Awesome Christmas Vacation

We had an Awesome Christmas vacation visiting family in California. We spent 5 nights with my dad and the kids decorated cookies with their Grandma Jackie. Nick went fishing with his papa and caught fish. They even brought some home to eat. We had a great prime rib dinner and received great Christmas gifts. We got to meet our newest nephew, Kaleb. I had a great time holding him.

The next 5 nights were spent with my mom. We again had a fabulous prime rib dinner and opened lots of presents on Christmas Eve. The kids took snowboarding lessons for the first time on Mt. Shasta. They had a blast and now it looks like they want to do it more often. I better get a job!! We did our traditional Italian sausage making with my cousin Marianna. We went to her house and she taught me how to make raviolies. Derek's dad and Linda stopped by to spend time with us before they headed down to So. Cal. to visit Derek's sister and her kids. They really enjoyed Marianna's Italian dinner as well.

On Dec 23rd we went to the Slabaugh's Christmas at my Aunt Alison and Uncle Leonard's house. It was great seeing everyone again. The kids are sure getting big. We pigged out on Mexican food, played games and the kids decorated ginger bread houses. It was a lot of fun.

We had to drive home on Christmas day because Derek had to work on the 26th. We arrived home and opened more presents that Santa had brought. Santa sure was good to us all!! Now we are just trying to unpack and get back into our normal routine. We loved seeing everyone and loved just spending time with our family. We can't wait to do it again.

First Shift as a Lieutenant

Derek is officially a Lieutenant as of today, December 11, 2006. The kids and I took him and his crew an ice cream cake to celebrate his first shift at his new position.

Introducing Lieutenant Grafton

We just received a memo dated December 4, 2006 that reads:

"Engineer Grafton (badge #183) will be promoted to Lieutenant and will remain on "C" shift. Lieutenant Grafton's first day working in his new capacity shall be Tuesday, December 12."

This memo came from Deputy Chief Randy DeWitt.

CONGRATULATIONS HONEY!!!

Natalie's 3rd Birthday Party

Natalie's 3rd Birthday Party

Our youngest turned 3 today. She's such a big girl. We had a small party at our house with some friends and family in attendance. Natalie had a lot of fun eating her cake and opening her presents.

Our Nephew has Arrived

I received a call from my brother early this morning at 2:40 saying that I was an Auntie again. My nephew was born at 2:04 a.m. December 1, 2006. He weighed 8 lbs and was 19 1/2 inches long. His name is Kaleb Charles Slabaugh and they are going to call him K.C. for short. Welcome to the family Kaleb!

Natalie

Whoops

In my last post I inserted a photo of the tile without the grout. Here's the finished product. More photos to follow.

Yeah, our backsplash is finished

The tile for this project had been sitting in our garage since before summer. I finally had some time to put it up. It turned out pretty good for my third tiling job ever. However, I had never attempted vertical application before this nor had I attempted the diagonal pattern. I would do things differently now, but obviously it's too late now. Pretty good huh?

Surprise

After Derek's ODP test I surprised him with a weekend in the wine country. We went to McMinville, Oregon and stayed at the Oregon Hotel. It was very eclectic to say the least. We didn't have a toilet or shower in our room--they were both down the hall. The hotel did however give us nice robes to wear for the trek. After we checked into the hotel, we boarded a van and was whisked away to three local wineries. Derek didn't have a clue as to what we were doing until getting onto the van. It was a great surprise and we had a fantastic time!

The next day I took him to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, home of the Spruce Goose. He thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of the aircraft. Now I know what it's like for him when I go into a scrapbooking or craft store. I enjoyed myself too because Derek was like a kid in a candy store and it was funny to watch. The weekend was very relaxing and wonderful, but we couldn't have done it without Derek's dad watching our children-- so thanks Bob we really appreciated it.

Test Results

Sorry it took so long to post Derek's test results...life happens I guess.

Derek ended up coming in 2nd and missed first by 1/100th of a point. :( His performance was excellent, but he missed one question more than the other guy on the written test and that's where the 1/100th of a point came from. All of the guys were neck and neck with each other and all finished within points of each other. Five tested and four made the promotion list. Derek should be promoted to Lieutenant in a couple of weeks. Hopefully he'll stay on "C" shift and at his current station. We are EXTREMELY proud of him and his performance and are happy to have him back!

Test day has arrived

Well it's finally here! The day that we've been waiting for. Derek got a good night's sleep and woke up this morning a little grumpy. I don't think he was nervous about the test, but something was bothering him. I know--He hadn't had his coffee yet. For some reason he decided not to make one at home this morning. He probably went through Dutch Bros. drive thru on his way to the test. Cross your fingers that he does well.

Countdown to test day

Some of you already know that Derek has been in ODP (officer development program) and has been studying for a whole year now. Well the time has finally come to take the test and get promoted. This program is a rigorous program and is not taken lightly. Derek not only had to fulfill the requirements of the program but had to take some college courses on top of ODP. It's been a stressful year to say the least. He has prepared himself better than anyone that I know and I have total confidence in his abilities to score number one. There are four other guys in the program that he will be up against. The top two candidates will be promoted to lieutenant immediately and then there will be three more openings to follow sometime next year. His written test, consisting of 150 questions, will be on Tuesday, November 14th. He will then have his oral boards on Wednesday and will find out where he ranks on Friday. By the end of next week, he could be a Lieutenant. If you are one to pray--please pray that Derek goes into this test with a strong mind and an abundance of confidence. I will post how he does on this site so check back on Friday, November 17th to see how he did. There will also be a promotional ceremony sometime next year and we would love to have you come if you are able. I will post that date when I know when it is going to be held.

Meet Miss Ayanna Rayne

This is Ayanna at one hour old. We chose the name Ayanna because it means "Moon Goddess" in African and she was born on a full moon. We chose the name Rayne (pronounced rain) because I think Oregon had record rainfall that day for the year and we wanted to commemorate that. Ayanna has given us hope for a promising future with alpacas.

November 7th, Election Day surprise

Our female alpaca gave us a beautiful baby girl around 2:15 in the afternoon. I could tell that she was in labor when I checked on her that morning. She was letting me pet her head, which is something alpacas just don't let you do unless they are haltered and have no choice. I kept checking on her throughout the day and saw that her labor was progressing. I called the kids and Derek out to the stalls, with video camera in hand, and we all witnessed the birth of this beautiful little cria. This is the second cria born onto our ranch this year and I don't think that I will ever get tired of watching the miracle of birth.

Hi from all of us

We created this page to keep friends and family up to date with our family. Sometimes life gets too busy to pick up the phone and talk to someone for a long period of time. We do however, have some free time here and there (usually late at night) to post some photos or write a little bit about what's going on with our family. I know it's not the ideal situation, but you have to admit, it's better than nothing. I hope you enjoy the photos and the every day happenings of our family.