Kirk and Lindsey came to visit us for New Years this
year! While they were here we toured downtown Portland on a pub
crawl.
Our Christmas vacation was quite an adventure this year!
With winter storms closing the airport, we were very lucky to get on
the last flight out of Portland en route to LAX. We weren't
supposed to fly there, but we were desperate to get a flight out after
our flight had been canceled. We spent the night in Huntington
Beach and were able to celebrate with Roland and Daniel and then flew
out to St. Louis the following morning. We had a wonderful time
in Quincy with Tara's family. The most memorable part being that
we were finally able to reveal our big secret, we are expecting!!
We are due July 29, 2009 and couldn't be more excited!!
We had a wonderful long weekend with Christian's dad and
Daniel visiting. They came in the midst of a winter storm that
left our neighborhood a winter wonderland! It was
beautiful! Tara lucked out and got to stay home for a full
week of snow days!
A few photos from our Christmas celebration in our new home.
We flew to Southern California to spend a long weekend with
our family. We got to take our niece, Keira, to Disneyland and
were joined by Christian's dad and Daniel. We even hosted Keira
for her first overnight! What fun! Thanksgiving Day was
spent at Uncle Mike and Aunt Susie's. It was a special weekend
and little did the rest of the family know, we had a special secret
soon to be revealed!
Our niece, Brandon, joined us for Halloween this year.
We had a ton of fun dressing up with her and taking her
trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
The fall colors around our neighborhood were
extraordinary! We raked over 150 gallons of leaves in our front
yard!
Grandma Gail and Janet were able to fly up for Christian's
birthday weekend. We were so happy to have them both here to
celebrate with us.
We were so excited for Kirk and Lindsey to come up and visit
us. We had a wonderful weekend together relaxing at home and
hiking at Multnomah Falls.
Christian's last onsite assignment was to Oracle OpenWorld in
San Francisco. He was there for the week and Tara flew in for the
weekend. It was a funfilled weekend for Tara with Janet and some
girlfriends going out to dinner together. She also got to go to
the 49er game on Sunday afternoon before heading back to Portland.
After dropping mom and dad off at the airport, Christian and I
decided to go on a tour of the Colombia River Gorge. As we were
driving on the
Washington side we came to Beacon Rock State Park and decided to pull
over and hike up. It was a beautiful morning and there were just
a handful of people hiking that early. The view from the top was
amazing! We continued on, crossed over to the Oregon side at The
Bridge of the Gods, and stopped at Multnomah Falls. Christian had
not been able to go when Tara went with her parents. We decided
to get out and hike to the top of the Falls as well. A wonderful
way to spend our day!
We arrived in Portland and to our new home. Janet
and Gary drove up with us and were a huge help in moving us in.
We love our new home and are looking forward to having lots of visitors!
The day arrived to move out of the Hudson St. apartment in
Redwood City en route to Portland, Oregon.
To celebrate her Master's, Tara went out with two of her
girlfriends to Millennium in downtown San Francisco.
Along with working full time, Tara decided to work on getting
her Master's. It was something she had thought about doing for a
long time and decided now was the time. She was accepted into an
exceptional program at Santa Clara University and began classes in
January, 2007. She worked closely with her advisor to plan out
the classes she would need to take in order to finish before August,
2008. She worked incredibly hard and it all payed off today when
she got the phone call from her professor with the news that she had
passed the final exam! And did I mention she maintained a 4.0 to
the
end? Congratulations, sweetheart!! You did it!
Tara Anderson, M.A. Interdisciplinary Education- Reading
Emphasis, Reading Credential K-12
This summer Tara was happy to be able to attend the wedding of
her cousin,
Devin. The 4th of July wedding was absolutely beautiful, complete
with fireworks as the happy couple drove away after the
reception. What a fairytale! The following day, the family
met for brunch at Lyndsey and Devin's townhouse. It was a wonderful
opportunity to greet the newlyweds and spend more time together before
everyone went their separate ways. I was there just over 24 hours
before it was time to head back. I'm so glad I was able to go.
It was a beautiful, memorable weekend.
After our trip down to Huntington Beach we traveled back up
the coast with a visit to Camarillo to see Uncle Mike, Aunt Susie,
Grandma Gail, Zach and Bonnie. We were on our way to Big Sur,
where we would spend the next week. One of Tara's families was so
generous in allowing us to stay at their home and we were so
excited! The drive up was breathtaking and our vacation could not
have been more perfect! We spent our time relaxing, sunbathing,
taking long walks, visiting the quaint little town of Big Sur, and
eating delicious food at nearby cafes and restaurants. The
unfortunate part happened just at the end of our vacation when a
lightening strike started several fires
around the area. The home where we stayed was unharmed, but
several others around were not so lucky.
The day after school got out we headed to Huntington Beach to
spend Father's Day with Roland. Little did Christian know, it was
also to celebrate his 30th birthday with a surprise party on the
beach. Tara and Danielle had been planning a celebration for
Christian, whose birthday is in October, and his cousin, Andy, whose
birthday is in February. The surprise was a success and the party
was perfect, albeit a bit windy!
Today was a very sad day for Tara as she said good-bye to her
co-workers, students, families, and dear friends. The day was
full of fun and games and, of course, dancing! To end the day the
kindergartners and teachers performed "The Chicken Dance" for all the
parents and visitors.
Ian Wright, founder of Wrightspeed,has
built a 1,536-pound, 300-hp electric prototype, the X1, with a 0 to
60 of three seconds. It has a 100-mile range and recharges in under
five hours. One afternoon we both had the opportunity to go for a
ride with Ian in this incredible car. What a thrill!
Christian was called onsite again, this time to Las
Vegas. He stayed at Mandalay Bay.
On our way back from Loma Linda we picked up Tara's dad, Gary,
who had flown in a few days prior. He made the drive back to
Redwood City to spend the week with us. We had a fun week taking
him to different places around the area like Alice's Restaurant, Half
Moon Bay, and Sawyer Camp Trail. The week was over far too soon,
but we had a wonderful time!
For Memorial Day Weekend we headed down to Loma Linda to
celebrate Kirk's graduation. He is now on his way to a six year
residency in Urology at Loma Linda. Congrats, Kirk!
For the past few years it has been a tradition for us to run
the SF Bay to Breakers and we've been joined by Tara's friend, Andrea,
as well. This year was just as fun as years past. The
weather was beautiful and we had a great time running and people
watching!
Each year WES Foundation hosts the Grand Auction. This
year the theme was "Roaring 20's!" Who wouldn't be excited about
that?! Tara's friend, Andrea, happened to have a dress that fit
perfectly and Christian was able to find his outfit at a nearby
shop. As ticket collectors, the kindergarten team got to be front
and center as everyone arrived. It was so fun to see the
creativity in the costumes that were chosen. It was a very fun
night!
About a month ago, we decided for certain that we would be
relocating to Portland Oregon. While we were sad to be leaving
the Bay Area, our decision came with the blessing of reconnecting with
Tara's cousin, Tamee, and her husband, Jason. The sad part about
that, however, is that Tamee and Jason were getting ready to move from
Portland to Tennessee. Not exactly good timing on our part.
We were happy to be able to visit them a couple times while they were
still in Portland and grateful for their time and generosity!
Tara's birthday week was spent at the Marriott in San
Francisco. Christian was onsite again for Sun JavaOne.
After having a mini-celebration at the Cliff House with some friends,
Christian took Tara to a wonderful all vegetarian restaurant called
Millennium. It was by far the most delicious vegetarian food we
have ever experienced! Be sure to visit the next time you are in
San Francisco, it's worth it!
Tara lucked out once again as she was able to join Christian
onsite, this time to Hawaii! It happened to be the exact dates of
her Spring Break and enabled her to spend the week on the beach while
Christian was working at the Convention Center. We were able to
spend most all of our evenings together, however. The most
memorable part of the trip came toward the end. One of
Christian's co-workers had a friend who led out on shark
excursions. He invited us and several others to go along.
It truly was frightening and thrilling at the same time as we jumped
into the shark tank and watched as the Galapagos sharks swam around us
and beat against the bars. These sharks can be as large as 10
feet! What a trip!
Kirk and Lindsey were on a mini-vacation to the Napa Valley
and talked us in to joining them. Each couple had a private
cottage in Calistoga where we were served fresh baked scones for
breakfast. It was a darling place and highly recommended if you
are ever in the area. We had a delicious dinner together and
spent the following day touring the Napa Valley ending with our ride
back to Redwood City. The weekend didn't stop there! We
took Kirk and Lindsey to a near-by park for a barbeque and we were also
visited by Janet and our neice, Brandon.
Auntie Tara didn't quite make it on Keira's actual birthday,
so we celebrated a week late. We had the best time playing in the
park, visiting Disneyland, and of course opening presents!!
The next onsite assignment for Christian was to Cannes, France
for VM World. He had been there several times before, but this
time it worked out for Tara to go too. The dates just happened to
fall during her school's annual "Ski Week" vacation. The weather
was beautiful the entire time and Tara enjoyed touring Cannes as well
as nearby towns. Christian was able to sneak away and join Tara
on excursions around Cannes as well as to Nice and Monacco.
We headed up to Kirkwood for a day of skiing in the fresh
fallen snow.
Christian was asked to go onsite for Cisco Networkers this
year and Tara was lucky enough to be able to go too! We spent a
little bit of time together enjoying Las Ramblas and yummy Spanish
cuisine. While Christian was working Tara spent the few days she
was there brushing up on her Spanish conversation skills as she toured
around the city.
We had the opportunity to join Dean and Candy at the 49er home
game. It was so much fun, we've decided it should be a yearly
tradition!