I suppose I'll step up to the plate and give my update now. We do have to meet that challenge of getting a good update blog from everyone in the family before the end of the year after all.

Work
I am very busy with work nowadays. It is the busy time of year for the health insurance industry so there is a lot going on for everyone in my department but on top of the regular stuff, I have been working really hard on creating a new website for the company. The website had some challenges, as they always do, but I got through it all and the new site is up and running as of last Wednesday! If you want to check it out, it's at www.willamettedental.com. Beyond the website, I feel like I constantly have about 25 large projects going on at the same time so there is never a dull day. I am up for a promotion in the next month or so, so I am really hoping that comes through for me. I am definitely busting my butt for it. It'd be really great to see such a significant promotion within a year of being with the company.

My busy desk

We also had our company party last weekend. It was fun because Mom and Dad were there as well so we got to check out the 750 guest shindig together. Here's a pic of me and Eric at the party - more about him later. :)

Eric and me at the WDG Holiday Party

So I am still really enjoying what I am doing at work and love all the responsibility that I am being trusted with to contribute to some pretty transformational things in the company.

Home
My home life recently has been fairly pre-occupied with that gentleman in the photo above. This is Eric. I won't bore you all with his stats on the blog but you will all be meeting him soon enough, if you haven't already, as he'll be coming to the Christmas happenings with me.  What's really important is that he makes me very, very happy and we are having a great time being together and are super grateful we've found each other. I know, I know - sappy, sappy love stuff. :)


We made Chicken & Broccoli the other night and, good news - he likes it! Mom said he couldn't be part of the family if he didn't so I'm glad he passed the test. :)

Other than that, there really isn't much happening. I will be going on a trip next weekend to Los Angeles for New Year's celebrations with my friends. I'm pretty excited about that. I think plans will include Disneyland and a possible scavenger hunt so that should be fun.

These last couple days, I've had fun hanging out with family up in Vancouver while Eric was in Seattle. It's so fun to have everyone so close by that we can all get together fairly easily to hang out, watch old home movies - epic football and volleyball footage, and relax together.

Fun with Mad Mor-di-gan

Camie gives the best hugs

Well, that's about it for my update. I'm very excited about this Christmas and getting to see everyone next weekend! And I just remembered - we need to figure out the photo stuff for the grandkids pictures...just a reminder.

Yet again, an overdue update, in reverse order. I know I have forgotten a lot... this is the stuff I had pictures of. I'll have to add in the rest when I remember it! And this has not been proof read...sorry for the inevitable mistakes!

DANICA IS 6!!!!! On December 12th we celebrated her birthday!! She doesn't have school on Mondays so I took her and Alyssa to a place called JJ Jumps that we heard about on Groupon. Some of her cousins met us there and then we all met up with Grandma Barb for lunch at Wendy's because Danica LOVES chicken sandwiches! Then for dinner she had her favorite food: Chicken and Broccoli Casserole.

Her favorite thing to do right now is to color with markers. She would do it all day. She loves art projects and any sort of craft. She loves to read, play with dolls and barbies, and have tea parties. She is very girly, still shy and very sensitive. A stern look or disapproving voice will leave her in tears. She's a great helper with doing her chores, is a master bed maker and fantastic at cleaning her room and taking care of her sister in every way. She goes out of her way to make sure that Alyssa is happy and well cared for. I don't think there has ever been a girl as lucky as Alyssa to have such an outstanding big sister.

She's such a funny kid. Over Thanksgiving she was sick with a stomach flu for several days and it has left her obsessed with washing her hands and not eating too much candy. She is very conscientious. She is such a responsible sick child that she is terrified to not have a bowl with her at all times if she feels like she might throw up. In fact, she had to sleep with it and I found her one night with her head literally using the bowl like a pillow...so sad!!

DECEMBER TO REMEMBER:
Last week we took Concert Fun to a whole new level during this amazing event where they have fantastic concerts every night! We managed to make it to three of them: Young the Giant, Awolnation and Group Love. It was a blast!


UTAH-- THANKSGIVING BREAK AND THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER:

We spent our Thanksgiving day driving for 12 hours on the way to Utah. Eating options were scarce but the drive went well and we arrived as planned and prepared for a week of fun! I hadn't seen my younger brother in a couple of years and he was able to come to my parents house late that night and stay for the next week so we did the same. My brother that lives in Utah took time off work and pulled their son out of school as well so they could come up and spend the time with us as well. It all made for a fantastic week of vacation. I wish I had time to add more details but I need to get to addressing Christmas cards and making arrangements for a weekend trip so this short summary is all I can do. My summary looks very similar to the trip journal Hayden had to keep while he was happily out of school for a week!!
Friday: Hit some black Friday sales and then we played racquetball at the gym before enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, just a day late! That night we rocked out to Karaoke! I hope someone will send the videos soon!
Saturday: Family pictures, a trip to the aquarium, then the adults went to a comical rendition of It's a Wonderful Life.






Sunday: We went to Temple Square after church- Tom's photography skills really show!





Monday: Matt, his wife Chelsea and Tom and I went skiing at Snowbird. My mom watched all the kids!! it was a great day although I went to bed that night with nightmares of skiing down the mountain and being unable to stop... I suppose I was little more scared then I wanted to admit! I haven't skied in years and years so it was a bit tricky!
Tuesday: Sledding!!

The kids had a blast, so much giggling!!! Alyssa couldn't believe there was so much snow. Growing up on a tropical island means that she had never seen real snow like that. It was fun to experience with her and watch her awe. Then we went bowling and my brother Ryan and his wife Amy made prizes for everyone. It was a huge hit! Then I had to take Tom to the airport to fly home to work.
Wednesday: Matt and Chelsea let me leave the girls with their new best friend- their cousin Isabel that they hadn't seen in years! I took Hayden up to the Natural History Museum at the U of U and had a nice time learning and exploring. Then we headed to Provo and spent the afternoon with my grandma. We took her to the Life Science Museum at BYU and Danica rode with her in her wheelchair. They loved it! That night we went to Ryan and Amy's house where they used their gourmet cooking skills to serve us authentic Phillie Cheesesteaks and homemade donuts. We also had a contest to make Turkey costumes. Hayden and I got to model them!!
Thursday: A low key day of packing and playing and celebrating Christmas with Grandma!!! The kids were all spoiled! Then we went to see Breaking Dawn while Matt watched all the kids (thank you again!)


Friday: Got up at 6am and drove all day. Kids were good and I enjoyed an audio book.
Saturday: Got up early and drove to Salem to run a 7 mile trail run with Tom's sister Anne and her husband Peter. Tough run. Very tiring after spending a week on vacation...although it may be tough any time!!!

There is much more to add and hopefully I'll get to it. But for today, this is enough!!

A rare night without much homework so I thought I would update the blog. It would be nice to get a post in here from everyone before the end of the year.

I am now in the fifth week of my school here. The subjects of my studies so far have been national security strategy, military history, force management, media interaction, and studies in leadership. We move on to other things after the Christmas break. There are 48 students broken into 4 small groups of 16 each. There is very little interaction with the other small groups, and the instructors come to your "home room" vice us rotating everywhere. So you get to know the other 15 students really well and there is always lots of good discussion. Some of my peers here: helo pilot, public affairs officer, theater logistician, vascular surgeon, allergist, RN, combat engineer, Catholic priest, intel officer, PA, Info Systems, etc. So there is lot to learn from a wide variety of experience. The school is very well done. It should be. It is based on the same model they have been doing for over 100 years. Lot of reading and a little bit of writing. But, it is certainly less demanding than NPS.

I live in a hotel room which thankfully is equipped with a 40 inch LCD with some HDMI inputs. When I get free time I am able to play with my PS3 and 360. I get all my football games through Slingbox. All in all, I really cannot complain. They authorized me a rental car for the entire period and I get per diem for weekends. During the week I just eat at the chow hall. Usually for breakfast I snag a banana and yogurt from the hotel lobby on my way back form my morning run. I have been running 6 mornings a week and going to the gym Wed-Sat afternoons. It is a good rotation and I am feeling great physically right now.

For Thanksgiving I drove over to Fort Benning to visit some good friends. I spent a morning down at Fort Benning and even took time to run one of the old routes from OCS and Airborne school days. I got to see Jon Peterson who is now working at the Ranger Regiment. He and his wife stopped by Mom and Dad's house a couple of Decembers ago. After that visit they had a baby girl, he went to Afghanistan and commanded a company in the valley where Restrepo was filmed, and then finally got back to see his one-year old girl. It was good to see him back safe and doing so well with his career. I also found out two other LTs who worked for me are headed to the Ranger battalion at Fort Lewis. It is good to see success in those you mentored and led.

I fly home next Saturday (17th) for Christmas break. I am going to drive up to Greenville-Spartanburg, SC so that I can fly Southwest. I will just leave my rental in long term parking which is only 25 bucks a week (San Jose was 25 a day!). I come back January 3rd, Brooke visits mid-Feb and then I am finally reporting to my job at Fort Lewis on March 8th.

Anyway, that's about all I've got. Again, everyone please report in!

I know it is on the Google Calender, but I thought I would put it on the blog as well.

Melia and McKenzie will both be performing in their Christmas Ballet Recital on Friday, December 9th at 6:00 pm. It is at Prairie High School and the cost is $5/adults and free for kids.

Any and all are welcome. :)

Kim

Well it has been quite a long time since I have posted on the blog. Here is a short update on everyone:

Peter - He is continuing to work hard getting new projects and running the ones they do have. Peter participated in his second triathlon in September and continues to enjoy it. The trail running season is now starting with our first race this Saturday up at Shelburg Falls. Peter is also participating in the Portland Ensign choir again this year and is loving it.

Anne - Life has been crazy with me. I took the head coaching job at Sprague high school here in South Salem. It made for a busy summer as well as a. very busy Fall. We ended up going undefeated in league and went to the State tournament for the first time in 9 years. I also won coach of the year for our league. Needless to say it was a great season and we are already prepping for the next one. Other than volleyball, we found out that we are expecting #4 next summer and are very excited to add to the craziness.

Andrew - He started kindergarten in September and has been having a blast. He is doing so well with reading and is such a smart little kid.

Beck - He started preschool as well in September and has been learning so much. He thinks he is such a big kid now that he gets to carry a backpack like Andrew.

Camie - She has been getting bigger every day but of course is still our small little girl. She is full of attitude and definitely has shown she can keep up with the boys.

Salem is great and we are so excited to see everyone at Christmas. I want to thank everyone who made it out to any of my volleyball games this season. It really has meant a lot to me to be able to have support from you all. We love you guys!

Anne

TV Food Maps

The following families have told me they are interested in attending the Disney dance performance that Taylor is in (tickets are $8 a piece, kids 3 and under are free):

K&B - 2
K&T - 3
A&P - 3
T&T - 5
D&A - 5

That's a total of 18 tickets needed. I have purchased 20. If anyone else is interested, then I need to get tickets, so please let me know. The show is here at the high school theater in Washougal and starts at 7 pm.

Adina

I am playing a Genius playlist on my Itunes and “My love” by Sia came on from the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Soundtrack. Melia sees the Album artwork and this is the conversation we had…

Melia: Mom, what is this song?
Me: My Love by Sia.
Melia: Where is it from?
Me: A movie called Eclipse. It is about vampires.
Melia: Is that guy with white skin the vampire?
Me: Yup. His name is Edward.
Melia: Who are the other people?
Me: The boy with dark hair is Jacob. He is a werewolf.
Melia: A werewolf and a vampire!!! What?! Who is the girl?
Me: Her name is Bella. She is in love with the vampire, Edward.
Melia: WHAT?! How is she in love with a vampire? I have NEVER heard of a person loving a vampire.

A minute passes…
Melia: That is why this singer keeps singing “My love”… for the vampire??
Me: Yes, sure Melia…
(I just started laughing)

Melia: Well what does the werewolf do?
Me: He is best friends with Bella, the girl.
Melia: No way! Why does the girl love the vampire and not the werewolf? Mom, is this movie good? Can I watch it?
Me: Melia, it is a book and it was made into a movie… you will be able to watch it eventually…

Our wonderful Sunday afternoon conversation... priceless. I couldn't pass the chance to write this down.

Any and all are invited to our 2nd round playoff match at Sprague this Saturday at 7pm. I know Isaac has his state run that morning in Pasco but just thought I would invite you all. We win this game and we go to the state tournament for the first time in a long time. Hope to see some of you there!