Joan and Kevin's Blog

Kevin the Brewmeister

2012-01-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

Kevin made his own beer. I am working on the label design. I just did this one for his friends who came over to help him drink his beer.

The writing was too small to read on the picture. It says "Malone Beer Batch 1"

cooking it.

fermenting it.

bottling it.

capping it.

drinking it.

New Years Eve

2012-01-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I rounded out 2011 with our two favorite little girls, Jordan and Torrin. We started our New Years Eve celebration with some yummy cheese "fundue" (as Jordan called it).

After that we played "You Gotta Be Kidding Me". As you can se, Torrin was the winner.

Then we moved on to the Game of Life.

Yes, Kevin was the winner.

After games we (Jordan, Kevin and I) sat and watched Dick Clark New Years celebration on TV while Torrin burned some extra energy.

The closer it got to midnight the more wound up Torrin got.

The morning after. It is going to be a great year.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2011 was awesome! Kevin and I spent Christmas Eve with Crystal, Jayson, Jacob, and Carson and with Nat and Sandy ( Kevin's Dad and Stepmom). We had a great prime rib dinner and lots of yummy sweets. Christmas day we enjoyed Nathaniel, Kimberly, Jordan and Torrin and another prime rib dinner. I am ready for some fish.

Kimberly figuring out Torrin's Easy Bake oven.

Sadie relaxing.

Joran and her new American Girl doll.

Torrin and her new American Girl doll.

Crystal, Jayson and the Boys.

Cupcake Wars

2011-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Not long ago Kevin, Torrin, Jordan, and I were sitting around watching Cupcake Wars on the Food Network when Torrin decided we should have a cupcake war. So this weekend we did. I bought all the trimmings and prepared the cupcakes and frosting ahead of time. When it was time to begin the competition, the judge, Kevin, informed the contestants (Torrin, Jordan, Joan, and Kimberly) that we had 1 hours to prepare 3 cupcakes that would be judged on originality and overall appearance.

Here are Jordan and Torrin planning their cupcake designs.

Not satisfied with the standard red, green, white and brown frosting, Torrin hurries to mix up her own color (purple)

Frantically preparing their cupcakes! Torrin kept yelling "I'm going to be sent home!"

She was really getting into the spirit of cupcake wars.

Kimberly working slow an steady. What she lacked in volume she made up in quality.

The aftermath. Ugh!

The Judge Kevin.

My three favorite cupcakes. Santa, polar bear, and baby bird.

This is most of the cupcakes produced. Some were eaten.

The winner, Kimberly with her walrus.

Getting Ready

2011-12-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

This was a fun weekend getting ready for Christmas with the grandkids. The event began with transforming the tree box into a rocket ship while I put together the tree. (I know. Artificial is kind of tacky but at least I didn't kill any innocent trees)

Jordan, Carson, Torrin and Jacob

Even Carson participated in the ornamenting.

Torrin

Jacob

Carson determined to get the kitty (Jack Jack)

The little stool was not quite high enough for the high spots. There is a high concentration of ornaments in the spot Jordan is decorating because everyone wanted to climb the big latter. I wised up and moved it to another position.

Jacob wanted the honors of placing the star on top of the tree...

...as did Jordan

Jordan and Torrin rounded out the busy day with the construction of a gingerbread house.

Random Thanksgiving Photos

2011-12-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

There is no rhyme or reason for why I selected the following photos for this post.

They are just for your enjoyment.

Kevin and his puppies.

Jordan and Torrin decorating cupcakes for Thanksgiving.

Lovely.

Torrin sporting her new hat, now her lost hat :(

Angels

2011-11-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

I love my little angels.

Jordan, Torrin, Jacob, Carson rockin' the Rain Forest Cafe

HALLOWEEN

2011-11-01T18:35:00.001-07:00

Family Circle had this great picture of cake pops on the cover this month. They made it sound so easy. Well it took me three days to make the little suckers. I took them over to Crystal's house for her annual Halloween party. Jordan, Torrin, Jacob and Carson all went out trick or treating. Ashley and her boyfriend came over as a Hooter girl and Waldo. Kimberly dressed up as me in my old Easter Sunday dress and I dressed up as either Peg from Married with Children or maybe it was Maggi. Crystal was snow white. Torrin and Jacob were wound up tight wrestling all over the house. We could not get a still shot of the two of them. Kevin, Jayson, Angelita and Quinn were for the most part not in costume, although Jayson did dawn a Scream mask a couple of times.

Cake Pops

That is Torrin behind the broom.

My darling little grandbabies

Jordan and Torrin are gorgeous even in costume with their scary glowing eyes.

Look at the muscles on that dude!

Don't mess with that monster.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-09-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

What a fun packed weekend we had this Memorial Day weekend! Kevin and I started by going to the Chris Botti concert at St. Michelle winery on Friday. We enjoyed great music, wine and a picnic.

I got these pictures in the wrong order but will just go with it. Monday Kevin, Jordan, Torrin and I went for a 5 mile hike up Little Si. It was quite a challenge for those little girls but they stuck with it all the way to the top.

There were lots of cool branches and rocks along the way.

On Sunday Kevin and I and the girls went to Remlinger farms. I forgot the memory card in the camera so have not photos. It is a cool place for kids under 10. There were pony rides and carnival type rides and a petting zoo. When we got home, Kimberly got off of work the Remferts came over for a barbecue and bon fire.

Crystal has become quite the photographer, unlike her mother.

Kimberly brought the makin's for smores.

Earlier we were watching Jacob riding his motorcycle. Carson was sneaking hand dips in my wine glass. He has a premature taste for adult beverages.

Jason crashed while riding Jake's motorcycle on his knees.

He squished a slug.

Jayson put training wheels on the bike so Jake would not be afraid of falling.

Even Jordan had fun on the little bike.

Carson is not quite ready for power but looks good on it.

Jacob is a stud motor cycle boy.

And So School Begins

2011-09-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well, the summer of "best days ever" (as described by Jordan) finally came to a close with the first day of school. The day started with waking those sleepy girls up. Unfortunately for Jordan and Torrin, Grandma thought the clock said 6:30 but it actually said 5:30 so I got them up a little early. Opps! As it turned out, we had just enough time to figure out how to get dressed, eat breakfast and get to the bus stop by their apartment before the bus arrived. This was a new school for the girls but they both had a great first day experience.

Sleepy head Torrin

Groggy Jordan

Bright eyed and bushy tailed

At the bus stop

Waiting to be let into the school

Jordan putting on a happy face in spite of some anxious feelings.

August is here and it is Kevin's Birthday Month

2011-07-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

I know. That was a long title. But, August is Kevin's birthday month so start it off with a bang I painted the ceiling of the roof over the back patio. You may be thinking that does not sound so grand but it was a lot of work. Kevin had requested this a week or so ago so I decided to do it while he was out of town. It started out all white and then I did this...

followed by this...

I have not decided it I am done. There may be more to add but who knows. Kevin liked it.

Sunset Run to Drums

2011-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

Did it again! This time with Maggi and Kimberly in Seattle's Myrtle Edwards park. We did the 5K Sunset Run to Drums this weekend. It was a beautiful evening for a run/walk. I still can't run the whole thing. Maggi and I have about the same level of endurance. We walked and ran while Kimberly ran most of it. Kim said it was hard to run keep running without Crystal there to encourage her. The drums part of it was a group playing African drums for our return to the finish line. Now, what next?

WE DID IT!

2011-07-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

I know Crystal already posted our amazing accomplishment on her blog so I will just add more pictures for you to see of the See Jane Run 5K event Crystal, Kimberly and I participated in. As all 2000+ women were gathering to start the half marathon and the 5K we felt a little like underachievers just running in the 5K. After the race I felt quite proud of myself and my two wonderful daughters for running the 5K. Of course I could not run the whole thing but Crystal and Kimberly did. They amaze me. We have already signed up for another race, the Irongirl in September. It is just a 5K or 10K. No swimming or biking.

If you look real close you will see that this was me getting ready to cross the finish line. Crystal came back to run in with me the last .1 of a mile while Kim took the picture. I was going so fast she could only get this far away shot.

Yeah!

I have the cutest little girls. They are my inspiration. Thanks for getting me off the couch and on the road. Let's do it again! Maybe Maggi and Jan will join us next time.

2011 Graduations

2011-06-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

WOW! This was definitely the year for graduations. First up was Crystal graduating from the University of Phoenix with a Master's in Business Administration. Followed by Nathaniel and his girlfriend Linda graduating from Central Washington University with a Bachelor's in Accounting and Actuarial Science, respectively. And finally, today we celebrated the graduation of Ashley Thayer, daughter of our good friends Angelita and Jerry, from Tahoma High School. Congratulations to all our our children. We are very proud of you and wish you all the success in the world.

Escape to Arizona

2011-03-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

In late February, Maggi, Kevin and I left a cold Seattle snow storm in search of warmer drier weather. We flew into Phoenix and drove to Tucson where we stayed in the house of a friend (Seana) for the next six days. We golfed at beautiful courses and got to watch the pros play in the Accenture Match Play at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain course. It was fun to see the flashy dressing Ricky Fouler.

At the airport anxious to get away from the snow.

I need a vacation!

We all flew 1st class on the way down. Nice.

As soon as we got to the Tucson area we headed off to squeeze in 9 holes before the sunset. The warm sunshine was a very welcome sight.

On Saturday we played at Ventana Canyon golf course. It was a very nice course. The weather was just a little cool, mid 60's, but dry.

Maggi is modeling her latest golf fashion here.

Maggi got her first birdie with us at Rancho Vistoso!

We had a great time playing in the sunshine.

Then we woke up to this! We got to experience one of the worst snow storms that Tucson has ever seen. Lucky us. We had about 4 inches of snow. This is a picture of Seana's house where we stayed with our rental car in front.

I built a snow dog in the back yard. No golf this day so we went to the mall.

Kevin and I played at the same golf course that the pros had played at two days earlier in the Accenture tournament. This is Kevin playing before a bunch of empty seats.

Even though this was a woman friendly course, I still found myself in all sorts of trouble.

These next pictures are of some of the cool cactuses we saw around the area.

There were lots of road runners running around.

The Saguaro cactus were so awesome. They were huge! They can grow as old as 150 years old.

We dropped Maggi off at the shuttle a day before we left. She had to get back for her class. It was a ton of fun hanging out and golfing with her.

Golfing in Arizona

2011-03-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at posting a video. This is Maggi getting her groove on at Saddlebrook golf course in Tucson, Arizona.

Tiiiimmmbbbeeerrr!!!

2010-12-20T14:23:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning at about 2:30 AM Kevin and I woke up to the terrifying sound of one of our huge trees falling to the ground. It was an eerie sight in the dark with the branches covering the driveway. The wind was blowing about 70 mph. We were scared to even go outside to look at the tree.

We were very lucky that the tree did not fall on the cars or the house.

The ground was saturated from days, weeks, months of rain. The tree just uprooted. There was a huge pool of water under the roots.

The force of the tree falling caused it to crush the earth, wall and asphalt.

As Kevin was trying to figure out the plan of attack...

...our neighbors were on the way over with lots of help to clean up our little mess. When I came out to help, five members of the Satko clan and John from across the street were there with chain saws, wheel barrels, and blowers. They jumped right in and started cutting off branches and hauling them away.

Jayson and the two boys arrived shortly after we got started. This was the beginning of a very long hard day for Jayson. He worked his butt off for us. I really appreciate his help. Kimberly watched the boys with the help of Jordan and Torrin in our powerless house while we worked to clear the tree.

Once all the branches gone we had to cut the trunk.

Cutting the tree at the bend in the trunk caused the remaining trunk to spring back into place with lightning speed and force. Pretty scary.

Jayson rented a splitter and helped Kevin and I cut up the huge rounds from the tree. This is one of the piles of what remains of our tree after a long long day. I am so very grateful to my neighbors and Jayson for helping us to clear out our big tree mess so quickly. Thank you very much.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

This was a great Thanksgiving! I had both of my daughters home.Yeah!!! Kevin and I spent the day with Crystal, Kimberly, Jayson, Jordan, Jacob, Torrin, Carson, Maggi, Nathaniel, and Jayson's parents.

Maggi and I chillin' with Carson.

Carson in his "skinny" jeans. He is so European.

My little all American Jacob Dale.

Yummy yummy.

Food, food, and more food.

After stuffing the bird and then ourselves Jayson helped the kids build a snowman from what was left of the snow.

The next day Kevin hauled in all the Christmas decorations. Usually I insist on postponing decorating for Christmas until after my birthday but this year since we have the little girls here we decided to get the party started. Can you find the kitty in this mess?

So, while I was in demolishing the house, Kevin and Nathaniel ran off to the store and came home with this...

A 12 FOOT LIGHTED SANTA CLAUS!

Kevin was right, the girls love it.

Fall 2010

2010-11-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

This fall has brought many changes to my family. Kimberly and the girls have come to live with Kevin and I. We are thrilled but it has been a difficult transition for them to go from a huge beautiful house to my small cramped little rooms but they are doing it with grace and patience. I love having them here. It is fun reading the stories that Jordan writes and watching Torrin learn so quickly. I admire the strength that Kimberly has shown her daughters as they make the most of every day.

Torrin is a goof ball. She has her own unique style.

Halloween was fun with the girls.

One day I came downstairs to this. Torrin did a pretty good job except for the red scalp from where she rammed the clippers into Kevin's head.

Kevin love hanging out with the girls. Here is making ice cream with Jordan and Torrin.

Crystal and Jayson concluded their Hungarian adventure and moved home to Maple Valley. Crystal made the journey home with the two boys and dogs in the first week of November. Jayson followed a couple of weeks later. They returned to their home which Kimberly and her girls had been taking care of while they were gone. We are all very glad to have Crystal, Jayson, Jacob, and Carson home.

Jacob talked about going on Grandpa's tractor while he was in Hungary and was thrilled to get to see it in person.

When Crystal first got home I got to baby sit when she went to her first day at her new job here in Renton. Carson is an angel. He is all smiles and sweetness.

Celebrating Davey

2010-10-03T11:11:00.001-07:00

David Christopher O'Keefe

60 years ago on October 2, 1950 my big brother Davey was born. He was named after my father David Patrick O'Keefe and grown to be as kind and gentle a man as my father was. We grew up calling my brother Davey and never stopped.

This is a picture of Davey letting Torrin climb all over him. He is a very patient man.

Paula gave Davey a party at 88 Keys piano bar in Seattle last night. Maggi and Colleen were there lighting up the place with their brilliant smiles.

Jimmy and Jan came over the mountains to help celebrate with Davey. Jimmy looks a little sleepy here. He had a rough day. He tripped an bonked his head and knocked himself a little dingy. He recovered and went to the party with us.

Here are Jan and I having fun drinking beer.

Lee and Kevin were hauled up on stage to dance. Kevin is doing an Elvis routine here. He was one sexy man up there. Lee was hilarious with his very animated dancing.

Paula and Davey.

Quinn and her Dad.

Happy birthday big brother! I love you.

Vacation in Central Oregon

2010-09-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Kevin and I spent last week in Central Oregon at Eagle Crest Resort. It was a very relaxing vacation. The weather was not always the best but at least we were not at work!

We started the week with golf at Juniper golf course in Redmond. It had lightning fast greens.

Monday was a wash-out with rain all day. Tuesday we golfed at Widgi Creek in Bend. There were some great views of the mountains and deep crevasses.

On Wednesday we played at Tetherow. It was quite an experience.

They had a caddy for us which was good thing because there were some blind shots and the greens were ridiculously hilly. I like having a caddy. He would hand me my clubs and take them when I was done. As it should be.

Thursday was spent doing something other than golf. We went to Lava Butte and Benham Falls. It was very beautiful. We learned all about the volcanos in Washington and Oregon.

The hike to Benham Falls was beautiful along the river. The only problem was with the massive amount of mosquitos that ate us alive on the way back.

Friday we golfed our last round at Aspen Lakes. I think I like that course the best. Our time in the condo was spent doing Kevin's homework for his online class and a little painting for me. It was fun just hanging out with Kevin for a week but now we have to head back to work.

Weekend at Chelan

2010-08-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to Lake Chelan to visit with Maggi, Jan, Colleen, David, Steffan, and Colleen's girlfriend Morgan. It was a very relaxing weekend full of fun and humor. I really enjoyed getting to know Maggi's children better. They are very cool kids who are genuinely kind and respectful. Maggi, Jan and I went golfing at Bear Mountain Ranch. I was a little nervous because it is a challenging course and Maggi and Jan had never played on a real 18 hole golf course. They did fine. In fact Maggi managed to start and finish with the same ball. That is remarkable!

Maggi, always the fashion horse. She was wearing a black bra under her shear white shirt.

Maggi was playing with her new Callaway golf clubs. She has been bitten by the golf bug.

Jan was using my old clubs. They were so bad I made her use my clubs which are not all that great but they are better than those old dogs she was using.

Jan and I were in more trouble than Maggi ever was. Of course there are no pictures of me searching the weeds for my ball or scooping it out of the water.

This is the rare moment when the kids were unplugged from their electronic devices and were playing an old fashioned board game.

Colleen was leaving for WSU on Sunday and was a little nervous about the logistics of registering for classes and rush. This is Colleen talking with her Karl and his wife Suzie.

Colleen was showing Maggi and Steffan how to do the Slide. It is a little like the Hustle.

Halleluiah!

Sunday arrived and Maggi, Jan, Colleen, Morgan, and David all left to drive Colleen to Pullman. They had an adventure getting there but managed to safely drop her off and get her situated. She is going love going to WSU.

Davey's Beach House

2010-08-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the girls and I went to Davey's beach house on Hood Canal. We spent the weekend with Davey, Paula and Quinn just hanging out wondering if the sun would ever come out. It never got very warm but the girls had fun any way looking for shells and sand dollars.

This is Davey's beach house. He uses the row boat to get out to his motor boat anchored out in the water.

Jordan hoping for a boat ride.

On Saturday we went to a community event that had local artists, food and fun things for the kids to make. The girls painted wooden snakes, decorated visors, had their faces painted, and made wooden boats.

Torrin lovin' on Davey with Quinn and Paula

Here is Jordan getting help with her wooden boat.

Here are the finished products.

Torrin couldn't wait to try out her boat. She found it worked better without the "flag".

Later we went for a boat ride.

After any exciting day of beach combing, boat building, and boat rides the girls watched movies on these tiny little DVD players.

The Bee (Hornet) Story

2010-07-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went on a bee hunt, well hornet hunt. Kevin and I just had a discussion about whether it was a hornet or a wasp. Apparently a hornet is a type of wasp. So we were both right. Jordan and Torrin had spotted a gigantic paper wasp (hornet) nest hanging from the shop eves a few days ago when they were in the hot tub.

This is the nest.

First Kevin attacked the nest with a cheap can of wasp spray. Then he decided to really piss them off and squirted them with the pressure washer. It knocked down the paper outer structure and dislodged a couple layers of the honeycomb with lots of cells for new hornets.

Here is one of the layers still attached.

This is a close up of one of the layers that fell off. It had hornets in different stages of development. The empty cells in the center had been vacated by mature hornets. The white bubbles are cocoons with wiggly hornets in them. On the out edges are the hornet larvae that have not made cocoons yet. We extracted one of the cocoons with a wiggly hornet from a cell.

Close up of the cocoon with wiggly hornet.

We decided to set this hornet free so we cut open his cocoon. It was made of pretty tough stuff so it took some effort to open an end for the hornet to escape.

Here is the hornet crawling out of his cocoon.

After a difficult C-section, Kevin and I gave birth to a hornet. It stumbled around for a while then we lost interest and went in the house. I was planning on showing the girls the rest of the layer with cocoons but a wild animal stole the hornet hatchery during the night. And so ends the bee (hornet) story.

As a side note we did find two other nests but they were last years models and had long since been vacated.

Carson Michael Remfert

2010-07-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

I would like to introduce you to my darling new little grandson, Carson Michael Remfert.

I just returned from a visit to Crystal and Jayson's house in Papa Hungary. I arrived 5 days after Carson was born. Crystal delivered Carson on June 21 in Budapest. He was 6 lbs 6 ounces when he was born. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay and help Crystal and Jayson adjust to their new addition for 2 weeks. It was a great visit. I have posted some photos from my visit.

This is Jayson and Jacob going down a water slide at the pool in Papa.

Jacob and Carson in matching swim suits.

Carson relaxing at the beach.

Crystal and Jacob sharing a foot bath.

At the park with Jacob.

This was the blue dye museum in Papa. They used to dye fabric with a blue dye in these large cement vats.

We went to Budapest to get Carson a birth certificate. Here is a picture of Jacob catching some air at the Heros monument.

The Remfert family.

Jacob in a Bob the Builder ride at the mall in Budapest.

Jacob bursting with excitement.

Out to lunch in Papa.

Jacob watching Cinderella for the 1 millionth time.

Carson and his daddy.

Jayson and his boys.

Grandma and her boys.

Carson in his bed on wheels. Very convenient.

Carson and his mommy. He is a beautiful baby.

Kevin's Graduation!

2010-06-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today Kevin graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. WooHoo! Kimberly and the girls went with me to watch as he walked in the commencement ceremony. Nathaniel was there watching both his dad and his cousin graduate. Congratulations Kevin! You put in a lot of very hard work to earn your degree while maintaining a full time job and golf habit. You are amazing!

Here are some shots from the day.

This is Torrin killing time while we waited for the ceremony to begin. (Self portrait)

Jordan took this picture of her beautiful mother.

Kevin anxiously waiting for his turn to walk.

A very happy graduate!

We found Nathaniel after the event.

Kevin with a couple of goof balls.

We had a beautiful sunny day.

Torrin's 5th Birthday Party

2010-05-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday we celebrated Torrin's 5th birthday. Kevin, Kimberly and I took Jordan and Torrin to the Family Fun Center. The girls had a blast playing outside in the nice warm sun. Here are some pictures of the girls playing on the rides.

Jordan on the bumper boats. She got soaked!

Jordan and Torrin on the swing ride. Jordan discovered this ride is a little too young for her. Torrin still likes it.

We took the girls on the race cars. Torrin kept telling me to go faster!

Here is Kevin in his own car. Some kid passed him and said "You got crushed" as he flew by. I guess weight matters.

The girls were hilarious on the trampoline. They were trying so hard to do flips. They would get frog legs and lean their heads back but no flipping. They both finally were able to flip over.

This was about as far as they would get and then flop back down. Tory flipped over and landed on her head once.

Here is the lovely cake I made for Torrin. I made it with rolled fondant. It was not as easy as it looks on the cake show.

Happy Birthday Torrin!

Here is Torrin opening the present from Angelita and Ashley. It was a box with makeup and Hanna Montana tattoos. Torrin got so excited she ran outside and then came back in a few minutes later and said "I had to go outside to calm down!" It was very funny. I guess the cake put her into sugar over load.

Kevin and I gave her a 3 story Barbie condo with an elevator. Kevin spent the next hour putting it together.

While Kevin worked on the condo Kim, Ashley and I worked on sewing the build-a-bear animals. That was way more work than we wanted to do.

Here is Torrin's build-a-bear.

Here is the finished Condo.

4 Mile Marathon

2010-04-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right. 4 miles. A couple of weeks ago, I know I am slow to post, I walked with my bothers and sisters in a grueling 4 mile marathon. We braved the freezing 35F temperatures and horrible hang-overs to participate in the MS walk-a-thone in the Tri Cities. The weekend started with a road trip from western Washington with me at the wheel, Maggi buried in her IPhone and Davey grinding through a crossword puzzle. Poor Susan had to miss our adventure because of a family illness.

The first order of business was to get Maggi there in time to go on a lunch date with an old high school friend. After some primping and more IPhoning she was off and Jan, Davey and I set out for Jimmy's house.

Somewhere along the line we hooked back up with Maggi and began consuming large quantities of wine. Eventually we stumbled back to our hotel with Jan in tow and crawled to our room laughing until we peed. Maggi wat on the edge of the hide-a-bed and fell through to the floor.

The next morning came all to early as we prepared for our big walk. It was freezing cold! We sat in the car to stay warm while we waited for the race to start. Here is Jan and Davey IPhoning.

We named our team after a saying our dear mother used to always say to us. Pog Mahone, It means kiss my arse. Hard to believe that sweet little woman would use such language with her little angels.

We managed to make it the entire way with Jan and Maggi running half of the distance. They fed us hot dogs at the end making it all worth while. It was definitely something different to do while visiting the Tri Cities.

Later we spent a relaxing afternoon sitting on Jan and Chris' boat. Very nice.

Easter With the Girls

2010-04-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

Week had a great Easter weekend with the girls. We started it out by going to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D IMAX. We took Angelita with us. It was a very good movie. Here is a kind of blurry picture of the girls at the movie with their 3D glasses on.

We boiled a bunch of eggs to color. This is before...

...and this is after.

Sunday morning the girls and Kimberly and I went to church. Here is a picture of Jordan and Torrin in thier Easter dresses. They went straight to the back yard where Kevin had hid all the eggs. Fortunately he made a map of where he hid them all so we could find the last few eggs.

I made a carrot cake for dessert. Torrin only wanted to eat the frosting.

The end of a long Easter weekend.

Little Girl and Dog Sitting

2010-03-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent most of my time looking and chasing after two little girls and a labrador puppy. My friend Angelita needed someone to watch "her" dog while she was out of town for the weekend. I agreed to watch little Jack for her. He is very darling but full of mischief.

Torrin loves popsicles.

Jordan is quite stylish in her bellbottom jeans and fringy top.

Here the girls are gobbling down their pizza so they can get outside to ride on the bikes I bought them to ride when they are at my house. Yes, Torrin is in her Supergirl costume.

This is Supergirl on her bike. We are leaving the training wheels on until she is used to the bigger bike size.

Jordan getting ready to race off down the road.

Here is Jack.

Jack agreed to help me get the garden ready for the seeds I bought.

Jack was a good digger.

The girls wanted to help with the garden too. Supergirl was really getting into it.

Here are Emma and Sadie modeling in front of the freshly planted garden. I am trying seeds this year instead of starts. We will see how successful I am. I only put carrots, cucumbers, and spinach in this box. I bought three kinds of pumpkins to plant somewhere with more room. I also need to put the zucchini in a roomier spot.

Jack wore himself out with all the digging and ankle biting. He went home this morning. It is very calm here now.

Dealing with Dogs

2010-02-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

Some times dogs can be a pain to live with. After years of struggling with naughty dogs jumping over the broken down old fence, we finally got a new 6 foot chain link fence put in the back yard. That was just before Thanksgiving. The dogs immediately figured out how to squeeze under the fence to escape. With each new hole I would try to block their exit with boards but they would always find another spot to escape. Finally this weekend I had enough so I got some stakes and went all around the fence with boards hammering in the stakes to hold them in place.

With the fence all secure ( I hope) we decide to put in a doggy door so Emma and Sadie could let themselves out. Hopefully this would end Emma's peeing in the house. Kevin put it in the bathroom door that leads to the back patio.

They quickly learned how to use it, going in and out when ever they felt like it.

I believe that the dogs also need daily walks but they are to difficult to walk on the lease because they pull so hard. So I decided to get a training collar. This is me putting it on an suspicious Emma. It works great but she keeps flipping her head around trying to get it off. I have a spikey collar for Sadie. Now I can walk them both with ease.

When Jimmy was here last week Sadie let him know how she likes to relax and watch TV.

As big a pain as these two can be, they are also very cute puppies, sometimes.

Visit to France

2010-01-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

Last week I went to France for work. I spent the first weekend in Toulouse before I had to go to Pamier to visit a paint vendor. Toulouse was an interesting place with narrow brick streets and lots of people. I visited a castle in an old 12th century Medieval town called Carcassonne. I told Tory that I saw where Donkey met Dragon.

This is one of the streets inside the castle walls. There were lots of shops.

Here I am outside the castle.

This is the train I took to go to Carcassonne. I was surprised how much graffiti there is in France.

I stayed in a 13th or 14th century hotel in Mirepoix for the week I was working. I told Tory that this is where Shrek and Fiona went on their honeymoon. The hotel was very old world but had modern comforts (except English speaking TV).

My room was on the 3rd floor up these windy stairs.

Every morning we had fresh bread and coffee. That is Alex. I was traveling with him for work.

I ate so many different foods. This is cassolet. Or bean stew with a duck wing and pork sausage in it. They love to eat duck and cassoulet in the Toulouse region.

They have the most ornate desserts. This is a chocolate something. Yummy.

On my way home I stopped in Paris but only got to see the Eiffel tower before I got sick and spent the rest of my visit in my room. I will have to go back to check it out more.

A Night at the O'Keefe's

2009-12-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

Last night there was a gathering of some of the O'Keefe siblings at Davey's house. We were missing Janis Ann but managed to have a fun time any way. Davey and Paula put on a lovely party with yummy food and wine. It happened to be Susan's and Kelly's birthday just the day before so we lit candles and sang to them.

This is Quinn and Kelly with Lee in the background.

Jimmy opening a gift from Frank.

Irish Dirt. Nice.

Me and Davey.

David and Kelly and Kevin.

Maggi Movie Star

Paula and Kelly.

Yo! Sup? Brennan and David

Christmas at the Malone's

2009-12-26T16:22:00.001-08:00

This year we celebrated a nice relaxing Christmas in Renton. Last year we were rushing off to Edward's Airforce base for work. This year we are happy to just hang out here and do nothing. Kevin and I spent a quite Christmas Eve in preparation for a fun filled Christmas day with the little girls. On Christmas Nathaniel picked up Kevin's mom and brought her over. Kimberly and the girls came in the afternoon all charged up from a morning spent opening presents from Santa.

This is Emma trying out her new couch blanket.

Here is Sadie worried that she is going to get in trouble for being on the couch.

Kimberly was thrilled with the fur lined gloved ice scraper.

Jordan and Torrin in their pretty dresses.

This is Kimberly quite pleased with her gifts to me. In addition to a very nice set of jammies, she gave me a collection of "As Seen on TV" items. Topsy Turvy, Ped Egg, Smooth Away, Green Bags, EZ Combs, Wonder Hanger, Bumpits, Snuggie, Stick and Click, and last but not least...

...the Neckline Slimmer.

Crystal gave us a hard bound book called Jacob Dale~Life in Photos~2009. It contain pictures of him taken throughout the year. Very cool. I love it.

Nathaniel showing of the spnork he got.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

I realized that I had not put up any pictures from Thanksgiving. When I downloaded them from my camera to the computer I discovered that I had not taken very many pictures. I guess I just got too busy with cooking. Dang because it was a great bunch that showed up. We had Susan, Kelly, Frank, Brennan, and Michael Tavenner, Kevin's dad Nat and son Nathaniel, and Jimmy all for dinner. Then for dessert Maggi, Colleen, David, and Tom came over as did my good friends Angelita, Jerry, Joshua, and Ashley. Kimberly and Jordan and Torrin came after dinner and Davey and Quinn arrived just as Maggi and company were leaving. It was a great group. I wish I could have visited more with every one.

Here are the few pictures I managed to take.

Kimberly, Jordan, Torrin and Kelly

Kelly and Brennan

Joshua and his girl friend Ally

Ashley

This is my center piece that I created from plants I found in the yard. (except the 2 plastic fruits) The large red item with spots item is a mushroom I found. It was very cool but very poisonous.

Saturday Fun with the Girls

2009-11-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday the girls and I spent the day together. When Jordan woke up in the morning she was excited because we had so many fun things planned. We started the day with French toast breakfast followed by a very long arts and crafts session. The girls wanted to make Jacob birthday presents so they worked on collages. The cut out pictures from magazines and created lovely cards for Jake.

Jordan is very focused on her work.

Torrin is also working hard to create the perfect picture.

This is Jordan's creation

This is Torrin's work of art.

Here I am doing my homework while the girls work on their collages. I am supposed to be creating a surrealist painting.

Here is my finished work.

After our art session we had lunch and then went for a walk to see the llamas. Then we came home and made cookies.

They were supposed to be Thanksgiving cookies but a couple of christmas trees snuck in.

At the end of the day the girls played Mario Cart on the Wii. The are very funny drivers. Torrin gets very animated.

Here is a picture of my little lap dog Sadie.

Figure Drawing Class

2009-11-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

I have been in a figure drawing class for a few weeks now. I wanted to share some of my work with my friends and family. In this posting I will be showing 2 projects that were focused on cubism. One assignment was to create a collage from a still life. First we drew the still life from 3 different perspectives. Then we combined them into one picture to create the collage.

This is the pen and ink drawing of one view of the still life. There were 2 other views.

This is the resulting collage in which I combined features from each of the drawings.

In the next project we drew a figure from 3 different perspectives.

Below I am showing 2 points of view. (Don't want to bore you with repetition)

From the three figure drawing we were to combine them into one picture and create a cubist painting. We were also supposed to make it monochromatic. I choose blue.

My next assignment is on surrealism. I am not to excited about this one but hope to learn as much as I did with the cubist study.

Halloween!

2009-11-01T14:11:00.001-08:00

Halloween was really fun this year because the little girls were so excited about it. Kevin bought them a gingerbread haunted house to decorate.

Here is Jordan spreading the tar on the roof.

This is the finished product.

We grew a pumpkin in the garden. Kevin carved it.

We went to Kimberly's to have dinner and take the girls trick or treating. Angelita, Jerry, Joshua, and Ashley came over too. I tried to make some eggs and meat balls look like eyeballs. The eggs look more like a different body part.

As disgusting as this looks it was very delicious. It was a chocolate mud pie.

My favorite was the jello worms I made. I poured the jello mixture into straws and then squeezed them out.

Here is the lovely vampire Jordan

Here is Torrin the super girl.

Josh and Ashely all dolled up.

Good Bye Crystal, Jayson and Jacob

2009-10-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have been spending the last days with Crystal, Jayson, and Jacob. Tomorrow Crystal will take me back to Vienna to catch a plane back to Frankfurt. I fly home Wednesday. It has been a great trip here in Hungary with Crystal and her family. Here are some shapshots from the last couple of days with Jakie and Crystal and Jayson.

Good bye Crystal, Jayson, and Jacob. Thank you for your hospitality. I will miss you.

Vienna

2009-10-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today Jayson, Crystal, Jacob and I drove to Vienna for the day. It was an amazing city! We could not possibly see it all in one day. We started at the Stephensdome or something like that, cathedral. It was unbelievable. Below is a picture of a very small part of it.

This is Crystal and I just chillin' in Vienna.

This is Crystal and Jayson in from of one of many domes.

Jacob posing by a gruesome statue.

We went into one of the many museums. This was a big statue.

This was a mummified alligator. Why, I don't know.

Here I am in front of a Rembrant self portrait.

I got Jayson in trouble for sneaking this picture. I don't know why we were not supposed to photograph in this area.

Jacob got a little bored and sleepy with all the old paintings.

It was a great visit and a must see for anyone that is in the area.

Next Frankfurt

2009-10-23T13:18:00.001-07:00

Thursday after we finished our business we headed for Frankfurt. Tara and Joe drove me there to catch a flight to Vienna so I could go visit with Crystal and Jayson and Jacob.

We went to visit the church which was the only thing remaining after a bombing raid during World War II. Pretty amazing. The picture below is after the bombing.

This is a picture of the church today.

Outside the church are the remains of Roman baths.

This is a shot of the square that was destroyed near the church. They rebuilt it to replicate the original buildings.

Now I am in Papa Hungary. I will send photos later. Tomorrow we head for Vienna to look around. It is great to see Crystal and Jayson and of course Jacob.

Joan's Trip to Hanau Germany

2009-10-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

I spent 6 days in Hanau, Germany on business. I have attached a few pictures from the area where I was staying. Hanau is very close to Frankfurt. Below is a picture of a castle that was in the distance. I was experimenting with black and white photography.

This is a picture of Tara and her husband Joe. Tara is my coworker. She went on the business trip with me. We are at a farmers' market.

You've heard of Taco trucks. Well at this Farmers market they had meat trucks. I had sausage on a roll for breakfast. It was great. They were serving hamburgers and fries for breakfast, weird. I think I have gained 50 pounds since I have been here.

Here I am with Tara at the Rotten Lowe Restaurant in Hanau. Yummy Schnitzel for dinner.

Wednesday night we went to a local restaurant. I wanted sausage and sauerkraut. It made me miss Kevin. Miss you Kunkenbottom!

Heading Home

2009-10-10T07:23:00.001-07:00

We spent our last day here just relaxing in the sun.

Now it is time for us to come home. We are just about to head back to Las Vegas to fly home. This has been a relaxing and very scenic vacation. We live in a beautiful country.

Lots of Lava

2009-10-08T15:52:00.001-07:00

Today we played golf at the private Entrada golf course. The front nine was nice but nothing overly exciting. The back nine was built in the rich black lava fields. It was more interesting than the front. My golf game was less than perfect and little frustrating for poor Kevin to have to watch.

This was a resident of the golf course. Not a rattler but yucky just the same.

This is a beautiful lot that we were looking at on the golf course.

After golf we went out to find where they sell wine. Utah is not a big drinking state. You have to get your wine and "heavy" or normal beer at the liquor store. They only sell weak beer at the grocery store here. (3.2%) Tomorrow we plan to just hang out at the pool a relax before we head home Saturday.

Lots of Rocks!

2009-10-07T18:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we golfed at the Legends golf course. It was another very cool course. Afterwards we looked at houses in a development on a private golf course called Entrada. The houses were very nice. It really made me want to retire in style. All it takes is money. After that we came back to the condo and relaxed in the sun. Ahhhhhh.

Today we went to Zion National Park. The rocks were huge!

This is a picture of two rock climbers. It takes them 2 days to climb this rock. Nuts!

Here I am in front of a big rock.

After Zion we decided to drive on to Bryce Canyon. It was very cool. Actually it was really cold. It started snowing while we were there.Brrrrr! All the unusual formations are created by water flowing, freezing, depositing silt and mud, and eroding.

These weird shapes are called Hoodoos.

That's all for today. Tomorrow we are golfing again. After that, who knows.

Golf at Sand Hollow in Utah

2009-10-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Today Kevin and I golfed at Sand Hollow just outside of St. George, Utah. It is a new golf course that has some beautiful holes. These pictures in the blog don't do the scenery justice. Sometimes if you click on the picture it will blow it up so you can see the details better. This first picture shows the golf course among the red rocks.

This is a picture of Kevin teeing off. This hole had steep scary cliffs off the left side.

This is one of the ten million little critters that jot in and out of the holes in the rocks. It is a chipmunk I think.

If your ball goes left, don't go after it on this hole.

I had to climb up this hill to retrieve Kevin's naughty ball.

These are some more cool rocks.

Here I am putting on one of the beautiful greens.

This is Kevin getting out of the sand. The bunkers were all filled with this dark rust colored powdery sand.

These are some of the layered rocks, and Kevin.

This is to show how nice the fairways were.

Today golf was much less windy than it was at Wolf Creek. It warmed up a bit more too.

After we finished golf we saw a sign to a pecan farm so we went and bought a big bag of shelled pecans. They are yummy. This is a picture of a pecan tree.

Vacation in Nevada and Utah

2009-10-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

Kevin and I are vacationing in Nevada and Utah. We started in Las Vegas for one night. We stayed a the Wynn Hotel. It was beautiful. This first picture is of the lobby. The most notable thing about this hotel was that it smelled good. Every other place stank like smoke and yuck.

The lobby at the Wynn in Las Vegas

Kevin figuring out the curtain switch.

This is the awesome view from the bed.

This is the gorgeous sunrise view from our bed.

Saturday we left Las Vegas and went to Mesquite to golf at Wolf Creek. It was a spectacular course. This is a par 3. The photo is taken from the men's tee box looking down at the green wayyyyy down there.

Here I am swinging away.

This is an amazing view of the golf course sprinkled in among the rocks.

Kimberly's Grand Opening

2009-09-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today was Kimberly's Grand Opening at the new Hooters.

Kim has been working day and night at the new store getting it ready for the Grand Opening today. Kevin and I invited a bunch of our Boeing coworkers to go to her new restaurant, which is very close to our offices, for a VIP lunch. We had a great time and Kimberly did a great job.

This is Kimberly giving her speech. She was awesome!

I was trying to get a shot of the line up of Hooter girls but got the old gal in front of me instead.

This is Kevin excited to get a look at his souvenir Hooter girl magazine. I couldn't believe he got autographs from some of the girls.

I will be glad when Kim can relax.

Jordan's 7th Birthday Party

2009-09-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Kimberly gave Jordan a great birthday spa/slumber party. She had six little girl friends over to have cake and pizza and then manicures, pedicures, and makeup.

Jordan was thrilled with the picture her cousin Jacob drew for her.

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a super cool motorized scooter. She took to it like a fish in water. She just hopped on and flew down the road with a stream of little girls chasing her.

Torrin was too young to ride alone so Ashley took her for a spin.

This was the first stop in the spa. Foot bathes for each girl.

Then they moved to the next stop for a pedicure with Grandma.

Followed by manicures with Mommy.
Here is Jordan at the makeup stop with Ashley.

The night ended with a slumber party for all the girls.

The Circus

2009-09-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today Kevin took the girls and I to the Circus! It was not only the girls first circus but mine. We had a great time. We saw flying girls and marching elephant. There were tigers and clowns and well trained dogs. Here are some high lights.

It seemed like a good idea at the time but the humungous lemonades that Kevin bought required 4 separate trips to the bathroom.

The Elephants were definitely a favorite of the girls.

Ladies were shot from cannons. Very cool.

The high wire act was amazing.

Here are the girls having a blast with Papa.

Jordan's 1st day of 1st Grade

2009-09-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today was Jordan's first day of 1st grade at a new school. Jan and I went to see her off to school with Kimberly, Torrin, Kevin Best, and Trent.

Jordan was a fashion diva with her "uhg" boots, jean skirt and fancy top.

Jordan was prepared for any circumstance with bandaids....

and her backpackbuddy.

Kimberly adjusted the straps on the new purple backpack while Jan watched with riveted facination.

Torrin was pretty excited for her sister to go off to school.

The bus finally arrived and Jordan bravely boarded and went off for her first fantastic day at school.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

2009-08-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Kevin's 44th birthday.

Jordan, Torrin, Kimberly, Nathaniel, and Linda came over to wish him a happy birthday.

Jordan and Torrin helped light up the cake.

Kevin took a deep breath to blow out the candles before the whole place went up.

I made the carrot cake from scratch. It was very yummmmmy!

Nathaniel and Linda brought Kevin a big box of nectarines.

Kevin put on his present from the girls....

A visor with hair!

Here is Kevin sporting his new hat hair and Bose noise canceling headphones.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Experimenting with posting.

2009-08-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Golfing in Oregon

2009-07-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Kevin, Nathaniel, Linda (Nathaniel's girlfriend), and I left the Seattle area for our week long vacation in Oregon. We made the long relaxing drive to Southern Oregon landing in Kalamath Falls Sunday evening. We are staying at the Running Y Ranch, where Kevin and I are entered in a golf tournament Friday and Saturday. We started our week Monday with a late afternoon round of golf at the golf course here. Nathaniel, Kevin and I play while Linda took these photos. It was blazing hot!

This is Nathaniel and Linda

This is me from far away, thank God.

Here is my handsome husband cutting a trim figure.

Kevin and I played our practice round today. I was really horrible. I hope I can recover before Friday when the tournament starts. I seem to have lost my touch on the green. I will sign off for now and post more as we go through the rest of the week.

As a post note on Kevin's health. He is still struggling with on and off chest tightness but hopes to feel better tomorrow. For those that don't know, Kevin has been having some as yet undiagnosed health issues. We know that it is not his heart for now and think it may be stomach related. More doctors will be required when we get back. Bye for now.

Jordan and Torrin settling in

2009-07-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Kimberly's to help her plant flowers in the little garden area in Crystal and Jayson's front yard. We spread the 2 bags of bark she bought but it was not quite enough.

This is Torrin showing the flower that she helped plant.

Here is Jordan admiring out work.

Kimberly has decorated each of the girls rooms to make them their own.

This is Jordan proudly sitting on her pink bedspread with her crown pillow. The girls are so proud of their rooms they keep them spotless.

This is Torrin's PINK room. She has butterfly and flower decals on the wall that she can put on and take off at will.

They are very proud of their rooms.

Last day in Papa

2009-06-26T11:54:00.001-07:00

Today we started the day by going to Jake's daycare again to get him used to the place. Then we went to a town an hour away called Veszprem to get Crystal and Jacob's visas. We looked around the town and ate lunch. The pictures below are from our visit there.

This is a picture of the typical Hungarian woman. About 75% of the women dye their hair in this "European red" color. The other 25% dye their hair some other color.

This is Crystal, Jake and I in front of the castle gate. There are a bunch of shops or churches along this walk.

We stopped at a sidewalk cafe for lunch. Jake played on a near by court area while we waited for our pizza. The pizza was really good!

Jake got to have ice cream. They sell a lot of ice cream here.

This picture did not turn out very good but it was of a thatched roof. It was made entirely of straw stacked to the thickness you see here.

This was just some guy I met near a theater.

This is the ruins of a castle in a town called Dobronte.

This last shot is of a one of the big churches.

A little look at Papa, Hungary

2009-06-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from around Papa. This is one of the 17 Catholic churches in Papa.

These next 3 shots are from what is called the "Walking District". It has lots of little shops and restaurants.

All the buildings and houses are brightly colored.

The Graduation

2009-06-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures for my graduation and the party that followed. Here is a picture of me during the "hooding" ceremony. The master's students received hoods that represented the university and the course of study.

Torrin and Jordan were very proud of their grandma.

Kimberly was overwhelmed with emotion.

Kevin was relieved that I finished so things could get back to normal around the house.

Angelita was a huge help with arranging my graduation party and just about everything else in my life.

The party that followed was blessed by a visit from Maggi, Tom, and David from Bainbridge Island. A rare journey this far from the Island. Susan, Kelly, Michael from the Tavenner bunch also attended as did Davey, Paula, and Quinn of the O'Keefe clan.

In Hungary

2009-06-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

I made it through a very busy weekend. On Saturday I attended the commencement ceremony for the University of Phoenix and came home to host a great graduation party. Kimberly and Angelita were extremely helpful in getting all the food ready and cleaning up. Thanks Kim and Angie, I was a little distracted. Kevin spent most of the party cooking steak and chicken skewers on the barbeque. They were yummy!

Sunday morning I got up and started the long 2 day journey to Papa Hungary to visit Crystal. The plane ride was not too bad. I got a little sleepy for the last leg of it. Crystal picked me up in Budapest and drove me to her house in Papa. It takes 2.5 hours to get to Papa from Budapest so I really appreciate her taking the long trip to get me with Jake.

Crystal and Jayson have a cute house with lots of brightly colored walls. They painted the bedrooms white for her.

Her couch, recliner, and Jake's bed arrived today. I put the recliner together and Crystal helped me put Jake's bed together. It was a lot of work. It is after midnight here. We just finished his bed. Tomorrow her desk arrives. Most of the rest of the furniture will be here in a few weeks.

It has been raining nonstop since I got here. It is unusual for this time of year. Lucky me.

Got to go to bed now. Pictures to follow.

Good Bye Crystal, Jayson, Jacob, Sonny, and Brodie

2009-06-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

We spent this last weekend saying our sad goodbyes to Crystal, Jayson and Jacob. Sunday they moved to Hungary. Saturday Kimberly, the girls and Kevin and I went to spend the last few hours with Crystal and her family. Friends and family filtered in and out during the day to wish them well.

Crystal and Jayson took 13 bags and the 2 dog kennels with them.

Kimberly saying her goodbyes to Jacob at the airport

Brodie ready for his long airplane ride.

Sonny mellow after taking his doggy downers.

Goodbye Crystal, Jayson and Jacob. We will miss you every minute of every day until you return.

Goin' on a Frog Hunt

2009-05-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

Jordan has become such a sweet little girl in the last few months. She is learning to read and she can count to a hundred three different ways. She loves to draw and spends hours every day making pictures. Last week she caught a frog in the back yard. She put it in a box but felt so bad about not having any bugs for it to eat she let it go. Days later we told her we saw it by the pool. That evening before bedtime, she put on her high heel wedgies and grabbed Torrin's butterfly net and tip-toed out to try to catch the frog again when I snapped this picture.

A Day in the Live of Torrin

2009-05-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on my blogging as usual. I took these pictures of Torrin "watching" TV. She had made herself a mountain of pillows inches away from the tv.

She seemed suspiciously quite so I went in for a closer look and this is what I found...

She was sound asleep.

Here is a picture of a highly decorated Torrin. I can't even imagine what kinds of thoughts are rattling around in her head.

Torrin is a unique little girl. She brings us hours of amusement and joy every day.

2009-05-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today was Torrin's 4th birthday. She had a super fun birthday

party at the family fun center with her family and friends.

Torrin's sister Jordan and friend Miley were there to

help her open presents and sing happy birthday.

Torrin got too excited with all the singing and blew out

the candles before the song was over.

Torrin had a long day playing hard and growing up to be a big 4 year old.

You are a precious angel Tory and we love you.

Happy Birthday Torrin Myia Best!

Angelita's Birthday Party

2009-05-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

I am so slow to get things on this blog. A couple of Saturday's ago we celebrated Angelita's birthday. Angelita has been my friend for many years. She used to watch my girls when they were little and then I watched her kids and then my kids watched her kids and now she and her daughter watch my kids' kids. Whew. Happy Birthday Angelita!

Jacob likes cake.

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-04-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend Kimberly and I took Jordan and Torrin to Great Wolf Lodge in Chehalis. The girls had a blast! We arrived there at about 1 PM on Saturday and played in the water park until dinner, then ate, then went back to the water park for more fun. Great Wolf is geared around children. There are all sorts of the things for them to do. We played bingo and went to the arcade. Sunday I broke away for a little pedicure...ahhhhhhhh. Here are some photos from the visit

This is a shot of the slide areas. The stairs in the background were for a really fun slide that was too big for Torrin but Jordan was able to go. She LOVED it!

This is the wave pool. When the waves would start the girls wanted us to let them go but we just could not let them out of our reach. It was a little too scary.

This is Jordan and Torrin watching the show at the clock tower.

Jordan showed real skill moving across the very mobile lily pads.

Jordan, Torrin, and Kim had fun shooting each other with flower powered water guns.

Easter at Crystal and Jayson's

2009-04-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter at Crystal and Jayson's house. The girls and Jacob had fun hunting for Easter eggs. This is the parade of hunters heading for the egg fields.

Here is Crystal teaching Jacob the ins and outs of egg hunting.

Torrin racing to find the most eggs.

Jordan was the eventual winner in the competition for the most eggs.

We had a great time at Crystal's! Even though it was a drizzly Sunday it was warm and happy inside with Jacob, Torrin and Jordan.

Jordan's First Slumber Party

2009-03-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jordan had her first slumber party. Her friend Mylie came over and spent the night with Jordan and Torrin. I got a few pictures of the girls bringing down the house. The night started with pizza and movies. After that they got into their pajamas and had a pillow fight.

Here are the girls as they watch the Neverending Story on TV.

In the morning the girls went in the hot tub. Here they are rinsing off in the shower.

Here is the aftermath in morning. Nice.

The sleep over ended with a little joy ride in the snow.

An Afternoon with Jacob

2009-03-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Thursday I got to pick Jacob up from daycare and hang out with him while his mom and dad celebrated Crystal's last day with her group at work. When we got home Jakey went right to work cleaning the kitchen.

Next he took a little cracker break.

I forgot what little angels do with boxes of crackers.

The sweeping was followed by some mopping.

Jacob is a good little cleaner.

Daily Life

2009-02-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a while since I have had the time to put some new photos on this blog. I just finished a challenging class. I only have 2 classes left to finish my Masters. I am going to have great summer!

The following pictures are just a collection of photos that were on my camera. I don't have any current pictures of Jacob but will focus on getting some this week. To hold you over check out Crystal's blog. She is very good about keeping up with this technology stuff.

This first picture is cute little Tory playing princess dress-up games on her mom's computer. Kim says that it has taught our little Tornado patience.

This next photo is what happens when I leave my camera down where Torrin can get it.

This is a cute picture of Tory sleeping while she is watching a movie on her little DVD player.

This is Jordan watching the movie over Tory's shoulder while she slept. Jordan thought something stank so she was plugging her nose.
Jordan and Torrin love to play outside. Jordan is fearless on her Razor.

2009-01-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

As I was looking through my photos for something to add to my blog, I was fascinated by the number of pictures of Jacob exploring the world from his 2 foot high perspective. The following pictures are just taken from a couple of visits to my house.

Jacob getting help from Torrin in his exploration of the pots and pans cupboard.

Jacob back in the pots and pans.

Now what should he do with the frying pan he found.

This under the sink cupboard gets the immediate attention of his mother.

I am pretty sure if he could talk he would being saying "Stop following me!"

There is a kitty cat prize under this table. Unfortunately for Jacob, Jack the cat was too fast for him.

This starts the next series of grandchildren freely exploring the possibilities at Grandma's. We begin with Torrin pulling the chair over to the fridge to not only help her reach the milk and chocolate but to use it as a...

...transportation vehicle.

She has reached her destination.

Here I am cleaning up the results of the self service chocolate milk bar.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-03T06:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008 came and went in a flurry as usual. The snow fall this year was unbelievable! It made getting out to go shopping challenging. Christmas this year was all about the grandchildren. Jordan and Torrin flew in late Christmas Eve from a visit with their grandfather in Idaho. Christmas morning the girls woke up to lots of presents from Santa Claus. Later in the day Crystal, Jayson and Jacob came over for yummy Christmas dinner. It was a great Christmas with my family. I am glad we stayed home this year.

Jordan stylin' in her Christmas dress before she headed out with her brave mother and Torrin in the snowy winter wonderland to go to Grandpa Harwood's.

Little "Angel" Torrin having an unusually calm moment.

Nathaniel was able to visit for a couple of days before Christmas. Jacob is trying to convince him to get him something better than a celery stick to eat.
Jacob looking very Christmassy in his red and green.

Jordan and Torrin sneaking in to peek at what Santa brought them. Apparently, Santa was confused about who was to get the dark haired Barbie and the light haired Barbie.

Torrin giving Papa a hand with unwrapping his presents.

The girls gave Kimberly a rubber chicken that squeezes out an egg. My personal favorite gift of the day.

Joan's Birthday Weekend

2008-12-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

I had a great birthday weekend! It started Saturday with Kimberly and I helping the girls build gingerbread houses. And then we made sugar cookies.

Jordan was up before light so she could make a snowman.

Jayson took the girls for a ride behind the four-wheeler.

Brody was running circles around the four-wheeler.

Crystal and Jayson gave me a chocolate fountain! YUM!

Jacob liked the blue berries the best.

It was a great weekend until Kimberly got stuck down the road because it was so icy. After lots of scary moments Kevin and Mike (Kim's dad) decided to leave her car there until tomorrow. I LOVE MY 4 WHEEL DRIVE LEXUS!

Jacob's First Birthday

2008-12-09T20:00:00.001-08:00

Jacob's first birthday party.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

The girls some how talked me into a real tree this year instead of my usual fake tree.

Torrin loves to rearrange the little village.

Santa List

2008-12-03T19:56:00.001-08:00

Jordan is sooo excited about Santa Claus coming. She wrote him her first letter. She put it in an envelope, addressed it to the North Pole and put a stamp on it. Kim and Jordan mailed it on the way to the bus.

Jordan is very shy around the Santas at the stores but Torrin is not. Torrin is more than happy to sit on their laps and tell them that she wants "everything" for Christmas. Torrin was yelling and waving at Santa in the store the other day. She ran over and jumped in his lap. Jordan hid behind me.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-11-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning started with a visit to see Crystal and give her a potato ricer. Jake woke up to see what all the excitement was about.
Saturday I invited family and friends over. Jake was the center of attraction with his endless curiosity. He loves to push and pull things around the house.
Jayson found that he could make a smoke stack from the blazing hot taquitos. If you look close you can see the smoke coming out.

Kimberly brought wings that were so hot they burned the skin off the roof of my mouth.
It was hard to get a picture of Jordan and Torrin sitting still so all I got was the back of Tory's head.

New Member of the Malone Residence

2008-11-25T16:17:00.000-08:00

This week Jack Jack, Jordan's cat came to live with us. Jack is a very cool kitty. She is not bothered by Sadie or Emma or even Indy. Indy gave her a welcome "Hisss" but has been tolerating her presence. She spends most of her time in Kimberly's closet, safely out of reach from Sadie.

My First Post

2008-11-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

Jordan Kaya Best gets the honor of being the first item in my blog. She just learned to ride her bike without training wheels! She spends every minute of daylight outside riding. Torrin joined Jordan outside for a drive in Jordan's old jeep. Because of my total lack of experience with blogging I don't know how Torrin's picture got above Jordan's. I am going to launch this first attempt and see what happens.