Year: 2015

In our family photo shoot about a month ago, we ended up with some hilarious pictures of the kids and yesterday I decided to have them printed to replace the framed photos in our family room. Those pictures were about fourteen years old.

The result was awesome.

Yep, those are our kids.

In the latest installment of What My Kids Do All Day, I took a picture of Zack sitting on the couch playing with a Rubik’s Cube in between a few pages of his comic book.

Sometimes, that’s pretty much a summary of his day.

To his credit, he’s been working hard on learning how to solve the Cube, and he’s become pretty good at it.

Off to the races…

And he’s got it!

Meanwhile, Kyra was demonstrating what she does all day: reads young adult fiction novels on her tablet.

She’ll burn through a novel every few days. Laralee is much the same, and they’re always talking about “you should read this…” and “I didn’t really like how that happened…”

Laralee has a huge dry-erase board on the side of the refrigerator, and it’s where she keeps her various shopping and to-do lists. Since the board is so big, there tends to be a bit of space on it. A few days ago I decided to add some artwork.

So I created three limited-edition pieces featuring various animals:

Breathtaking, I know.

Zack saw the snake and thought it looked like a dude with a long tongue, so he took the liberty of adding his own artwork to the board:

I think dry-erase art could be a new medium. Before you know it, the major galleries will feature some of this stuff.

Today there was a company-wide email exchange that ended up turning nasty.

Ouch. Clearly Brent isn’t a fan of Freddy’s, although most of the team isn’t fond of Chuburger (home of unseasoned meat and soggy grease fries). Five of us headed over to Freddy’s without him, and when I came up to the register I asked the guy if I could get a paper hat for a friend. He told me they don’t have any paper hats, but he would look around to see if he could find a real hat.

The result:

Free hat, ohhh yeah. Brent’s jealous now.

As a follow-up to my post a few days ago about Thom and Katie’s wedding, I wanted to add a few photos from the official wedding photographer. I didn’t take any of the ceremony or the stuff afterward, since he was hopping all over the place like a squirrel on meth and had a much more impressive camera than I did.

Here’s the nice “you may kiss the bride” moment:

Then we started taking various combo shots, and apparently I’m the only one who didn’t get the memo that we were not doing a “goofy shot” here.

Classy.

Then we decided to actually do a goofy shot, and suddenly everyone started laughing and pointing. I figured that was the theme of the shot, so I pointed as well. What they all saw– and I didn’t– was a little chipmunk that had popped up on a nearby rock next to the wedding certificate. I suppose that’s a sign of some kind, although I have no idea what it might mean…

We were eventually able to get things together and do a proper goofy shot.

Here’s a nice one of me and my favorite bro.

And finally, the happy couple surveying their domain.

“Everywhere the light touches, Simba…”

A couple of weeks ago our dishwasher started to smell funny. Then it started to smoke. I figured that was probably a sign. We’ve never really liked it– when we bought it, we were lured by the promise that it was “virtually silent”. It turned out that meant “you can’t really hear it if you’re in a neighboring state”. It was crazy loud, although at least it had a delayed-start feature we used to fire it up a few hours after we’d cleared out of the downstairs.

Anyway, smell, smoke, and noise was enough to force us to buy a new dishwasher. After some internet research I picked one, we ordered it, and despite a few hiccups in the installation process, it’s in place and we used it for the first time last night.

This one really is virtually silent. I didn’t even know it was running, and I was standing right in front of it. Pretty awesome. The online reviews were very positive, so hopefully it lasts a long time…

Last week I was up in the North Cascades of Washington for Thom and Katie’s wedding. It was an amazing trip. The ceremony took place beside Perfection Lake (aptly named), which was about twelve miles into the backcountry, in an area called the Enchantments. Thom and I had been to the Enchantments many years before, although via a different route.

The weather was absolutely stunning– every day was clear and sunny, not at all what you’d expect from late September and early October in Washington! The larch trees were turning color, peppering the landscape with their yellow needles.

I managed to take a few good shots on the way up the trail:

Here’s some detail of a larch. The needles are surprisingly soft, not at all like pine needles.

And here are the views from our camp site, looking first to the north and then the south:

Yes, the water was really that calm and the sky was really that blue.

Here’s a fun shot of an old tree:

The new bride and groom enjoyed their stay in a lovely honeymoon suite, which I decorated with the help of the maid of honor:

The day after the wedding, we hiked around an area called the Upper Basin, which was much more rocky and sparse. Even though it was the first of October, the weather continued to be amazing– we were hiking in shorts and t-shirts. I took the opportunity to wander barefoot a little during our lunch break.

Finally, here’s a shot of dusk over Perfection Lake as we were returning from our “play day”:

Unfortunately I messed up some setting on my camera, so about 200 of my photos from the last few days of the trip ended up being grainy and blurry. It’s a shame, because after this trip I’ve decided the Enchantments are definitely one of the top ten most beautiful places I’ve visited. They were truly stunning.

According to my math, we covered about thirty-two miles in four days, crisscrossing the wilderness. Because camping permits are very restricted in the area, there were hardly any other people around at all. It felt like we had the run of the place.

I’m so happy for Thom and Katie, and wish them the very best as they begin their life together.

Today was the Big Day: Alex left for his mission in Peru. It’s one of those things that we’ve known was coming for a while… eighteen years or so, in fact, so it wasn’t really a surprise but it was still strange when the day finally arrived.

Last night we celebrated with a family dinner. Alex picked the location, and to no one’s surprise he requested Benihana.

This morning he said his good-byes to Kyra and Zack, a couple of friends, and we drove to the airport. We posed for a moment before he went through the security line:

Of course we had to take a couple of goofy shots as well.

I have no idea what Laralee is doing in that picture.

Delta agreed to give Laralee a “gate pass” so she could accompany Alex through security to the gate, but told us they’re only allowed to give one. TSA rules and all that. Yay, security! She was glad she could join him, and managed to get a quick picture as he boarded the plane to Atlanta.

As I write this, he’s sitting in the Atlanta airport on a layover as he waits for the flight to Lima, Peru. There will probably be a dozen or so other missionaries from all over the country who are gathered there for the flight, so at least he’ll have some company as all of them nervously embark on this next step in their lives.

Godspeed, Alex. We’ll see you in two years.

My friend Kevin dropped by our ultimate league last night and took a ton of photos of the games. He even managed to catch a few good action shots of me.

Here I’m sneaking a forehand past my defender:

Tossing a casual backhand downfield:

And here’s a nice shot of us heading downfield with a backlit sunset:

It’s been a great league so far (we’re three weeks into the season) and I love my team. Hopefully we’ll continue to do well.

Hah, I stumbled across this today and it reminded me of my days working in a computer lab…

Since no one but computer lab guys knew what this meant, HP finally updated the message so it was a little more clear what was wrong with the printer:

Which only leads to another great 80’s reference, of course.