It is nice to be done with all of the big planned events for the year, even though they were a lot of fun. I know the year is not done yet, but it was certainly a busy year. I started out the year with a nasty double-surgery that I am glad to have behind me and even more glad for the relatively good health (that hasn't included too many trips to the hospital and zero overnight stays, thanks hon!) I have enjoyed.

In May I got to see my first son graduate from High School (way to go Josh!) and follow that up by finishing and graduating myself with a Masters of Science from University of Phoenix in July. That was a long and arduous process that I am sooo glad to be finished with. The highlight of the graduation was a road-trip to my Uncle's place in Glendale, AZ where he graciously accomodated all five of us, my mother and father and my friend Dave from California. We had a great time visiting and staying with them!

Later in July I took the Idaho STAR motorcycle training class and I enjoyed it so much I asked what it would take to become an instructor myself. The instructors told me they were going to ask me to become an instructor anyways and submitted my name as a potential candidate. I followed that up with interviews, a class audit and skills review in October. This is still an ongoing process though and I should hear by the end of the year whether I have been accepted into the program or not. If I am it will be more training and classes and could develop into a fun part-time job (Friday afternoons through Sunday, six weekends a year).

I got ahead of myself though. In August we had our family vacation and took a trip out to my sister and brother-in-law's place in Forks, Washington that included a camping trip in Mount Rainier NP along the way. It was great to finally see their place out on the Olympic Peninsula and it made me more than a little jealous to be able to live so close to such a beautiful coast on my favorite Pacific Ocean! Maybe someday...

In September I got to take a business trip to Singapore. That was a beautiful, clean, modern, diverse city that I don't care if I ever go back to. I suppose it's a bit paradoxical, but as nice a place as it was, it just wasn't all that appealing. Too expensive as well.

In October we started our birthday period with Birgit's first, mine second, Toby's third and Kira's today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRA!!!) Josh won't have his until the end of January, two days after he leaves for basic training in San Antonio for The Air National Guard, but that's another story.

Toby and I tried on a couple of occasions to get a deer on our deer hunting trip, but were unsuccessful as I was Elk hunting this month. My Uncle Wayne drove all the way up with his fifth-wheel from Killeen, Texas to go hunting with us. It was quite a bit of planning that included two scouting trips and almost two weeks up in the hills above Idaho City, but all four of us in our party had no luck. We'll see if I get to go again next year.

We plan on staying at home through this holiday season since we drove down to California last year. I am looking forward to nice, quiet holidays here at home with the family. I will have a week off at Christmas-time due to the company shut-down and the way the weather has been going I should be skiing long before that!

By the way, I have posted some of the pictures I took on our hunting trip over on my photo blog.