wanna buy a duck?

Roughly 2.5 weeks around Christmas 09...

Caught! in one of those department store mirror/security cameras while xmas shopping for the kids downtown.

Post-shopping sushi time at our favorite Ballard spot, Sam's Sushi :)




perfect angels...pshhh!

The annual Oltman's/Ott's take over downtown for Zak's birthday trip. Sooo why is it again that Shan had to ride in the trunk downtown when there's a 13 year old in the car...something doesn't seem right here.

mom being "the mule" while we all take a spin on the carousel

Gotcha!

...thrilled

Christmas eve dinner with the Oltman's...now that's what I call a bottle-o-wine!

Sunset Christmas eve night in Edmonds

mama bear

papa bear (in all his glory with his specially shipped Tasty Cakes from PA)

YUM!

I like presents

...a lot

Cupcake adventure for the bday party - before

don't hate on my ensemble

go little guys, go!

so proud, night one done!

up and at 'em, time to make the frosting!

whisk, whisk, whisk...and more whisking.

The after picture...

something went wrong with the frosting, my egg whites and sugar never "peaked" as they should have and it tasted like a bowl of butter (perhaps that had something to do with the 4 sticks of butter). To top it off, the cupcakes turned out dense and not so moist as expected for buttermilk cupcakes... oh well, it was my first go at homemade cupcakes from scratch.

my creation...

...and what they were supposed to turn out as :P

Instead we ventured to Top Foods only to buy box cake mix for the bday party...the kids clearly didn't care in the end

the bday girl with her bday kiss from nana :)

wait for it...

the terrible 3's, no really

get it girl!

Shan and her ma (so stinkin cute!)

she likes presents too :)

pig pile as the night ended. All and all a fabulous Christmas season 09...next up, New Years!

Hello 2010.

12 Days Of Crossfit 09

gutted out in order like the Christmas song...

1. 100 yard run
2. bear crawls
3. second handstand holds
4. clean and jerks
5. dive bomber push-ups
6. hanging knees to elbows
7. KB swings
8. hanging leg raises
9. ring dips
10. squat thrusts
11. pull ups
12. rocket pistols

my time: 31 min 13 sec

(then some 100lbs tire drags to top off the workout, you know, just because)

welcome winter and the runny nose that comes with it

Lake Tapps frozen winter tundra

What better use of a chilly December day than to make tasty baked goods!

Shan's 'famous' banana bread recipe

Chocolate covered pretzels and oreo's for days

Gettin in the holiday spirit

My name's up there!!

Last Sounder regular season home game

Deez doing what Deez does best...taking over the furniture

Black Friday downtown Seattle

My sippy cup-o-cocoa

The family pic minus our lovely photographer Shan. Me, Mom, Cheryl, Grandma, Aunt Cathy and Zak

Zak and I with our kid cups :)

Shan thinks the book would have been cooler and buy-worthy had the title Sway be written as "SWAAY" in honor of her

The crowds in front of Westlake Center squishing in for the tree lighting, the lighting of the Macy's star and then the mini fireworks show to follow celebrating the kick off to the holiday season.

The first (insert special kind of tree in which I can't remember the name, here) tree to be planted in Washington state 30 years ago is now bracing us with its beauty as the Westlake Christmas tree 2009. Yippee!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but these bright yellow leaves contrasting with the dark sky and the lights around the tree...so pretty! Not to mention that it was one of two trees that still had leaves on them. Yes, I'm easily entertained.

EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) ME!

After 3+ long months of working my tush off, its finally paid off. I have completed my EMT course with flying colors! I so wish I had a copy of my certificate to add to this post, it's just a piece of paper saying I'm a rock star, but a lot of hard work and sacrifice when into that little certificate!

Next step, SFD interviews and CPAT...the word on the street is an Aug 2010 recruit class! If there's one thing I've learned about the SFD is to never count on anything they say until you have it in writing with it notarized and signed by the whole department. With that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if they delayed our so called Aug 2010 start. One can always be hopeful though!

I have eyes for 2010 :)