Laura’s Blog

Congratulations Kristi!  She is finished at SWCC and will be headed to WCU to continue her education.  I am so proud of all the work she has put into becoming a paramedic.  She still has some state exams to take but I know she will pass them with no problem.  Glad I was there to celebrate and hope to be there in 2 more years for next one!

Gary turned the big 3-0 and we celebrated by going to the bowling alley.  Of course I looked quite amusing throwing my bowling ball and personally think I should stick to Wii bowling.  I know that Gary had a wonderful time though and I guess that is what counts!

In March Gary and I drove to Florida to catch a few baseball games.   We watched the Braves since that is Gary’s favorite team and then saw the Phillies play the TIGERS (Thanks Uncle Ken for pointing out my mistake!!).  It was quite a bit of driving but the weather was beautiful.  The amount of baseball knowledge stored in Gary’s head is amazing.  I am not sure I can recall much of it but he assures me that is okay.

Dad and Heidi made the trek up from FL for a post Christmas visit.  You can see that Dad and Bryanna had a great time baking cookies and playing in the frosting.  There was more time to play Wii too.  Gary was the singer as the twins rocked out the guitar and drums.  They were quite hilarious.

 This year Ryan , Valerie, Alexis and Bryanna were able to make it to OK to celebrate after Christmas.

They brought their new Wii so we could all try it out.  Rock Band was big hit with everyone!

Ice skating up in the city was fun too-it was not nearly as cold as last year.

I was the maid of honor in a good friend’s wedding this summer.  It was a haul to get to her place in West Virginia but worth it to see her so happy.  Everything came together perfectly!

 The family gathered to celebrate the end of all of Ryan’s hard work.  I am not sure how his family survived the schooling because he was pretty grumpy sometimes!  Truthfully though we were all very proud of his accomplishment and know there were will be many more great things to come!!  Congratulations to my big brother.

The first section we visited was the rainforest region of the park.  The amount of yearly rainfall is far greater than anywhere else in the area.

The coastal region of the park was definitely a highlight.   I have visited different beaches on the east coast, the west coast, in the Carribbean, South America and Europe.  This one really amazed me with the enormous trees scatter along the beach and the beautiful stones covering the sand.

Once we had seen BC we rode a passenger ferry back to the states.  We wanted to see a different part of Washington so we headed to Olympic National Park.  It was a really neat park and one of the highlights of the trip.  If you look in the next section you will see some of the unique parts of the park!