Dustissa and Crew Come to Town

Dustin and Marissa followed us home from Vancouver. Well, kind of, they stopped about a dozen times and enjoyed the drive while we bombed it with a nail in the tire and DeA freaking out about Rock on the freeway. I'm not sure which way was best. We loved having them here and the kids loved the cousins. They all watched the Barbie movie one school night.

Marissa wanted to watch the end of Jens' volleyball practice, and we ended up watching the high school girls match.

Davis was a big fan, especially of the concession stand.

We had a fun little fire on a perfect night

Tiffany brought in a stray kitten that her boys found hiding in her wheel-well. Rock was a big fan.

There was a lot of fun energy in the house.

And no-bakes. There were also a lot of no-bakes.

Duster Dude bought a lot of classic cereals, like Count Chocula, MosterBerry and HoneyComb. By the way, none of those taste as good as I remembered.

Dustin was bored or something and decided to help clean the windows.

There were lots of four-wheeler rides.

Davis was super happy to just chill and watch and wait to be fed.

They all spent quite a bit of time in the orchard.

Rock had his first hockey practice and was the only one there with a cheering section. It was fun because Dustissa didn't want to miss out on anything.

 

They all went to Leaven(s)worth and enjoyed the touristy stuff.

Cosmics were ready at Beebe so they helped themselves to a few bags down there.

They also picked a few boxes and Hampa and Nama's orchard by the old house.

Marissa realized that she was about to leave without jumping in the lake, so they took a refreshing October dunk

Ryker had a cross country meet up at Liberty Bell. Dustissa thought about adding an extra two hours to their drive, but ultimately decided not to. Ryker was his usual nonchalant self.

He finished a little slower than he wanted, but was still the fasted Manson kid.

We got a frantic call from Jens on Tuesday that they had an unexpected volleyball match. I ran her her things that she needed while she called me half a dozen times asking where I was. Luca was there ready for the action.

The girls all seemed a little frazzled at the start, but they settled in and did great.

Ryker made me a cool skull bowl for the office. Pretty sweet and realistic.

Some Friendly Competitions

Jens had another volleyball match up in Brewster. I couldn't get away, but Dad and DeA got to go watch her. She did great serving and scored five in a row.

She is definitely getting more aggressive and confident.

Derek and I had our power lifting competition in Vancouver. Derek found a house close to the gym that was a great place to stay. The kids especially made themselves comfy.

Dustin and Marissa brought their crew up to come cheer us on. It was great to have such a big cheering section.

I was able to break 600 on squats for the first time.

I tried to get 601 on deads, but left the knees soft and got red lighted.

I was still able to win my weight class and also my age group. Derek killed it like he always does and won his weight also and definitely lifted the most weight of the competition. We got medals.

Derek's birthday was in a few days, so we celebrated with some ice cream. Apparently, Vancouver doesn't believe in ice cream cakes, so just ice cream had to do

DeA suggested that we stop at Miner's on the way through, and Jens ordered the pumpkin shake. It was pretty huge.

I let Rock drive us from Yakima, and it was his first time in a 70mph zone. DeA handled it great once she covered her eyes, put in headphones, and listened to soothing white noise. Rock did great, in case you were wondering.

While he was driving, the low tire pressure light came on. DeA definitely wasn't a fan of that. We stopped at a truck stop in Ellensburg and found this sticking out...

After finding a plug kit, pulling the nail out with my bare-freaking-hands, and fixing the hole, we were back on the road again. I mentioned to DeA, I don't think I could be any more manly for her between the three kids, lifting over 600lbs, and fixing a tire in a truck stop parking lot. I even have the shaggy beard to go with it.

Kettle Falls Weekend

If you didn't know any better, you probably read the title and thought we had a nice relaxing weekend in Kettle Falls. It is a beautiful area, perfect for a relaxing few days. But, that was not why we were there. Ryker and DeA had a cross-country race up there, and they dreaded the bus ride so much that in the weeks leading up to it they just called it the "Kettle Falls Weekend" when people asked about our plans. They had to wake up and catch a bus by 5:45. That was bad, but not as bad as my sacrifice of getting up at 6:45 to get there to watch Ryker. 

When I showed up, he told me that after the long bus ride he wasn't feeling it, and would probably just "go easy" and maybe walk. Thankfully his bus driver was Hampa Dale and he bribed him sufficiently to get his motivation going.

He ran well, for the 45ish seconds that I got to watch him.

He finished hard and beat the time he wanted to beat (meaning his cousin's time. He just wanted to beat her).

You'd think that the rest of the weekend was chill, right? You'd be kind of right, between family dinner and helping watch a pregnant ladies' kids (not these ones, we don't watch them when they are over), it was pretty exhausting.

Even Luca was worn out.

Poor DeA didn't even make it to prayer time on Sunday.