Allstate TV Ads

Wendy and I love these Mayhem commericals from Allstate. This is one of our favorites. I also love the one with the kid mowin the lawn. Which is your favorite?

More OBRA CCX Championship 2010

Rob at the finish.

OBRA CCX Championship 2010

Rob: "Good luck. I don't imagine I'll see you until the end."

More Cross

OBRA CCX Championship 2010

Rob took this photo of the CCX race this past weekend. I think it was a great shot.

The terrain was pretty typical of the race. Peanut Butter consistency mud, bark chips, and grass.

Hallowen, birthdays, etc.

The cowboy.
Karate kid, complete with ninja moves.

The soldier

Don's work Halloween party...check out his picture of his area on Facebook. His team did a Duck Hunt area, and it was fantastic.

Don joined in the costume fun.

William's school Halloween parade

Soren's 2nd birthday

Uncle Joe helps Soren with his gift opening!

I got this kids birthday cake book recently and have had fun making cakes for the kid's birthdays.

David's birthday! When we ask Burke to smile, we get one of two things. This....

or this. I don't know which I like better.

Crazy hair day. Burke of course has to join in!

I couldn't believe how many things Burke could stuff into his little backpack!

A fun pic from the summer of the boys in their new matching church clothes.

Swim lessons this summer.

Summer Reunion

The beach...
Soren hanging out in a random person's chair

And he thinks he's surfing!

Disneyland...I think everyone was pretty wet from Splash Mountain

Great pic of Katie!

Don didn't want to hold everything, so he wore it instead :)

I think this is the best picture I got of the grandkids...I cropped it in Picasa, but it didn't show up cropped when I posted it...don't know why.

Balboa bars.

Three buddies watching a show in their blankets....

...and looking at the neighbor's dog. I think they're so cute.

Halloween

since nobody *else* is posting halloween pics. just kidding, just kidding! except, seriously, i would love to see what all the kiddies wore this year.

brooke and i dressed up for the YSA halloween dance. we went as rockstars--it was so fun to put the costumes together and to punk out our hair. we had a great time!


prepping:


in the car, getting ready to get our dance on:


our outfits. i was also wearing some pretty sassy shoes:


us with our dear friend, mara:


sassy at the dance:

Today is Uncle Burke's eighty-fifth birthday. The greatest friend and brother any person could pray for. I wish each of you could have had the experience of knowing this very unique man.

More Bikes

Greg and William gave cyclocross a try. Here are some photos of their race. Greg's shot is great! MERITO!!!! Photo credit to Pat Malach of Oregon Cycling Action.

Cyclocross

Tonight I competed in my first cyclocross race. Cyclocross is a type of racing where people race bikes on a mixture of gravel, dirt, grass, and mud and are "required" to dismount and navigate over or around obstacles. Tonight's race was the"Blind Date at the Dairy"-pretty cute. It is put on at the Alpenrose Dairy near Rob and Ann's place. Wendy, the boys, and Rob came to cheer me on-and I needed it! The race was much harder than I expected. I did two practice laps around the 1.4 mile course and barely made it to the start line in time for the start. The first lap was very hectic with about 100 riders on the course at the same time. "MASS HYSTERIA!! (name it claim it)" The race runs for 30 min + one lap that starts with the lead rider. Don't think too hard about it, it just works. Anyway, the race starts on pavement and moves to a gravel road. The gravel moves to grass with lots of hairpin turns. For added fun, there are a couple of mud hills you must climb and at least one requires you to get off and carry your bike up. Near the finish line there is a pair of barriers the rider must hurdle while carrying his bike. I also added a video of the race starring yours truly (cinematography props to Nate). The third clip shows me crossing the barriers. After lap one of four, I was totally gassed. Lap two felt better, but by lap 4 I was wiped out... literally. After crossing the barriers, I hopped on my bike, and as I turned the corner my bike went completely out from under me. Thankfully I was on grass, so I smoothly and quickly (according to Rob) got up and hopped back on in time to get passed at the last second by some dork. Oh well. In the interest of disclosure I have also posted video of the finish (again Nathan did Oscar-worthy work with the camera). Thanks for reading. Enjoy the video and the cheering. I sure did.

Happy Birthday to John!

Today John turns 35 and is now old enough to run for president of the United States of America. Tell me why you would vote for John in 2012. :)

I would vote for John because:

he is fun to be with
he is compassionate and thinks about others' feelings
he is happy
he works hard
he is a fabulous father
he has a love of life and enthusiasm that are contageous
he is a great friend
he is fun to watch/analyze movies with
he gives great advice
he is a great example and makes me want to be a better person
he is honest
he loves me, supports me and is my perfect match

Happy 7th Birthday Gregory!

Two pictures from Gregory's Birthday. The top is opening a Lego figure, and the second is finding his new bicycle. I don't think he had any idea it was coming so he was very surprised.

I like Greg because:

He is tough.

He is athletic.

He loves to learn.

He is a great friend.

He is smart.

He is handsome.

He plays well with his brothers and sister.

He is brave.

He likes to try new things.

He is a good eater.

He has great hair.

He is a great son.

Happy Birthday Gregory!

We had a wonderful light rain today with the rainbows shown above this evening courtesy of the sun setting in the west. If you look closely you will see that the rainbow rests on the cross on the top of the hill.

This was a fitting climax to the wonderful visit of Robin and Burke. We both feel so very blessed.

Happy Birthday David Wee

Okay....I am sensing a lull in the bday posting....but I'm not ready to let it die just yet....I hate to cover up great posts....Anna's about her comps and Gramma D's new hairdo....so after posting a birthday note to David...you can head below for some great reading!

Exams!

I hate to cover up the fantastic post about Grandma's new haircut--it looks great and I love it. Scroll down to see the great pics. But, I did want to share that I finally took my comprehensive exam!! Hurrah! This is how it worked:

Over the last year or so I put together my dissertation committee (one director and two readers) and in company with them I compiled reading lists for a primary and a secondary area (for me, 19C British lit and 18C British lit). The lists covered works both from the time periods (so, novels, poetry, essays) as well as scholarship written about it. All-in-all I had probably 300 or so texts. Once every semester the department offers a chance to take the comprehensive exam and I decided to go for it this time around. My committee was then notified and they made up a list of 6-8 essay questions for each area (my director had the final say, though, on what questions went to me). The exam stretched over three days. So, on Wednesday morning I showed up at my department office and the graduate secretary gave those of us taking the exam our list questions for the primary area. I then had five and half hours to choose and answer two of them. By 2:30 sharp I had to turn in my answers to the grad secretary. Thursday was a break. And then Friday I did the same routine for my secondary area. I wrote my answers in our office and my fantastic office mates had put up little signs cheering me on and had put a diet coke for me in the office fridge. And Brooke, my roomie, made me a bag of treats to get me through. I was super, super nervous both days. However, I felt like I had answers for the questions that I chose and that I learned some things as I thought about how to synthesize the stuff I had studied. On Friday it took about five hours to come down off the adrenaline. I felt like Amy's description of Soren when he had shots of adrenaline in the hospital to help him with his asthma: he just went from toy to toy to toy--couldn't pick them up and put them down fast enough. I couldn't focus for very long on any one thing, my heart was racing, I was jittery. It felt so weird. But, I feel great to be done. I should know by the Oct. 11th if I passed (happy bday John!). Three professors (presumably my committee members) will read my answers and I need to get at least 2 passes out of 3 on each of my questions to pass. So, big step. And hopefully I move forward to the dissertation!

Grandma's New Hairdo

Grandma is ready to go to the beauty parlor here at Casa after being convinced by Robin and Burke that she would look terrific with a new hairdo. Burke and Robin first order of business was to convince the hair dresser to even begin. She was most uncooperative, but Robin and Burke never gave up and the rest is history.
Burke and Robin are wheeling Grandma from the beauty parlor back to her room. In the background you can see the wicked witch of the beauty parlor. She tried to convince everyone what a terrific handler of people she was. Unfortunately we were afraid that if she got water on her that she would melt.
Happy to be comfy in the bed at last! Burke and Robin kept her up and enthused for several hours.

Katie and Dad Camping

Katie and I went camping near Mount Hood with other dads and daughters from church. The river below really made me wish for a fly rod and reel.

A picture of Katie and two friends. We played hide and seek with them near the campsite. I thought she looked great (especially considering this is the morning after a night in the tent).

The Wills

I think this is a photo from the last day in Laguna.

William's First Drive

This was taking off for Pat and Carolyn MaGee's. William wanted to ride with Grandma and Grandpa, so this was the compromise: He could steer the car down the driveway.

As a side note, when he saw these photos tonight, he asked why his face was like that. I told him that was how he was smiling.