Chewbaca!!

Holden and Papa love Star Wars. With that in mind, you might understand why they've been calling me "Chewbaca" or "Chewy" for short. I think my morning hairstyle has inspired the nickname.

Preparing for colder temps in WA

My parents keep warning me the temperatures will be much cooler in WA...but for now I've enjoyed preparing for the change by getting all bundled up for my mom's run in the dark/cool morning.

Animal Puppet Show

Rhythm Sticks at Dance Class

Final Day of Preschool

 Thursday was my last day at Light of Christ Preschool before my family moves up to Washington after Thanksgiving. I gave a special farewell hug to my good friend Ryan.

 Caleb was my best friend at preschool. Although we were all smiles and willing to make silly faces for the camera...our moms were quite teary-eyed during our final farewell. It's hard to make such a good friend and have to say goodbye so soon.

 Miss Boetsch was an excellent teacher. I'll miss her very much. I won't forget my first teacher.

We also said goobye to my mom's good friend Nicole on Thursday. We'll miss hanging out with her on a regular basis as she lived just over an hour from us.

Karen's Ballet Class

 I've had so much fun in the ballet class I've done all fall while Holden attends pre-school.

 My teacher helped me with some dance moves across the studio.

 We make sure to stretch before and after class.

 I learned how to do the "log-roll" on the tumbling mats.

I loved playing freeze dance with the upbeat music starting and stopping at the end of class.

Soccer support and time with family

 Our 2nd cousin, Nathan, had his final soccer game this weekend. His team remained undefeated!

 You can tell he has some proud parents, Amy and Brent!

 We had fun on the sidelines too!

 My mom's cousin, Andrea, was also in the area for the game.

 We had a blast at halftime playing with the soccer ball.

 We were quite excited to be offered some leftover oranges from the mom who brought snacks for the players.

 We then enjoyed some post-game relaxation at the Kerr's house.

 Our mom and her first cousins Brent and Andrea Kerr.

 Notice the matching UC Davis sweatshirts passed down to us from Nathan and Andrew. We know this will bring a smile to great uncle Bob and great aunt Cathy's faces!!

We'll miss the Kerr family when we move to Washington at the end of the month...but they know they're welcome to visit us up north ANYTIME!!

Focused Artist

This is my first mom-and-me toddler art class and I love it! This particular project involved swirling food coloring into shaving cream before pressing it with a big paper leaf cut-out. So much fun!

Fall Fun in the Leaves

Natalie's Birthday Party

Our good friend and neighbor, Natalie, invited Karen and me to her 4th birthday party last week. We had fun on all the slides, bounce houses, zip lines, and enjoying all the yummy food (including pizza and her Curious George cake).

Happy...happy...

In recent weeks we've heard Karen saying "happy, happy..." a lot. We finally realized she is actually saying "help me, help me...". For instance, she was saying "happy, happy" while wrestling Papa in this photo. She'll also say it when she's trying to climb up onto a piece of furniture or if she's dangling from something like the side of the couch. It's been neat to see Karen develop her vocabulary...even when the words are a little off!

Silly Unicorns in the Bath

 Earlier this week Mama heard a lot of giggles coming from the bathroom. Papa used shampoo to shape our hair into unicorn horns!

Moving Back Home to Washington

This is unexpected and very exciting news for our family! We will be moving back to Washington state at the end of the month. We give all the praise and glory to God for orchestrating this huge blessing. Auntie Amy grew up in southwestern Washington and describes the beauty of the area as "God's Country". Below is a press release Saint Martin's did on Papa this week.

Brewer Selected As Saint Martin's University

Head Cross Country And Track & Field Coach

LACEY, Wash. - Jim Brewer has been named head men's and women's cross country and track & field coach at Saint Martin's University becoming the fourth head coach in program history as announced today by athletics director Bob Grisham.

"We had a large number of applicants for the position and Jim surfaced as the person who we felt could increase the squad size and at the same time improve on our ability to compete, said Grisham. "   

A 20-year veteran of the coaching ranks at both the high school and collegiate level he joins SMU having served as the head cross country and track & field coach at Concordia University-Irvine, a NAIA Division I program in California, for the past two years.

"Becoming a part of the Saint Martin's family is a tremendous opportunity," said Brewer. "I am very grateful for this privilege to help build up the track & field and cross country programs and establish great winning traditions for years to come."

During his time coaching at CUI, Brewer coached the women's cross country team to an 11th place finish at the 2012 NAIA Championships. In two years with the Eagles he had 42 national qualifiers and nine All-Americans. Most notably last spring a total of 16 athletes qualified for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Prior to his time in California he served as the head cross country and track & field coach at the University of Great Falls in Montana from 2007-2011. Brewer had national qualifiers every year while coaching a nationally ranked men's cross country team in 2010.

Brewer worked at the Division II level as a volunteer assistant coach at Western Washington on two separate occasions: 1996-97 and 2003-07. He was a part of helping coach three cross country teams to the national championships.

He coached at both Mount Baker High School in Deming, Wash. (1998) under the tutelage of legendary coach Jim Freeman and at Stanwood High School in Stanwood, Wash. (1998-2000) under the leadership of highly successful head coach Paul Johnson.

A successful collegiate runner in his own right he competed at Western Washington from 1993 to 1996. During that time he earned All-American honors at the 1994 NAIA Cross Country Championships and was a five-time national qualifier (3 cross country, 2 track & field).

Brewer holds United States Sports Academy level III coaching certification. He also holds U.S. Track and Field level II certification.

JUST A SIDE NOTE: Below is another picture we submitted for the press release. They didn't use it, but it's one of our favorite "coaching pictures" of Papa (and Karen) at the GSAC championships last spring.