Okay...

So it's been a really long time since I've posted on here and a lot has actually happened. Thanks for updating the pictures and site Laurie, I think it looks good...though I feel like I've lost some weight since that picture of Janna and me was taken (in case anyone cares, that was our first date...kind of, she still had a boyfriend). Anyway just to kind of catch everyone up and get us all on the same page, Janna and I have been dating for a few months now. She is actually the sister of one of my mission friends (see Donald the blessings of a mission are still coming in 18 months after the fact). Janna is a really special and cool girl...though she is pretty hippie like. She has a bachelor's in psychology from Utah State and yeah she's pretty special. There has been some talk of marriage but there's no need to get ahead of ourselves and start making plans for plane tickets to Utah for the wedding, there still is no ring on the finger. ....but really I'm going to marry her, I just need to come up with the ring.
Its also been a really long time since I was home so I've decided to come home from the 19-23 of August to see everyone and introduce Janna to you guys. I've heard that Laurie might come down and that Jeff and Breein might also; that would be awesome! The last time I was home was Christmas and that was only for like 3 days. The last time I actually saw anyone was at Sophie's baby blessing, well apart from going to lunch with Steph once and when Jeff passed through Phoenix. Oh yeah, if anyone didn't know I'm living down here in Phoenix right now too. Blake Vogt got me a job with him renovating hotels. I've been down here since June 30th and it is so hot! The other day it got up to 117 degrees and it only cools off to like 95 at night...its horrible.
Last Saturday I had a triathlon too. It was the Spudman in Burley Idaho. I went up there with Janna and her family, who were also doing the race. It was a lot of fun and I want to do it again next year but honestly I wasn't physically prepared. Because I had hurt my knee I hadn't run in a long time and I let that affect the rest of my training...I basically did sporadic training for about a month to prepare for it! Stupid idea... Anyway, the race went a lot better than I thought it would until mile 3 of the 6.2 mile run when I suddenly started cramping in my lower quads. The cramping got bad enough by mile 4 that I couldn't even walk. I would stop every half mile or so and stretch until the cramps went away then run til they came again....it really sucked. It was fun though. I'm planning on doing another race the very last weekend of August at Bear Lake. That tri is only going to be a sprint though so it shouldn't be so bad.
Well I think that kind of catches everyone up for while...sorry I haven't been writing very much I'll try to improve.

New Picture and Assorted Stuff

I'm shocked! It's been a couple of days since I checked out our blog, and was amazed to see that Tom's psychotic looking picture has been updated, and now includes Janna! I don't know who updated the pic, but whoever did it, THANKS!!! I definitely improves the look of our site. Now if there's just some way we can crop Tom out of the picture.........

Just a quick update about Stephanie...she's leaving tomorrow to go back to Boise. We're not too excited about that, since she says that she won't be coming back home (other than at Christmas and maybe Thanksgiving).

It wasn't too hard when Laurie left because there were still 5 of you hanging around, so the house wasn't empty. When Jeff left it wasn't too bad either, although it seemed like the house WAS empty. When Tom left, your mom was a basket case and cried for weeks and weeks and weeks. With Stephanie leaving, I don't know that we'll be able to deal with it...Donald's demanding job completely exhausts him (see his post below), and when Kayleigh is in town we don't see him for months at a time. That leaves Doug, who thinks that we're both crazy and avoids us as much as he can. The only thing that saves us with him is that he's too lazy to get his driver's license so still needs one of us to chauffeur him from time to time.

The point I'm trying to make? We (your mom and I) are getting OLD...and Doug's probably right.

Happy Birthday to Calvin

Well I would just like to say happy birthday to Calvin... and to say that there is not a whole lot going on with me. The only thing that I have to say is that I have probably one of the coolest jobs ever. For those of you who may not know what I do on a typical day I will fill you in... Normally I start out my day by going for a four mile run, being paid of course (don't know if I would do it if I wasn't lol), then I proceed to Topsy to watch all of Klamath County's finest jump off the rock, after that I like to either: read, look for deer, or take a nap, all while Brad drives. Around 1pm we eat usually while driving which I almost always follow up with a nap. Then usually I wake up around 3pm when we arrive at one of the many standby spots( swimming holes, horse shoe pits, or poker tables). After that we typically go into town and refuel for the following days adventures. To be completely honest the only real work I do is wash the fire engine at about 5:30 and we then leave at 6... and that pretty much fills everyone in on what I have been up to.

Calvin is 4

Calvin turned 4 today. He had a pretty fun time doing it too. If you'd like to see some more pictures check out my blog. You can just click HERE if you want to.



In other news...isn't there some floating around out there? Don't tell me that Tom doesn't have computer access anymore, I know he's been on facebook. If you're bringing a girl home in a few weeks and there is talk of marriage not to mention a possible date already set, I think that's something worth sharing. I realize that no one likes me, but do I really have to be the last to find out about everything??? (I'm mostly kidding about the no one liking me part...some of you do don't you...Stephanie?? Mom & Dad have to, it's a law....) :)

changes

So, I was bored this morning and did some adjustments to our blog. Up until this point, I had been keeping it pretty plain. It would be easy to go back to, let me know what you think. Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings...

lots of pics

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks. We went camping with Dan's family to celebrate his mom's 60th birthday. We had a fun time at the party, the kids all got to dress like cowboys and run around like crazy. It was kind of cold and rainy (gotta love camping on the coast) but we had a great time anyway.

Yvonne got Leona a cake since it was almost her birthday...this is about as much as she got into it.

Here's Leona the day before her birthday, opening presents from Mom & Stephanie

and here she is on her real birthday...that's right 3 days in a row of birthday celebration for the little one, speaking little one, she's 29inches long (50th percentile) and weighs a whopping 17lbs 10 ounces (5th percentile...yikes, need to get some fat on this girl!)

still not really a fan of the birthday cake eating part...maybe it's the whole store bought cake thing, tastes too much like plastic

my little gamers....

aren't they cute, almost makes me want to have more...maybe....

Calvin, practicing his dead man's float...

Emme, always the poser

Speaking of having another one, I guess March will have to do...surprise! (to everyone...especially me!) so much for that spring marathon (yeah, that blob really is a baby)

She is skinny!!!

Sophie just had her 6 month check up and it turns out, she is skinny! 51% for height and 41% for weight. It looks like the North genes are outshining my own.
I also just wanted to let everyone know about what is going on with Jeff. He was sent away for an emergency business trip to Alamogordo, NM. The store there has failed like their last 3 inspections (because Matt sucks) so they sent Jeff and Jon to make things better. They worked there for 5 days straight. The day after they left the store had their inspections. Not only did they pass, but they got a Green and a 30 point improvement (score is out of 100). They did better then our store in McMinnville. This means great things for us. Justin got to see how Jeff works and blames the success mainly on Jeff. Jeff finally is getting the recognition and gaining the respect that he deserves. So I don't know how much longer we will be in Mac but that's kind of a good thing.
Lastly, we had a lot of fun in Klamath. Jeff was complaining about how he misses the brothers so it was a good trip. And Tom, I hear we are suppose to make another trip down there soon...

Leona is 1 Today

Just thought I'd let you all know, that despite Calvin's best efforts, Leona made it to and past her first birthday. She is also walking around non-stop now and has finally mastered climbing back down the stairs...yeah! Anyway, her 1 year check up is next week so I'll let you all know how she measures up...I'm sure you can't wait!!!

Quick Note

This is going to be really quick...I'm at work, and don't have much time to write. There's a lot of stuff going on, but not much has been written about it. It was good to see all of you for the 4th of July (sorry you couldn't be here Tom and Dan!). We (I'm speaking for your mom here too) don't realize how much we miss having you guys around until we get to see you for a couple of days, and then you go back to your every day lives.

Some updates: Doug has been playing tons of baseball (at least the FALCONS have been playing tons of baseball) and has done fairly well. He pitched the championship game in a tournament in Corvallis and they won 3-2. He got rocked playing against the Medford Mustangs (one of the best American Legion teams in the state), but learned that when you don't hit your spots against hard hitting teams, you pay for it by giving up extra bases. He should be a real stud in the next couple of years.

Steph had a meet in Eugene last weekend, and did okay considering that the Basin Aquatics practice are pretty much a joke. She'll be swimming in Sectionals on the 21st, so hopefully we'll be able to catch that meet. I'm not sure how long it will take her to get back in racing form, but have every confidence that this year at BSU will be very similar to last year.

Donald is "working" for ODF on their fire crew. So far he's only had to go out on two small fires, and has spent most of his time riding around scouting for deer and elk, but I'm sure by the time fire season ends he'll have his share of breathing smoke. Still, it's a pretty good way to earn money for the summer.

That's about it...just wanted to post since I haven't written anything for quite a while.