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
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
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 17th 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
=====================================================================================
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 17th 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
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
Phew! Nothing better than getting beat up by a nine year old
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. :)
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. :)
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
Local News | City, county, state agree to replace viaduct with tunnel | Seattle Times Newspaper
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. :)
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.
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…
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…
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.
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 6th graders had to create a “lesson plan” to teach the 1st and 2nd 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 13th. 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 13th. 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 30th 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!
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 6th graders had to create a “lesson plan” to teach the 1st and 2nd 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 13th. 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 13th. 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 30th 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!
