Isaac had an amazing season - he is a gifted runner. His coaches refer to him as the 'Caucasian Kenyan'. This year, we saw great strides (no pun intended) in his sportsmanship, his drive and his teamwork. He grew leaps and bounds in his ability. He PR'd almost every race, which made his defeat at Districts all the more bitter. He was hoping to place top 3 to secure a spot in the State Championship, but finished a very close 5th. It was a windy day and I don't think any of the runners PR'd. Of the 4 runners that finished before him, 3 of them are sophomores, so he will be chasing them for the next couple of years. Excellent motivation. To say he was disappointed would be a huge understatement - he is really hard on himself - but he rallied and is looking forward to fall when he starts Cross Country. And to say we are very proud of him would also be a huge understatement.

Adina

Taylor had a great season - he tried almost every event and found that he really enjoys 100 meter hurdles, though he made a good stab at the mile. At districts this year, he came in last for the mile (but still likely ran around a 6-minute mile), and Parker and Morgan were distraught. They vowed to help Taylor feel better (though he felt fine) and argued over who would get to rub his legs and who would rub his back when he got home later that night. Really, all that mattered to Taylor was that we were there watching - which often meant leaving work early, driving 50 minutes, then watching his 6-minute race, and driving home again. But seeing the look on his face and watching him wave from across the field made it all worth it.

Adina

Avalanche

Discovery Dental

Some really big news... I don’t know if it’s bad luck to announce something like this before you have the key in hand...I guess we’ll find out...we put an offer on a house and it was accepted!!! We’ve been looking for months and can tell you about every single house that is for sale in the Washougal/Camas area. We’ve looked seriously into a few but they weren’t the one. Then we decided we’d keep looking but back off and wait to look more seriously once we arrived. But then it happened- we found The House. We’d seen the house and liked it but decided to just put it on the list to go see when we arrived. Then just as we decided to change our search to much cheaper houses than originally looking at we got an email saying they had dropped the price from lower, to really low. How could we not look again? The more we looked the more we loved. This house just felt different, better.

Then we realized the house was a short sale and that it could take months to buy. So our amazing team of Adina and our realtor went and took video of the house so we could decide whether to start the short sale process. They took awesome video and we just fell in love with the house even more. It’s on a cul-de-sac only a mile from D&A so it’s close to the cousins, school and the practice. It’s got everything we need, nearly 3,300 square feet, 4 bedrooms, a den, a bonus room, nice great room, beautiful kitchen, two walk in closets in the master, an awesome pantry, and more. After viewing the video we looked back through all other houses on our list and we just liked this one the most. When we had thought of buying other houses it just felt crazy and stressful. This house felt great.

On Monday night we went to bed and then I felt like I should get up and email our realtor right then to tell her our decision to make an offer on the house. Afterall, it was almost Monday morning in the states. So I got out of bed and sent the email. Then just before 5:00am I got up to go running and found an email labeled “Urgent.” Turns out there was already another offer in on the house but it was waiting for loan pre-approval and if we hurried they would consider our offer as well. So we hurried, our awesome realtor scrambled to get it all put together right away, we signed, scanned and submitted within a few hours. Then we waited... but the wait was short. We found out the next day they took our offer! We knew we really wanted the house so we were a little aggressive in our offer and are glad we were!!! Our realtor keeps reminding us that being a short sale things could still go wrong but the bank already said they’d do it, they said within two weeks we should have the official acceptance from the bank and can close 45 days after that. That puts us moving in around mid-July! Our furniture will still be on the boat coming from Japan but we’ll have a house!!! We can’t wait!! The pictures on the listing don’t do it justice but feel free to check them out anyway. http://www.estately.com/map#/listings/info/p5177-m-ct

Time is going way too fast. We’re having a blast, here are some of the pictures from the recent fun:

We had planned a great trip to the Kerammas (nearby small tropical island with great beaches, snorkeling and diving) but then a typhoon decided to hit so we couldn’t go. Instead we went out to Round One and played all day. Alyssa was really good at the tennis, Dani tried her talent and skating and Hayden...I didn’t see much of Hayden he was so busy running around having fun! Check out this “claw game”, the prize is cans of Pringles. Japanese games are so awesome.


The next day we went to Okuma with all the friends who had planned to go to the Keramas. It was still rainy but to get to the Keramas you have to take a ferry which is awful in bad whether and it’s a really expensive trip so not worth the money in bad weather. Okuma is the Air Force resort and it’s cheap and fun. We rented a condo that had 7 bedrooms and we filled it with 7 families. 21 kids total... shortly after arriving on Thursday we loaded in our cars to go hike to a waterfall when the rain started to pour down. And when it pours here I really mean pour, like buckets of water. So we had lots of fun game and movie time inside all day. The weather was better the next day and we got out to ride the bikes, play on the playground and hit the beach.
Tom and I went on our first boat dive. The boat took us out about 15 minutes to a big coral reef. However, the weather still wasn’t great and the boat was rocking like crazy. As we got ready to dive I turned on my air tank that came with the boat and found the tank was only half full. Ugh. So the boat driver had to radio in for them to bring out a new one and I had to sit around on the rocking boat trying not to throw up. Even Tom got sick. Luckily we got the new tank, fell over backward off the side of the boat and headed down. It was different than other dives because we were really all alone and far away from shore. My mask was foggy and I had to flood it and clear it while down at 40 feet but it all worked out and I feel like a better diver now that I have the confidence that I can handle stuff like that when I need to. Not our favorite dive because we were both so worried about losing the boat and not being able to find out way back but Tom was awesome and kept us going the right way and things worked out well.

Saturday we had the kids last soccer games. Hayden did well but is glad it’s over and probably won’t play for a while. He’s going to focus on running and other things. Danica agreed to play in her game after having refused for the last several. She did okay and even kicked the ball twice! In the end, she got bumped in the nose and came out crying but went back when it was her turn again. This time she got tired and started to cry but at least she tried. I don’t see soccer in our future for a while...


Saturday afternoon was Alyssa’s first dance recital. She is in love with ballet and has been so excited for her recital. After getting over her nerves at the beginning she skipped out there with her class and had a blast. Through out her dancing she just kept flashing us her big cheesy smile and was clearly loving it! She did a ballet number and then later a tap dance. She has so much enthusiasm, concentration and skill. She’s one of the youngest in the class but does really well. At the end each girl in the show got to go out on stage alone to curtsy. Most of the girls walked out slowly and did a small curtsy. Alyssa was unsure of what to do but when it was her turn she used her newly acquired and much loved skipping skills to skip out, curtsy and blow a kiss. It was way too cute! She has so much personality! I tried to upload video but it took two days and still didn’t load so I gave up. You’ll have to take my word for it that she was fantastic!

This Thursday, 7:30 session, Burgerville afterwards. See you there!

Proper View - at the top, as it should be.
First and Last View in the middle - contemplating.
First View at the bottom. As seen from a frothing consumer.

It was a really fun trip - I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my family and going to Erin's baby shower/BBQ. The escape from the cool weather and rain was badly needed. I've pretty much decided on an early retirement and a move to a warmer climate. "I'm joking. I'm not. I am. I'm not."

In other news, Isaac PR'd yesterday in the mile and has qualified for Districts. He ran the mile in 4:34. And he got into Steen's Running Camp this summer, which he will LOVE. Taylor loves track - he does a different event each meet. He's just really enjoying the experience and doing his best to improve each time. He has such an amazing attitude - I love it. Parker remains clueless overall, but adorable. And Morgan is growing so tall - she has the longest legs.

Loving the updates - glad everyone is doing so well - and so excited for this summer!

Adina

Just thought since I had a little time, that I would sit down and blog.

Peter is working hard and looking forward to hiring an0other employee for the office here in Salem. Between work and Portland Mormon Choir, he is crazy busy. Speaking of PMC, their next concert is June 18^th and 25^th although most of you will probably want to hit up the June 25^th performance as it is in Salmon creek at Skyview high school. After that concert, Peter will have a break until the fall which will be nice. Peter also recently signed up for the Willamette Valley Triathlon club so that he can get into training with others that do triathlons as well. He is excited!

I am coming to the end of my training for the marathon and I am so ready to just do the race. Training can be such a pain sometimesJ. But it is going well for the most part but I will be excited when it is all over. I will be able to focus on Ragnar, Hood to Coast, and the Oyster race….and possibly a triathlon. It sure is turning out to be a crazy summer for me with also the addition of the Lake Shasta trip. Oh I am so ready….our family is so ready! I am enjoying the life of being a mom even though I have my moments of insanity here and there.

Andrew ends preschool this month. I still can’t believe that he will be going off to kindergarten next fall. He is still my baby boy. No more growing…I wish! He is acting older every day and some days I feel like he is trying to be a teenager. He is such a big helper (most of the time) and currently as I write this, he is out in the yard helping Peter with yard work. He loves to help out with Camie and always want her to come play with him. He is such a good big brother.

We recently had our first trip to the ER for something other than a high fever. Beck and Andrew were playing in the backyard and found a broken beer bottle that had been dug into the ground. I thought I had picked up all that was there but I guess I was wrong as about a half hour later, Beck came in with a cut on his foot that was pretty deep. Since Peter was at Silverton city council meeting, I had to find someone from the ward to watch Andrew and Camie while I headed to the ER with Beck. 2 hours in the waiting room, 1 hour in a room, 1 xray, and 4 stitches later we were home at about 1:30 in the morning. He refuses to walk on it which means he is either crawling or being carried everywhere. It makes for some interesting trips around town. Other than that, Beck is growing each day and just amazes me with some of the stuff that he knows. I keep thinking about when Andrew was his age and I don’t think Andrew knew as much as Beck does. I guess that Is what comes with having an older brother to learn from.

Camie is such a fun girl to have around. She is definitely the sister of 2 older brothers. She basically lives with no fear and wants to do everything they are doing. She climbs on everything and I find her very often on the top bunk do to the staircase we have for it. She is currently in the midst of breaking her 1 year molars which is making her to be a bit of a monster but hopefully they will be through soon and we can get our normal Camie back. She loves her brothers to death and also has recently become a bit of a daddy’s little girl. She loves to play with Peter and she giggles all the time when she is with him.

Anyways, I am being called to find out what we should have for dinner. We are staying busy and having fun here in Salem and anyone is welcome to come join the fun. We love visitors!

-Anne

Hey family! I thought I (Dave) would post since I have a few minutes. Wow, so what have we been up to?

This is to all who are interested...even those who aren't in this immediate family:

Most of you remember the Oyster Race that we participated in last year. I was asked to be an Oyster Ambassador this year. This involves getting flyers out to stores and running groups, etc. Basically getting the race known in the areas around here. In doing so, I receive a free team entry to this year's oyster race.

So....

I am wanting to know who all is wanting to participate this year so we know how many teams and so on. I was thinking of the possible people and it looks like we could have a boys team and a girls team. I think it would make for a fun day of competing against each other :).

This year's oyster is on August 20th (the weekend before Hood to Coast for those doing that). So please I would like to know within a few days so I can get things set.

This only gives me one free team entry. We would have to pay for the other team which is about $70 per person. I figured those who are on the free team can pay a portion for the other team so that it only ends up being like $35 or $40 per person.

-Anne

Happy Mother's Day to an amazing mom and an amazing Grandma. We love you so much and we feel so blessed to have you in our lives. We love spending time with you and we can't wait to be much closer so we get to do it more often. Thank you for all that you do. We hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day. We love you.

I'm listening to Adele and avoiding the chore of doing my hair so I suppose I'll update the blog on me.

I haven't been scuba diving but that sounds so awesome! Maybe I'll have to figure out a way to get certified...

Mostly I have been working. Lots of working. Everything is still going well. I had my first review a couple of weeks ago and it was all positive. Lots of great comments from my co-workers that make me feel good about how I'm performing. The only recommendation for me was that I don't overload myself with work - "underpromise, overdeliver" was the exact phrase - not because I've underdelivered but because things will be getting a lot busier in the coming months. So I guess I have to work on that. :) This last week I got to go to a charity dinner/auction event for work that was for the local school for their special education programs. They had all this stuff about how autistic kids use iPads and it reminded me of Elly. At the dinner they had a game called "heads & tails" where everyone buys beads from the charity and then they combine all the money they get as a jackpot. Then everyone has to stand up and choose heads or tails by putting your hands on your head or your butt and then they flip a coin. The losers sit down and then they do that until it narrows it down to two people. Of course, I was one of the two people along with one of my co-workers. So we had to walk up to the front (and this is in front of all the executive big-wigs from all these different local companies, including the CMO, CFO and former CEO of WD) and we had to stand back to back and choose heads or tails one final time and the winner got $500 from the jackpot. I didn't win but got to put my hands on my butt in front of all those people - can we say embarrassing?? I'm glad I didn't win though because for one, it is customary that you give the money back to the charity so it wasn't like I would have been able to keep it and two, I snuck out right after the game so it would have looked pretty bad if I had won and kept the money and left with it right away. Such excitement for a work-week.

my co-workers after they spilled ice all over our table - we're classy

The weather has been honestly making me miss San Diego quite a bit lately. It was all good during Christmas-time and even early winter but it is May and my legs are tired of pants and tights and leggings. We had a couple of days of fairly nice weather in the last week but then I feel like every time that happens the next day I will walk out of my cubicle and look out and all I see is rain. :( Summer, please get here fast or I'm gonna start planning emergency escape routes.

sunny and nice! and then...

next day? WHAT?!

Luckily, I do get to visit the warmth in a couple weeks for my graduation trip. That'll be a nice break but again, it's only for a weekend. I'll have to start planning the trip for after that one.

I am still really liking my new downtown living though. I'm actually gonna walk around the block to Trader Joes in a few minutes to pick up some breakfast/lunch stuff. Maybe I'll be forced to swing by the bakery that is across the street to pick up a pain au chocolat as well. :)

This afternoon is shopping with Anne and Kim - at least that's the plan and then probably hanging out at Mom & Dad's tonight. Likely nursing Dad's poor broken toes from the looks of it. Mother's Day tomorrow - yay for the guys taking care of dinner!

Today was the last Parent’s Day Out, the free once of month thing at the daycare. We dropped the kids off (they are so happy it was their last time but we’ll certainly miss it!), anyway, we dropped the kids off and headed out to a great dive spot called “toilet bowl.” Lame name, awesome place where you walk about in about 2 feet of water for a few steps and then step off the ledge into a deep bowl that leads around to a long coral reef. You can only dive it when the wind is down and today was perfect. It was finally hot and that was nice, the other dives I’ve been on have been really cold where I am shivering and couldn't feel my toes. Today was perfect. We swam out until almost the time to turn around (half way through our air supply) when Tom spotted a small cave. He peered in and motioned for me to come check it out. I approached thinking I could see a sea snake on the wall, which we see all the time so it was no big deal. But as my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the cave I realized that right on the bottom, less than 10 feet away was a SHARK!!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes, if I were a cartoon character my eyes would have shot out of my head. It was about 8 feet long and just laying there. It was either a Reef Shark or a Nurse Shark, we didn't have a camera but it looked like this. For a second I thought I’d be okay and that I wanted to stay and check it out. But then I started picturing us accidentally waking it up and it deciding to swim out of the cave. That I couldn’t handle so when Tom asked if I was okay (using the basic “ok” hand single since you can’t talk while scuba diving) I motioned no and started to swim away. I wasn’t freaking out and needing to race to the surface but I didn’t really want to stay by the shark. So, being the good husband and dive buddy he took my hand (he told me later that was because he was afraid I would freak out and surface to quickly) and we swam away... checking behind us a few times. Just a few minutes later I spotted a huge sea turtle swimming our way. It came right in front of us and started swimming the direction we were going so we got to follow it for a long time. It was great to see it flying through the water. As we swam over another deep crevice I reluctantly looked in and saw another large form in the shadow. I was nervous thinking it was a small shark and wanted to swim away but it turns out it was just a 2 foot long fish. All around it was a great dive.

I wish I had stayed longer to let Tom check out the shark, he wishes he’d had his flashlight with him so he could see it better but I could see it plenty well. We were less than 10 feet from it... that’s enough for me. He’s actually off on another dive right now. A night dive with some buddies from work. Lucky for him I have no desire whatsoever to dive at night, it sounds like a real life nightmare to me to be out there in the pitch black looking for scary creatures with a flashlight. It terrifies me to think about it. Not to mention, sea snakes, the poisonous snakes we see on the bottom all the time, are nocturnal. No thanks. So he’s gone out several times for these night dives and is loving it. He’s definitely making the most of the last of his dive time here. I think for our 15 year anniversary we’ll have to finally do something to celebrate and take a diving cruise or something!

I had a fantastic birthday on the 29th. It started with an early run and then I sent Hayden off to school and Tom left for work. As I was coming back inside from seeing Hayden off when Tom pulled in the drive way. He jumped out and said “Oh, I forgot I don’t have to go to work today!” It was all a ploy. He’d arranged for a friend to watch the girls and we went and played tennis (which I am still terrible at), went out to brunch and then went shopping for souvenirs and furniture. It was awesome. When we got home that afternoon I took a nice nap, actually in my bed, it was great. I woke up and we all went out to dinner and had a nice time. We stopped by to get an apple pie because that is what I really wanted for dessert. Tom rented a movie so we could put the kids to bed and just relax. We got home and when I walked in the living room I heard a baby cry. I was so confused I just stood there in the dark for a second and then suddenly all my friends jumped up and yelled surprise! It was awesome, I had no idea. Tom had been setting me up all day. So he put the kids to bed and we hung out and played rock band with our friends all night. It was a fabulous birthday! The next morning we got up early, dropped the kids off with a friend and went out scuba diving. It was great!

One of my favorite things about my birthday was the constant birthday hugs and kisses the girls kept giving me. And Alyssa was the cutest, she said, “Mom, when I turn 4 I want a ballet cake. What kind of cake do you want?” Me, “umm...” Alyssa, “Do you want a watcher cake because you like to watch me do ballet?” What a great idea. I do like to watch her do ballet!

When I was tucking Hayden into bed he said to me “I wish you could just stretch forever so part of you could stay in here and I could hug it all night and the rest of you could go do the laundry.” Boy did I ever wish I could do that too!! He’s currently got this idea that he can get anything he wants if he gives me a hug... it sort of works. He wanted me to come with him on his school field trip so he was all hugs and smiles and then later told me “I knew you couldn’t resist if I did that!” We had a nice time on the field trip learning all about transportation and taking the bus and monorail down to the airport.

Danica is the sweetest, nicest, mostly loving girl ever I sometimes need to just remember that is a good thing I don’t want her to change. She is still so shy and sensitive and I just don’t know how to give her confidence. She is refusing to play in her soccer games because it just stresses her out to much, it’s too much pressure or something. Being fairly competitive athletic people it is hard for Tom and I to handle the fact that she is the only child standing out on the field crying for her mommy. But alas, like I said, she is such a sweetheart and competitive sports aren’t for everyone. Maybe when she’s a little older it will go better. In the meantime, she is continuing to excel at her gymnastics. She is the oldest and best in her class so that gives her confidence. Hopefully eventually it will sink in deeper and she will be able to handle being in a class where she isn't always the best... if anyone has ideas on how to help build her confidence levels I would love to hear them. I see other parents just saying “stop crying and get out there and play” but that doesn’t work on Danica. I don’t know what does.

Well, we are busy as ever getting ready to move, having way too much fun. Our week of spring followed by a week of rain left things officially hot the last few days. Even at 5am I am going to have to run in tank tops I am dripping so much sweat. So summer has started and I suppose that is good because it will help make me happy to leave. It is so hot!

They had the Hail and Farewell last night for Tom and everyone from the Dental Command got together and said some nice words over dinner. He’s really going to miss a lot of the great things about being here and some of the good people he’s learned from. It’s been great. I've been released from the Relief Society Presidency and asked to teach Alyssa's sunbeam class for our last 6 weeks here. Everything is winding down. We're playing hard and enjoying every minute of it!!

Saturday morning was Mormon Helping Hands. Mike was in charge of the project for the two Monterey Wards. Jane had a major play rehearsal, Sawyer and Ellie had a babysitter since Mike and I were going to be busy coordinating everyone, that left Sadie on her own helping with her two well gloved hands.

Yes, she was adorable and actually worked very hard. I can't quite hide my astonishment. The project went really well. We had beautiful weather and Mike had everything very well organized.






I came home and went to a baby shower with all of my favorite people, ate delicious food, relaxed, and then came home so that we could go pick up Mike's bib number for the Big Sur Marathon.

Mike, Sawyer, Sadie, Ellyn and I walked a few blocks through downtown Monterey and visited the fitness expo, collected Mike's
stuff, and then we made a little trip to Trader Joe's so Mike could pick out what he wanted to eat after his marathon.






This is Mike and Jason at 5:30am. The marathon was a down and back this year because of a road washout so there was nowhere to cheer along the route. I realized as I was driving down to the finish line that Mike had completely over estimated how long it would take him and that I was going to miss the finish. Sure enough, right at the corner by the Finish Line my phone rang. It was my friend Jenny's phone and I knew she had done the relay. It was Mike, he was done. He finished a much harder, very hilly course, on a hot day almost a full half hour faster than our St. George Marathon. I'm so proud of him- and a little jealous. I was bummed not to see his actual finish. He didn't care. He was just happy to be done. I picked him up, he came home, showered, and left for church with us a half an hour later. Crazy! Yeah, my husband is awesome! As a side note both the Bishop's counselors were gone so he asked Mike to sit on the stand. He didn't look it but Mike said he was dying he was so hot and his leg was locking up:-). Maybe punishment for running on Sunday.





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Steens Mountain

Hoping to send Isaac in July...check out the video.