Ghetto bike

Here's the frankenbike you get when you mix a spiderman bike with a princess bike. Stylin' for sure.
And...

A YEAR AGO TODAY...
Playing in the backyard in AK with Tim, Logan, & our kids. There's Tim being trailed by his permanent lil buddy.

When will the dust settle?

Ok... we're well into "getting settled" mode, but life still seems to be flying! I guess that's life with 4 growing kids. Probably need to get used to it! ;) It's a good flying, though!

So here I have for your viewing pleasure, the "getting here" in review:

...From the green of the warm season in Alaska, enjoyed by Laney & Mya with Coach Marci (they tell me that dark green stuff is called grass). I often open digital photos to rediscover colors not in the tannish-brownish family. My friend Tracy says we'll get our "desert eyes" which I guess means that brown starts to look more green. Hmmm.

...To the slightly-smaller Sadie standing on the counter under Tim's watchful eye (mid December right before we all got sick just prior to our flight to Chicago... sorry for all the dirty laundry!).

...To Gib wondering "where they're taking all my stuff?" (it all got here quite safe, sound & intact, thankfully!)

...To an awesome 3 weeks in Chicago at the Logan House. Hey, you wanna guarantee a happenin' holiday season?...just throw in some gi-normous crayons!

It's great to finally be here! Can't wait to start having visitors! Bring your sandals.

I wanna go watt da bubbas

Yep, that's how Gib would say it if we dared step foot out of view of the main supercross arena last Sat. night, be it for a restroom break or food or even to go visit pro riders and their pits. Happy birthday to me and to Gib!... our combined birthday present was even better since we had a guest... Tim got to join us on our very first pro supercross race. We went to Anaheim (Angel's Stadium). Wow, it was so awesome. We had great seats and pit passes, so we got to go meet our favorite pro riders in person (cool!) and take lots of pictures, and watch hours and hours of supercross action as the afternoon practice sessions led to evening qualifying heats, followed finally by the main events! Oh, did I mention the laser show, the fire-belching pyrotechnics and the full-on fireworks show at the opening ceremonies? Yeah. It was well worth it for our first race! The guy in green next to Mr. Shy and me is Jeff Gibson, who we like to follow because of his name! He and his wife were super nice and genuine. We also got to meet Kevin Windham...KW (pronounced: Kay-Dub)...just in the knick of time before they closed the autograph line! This was especially cool for Tim, since KW has been Tim's fave for years and was super cool in person. We were honored to have him sign the bill of Gib's Cubs hat. We also saw all the other pros up close. Great stadium, there too--can't wait for the Angels to play the Cubs. Truly a memorable day!

Moose taken down by Crimson Bears

Tim, Laney & I went to a local high school night game last night - our Palmer Moose vs. Juneau's Crimson Bears... a showdown to decide who goes to the State finals.

[Anchorage Daily News]
Palmer came back on Tanner Grover's powerful 24-yard rumble up the middle in the third quarter. Grover kept his legs churning and carried a pack of Juneau defenders into the end zone. But Palmer would come no closer. The Palmer defense stopped Juneau on a fourth-and-goal attempt at the 4-yard line with 2:15 play, preserving the chance for one last desperate drive.
But heading into a heavy crosswind, Palmer quarterback Smith threw two incomplete passes on third and fourth down, and the Moose season was over.

We had a great time, and we were glad it was a dramatic game, but unfortunately we lost, 14 to 19. Laney enjoyed the hot chocolate and hanging out with the guys. Despite her youth and this being her first football game, she still knew that standing on the Palmer home team side was where we needed to stay put (despite the crowd, limited view, and being grazed in the lip by an errant football).