Playing on Antelope Island

While visiting Utah several of us decided to visit the island one afternoon. We took the dogs(Lady and Griffin) for some new adventures. Greg wanted to see and touch the Great Salt Lake up close and personal. So did the dogs so out to the water front we went.

One of the highlights for me was finding a Geocache on the island, Greg was the first one to look and did not find the cache however, Griffin took over and soon had things under control. Checkout the slide show and tell me that dog is not a natural Geocacher.

March in Review

What a month, March has always been a special month to me as it is my Birthday month. Christine gave me permission to buy whatever I wanted for my B-day, so we spent lots of money at Cabellas one of my favorite stores. Something must be wrong as most of the purchases were for her. Also much thanks to all of those who purchased my present it was perfect. We love to hike and the water pump will be very useful. It is the exact model I had been checking out, me thinks me smells a spy in the midst of my children.

For those who have not seen the pump in question please check this out:

Also this Month we had a visit from Michelle, Victor and his parents .. it was so much fun to visit and sight see with the Villasmil family. The weather tried to cooperate but we none the less had some rain -- it is Seattle.

Did I mention that among all of the play time we went to the Seattle temple. While not previously mentioned Michelle took her endowments out in the Ogden Temple a few weeks earlier (we all were able to attend) it was very special and I loved the opportunity to be in the Temple with my family. It was great to be in our Seattle Temple with Michelle and family.

As the weather begins to change I am more and more ready to start the hiking season, I can hardly wait to hit the trails with Chris, it is fun and she is lots of fun to hike with.

Feb. in Review

I wrote this long ago and never posted it better late than never.

Well true to form as March is running out fast I should update my blog for February. The month was a fast few weeks, Chris and I have been very busy with work and some remodeling of the house. That's right Greg no longer has a room. Instead of a three Bedroom house with one room for rent , we now have a 2 bedroom house with 2 rooms for rent. Make your reservations early and get a confirmation number, I hear the owners are a little disorganized. Greg's old room really looks good and is going to become our "Forest Room".



Besides cleaning and painting a room we did some Geocaching again it was fun. We discovered caches in the Marysville area as well as smoky point. We are getting close to 800 and hope to get over that number before summer.

Jan 2009 In Review

Well it has been some time since I posted anything. The new year came and went, Chris and I spent the evening in an uneventful manner. I did not even try to recap the year in my blog. Here is a Jan. review.

The major event for the month of Jan. was a wedding planning trip made by Chris to Utah. I stayed home as I am not a good shopper, especially when the shopping takes multiple days to accomplish. I can not post any pictures as all of the shopping will be on display in May when Michelle gets married.

We also dusted off the GPS and did some caching, it was fun, we explore pigeon creek about a 3 mile round trip walk to the sound and back up to Forest park. We found 4 caches and several were of a new type for us, it was a nice cool day with a good walk. While resting at the Sound we were serenaded by local seals. Another weekend found us on a hike through a wildlife preserve in Everett, and yes we found 3 or 4 caches that day as well.

Jan. was also the time when we re-decorated, what was Greg's bedroom, it is now called the Forest room. We have established a wall for Christine to display some of her photos of the forest taken while hiking and caching.

In order to be ready for the hiking season we have started to work out, treadmill and elliptical machines 4 to 5 times a week. Our goal is to be ready and hit the trails for a good part of the year, might even lose a few inches around the middle while out playing.

Well that is about it for Jan. a month of getting back into the routine of work and more work. We have some great trips and fun planned this coming year, so stay tuned as we will be documenting our adventures on the blog.

Does it snow in Seattle ?

After 13 years in Seattle we have determined that it does snow in Seattle, each year we get some snow generally an inch of snow will close down the city and suburbs as well. This year has been extraordinary the school systems have been closed for a week and the snow and cold just keep hanging around. The Picture are from the Gold Creek neighborhood. They look like they should be from the mountains.

For the first time in many years I had to shovel my drive way we received much snow in 24 hours.

Jack liked playing in the snow while I did all the work, Chris helped the snow removal efforts until she got her hands on the camera.

Just how much snow did we received in a short period of time. While not much by the standards of traditionally snowy places, this is a record for us.

In the end we had a winter storm system that all but closed down Seattle, the airport, trains, and buses for multiple days. The little lady went where she wanted with little to no difficulties. One day I did put on the chains as the snow removal trucks were not running the side roads and there was a foot of snow on many of the streets.

Nov. in Reveiw

November came and went so very quickly. It was a good month, Christine and I prepared for the Christmas Holiday by purchasing an artificial Christmas Tree. The tree is 9ft tall and while it fits in our home today I am not sure what we will do in the future, most homes have 8ft ceilings. We also spent Thanksgiving with all of our children in Utah. We stayed at Michelle's home. Dinner was at my sister Julie's house with many of my siblings and their families. A highlight for the day was meeting Victor and his parents. It was fun to get to meet them they are very nice people who have a great spirit about them. I love it when my children make good choices and live up to their standards. I am grateful that all of our children are doing well and staying close to the gospel. Greg rode the train to SLC from Grand Junction, he seemed to enjoy the ride. He took the train home from Provo. Greg is doing well with his teaching and we are proud of him. Holli is a real joy she keeps everyone happy, we know she is missing school and her friends but is a good lesson in life to sometimes do things that are less than fun. The highlight of thanksgiving food was not Turkey, ham or any of the trimmings but rather the dinner made by Mandee the night before Thanksgiving. I loved the Mexican chicken and peppers it was great.

We returned home after the weekend and decorated the house and tree for Christmas. We are ready for the month of December. This coming month will be great as we will spend Christmas in Utah with our family.