Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

(Mom and Dad Graves' Christmas Tree, it's a biggun!)

Wow...2009 is drawing to a close...where has it gone? Apparently as you age, life speeds up. Anyway, we loved having sister Tina, bro in law Ryan, niece Isabel and nephew Peyton in town for Christmas, all the way from London!

(Setting up the train around our tree per Jaime's request)

Prior to their arrival we had several events - Saturday the 19th was the annual Graves family Holiday bash, which was a huge success. This is the first time in 3 years that everyone who wanted to was able to show up - no power outages, no foot and a half of snow! If you missed it this year, do yourself a favor and plan on coming next year. It really is THE social event of the season!

Sunday we rested and then took my mom to see Handel's Messiah at the Seattle Symphony. I have to be honest, it was a little more singing than I thought, and a tad long, but we still had a great time, as did mom! After one day of work for me (sorry, Jaime!) it was time for family!

What can I say other than we had a blast with our nieces (Kendal and Natalie as well) and nephew...I'll simply link to the complete Christmas album on Shutterfly here. Christmas Eve we managed to make it to Church, and then got to help Santa visit Isabel and Peyton at Nana's house. Santa didn't want his beer, so I drank it for him...(I do what I can!) Christmas morning was the usual breakfast and opening of gifts for the little ones (and a new zoom lense for Geoff from Santa!) After a quiet afternoon, the rest of the fam headed over for dinner at my parents' house. Food was ate, wine was drunk, stories were told, and a very merry Christmas drew to a close.

(Isabel sets out Santa's snacks)

(Peyton and Geoff race Peyton's new cars)

(Natalie, Kendal, and new cousin Willam)

Now we're getting ready to celebrate the arrival of 2010 up in Bellingham with Courtney and Dan and friends, and then Saturday we head to New Orleans to leave on a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean! I should have a TON of pictures from that when we return. In closing, 2009 has been an awesome year! Such a loving family (old and new!), such great friends, and many, MANY great stories. Thanks to everyone! Jaime and I look forward to the joy and happiness that 2010 is sure to bring...

By the way - top band of the decade? Why Pearl Jam of course! Were you expecting something else? Now go listen to Backspacer, or Self Titled, and let it rock your socks off!

Department Meetings

Go a little something like this...

My Sneaks, Let me show you them!

So it was Employee Shop day at the downtown Nordstrom store yesterday. They also had a special event - if you bought a pair of Puma shoes, you could get them customized by a graffiti artist FOR FREE! So, let's review - New Pumas, a 30% discount, and free customization? YEAH! Ladies and Gents, I give you the "Official" Pearl Jam Pumas!

It's freakin' COLD!

Wow! First real cold snap of the season, and man, it's coooooooold! Like when I got out of the car this evening, I went to yawn, and started coughing because the air was so cold and dry. But hey, at least it wasn't too bad on Saturday for the Husky win! Jaime and I had a fun time at the game trying to stay warm. Who cares that Cal wasn't playing for much, the Huskies put on a great show! And hopefully Jake Locker plans on sticking around to finish what he started. Go Dawgs!



Sunday was the great Iwo Jima style tree raising at the Elder Graves house in Renton. This year's tree actually wasn't that heavy and we had a pretty easy time of it. Afterwards, we stuffed our modest tree into the Sportwagen (more bonus points for the 'wagen) and brought our own Christmas tree home.


Got it up and lit/decorated that evening. With Christmas music on the stereo, I guess I can officially declare that I am in the Holiday spirit. And with that, the madness begins. In this time of Holiday love/reflection, don't forget that the special person in your life would probably LOVE something from Nordstrom! Seriously!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jaime and I made it through Thanksgiving (with 22 of her closest relatives!) It was a grand time in San Francisco - we managed to stay active the whole time - Jaime's grandfather lives across the street from Golden Gate park - and I got to carve my first turkey! All I can say is God Bless butchers! Otherwise I would definitely be vegetarian. We also got to catch up with Uncle David and Aunt Elizabeth up in Napa (and got some wine tasting in as well!) and spent Wednesday afternoon/sunset by ourselves at the Marin Headlands. It is a great joy that when we travel to SF, we get to spend time with both of our families...(and can get time alone)

Two turkeys were cooked, 4 pies were baked, some large number of potatoes were mashed, good wine was poured unselfishly, and a grand time was had by all. Many many thanks to Steve (Pagra) for hosting us! There is no greater joy in life than good food, great wine, and the love of family, honestly. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Marin Album available here and Thanksgiving dinner album here





Now on to Christmas...

Blah

I injured my shoulder/neck this weekend - pulled a muscle or something. Spent Sunday on the couch...getting old sucks...

Check out the new widgets - I have a Google Voice account - click on the link and you can leave me a voicemail. Also - enjoy "Just Breathe" - the latest single off of Backspacer. That's all for now. Time for ibuprofen!

Halloween!!! (Keep it classy, North Bend!)

I realize these are becoming simple weekend updates. Come on, isn't that what "everybody's working for"? "The weekend"?


After a quiet Friday night at the gym, Jaime and I had another action packed weekend (now with kung fu grip!) I FINALLY picked up another keg on Saturday - a 1/4bbl of Diamond Knot IPA. Well worth the drive to Mukilteo! After cleaning up around the house a bit, I got back into "costume" and we got ready for dinner. Had friends over, enjoyed good wine and great steak, and greeted a total of......................


2 groups of trick or treaters. Apparently a lot of the parents in the neighborhood are in the dark to the fact that we give out treats for them as well! Keg cup, anyone? Anyway, on to Sunday.

Ah there's nothing like an extra hour of sleep when you might possibly have been up a little late. Sunday we slowly gathered ourselves, and decided to embrace the lingering fall sun with a hike on the John Wayne trail out of North Bend. The air was brisk, but it was sunny, and an absolutely gorgeous day out. Our hike ended up somewhere right around 6 miles. Not too bad on a Sunday afternoon with an hour less of daylight. The trail follows the old Milwaukee Road railroad grade out of the former town of Moncton along the edge of the city of Seattle watershed. I have to admit, I've had a bit of a fascination with this area as of late. As we had previously (briefly) hiked the other end of the watershed at Landsburg, I would LOVE to be able to go all the way through (and follow the railroad grade) but unfortunately it is off limits. Here's a link to all the pics. And for the interesting back story on Moncton (known as Cedar Falls to the railroad), be sure to check out this link.

(As the sun sets, shadows lengthen)

We headed back to the car. Before heading to Renton to visit family, the Sportwagen required a fuel up so we stopped in North Bend for some diesel. Why would I include a boring story about getting fuel in the blog? As we're waiting our turn for one of the diesel pumps, a girl in a hoodie, sweatpants, and slippers gets out of her car, and pulls the gas hose out. As she places it back on the pump, she turns her backside to us and we discover that 1. She is NOT wearing undies and 2. She's got an itch on her butt that she can't wait to scratch. Wooooooow. Kids, say no to crack. For a second I thought she was just going to drop her pants and moon us - she might as well have...It was one of those moments where you turn to each other and give the "oh my god, did that just happen?" look...

After that - visiting Geoff's parents, dinner with Jaime's Aunt and Uncle, and home for an early dinner...that's a simple close.

Ooh - one more thing - I've committed to Movember - a month to shed light on men's health (and grow a cool mustache!) Here's a link to my fundraising page (benefits the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Live Strong). I'll be updating with pictures of my 'stache as it comes in, stay tuned for updates!