Luke and Emily - Engaged!

Gina and I are super excited that Luke is engaged.  Last week Luke asked and Emily Haxby agreed to marry him. Everyone in the family is jumping up and down with anticipation.

Here is a picture of the happy engaged couple - Luke and Emily are all dressed up to go to Luke's work party at the Downtown Athletic Club.

I think they look fantastic.  Also very impressed Emily could convince Luke to wear a red shirt.

They sure look happy!

I suggested that since almost the entire family will be in Eugene for Christmas they should get married next week.  Emily didn't think that was such a good idea. 

Pictures 1985 to 1995ish

I'm trying to be disciplined about going through some of our old pictures. We have a large box filled with photos from the pre-digital age.  My hope is to scan the good ones and even post a few.

First some pictures of Autumn and Ellie. 

Grandma holding Autumn and Scott holding Ellie

Autumn just hours after being born. 

Autumn being cute in Dad's lap

This picture has something you never see - Paul wearing shorts!  I love Nathan in the shades.  Taken at Luke's fourth birday.

The Five oldest at Luke's Fourth Birthday

First known picture of the special birthday chocolate pound cake.

Luke's Cake

Paul with a mullet. 

Who is peaking out from behind the door.  This was taken in Phoenix in 1990.  I can tell because Nathan is in the picture and we don't have a yard yet.

Silas and Nathan

At the Hotel Pool with Granpa

Perhaps the rarest person in our photos - Aunt Suzy. 

Aunt Suzy and Silas in Ridgecrest, CA

Silas and Paul Painting in Phoenix

On the train in Scottsdale, Arizona

Silas and Paul - Scottsdale, Arizona

A picture with what Gina calls the ugliest couch in the world. We were thankful for it but didn't shed a tear when it was taken to the dump.

Gina, Silas and Paul

Paul - why doesn't he want the cheesecake?

A real early photo. Taken in 1986 - Novato, California.  The grandparents home.  We had just graduated from Cal Poly.

Gina and Silas - Novato, California 1986

Grandpa and Silas -Novato, CA 1986

Grandma and Silas - Novato, CA 1986

Picture of the Day - The Bridge -Wednesday 12/12/12

I love this picture.  We were hiking at Silver Lake Falls.  The kids laid down on a bridge and someone took this cool picture of the reflection on the river below.

Family Traditions - Pictures Only #1

Every family has traditions that help uniquely define their family.  I started a project of taking pictures that show our traditions.  My plan is to write about each one, the history and reason we do things a certain way.  For now here are a few pictures and you can try to guess what they represent....

The first one is easy

This one is harder but something that I try to do every day.

More than one in this picture.  And is not Autumn wearing a coat during dinner. 

Because we live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

This is a weird one and I may be the only one in the family that knows about this tradition.  And no it is not me teaching everybody how to load the dishwasher the "right' way.

More to come!

Picture of the Day - Brothers - Tuesday 12/11/12

Nathan and Luke were born less than 18 months apart. They played together and they played until they were exhausted.  Gina took more than a few pictures of those two falling asleep in funny positions.

We love this picture of Nathan using Luke for a  pillow.  They are both fast asleep on the couch. Still not sure how Luke ended up in that particular position.

Not really sure what house this picture was taken.  Gina will know, she always knows that kind of stuff.

This picture is typical of the afternoon nap routine.  Gina would put them on our mattress and they would be asleep in a few minutes.  

You may notice the mattress is on the ground.  We slept for years with the mattress this way because we always had at least one toddler in the house.  The little guy/girl could easily climb into or out of bed without fear of falling on the ground and hurting themselves. I think we were married 16+ years before we had a bed frame.