Today is Simon's Birthday.  I like him because he is weird/cool.  He likes to do things like google himself on the internet, and check out satellite photos of my house from space.

Before the birthday we made a trip to Archie McPhee's.  I thought the glasses would be fun, but I had no idea that they would be the funniest thing I had seen in a while:

Happy Birthday Simon!

'Tis the Season

Fruitland Thanksgiving

So for Thanksgiving this year I had the opportunity to travel with Stephanie and the rest of the Farrar's to Fruitland, Idaho to spend time with their wonderful friends, the Farmers. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but the ones that I did take were quite excellent:

Here is my room. I was pretty lucky to have a pop-n-shot in my room as it also came in handy as Stephanie and I hid in it in an awesome game of sardines.
Post-thanksgiving dinner, Steph and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I include this picture because Stephanie looks really pretty in the golden hour (I, on the other hand, am reminded why I should never shave my head):

Fruitland:

The next day, while the women engaged in Christmas Crafts, the boys went and shot clay pigeons with shotguns.
Cade and Alek were experts at launching the pigeons.
Mark was pretty good:
Rick worked it like a pro:
After a slow start, Bruce was showing top form:
Me, I was nervous most of the time:
But I did okay. You can actually see the pigeon in this photo if you look close:
Soon we digressed into trying to hit two at a time. Andrew, was probably the best at it:




Overall, it was a really fun weekend. Thanks Farmers and Farrars!

Soccer Weekend

This weekend, I was blessed enough to be able to go to Bremerton for some good ol family time. It was especially good because I got watch some kids soccer games.

This is Simon, he told me earlier in the game that he was excited because he had found himself on the internet. Well here you go again, Simon. This kid is the most funny/weird of my nieces and nephews, but always good for a laugh:
During the game we got to hang out with James, who Analise referred to as Rob, Jr. citing a striking resemblence between us. I don't know if I see it, but if my kids came out looking as cute as him, I would be pleased.
These are the star soccer players, Torsten and Analise:
Genevieve agreed to come on condition that she could watch from a stroller:
This picture makes Stephanie look like she is an ultra serious coach, but she's not...
...but Mike is -- actually he's a really good coach. Their team went undefeated this season, and they have some really good players on their team.
Stephanie has been mentioning that I get really into my nieces and nephews soccer games, and its true. I used to scoff at parents that would let their children endure such a practice, but now I am totally for it.

What are you gonna do?

Ruth Allison and OK Ikumi

It was fun to have these kids staying at our house:

this is how we do it

This was me and Nathaniel when I was really into scrabulous. Unfortunately, now I hate that game because I am lame at it.

Sorry its been so long since I've blogged. I've been busy with other stuff like the podcast and work.

So yesterday was Halloween, I didn't dress up, but Jane told us that we usually get a bunch of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Upon hearing this, Nathaniel and I went out and bought a bunch of Candy. And once we had the candy, this is what we did. We waited...and waited...
No one ever showed up. Forget Halloween, I hate trick or treaters anyway.

So if you don't know, Stephanie and I are poor, so we've been taking advantage of the fact that most museums in Seattle are free on the first Thursday. Last month we did the Seattle Art Museum and the month before that the EMP. This month we did the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.

They have lots of planes at this museum.


In addition to planes, the museum has some awesome things like...

Carl Sagan's turtleneck.

I liked the inside of a space shuttle.


We are looking down on Earth...or are we on Earth...hmmmm?

Then we took our turn at landing the space shuttle. I didn't want to say anything, but Stephanie totally crashed.
While I made a perfect landing.
But the best part of the museum was stuff that you really don't need a museum for.

Stephanie with a mustache and a random kid:

Me as Major Tom:

My favorite ever:

Defense of the Century

So this past weekend, I skipped work and travelled to Utah for some special events. The first was my master's thesis defense. The night before the defense, Jessica let me sleep on her awesome fold away couch. Thanks Jessica! It's just like home.I passed my defense, and my professors gave me so many positive comments. I was really grateful, especially after my existential crisis of job hunting in the few months before.

After the defense, I walked around campus. Everyone seemed so so young, despite the fact that I had been there the year before. I eventually found jon in a print lab.
I also found Rachel, which is always a good surprise.
After the defense and eating with friends, I went up to Salt Lake for Suzanne's wedding. I was really excited to see Suzanne, and here wedding was really beautiful. But I was also excited to see this guy.

I'm practically his godfather or something.
I enjoyed talking to his dad while we ate yummy thai.
At the reception the next day, they had awesome things that should be at more weddings. Like a soda fountain:
and yogurt covered gummy bears:

Stephanie asked me to take a picture of Suzanne's dress. I think that's here husband chatting it up next to her.
One of my favorite moments was the Heaton family tradition of putting on funny hats and dancing to "We are Family".
Afterwards, I hung out at Cindy's new pad with cool peeps.

When Marsha and Kristen showed up, that's when things started to get nuts.




So all in all, I had a great weekend. Thanks for all the cool friends in Utah who let me mooch off them. Be sure and come visit us in Seattle.