Family Reunion 2009

We recently had our family reunion in South Dakota again near my Mom's house in the black hills. We actually had all the brothers and sisters together in one place for the first time in a long time. We had a great time together with the Finn family and some of the Moultons.

On the bike again

I finally got some of the pictures our friends took on a ride a while back. We had a lot of fun on the bike this summer.

First Real Ride With Brad

If you haven't been keeping up Brad has been home a couple weeks now. He got his motorcycle license yesterday so we went for a ride out toward Mt. Ranier. We had a good ride and a good time. Its amazing how much better Brad is riding compared to a couple weeks ago when he couldn't start without stalling it. He took the 3 day riding course on base which is mandatory for military motorcycle riders. He says it helped a lot.

Mt Ranier ride

I went for a ride with friends today up t Mt. Ranier. The weather wasn't the best for pictures but stil got some nice shots. The top 1/4 of Mt. Ranier was hiding behind clouds and it rained on us on the way home. I'm still very glad I went though.

Olympic Peninsula Ride

Tammi and I went riding around the Olympic peninsula with some friends on Saturday. We went down the pacific coast highway and in the rain forest. It was a good ride.

Mt St Helens Motorcycle Ride

After 14 years of living with the volcanoes I finally made it up to Mt St Helens which blew its top with the force of an atomic bomb in the 1981. I rode the motorcycle up there with friends of mine. It was a beautiful day and a nice ride. Seeing the whole top of this mountain missing from so close was much more impressive than watching on the discovery channel.

For the 4th of July we went to Evergreen Speedway. One of the coolest things was this bus jump. They had a real good firework display after the races. We had a good time.

Hike to Franklin Falls

We went camping at Lake Easton last night. We had a good time. On the way home today we stopped and hiked up to Franklin Falls. It was the first time we have been there. It was very pretty and it was one you could get right to the bottom of rather than looking at it from a distance. It has been a very hot week and after the hike the cold mist from the falls felt great.

Brad will be home soon

Brad leaves Iraq today. He has to go to some other country for a few days so he won't be home for about a week. He saved up a bunch of money and decided he wanted to ride motorcycles. He is so excited about it he had me buy it for him so it would be here waiting for him. I found him this beautiful 2003 Victory Classic Cruiser. I love riding it (just to keep the battery charged of course :-) ) It will be fun to go riding with him when he gets home.

Another beautiful day on the lake

Josh and I went fishing again today. It was a beautiful day on the Long Lake. I only managed to get one little bass to the boat and all the big ones got away. Josh on the other hand caught enough for dinner inlcuding this nice 15" trout. Don't worry we are cooking them on the grill :-)

First fish for 2009

Josh and I made it out opening weekend. We went to Long Lake. It was the first time fishing this lake for us. We caught quite a few fish but only one keeper. Josh isn't happy that it happened to end up on my pole. It will be on the grill tonight. Hopefully there will be many more fishing pictures to come.

Josh turned 18 today

Josh's birthday was today. He is 18 now and wanted steak for dinner. We went to the Iron Chef Japanese Steakhouse. It was a good show. We were almost set on fire and in danger of having sharp objects flung at our heads. There were no mishaps though and the food was great.

Tammi ran her 1st 1/2 marathon and liked it

Jennifer complained about only seeing pictures of Brad. The rest of us don't do anything :-) Josh and I will start fishing next month so hopefully you will see pictures of us with nice fish. The girls haven't been anywhere on their horses through the winter but you should be seeing some of those soon as well. Tammi ran her first 1/2 marathon today. It was 1 loop around Mercer Island which is in the middle of Lake Washington just east of Seattle. She did very well with a time of 2:05. The winner did it in 1:09 and the first woman to finish came in at 1:22 but those are pros. So here are some pics of Tammi at the 1/2 marathon.

More pictures of Brad (the orange ones were during a sand storm)

Pictures from Brad in Iraq

We finally got some pictures from Brad. He complained about having to walk to the shower. I laughed and told him the Army guys have to do that even when they aren't in Iraq. He says the chow hall (he calls it DFAC for dining facility) is better than the one at the base here. It sounds like he is doing all right. The white and yellow building is where he lives with one other guy.