Russon Family

Hard headed boys of ours!

2009-06-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

The boys went at it, trying to prove who was best at heading the soccer ball...I don't know, doesn't look like any of them are really enjoying the contest! Notice the nice pink soccer ball they are using. Boy would they be in trouble if Shay found out, she is VERY possesive of that ball!

Shay's boo-boo!

2009-06-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

Shay took a spill at the last baseball game of the season, smacking her forehead on a rock and splitting it open. She is seriously putting her "Princess" status in jeopardy by having to have stiches put in. Lisa made sure the did the supper duper small ones to minimize the scar! They didn't slow her down at all, and 20 minutes later we were back at the game and she was running around like nothing happened. I guess having all brothers is good for something!

Spring Sports Round-Up!

2009-06-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

The boys finished up their seasons of baseball and lacrosse. Cole's team only lost one game all season and he was one of the main pitchers, striking out most of the batters he faced! Miles scored 6 goals this year, and is headed off to a big lacrosse tournament in a few weeks to up that ante. Gage was stellar on his team, garnering the "Best All Around Player" award for the year, since he was focused on every pitch and ready where ever the coach needed him (far cry from his at home mentality!) They all had a blast, and have simply moved their sports to the backyard for the next few months until another season starts.

Cole's birthday

2009-05-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

For his birthday, Cole had a BBQ in the backyard and then went to the pool with a bunch of his friends. He (i.e. Dad) got a new iPod touch for his birthday, along with more cash than the GNP of most small countries from all his friends and grandparents. Of course we garnished his money severely for room and board...gotta make a little extra cash somehow, right?!

Krew's getting bigger

2009-05-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

McCall comes to town!

2009-05-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

McCall came a visiting to see the new little Russon addition. She seems to always come around when we have a new baby, but she has assured me that it's the pleasure of my company that really brings her up, so I'm sure it's just a coincidence. We love having her here, she plays with the kiddies, makes dinner and cooks up more treats and cookies than we can eat in a month of Sundays. It's a rough job eating them all, but someone has to step up and do it. Of course now we'll have to find some other way to entice her up here to visit, not sure I can have another kid just for a plate of cookies!

Gramps and Granny visit

2009-05-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

G & G Hansen came up for a visit, to see the new baby (Krew) and see the big baby (Miles) get the priesthood! As always, the kiddies loved having them here, to spoil them with whatever their hearts desire.

Krew William Russon

2009-04-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

The latest addition to the Russon clan finally has a name...Krew William. Someone astutely pointed out later that we have a full crew now, so it's fitting. He is doing well, and he and mom are recovering at home, while fending off many well-wishers and way too much food brought by friends.

Baby Arrives!

2009-04-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, the Russon's now have 4 boys and 1 girl. Boy number 4 arrived today at 6:00 PM after deciding to just hang out for many hours and stump all efforts to prod him along. He came in at 7 pounds and 20 inches long. He has a little dark hair in a fringe around the back, but not much else. He's healthy and has all the right parts in all the right places. Lisa is recovering nicely too. Now the hard part, the name! We had a couple of good solid girls names lined up, which doesn't help us now, so we are back to the drawing board. Pictures, and hopefully name, to follow.

Final Preggars Pictures!

2009-04-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Heading down to the hospital in the morning to have Lisa's induction and (hopefully) the baby too! Here's some final pictures of Lisa in that last month, now that you can finally tell that she's actually pregnant. What a cutie!

Miles 12th Birthday Party

2009-04-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Miles party this year consisted of 17 of his "closest friends" going to the pool and proceeding to wreak havoc on the place. They all had a blast, including the rest of our kids who joined in. Unfortunately we couldn't talk Lisa into putting a swim suit on, since she is having the baby in 3 days. Can't understanding her reiticence. Below is Miles doing his Tarzan imitation, to the obvious delight of those waiting to swing behind him (or at least the female ones!)

Easter

2009-04-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter 2009!

Lisa's Birthday

2009-04-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Lisa's birthday was mostly Shay opening the presents for her, wanting to blow out the candles and eating her cake. I think Lisa managed to get a little piece herself somewhere along the way. Luckily it was a very nice Spring Day, and it was also General Conference, so we got to be lazy, sleep in and hang around the house all day for her birthday, what more could you want?

Whistler 2009

2009-03-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Last hurrah before baby comes! We went up to Whistler for 3 days (and my birthday!) to do some Spring skiing and play around. Wasn't so much Spring as it was snowing and cold, so we actually had great skiing and plenty of snow. We definitely got some looks with the 4 kids running rampant, and the obviously pregnant Lisa. What, you don't see families of 5 much?! We had a blast and enjoyed the trip immensely.

Gage's 5th Birthday

2009-02-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Gage turned the big 5 today, and had about 13 of his friends over for the party. Nothing better than a house full of 5 and 6 year olds running around, yelling and tackling each other, or at least the boys were. The few girls that came were being good and quiet, by comparison. Gage got a cool robot cake, courtesy of Lisa's great cake-making skills, and ended up with lots of presents too.

Skiing with the boys

2009-02-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

This year, we FINALLY convinced Gage to go skiing with us, and of course he loved it. We had to bribe him to go, but now he keeps asking when we can go again. He took right to it, and I didn't even have to hold him between my legs like I did with Miles and Cole (thank goodness, my back was hurting just thinking about doing it!) He was quite the little trooper and stayed the whole day. Miles and Cole did some skiing with us, then headed over to the Terrain Park to ride the rails and hit the jumps (ahh, to have young knees again.)

The ride home after a great day of skiing (in the SUN of all things, which in Washington is always a huge bonus!)

Here's a video of Gage's first day, pretty much making it look like he's been skiing for years!

Waterfront property available

2009-01-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

After all the snow we had this year, we then had a nice warmup and rainfall, causing extensive flooding around the state. It was bad enough to turn Western Washington into almost an island. Both passes were closed and the highway south to Portland was flooded over too. The only way out of Seattle, was to go North to Canada, and even that had some blockage on some roads. The waters finally receded from the roads, but there is still a lot in the lower lying valleys and fields that just won't evaporate due to the colder temperatures and continued rain. We had some friends that had to use a boat to get in and out of their property for a week or so.

The (Very Prolific) Russon Family Reunion

2008-12-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

More Russon's than you can shake a stick at...after this was over we all felt like whacking each other with sticks, not just shaking them! Dad had to be coached through how to make his camera take pictures with the timer, "all this new fangled gadgetry!"

It's all fun and games...

2008-12-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

...until someone (almost) loses a tooth!

2008-12-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning

2008-12-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Once again Santa somehow found us at Grandma and Grandpa's house, not sure the old guy can continue to do that for much longer!

Doing time (Christmas time that is)

2008-12-24T21:28:00.000-08:00

The warden is carefully explaining to the new group of inmates why the typical orange jumpsuit has been exchanged for red pajamas. Shortly after the picture was taken, a riot occured and none of the food survived the altercation. All were promptly remanded to their cell blocks until Warden Santa could decide if they were naughty, or nice.

Storm Watch 2008

2008-12-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

It may not look like much in these shots (especially to those of you in snowier climes) but this was just the beginning. By the time the storms finished a week or 2 later, there was over 2 feet of the white stuff at our house. That's a lot by any standards, but for Seattle, that's ginormus! It pretty much shut the state down for several weeks. School was canceled for 3 days, church was canceled for 2 weeks straight (all you Utahns can be jealous of that!) and everything just ground to a halt. It was pretty while it lasted though.

Killer Do's (a.k.a. Fun with Shampoo)

2008-12-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T20:09:00.000-08:00

Well this year we couldn't talk any of our family into braving the snowstorms, canyons and long drive to come see us for Thanksgiving. Then our friends all headed off to their families for the day, so we spent it all alone this year...sniffle. We cooked way too much food and spent way too long in the kitchen for something that was over in 20 minutes. I'm thinking pizza next year!

Halloween!

2008-10-31T19:45:00.000-07:00

Miles officially broke all previous records in how much candy he collected trick-or-treating. We had to measure it in pounds instead of pieces, and even that almost broke the scale! I can just see his dentist rubbing his hands with glee over all the future work he'll need. Shay proceeded to drag her bag between the houses, ("I do it, you no help!") and left a trail of candy as the pieces fell out of the hole she scraped in the bottom. She insisted on running between every house, but fueled by a sugar high, never even came close to winding down before we finished, chased in by the cold and not by a lack of desire to continue. Lisa even channeled a little cross between a witch and Elvira and donned said costume.

Even my work got in on the action, and I went as the "40-year old Boy Scout." Andrea is the "wicked witch" (and oxymoron for any who know her) and Cheryl went as "Major Pain," (my contribution to her costume.)

Football 2008

2008-10-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Football is once again upon us. Miles played this year for the first time, and despite breaking his pinky early in the season, had a great time playing receiver, cornerback and special teams. This was his first taste of football, being a converted soccer player this year. Cole came back for a second year of flag football with pretty much the same team as last year. Cole helmed the team as QB and is now busy trying to decide which college he's going to play for. Gotta dream big! Gage and Shay (along with mom and dad) were pretty much kept busy running from one game to another. Gage played soccer and did much better at actually playing this year and not sitting on the sidelines asking when it was time for the treats! Unfortunately since I was coaching and Lisa was chasing Shay everywhere we actually didn't get a single picture of Gage in action.

Cabo Wabo

2008-10-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

In October we (meaning Lisa and I) went to Cabo San Lucas with our friends the Reynolds. We left the kiddies with Aunt Nikki (kudos to her for coming out despite being sick due to pregnancy with twins! If that didn't swear her off any more kids, nothing will!) We had a great time at a "adult only" spa, so needless to say, it was so quiet, I pretty much slept the entire trip. We had great weather and caught up on all our missed sleep for the past year, by the pool, while being fed fish tacos intravenously. Of course the highlight of Aaron's trip was snapping pictures of a vulture eating a dead animal on the beach, or the giant rhinoceros bug outside our room. Lisa's was the baby turtles being released into the ocean. Fun was had by all. I'm not sure if Brooke left any sun in Cabo, she pretty much sucked it all up while we were there. I even got a chance to pull out my "prison Spanish" (a patient of mine once asked me if I had learned my Spanish in a Mexican prison, guess it's pretty bad!) and wow the locals with my dictum and accent. I'm sure that they never figured out that I wasn't a local, but a gringo on vacation instead, I'm THAT good!

Are you looking at me?!

2008-09-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

Back to School!

2008-09-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

After a great summer, it was back to school. We did one last trip with the Reynolds and the Strattons over to Lake Chelan for Labor Day, but unfortunately we forgot our camera, so no photos of the backflip I did on the wakeboard. Bummer! We had a great time boating, playing at the park by the house we stayed at, eating way too much food and playing games. It was a great way to end the summer and now the kids (including Gage) are headed back to school.

Shay's 2nd Birthday!

2008-08-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Shay celebrated big number 2! We teamed up with Max again since his birthday is only a few days later. Shay got all the girly stuff she loves, a purse, necklace, shoes and cell phone. I'm not saying it's genetic, but she sure hasn't learned that from the boys! Her cake was shaped like one of her two favorite things (the other being hair)...a flip-flop! If you don't know, Shay is obsessed with shoes, especially flip-flops, and has been known to not only steal other peoples shoes if they are left lying around, but actually took a shoe off of a little girls foot at the park so that she could put it on her own foot. Max also got his favorite cake shape, a car (which to him is like shoes to Shay.)

NOT her shoes!

Birthday kiss from good buddy Max!

Seahawks game

2008-08-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

The boys and I, along with the Reynolds, caught the Seahawks game againt the Bears. The boys have been wanting to go forever, so we finally got there. The game was bookended by a marathon walk to and from our car, just so we could save a buck (or 40) on parking.

Wheeee!

2008-08-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Seaside

2008-08-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

We made the trek down to Seaside, Oregon, for the beach volleyball tourney, but the weather was pretty much cloudy and cold. Didn't stop the kids from jumping in the ice cold water though.

Mariner's Games

2008-07-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

Alex, Mindy and clan came up to see us, or in Alex's case, he came up to see the Boston Red Sox series against the Mariners. As you can see, we got lucky at one game and sat on top of the Mariner's dugout. The boys ended up getting 3 balls out of that from the players as they went into the dugout.

Torchlight Run and Parade

2008-07-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

The annual kick off for SeaFair was this weekend, the big Seattle party on Lake Washington where the Blue Angels perform and the hydraboats race. The kick off is in downtown Seattle, and there is a 5K and 8K run and then a parade through downtown. We went down with the Strattons so the older kids could run the 5K race. Lisa, Miles and Cole all ran in it (and the boys even did it in very crappy shoes, all the more impressive.) The boys did amazing, finishing in around 25 minutes, beating a lot of adults in the process. They are quite the little runners. Lisa ran with them, and I don't know who had the harder job, her running, or me chasing Gage and Shay all around the finish line while we waited. Luckily they had lots of booths set up to distract them with hand outs and candy. They even got interviewed by the local TV station since it was a family affair. Or it was just they we looked like freaks since between us and the Strattons we had 8 kids there. They're not quite used to that many in a family up here. They guy behind them in the interview picture, dressed as a pirate isn't there to shanghai some crew for his boat. The theme for SeaFair is pirates, and a lot of people dress up and run the race as pirates. The shirts Miles and Cole are wearing have the pirate theme on them too. In fact the SeaFair pirates, a group of middle aged men who like to dress up and play with swords, are fairly well known and have even been in Sports Illustrated. After the race we hit the parade where they kids waited in vain for someone to throw them some candy. Shay had fun dancing with the UW cheerleaders when they came by.

Cole's Baptism

2008-07-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Cole was lucky enough to have all his family around as he was baptized on July 6th. He waited until we came out to Utah so that they could all be part of it. It was a very special day and one that Cole will hopefully always remember. We had the baptism in Smithfield at Grandma Gayles church, and then we all went over to Mack Park and had a picnic. Then all the little kiddies proceeded to strip down to their diapers (or tighty-whities in Karsten's case) and play in the river. It was fun to be around everyone and have them all share in Cole's important day.

Summer Vacation in Logan and Bear Lake

2008-07-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

As usual, we spent the 4th of July in Logan with family. 10 years now in Washington, and we still can't stay away!

This was the actual size of the pizza we bought. Needless to say, it fed everyone, plus some! Of course Dave is kind of weak, so it probably didn't weigh more than 80 pounds.

Strip down to the diapers and jump on in!

Summer Vacation, part II

2008-07-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

Dorf on Baseball

2008-06-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Gage gives us his best Tim Conway impersonation of Dorf. This is what happens when you have 3 boys and you get the shorts mixed up and then Gage refuses to remove them because they're "cool." Not sure if they're floods, or knickers, but either way, they're long! I don't know if he could even run the bases with these things on, they must have totally slowed his legs down. He had a fun baseball season and was (of course, he's a Russon) the slugger of the team. After today, we are actually sport free for a while, amazing!

Cole's 8th Birthday

2008-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Cole had his big number 8 this month. He and his friends went down to the driving range to hit some balls (surprisingly far) and then had a sleep over. For the family party, he got to have his favorite dinner (spaghetti and meatballs), Cold Stone for dessert, and open his gifties. He got some Indiana Jones Legos, football cleats and the best gift of all...his favorite blankie got all sewn up so he can sleep with it again! He still loves that blankie, and wasn't happy that it had gotten torn up. Of course we didn't tell his buddies that were over that he had gotten that, he has an image to uphold and all. Being the big number 8, Cole will be getting baptized next month. We are actually holding off until July 5th, and doing it in Utah with the family so that he can have them come. Otherwise it'd feel pretty sparse on family members if we did it up here.

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Today was Mother's Day, or as we like to call it, Moms-sit-around-the-house-day! But, fortunately for her, she deserves it! We had great day and mom got lots of pampering type gifts, including a bunch of gift certificates from Cole for foot rubs and hair combs. And best of all, a pillow for her to sit up in bed and watch TV with. Shay gave her the best gift of all...

The Cake

2008-04-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

Miles had a good birthday! He wanted a cell phone. We said no. He asked for an ipod. We gave in. Now he has an ipod. He kept saying "can we open presents?" Brian and I were laughing because we wanted to say "can we open present?" Luckily he wasn't disappointed in only having one gift. He was actually very excited. It didn't even have any music on it yet, but he sat around playing with it all night. We think we might get them for all our kids now if it means they walk around with headphones on and don't talk. We may be on to something. Gage gave him a gift too, he wrapped up a piece of bark he found outside and very genuinely thought Miles would enjoy it. We had a family dinner after Cole's baseball game (the joy of large families, somebody always has a game to ruin the plans). We ate a lame b-day cake. I cannot believe how unbelievably bad my cakes are getting as the years go on. In the beginning I used to make some amazingly cool cakes. Last night was a white cake in a pan with orange frosting I attempted to draw a basketball on and it turned out to be an orange baseball because I did the strings wrong. The boys all corrected me after making fun of my cake. Then I put Shay on the counter to watch me finish and left her sitting there while I grabbed the candles. I do this all the time (leave her sitting on the counter) and she is always fine. In my defense, I did tell Brian to come watch her and Cole was standing right by her. Of course Brian claims he didn't hear me and Cole said he was busy unloading the dishwasher. Anyway, she proceeded to help herself to the cake, erasing Happy B-day and then somehow fell flat on her face on the hardwood floor leaving an enormous goose egg. I felt bad, but made sure I let Brian and Cole know they each owned at least 25% of the blame for her fall. We finished out the evening by watching the home video of me giving birth to Miles. Very G rated, but everyone wanted to know why Miles' head was so cone-shaped. "What makes it like that, mom?"

Miles' 11th Birthday

2008-04-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well, some deranged lunatic (not to point fingers, Lisa) let Miles invite 15 of his friends over for a birthday party last night. I didn't even know he KNEW 15 kids, let alone could call them friends. All in all they were actually very well behaved...for escaped mental patients that is. They had a rousing game of tackle football, which only resulted in 3 broken bones, 2 black eyes and 10 gallons of mud being tracked back to our home. Pretty minor, all things considered. We then proceeded to consume a side of beef for dinner and keep the entire neighborhood awake until late, listening to the lovely strains of head-to-head Guitar Hero III competitions. I'm sure all were glad when we finally wrapped it up and sent them home. Miles made a small mint in birthday present money since most kids just give cash now days to make it easier.

Lacrosse

2008-04-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Miles picked up a new sport this Spring, he's now playing Lacrosse (he bagged the soccer and baseball teams this year around, a friend of his talked him into playing Lacrosse instead.) He's actually really loving playing, and has picked it up quickly. He's even already scored in one game, quite an accomplishment for someone who had never held a Lacrosse stick until just a few months ago. This is Miles delivering a forearm shiver to the opposing team. He's not afraid of mixing it up (and has the yellow penalty cards to prove it!) Of course the way Miles changes his mind, he'll be doing water ballet next year or some other obscure activity. He seems to gravitate from one sport to the next, whereas Cole is convinced he's already NFL bound!

Beijing, China

2008-04-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I just got back from a week in Beijing China, where I was traveling with the US Olympic Fencing team to the Good Luck Games. This was the dry run for the Olmpics, so that Beijing could make sure all the bugs are worked out before hand. It was only a small team, so we had plenty of time to take in the sites of Beijing, or at least those that we could actually make out through the pollution induced haze. It was definitely an interesting experience, especially feeling like a minority for the first time; and also finally being a tall person! We went to the early morning flag raising at Tianemen Square, and were probably the only Caucasians in a crowd of many thousand Chinese. We were able to see the Great Wall, the Ming tombs, the Summer Palace, Tianemen Square, Mao himself reposing in his crypt, the Llama temple, and sampled many wares and food at the night market in downtown Beijing. Adventurous Lisa even took the subway around by herself, and found her way to the only branch of the church in Beijing for Sunday's services. We sampled many authentic Chinese dishes, included KFC (yes, we really did, no other places were open late when we finished one of our shopping trips to the knock off emporiums.) All-in-all it was a great trip and an interesting experience to see another part of the world. We brought back many souveniors, the main one being all the crud in our lungs from breathing the industrial fumes of the city! I think we lost 5 years life expectency in that one week! And yes, the below picture is of cooked lizards, seahorses, bugs and snake. Yummy!

Disneyland

2008-04-23T08:49:00.001-07:00

The family just got back from a week at Disneyland, and we all survived! And that included an 18 hour power through the night drive home. The kids did great and we had a blast with Lisa's siblings and their families, along with Grandma Gayle. We did Disney, Seaworld and a day at Huntington beach, where Josh, Alex and Brian did their best to drown themselves in the very cold surf; and I do mean cold! I think by the time we got out, I couldn't feel my extremities. Or maybe it was because I was holding Alex's hand instead of my own...hmm...maybe? Everyone had a great time on all the rides, sights and hanging with their cousins. Cole and Riley were as inseperable as they always are when they get together.

Redwoods

2008-04-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

On the way to Disneyland, we stopped off at the Redwood Forest to see some HUGE trees. It was good diversion from the long drive and we could get out and stretch our legs in the forest. Gage wanted to bring home every stick he found along the path, so now we have our very own redwood tree in our back yard! The kids especially liked the tree that you could drive your car through. Well, some cars, not the mondo Sequioa with car top carrier and crap busting out of the windows after being loaded down for the massive exodus. But we could at least walk through it and watch a Mini Cooper squeeze through!

Bird Girl of Alcatraz

2008-04-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

While at Alcatraz, Shay channeled the infamous Bird Man. She had them doing her bidding in no time, stealing other peoples candy and bringing it back to her! Actually during the course of our tour, we found out that the Bird Man actually never had his birds at Alcatraz, only at Leavenworth. They made him leave them behind when he was transferred to Alcatraz. So Shay is the true Bird Person now!

Easter

2008-03-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Cole was pretty into the Easter Egg Hunt as you can see by his great hustle in chasing down those elusive eggs. By George he wasn't going to let anyone else get them! And that includes the little girl he flattened on his way to these eggs!

Shay shows her disbelief that the eggs are all gone. Look in her basket and you'll see where they all went to! And then look at her mouth and you'll see where they went after that!

The boys all got Webkinz from the old Easter Bunny, so even he has bought into this marketing racket. Sheesh, I wish I had come up with them! Here they proudly display their pets, or at least a few of the many they have accumulated lately!

Whistler

2008-01-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

I got a chance to go up to Whistler with a bunch of guys from the ward for a 3-day ski trip. The mountain was great, the weather was great, but unfortunately they needed some fresh snow. Still, 3 days of skiing on marginal snow is better that not! This is our second year doing this little trip and hopefully the second of many more to come! Of course Miles was already campaigning to go with me, and when I explained that it was a dad's trip, he said "So? I'm old enough to go too!" It's nice to have kids that share my interests, but it also means that every time I go golfing or skiing, they think they should be going, whether they're in school or not!

Sledding

2007-12-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

We all trekked over to the big hill in Hyde Park, tubes in hand. Josh had his 4-wheeler there, so the kids never got tired of going up and down the hill, until they got too cold that is (see Gage). He face-planted and that was pretty much it for him. Since they pretty much only get to do this at Christmas, the kids wanted to stay all day long. Definitely a draw back living away from readily available snow. This picture of Ryan just had to be put in, to show you just had hard the ground was...and just how soft Ryan's posterior is! Too much "P90X" Ryan, and not enough "Buns of Steel!"

Pajama Party!

2007-12-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, no one else in the country can have these jammies, they scooped them all up for the grandkids! Christmas Eve at the Hansen home was fun for all!

Hawaii

2007-11-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

We had a very important Peak PT shareholders meeting in November, where lots of critical information was disseminated and key decisions made as to the future of our business. Unfortunately, the only place we could find to hold the meeting was in Maui. So we sucked it up, and went. I must say, it's very conducive to decision making to be there. I decided very quickly to not move my lazy butt from the beach chair for pretty much 5 days. Except to eat that is. I did occasionally switch chairs to one on the beach, to avoid bed sores. We had a great time, saw an awesome comedian/magician, watched the sun rise over Hale'akala and pretty much forgot we had 4 kids at home torturing their poor aunt Tara and cousin Kamden. Thanks to Tara we were actually able to do this trip! She's the best!

Football

2007-11-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well, it was Cole's inagrual season of football this year, and he was slightly miffed that we made him play flag unstead of tackle, but all in all he had a great time. He was one of the stars of the team at every position he played, and was ultra-proud when the coach named him at the end of the season as "The player most likely to be a first-round NFL draft pick." He's looking forward to next year already. It's not often that you get a picture like below, where your SON'S golden hair is flowing in the wind as he runs! Sheesh!

Shay-dy Bug

2007-11-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year, Shay took on (one of) her namesakes and was a lady bug. She got the candy thing down pretty quick, but wanted to stop after every house and eat what she just got. I think I could pretty much hear her heart beat after the seventh house since she had so much sugar coursing through her tiny body!

Soccer

2007-10-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Gage's first official organized sport! Soccer! And he was less then thrilled to play. Definitely not like his older brothers were at the same age. He participated...barely. And the team picture has me in it (as his coach) but not him, he refused to stand in and when he refuses, there's no changing his mind! By the end of the season he was doing a little more (as evidenced here) so maybe he'll get more into it as he goes along.

The Agony of Da-Feet!

2007-10-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Miles and Cole ran in the annual Snohomish Pumpkin Run, where all the elementary schools in their district have a race around Halloween time. They are age based, and quite long (I can't remember exactly how far, but Miles's was over a mile.) They both did great and improved on last years times. Miles took 4th after being tripped near the finish line by the 3rd place finisher, and Cole took 7th. Great finishes by both, and as you can see, they gave it their all! It hurts just to look!

Miles make's it look easy!

2007-08-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Miles figured out the wakeboarding thing, and is hard at work on learning to jump the wake now. Cole got up briefly, and next time we go, he'll be just like Miles, shredding it up! Gage is the master of the tube, with a big goofy grin as we haul him around the lake.

Cake and babe

2007-08-26T23:16:00.001-07:00

Here's Shay and her first birthday cake. It didn't last long, once she got her hands on it.

Shay's Birthday

2007-08-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Shay's first birthday finally arrived (too soon for mom though.) We had a party with her friend Max, who was born 5 days after her, his family (the Reynolds) and the Strattons. We actually were able to have it outside (despite the "sub-arctic weather we've been having this summer," according to Lisa.) She dove right into her cake and proceeded to smear it all over her brothers. This was her new stuffed animal she got for her birthday. I think she likes it!

Hike to Wallace Falls

2007-07-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

Our friends, the Johnson's, came up to visit (yes Dad, it was a tax write-off, don't worry) and we took them to Wallace Falls. This was at the top of the Falls. The kids were troopers. It is 3 miles one-way, and the last 1/2 mile is pretty steep. Gage made it all the way up, but on the way back, gave in and had to be carried. He proceeded to fall asleep and bang his chin on my head for 30 minutes. Cole, despite repeated warnings, decided to run down the trail as fast as he could. When we caught up to him at the car, he had a nice big road rash on his chest from Superman-ing it after tripping.