Merry Christmas!

What a great one it was! Plenty of snow, so we had our White Christmas! On Christmas Eve, Dennis & I, with the pups, drove to St. Maries....very brave of us, I thought! It was quite a long and slow trip, but we were glad to wake up at Mom & Dad's Christmas morning. The family was up for breakfast and a gift exchange, then we all headed to Gram's in Coeur d'Alene for dinner. Dennis & I took off after dinner and headed back to Spokane.

We dropped off our very tired pups at home (they spent the day bounding through the snow!) and then went over to Jenn & Jon's for the evening. Noah got Guitar Hero for Christmas....a very fun game! Patrick and Noah had quite a battle during Guitar Hero! Aly was very cute in her new leotards jumping on her new mini trampoline. Dennis' first wife, Linda, was able to get the day off from work and was there, too. (She is an LPN at Holy Family.) We forgot our camera (oops!), so we don't have any pics from Christmas day, but here are a few from our first dig out and some of the pups playing in the backyard. Of course, there is much more snow now! Ah, life in the Northwest!

Many Thanks!!!!

It's been a couple of weeks since Thanksgiving, but our computer has been out of commission! So.....here's our Thanksgiving low-down. We had a great holiday which carried on for several days. The actual day we spent at Jenn & Jon's. We, of course, ate too much and had a great time playing Uno and absolutely hysterical we-have-no-idea-what-we're-doing game of Dominos!

Friday, we picked up my Gram in Cd'A and headed to St. Maries...but not before stopping off for a latte (one of our favorite things to do). More turkey was consumed, played Scrabble, the boys did some sledding in the little snow we got, watched football and basketball, celebrated Shaun's birthday, and started Christmas stuff! Molly and Ed were free to roam around and were absolutely pooped by Saturday when we left for home! The holiday was full of food, family, and fun! We are truly blessed!!!

Our Story

We met at Spokane Civic Theatre in January 2000 during auditions for "Our Town." Dennis was the assistant director, and I was a member of the cast. We married in August 2003.

Dennis has two great kids - Patrick and Jennifer. Both live in Spokane, which is really nice! Patrick has his bachelor pad on the north side. Jennifer is married to Jon Boyer, and they have two kiddos, Noah (8) and Aly (4). Baby Girl Peyton will make her arrival in March 2009!

In September 2006, we adopted our Yellow Lab, Molly, and in September 2007, Ed the Black Lab joined the pack. We have quite an extended family, too! Stay tuned for further installments of Our Story....

About Jennifer

What a great daughter! Jennifer and high school just seemed to go hand-in-hand; she was very active and involved in many different activities. She might remember other things, but for some reason her time as a cheerleader and as a Homecoming Princess are some things that seem to stand out. After high school she moved to Arizona for a short time. Then it was off to Hawaii to be trained in Youth for Christ. That is where she met her future husband, Jon, and they travelled to the Philippines together to help the people there. The last 10 years have seen her become a highly-valued RN, and we're glad--that is a profession that is always in demand. Her husband is a good man who works as a supervisor at a medical lab. And she has blessed the world with two of the sweetest children imaginable, Noah and Aly. There is a third one on the way, due in March. It is fascinating how busy she stays, always with some new project bubbling to the surface. And that is Jennifer Michele!

About Patrick

We're both proud of Patrick. Go all the way back to the 5th grade and he grabbed the title "Spelling Bee Champ" of the whole county. High school saw him serve as Editor of the school newspaper. Two years after high school, he enlisted in the US Air Force, spending time in different locations in the US and a year overseas in Korea. He trained as a massage technician before becoming a medical lab specialist. The medical lab frequently sends him to other parts of the state, so we know how much they value him. Patrick is an outstanding photographer, with an amazing array of spectacular shots from throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Canada. Just recently, he started shooting seniors (their senior pictures, not them personally), and he's pretty darn good. A wide range of skills, a great sense of humor, and a very, very nice person--that's Patrick!