Happy New Year From Our Family To Yours!

Our House in 1915

Now here is a something you just won’t believe.
An envelope came in the mail today and it contained two pictures of our house and a very nice Christmas card from someone we have never met.
A lady who lives in Lakewood was looking thru her grandmother’s photo albums and came across pictures of our house. She believes the photos were taken in 1915 when the house was owned by her great grandparents. Her grandmother was the one who took the photo along with another one of her children sitting on our porch. Carol, the woman who sent us this information gave us a brief history of her grandparents and who they were and also left her email address and told us she would be happy to talk with us about any history of the house that she know of. I can’t wait to call her after the holidays to see if she has some more photos. We have been trying to get some old photos of our house for some time thru the historical association in Tacoma but with little luck. Just in case you didn’t know our house was built in 1902 and from what we have gathered has had very few families who have owned it.

Lila & Kyle playing in the snow!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Wow, what a birthday present I got. It started snowing on December 18th around noon and just kept snowing and snowing and snowing. It was coming down so hard our office closed at 4:30pm, our Anchorage office had a good laugh over that. It took me one and half hours to get home; it usually takes about fifteen minutes. When I finally did get home we went out to dinner with Scott and his mom. It continued snowing throughout the week-end.The kids had a so much fun sledding and playing in the snow and Baily was so funny, the snow was deeper that she was tall so it was quite a site

Kyle's Thanksgiving Play

Kyle was in his class play for the Thanksgiving holiday. He was an Indian chief and had a very important line "I am the Chief of my Tribe" he did a great job. Big sis Nickie was there to cheer him on along with Mom & Dad. We were so proud of him. After the play we had a feast at school with all his class mates.

A big day is fast approaching

Just a reminder: We have a Birthday to celebrate on Friday December 5th! Kyle is turning 6 years old! can you believe it? He wanted to thank Grandpa John and Nana Lydia for the book, we have been reading a story every night since it arrived. We will be having a birthday party on Saturday December 20th, more info to follow on that.

New addition to our family

After the sad passing of Lucy, our cocker spaniel of seven years who developed breast cancer I was convinced that we shouldn't get any more animals.........then came the trip to the pet store where Baily Jean with her big brown eyes and waging tail was just too irresistible. So now we add one miniature dachshund along with our cat Blackie, Kyle's turtle (who he named clam) who came all the way from New York with me on the plane, and our new squater cat who has moved into our garage (without our permission) and who we can't get rid of and of course the fish. Baily has turned out to be a great little dog if you forgot about the fact that she pee's and poops on the deck if its raining, she digs under the trampoline until she's black, she escapes out of the yard and is impossible to catch, she nips at anyone she doesn't know, she bites Kyle, growls at Nickie and piddles when she gets excited. Ah life is great.

Rest in Peace Lucy, we miss you.

Halloween 2008

It was a great day for pumpkin hunt! So we loaded everyone up and headed to Puyallup. We checked out the animals, corn maze and I, once again took first prize at work at our annual Halloween costume contest.

Dad & Lydia come for a visit

We had a real treat in September when Dad and Lydia came for a visit before and after their cruise to Alaska. The kids enjoyed reacquainting themselves with their grandparents and Jessie and Nickie were impressed over the fact that their grandparents had a IPod touch! They are so jealous! They looked at pictures for hours, who knew they were so hip? The weather was every bit as good as sunny California and we hope to see them again soon. Thanks Dad & Lydia for having the girls this past summer, they are still talking about the trip to Alcatraz and of course the tour of Jessie's dream collage, Berkley

Montana ~ July 2008

Some of our best times are spent with our good friends the Hedricks. We went to Montana to visit them over the 4th of July weekend and had a great time jet skiing, horse back riding, going to Silverwood theme park and some not so fun times getting attacked by ginormous mosquitoes going over Skalkaho pass which is basically a narrow dirt road with steep drop offs. As we start to head off the paved highway with warning signs that state not to continue if your vehicle length is over 18' (we are also towing the jet ski's) we encounter a thunder and lightning storm that was like no other. We couldn't hear each other in the car despite all five kids screaming at the top of their lungs! as we continue up the mountain pass with the road washing out under us due to the heavy rain we come to a hairpin corner with a sheriff blocking the path. Sadly, a car had plummeted over the edge a few days before and had just been found and recovery efforts were under way. This took several hours but we had no choice as the road was too narrow to turn around. We finally got back under way after dark and proceeded down the narrow path. We were all glad to finally reach paved road again!
We will add this trip to the many unforgettable times we have when we team up with Scott, Cindy, Brianna and Chrissy.

Bags R Us

Need a hand bag, watch, perfume for that special someone? I can help you out. Two to three times a year I travel to New York city and visit a well know place called Canal street. If you have ever been to NY city I'm sure you have heard about it. We buy anywhere from 50 to 75 hand bags and bring them back to sell to all our friends, co-workers, and family. The bags are hand picked by us so the quality is very good. More than anything it just a lot of fun. There is no other place like it, the hussel and bussel is intoxicating! If you ever are in the market or know anyone that is interested in an affordable Coach, Prada, Gucci, or Channel hand bag just give me a call.

NASCAR

As some of you may know, Shawn has got me hooked on NASCAR. Both me and Harold joined his Fantasy NASCAR team. We started out with about 12 people and finished out the season on an entirley new team with six people. I have learned a lot during the racing season which goes from February to November. I never realized that there was so much involved, I always thougt it was pretty silly, all those cars just going round and round. Shawn finished 2nd, Harold 3rd and me 4th in on our team. I had a real treat when I was in Ft. Lauderdale at a confrence. Me and my freind Sharon attended the last race of the season at Homestead Miami Speedway! We watched the Nationwide race from the speed club at the track. My favorite driver "Carl Edwards" won. I can't wait till next year now that I know a little bid more about the sport.