OH BOY!!

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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.