Pacific Northwest is Calling to Us...

Announcement: Tom & Kathryn are moving up to the Portland area this August (in 5 weeks! Yes, we are in shock, too, but all is well and we'll have a grand adventure! It is a simple switch of office for Tom - same job, same company, just in a place where he can do all he does - and have us in a house (with a big backyard!). We don't have an address yet, but there are things in the works. We are really looking forward to living near Kirk & Lindsay's family but are very sad to be leaving Kara & Chuck's family here in California.

Tom will do a quick trip up to Portland soon to put finishing touches on housing and work details. We'll update everyone soon.

Bananagrams

Jared experimenting with Bananagrams tiles. It is fun to see what words he is thinking of in his mind. He loves figuring out "the grown ups' secret language"! If something is phonetic, he can figure it out - it's just too bad our language has so many exceptions and variations to rules. Try explaining why "phone" is not "fon" and "one" is not "wun"...

Party Time!

Kayden's 4th birthday party was a smash! Chuck made her guinea pig out of real cake and shredded coconut, which earn him lots of cool-dad points. Delicious! Here are some of the photos from her party. We posted almost all the rest on FaceBook (there were over 100 photos!). Great job, Kara & Chuck! Kayden looked like she had such a great time and we hope she enjoys her great gifts and her new year!

Happy birthday, Kendra!

Ah, the awesomeness continues into another year!

Kayden is turning 4!

This is Kayden's super-cute invitation to her birthday party this coming weekend. Doesn't it just make you think, "weep-weep!"

On the other hand, our family will always have the mother of all guinea pig stories with Tucker. Poor, poor little Tucker, who died of a broken heart when Krystle went off to college. And the young housesitters (bless their hearts!) who didn't know what to do, so they put Tucker's body in the freezer.

Weep-weep!

Baxter Time!

Cousins meeting for the 1st time. 11 months and 15 months.
Another cute shot of Dallin and Laura.
Time to go visit the Baxter's house. Jared calls this, "The Invention House," as in, "Mom, are we going back to the Invention house today?" He loved it there. We ALL loved it there!

Emily peeking into the cockpit.
Jared peeking into the cockpit as Lindsay's dad explaining all about how they put the plane together and how it's going to look when it's finished.
Emily next to the tail.
Tom and Laura enjoyed the hanger visit. When most of us returned to the house, Tom stayed back with Lindsay's dad to learn how to do rivets. He loved that.
Jared next to the Baxter's plane.
And riding the lawnmower. He also asked us if we could build a barn with a loft so he could throw hay down to his horses, too.
Back at Kirk & Lindsay's house: Lindsay holding Laura while we played on the deck. You can see her raised beds and raspberry bushes in the back, too. The blue shed used to be completely covered and surrounded by overgrown trees. Kirk and Lindsay pretty much ROCK at home improvement and gardening. Their home and yard were beautiful.

Meeting Dallin for the 1st time!

Meeting Dallin! Kirk and Lindsay's family came over to the Sheppert's on Easter, where Tom and Kathryn's family was staying. We met baby Dallin for the first time! He is just the cutest little thing you've ever seen.
Uncle Tom holding Dallin.
Uncle Kirk holding Laura.
Emily (age 2) searching for Easter egg treasures in the back yard.
Sweet Dallin!
Competition for the Easter eggs was going to be tough, but the kids did great! If you ever wonder what the pull is to move to Washington, here it is: Our "Washington Family". 1st and 2nd cousins on Tom's side included.

Twinners at Easter

5-year-old cousins. Do you think they look related?

And a picture of Uncle Tom doing what he does best...board games with nephews!

Remember Van Auken?

Last week we traveled up the coast on a family/business trip. Here we are visiting the ol' Van Auken house. It was only a few blocks from where we were staying with Tom's uncle and his family -- Nicholas & Jameson's house is famous in these parts for their Lego collection. And their tendencies to give cool Legos to Jared when we visit. Jared LOVES visiting Northern California and often asks when we'll be going back -- year round.


Seeing this orange tree out front reminded me of the picture we have of Krystle sitting high in a similar orange tree wearing the "I heart London" t-shirt. She must have been about 4 years old in the photo. Was it this very tree?

Laura with Pigtails

Jared calls this her "Alien" hairstyle. I guess they do look a bit like antennae, don't they, but I'm just so happy she now has enough hair to make it cute every day!