Tidy Bowl - circa 1972

When this Todd was but a wee toddler, apparently I crawled into our toilet and was enjoying my personal jacuzzi. When finally my mom came to find me, she saw that I was puttering around and enjoying myself in the toilet. Realizing that this was the ultimate Kodak moment, she ran to get the camera. By the time she came back to take the picture, I had crawled out of the potty. In order to not let this moment be lost to history, she proceeded to stuff me back in there and take the picture. In the picture you can see that I was a bit upset to be thrown back in there in such an undignified manner by looking at the crying expression on my face!

Hidden Broccoli - circa 1978

When we were kids, we were playing hide and seek and my little sister, Brooke, who was about three, hid so well we could not find her. We looked for over an hour and then ended up calling the police. The whole neighborhood was out searching a couple of hours in. In the third hour we found her - Asleep under a pile of clothes in the laundry room!

Rascal

In the ongoing battle between father-in-law and son-in-law, FIL struck first. Over Thanksgiving, we stayed at some condos on Lake Coeur d'Alene. It is a beautiful setting, and we had a wonderful time there.

We were there for a week, and I had brought along a bunch of puzzles that I thought we could put together as a family. I started working on one a couple of days before Thanksgiving, and spent a couple of hours each night puzzling away. (Didnt get much help from anyone...) One night, I stayed up until midnight to finish it. I felt quite accomplished and was relishing the completion into the next morning. I had been reading a book in the bedroom, then came out at about 9 a.m. LeAnn's dad apologetically mentioned that someone had bumped the table and the puzzle had been broken apart. Disappointment washed over my face as I looked over to the table and saw a jumbled pile of puzzle pieces. My three children even looked over at me with sad expressions on their faces. I tried to remain stoic and played like it was no big deal, but they could tell I was a bit upset about it. I proceeded to take a shower and came out 15 minutes later. LeAnn's dad quickly told me that the kids had put the puzzle back together again. I look over, and there it is, all complete! He went on to say how it must not have been that difficult as they could finish it in that short of time when it took me four days! As the wheels are churning in my head, I realized that I had been 'played'. The puzzles I brought had five different puzzles in one box. They had all moved the completed puzzle into another room and pulled out one of the other uncompleted ones!
touché
After getting punked like that, I decided I had to get back at FIL! After my family had duped me before, I decided that I needed some cohorts in exacting my revenge. First, we waited until grandpa and grandma left the condos. Then we proceeded to toilet paper grandpas bedroom. We went through a roll pretty quickly, and then realized that we might run out of TP if we used another roll, so ended it there. It was funny to see his reaction when they got home. Since that was a pretty tame prank, I wanted to take it to the next level...
Grandpa has this bottle of super-spicy salsa that he brought along for the trip. It has habaneros, jalapenos, scotch bonnets, all of the super-hot chilies in it. It was a bit much for most salsa eaters. When we stopped at the store that evening, I asked LeAnn to purchase some mild Pace Picante sauce. Begrudgingly, because she knew she would likely be implicated as a partner in my crime, she bought it for me. Upon arriving home, I took FIL's special salsa bottle and removed its contents. This, I replaced with the mild stuff. The kids were so excited to see the show that night because we were having Mexican food and we knew grandpa would break out his 'special salsa'. As dinner preparations were being made, there was a bag of corn chips out on the counter to entice him. He took the bait. He got his salsa (what he thought was his salsa), and took a dip with a chip. We were all watching expectantly to see his reaction. He smacked his lips a couple of times, and looked quite confused. He took another chip, and tried again. His eyebrows scrunched down in consternation as he thought he was going crazy. He must have figured the third time was the charm. He took another bite, and then said: 'Something is wrong with my salsa!' The room erupted in laughter and he finally realized that he had been duped.
Now I just need to watch my back as I know he will be scheming to get me back again. :)

The Flap.

A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning, I was down on the couch in my 'lounge pants' reading a book. Jaylin and Austin came down and Jaylin took a look at my pants and noticed that there was a 'hole' in the nether regions. I tried to explain the purpose of that 'hole' in the most refined way that I could. She kind of made the big saucer eyes and said 'that is gross'.
Austin, on the other hand, was quite enraptured by the conversation. I noticed him listening in and told him that he would have the same type of hole in his whitey tighties. He said, 'No, I dont!'. I told him he should take a look. He pulled down his pj's a bit and said 'That part is sewn down'. I then told him he should go check it out in the bathroom. Twenty seconds later, I hear him screaming - IT WORKS! IT WORKS!
I guess I never thought much about teaching him about 'the flap'. So funny that he made it to ten years old before realizing that he could use it. Now, everytime he comes out of the bathroom, he tells me- "I used the flap!"

Pirate Battle

Last Tuesday night, we had a parent vs. kids scrimmage for our soccer team, the Pirates. We played at a lighted field in Federal Way. We were actually on a sand field, which I wasnt too thrilled about initially. It was raining during the whole game, and it turned out the sand was probably easier to play on than the grass fields would have been - not quite as slippery, although the ball would skid pretty well as there wasnt the grass to stop it.
We started out going 7 parents against the 6 boys that were there. The boys were pretty excited to 'give it to us'. They held up pretty well for a while, although the parents team had some pretty good passing going on. I kept yelling at the boys to watch how well their parents were passing the ball around. Gunnar's dad, Bob, is quite athletic and got a couple of good shots in. Soon we were up 3-0. I could tell the boys were getting a bit dejected, so I told them they could pick one of the parents to come over onto their team. The parents ended up voting and sending me over. So, I held down the defense a bit tighter as I was guarding Bob. I started giving the boys more opportunities to get some shots, but the parents were not very compassionate. They were all playing for the win. At that point, I figured I needed to up the ante. I pushed forward a few times and scored a couple of goals. Then one of the boys got one and we were tied 3-3. The parents came back though and Bob scored a header off of a corner kick. We came back down and I scored another to match them. After that, we had been playing for over an hour, so we decided that the next goal would win. I was trying to get one of the boys to get the winning goal and passed a number of them through that were denied good shots. Finally, we came down the middle, and I was trying to direct traffic to get the boys to push through so I could lead them with a pass. Austin saw me pointing and made a good run toward the goal. I sent it through to him and he dribbled past one defender and put it in for the win! He was so excited. It seemed like a bigger deal to him to score against the adults than it did for the multiple goals he would score in his regular games. It was just as fun for me to be able to participate with him and work together to score that winning goal.
I have payed for all of that fun by being in pain for the past week. My knees were not happy at all with all of that action. My 'good knee' is now feeling worse than my surgically repaired one. :( It is probably worse after running against adults as opposed to playing against the 10 year-olds

9 seconds

Austin took the pass from the first kickoff of our game last Saturday, weaved his way through five defenders, and scored our first goal in 9 seconds. It might have been eight even. I use a stopwatch to keep track of how long the boys have been in and then sub them out in 7 minute increments. After he scored so quickly, it might have taken a second for the shock to wear off before I looked down at the stopwatch. It was an incredible play, and so thrilling to see him doing so well.

gassed

A couple of weeks back, after soccer practice, I drove down to Auburn with Austin and Jaylin to deliver a birthday invitation to one of Austin's friends, Conrad, from his soccer team last spring. We stopped by his practice and said hi to him and his dad before heading back home. We were in the Kent valley and my gas light had been on for a while. It is a totally unreliable indicator as it goes on about anytime after I have put over 150 miles on the tank of gas -- when I know that I can get 275 out of a tank. So, usually, I let it ride for a while longer before filling up again. On this particular night, we were at about 250, so I figured I could get back up the hill to the station by our house. I passed one station and had driven not quite a mile when the Malibu started 'gas'ping for gas. I quickly pulled off the main road and gave it a couple of tries to start the engine again before I gave up. It wouldnt have been a big deal had I been by myself, but I had AK and JA with me. I told them we would be going on an adventure back to the gas station. It was about 7:00 at this time, and it was quite cold. I found one blanket in the car and wrapped that around Jaylin. Luckly, I had a jacket as well, and gave that to Austin. They were quite the 'huddled masses' They both did really well on the walk to the station. No complaints at all. It felt like a mile, but on the way back I used an iPhone app that calculates trip distance  #iMapMyRun , and it showed it was just over a half a mile. I told them on the way back, that we were hiking along like the Pioneer children. Hopefully, that is as close as we get to going on a pioneer trek in the cold.

Tight pants

Two days ago, after I changed into my pants after our
workout, I was quite flustered to find that they were feeling a bit tight. This
was a new pair of pants which I hadn’t worn before. I had purchased the same
size I usually get – 38 x 32.  All of the scenarios started running
through my head – did that slice of pie I had for my birthday put me over the
top, are my muscles getting that much bigger… ? I was a bit depressed for the
morning that I seemed to be bulking up. They weren’t uncomfortably tight – like
it hurts when I sit down tight, but it was quite a bummer that day.

 

Fast forward to the end of the day – we were planning to go
play some kickball with a bunch of friends at the park. I changed out of those
new ‘make me sad’ pants. On a lark, I figured I would take a look at the size
of them. THEY WERE 36 x 32!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those never would have fit in a
million years before starting with the fitness training/nutrition program I started in July.

I must have grabbed the wrong size off of the rack when I
bought them! (likely they had the wrong size listed on the hanger)

Still not quite comfortable with that size, but they did somewhat
fit. I haven’t worn size 36 in well over 15 years! :)

Tanjyoubi

39 should be a good year. Yesterday had a fun surprise after church. The kids had filled my car with balloons and left a fun Happy Birthday! poster under the windshield wipers. It was so fun to see how excited they were about their surprise. Once we got home, I went off and finished Clive Cussler's 'The Chase' - classic Cussler. Then it was nappy time. The kids have been great at respecting the Sunday afternoon nap and not barging in too often. Although that likely led to Jaylin having too much time on her hands to give herself a self-made haircut . Then LeAnn threw some Steaks on the barby and we had a nice dinner with the family.
After dinner, we had a little party. I am finding out how much of a prankster Autumn is starting to become. She was quite giddy before giving me her gift. I was quite shocked when I opened it to find a 'Ken Barbie' doll inside. Huh!?? She went on to say how I had told her the week previous that the only way I would eat the Barbie Cake that they had made with their Aunt Ashley was if they also made a Ken cake to go along with it. (A good case of my bad jokes coming back to haunt me) She laughed her head off for about 10 minutes. Not sure what I should do with that one.
Jaylin was adorable in making me a tie-pin with the letter 'T' on it, that she had drawn, colored, cut out and attached to a safety pin. She also made a 'T' magnet, which we put on the fridge. So thoughtful and cute.
Austin gave me an awesome poster storyboard with candy bars taped to it. It was so fun and imaginative. I will fill in [the blanks] with the story when I get home today.
LeAnn gave me a cool gift called a 'Chillow' it is a pillow that you put in your pillow case that will help keep your pillow cool at night. My head is like a furnace at night and I always get quite hot. This chillow has you add water inside its plastic casing which is then absorbed into some foam-like material. I tried it out last night and it was literally 'Cool' - almost too much.
It was funny that the birthday wishes are coming in in various methods now-a-days. I got a text from Brandon, an Email from Kelly Jean, a bunch of birthday wishes on Facebook. Mom/Dad, Brian, Brooke, Kelly and Ashley did it the old-fashioned way -- by phone :)
Thank you all for a wonderful birthday!!

Choppa Choppa

Jaylin did it again. When she was four, she found some scissors and whacked out a good chunk of her hair. That was THREE years ago! What possessed her to do it at age 7 1/2, Ill never know. She took a good six or seven inches off of her bangs just in time for school to start.

Skinny Guy

I have been doing a program called Kinetix, which is a fitness/nutritional
program, for the past 6 weeks. We get a personal trainer who helps with weight
training and nutrition. It has really changed up the pace for me and helped me
to make better decisions with food. It has really been paying off as I am down
about 12 pounds and have gained 1 pound of muscle. Today when I walked in for my
training session, my trainer said: ‘Look at you, skinny guy!’ (of course
trainers have to say those type of things, but it was still a good feeling :)) I
think the last time I was called skinny was by LeAnn, back in 1996 – she told me
I was too skinny at that time ;) (I showed her, didnt I! :))

Zapped!

Flash has been giving us grief over the last while as he was constantly sneaking upstairs. We have had a baby gate up for years preventing him from doing so, but were getting quite tired of using it each time up and down the stairs. I removed it a few months ago thinking he would have learned not to go up there…. No dice. He would constantly sneak up at night and make himself comfortable in one of the kids rooms. He wouldnt come near our room because he knew he would get busted. In an effort not to lose this battle, I resorted to getting him a shock collar. (Yes I know the PETA folks will be after me, but oh well) It has been quite effective for a while. He found that if he got too close to the stairs (where we hide the sensor) that he would get a nice shock. The collar even has a little beeper that warns him before he gets too close. Soon he was not even going close to the stairs, and it seemed like it was working. A couple of times he had separation anxiety overload and ran upstairs anyway even though he knew he would be shocked. *shrugs*

So, last Saturday, Autumn gave Flash a bath since we had been out camping and he got quite dirty. She had taken off his collar and left it in the bathroom. I found the shocker part of the collar downstairs and proceeded to walk upstairs with it to put it on the collar. Unfortunately and to my SHOCK, I got a nasty zap in the palm of my hand. I think it scared me more than hurt me though. It almost made me not want to go upstairs anymore!

Seriously, so blessed!

This morning, before work, I stopped at the Starbucks store in our building to get a breakfast sandwich. I have a Starbucks ‘Gold Card’ which has stored value on it that I use for purchases. I got my sandwich and then went to get on the elevator to go to my floor. When I was putting my Gold Card back in my wallet, I realized that my Bus pass was not in my wallet! This is an annual pass worth $990. After a panicked search and rifling through my pockets and wallet, it was nowhere to be found. I quickly retraced my steps, looking all around on the floor in the store. I started to feel sick about having to replace it. After a fruitless triple-check through my pockets and wallet, I decided to keep going to my office. While riding the elevator up, I started having that ‘Kurushii toki kamidanomi’ feeling (English translation: In times of need, call on God.) At first, I was having the ‘Why Me?’ whine-fest. I was complaining internally that I have been paying our tithing, I dont need this right now as we are saving up for the Disneyland trip, etc. Then, as I arrived at my floor, and tried to compose my emotions, I said a more thoughtful prayer. I had a calm feeling come over me as I was prompted that I should return down to the store on the first floor and a confirmation that I would find the pass down there. Pushing out the feelings of doubt that I would just be disappointed, I followed the impression. When I got back down there, there were at least 10 people waiting in line for their coffee. I got back in line, waited as patiently as I could for my turn, and finally made it back to the front of the line. There was one more person in front of me. I was still scanning the floor and the area all around when I looked on top of one of the cash registers. There, set to one side was an annual bus pass just sitting there waiting for me. It was for the $2.50 fare that I pay, and I knew it was mine. It was all I could do to resist grabbing it and running off gratefully. I waited my turn and told the barista I had dropped my bus pass. She knew right where it was and quickly handed it to me. I am so thankful to the good Samaritan who turned it in. It would have been so easy to take it and resell it for a lot of money. Its nice to have continued hope in the goodness of mankind. It is also nice to know that the Spirit will guide you in times of need and trials. I know God answers our heartfelt prayers!

Even more Mojo

Last night, after soccer practice, Austin had a recorder concert at his school. He changed out of his soccer gear in the back seat and into his suit. We got there and saw that he was definitely the best-dressed boy in the event. :) There were about 175 kids in the concert from grades 3,4 and 5. The music teacher, Mr. Garcia, has a program called ‘Recorder Karate’. It bases the kids skill level on how difficult the songs are to pass off. I think there are about 10 levels that the kids can pass off. Austin is up to a 1st degree black belt, and played ‘Ode to Joy’  There were only three other kids in the school, (fifth graders) who had passed off a higher level. Austin is so dedicated and determined that he can do anything he sets his mind to.

Austin even got a nice intro from Mr Garcia. He introduced him and told everyone that Austin was amazing as he is the only 3rd grader to have passed off that high of a level. It turned out there were no other kids that had passed off the black belt, so during the concert, Austin ended up playing solo! When he stood up to play, the other kids clapped their hands and people in the audience cheered. He grinned sheepishly, and then began. He played beautifully, and didnt crack under the pressure. We were so proud of him, and he looked so handsome in his suit.

Afterwards, we went to celebrate at Baskin Robbins. It was a wonderful night!

More Mojo

I had taken Austin to ‘Select’ team tryouts for under 10 boys team in Federal Way. This kid is amazing. He excelled against the skilled competition from the league. He really seemed to love playing against and with other boys with great talent. He broke through on a number of plays and scored a bunch of goals in the 3 on 3 scrimmages that they played. He was passing well and hit it off with a number of the other players. Multiple times I could see the coaches taking notes as he made great plays. A few times, the head coach even called out when he made good plays. Austin was a bit nervous as to whether he would make the team. I told him he had nothing to worry about based on what I saw.

Then we got the fees documentation from one of the coaches. It would cost around $1,000 to play for the club! I had a good idea going in that this might be the case, but good grief! They only play with 6 on a side and they are only 9 years old. After passing this information onto LeAnn, and having a discussion with Austin, we felt we could hold off for another year on this. (and save quite a bit of cheddar in the process) He is still getting good growth opportunities now in the mod program that he is playing in. The level of competition is quite good this season, and it has been more challenging for him to get his standard ‘hat trick’ each game. He took the news quite well. I think he was most interested in seeing how he stacked up against the other skilled players his age and found that he was at the top level.

Fast forward to yesterday. LeAnn got a call from the Select club coach. He told her he was very interested in having Austin play for his team and were very impressed with his skills. I could see Austin beaming in the back seat as LeAnn explained this to me. She told him that we decided to wait for a year, but that he would likely go for it next year. It sounded like the coach was sad about that. He told her that they would still like to invite Austin to some of the clinics and such that they have during the summer. (Likely they are still hopeful that we will change our minds before the fall season…)

Amazing job Austin! It is so fun for us to see your growth and skill in this fun sport.

Best son

I was talking with Austin on the way back from the movies last night. We had gone to see ‘Hotel for Dogs’. It was a fun one! He was asking me what type of games we played during recess when I was in elementary school. I told him we did Red Rover, Football, tag, Kickball, dodgeball, etc. Unfortunately, at his school, they have a ‘no physical contact’ rule, so none of those games are allowed. It is a sad thing how draconian their rules are that they would prevent some of these physical and fun activities. Austin then said: “I wish I had lived back when you were a kid so I could have played those games” . I likely didnt help his wishful thinking as I went on about how fun they were. Then, after a moment of reflection, he said: “Never mind, I wouldnt have wanted to live back then, because then you wouldnt have been my dad—and you are the best dad in the whole world”. That one totally choked me up. I told him how thankful I am that he is my son- that he is the best son in the whole world, I couldnt have been blessed with a better one.

[Reminiscence] The Proposal

February 11th, 1994.

Ahhh. Such a wonderful and stressful day that was. I barely was able to procure the ring before that special night. I had some help from Bryan Lampropoulos, who gave me $100 for the down payment (as my pre-emptive wedding gift) as I was quite the pauper at the time. I remember mom helped me pick it out, so I knew she was on board with me. :)
That night, we had a special dance/date planned at a restaurant that was on a river boat. It seemed like the perfect setting. (It was a girls choice dance her school had and luckily she invited me!) After we finished dinner, I gallantly asked her if she would like to go for a walk around the deck. When I found a private spot, I crouched down and told her I had "a rock" stuck in my shoe. (yes, it was veeeeeeeeeery clever, I know) I proceeded to reach down to pull it out as I got on one knee. After that, everything went blank. LeAnn tells me that I forgot to actually "pop the question", I just opened up the box and showed her the ring. So she made me get down and do it again. This time she said yes! It was the happiest day of my life.

Lion King

Last month, I got to chaperone Jaylin and Austin at the Broadway play, The Lion King. It was amazing. I was in as much awe as the elementary school kids. Definitely the coolest musical that I have ever been to. It was so fun to ride the bus with Jaylin and see this incredible performance.

Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake

Good to get another rivalry going with the brothers in SLC. I was at the game with Austin on Saturday night when I got a text from Brian saying he was watching the game on TV. I told him that we were there and RSL was going DOWN. Then I got a text from Brad, and then Austin wanted to send some text smack to him. Right after Austin sent his message, the Sounders scored their first goal. Brad soon replied back that “Looks like Austin may be right”

We had some great seats 7 rows up right behind the southwest corner flag. Austin was right next to the wall of the Tunnel. It was cool to be right there where the players came out. The crowd was pretty intense- sold out at around 29,000.  (They block off the upper bowl of Qwest field for soccer matches) Everyone was standing up the whole time, so I had to stand up the whole game to be able to see it too. Austin didnt have anyone directly in front of him, so he had a good view and could sit down. It is very cool to have MLS soccer in Seattle. It makes up a bit for the sting of losing the Sonics.

At half time, we got Austin a Sounders FC pennant to hang in his room. I was so glad it didnt rain the whole game. It was pouring for most of the day, so we took ponchos and extra clothes, but never had to use them. It was sweet to get a win and be 2-0 already in the Sounders inaugural season!

Soccer Ninjas first game

We have an excellent team. Although it was pouring rain, freezing cold and the field was a muddy, puddly mess, the boys got off to a great start. Austin scored about 45 seconds into the game. He went on to get another a few minutes later, and we were soon up 5-0 at halftime. The poor kids were freezing cold, but stayed tough. I think we do need to work on their conditioning a bit as they were huffing and puffing after about 10 minutes. By the end of the game, Austin had at least 4 goals, and I had moved him back on defense to give the other team a breather. We ended up winning 13-1. The team was passing well and we have some great players. Should be a fun season!

Reminiscence – Golfing Whistler

[1998]

I was golfing with my Father in law and brother in laws in Whistler, Canada a number of years back. It was a beautiful day, but the mosquitoes were killing us. You could look down at your arm and see the bloodsuckers getting drunk on us and having a great time. You could literally kill a dozen with one swat to your arm. We had lathered on the repellent, but these Canadian mosquitoes seemed to love the stuff-- it did not deter them at all. We were basically running between shots to try to evade the nasty suckers. We debated just bailing out, but figured we would tough it out since we had paid good money and who knew when we would get back there again. After about 7 holes, we were up at a the tee, which was on a little bluff above a pond. It shouldn’t have been too hard to clear the pond with the first shot. I think the funniest thing about battling the mosquitoes was seeing how everyone else dealt with them. Line up next to the ball, swat. Take a practice swing, swat. (Im getting itchy just remembering it) Between being itchy from the previous bites, and shooing the current swarm away, it was tough focusing. My father in law was up. With all of the swatting, the slick repellent lathered on his hands, and a (now) greasy iron to deal with, he took a quick and ferocious swing at the ball. The iron went flying out of his hands, went up 20 feet in the air, and made a perfect swan dive into the pond. My father in law, looking disgusted, grabbed his bag and said: "We are done!" and we took off running like maniacs to escape.

LeAnn is fun-neh

We were sitting down watching the Jazz/Nuggets game last week. I was excited that LeAnn was even there. She usually can only stand it for a few minutes. She was commenting on how she dislikes all of the tattoos the players have. Then she saw this guy…

It was Chris Andersen. She said:

“That guy needs a haircut………. and an eraser!”

It was a classic. My wife is funny! Another one of the zillions of reasons that I love her so much. :)

Autumn’s surprise

[Cross post from our family newsletter. Penned by LeAnn]

The big event in our house this past month was Autumn’s 12^th Birthday (her golden as well, turned 12 on the 12^th). She and I had been planning a party for the week after her big day… but Todd and I decided to change it up and give her a surprise party the week before (Austin and Jaylin didn’t even know). All of her friends were very good secret keepers and it went off without a hitch! She was totally shocked when after coming home from shopping with Todd, Austin and Jaylin there where her six friends waiting in the dark. None of them had ever been to a surprise party so instead of jumping out and saying “Surprise” they just walked out and giggled. But after the initial daze wore off she had a great time!

Sweet Georgia Brown!

Last week, Austin and I went to watch the Harlem Globetrotters play at the new Showare Center in Kent. Im not sure who was more excited, me or him! Austin had seen some Globtrotters on TV and was stoked to see them in person. I remember going when I was a boy, so I wanted to help him to have a similar experience. We actually had some decent seats. We got there about 10 minutes before it started, and went down to the souvenir stand where Austin chose the jersey that you can see him wearing in the picture. We got some popcorn and licorice and sat down for the show. As always, the Globetrotter’s are a blast to watch. Many of the old gags have never died.—Taking a ladies purse and trying to sell it, having a bunch of kids come out and try to steal the ball from one of their amazing ball handlers, incredible dunks. Full court shots, and seeing the poor Generals try to keep up. The Generals coach put out a crazy ball that was supposedly controlled by a remote. It was wobbling crazily for the Globetrotters, but worked perfectly for the Generals. Once, the coach got a hold of the scoreboard and added 15 points to the General’s total score—putting them down by only 2.  The main funny man, Big Easy, was a riot. He was the instigator, pulling down guys pants, kissing the ladies, singing and dancing. One of the funniest parts was when they played Globetrotter’s football. The players lined up like a football team, and then ran through all of their previous actions in reverse.  At the end of the game (which the Globies won, by the way ;)), Austin wanted to go down for autographs. We ended up stuck in a line for about 20 minutes, but it turned out that we were in a photography line. The Trotter that we got our picture with is called ‘Flight Time’, as he has some good hang time. He kindly signed the back of Austin’s jersey, and we got the picture.

It was a special night to spend with my son, and a great memory for both of us.

New Miller Baller in the house!

Austin had his first basketball game on 12/13. He was a bit apprehensive going in as he hadnt played in an ‘official’ game prior to that. He is playing in Des Moines, WA. Parks and Rec league, where his team consists of 3rd and 4th graders. Austin is one of the two 3rd graders on the team. After his first practice, his coach came up to me and said; “Austin is a quick little guy. I like that!”
In his first game, he performed magnificently! He was dashing all over the court and picking pockets left and right. He ended up getting 10 steals during the course of the game. Add to that 8 points and 3 assists, and he filled the box score pretty well for a rookie. :) Looks like it is definitely in the genes!

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February 18

Friday the 13th

It was a perfect day until that evening when I was driving Austin to basketball practice. This could have just as easily happened on the 12th or 14th, but its more fun to blame it on this ‘unlucky’ day. We had driven to the bottom of 272nd Street, when my Malibu started coughing up its lung. After its short seizure, it gave up the ghost. There was a lot of traffic, so I put on the hazards while I tried to start it again. (Throw in a few prayers in-between turns of the ignition) It started again and chugged about 15 feet. I was trying to pull into an apartment complex driveway, and got halfway out of the main stream of traffic when it died again. So, I prayed HARDER. My prayer was answered after a couple more tries. I was able to pull in to a parking spot at the apartment. I didnt think it was the gas, because I always reset the trip odometer each time I fill up. Our gas gauge is very unreliable, and sometimes will show up on empty after only driving a hundred miles or so. I found that I can usually get about 275 miles to a tank of gas. Looking at the odometer, it showed that we were at about 218—so I ruled that out. I called LeAnn, and we got the gas can – just in case. After putting the two gallons in, it started up after a few tries. LeAnn followed me in the van to the gas station where I filled up. I was still a bit nervous as the ‘check engine’ light was showing up on the dashboard. I was able to drive around a bit with no further problems, and the car has been fine since.
Friday the 13th part II
After that big hullabaloo, LeAnn and I had planned for a pre-Valentines dinner at Black Angus. We got over the hype of going out on the 14th many years ago. We would usually just order Olive Garden to go, and I would walk by the hordes of people waiting for two hours outside, pick up our hot dinner, and take it home, where we would enjoy it on the china by candlelight. This year, LeAnn had made a 7:30 reservation and we found that there were many other people who were having Valentines Day early. There were about 30 people waiting for a table when we got there. They said about an hour and twenty minute wait. With our reservation, we breezed right by them and were seated within minutes. SWEET! LeAnn had the salmon, and I had the New York Steak. It was a great dinner, and even greater to be able to spend the evening with the love of my life. She turned my bad luck into good.

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Jello legs

I ran 11 laps around the track today—on the treadmill at the Java Gym at work. I was shooting for four miles, but my knees told me otherwise. I have been working up to running a 12K in June. For now, I am running one lap at 6 mph, then one at 4 mph. I even snuck one in at 7 mph. It feels like I still must be compensating for my reconstructed knee quite a bit since my right knee actually aches worse than the bad knee. I guess the almost 6 years of taking up the slack by my right knee has worn it down a bit. 3.75 miles is the most I have run in a long time. I feel my stamina is increasing a bit, and my overall fitness is much better over these past few weeks.

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February 13

Jaylin’s Smile

I was brushing this teeth this morning while begrudging my sore knees from last nights basketball game. I was wallowing a bit as I still wish I had good knees to play on which would enable some better performances in the games. Last night was a bit rough as we got trounced by a team with a bunch of young guns. Amidst of these reflections, Jaylin came into the bathroom and gave me a big, beautiful, smile. It made me realize that a bad game and sore knees dont matter much. I would much rather get 10 smiles and 10 hugs from my lovely daughter than 10 points and 10 rebounds in a basketball game

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February 11

D’April

Last month on our daytrip to the peninsula, we had planned to meet up with my cousin, April and her family in Port Townsend. I haven’t seen April for yeaaaaaaaaaars, so it was fun to get reconnected. I tried emailing her on Facebook to see if we could meet them, but didn’t hear back. I tried calling mom and dad, but no one was home. Same deal at Grandma Hellewell’s. I then ended up looking up Mark Hellewell, her brother in the online White Pages, and actually tracked him down. He seemed surprised to get a call from me. He gladly gave me April’s phone number, so I was finally able to get a hold of her the night before. They have a very cool apartment on Water Street, with a beautiful view of the waterfront. We got to chat with April and her husband, Dave for a bit, while the kids went gaga over their newborn baby, Lincoln. After our visit, Dave asked us if we would like to go tour an old fort with them. It was so great that he would take our whole family on an impromptu tour. The fort was called Fort Worden and the kids had a blast running around the compound. We had a great time with them, and will definitely try to get together again.

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February 09

Rebuked

This is something that hasnt happened to me since I was about ten years old. Yesterday, during church, LeAnn made me and Austin sit on opposite sides of her. I remember my mom doing that to us all the time when we were kids. I never thought it would happen to me when I was the adult. (Well, at least there is one adult in our relationship, and apparently it is not me! :)) Granted, I have always been easily distracted, and can often be found making faces at any other kids that sit in the rows in front of us. It is quite easy for me to get Austin going, and he giggles a lot. I dont even recall now exactly what we were doing, but we got busted.

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February 03

Luigi the Llama

 
Last month, on Martin Luther King Day, the family and I had an outing to the Olympic Peninsula. We drove down through Tacoma, and across the Narrows Bridge. It was thickly foggy as we came over onto the Peninsula, but soon it was clear as could be. It turned out to be a beautiful day over there even as the Seattle area was blanketed with fog. Initially, I was hoping to check out a couple of waterfalls in the Olympic range, but we missed the turn-off somewhere and didnt make it out there. The main destination of our day trip was to go to the ’Olympic Game Farm’, which is a ‘Farm’ with free-roaming animals like Elk, Zebra, Llamas, Bison, Yaks, etc. It is located in Sequim, WA., which is on the NE tip of the Peninsula. Once there, you get a couple of loaves of bread and start driving through the park. First up, we encountered the herd of Yaks. They are all conditioned to start drooling as soon as they see a car driving up. They gather around your vehicle and come right up to the windows. You then, depending on your level of braveness can stick some bread out the window for them, or fling it out (LeAnn’s method) to try to get them away from the car. They start slobbering and dripping snot all over your car window. LeAnn was screaming so loud half the time, and I was laughing so hard, it was pretty hard to drive. We each had a child on our lap in the front seat so they could participate as well. (We were in the van where the back windows dont roll down, so they had to come up front to interact with the animals. As we moved along the road, we then came to a pack of Llamas and Zebras. They seemed to have a strategy for slowing the cars down. One of them would walk right into the path the car was driving so you were almost forced to stop. The llamas were very bold and stuck their heads all of the way in the car to get at the bread. We started rolling up the windows half way so that they couldnt intrude that far. Again, much screaming and shrieking and laughing going on. Around the next bend, there are a bunch of grizzly bears. They arent too animated, but sure are ‘cute’ as LeAnn said. (Until they wrap their massive jaws around your neck, that is.) They have a tiny little electric fence around their enclosures which dont seem like they could stop a grizzly, but apparently do.
There are other animals there that are in actual enclosures—Wolves, Tigers, Rhinos, and so on. It was pretty fun to see. After our first loop around, we decided to take a break and go to the on site petting zoo. Inside, there were a bunch of goats, and one llama. This is where the fun really began. Austin went right up to the llama. He started to pet it, and the llama was being patient with him… for about 3 seconds. The llama started craning his neck around to get a good look at who was bothering him. This didnt seem to dissuade Austin from continuing to pet the llama. After a few more seconds, the llama got direct eye contact, cleared his throat, and hawked one right in Austin’s face! Austin was shocked and ran away screaming and wiping the loogie off of his face. LeAnn and I were incredulous, but started laughing our heads off just the same. We were totally regretting that we hadnt got it on video. After thinking about that for a minute, and after Austin calmed down a bit, I gave him a new ‘challenge’ or bribe, if thats what you want to call it. I told him that if he went back and petted the llama again, that I would give him a dollar. (yep, thats what you call cheap entertainment!) Surprisingly, he quickly agreed. However, Jaylin also heard my challenge and figured that she ‘wanted some of that action’ and they both approached the surly llama hesitantly. This time, we had the camera rolling! Austin was a bit more cautious this time, and each time the llama turned to look at him, Austin would back away a bit. Jaylin was petting it on the other side. The llama had had enough of the irritation, so it quickly walked away from the both of them. Austin came over to me to see if that was enough to get paid. I told him I hadnt got my money’s worth yet, so they both tracked the llama down again. This time, it was concentrating more on Jaylin. It looked at her leerily for a few seconds and then hawked one up and spit it right in her hair. She screamed like crazy and started crying. (OK, I felt a bit bad after that one) We did capture it on video though and you can see her hair shoot up from the velocity when it hit her. We helped her clean up a bit, and then got out of there—the llama eyeing us warily as we moved out of his pen. Now, THATS entertainment!

January 28

Seattle Sounders FC

The new MLS team, the Seattle Sounders just published their schedule for this next season. They play Real Salt Lake on 3/28. I will have to head out to that one. Since there will be no more Sonics/Jazz games, it is time for a new rivalry!
Date
Time
Home / Away
Event
Location
TV

3/19/2009
6pm
Home
New York Red Bulls
Seattle, WA
ESPN

3/28/2009
7:30pm
Home
Real Salt Lake
Seattle, WA

4/4/2009
1pm
Away
Toronto FC
Toronto, Canada

4/11/2009
7:30pm
Home
Kansas City Wizards
Seattle, WA

4/18/2009
7:30pm
Away
Club Deportivo Chivas USA
Carson, CA

4/25/2009
7:30pm
Home
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle, WA

5/2/2009
5:30pm
Away
Chicago Fire
Bridgeview, IL

5/10/2009
12pm
Home
Los Angles Galaxy
Seattle, WA
Telefutura

5/16/2009
5:30pm
Away
FC Dallas
Frisco, TX

5/23/2009
6:30pm
Away
Colorado Rapids
Commerce City, CO

5/30/2009
7:30pm
Home
Columbus Crew
Seattle, WA
FSC

6/6/2009
7:30pm
Away
Club Deportivo Chivas USA
Carson, CA

6/13/2009
7:30pm
Home
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle, WA

6/17/2009
8pm
Home
D.C. United
Seattle, WA
ESPN

6/20/2009
4:30pm
Away
New York Red Bulls
East Rutherford, NJ

6/28/2009
1pm
Home
Colorado Rapids
Seattle, WA

7/11/2009
1pm
Home
Houston Dynamo
Seattle, WA

7/25/2009
12pm
Home
Chicago Fire
Seattle, WA
ESPN

8/2/2009
12pm
Away
San Jose Earthquakes
Oakland, CA
Telefutura

8/8/2009
6pm
Away
Real Salt Lake
Sandy, UT

8/15/2009
8pm
Away
Los Angeles Galaxy
Carson, CA

8/20/2009
7pm
Home
New England Revolution
Seattle, WA
ESPN

8/23/2009
5:30pm
Away
Houston Dynamo
Houston, TX

8/29/2009
1pm
Home
Toronto FC
Seattle, WA

9/12/2009
4:30pm
Away
D.C. United
Washington D.C.

9/19/2009
2pm
Home
Club Deportivo Chivas USA
Seattle, WA
FSC

9/26/2009
4:30pm
Away
New England Revolution
Foxborough, MA

10/3/2009
4:30pm
Away
Columbus Crew
Columbus, OH

10/17/2009
5:30pm
Away
Kansas City Wizards
Kansas City, KS

10/24/2009
7:30pm
Home
FC Dallas
Seattle, WA
Seattle Sounders FC

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25 Random Things about me

Cross-post from FB:
=====================================================================================
1. I was arrested and thrown in the S.L. County jail. (I thought it was because my tabs had expired. I had an unpaid ticket for which I couldn’t appear in court for because I was a missionary in Japan, so they put a warrant out for my arrest. They cuffed me right there on I-215.
2. My future in-laws were flying down from Seattle to meet me the same day I was arrested. I told my future wife to keep it under wraps, but did she? NOOOOOOOOO. My father-in-law still calls me ‘The felon’ to this day
3. I speak Japanese
4. I saw a snake charmer in Korea
5. With a friend, burned down a field above the 17^th fairway at Willow Creek Country Club
6. With the same friend, caught a jackrabbit using a cardboard box, a stick, and a rope.
7. With the same friend, did a face plant on my bike when I was 12 and broke off my two front teeth.
8. Was on a state championship soccer team in 1984
9. Scored 43 points in a basketball game
10. Won Area in Ward Soccer
11. Is an Eagle Scout
12. Pierced my ear accidentally with a mongo stapler during Jr. High while showing off for a girl.
13. Used to dive in ponds at golf courses to gather golf balls
14. Rode the Seattle To Portland bike ride
15. Rode the Seattle to Vancouver bike ride
16. Blew out my knee playing basketball in 2003 (wow, that rhymes!) – along with the ruptured ACL, tore my meniscus, MCL and PCL—with a dislocated kneecap on top
17. Was an engineer on Windows 98 Japanese, Windows ME, IE5, IE6, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Live Writer.
18. Saw a bear in our front yard a few years ago. It had swam across the Puget Sound and ended up in our yard.
19. Was a ‘Pet Shop Boy’ during high school at ‘Fins Feathers ‘n Fur’
20. Raised African Cichlids for a number of years. Had six fish tanks in my room at one point.
21. Had a boa constrictor. Took him to Olympus H.S. once, which caused quite a ruckus.
22. Ate a worm for $10. Ate a goldfish for $7.
23. I delivered Bill Gate’s Christmas tree
24. Climbed up ‘Suicide Rock’ in 1988 to paint the Olympus H.S. ‘O’ on it. I somehow volunteered for painting the scary right side of the rock. (To top it off, I am scared of heights.)
25. I am crazy about my family. I love each of them (LeAnn, Autumn, Austin and Jaylin) with all of my heart

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January 26

Fat Lip

Austin had a bye from Basketball on Saturday, so we were playing out in the front yard for a bit. He is definitely getting better. He kept a game of Horse pretty close, before we moved into a 1 on 1 match.  The score was tied at 14 and we were going to 15. I drove down in the key and was about to put up my shot, when I got swatted from down below. He had smacked me right in the face while swiping at the ball! I felt my lip, and it was bleeding pretty good. Without losing my dribble, I played through the pain and made the final shot.
Phew! Nothing better than getting beat up by a nine year old

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Brandeccal

My little brother, Brandon and his wife, Becca, used to just be called ‘Brandecca’. Now, with baby boy Calvin in the mix, they need a new moniker. I hereby deem them ‘Brandeccal’!
Brandeccal came up last weekend for a recruiting trip at a construction company in Bellevue. Brandon will be graduating this spring, and is making the rounds. (much to mom’s chagrin, Im sure.) I picked them up at the airport Thursday night and then took Becca and Calvin to her sisters mansion in Black Diamond. From there, I headed up to Bellevue with Brandon to drop him at a hotel, where he would be toured around with his potential employer the following day.
After staying at Kelly’s on Friday, they came down to our place on Saturday afternoon. It was great to visit with them some more, and the kids were sure excited to see their newest cousin again. Lucky for Brandon, I didnt take him outside to school him in basketball like in the old days (You know, when I was 18, and he was 6 :)) We played some Guitar Hero, where B-don was dominated by Autumn, and then had a great lasagna dinner prepared by LeAnn. Ashley had shown up at this time to join the party. Funny thing, it turns out that they had also had lasagna at Kelly’s place which was prepared by Ruth. Nothing like lasagna two days in a row!
A bit later, my cousin April and her husband Dave, along with their new baby, Lincoln, dropped by. They are living over on the Peninsula in Port Townsend. Dave is from Buckley, WA., which is a bit south of us, and had come over to see his family and then came up to see Brandon and Becca. These guys were all good friends at BYU, so it was great to see them have this random chance to get together and reminisce for a while. I understand that Brandon even took over Dave’s old internship with ‘Big D’ in Utah, when Dave moved up here. Pretty cool connection.

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January 23

Smash3242

A couple of weeks back I took the kids and went to watch my baby sister Ashley hoop it up in Seattle. She plays on a rec team with a bunch of old college ball players, and a couple of pro players. As the Seattle Storm are in the vicinity, they picked up two players from the Storm who were keeping their skills tight by playing in this league during the off-season. One of those players is Sheryl Swoopes. It was pretty cool to see a three time Gold Olympic medalist and three time WNBA MVP out there playing with Ashley. Ash was banging around pretty good herself, and put in about eight points during the first game. The other team was holding up pretty well until, Sheryl put in about 5 three pointers in the first half. During some of the breaks, Austin was playing on a smaller hoop on the side of the gym with Sheryl’s son, Jordan, who is 11. Austin would dribble in on him and Jordan would just wait and swat it away when Austin shot. (Wasnt too rough as Jordan is about a foot taller than Austin) Austin picked up on that pretty quickly and soon was shooting further out to make his shots.
Ashley’s team went on to play later that afternoon in the championship game. This one was a bit closer, but they still prevailed. Its been a couple of years since we have watched one of Ashley’s games, so it was fun to go to again.

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January 13

High-Low

For Christmas, my sister Brooke made us this cool box called “Dinner Games” , which has cards in it for a bunch of different games you can play during dinner. Last night, during Family Home Evening, we played one of the games from this box called “High and Low”.
For the game, you go around the room and each person talks about the ‘High’ and ‘Low’ points of their day. Pretty simple, but pretty fun. It was interesting to hear that Austin’s high point was ‘Going to recess’. Then when we got to Jaylin, she said that recess was her low point. Everyone was confused at hearing that. Who doesnt like recess?! When we asked her to explain, she said that one of her friends was being ‘bossy’ during recess, and that was why it was her low point.
To top it off, at the end of the game, Austin started doing some strange belly dancing moves for us. He pulled up his shirt and would make his stomach do the wave. It was pretty funny to watch. At that point, LeAnn said that she had a new ‘High’ point – which was ‘watching Austin belly dance’. To that comment, Autumn instantly replied that that was her new ‘Low’ point. Apparently, she wasnt too impressed, and wanted Austin to keep his shirt on. :)

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January 12

Local News | City, county, state agree to replace viaduct with tunnel | Seattle Times Newspaper

Good News! The on again, off again, plan to replace the unsightly Alaskan Way Viaduct now has ‘Tunnel Vision’! It will be nice to open up the beautiful Seattle waterfront.

Local News | City, county, state agree to replace viaduct with tunnel | Seattle Times Newspaper

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January 09

Rick Reilly: No question, Utah is the national champion - ESPN The Magazine

 
Rick Reilly: No question, Utah is the national champion - ESPN The Magazine

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The King

Jaylin invited me to play chess with her last night. I didnt realize that Jaylin even knew how to play chess yet, or was interested in learning. Next time, I will have to ask earlier. We set up the board and started the game. She actually did pretty well in knowing which way the pieces moved. In the middle of the game, she told me: “Dad, I know why the king can only move one space.” When I asked why, she told me: “Because he is SO old!”
Jaylin is a sharp one. :)

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Shrapnel

Last night for dinner we had soup, salad and crackers. About mid-way through, as I was minding my own business, I heard a LOUD, blasting cough come from Jaylin, who sits perpendicular to me at the dinner table. Next thing I felt was Ritz cracker shrapnel flying into the side of my face and into my left eye. It left quite a few stingers. No blood was drawn, however. I blinked my eyes in shock and to make sure that I didn’t have any remnants left on my eyeball. At this point, Autumn started laughing maniacally to the point where tears were almost in her eyes. Im glad that everyone else got such a kick out of my ‘near blinding’ experience.

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Nuff said

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January 07

Like pulling teeth

Jaylin (6) lost one of her front teeth just before Christmas. (Of course, we had her singing the “All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth…”. I helped her yank that one out after she complained about it a bit.
The past couple of weeks, her other front tooth has been wiggling like crazy. I thought she would want some help with this one as well, but she was determined not to let me get a hold of her latest loose one. It was strange, as she never complained of it hurting when I tugged the last one out. Finally, right before bed, she was ready for it. LeAnn held her tight as Jaylin hesitantly opened up her mouth. I reached in and gave it a quick tug. It moved a bit and was just hanging on by a thread. One final yank and it came right out. She seemed quite shocked that it was finally gone, but then was so excited to show it off.
This has been an expensive month for the tooth fairy…

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Flying Eagles

Last night I took Austin and Jaylin to watch a Federal Way High School basketball game. They are currently ranked 3rd in the state at 7-1. Now I know why. They are loaded with talent and had guys flying all over the court making steals, full-court pressing, blocking shots and throwing it down. They even had a few ally-oop slammers going down. I was amazed at their athleticism. They got off to a slow start, but then totally dominated the rest of the way and put up 100 points! Pretty amazing for a game of 32 minutes. Austin loved it, although it seems that Jaylin was just along for the ride. She had had enough before the third quarter ended. Im sure we will be going back for more, as they were really fun to watch.

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January 02

The Miller Times: December 2008 edition

[Penned by LeAnn Miller]
Things were going full steam ahead at the beginning of December. Jaylin’s class had a fieldtrip to Autumn’s school. They visited the French class two days in a row. The 6^th graders had to create a “lesson plan” to teach the 1^st and 2^nd graders basic French. Jaylin really enjoyed it and has been spouting off French words ever since. Autumn received an ‘A’ on her project and has been “helping” to teach Jaylin more words! Todd and I were able to go with Austin on a fieldtrip to Seattle to see The Nutcracker and visit the awesome Gingerbread houses on display at one of the hotels. Austin started basketball practices and had his first game on the 13^th. That day we also as a family participated in the 5k Run/Walk, Austin did very well coming in at 28mins. He tells us he would have done better if we would have let him take off at the beginning. There were so many people and we didn’t want to lose him. But about 10min into it he took off and didn’t stop running. Autumn and I stayed together and Jaylin and Todd completed it with Jaylin just ahead of Todd (what a great dad).
Things came to a screeching halt with many parties to attend, shopping to do, school programs, parties and open houses to be at! All on the fateful day of December 13^th. We attended a ward Christmas Party that night and while there it started to snow. The kids were so excited when we got home that they stayed out till after 10pm building a snowman and having snowball fights with the neighborhood kids. The next day they cancelled church because of ice and the many hills in our stake. Monday and Tuesday school was late by two hours! And on Wednesday because of snow warnings school was cancelled. Unfortunately the warnings for the south end by us were a little off and we did not get snow till Thursday very early in the morning. So of course school was cancelled that day as well as Friday. (We have had a very long Christmas break) Todd stayed home on Thursday but braved the weather Friday and made it safely. Saturday came and by afternoon the snow started again and didn’t stop till Sunday morning. Church cancelled again! Monday and Tuesday were spent putting snow pants, coats, boats, hats, scarves, earmuffs and gloves on and off. The kids had a great time!
Todd and I had decided that we were going out on Christmas Eve to see family no matter what (there are only so many party cancellations you can take). We trekked up to Seattle and picked up Alan, then headed over to see Kelly and Ruth at their home. We had lunch with them and visited (Ashley actually got in to work so we missed seeing her). It started snowing huge flakes so we took off and headed to Mukilteo to see Grandma and Grandpa Thorne. We shared a great Christmas Eve Dinner and had a Christmas piano recital by Jaylin, Austin and Autumn (Grandma and Alan played as well). Matthew and family showed up before we headed out and we exchanged a few gifts. Then, made it home safely in time to get to bed before Santa came.
The kids slept in till 6am. We were happily surprised that we didn’t have a 4am wake-up call. We had a wonderful Christmas morning and really enjoyed watching the kids so excited to see what was given. Our favorite part was giving the gifts they made for each other. Autumn made Austin an “attribute wall hanging”, Austin made Jaylin a game of “Connect Six” and Jaylin made Autumn a “crown” bank. Grandma and Grandpa Thorne, Alan, Matthew, Anna, Jack and Savanna came down for our traditional brunch of breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls.
Because of weather we were not able to make it to our third annual visit of Snowflake Lane. So, on the 30^th we met Kelly, Ruth and Ashley in Kirkland for dinner (Pizza Bank) and then went to Bellevue Square – Celebration Lane. It was different because instead of playing Christmas songs they played a collection of “New Years?” songs (more like upbeat songs). But they still had the girls dressed up and the guys on stilts and the drummers marching out to their podiums drumming along to the music with the “snow” (suds) floating down from the store tops. We enjoyed just being with our family and wished that we could have had all our family with us.
We spent New Years Eve together as a family playing guitar hero and watching a movie, eating and eating some more. Then we watched the fireworks on TV of the Space Needle. The kids were all very proud that everyone made it to midnight!
We are very grateful for the blessings of 2008 and especially our family wherever you are. Know that we love you!