Tennis Update

Eric has done well in tennis this year. He started off by not quite making the varsity team, he was going to play as the top JV singles guy, but the coaches wanted him to practice with varsity. Then he was the 3rd doubles varsity with Jansen, his partner from last year. Then they put him with a new partner, the two of them did well. This week they've moved him up to 2nd doubles with Jeremy, and they are also a winning team. He got a few lessons from the Skagit Valley College tennis coach, and she taught him some great fundamentals. As he applies those, he's becoming more consistent. Now we'll just have to see what the rest of the season brings!

Vistors from Austria!

If you asked my kids who have been their favorite missionaries, they will all say, no question, Elder's Husz and Sitauti.  They were a very unique combination of missionaries for little old Burlington about 14 years ago.  Elder Husz was from Austria and Elder Sitauti was from Tonga.  There was even an article in our paper about the two of them. They were just alot of fun.  Well, here is Elder Georg Husz, many years later, with his wife Barbara.  They've been married about a year, and are here visiting friends from the mission field.  Then they will be off to Salt Lake City and New York City.  It was sure fun to catch up with them at the Grimnes' home.

I really enjoyed meeting Barbara.  The two of them seem like a perfect couple!  They've known each other most of their lives, but didn't really get together until a couple years ago.  I asked Georg what took him so long, and he said "Do you want to know the truth?  She always had another boyfriend!" 

Barbara served a mission in Germany.  Georg now works as an accountant for Austrian Airlines.  So he can travel for cheap, but can't seem to take the time off to do it!  Notice the wedding ring on Barbara's right hand.  That's how they are worn in Europe.  Ring on the left hand for engaged, right hand for married.

Georg has been in the Stake High Council for a few years, and Barbara just got called to be a counselor in the Primary.

 Here's the gang at the  Grimnes home, including the Richesons and Thurmonds.

First Day of School

Around 7:20 this morning while Eric was still in the process of getting breakfast down, printing off the final summer homework assignments he had been working on since 4:30 am and getting his backpack in order, Andre shows up in the driveway with this awesome '76 Jaguar XJ. 

 His neighbor asked him if he wanted to drive it to school on the first day! 

Andre waited patiently while Eric finished his school prep and then they took off like two guys ready to take on the world, or the High School.  Pretty sweet ride!

The Last Days of Summer...

Eric, Andre and Drew... nuff said.

Just messin around.  Had a sore neck the next day, too!

Boy on the right, trickster.

Boys on the left, just hangin on, baby!

WaaaaaHoooooooooooeeeeee!

Livin large.

Drew and his 'do.

More Summertime Pictures

Michael was learning everyone's names!

And then he was doing some fun teasing, by calling everyone Grandpa.

All geared up.

Pifford is getting a good talking to.  He better behave out on the road.

They're on their way.  Twenty miles in Diane's favorite place for running, Bayview.

Dennis had some issues with the bike seat, I think that's pretty much mandatory for bike riding in our family.  If you don't come back with a story to tell about the handlebars drooping or the seat coming off and getting run over by a semi truck, you really didn't have much of a bike ride.

These crepes were delicious.  Don't mind the lumps, that's just because I didn't believe the recipe when it said to use the blender.  Katie recommended these crepes from the ward cookbook.

For the recipe, click here.

Everybody loves crepes!

What a Weekend!

We had a big weekend. First, Keith left on Friday to go to Grandma Daphne's funeral on Saturday in Fairfield MT. He flew with Scott, Rod and Grandma Schenk. The funeral went well, Keith gave the opening prayer and was a pallbearer. Then he and his brothers were able to get out of there in time to catch the Saturday afternoon flight home.  Grandma Schenk drove back home with Laura and Trey.
Meanwhile, Eric had Tennis practice on Saturday morning and then the Tennis Team car wash. Then we took Carson and drove to Seattle for the Seattle Sounders soccer match Saturday night. We met up with Andre who was just getting out of a Mariners game, and Keith who just got off the airplane. Our timing was perfect, and we all met on a street in Seattle near Qwest field, thanks to cell phones!

We bummed around the waterfront for a couple of hours. After eating at Ivars, we went into an Arcade.
Right away Keith bought tickets for the two of us to ride the Merry go Round. That was a surprise, doesn't really sound like Keith, does it?

 Then Eric, Andre and Carson played some arcade games. The air hockey was intense!

They had to keep going back for more quarters to play more games until they won enough tickets to get some fuzzy dice! Actually, even though it was kind of silly, I think they enjoyed the novelty of it all.

We raced back to Qwest field. Meanwhile all around town we had been seeing lots of people wearing the lime green Sounders jerseys. Once the stadium filled up (there were over 30,000 people, we broke the attendance record) you could look out in the crowd and at least HALF the people were in the lime green jerseys!

It was crazy. The fans were awesome. There was a huge group at the end zone that did organized cheers the WHOLE GAME! They shot metal confetti out of cannons when we scored. The funniest part was whenever their goalie kicked off the ball to our team, the crowd would shout "YOU SUUUCK" to the other team. I couldn't tell what they were saying for most of the game, then Eric told me. It made me laugh.

We sat in the section where they have unlimited snacks and drinks for free! Hot dogs, popcorn, pop, peanuts, those large pretzels, nachos,and bottled water. 

The view of the Seattle skyline was great. Our team beat the Chicago Fire (sorry Katie) 2-1.  Our second goal was a head shot by Freddy Montero. Yeah, cool.  It was a really fun night!

Tonight we went to the Wilson's for Brittany's pre-mission Open House. There was a nice big group, and she and her parents all asked about Devin. They seem excited now for Brittany to go to Russia, just a little nervous still, but more ready.

Bishop and Kate Atkinson have been a wonderful influence on the youth of the Young Adult ward.  They were so good to Devin, we can't thank them enough.

Then we had seminary open house. Our teachers next year are Jen MacKay, Eric will be in her class, and Melissa Knoblich.  After 22 years of early mornings bringing the scriptures to life for hundreds of youth, Sister Richeson is retiring.  They gave her a nice book of thank you letters from her students over the years. We'll miss her!