California Redwoods 2018

2015 Update

We have now been back in Oregon for 5 years! I (Robert)have been working at McKenzie-Willamette for 5 years and 8 days. Can’t say it’s been all roses, but the last 5 years have been full of excitement. Well we’ve now been home owners for over a year. I love being a home owner except for the fact that I have so much I want to do with the place, but no time,energy or money to do it! It’s hard just trying to keep up the maintenance, let alone try to make something better. I’ve got projects like 1. New Fencing 2. Eliminate the non-functioning back yard water feature 3. Trimming or eliminating a couple trees. 4. Organizing my garage, to name a few. One day at a time they say. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself. Andrew is getting ready to start Pop Warner football in the Pee-Wee age group (5th grade!) Yes, hard to believe he’s going to be a 5th grader this fall. It’s also hard to believe my baby Bella is going to be a 3rd grader! They are growing up too fast! I’ll try to do better and keep updating this blog more often. Once a year is not enough!

Moving to Springfield!

Robert was hired at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield, OR in the position of Lead Registered Vascular Technologist.  He will be setting up the vascular lab, getting it ICAVL accredited and training the techs how to do vascular exams with proficiency to get accredited.  After that is all done, they are going to cross-train him to do general ultrasound exams, something that he is really happy about.  He is looking forward to his new position and  we are excited about moving back to Oregon.  It will be nice to be closer to family again!  Robert starts August 2!

Robert will miss his old job and the patients that he’s come to know and love.  We agree that it is a good time to get out and this new job came at the right time.

Andrew’s first week of Pre-school

Well Andrew has now had 1 week of pre-school.  He is attending Bellevue Christian in Bellevue.  The school is 1/2 day’s Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.

Tomorrow is Heather’s and My 5th wedding Anniversary.  Today I had flowers delivered to Heather at work.  And now we are going to watch Race to Witch Mountain.

End of Summer update

Well the summer is about over and I thought I would update our family blog.  This summer we have been keeping busy with travel, work, fun and rest.  For the 4th of July weekend we drove down to Winchester Bay, OR to spend it with my parents.  I was able to go on a charter fishing trip with my parents.  We went salmon fishing and caught several….but were only allowed to keep the hatchery fish and not natives, which were mostly what we caught.  My dad and I were both able to keep one fish each.

Andrew got a Superman fishing pole and I taught him how to cast.  He had a great time learning.

In August Heather got a new job….FINALLY!… after having applied to over 100 positions, one week before we went on our vacation to Tennessee, Heather was hired at Northwest Spine & Sport Physicians as a front desk receptionist. She started the Monday that we got back from our trip.  She is working full time, between two of their three offices.  She seems to be enjoying it so far. 

We went on vacation the first week of August and flew to Knoxville, TN where her grandma, aunt, uncles and cousins live.  Heather’s sister Kelly actually joined us in Knoxville, and she got a double family fill, getting to see her nephew and niece (Andrew & Bella)and cousins aunt and uncle.  At Greg and Debbie’s house they had a motorcycle which I took the kids on rides with. We also got to spend a day at Norris Lake riding wave runners, having lunch on a friend’s house boat and using their patio boat to go out on the lake.  On our last night in Knoxville, we got to see Heather’s cousin Josh’s girlfriend Kathryn in Shakespeare’s A Mid Summer Nights Dream.  We also spent lots of time at Heather’s cousin Gregory's neighborhood pool, where Andrew got really good at swimming.  He has been taking lessons all summer.

Robert is taking over this blog for Heather.

Well I don’t have a lot to say at the moment, other than it’s been hard for Heather to keep up with this blog, so I have decided to help her out and try to keep it updated.  Here are a few recent pictures.

It's 2009

Here's the first of four posts for the year :) Well, at least that's about how many I think I usually average anyway! Our family is in a really good place this year, the kids are so much fun to watch grow and learn!

Andrew got his first bike for Christmas (training wheels of course) and he's learning how to turn without falling over. He is also learning the alphabet and likes to associate letters with peoples names instead of the objects in the book. Once we have that down I will get him some Bob books and we'll start reading!

Bella is really into her dolls now and surrounds herself with her entire entourage at night including two pooh bears, a baby doll, a lovey, elmo, and her doggie from Christmas :) She is talking up a storm and trying to keep up with her big brother half the time and blaming him for things the other half (just like a little sister!). She makes us laugh with her antics and is such a sweetheart!

I'm in my second term at UW, the first one was a little rough but I'm ready to dig back in and do my best. I get a little break in February when I fly down to San Francisco for Tara's wedding, I can't wait!!