The
Moore/Gordon Gazette – 2014 Highlight Edition
In January, Harrison turned 15 and started driving with a
permit. Terrifying! He’s actually a good driver and can’t WAIT to turn 16 on
January 9 so he can finally drive by himself (ahem, legally).
In February, Arlie turned 16 and we haven’t seen her since,
although we feel confident we can usually find her at Starbucks. Her 16th
was sweetened when I won tickets to Bruno Mars on the radio! The Seahawks won
the Superbowl – GO HAWKS! and Jeff took a trip to San Diego to visit Grandpa
Vern. Harrison and Hannah saw Pentatonix in concert and were speechless
afterward.
March kicked off with Jeff taking a fishing trip, and me
trying Zumba for the first (and last) time. A blog post I wrote about it ended
up on BlogHer’s fitness page – woohoo! Jeff and I took a wonderful trip to Ohio
for Aunt Laurie’s surprise party and enjoyed seeing Hocking Hills State Park
and visiting with our Ohio family.
April’s highlight was the musical “Bye, Bye Birdie” where
Arlie performed in the ensemble and featured parts. She powered through six
shows singing and dancing her way across the stage – who would ever guess she
was once a shy girl?
In May, Harrison starred as Horton in “Seussical, Jr.” What
a fantastic show! Jeff took me to Teatro ZinZanni as a mother’s day present, we
went camping at Camp Killoqua with good friends, and had a quick trip to
Leavenworth to wrap up the month.
June brought Jeff to his first “rondy” (rendezvous) for his
mountain man group. This is a fairly new thing for him and has expanded to
include a full-size canvas tent and candle holders made out of horseshoes. We
don’t pretend to understand everything about Jeff, but we love him for being
such a renaissance man! June also took Harrison to a professional recording
studio (Bear Creek) to record his first song! I spent the month going on job
interviews as my position in the integrated kindergarten class was not renewed.
Mid-month, Hayley’s girlfriend, Megan, visited from Indiana with her mom and
sister. The rest of the family took off on a week-long trip to Montana where we
visited Glacier National Park, the National Bison Range, University of Montana,
and enjoyed boating on the Missouri river/Holter lake. On the way home, we
stopped overnight in Coeur d’ Alene to visit extended family. The last day of
the month, I had a successful interview and accepted a new position as an ELL
(English language learner) tutor.
We headed to Boise in July to visit for the 4th,
celebrate the great-nephew’s birthdays, and participate in the chalk festival
under our team name “Chaos Rains” (a nod to our Seattle roots). We were
pathetically under-qualified and it was over 100 degrees, so we probably won’t
do a repeat. Jeff celebrated his 46th birthday unceremoniously on
the 9 hr drive. When we returned, Hayley quietly celebrated her 21st
birthday. We took in some new roommates, family friends Rylie and DeSean, and
spent the better part of the month kayaking and enjoying Jeff’s birthday
present – a stand-up paddleboard! At the end of the month, Hannah and I
attended the BlogHer conference in San Jose and had a GREAT time. Lots of
writing inspiration, long days and a crazy closing party hosted by Rev Run (of
Run/DMC fame!). Harrison, Arlie, Rylie and DeSean worked as camp counselors at
Camp Coyote (Camp Fire) at the end of the month, carrying on a years-long
tradition.
August rolled in with Hannah and I going to see Us the Duo
in concert while Harrison enjoyed a trip to Mt. Rainier with his dad. The whole
family saw “The Book of Mormon” and it was scandalously hilarious and horribly
irreverent. So, it was awesome! Harrison, Hannah, Arlie and Rylie saw Bruno
Mars at the Gorge on Hannah’s 19th birthday. The next day, Jeff and
I flew to San Francisco for four days while Harrison began rehearsals for
“Legally Blonde” in which he played a gay pool boy. So, that was also awesome.
Hayley started working full-time at Starbucks, and Jeff and M-L saw “Styx” in
concert (23 years after I first saw them when I was an 8th grader).
We took another trip to visit Grandpa Vern in San Diego in late August.
In September, Jeff and I celebrated 8 years of wedded bliss,
Rylie moved back with her mom, and we took another trip to San Diego to see
Grandpa Vern. Hayley went to Indiana to visit Megan for two weeks. School
started back up, and Harrison and DeSean went to the homecoming dance with
their lady friends. I started my new job, and Jeff took a quick deer hunting
trip (now referred to “a walk in the woods with a gun” because no actual
hunting happened).
In October, Hayley and Arlie attended the Demi Lovato
concert, Jeff, Hannah and I took a weekend trip to Goldendale, WA and Harrison
took a solo trip to Boise to visit family and see comedian Jim Gaffigan in
concert. DeSean moved out, Jeff took a week-long work trip to Pennsylvania and
we miraculously managed an hour-long trip the pumpkin patch as a family. Hannah
started a full-time nanny job, and Arlie’s gymnastics career came to a
screeching halt when we learned that she had a broken back (likely for months).
Jeff took yet another trip to San Diego/Grandpa Vern.
November brought another “walk in the woods with a gun” trip
for Jeff, Dramafest for the kids (Harrison’s play “Wade the Bird” in which he
played Wade, and Arlie’s play “Premature Adults and Their Parents” in which she
played Beatrice, both won a trip to the state festival this spring), and we had
a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. We went to Teatro ZinZanni, visited
Chihuly Garden and Glass, and had dinner at Izumi, our favorite Japanese restaurant
for over 25 years.
December has been busy, festive and fun. The kids and I saw
“A Christmas Story” at the 5th Avenue Theatre this past weekend,
Harrison has performed in many holiday jazz choir concerts, and we’re down to
the last week of school and work until we’re off for a couple of weeks. We had
an Ugly Sweater party with our first open mic night and it was a ton of fun.
Jeff has been in San Diego (two-week trip) helping Grandpa Vern transition from
hospital to rehab, to long-term care facility. It’s become a necessity and he
won’t be returning home. It’s a sad, busy time for Jeff, but we’re grateful he
was able to take the time off work to go help out. When he returns, we’ll enjoy
some more Christmas festivities, Arlie will go to Spokane on Christmas day for
a visit with her family, Megan will come for another visit from Indiana, and
Jeff will squeeze in some more fishing.
We hope the new year brings you lots of laughs and memories.
For, those are what really matters.
Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year!
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