Happy Birthday Brian!!

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!!!

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

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

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!

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

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 $$$$$$$

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?