A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer...

I have two best friends. One of them is my husband and one of them is Alicia. My husband and I spend as much time together as possible, when we aren't working. Alicia and I spend time together when we need a friend. The thing is, Alicia has another best friend too — her husband Ben. Ben is a first lieutenant in the Army National Guard and will be leaving for Afghanistan in November. Although this good weather has been thankfully hanging on quite long this year, the rain is coming, and so Alicia, Ben and I ventured out for a photo shoot before he takes off to his multiple weeks of training before Afghanistan. To see all of the photos, visit http://s558.photobucket.com/albums/ss26/charis2105/Alicia%20and%20Ben/?albumview=slideshow . Here is a small sample of the photos. My biggest challenge in this photo shoot was keeping Ben entertained. We did have to take a break to throw rocks at ducks at Riverfront. Don't worry, we only came close to hitting them.

I was perusing Facebook recently, checking in on what is up with all these people I never talk to anymore and I saw that two of my friends from high school soccer were toying with the idea of a hiking trip in the near future. On a whim, I chimed in and asked if I could come, and so Krystyn, Stacey and I got together this past weekend for the first time in about five years. We hiked the trails around Brice Creek (east of Cottage Grove), saw two waterfalls, and enjoyed eachother's company. Stacey and I had fun making Krys nervous by climing trees and such, and we even got Krys to get off the trail once or twice. On the way up the trail, I spied a couple of trees that had fallen over a ravine and decided that we should climb across them for a photo opp. Stacey followed and Krys took our photos. If you look closely, you can see us on the top of that top horizontal log about 60 feet in the air. Below is a closer shot. And us crawling back. Along the way, we stopped to take a group phot

Here is Lois playing for the Crescent Valley JV A team last week. She is a freshman at our church, and it was a lot of fun to watch her play. Her team was down 0-3 at half, but they stormed back to tie the game 3-3 in the second half! Lois is No. 6 in white in the photos (the Korean). So for all of you out there who know our favorite baby - Isla Lute - I know there haven't been many recent photos of her, so I decided to put these on. She seriously gets cuter by the day. Here's her with auntie Alicia. And a funny face while she is chasing me with the camera. I love her crooked mouth below. I'm not sure she really wants a kiss from Bryan. I love this one of her and Ben.

Three of my high school friends and I recently got together for a sleepover at my family's cabin in Dallas... it was a short trip (about 12 hours), but we had a great night basically just talking about our lives. We missed having Cindra and Samantha there, but we still managed to have plently of laughs and educational discussion. This was when we were attempting to NOT drop Mallory. It took a few takes. We also loved the fire, even though it looks like there is no fire in this photo. We had it roaring all night!

Since it is now September, I will write about August....I'm not sure anyone reads this anymore because I never update! Sorry! August went by in a rush, but Bryan and I did get to a Mariner game to see Griffey play (my first time seeing him ever!) and we also went to Wild Waves with the youth group and had an all-church retreat in there. We'll start with the annual all church retreat...our fourth one with the Koreans! As usual, Blokus was a hit, along with FIFA soccer and some video game where they shoot each other. Bryan and the girls getting ready for worship. Lois and Young-i Here's Andy and Stephen playing keep away before chapel. Then came Wild Waves (which I thankfully was able to get off work for). The day started out early in Corvallis (where we had stayed overnight in the church) and we barely made it past Woodburn before the first potty break. Stinkin' boys! It was a dreary day, but the kids had fun and I still managed to get a sunburn! We ended up fleeing the