Bunny Beanie

"cast on 3 sts, cast off 1 st, slip stitch now on right needle back onto left needle...

k2tog, k5 8 times (48 sts)...
purl 2tog, purl 6, purl 2tog, k2tog, k8, k2tog,..."

Those were excerpts from the knitting pattern of my first project. I recently saw this really cute baby hat in a pregnancy magazine, and thought it would be great if my sister made it for our baby. She had another idea: "You should make it, and I will help you."

My sister, Alli has taught me the basics before, but it was definitely like starting from scratch. I had to learn how to cast on, knit, purl, work with two colors, and join stitches! Fortunately, I didn't have to do any "character building" (undoing your work to fix a mistake), mostly because Alli was there to save the day. I did have to finish the last ear on my own at home though, a little scary, but it worked out ok.

If you walked past me while I was working you would see how hard I was concentrating, and might mistakenly think I wasn't having much fun. On the contrary, it was a blast to do a project again (I haven't had much time for my sewing hobby lately), especially one for our baby!

"I'm knitting, I'm a knitter, way far away from the Alli" -- in the voice of Bill Murray in What About Bob?

Christmas 2007

When Brian and I got married, we started the tradition of Christmas morning being just us (and eventually our family), and rotating Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner between our two families, usually tacking on an extra day on either side to make the visit a little more substantial. This year we were with the Rushes before Christmas and the Graceys after Christmas.

Here are some highlights:

• First Christmas since we've been married that all of the Rushes were together at the same time.


• Spiders! Brian's favorite Christmas treat (chocolate, butterscotch, peanuts and chow mein noodles)


• Our dogs getting to interact with baby Jamie and my parents' dog Murphy


• Being elves for Grandma and Grandpa and helping to set up Noah and Ella's Christmas presents: an air hockey table and an elaborate Barbie dollhouse



• Opening our stockings at midnight because we would rather do that than get up early


• Brian reading aloud to me while we drove


• Christmas morning service -- "Christ is born! Glorify Him!" -- followed by reading Father Mel's hilarious Christmas letter


• Snowfall as we drove into Everett for Christmas dinner -- the biggest flakes I think I've ever seen


• My cousin Cheyenne and her boyfriend Moses surprised us and showed up for Christmas dinner, even though they had to turn around and drive back to Yakima that same night


• Playing the drawing game with the Graceys and Mollers - we laughed so hard!


• Watching my parents play Guitar Hero 3!


• All the yummy food!


• Alli teaching me how to knit! (more to come on this soon)


• The chance to rest and do nothing...

Lowlights:

• Brian's mom made his favorite dessert, Mud Pie, in front of him, then he found out later it was for Christmas dinner -- She promptly offered to make him another one if we come up to visit again soon


• Our dogs taking turns vomiting in the middle of the night -- good prep for the baby, right?


• My increasingly aching back

Look who's 30!

Our friend, Eric Frazier, celebrated in style, at his surprise 70's-themed birthday party planned by his wife, Emily.

Happy Birthday, Eric!

New Blog

For those of you that don't know, Shannon and I have been regularly attending an Orthodox church. And I've just started a new blog to discuss anything and everything related to our journey toward this ancient form of Christian faith. So if you're interested in having theological discussions with us or just hearing about our story come to Liminal Incense. I hope many of you will come and ask us questions and discuss with us. But if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, don't worry, Rushcapades will continue with its regular programming.

Messenger

Trudy is a very smart dog.  Even as a wee pup, we had to keep her mentally- as well as physically active. She catches on to new tricks pretty easily.  She's also eager to please and likes having a job.  So, in my pregnancy I've started taking advantage of that. 

It started a few weeks ago, when I decided it would be nice if she could bring me the dogs' leashes so I didn't have to look for them or bend over to pick them up. 

"Trudy.  Bring me your leashes."  She perked her ears up, and trotted purposefully out of the kitchen, as I smiled at the prospect of never again having to search for or bend over to pick up their leashes.  A minute or two later, despite previous success at leash retrieval, she returned empty-mouthed, unable to find them (I think they were in the car).  She looked everywhere.  Then she went into Brian's studio and sniffed a short piece of black webbing but left it, knowing it wasn't a leash.  A few minutes later, exasperated by the lack of leashes and desperate to go for a walk, she went back to the 12 inch strap and decided to bring it anyway. "Mom, will this do?"

A second case came when I took Trudy and Otis to the dog park. It was a typical blustery day, and I didn't want to have to get out and dig around in the car for the chuck-it with her ball in it.  I knew it was somewhere in the back with her, so I just asked her to bring me her ball. It took a few tries, since the plastic launching device was previously a doggy no-no, but she eventually overcame her learned inhibition and brought it to my perfectly warm and dry hand in the front seat. I'm starting to like this, I thought. 

Finally, last night I was exhausted. Dinner was ready, but Brian was downstairs in our bedroom. I had been up and down stairs all day at work and at home and didn't feel like yelling. So, I thought to myself, "I wish Trudy could go tell Brian that it's time to eat." Then I had an idea. And it worked perfectly! 

Not only did it get my message across, but when she brought the sign to Brian he thought it was so funny he came up right away, laughing hysterically  :) 

Swiper, No swiping!

For those of you that don't know, Dora the Explorer is one of the current kid crazes. It is an animated television series aimed at pre-school age children. The main character, Dora, is a seven-year-old Latina girl who goes on adventures with her special backpack, map, and monkey named Boots. Children are encouraged to respond to Dora throughout the show as she problem solves teaching kids math, music and other concepts you would see on any kid show. But what sets it apart for me is that Dora also teaches kids words and phrases in Spanish.

Like any phenomenon in the children's world, marketers have taken Dora to the extreme. You can find pretty much anything with the Dora characters on them. But until recently, I thought the show itself was pretty innocent.

On Dora's show there is a character named Swiper (a fox) that likes to steal things. Dora often catches him in the act and stands with feet apart, arm extended, waving her palm at Swiper saying, "Swiper, No swiping." This saves the day as she has caught Swiper in the act. 

This weekend, while we were at the wedding and catching up with friends, their almost 2-year-old boy was playing on the stairs near us with his grandma's cell phone. A few minutes later, grandma came to look for the cell phone and asked him if she could have it back. The little boy, immediately stood up and went into the "Swiper, no swiping" pose to fend off his grandma! A modern day version of "mine!" Grandma finally gave up and asked him if he wanted to go with her downstairs, and happily he left with her, cell phone still clutched in his little hand.

So parents out there with children watching Dora, beware!

Estie and Joel Parris

This weekend Brian and I braved the flood damaged I-5 (which ended up not being that bad) to head to Portland for our 26th wedding. Our friend Estie worked at Camp Firwood with us for the three summers we were there and we were excited to receive an invitation and an opportunity to reconnect.

We love going to weddings.

There were some similarities between Estie and Joel's wedding and ours. They too had a flower TEAM, though theirs was much larger than ours. There were 12 little kids coming down the various aisles, and instead of throwing petals they were ringing bells. Super cute! Also similar to us they do not like cake. They had a dessert buffet with a chocolate fondue fountain, but the big treat was homemade icecream sandwiches--hundreds of cookies all baked by her mom!

Congratulations Estie and Joel!

Weighty Comments

Now that it is obvious that I am pregnant, people are beginning to be a bit more bold with their comments. Almost daily I hear things like "You look great", "Wow, you are finally starting to pop", "I don't know if you are going to make it to February", "You are hardly showing." Here are a few recent, unusual ones.

Otis's vet: "Christmas baby?"
Me: "No, we are due in February, so we have a few more months to wait."
Otis's vet: Oh (stutters for something to say) it must be your coat" *nervous laughter*

Co-worker: "Oh hi, when did you get back from maternity leave?"
Me: "Actually, I haven't left yet. We are due in February."
Co-worker: "I guess I really haven't seen you since school started." (This was a strange comment since my role at school has me in front of the staff nearly every month.)

Both of these happened on the same day and were made by women that have had children. The next two comments came from students in my Pre-Algebra class.

Boy: Mrs. Rush are you losing weight?
Me: No, (boy) I am actually gaining weight, because I am pregnant, remember?
Boy: Oh, I thought you might not be anymore. Last week you looked more pregnant.
Me: I think it depends on what I am wearing.

While I squatted down to help a student by their desk, another girl says, "Mrs. Rush, your butt is really big. You really shouldn't squat down like that."

It's amazing how pregnancy makes everybody feel comfortable sharing their opinions on your body.

Grandpa William Batiuk ~ 1921 - 2007

As you may have read in one of my previous posts, Brian's grandpa past away just before American Thanksgiving. Last spring, he and grandma moved from their long time home in Trail, B.C. to be closer to family as their health conditions, including Grandpa's Alzheimer's, worsened. Grandpa had been in and out of the hospital with various ailments since then and it was sad to see him lose precious memories and be unable to do the things he loved like golfing and gardening. But even to the end, we continued to see his gentle spirit, his wit and his love of nature.


We held a family memorial service at Brian's parents last Saturday. Everyone got to share some fond memories:

• how, even in his 80's, he beat Brian's aunt at golf
• how he always affectionately and inexplicably called his grandkids "ginks"
• how, every time the ginks would walk by and smack the newspaper he was reading, he wouldn't get upset but would just calmly uncrumple it and continue reading
• how, one time, he did something no other mortal has done and lived: stood up to Grandma :) She was voicing, to Brian's brother, her not-so-favorable opinions about the "young people of today" when Grandpa astonished him by sticking up for us
• how he would painstakingly fill out full pads of grocery store contest applications and win fabulous merchandise almost weekly
• how he was one of the first people in B.C. to work on computers, but refused to own one in his home.

Overall, he will surely be remembered for his unfailing dedication to his family, his love of children (they always made his face brighten) and his never-ending wonder for nature.


We finished our celebration by listening to and reading his favorite Ukrainian hymn and eating a Ukrainian meal (he loved his heritage). Grandma gave each of the branches of his family a Ukrainian memento to remind us of grandpa.

My last memory of grandpa took place over Canadian Thanksgiving in October. We picked him up from his nursing home so he could celebrate with us. Carol, Brian's mom, asked me if I would give him a haircut, since I regularly cut Brian's hair. I was a little nervous, but I agreed.


Although, he didn't have much hair, it still was an adventure. His diabetes made him very sensitive to touch, so I was careful not to startle him too much. The toughest part was his neck. Several times I asked him to look down. I think it was the third time when he turned to me and, unsure why he would want to do such a thing, said, "There's just a dog down there." Carol and I had a good chuckle and I decided to just do my best without getting him to look down. I didn't have much time with Grandpa Batiuk, but the times I did I saw a man to be admired and we will always remember him.

29 weeks!

Well, we've officially made it into the third trimester. Our baby girl is actively moving and growing. Without fail, every time Brian puts his hand or face on my belly she responds with a "kick." We don't know if that is a good thing because she is so responsive toward him or a bad thing because she likes to kick him in the face.



The doctor said everything is going great from their perspective (heart beat is strong, I'm measuring perfectly, great blood pressure, etc). Supposedly, she is the size of a butternut squash this week. That is really hard for me to believe that something that big is inside of me. Brian didn't find it surprising, but he did question me on the choice to have butternut squash soup for dinner recently.



Life is getting more complicated for me however. Sleeping is not a easy as it used to be, my back is hurting more often, and little things are getting a lot more difficult. The other day I had to call Brian to help me get my pantyhose on. It didn't help when he came in the room and started busting up laughing.

People comment regularly that I am finally starting to look big. A few people have asked for belly pictures so we finally got around to taking one. I won't be offended if you quickly avert your eyes.

Only a couple more months and she will be here! We can't wait!

Our Babymoon

All of my pregnancy magazines have advertisements for "babymoons." (One last trip as a couple before you have a baby and your life changes forever). Most of the advertisements are for warm places with sunny beaches or romantic places in Europe, so a few months ago, Brian and I decided to take advantage of my Thanksgiving break and go to that most exotic of locales... Calgary, Alberta.

Why Calgary? Well, actually we stayed a few nights in Canmore, a town near Banff, which is a little more exciting and beautiful. There are a couple things that drew us to this destination. First, airfare during Thanksgiving is unreal, so we knew we would be driving. Second, we wanted to go somewhere new, and we could use our Trendwest membership to get a place in Canmore for very little. (It cost more to kennel our dogs for a night than for our room!) Finally, Brian's brother Kevin, his wife Melanie, and their 7 month old baby Jamie live in Calgary and we don't get to see them very often.

The drive is about 10 1/2 hours if you drive non-stop and conditions are favorable. Unfortunately with a 6+ month pregnant woman and two dogs you can't drive non-stop. Fortunately, the drive is beautiful. There was snow all around us, but the roads were bare and the sky was blue. The air was crisp and absolutely FREEZING! (Note the temperature on the dashboard in the middle of the day.)
At one rest stop Otis got to experience snow for the first time! Trudy needed to wear the coat Alli got her because she is so skinny and doesn't have much fur. While in Canmore we mostly vegged out in our room. But we did make one venture into town each day to walk around the shops and get something to eat.
Then on to Calgary to spend a few days with Kevin, Melanie, and Jamie. Melanie and I spent a lot of time talking about new motherhood. She passed on her maternity clothes, (My wardrobe at least doubled!) as well as some clothes and things that Jamie has outgrown. We saw some of Calgary; I drove around with Melanie one afternoon and Brian went to some art shows. We played a great new version of the game of Settlers of Catan and again just relaxed.

Our dogs got to stay with us at their house. Jamie gave them a crash course in how to act around babies! She poked them, pinched their noses, pulled their tails, took their bones away while they were chewing them and even tried to pull herself to standing using Trudy (and her fur!). They were so great! She also exposed them to lots of new smells and sounds. Our only trouble was making sure they didn't lick her to death every time they walked by. Jamie and the dogs even joined forces to become an irresistible wake up crew.

Our only sad part of our trip was that while we were gone Brian's grandpa passed away. We knew it might be soon and made a point to visit him before we left, but it was still difficult. The family decided to wait to have the service until after we got home, and Melanie decided to caravan back with us so she could be there too. Kevin flew in later in the week because of work.

Overall, it was great to get away with Brian. We had fun just laughing, dreaming about the next stage of our marriage, spending time with family we don't see often, and doing nothing. I came back really refreshed, in spite of spending an entire day in the car.

Cool Tip #2 - Iron

So people always say that eating while you are pregnant is so easy because you can eat anything. That hasn't been true for me. I find it so difficult, mostly because I still struggle to eat meat which makes it hard to get enough protein for baby. Then after my last blood test, my doctor said I need to be eating more iron.

Brian has become the "iron and protein nazi," which I appreciate how supportive he is, but it is still frustrating. The forced burritos at bedtime when I realized that I hadn't eaten much protein was humorous/annoying but also very sweet.

Tonight, after completing my last blog, I asked Brian if he wanted to share a grapefruit with me. I can always eat fruit. He said, "Shouldn't you eat some spinach? You haven't had much iron today." I told him that I really didn't want any spinach and he suggested that I eat both. Not feeling that hungry I decided to search for iron rich foods on google, secretly hoping something yummier like grapefruit would be on the list.

Healthcastle.com came up first on the list. On their homepage it listed Spinach as an Iron Absorption Inhibitor and grapefruit as an Iron Absorption Enhancer. There was also a link entitled "Is Spinach a good source of iron?" Feeling a little cheeky, and emboldened by my new knowledge of the limitations of spinach and the power of grapefruit, I clicked on the link thinking that I was going to prove Brian wrong and be able to just eat my grapefruit.

Unfortunately, in the section labeled "So should you or should you not eat Spinach?" it said spinach will be a good source of iron if you eat it with an Iron Absorption Enhancer...like grapefruit. So as I am typing up our story to share with you my newly found knowledge, I am eating a spinach salad with grapefruit slices. And Brian is gloating.

Phew!

The last six weeks have been abnormally busy! Add being pregnant on top of all of the extras at work and travelling and voila! not much blogging gets done, let alone other necessities like cleaning house and buying groceries. Those days I was home involved a lot of scrambling to eat and doing just enough to get by around the house before falling into bed. Being my first full weekend home for a while, I first breathed a big sigh of relief and then got to work, hardly leaving the house for three days! But we are now entering the work week with a mostly clean house, a garage that we can park our car in (yes Friends, the Rush's car is in their garage) and baked goods for breakfast. Stay tuned for the highlights of the last few weeks.

"Otis! You're not stupid!" - Brian

Sometimes, we have to trick our dog Trudy into eating. One nearly fail-safe method is to play catch with a few pieces of kibble. After about three she will begin eating out of her bowl. I'm not sure if she gets the idea that she should eat or if the taste of a few pieces whets her appetite. Either way it gets the job done.

Every time I throw food for Trudy Otis comes and sits expectantly, so I throw food to him too. Usually the kibble hits him somewhere in the face and he scrambles for the rebound. However, yesterday morning after the usual "Otis, ready ... catch" he actually opened his mouth in an attempt to catch on his turn. Excited I praised his effort as he scrambled for the missed food.

After Trudy's turn, I decided to try Otis again, hoping to reinforce his attempt, but not expecting much. This time Otis caught it! I was overjoyed and gave him lots of praise! Brian overheard the commotion from the stairs, confirmed what he was hearing was true and wished he could have seen it. Then he too praised Otis with some pats and said with delighted surprise, "Otis! You're not stupid!"

This morning Trudy required another round of kibble toss. And as Otis waited for his turn he had the same kind of crazed look Trudy gets while fetching at the dog park, quivering with excitment. I paused a little too long after saying ready and he sprang up directly in front of me. Hilarious! He missed that one, but was able to catch the next. A light bulb must have gone on. So our boy may be slow, but he's not stupid.

Bingos!

As many of you may know, Brian and I enjoy playing games. We don't play as much as we used to, but we try to play something while we are eating dinner together. The game of choice lately has been Scrabble.

Scrabble is great because it can be paused at any time. Or one player can take their turn while the other is not there. Lately, our schedules have not matched much, so it may take us a few days to finish a game. It is always fun to come home and see what word Brian has added.

We allow each other unlimited access to the Scrabble dictionary, under the pretense that we are "learning," though most of the words I look up I don't remember. Brian is good about asking what the word means; usually I am just excited that I got a high score. We probably will be those parents that do make their kids learn the meaning. But for now, I'm just trying to keep up with Brian.

Usually our games are pretty close, right around 300 points. Earlier this week Brian had a great game and nearly broke 400. So, of course, he wanted to start a new game the next night with the mission to break 400.

The game started normally, but then on his third turn he got a bingo (using all of your tiles and earning a 50 point bonus) on a triple word score. On the subsequent two turns, he got two more bingos. By the seventh turn he was already over 300 points! All in all, he got 4 bingos and 4 triple word scores. He didn't even have all of the good letters. I still had a pretty good game ending with 274 points. Brian, however, finished this epic game with a score of 526! The picture above is a photograph of the now famous game.

Bring on the Scrabble championships...

Tip: If you can't get a high score, keep the letters on your tray that spell the word Starline, and find a place to get rid of anything else.

Name List

Shannon and I have been talking about potential baby names for years, narrowing down to a short list of first and middle names we both love, so when baby pops out naming her should be no harder than a multiple choice question. I like our long incubation period, because a name is kind of like a tattoo--do you really want a mermaid on your butt cheek when you're 83?

Maybe.

But we're not discussing tattoo's here. Or my butt cheek, left or right.

Anyways, Shannon and I keep telling ourselves we're not settling on a single name before the birth because we know several people that have had to change their mind when they saw their baby. My brother just did it last spring and Shannon, bless her little bisyllabic self, was supposed to be a Jessica. Despite our best efforts though, one name is leading the nominations.

It's perfect. It sounds beautiful but shortens well. It's not too common and not too weird. It looks pretty on paper and feels good to write. It's versatile. It has a suitable manifestation for whatever life pursuit little *BEEP* pursues. Etc. Etc.

And we're not going to tell you, or anyone, what it is. It's too easy to criticize a name before it's a person. And we'd rather not spend the next four months defending, persuading, or second guessing.

But--to appease you ravenous vultures--I present you with a shortlist...

...of names we will NOT be naming our child:

1) Brianrietta - although a personal favorite, this one didn't pass Shannon's rigorous screening process.

2) Kwanesha - NB. that does NOT exclude its variant: Qwanesha.

3) Hairb - even though a new surname may be in her future, there were a few tangles to work out with this one.

4) ???

Feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments. The list is short but it's not closed.

I Felt Her!

The other night Shannon told me to put my hand on her belly. Man, we have a strong little lady in there. There was no question of whether or not I felt it. It was definite. I just hope it's not one of these! ----->

It's a GIRL!

Kinda creepy...but she's smiling or maybe just practicing swallowing.

Here is a foot. I am starting to feel this cute like thing often now.

Isn't she cute? :) Maybe praying or sucking her thumb?

The ultrasound went well. Both of us look really healthy.
She almost ruined our party by hiding behind my belly button. It was like a censor ball.
But in the end we got her to move.

Gender Release Party

I think we've contacted everyone we know in Bellingham. But in case someone will be in Bellingham tonight that we are not aware of or in case anyone feels like making a trip to Bellingham this weekend or for all of you that like a good laugh on a Friday, the following is our invitation for the Sex Party we are throwing tonight.



P.S. If you have any funny stories related to this invitation, please post them under comments. We will be adding ours soon.

P.P.S. The creativity in the invitation is all Brian's! But we need to credit my sister Allison for the original idea.

P.P.P.S. For those of you that will not be about to make the party, I will be posting pictures from our ultrasound and the offical blog announcement tomorrow.

Surprise!

My sister has been knitting since she was really little. In high school, I worked at an espresso bar. Next door there was a yarn shop. Allison, my sister, would come to work with me and knit with the elderly ladies that ran the shop. As she has grow older she has kept the habit and made it a tradition to make a baby blanket for friends and family.

A few weeks ago, I started teasing her about the blanket she would be making for us (has she started, what color will it be, etc.). Smiling, she responded "How do you know that I'm making you a blanket?"

A week ago Sunday, my dad's sisters threw us our first baby shower since my Aunt Tami and Grandma were here from Georgia and Florida. We had brunch, then opened presents and played one shower game in the lobby of a hotel on the Seattle waterfront.

We opened Alli's present first, and were very surprised! Inside was the cutest, softest baby sweater and felted shoes you have ever seen! I've attached a picture but if you ever come over you need to feel it!

My mom pretended it was her baby grandchild and cuddled for quite some time.



My family blessed us with so many cute baby clothes, soft blankets, and stuffed animals. Grandma continued her tradition of buying the first high chair for each family.We are really excited about all of its features.


Almost everything was in neutral colors since we don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl yet. All the yellows, tans, and greens mean that we won't have a closet full of blue or pink.


We moved everything in to the nursery this week. It is fun and seems strange at the same time to have all of this baby stuff in our house.

Butterflies?!?

I've been waiting for weeks to be able to feel the baby move. Since I am not feeling sick any more it would be nice to have some reassurance that my baby is still alive and well. It would provide some proof that the baby is growing like he or she is supposed to be doing and I am not just getting fatter for not reason.

The nurse asked me at my last appointment at the end of August if I had felt it yet, but I had to say I didn't think so. Everything I've read has said that you start to feel the baby between 16 and 20 weeks, usually toward the end of that window for your first. I was only 15 weeks then, so I didn't worry. But as time went on, I started to pay more and more attention to every little feeling. I have heard it described as feeling like hiccups, gas, butterflies, fluttering...all of which didn't really help me know what I should be expecting.

Almost every mom has told me that feeling the baby move is what they miss most about pregnancy. Some gave me advice to help me feel it for the first time. I tried their different techniques, but nothing. Then last night in bed I did feel this kind of flutter. It was very short, but different than anything I've felt so far. I thought to myself "Maybe, but maybe I am just wishing it so hard I imagined it." Then today while taking attendance 5th period I felt it again. So I'm thinking my time has finally arrived.

Bella Bands - Five Star Rating

Just before school started my normal clothes started to get a bit uncomfortable. I think it was my friend Emily that tipped me off to this great product called a Bella Band. It is a band of spandex that allows you to transition more easily in between your normal clothes and your pregnancy clothes. I got two, one black and one brown with lace. They look like the bottom of a camisole showing below your shirt, which is currently in fashion. Boy, were they life savers! Today was the first day I didn't have to wear one to hold my maternity pants up. :)

August Pictures 1 - Grandparents' 50th Anniversary

The great chef Louie prepares our scrumptious food.

He did have many sous chef though. This is my cousin Sam.

Grandma and Grandpa's long time friends, Guy and Joy joined the party! Joy and Grandpa went to kindergarten together, and Guy and Grandpa were good friends in high school. We had a lot of fun getting to know them and learn a lot from them!

Uncle Mike created a trivia game. This is team La Tigre. They lost, but were stylish and had a good cheer.

G.G. and Orville enjoyed watching all the games. It was great to see them again!

Grandma and Grandpa Robbins...still in love after 50 years!

Brian and Shannon Rush...still in love after 5 years and looking forward to the next 50!

My mom's family: Aunt Becky, Grandma, Uncle Mike, Grandpa, and Mom.

My family: Me, Brian, my sister Alli, Mom, my brother Jeremy, and Dad.

Jeremy and his girlfriend, Lauren - They flew in from Hawaii for the event. It was great to get to know Lauren and celebrate Jer's birthday with him.
The whole gang!