Happy New Year! 2008!

I'm sure there are lots of slogans for being optimistic this year since lots of things rhyme with "eight". I think it will be "Great!", I think I'll lose "Weight", Maybe I'll get a "Date!", (sigh)...well you get the idea. So Happy 2008 - you fill in the blank.

Christmas Time 2007. Remembering the past and making new memories!

It is finally quieting down up here in Oregon and Washington. We have had weather that won't quit! We have had wind storms on Oct1st, Nov 2nd, Dec 3rd, and Jan 4th! I hope February won't disappoint us with another one on the 5th. I unplugged my computer all weekend as I stayed home with a cold virus and listened to the wind howl and watched the lights flicker. I was lucky to get through the weekend without losing power.

We had such a nice Christmas with just ten of us getting together at the Langstons in Olympia. Anna and Dan and Mom drove over on Sunday before the holiday and stayed until Wednesday. Glenn and I drove up on Christmas Eve fro Portland and Tammy joined us on Christmas Day after driving in from Yakima. The Langstons welcomed us with open arms, wonderful food, presents, decorations and lots of cheer!

Mom on Christmas Day.

We had a myster jigsaw puzzle that we put together. It was based on three Alfred Hitchcock movies and you have to put the 1,000 piece, black and white puzzle together without a picture to reference and then solve the mystery when it was completed. (Yes, I said 1000 pieces?) The women worked on it for about 8 or so hours on Christmas Day while the guys watched the Bourne Trilogy movies, then the guys joined us. Then, the day after Christmas Mom and Anna and Dan and Cyndi and I worked on it until we all had to head home. Cyndi and Dave worked on it the rest of that day and Cyndi finally sent me a picutre of the completed puzzle at nearly 11 o'clock that night. We still had to read the answer to find out whodunit. We were on a mission to get that thing done!!

The Langston bros sportin' their new hoodies!

The Spokane crowd left around 10 or 11 o'clock on Wed. morning and headed north of Seattle to Doug and Cecile's home. Mom and Anna had made a quilt for Cecile for Christmas and they were delivering it. Anna quilted the top together and Mom hand quilted it all together. I think she worked non-stop from Thanksgiving until Christmas to get it done. It is beautiful. I will ask Dave to forward some pictures of it since I didn't get any. They stayed for lunch at Doug's and while we were at Cyndi's working on the puzzle we heard the weather report. They were closing the pass through the Cascades due to an avalanche warning. The three people and two dogs had to take an alternative route putting them home to Mom's house around midnight.

Mom said it was eerie because they were the only car on the road for quite some time and then they hit dense fog. Scary. She said they followed a semi through the fog and made it fine.

Anna and Dan celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Jan 1! They have just purchased a new home and are still in the process of moving in. When we were home for Thanksgiving, we all ran over to have a peek from the outside since they were still waiting to get the keys. It is a very nice ranch style home with a huge backyard and a full basement. Moving from Anna's tiny (was it even 1000 square feet, Anna?) home to this one is so very nice!

Moving has been a challenge since Anna had to leave for a week or so to attend school in Florida. Dan had to fly back to Virginia on business. The weather is freezing and wet and oh, by-the-way - Merry Christmas! I wish we were closer to help them get settled and initiate their house!!

Jake and I headed to Portland for a few days. We were hurrying home to meet Monica. Shirley's (Peggy, that is) youngest is a merchant marine and was getting off her latest rotation in Portland on Thursday after Christmas. We picked her up, opened more Christmas presents and headed to the beach for the weekend. Cyndi joined us on Saturday. The storm of Dec 3rd caused so much damage. The beach we usually enjoy is gone!! The storm eroded it back almost 100 yards and so the ocean comes right up to within about 10 feet of the first row of houses. No more beach front for these folks. They have a 30 foot drop off where the dunes used to be. They have been shoring it up with bolders and trying to keep the ocean back. The wind was howling once again Saturday night and when we got out to the beach on Sunday it had encroached even farther.

This is how the beach used to be, (as Kyle demonstrated the art of kite-flying-while-not-watching-where-you-are-going technique in 2003...) :

Now, if you can tell, we are standing right in front of those same homes. When the tide is in, it comes all the way up to the wall they are building. There is nothing to hold it back. Amazing!
Here are three of us beach combers, Cyndi, me and Monica....(Jake was the cameraman.)

While we were at the beach I got a lovely phone call from Auntie M. It was so nice to hear from her and Uncle Norman. I hated to hang up. I loved the videos of Jaylen and his Guitar Hero II and Alex playing basketball! I know Cyndi also wanted a Guitar Hero for Christmas, but Santa must have had a limited supply. We loved watching the-up-and coming rock star! Hey, Jaylen! Can you learn to play a song I recognize?!

I can't believe how tall Alex is getting. So, when did that happen?! Life moves much too quickly. Good job on the court. Have you been following the Portland Trailblazers? They are doing great this year. For a change they are fun to watch. Can I get your guys' autographs?

Well, Aunt Rose's idea of videos made me realize I could try to share some. I found this one of Dad and Mom from last Christmas. They had just arrived with their RV and Glenn, Tyson and I took some sandwiches and soup out to greet them. The quality isn't that great, but Mom and Dad were in great spirits and so we were having fun together. Glenn is the videographer. It's fun to see my dad again - just being himself! I hope you enjoy our candid moment together. I hope it works....

Aunt Sue, you are in our prayers for Tuesday and I wish we were there to hold your hand. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

Love you,

Sandi