Fort Lauderdale with some of the kids and cousin Jamie Sirrine along. It was great anyway!

I love the fact that our family doesn't just talk about doing things, we actually do it. My sister, Pam Sirrine has always loved game shows. Since she was little, she said she wanted our family to go on Family Fued. In the year 2000, we stopped talking and auditioned. We were selected to compete against the Banks Family, who didn't score a single point. Unfortunately, Pam and Jeff choked on a champaign question in the bonus round. Back in those days you got one try, you didn't get to come back the next day. It was an awesome experience, even though we each walked away with only $184 and a t-shirt. Mom charmed the audience with her answer to a question about Cher.