Tag...I'm it...twice

Where we met: Officially at the home of mutual friends. We had actually met before, but neither of us had remembered it til years later.

How long we dated before we got hitched: 4 months

How long have we been married: 27 years, 3 months and 4 days.

What's my fav feature about him: his sweet eyes

What's my fav quality about him: he is kind and loves me

What's his nickname for me: My Love

His fav color: don't think he has one

His fav food: not picky, he eats anything I make. A good steak always will work though

His fav sport: Baseball

Who said the L word first: He did...in French...

First kiss, when and where: After one of our dates, can't remember when or where now. How sad.

Fav couple thing to do: We like to hike together, and bike and garden and travel and have our kids here with us talking and playing

How many kids: Five really wonderful, sweet, special precious people

His hidden talent: 60 minute bread? He is a great pruner of fruit trees. I love that he likes to prune all 50+ of them.

His age: 50 and looking great!

His fav music: Classic Rock. Classical. And I am sure he loves my Christmas music in September :)

What I admire most about him: He really cares about me and the kids and wants us to be happy. He will doing anything for that. He works hard for us.

His fav pastimes: being with me and our kids. Sudoku, hitting golf balls in the back yard

Will he read this: Maybe :)

Eight TV shows I like to watch:
1. The Office
2. If These Walls Could Talk
3. Divine Design
4. Semi-Annual Conference
5. History Channel stuff
6. That's about it, I don't watch too much TV
7.
8.

Eight things that happened yesterday:
1. Ran 5 miles
2. Did Laundry
3. Cleaned the house
4. Put a blog together (not posted yet)
5. Read
6. picked Tait up from school (he didn't feel well)
7. Made a yummy pizza
8. watched Oceans 13

Eight favorite places to eat:
1. Home
2. Black Forest
3. Mikanos
4. Cafe Rio
5. Yes Coldstone counts
6. Tacanos (sp)
7. Cheesecake factory
8. The top of a mountain

Eight things I am looking forward to:
1. Natasha and Josh and Heath coming in 2 weeks
2. Eli and Brittany and Grady coming at Christmas
3. Katy and Paul and Avery coming to visit
4. More Grandkids :)
5. Our next date
6. A trip to Austria
7. Our next hike
8. Christmas

Oktoberfest 2008

Start with one clear, crisp Autumn day and nothing can go wrong!

We invited our wonderful family to join us at Slesk Acres (reservations accepted) for a day of Cider making, Greenhouse raising, face painting fun. The challenge was accepted by the very brave Knoblich, Brock, Anderson, Johannesen and Lewis families.

The guys dove into the greenhouse operation right away and made amazing progress throughout the afternoon. Thanks to their diligent work we now have a structure that is 3/4 of the way done.

Cider was being pressed as soon as we could get a strong arm to crank for us. Thanks Alan. He has one ripped bicept to be sure!

The kids set right to making sugar cookie creations, scary spiders and had face painting done by the very talented Miss Emily.

The sandbox turned out to be a favorite place for all the under 12's.

A field trip was undertaken to the Appel Farm (a dairy) and Boxx Berry Farm for a 'tractor' ride for the kids. (Missy, Allison, Karen and Mom all went with the kids on the field trip so they have all the pictures.)

Lastly, we made and feasted German Potato Salad and had Polish Dogs and, of course, gallons of freshly pressed apple cider.

Thanks for all who came and made it a success. I know I had a great time and hope you all did too. (Thanks, also, to Katy who took all the pictures for me)

A heap o' livin...

Everyone already knows all our news, but I have not officially blogged it, therefore, you don't officially know it. Or something like that. So here goes..... Avery Rose Behan arrived June 22. A little angel from heaven. Mama and baby did well and Paul was on cloud nine


Heath Ryan Holmquist arrived 'right on time' July 28th. Mama and baby did just fine. Josh called within a couple hours of birth and was able to hear his baby boy cry. Another slice of heaven.



The babies were blessed on Aug 3rd.


Emily spent 3 weeks on an awesome Church History trip that took her across the US and back.


Tait went on a 50-miler in the Cascades with his quorum

Eli and Grady came to visit us for a week in September! Finally, all 3 grandkids together and all 5 kids together too! Who can resist naked babies?


or a pile of babies?


or sleeping babies?


We 'managed' to fit in a Husky game..


and a hike to Fragrance Lake (recognize it Cheryl?)



And finally, we took a week and drove Natasha and Heath to California to help her get set up for when Josh arrived on Sept 15th. Can you say instant bond? It was and it was a sweet moment for father and son.


and of course, Disneyland is a must when in Southern California


Obviously much more happened this past Summer and these are the highlights, nonetheless, life is very full, busy and blessed.