Cups, cars and cream

H&N playing in the tub outside on one of our rare warm days. Like their farmer's tans? They like to stack and drink out of small potting cups. We have since bought them a larger tub.

N&H 'drive' a car at the Dimond mall:

Nathan has 'sensory time' with shaving cream at the ELC:

Work team builder

My work group had a 'team builder' in mid-August that included panning for gold, riding the train, rafting the Placer River, eating dinner at the 7 Glaciers restaurant and staying overnight at the Alyeska hotel. It was really fun and nice to get out of the office for a day!

Here we are panning for gold:

Note my intensity caused by gold fever:

Goofing around:

Starting the rafting trip near a glacier:

Riding the rapids in massive life jackets and ponchos:

The train dropped us off and picked us up:

Sierra (my intern) and me on the train:

Potter Creek Marsh

I'm just catching up on some photos from July. Here are some from an outing to the Potter Creek Marsh boardwalk. We copied the idea from our friends with twins, Carrie & Brook. We originally were going to walk on the Potter Creek trail hike again, but it was closed due to a bear on a moose kill near the trail. My mom, Cathy, and stepdad, Dennis, were visiting us and are in a couple of the shots.

British Endurance Athlete

Allow me to introduce our friend Brandon. Did I mention that he is a British endurance athlete? Brandon and his wife Ashley are very good friends of ours, and they moved to the UK a couple years ago (Brandon also works for BP). He flew back to Alaska in July for a "vacation" that consisted of cycling 400 miles with 19,000' of elevation gain in 24 hours and 56 minutes. We are very proud of him for completing the race with a great time and qualifing for the RAAM (legendary Race Across AMerica endurance race). Here are some pictures of Brandon at our house the day after the race:

Tennis video

When Henry and Nathan are tennis pros and win gold medals in the Olympics, we'll say: "Yeah. They've been playing tennis since they were one."

Chicken video

Dogs, chickens and horses

H&N love animals! They had to make the rounds and visit the dogs and chickens at my dad's house multiple times per day. The animal sounds they have been practicing while looking at books really came in handy.

Chickens:

Sunshine:
Riley:
Horses (at Cathleen's dad's house):

Tennis

If you can't laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at? You'll know what I mean when you see the pictures of me "playing" tennis below. I thought I was doing pretty good, but the evidence would prove otherwise. Joe and I had a lot of fun learning a bit of tennis and even took a lesson from a pro! Henry and Nathan loved throwing tennis balls all around this court at Cathleen's parents' house.

Henry throwing a ball:

Nathan running and throwing a ball:

Dad in a tennis pose:
Suzy self portrait:
Suzy returning a shot:
Too high:

Not sure what to say about this one:

Calm and collected:
Skip this one:
Sweet:

Tumalo Falls

One day we took a trip to Tumalo Falls for a little hiking.

The falls:

Family shot:
Marie, Caitlin & Henry:
Caitlin, Joe, Henry & Marie:
The river downstream of the falls:
Pad (aka Dad):

Bend

We stayed in Bend for a week after the reunion to relax and visit with my dad, Cathleen, Caitlin and Marie. It was wonderfully warm there! Here are some shots of our favorite activities around the house.

Front of house (recently remodeled):

Back of house:
Marie feeding Nathan his bottle:
Caitlin and Joe feeding Henry his bottle:
Matt and Caitlin play with babies in the giant tub of water:

Joe, Marie & babies play in the water:
Caitlin & Henry on the slide:
Marie & Nate on the slide:
Nathan on the swings:
Can't get enough swinging:

Hatchett-Carr-Jackson Family Reunion 2008

Over the 4th of July weekend, we flew down to my dad's house in Bend, Oregon for a family reunion. There were about 80 people there in total. Quite a group! All are descendants of my great-grandparents, Granny & Fred. Here is a photo of the Carr side of the family: