Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday!!

Kenley with one of the Jack-o-Lanterns she and I carved.

Posing outside with the Jack-o-Lantern


Kenley, "Sasha"(Grandma Rehder), and I went downtown where
they have trick or treating to the different shops.
I am the organ grinder and Kenley is my performing monkey.
All I can say is, "Sexy is back."

Getting ready to go trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Matt's office dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz.

I couldn't get the picture of the whole office on here, since it was adobe format.

The first week of November is Mikyn's (her 18th!) and Matt's birthdays.

For Matt's birthday, I took him on a getaway up the mountains. It was really nice and relaxing and a great break. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack the camera.

So we had to take pictures in our mind to remember the fun.

This is the family party we had for both of them. At least Missy looks good.

Matt blowing the candles out on his cake. They had to have separate cakes.

New Dress

Kenley got a new dress from Grandma Knoebel. However, trying to take her picture in the new dress proved rather difficult. So after taking 10 blurry pictures, I decided to take a video. (I included a couple of the blurry pictures, just because.)

Kenley's Pastimes

Hanging out with Uncle Darth and Jasper

Trying on Sunglasses

Eating Oreos

DANCING!

Chilling with her "Aha" (monkey)

Going for rides in the wagon

Eating

Crawling on Grandma Rehder's table

TAKING BUBBLE BATHS!!

So Pretty

More of the Slide

Kenley's New Slide

Time to Play Catchup!

Labor Day weekend, we decided to go to the coast. It was 95 degrees everywhere else, but as soon as we hit the beach, it was 60 degrees and so foggy we couldn't see the ocean. The sweatshirt and jacket Matt and I are wearing were acquired at a store up the road from the beach for $5. Luckily we had brought a sweatshirt for Kenley, but we didn't stay long.

Kenley still enjoyed the beach, as always.

Riding a tractor at the Kitsap County Fair

Getting ready for Halloween.

The pictures aren't in order, but I figured out that when I move the pictures around in the blog, that makes it so you can't enlarge the picture. So I had already posted the birthday pictures and I can't get the new pictures I post to appear after the first pictures, without moving them. So sorry for the weirdness, but Kenley's birthday from August follows...

We last left off just before Kenley's big FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! It was just a small gathering of family and Mikyn's friend, Alyshia, who desperately wants to be a Rehder. We had dinner (a fabulous dinner cooked by Regen, who's kabobs were mouthwateringly delicious and just as an aside, grilled mango is to die for). Regen also made a gorgeous butterfly cake (as in it was decorated as a butterfly, the cake wasn't made of butterflies) for the special birthday girl. Kenley looked especially cute in her princess crown. She had so much fun opening all her presents and she loved eating her cake.

Summ - Summ - Summertime, Summertime!

(Just as a disclaimer: For some reason whenever I add pictures, even though I do it the same way as Matt, it doesn't allow you to highlight the pictures and make them bigger. So sorry about that)

Wow, what a busy summer it has been. We haven't had a free weekend to ourselves in two months, but its been so much fun we can't complain. The most exciting thing to happen is that Matt completed and successfully defended his doctoral project and graduated from Physical Therapy school!! He is now in the process of studying for national boards and waiting for his interim permit to come in so that he can start his job before he takes the boards.

Beyond that we have taken some trips, gone to a couple weddings and had guests. Luckily the weather has mostly cooperated with us, although the start of summer was rather cold, even if it wasn't rainy. But since July started the weather has steadily warmed and we have had hardly any rain to dampen our plans. Here are the summer highlights:

Matts brothers: Adam, Jon and Jeremy came to visit along with sister-in-law Tracy and nieces: Brynn and Elyse. Nate joined us for an evening as he was at a conference in Seattle the same weekend everyone was here. We missed Mandy and the girls, but we all had fun together. We went camping, hiking, explored Seattle, caught a Mariners game, and celebrated Regen's birthday.

Next came a trip to Bend, OR for the weekend of June 21 for some friends' wedding. It was a nice, quick trip to enjoy a little warm weather and a little putting green golf and a swimming pool. We also stopped by the Portland temple which Matt had never been to. Kenley liked the fountain best of all.

Kenley always looks like this when Aunt Missy tries to hold her.

Kenley also went to a friend's first birthday party. All the little girls wore white dresses so we could take cute pictures. Trying to get the pictures was another matter.

Right after that Matt drove to Utah to defend his project. He was able to check out what Sloan was up to at college in Provo and remember what single life was like. He decided to come home, so I guess it wasn't that great.

He came home for the 4th of July celebration. We took Kenley and Grandpa and Grandma Rehder to the Bainbridge Island parade. Kenley enjoyed this and everyone around us enjoyed watching her more than the actual parade. Regen and Grandma Pam had fun seeing who could collect the most candy. We are still eating it! Then we went to some friends for a great barbque and a fireworks show that riveled the professional ones in Seattle. It was fun!

The next weekend saw us heading back to Bend, OR this time for a weeks vacation with the Rehders and Regen's cousin Cherish and her family. That was a great trip and included some exciting highlights like Kenley's first innertubing trip down a river (she didn't drown, but lets see if she ever trusts Matt on a innertube again). We played more putt putt golf (Matt won, Regen did not), some hiking trips and jumping off rocks into the water.

A few days after we came home, we headed back to Oregon. This time to meet up with Grandma Ruth and Grandpa and Grandma Brandt and Aunt Ann. We also got to see Uncle Ben and Aunt Julie and their family. It was a quick trip, but fun to see them. We wish it could have lasted a little longer, but we understand how those things go.

We had a week's break and then this past weekend we were in Bellingham, WA for Darth and Missy's wedding. We had a great time seeing family and friends and celebrating with Darth and Missy. It was a beautiful wedding in a gorgeous setting on the waterfront. And even though the weather threatened to be a nuisance, it cooperated in the end and everyone had fun. Kenley impressed everyone with her dancing abilities and hopefully, we will have a copy of the wedding video to post here of her showing off.

So now its the begining of August and Kenley is wondering if she is ever going to get out of her carseat. But it has been lots of fun and we are excited for the rest of summer and what it promises to bring, including Kenley's first birthday! Love to everyone.