Jacob, Jacoby and Allison http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Profile=1001&ExpNodes=1001&Category=NEWS01

Saturday, November 17th was a big day around our little berg of Madras. Our "Hometown Hero," Jacoby Ellsbury, came home for a parade through town and then a big celebration in the HS gymnasium with approx. 2500 people. By chance it was also a big day for our "In-home hero," Jacob. It was his sixth birthday. The Mayor declared Nov. 17 to be Jacoby Ellsbury Day and we thought it was pretty cool that that is also Jacob's birthday.

Adding to the fun - Allison was on the cover of the Bend Newspaper, The Bulletin, in a picture associated with the Jacoby Ellsbury Parade and Celebration. Check out the article with the following link (its also hyperlinked) and click on the article about Jacoby and then click on the tab next to his picture that says "More Photos" for the picture of Allison: http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Profile=1001&ExpNodes=1001&Category=NEWS01

Jacoby is a product of our town and actually was active in our church when he was younger and now he is the center fielder for the Boston Red Sox and was, arguably, the best player in the World Series. The whole town loves him as you can imagine.

Metolius Elementary Respect Video

I made this post mostly because I wanted to see how it works. It is a video I made with students at my school last year to help the students with the school expectation of respect. It was fun to work on and then we showed it to the whole school at an assembly. Its a shade under 5 minutes long.

Kids are awesome!

If you don't think Katie is dang cute than you don't know cute. Here are a couple great, recent Katie moments. We hit the coast for Labor Day. The kids had a great time. We saw 3 whales, several seals, really good tidal pools, built sand castles, went through 3 pairs of kids clothes, ate overpriced, crummy chowder at Moes and basically had a great day at the Oregon Coast. The other pic is from Katie's 2nd birthday. She is basically the minature, female version of Harrison. Which means she is a born comedian and loves the spotlight. As soon as we put the tiara on her head and fired up the cake she was in full form and had the kids cracking up. Shirlene made another cool cake and no, we did not eat the doll in the middle of it.

Duck Football

Go Ducks! Yes, we are big UofO Fans. No, not what you are thinking, we are not BIG fans. We are actually pretty average in size. But as fandom goes, we are big. We have football season tickets and going to games is something we love to do. Autzen stadium is a fantastic place to watch a game whether you are a Duck fan or not. These pics are from the season opener that Allie, Harry, Jake and I went to. It was so hot! We kept well hydrated, had a great time and the Ducks played well. We had four 20 year olds sitting in fron of us that were "well-oiled" for the game. Every time the Ducks made a big play they high-fived us. Jake thought that slapping hands with a bunch of big guys was awesome and the smile on his face was priceless. The kids were pumped to get a picture or autograph from players (even though they didn't know who most of them were). Most of the players are great about staying on the field after the game and mixing with the crowd. The fans flood the field and its mayhem as 1000 teenage boys and middle age fathers (me) try to recreate great duck moments on the field with souvenier footballs. I have been hit multiple times. A month ago we took 13 young men from our ward to a game and we were throwing the ball all over the field ducking in and out of the hordes. One of our bigger youth (Kelby) went deep and I threw a Joey Harrington (pre-NFL) worthy spiral to the corner. Unfortunately, our moment of glory was interrupted when Kelby was cut down at the kness by a 3 year old girl who obviously was in a Cover 2 defense. They both hit the deck and even though I cried "Pass Interference," the kids parent's didn't seem amused. Luckily, both "players" were okay.

First Day of School

Jacob has been waiting to go to school his whole life! Well, that might be a little exaggeration, but he has been waiting at least as long as he could stare out the front window to watch the older kids get on the bus every day. Finally, after what seemed like 5 years (it was), he was big enough to go to kindergarten this year. All the older kids were great with him and he was so excited. He was going to get a ride with Shirlene, but at the last second he decided that he wanted to ride the bus with Camille (Harrison was on his bike). That was pretty brave for the Jakeman.

Big Day for Camille

Camille was almost born on the greatest day of the year. No, not Christmas. No, not Thanksgiving and no, not Arbor day. Actually, she was born on July 27th, which is one day past my birthday. Well, this year was a big one as she turned 8 years old and was baptized. It was a really great day and Shane and Tiann made it down from Hermiston with their kids to be there for Camille. Thank you to whomever took the picture for tipping it so that Shirlene looked taller. I am sure she appreciated the thought.

SUSHI - Its whats for dinner
Dan Adams, my illustrious brother, is a man of many talents. One of his finest talents is a penchant for making absolutely, top shelf sushi. At the big Adams family hootenany in Colorado he broke out the bamboo rollers and we made a spread of sushi that could be seen from space. I don't have the skills of Dan, but love to make sushi too, so he let me "roll" with him. We spent about 2 hours making sushi rolls of all shapes sizes, tastes and zestiness. We had tuna, fresh crab, salmon, eel, shrimp and that was just the tip of the sushi berg. By my rough guess we hand made about 35-40 rolls. And no two were the same. We then sat down with my parents, my sister and her hubby and our spouses, cracked open a few bottles of the best Martinellis Cider and sent that sushi to a better place, roll by sweet, lovely roll. It was one of the best meals I have feasted upon in years and everyone had a fantastic time.