Favorite Dinner

The above pic is from our dutch oven dinner we had tonight, one of my all time favorites! We cooked it in the fire pit we made in our back yard. Since Marisa has been on bed rest and having lots of contractions we decided not to make any new years plans and spend it home. To make the evening festive we cooked dinner out on the fire and roasted some marshmellows afterwards. 44 degrees F wasn't too bad for our cook out, but it was nice to eat it inside.

Funny

Here is a picture Bex had taken of him in his Sunday school class. When he first gave it to us we were trying to figure out who it was for a couple of seconds. It totally doesn't look like him. It is funny to see what a different angle and facial expression can do to someone.


The next picture is one I found near my work one day. Since Marisa's maiden name is Pond, I thought this would be good one for her.

Update

Tomorrow will be six weeks of continuous sickness for me. No rest for the weary I guess. We all have RSV now and it is unfortunately getting spread to some of those that are coming to help Marisa around the house. Her contractions have gone down dramatically yesterday. It looks like the bed rest has helped. If we can make it another week then everything will be good. At least we know the baby is a descent size and it didn't come out during week 35. Tomorrow she has an ultrasound and exam to see how much she is dilated and how big the baby is.

Dilation

No we are not talking about a visit to the eye Doctor. Marisa isn't due until January 26th, but we found out a few days ago that she is already dilated to a 4! She was put on immediate bed rest. I am at the busiest time of year at work since everybody is trying to use up any extra insurance before the new year. Thank goodness we have some great neighbors/friends and family helping out. She had an ultrasound yesterday that shows the baby weighs 5 pounds 9 ounces give or take 10 oz. That was a relief to see the baby is that big already. He really wants to come out so we hope he will be patient and wait at least 10 days so that he will have a bit more mass and be after Christmas. We'll keep you updated.

Christmas letter

If you are wondering if we cut you off our Christmas list this year............. don't worry ;)

We had our letter written and ready to print but we lost power for a few days with that bad wind storm that blew through here last week. With the billions of trees here in Seattle the powerlines couldn't handle it. I drove over four of them before I got half way to work last Friday.

Anyway, I shut our computer off before the storm to avoid any problems, but when we turned it back on it had a corrupt registry file. That, unfortunately, means that I have to reinstall windows and lose all data not backed up. The good news is that I usually back up everything to our old computer's hard drive over the network every Saturday so I didn't lose too much, but I did lose the Christmas letter. So, today we will write the second version, probably not as good as the original, and try to get it in the mail soon so that it will arrive before Christmas.

We have a quick fun story about the storm that is similar to the crazy Black Friday shopping rage incidents that we saw. I went to home depot Friday morning to get a generator after finding that work didn't have any power either. There was a big line of people and two generators left. I asked what was going on and the last guy in line said they were waiting for the manager to bring some bigger ones out from the back. He and I decided to get the last two anyway. As I finished putting it on my push cart the manager came out and said those were the last two in the store! I turned and headed for the cash register before anyone started any trouble.

Company Party

This is what it takes for Marisa to find me attractive...



Who is going to deliver first?

Big Boy

The following is copied from part of an email Marisa sent me today at work. I think it does a good job describing how Bex is around the house.

Beckham still amazes me sometimes with how much he
eats.  This morning he had a cup strawberry milk and a
bowl of lucky charms with Trey, and then he ate half
of my banana, and after my shower I came downstairs to
find he had pulled a chair up to the counter and cut
another banana in half, eaten one half and the whole
other banana too.  It's only 11:30 and he just ate TEN
chicken nuggets and a couple of apple slices, and he
went to the fridge for more chicken nuggets so now
he's working on 3 more.

Crazy weather

November was the wettest month on record in the Seattle area since they started keeping track in the late 1800's. It ended w/ unusually cold weather in the month of December so some of that precipitation came in the form of snow. We got a ton where I work, but out home only got a little both times it snowed. The boys had a fun time playing in what little there was.


In between storms I was able to put up the Christmas lights. I'll have to post a picture later of the night shot w/ the lights on.

Tre had his filling break. He came in to have it replaced and Beckham thought he was the one that was supposed to do the work. Once he got his gloves on we had a hard time keeping him from shoving things in Tre's mouth.

"The Answered Prayer" BYU vs. Utah 2006

Football highlights. John Beck completed a pass to Johnny Harline with no time left in this heated rivalry. Harline caught the pass in a kneeling position as if he were praying, thus "The Answered Prayer."

Lots of fun

I changed the brakes on the Jeep. We plan on selling it next year. We hope to keep using the passat/Jeep combo as long as possible before having to step up to a minivan/larger SUV for Risa. When that happens I'll get the Passat back!
I finally got my birthday present. I ordered another 19" monitor. This one is widescreen and has a digital connection so it is a little better. I have been wanting to do this for a loooong time. My video editing program was designed to be used with two or three monitors so I can use it as designed now. I am very excited about this. There are tons of other times where two monitors are very nice to have.

Here is Beckham after eating a halloween cookie with black icing :( Very messy.

Something cute that Bex has been doing lately is using this toy ducky as a glass when he gets in the tub. The first thing he does every time is hold the head, full up the back and take a couple drinks. Luckily he doesn't try to do it after the soap gets in the water.

Tre just got a new set of construction paper. He used it to make haunted house and had lots of fun doing his favorite thing...being creative.

No more monkeys...

Beckham has started to crawl out of his crib...and bump his head. He climbed out for the first time a couple of days ago. We heard a large bang and then he came out of his room crying, but not hard like he was hurt, just sad. This morning at 5:50 he came walking into our bedroom and wasn't even crying. We thought it was Tre at first. What a weird thing to wake up to. It was so unusual I wasn't sure if I was awake or dreaming yet. I guess it is time to move him to a big kid's bed. We were planning on doing that in the next couple of months anyway to get him into it before the new baby arrives. We plan on having the new baby sleep in a bassinet in our room for a couple months.

UPDATE: Well he got out of bed two times tonight. We watched him the second time through a cracked door. Rather than being a monkey to get out he just leans over the edge and falls to his head! We wish we could record it but our camcorder just broke a couple of days ago and is in the shop :(

Tre

Tre...who says you have to have girls to have drama?

Flooding...

You have probably heard about all the flooding here in Seattle. We live on a hill so we are pretty safe unless Mt. Rainier erupts because that is only 50 miles from our house! Anyway, the city of Snoqualmie (where I am going to put my new practice) flooded and they canceled the meeting where they were going to approve exterior design for my office building :( Just another delay amongst the many that are making the opening of my office get pushed back farther and farther. I can't wait to have my own, but at least the job I have now is a good one.

Halloween

Here are some pix from Halloween. Trevor and Beckham were Batman and Robin. Tre finally got tired of the man in red and blue and went all black this year.



Beckham loves having a cape on. He has always loved bringing towels to us so that we can wrap it around his neck. Then he runs around like he has a cape on and is a super hero. I guess he never watched the incredibles.


He was very independent when we went trick-or-treating. We didn't see Trevor because all the "big kids" ran around the neighborhood. I kept back with Beckham who didn't want me to carry him very much, he wanted to go up and back to each house on his own.

The boys think they are the best duo ever.

More hunting pix

Here are some more pictures of our hunting trip. This is when we decided the snow drifts were getting too large on the dirt road and we decided to turn around. We had a 5th wheel and a 4-wheeler trailer behind that so turning wasn't going to be easy. We put our brains together and were able to do it, and it was kind of fun. This is us unhooking the 5th wheel after turning it as far as possible one direction.


Here is Beckham doing his favorite thing...flying!

One more pic of us working in the snow. All the women got to sit inside the warm trucks and shake their heads. Notice how the old man is the one that is doing all the hard pushing.

Random Musings

Here are some random pictures from around the house the last two weeks...

This is Tre trying to have a beard like his dad

Enjoying the beautiful weather of Washington even late into October for a picnic in our backyard.

For Beckham having fun comes naturally.

more proof of the above. Beckham was enjoying running through all the balloons left over from Carson's 30th bday party.

The view of Mt. Rainier from the plane as we flew to Utah.

Deer Hunt

We just got back from the deer hunt in Utah. The only state in the union that will give kids a day off of school to go into the mountains and shoot a wild animal. I grew out a beard as tradition would dictate, but changed it up a little to fit my style...

The boys had a great time in the snow and I enjoyed being with my family doing what helped define who we were as we grew up.

Here is what opening morning looked like just after sunrise when our bodies started to warm up.

Tre wanted to take the following picture of himself because he thought it would be artistic.

Bloggin

Lots of friends and family have started blogs and actually kept them active. It has been fun to keep up w/ everybody. Some even have RSS feeds (automatic broadcaster) that I have used to post on the home page for my web browser. Here is a picture...


If you have a blog let me know and I'll add it to my list so we can see when you update it.

Fun around the house

We have been having a lot more fun around the house the past couple of weeks since Carson has been home a little more. Sometimes too much fun as you can see here w/ Beckham falling asleep. He loves to put on other peoples shoes and walk around in them. Sometimes his fun is contageous and Tre will join in as well.


After BYU's game on Thursday Tre made a BYU sign to wave because he was happy they won. He and Beckham walked around the house waving it and cheering for BYU!

Trey's First day of school

Today was Trey's first day of school. We thought he might be scared to start this new experience, but we were wrong. He couldn't wait to get on the bus today. We thought he might be a little tentative, but as soon as he saw it he ran up and got inline. He didn't even turn around and wave good bye.

Baby Boy!

We had an early ultrasound because of a positive blood test for Spina Bifida. That is a condition where the spinal column or it encasing tissues do not form properly. We were a little worried and didn't tell anyone that was the purpose of our ultrasound (other than Carson's work so he could get it off). The ultrasound came and we found out that we had a false positive w/ the blood test! They physician also went over every body part in detail to assure us/him that there were no developmental problems of any kind. That was very reassuring and comforting. It also showed us that we were to have another boy. Carson had his hopes up that it would be a girl, but Marisa didn't want to so that she wouldn't be disappointed. Needless to say, Carson was more sad to not have his daddy's girl, but we were both overjoyed to know that the baby was so healthy. Here is a 3D picture from the ultrasound. The baby is only 16 weeks old (18 gestational) so it is still very skinny. It will be fun to see if it is more like Trey or Beckham since our two boys are at both ends of our genetic spectrum :)

Crazy Summer

Summer has been pretty filled with fun...so much so that we are actually getting tired of it and want a break to kick back and take it easy. Last week we had a party on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. They were pretty laid back going away and graduation parties, but it hasn't allowed us much time at home.

This week on thursday we went to the Seattle street of dreams. We took our camera to take pictures of things we would like to do in our house. There were six multi-million dollar homes that were way over the top, but it was fun to see how they did everything. One house had a book case that would move and give you access to a hidden stairwell. Down the stairs was a little TV/game room. Now, that is something that I would like to have!

On Friday we went to the Nickel Creek concert. That was amazing. They are Carson's favorite band. As usual, the summer weather was perfect. We ate dinner on the grass while the initial band played then enjoyed the concert on our blanket.

Saturday we went with the entire family this time for a ride on a 50 foot yatch out into the Sound. It was a lot of fun to be out on the big water and see all the sea creatures on the beaches. Trey's favorite part was all the clams squirting out water as the tide descended. We took off from there and dropped the kids off so that we could go to the Seahawks game. Marisa has never been before so it was fun to see all the excitement of an NFL game in a fairly new stadium.

We had some friends over on Sunday for icecream. It was fun to bounce all of our future home decorating ideas off of them.

summer vacation

first off, there will be no capitalization in this post or any others until our new keyboard arrives. marisa was typing on it the morning of trey's birthday party and he decided to fill the water balloons by himself. he walked up to her with a full balloon and said mommy, i can't tie it... and of course it exploded all over the keyboard. anyway, we have had some fun the past few weeks as you can see in our latest pictures. we went to the king county fair in enumclaw and had a fun time. the boys loved to see the animals and do a couple rides. as you can see in the pictures trey got really scared on one of the roller coaster rides.





we also went to the beach with some of our friends last weekend -shakespears and allens - at a place called pacific beach state park. we played a lot of bocci ball and built things in the sand. it was a fun time to spend some time with good friends and experience a totally different beach from the del-mar-va ones that we are used to. we even got to drive on another beach, that would never happen on the east coast where you have to fight for your blanket spot on a sunny day.




we also have had the boys in swimming lessons and try to go to one of the four lakes by our house to swim when we can. the boys love getting wet and playing in the sand. we have to keep a close eye on beckham because he thinks he can breathe in water. when he gets his head under and swallows some water he acts like it was no big deal...crazy boy.

Beckham doing his jig

Click here to see a video of Bex doing his favorite dance...

http://s92274348.onlinehome.us/Video/bex-jig.wmv

Quality should be good enough that you could even watch it full screen w/o it looking too bad.

Tre

here are some pix of tre



tre made a rocket backpack his ''adventure hat.''
day at the beach

tre's new best friend parker