Happy St. Patrick's Day

Enjoy!

In Like a Lion...

Wow, it's already March of 2008!

What a dereliction of duties. I finally managed to sit down, as the scrolling Flickr! photos to the right indicate, and have added some new photos to view. Click the photo to the right or the Family Photos link (or that one right here) further down at the right to view.

Nothing too crazy has been happening, so we're just waiting out the winter for Spring to arrive. A few bits, though:

Mandy - we've added a dog to our household, so the urban farm continues to take shape. A bit too rambunctious for John & Judy, she now lives with us. Gabriel loves it, but even he gets a bit run over by her every now and then.

Gabriel Activities - He's been enjoying painting/art classes and now a toddler tumbling/bouncing class over at the Hillsboro SHARC. He's also a regular in the Turtles Sunday School class at Summit View Covenant Church.. see below.

SVCC.org - We've become regular attendees at Summit View Covenant Church in Beaverton.. located ever so temptingly near Monteaux's and Popeye's Fried Chicken. I don't know how to describe it other than to say that it's what you would get if a moderate Baptist church, an espresso/cafe, and a maternity ward were plopped into a blender. Once nice feature is that their sermons are in podcasts.. take a peak if you care to. Kurt Carlson is a good teacher.

Merry White Christmas!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that Santa was extra generous this year. We had a great Christmas and even had snow! The odds of that happening in the Portland area are less than 1%, so it was quite a treat.

Gabriel did quite alright at our house. Santa left him a Thomas & Friends toddler bicycle and a toddler digital camera. Both were hits, but the big hit was the Brio Aqueduct waterway toy that we got him.. photo is below.


It's a wet mess in the kitchen, but the boy has been captivated by it and Bebe has had a blast with it as well. Yeah, there's wet towels all around the place but hey - no single toy has ever kept Gabriel's and Bebe's attention in the same place at the same time for as long as they can play with it!

Nana, Papa, and Great Gramma were able to join us for Christmas, including a dinner with the tastiest smoked ham I've ever had. Organic and nitrate-free from New Seasons. Leading up to Christmas, we enjoyed Zoo Lights, the Grotto, baking sugar cookies, and leaving some cookies out for Santa on the fireplace on Christmas Eve.



In addition to the above photo, I've made a greatly overdue update on our Flickr! photo page with shots spanning from Maui in October to Christmas just the day before. Also included are Gabriel's SuperGabriel Halloween Costume courtesy of Gramma, Autumn Leaves, Tea Parties, Family Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree Hunting, Jill's Birthday (see post below), and Gabriel's first movie theater experience (and first foreign film The Red Balloon).

Happy New Year!

Happy Belated Birthday (Post) Jill!

Jill celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks ago and I've been rather remiss by not posting anything. Truth be told, it's been kinda difficult to grab the digital camera memory chip during all the holiday festivities this month. Excuses, excuses.

I hope you had a happy birthday, Jill. It was sort of a two-day celebration with the company dinner at Andina on your birthday and then a family get together the next night. But I know you had a good time and managed a nice pair of new earrings as well! Gabriel clearly had a blast, too.


Happy Birthday, Sweetie! I love you!

Hang the Moosletoe

Looks like everybody's favorite alcoholic moose in Anchorage is getting into the Christmas spirit. Buzzwinkle (doesn't get any better than that) apparently got drunk eating fermented crabapples again and got into a bit of a tangle with his antlers.



The Anchorage Daily News article can be found here.

Happy Thanksgiving

At least there's going to be nice weather in Hillsboro for the rest of the week. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with Gramma and Grampa, the Sacramento Reids and four of the Gallup Proffitts. Gabriel's had a hoot playing with cousins. There is a Wachdorf gathering in Seattle this weekend that Jill and Gabriel might make for a day or two, but looks like he's beginning to feel kinda yucky.

So a Happy Turkey Day to everyone and their families. Oh, and on a related note, if you've lately been wondering how Rick is doing, there's actually a video of him to watch.

Cheers!

New Website Additions

You'll notice that in the right-hand margin, there are a couple of additions to the page. First, the obvious one is the new Flickr slideshow of our family photos. They change automatically, but you can pause on one you like, move forward or backward, or just click the photo and you'll be taken to the larger version at the Flickr website.

Second, I've added a link under Family Links, to the Wachdorf geneology website, Wachdorf Connect. You can learn all about the Wachdorf, Pfleger, Hardison, and Plaehn families over there at your leisure. It's well done, with lots of photos, family letters, and other information scanned and meticulously organized.

Happy surfing!

First Christmas Post

And Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet.

But this time-waster is definitely worth a chuckle.

Far more to also write about than there is time.

(Even) More Photos

Gabriel & Bali Hai at Tunnels Beach, October 2007

I still plan to add a few more, but I uploaded a whole bundle today of shots that I like. Have a look at your convenience.

More Photos Uploaded

Gabriel & Ina, Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaii October 2007

I've added quite a few new photos to our flickr.com photo album, mostly from this summer, New Orleans, and a few from Hawaii. More from the Hawaii trip will be added in the next couple of days.

He Had a Blast

Gabriel at Waimanalo Beach, Oahu, Hawaii on October 3.

More photos will be available in good time at our Flickr page soon enough. It's kinda hectic around here right now.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Today is Jill's and my 10th anniversary. We're going to celebrate by going to Andina, an apparently great restaurant in Portland (one of the many) that we haven't yet gone to. We look forward to it.

Happy anniversary, sweety! It's been a remarkable 10 years, we have an amazing little boy together, a wonderful home, and many more years to look forward to!

I love you,

Bill

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Today is Gabriel's Gramma's birthday. She's celebrating in Colorado with Grandpa, so she's not in Oregon to share a happy birthday carrot cake with Gabriel.

We hope you're having a great day!

(Grandma) Betty Jean Reid

Grandma Reid passed away early Monday morning in Farmington, New Mexico, where she lived for as long as I can remember. Her health took its course as it does with folks who live to be over 85 years old. She had been receiving care in and out of her own home as her health declined.



We last saw her in person a couple of years ago when we were able to take Gabriel and enjoy a visit in her own home. Before that, and before I came to Oregon, I usually tried to drive through Farmington when I headed home from college in Texas, usually right before Christmas time. Slick roads, cold air, and herds of sheep between Cuba and Farmington made their home on La Plata drive a welcome destination. Grandma (and Grandpa) were always happy to see me, even as I greeted them with the same corny joke about whether or not they knew a certain blue spruce was growing in their front yard. Pizza (Little Caesar's - "Here's $20.. don't forget the green chile!"), sometimes cards, and always a lot of conversation were guaranteed from her shortly after my arrival.

She will be missed. I have posted the entirety of her obituary below, courtesy of the Farmington Daily Times newspaper website.

Betty Jean Reid
Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/18/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

FARMINGTON

Betty Jean Reid

April 26, 1922 - Sept. 17, 2007

Betty Jean Reid, 85, of Farmington, passed away peacefully early Monday morning, Sept. 17, 2007. She was born Betty Jean Tunison on April 26, 1922, in Sterling, Colo., to Edgar D. and Julia M. Tunison.

Betty was the oldest of three children raised on their family's homestead between Sterling and Akron, Colo. She graduated from high school in Atwood, Colo. She met her future husband, George H. Reid Sr., on a train from Denver, Colo., to Sterling, Colo., in 1945, as he was returning from his deployment in the South Pacific at the end of WWII. Betty spent her time caring for her family and friends, quilting, camping and fishing.

Betty was preceded in death by both of her parents and her brother, Edgar Dennis Tunison of Palm Springs, Calif.

She is survived by her husband, George H. Reid Sr., of Farmington; her sister, Kathleen Michael of Palm Harbor, Fla.; son, James Reid and his wife, Yvonne, of Fort Morgan, Colo.; son, Steve Reid and wife, Ellen, of Casper, Wyo.; son, David Reid and his wife, Dianne, of Hillsboro, Ore.; daughter, Betty Rice of Farmers Branch, Texas; son, George Reid Jr. of Farmington; 10 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation for Betty will be 5 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at Brewer, Lee & Larkin Funeral Home, 103 E. Ute St. in Farmington. Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Memory Gardens of Farmington, with Father Tim Farrell.

Betty is in the care of Brewer, Lee & Larkin Funeral Home; (505) 325-8688.

May you finally enjoy rest and peace.

Happy Birthday Aunt Kate!

We hope Kate is having a wonderful time celebrating the first anniversary of her 29th birthday. Here's to many, many more anniversaries!

Kate recently updated her blog related to her birthday and Baby Hayes' progress. Go check it out at itsareid.blogspot.com. With recent Hayes photos!

Big Easy - Not Really

We returned from our trip to New Orleans late Wednesday night. There are photos and stories galore and I hope to write about what I saw, and the adventures Gabriel and Jill had while I was working and eating at the Commander's Palace. Wow.

And another Wow for the hotel we stayed at: Hotel Monteleone, the fabled birthplace of Truman Capote and hotel home of Tennessee Williams when he wrote A Streetcare Named Desire. Wow.

More after I finish this economic impact study of a $3.7 billion nuclear power plant proposed in Idaho. Can that be considered familial betrayal?

Sorry!

D'Oh!

Bill Simpsonized, originally uploaded by korynasz.

Hmm.. this character must be Montgomery Burns' land use consultant.

Try it out for yourself.. you have to have a headshot to upload to that website. Maybe I can use this on my passport renewal?

Welcome to 35-44

This past birthday was a rite of passage: I'm now part of the significantly less-important 35-44 age demographic. Far fewer television shows, movies, music, etc. will be (fruitlessly) geared towards me because I'm almost certainly socking away more money for retirement and children than the spendthrift 25-34 cohort.

The problem is that advertisers also care WAY too much about what Gabriel thinks... one seriously understands why cereal, candy, toys, etc. are placed the way they are in stores and when/what type of print and broadcast ads are running. Ugh.

And I can already say new "music" is definitely getting way too loud, too and I don't even begin to understand it. I'll only start worrying when I stop chuckling at the guy throwing the football through the tire swing in that TV ad.

P.S. The recent, new Mattel toy recall does not affect anything Gabriel plays with at grandparents' houses to the best of my knowledge. It's really an older-child toy recall.

Happy Birthday To Us!

Blowing Out Candles, originally uploaded by korynasz.

Gabriel turned 3 and I turned 35 yesterday, capping a three-day birthday celebration for the both of us. Here we are blowing out the birthday candles on our family party birthday cake.

Gabriel is growing up to be a sweet, curious, determined, and very funny little boy and I couldn't be any happier or more proud. Happy birthday, little man.

Gabriel had a Saturday morning party at a local park for his friends Ian, Nolan, Vanessa, Zane, and Bryce. Sunday, we had a great family birthday party (I cooked my famous Hawaiian ribs and smoked salmon - eat your heart out, Tom). We were joined by Gramma, Grampa (photo?), Me-ma, Nana, Papa, and Aunty Sandy Nemeth who drove down from Mill Creek north of Seattle.

Thank you, everybody, for coming and for your generous birthday gifts. We hope you had good food and a good time. We sure did!

I have also updated our flickr.com photo page with MANY, many photos that have been taken since the last update. That includes our trip to Canada, our birthday parties, final play dates with Davon & Kaya, Toni & Teryn's visit, chickens, Thomas the Tank Engine in Hood River, Tom, Kate & Hayes' visit, and various other fun.

Smartest Words Ever Uttered in a Sitcom

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people He has given it to."

-Audrey fforbes-Hamilton