Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Morning and look Santa did not miss our house!!!

Mom & Dad are taking me to Universal Studios, Disneyland, and Sea World...TOMORROW!!!

MMMMM...30 lbs of yummy goodness.

So happy to have Great Grandma home for Christmas!

And Great Grandpa too!!!

Christmas Eve

Here comes Santa...

Christmas with Grandma & Gruncle

Thank you Grandma and Gruncle for hosting an early Christmas dinner.

See you again on Christmas Day!!

Christmas Cruise 2011

After enjoying a couple hours of appetizers and drinks at Daniel's Broiler we all boarded the Spirit of Seattle in Kirkland for a Christmas Cruise around Lake Washington. There were carolers, drinks, and even Santa was along for the ride. The evening concluded with a sing along and a reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas. The first of many celebrations this holiday season.

Indoor Soccer

Out of the wet and cold and into the not so cold confines of the the Everett Soccer Dome. Avery decided to continuing playing soccer with her friends on an indoor team. It's non stop action with a lot of running but she has enough players on her team to keep everyone rested. So proud to see the improvement over the course of the season!

Happy Halloween!!

We went with the Bavarian theme and a Bumble Bee for Halloween this year. The Engdahl  party was a lot of fun on Saturday night. Our pumpkins met a premature splatter in the street at the hands of some delinquent kids but it didn't stop Avery from collecting a hall of candy trick or treating. One request...Could we just move Halloween to the last Saturday of October? The weekday puts a damper on the trick or treat scene.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

The "Perfect Brownies"

We have had the perfect brownie pan for a while now and tonight was the night for Avery to break it out of the box. She mixed up the chocolate brownies and added the chocolate and mint chips to make them even better.The pan worked better than expected and now it is time to dig in!

Blue Angels

The highlight of our day today was watching Avery's first soccer game. It was a great day for a game and the team shined brightly. Avery hustled all over the field and played one of her best games ever. She made good passes, played good defense and even scored a goal. We are very proud of her effort!

Third Grade

Today was the first day school in Lake Stevens and Monroe. Avery started the 3rd grade and Neil started year 16. Avery is growing up so fast. We need to make sure she enjoys these times and continues to achieve at a high level in school. Look at her now...

Summer is Over:(

Six days of camping at Fort Casey State park marked the end of a great summer. The weather was just about perfect and the food and fun was a nice way to wind down summer. There was lots of fishing, kite flying, bike riding, fort exploring, game playing, book reading and people watching.

Now it's back to school and work time. We won't soon forget the fun time we had and we are already looking forward to next summers adventures.

Evergreen State Fair

The fair usually marks the end of summer but technically we have one camping trip left this weekend before summer officially comes to an end. Avery's friend Morgan joined us today for our 8th consecutive year of making the family trip to the fair. We rode rides, walked through animal barns, saw many of the same people we have seen every year, rode more rides, took a picture with a picture of real life farmers, had a fair style dinner with a corndog, pizza, philly steak sandwich, curly fries, and even a crepe. We walked through the exhibit barns, then the junk barns, then more rides, then a fair dessert of shaved ice, ice cream bar, and a funnel cake. After 7 1/2 hours of fun and food it was time to head home. Back to work for Neil tomorrow, camping this weekend, and back to school next week.

Mt Baker Cabin

The annual weekend with the Heater's took us to a cabin at Snowline near Mr. Baker. We had pizza and played games across the street, we spent a day at Heather Meadows, we ate picnic lunches, we hiked along the Helitrope Trail, spent time in the pool, and even danced a little to pass the time. This weekend is always a highlight of the summer. Next year will be a week instead of a weekend.

Camping with the Engdahls

We were very excited to be invited to the Engdahl Family camp at the Northshore Campground on the Noxon Reservoir outside of Trout Creek, MT this year. 39 people attended throughout the week which was filled with fishing, swimming, sightseeing, attempts at wakeboarding, a trip to Silverwood and the best camping food & drinks ever. Thank you Mark, Kim, Jacob and Ben for sharing this fabulous week of camping with us!