Family, Family and.....more Family

We spent the last weekend up in Washington for my grandmother in-law’s 90th birthday celebration spectacular. It was a great time seeing my sister and brother in-laws and nieces. We even found out that Paula is going to produce a nephew in May. There were a lot of people in the house so Brenda and I volunteered to sleep in the shed (Jim built a new shop and there is a nice office area where we slept). We volunteered so we could stay onsite and not have to go to a friends house, but also because we wanted to get a good nights sleep and not be woken up by screaming kids.

Brenda and Kevin at the game. The Dekkers are smiling in the background.

Here is Abby. She is a spitter, but I held her alot and had a great time. Only one shirt got totally soaked, but at least she didn't crap on me.

We went to the Sunnyside basketball game on Friday and had a great time. The game was very close and despite the 10 to 4 fouls calls in the second half of the game Sunnyside won. Great game.

We went to a big family get together at a Chinese restaurant in Yakima on Sat. to celebrate Grandma’s birthday and the food was great. There was a flu type bug going around in the house starting on Friday and with two bathrooms and everyone but me and Kevin catching some form of it they were very busy and the family fun times were kept to a minimum. We played as many games as we could. Sat. night we played imaginIF and once the game was done it was evident how Jim felt about the game because he was puking in the sink (I guess he didn’t like it).

Maggies birthday celebration two days before her birthday. Notice the park ranger badge with her name on it. Also notice the spit on Dans soulder (not an uncommon sight).
At the celebration
This is a collage of Brenda grandmother and family. It was very cool to see some of these old pictures.
Brenda and her grandmother.

Oh ya, I got a 8mm Mauser with a 2.5 Lyman Alaskan scope on it from Jim for my hopefully soon to be hunting trip next fall. The rifle is awsome and I will post picture of me shooting it when I go to the range...which will be very soon. Guns are awsome.

Epic

I went skiing this weekend with Kevin Schenk. Yes we have been hanging out with the Schenks a lot lately, but we always have a great time when we are there. Having them 1.5 hrs away has not seemed to restrict the number of times we get to hang out.
We went to the Ripon Christian(RC) homecoming basketball game on Friday and then off to the slopes on Saturday. On the narrow road up to the slopes I was the roads were clear, but there was occasional snow and Ice chunks in the middle of the road. The second that I mentioned it to Kevin there was a shuttle bus coming down the road and slowing down to take the upcoming curve. Right off of the top of the bus a 3’deep 4’x4’ section of snow flew headed for our car. I guess I know now where those Ice chucks were coming from. Our lives flashed before our eyes as the ice block threatened to blow through our windshield and talk our heads clean off of our body. At that exact second I was able to swerve and avoid the killer ice chunk so Kevin and I could live another day.


It is always a good idea to keep hydrated while skiing. Moderation of course.

Kevin exiting the trees right before a big jump.
Kevin out of the trees again

Skiing was a great time. I snowboarded, but just refer to it as skiing because it is easier that way. Kevin and I enjoy going off trail and seeing if we have the skills to avoid the killer trees. We now know that we do not posses the skills, but we needed to find out. The last run of the day we were seeing how fast we could go and make it down. I was behind Kevin as he flew down the slopes and we were passing this snowboarder on the right with plenty of clearance then out of nowhere he went right as fast as he could (it was obvious that he was unskilled and this move was not planned). At that exact time Kevin passed him and his left ski was caught under the bottom of the board sending Kevin airborne for a few second then the skidding down the slope about 75 ft for a complete yard sale. After I stopped laughing I asked Kevin if he was alright. He was very sore, but no broken bones or anything missing. I bet he was a lot sorer than I was today.

This is about the best picture of Kevin I have ever seen. Wow...this guy is my friend...Good times.
The new lodge at Dodge.

The first video is Kevin speeing by me at a crazy pace, and the second is me in the trees having a good time.

Christmas and New Years

This Christmas we had a great time with the in-laws coming down from WA to spend some time in the sun of California. Christmas day we had Brad and Karen (our pastor and his wife) along with their baby Haden(about the cutest kid I have ever seen) over for dinner and Brenda’s rents as well. It was more of a thanksgiving dinner menu, but we had a great time.
The day after Christmas we went to the bustling metropolis of Ripon CA. We stopped by mutual relatives houses (if you don’t know about Brenda and I don’t ask), Kevin and Lyndsay’s(spelled correctly) house and then spent the night in Merced. We stayed in Merced because it was the closest hotel to Yosemite where we were going the next day. Yosemite was great and new to us because we had not been there in the winter before. The water in the falls was freezing on the way down and forming ice. The ice would break off occasionally and when it would fall to the ground it was so loud, but very cool.
On the way home we stopped at a “Horseless Carriage” garage and looked at a couple of old cars which were very cool. There was actually a 1914 ford T coupe there and that is the exact car that Jim (my father in law) is rebuilding.
Friday I took Jim out golfing with guns as the ladies went shopping for bargains. I will just say we did real good, but will not say what our score was.


Seafarers of Catan was played so many times I can't even count.
The Ahwahnee hotel in the winter is very nicely decorated and a must see while in the valley, but rooms starting at $426 it was not in the budget to stay there a night.
Brenda and her mom by the mighty merced river.
Jim and Sandy pose in front of halfdome.
El Capitan...no need to explain.

Half Dome.

The Model T like the one Jim is restoring.

Saturday we went out to Maggianos (an Italian restaurant) and were told that there was a 3.5 hour wait for a table. I guess we should have made reservations. We ended up getting a table in the bar section in about 15 min. and having a great dinner with tons of food. We had enough leftovers for another full meal for four at home on Sunday and Brenda and I just had the rest of the food tonight so we will just say that they give you a ridiculous amount of food.

Jim and Sandy out for a night on the town.



New Years Eve we went to Lyndsay and Kevin’s and hung out with them and then had a family get together the next day. A very busy time, but all in all we had a blast and it is hard to go back to work.

EJ it very smart and like me to...the latter is more valuable to him in the future.You may be asking what this is a picture of. Well it the the makings of a nutritious, healthy, robust, flavorful, barley and hops filled beverage that has a special place in all of hearts. Yes, you guessed it...Beer. Just a few weeks and we will have a special home brew fit for a king.

If you listen you can hear EJ sayiing no no when asked about the Christmas tree. He was told not to get close to it and stay away (baaahumbug) and listens well when uncle John is not around.

Back to blogging

I realize that it has been a very long time since my last post and I am loosing faithful readers by the day. Tomorrow I should be down to zero so I thought that I would just throw something out there and see what happens. Today I went surfing with a few other guys. The water was cool (about 51F) and the air temp was about the same. This made for a very chilly Sunday. We had a good time and I caught a few waves and had some good pizza to warm us up when we were done.

Brenda’s rents are coming down tomorrow for a week and we are looking forward to seeing them and spending some time with them. We have several things planned but are most excited about going to Yosemite because they have never seen it before and we have not seen it in the winter.

I listen to the liberals on NPR sometimes and today they were extremely dumb. When factories in the US close down due to free trade with other countries the federal gov. often picks up the tab for retraining the workers for new employment. Some people are now loosing their jobs overseas that are in the service industry (eg. people in call centers). They also would like the same benefits as the factory workers (free college and retraining). That main problem I have with this is that factory workers are often less educated than the service job workers. Some cannot even read. They need training, when people in the service industry often have options and skills that they can market. This is just another example of the stupid liberals always looking for someone to help them out because they are too lazy or to ignorant to help themselves out. The best bumper sticker I have seen read “piss off a liberal…work hard and be happy”. Not all liberals are bad just unenlightened.

Merry CHRISTmas to all.


Howard is not impressed with his holiday apparel.

Work Party Fun

Santa Cruz Boat parade.

I know I did not post last week, but who cares….quit complaining…..get a life and go back to work and quit wasting time…. I got other things to do. Last Saturday we went to Santa Cruz to see the lighted boat parade with Brett and Michelle. It was a lot of fun but Brenda was of course being very hyper and an embarrassment to be around (can’t help but love her). We ate at the Crows Nest and had great food and great conversation.

Friday this week we had the Brenda’s work party at the Myers house. They have a great house and Wolfgang always makes us feel at home. Always a good time with all of the teachers and school staff.

Last night we went out to my work Christmas party. It was at Gordon Biersch downtown San Jose with a great atmosphere. I work with great people and it is like one big family with those guys. There was free beer all night and two cocktails per person so by the end of the night it was a bit crazy. My bosses are cool and said a lot of nice things about me to Brenda so lying was also part of the equation. Good times were had by all and I really enjoy working at BBL/Arcadis.


Every body was dressed up so nice. Jason wore his Sharks jersey over his shirt and tie.


"Poppy" is a ladies man, but I let him know this one was taken.
Tyler just had a shot that my boss(on the right) is passing out. Hard work is well rewarded.
Brenda with Tyler and Tracy.


From right to left is Katie, Sharon, and Heather. Katie is my co-workers girlfriend, Sharon the the office administrative assistant, and Heather helps working with the gorundwater. Great people to be around.




Today I was tired after lunch so I laid down about 3pm and fell asleep. Three hours later I was woken up by Brenda and she wanted to go to this Christmas spectacular show thing at a Church nearby. What a great nap. The Christmas show was not the normal Church show because Santa showed up and a lot of the songs were secular. It ended discussing the real meaning of Christmas and was quite the production.