Hiking with the boys and Grandpa Sykes (my dad)

I love seeing the boys and my Dad together. They soooo enjoy their time with him. It just warms my heart to see my boys and my Dad together. Usually I am working on the mountain house with my mom so much on these trips that I only get to HEAR about the hikes - this time I decided to be a participant! So glad I did. We even saw a Steelhead spawning - how cool!

Grandpa Sykes (formerly known as Papa Arnold) teaching the boys about fungus. He kept saying, "a fungus is among us." To which Brett would reply in his "angry elf" voice, "I'm not fungus." :)
My Dad and his little buddy (Brett made it the entire way without being held - and we were hiking/walking for over an hour! wow!)
I LOVE this picture of my Dad!
The boys played along the riverbank in the mud/sand for an hour - it was fun watching them. They LOVED getting dirty without mommy saying, "NOOOOOOO! Don't get dirty!"
This is my FAVORITE shirt of Brett's. :)

Eric and Brett with their cousin, Langston

It is such a joy seeing our boys with their cousin. My brothers and I grew up having a close relationship with our cousins and it warms my heart to see our boys getting the opportunity to really build a bond with their cousin as well. And one more cousin will join the mix on December 31st! Yeah!!!!

It was SO hard to get 3 little guys to look at the camera and somewhat smile at the same time! This is the pic Grandma and Grandpa Sykes (my mom has conceded to being called Grandma Sykes vs. "Mimi" - yeah!) are using for their Christmas cards. :)
Langston wondering what is up with these two
Sweet little (not so little actually) Langston - 12.5 months old wearing 24 month size!
Eric at our anniversary celebration dinner
Brett at the dinner as well

My 20 year High School Reunion

WOW! 20 years! How did that happen so fast? It was fun seeing old friends - I LOVED catching up with friends from grade school (West TV). Hardly anyone had changed - except gotten more mature and more grounded which was a nice thing to experience. It was wonderful finding out who was married, who had kids, how many, where did they live....It was nice to attend and I am really glad it is behind me - at least for another 10 years. ;)

Greg and I headed to night #2 - so fun getting dressed up with my hubby!
Some of my best girlfriends from growing up - Heather, Lynn and Kris(sy)
"The Girls" - I am so blessed to be able to see most of these gals at least twice a year when I am up in Portland. They were my rocks in high school.
Heather, Me and Susan - we had LOTS of fun in high school and are STILL great friends! I am so blessed!

Celebrating our 6 year anniversary with family

Greg and I had the good fortune to celebrate our anniversary this year w/ our boys, my parents, my brother - Stephen, sis-in-law - Sara and sweet nephew - Langston. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Meriweathers, in Portland.

We cannot believe it has been 6 years since our wonderful fun filled wedding weekend in Sonoma, California. As the saying goes - time flies when you are having fun....

We have done soooooo much these first 6 years that I must say I wouldn't mind "cruzing" for a bit...whew! Thankfully, it's all been wonderful what we have done and created.

Stay tuned for more pics - my computer is having a fit so I'll add more pics from this night as soon as I can.

The season has begun...

Greg is very happy to have his little buddies to watch "SC" football with him. I think Brett almost gets more excited than anyone - he LOVES watching football. There has been a long standing rival in our home (that Greg helps instigate) between the USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns. My brothers and I went to Texas so naturally we are fans. When USC and Texas played for the national championship a few years ago things got pretty heated. Greg has convinced our boys that the chant is, "Beat the Longhorns!" ugh! I'm trying to work with the boys that they CAN root for BOTH teams. However, I'm afraid they've drank too much "kool-aid" and the brain washing is complete.

Now, my only goal is to make sure they don't choose to go to school at USC - not because of the rivalry - simply because I prefer they attend college in a safer area...I mean really, have you seen where USC is located??? (Sorry to my SC fans - hope you'll still speak to me) :)

Game day jerseys/shirts worn by all (well, not ALL - I don't have one)
Go Trojans!
Daddy obviously happy about the most recent play.