Happy Halloween!

Seattle to Watch the Huskies Lose Another Game

Horizon's UW plane greeted us back in Boise upon our arrival home
Husky Stadium

Tailgating with the Strattons: Kelsey, Shaedon, Ryan, Mike and Laurie

Laurie and Mike

Mike and Malcolm

Saturday was also Shae's 3rd birthday...happy birthday, little guy!

Mom and I made a quick stop at Lucy on Friday afternoon

We even ran into Mike's brother, Steve, at the Boise airport on our way to Seattle.

(Steve was in town to visit Virginia, who just had her knee replaced.)

Man, the Huskies SUCK this year! We traveled to Seattle for a great weekend (except, of course, the time we spent watching them lose to Notre Dame). The term "lose" doesn't quite sum up the worst game I have ever personally witnessed in Husky Stadium. It was awful and, quite frankly, beyond depressing to watch. After starting this season 0-7, it's time for Ty to go...

Barber to Boise

After the run

How Hank spent the rest of the weekend

Hank and I ran another race on October 18...and we kicked butt! Barber to Boise is the annual fall 10K in the City of Trees, and runs one of our favorite running courses. We started at the house, ran 4.5 miles to the start of the race, ran the 10K with Samia in exactly 1 hour (9:40 miles, which is great for me!), and then ran another 3 miles home. We had a great run and Hank spent the rest of the weekend sleeping...a win-win for everyone at the Reynoldson house.

Getting Older

A colleague of mine snapped this photo of me today at work. (I needed a new head shot for a publication and I don't like the "official" one that was taken last year.) But I couldn't help but stare at this photo when she emailed it to me...the bags under my eyes, the wrinkle lines, and the curly gray hairs on the top of my head that cannot be tamed with smoothing serum or a flatiron. From now on, I'll be Photo-Shopping our photos before posting them to the blog. :)

Go Orange! Go Blue!

The McCalls invited us over to watch the BSU/Southern Miss game on Saturday night. Mike and Conor were both sporting their BSU shirts, and the Broncos pulled off a 24-7 win...climbing to #15 in the national rankings this morning. Looks like our post-holiday week will be spent at bowl game festivities somewhere...

Elsewhere in football land, the Huskies had another BYE week, which means that our record still stands at 0-5. If you don't play, you can't lose. That may be a better game plan for them for the rest of the season.

Blessing of the Animals

Pastor Sandy marks Hank's nose with the sign of the cross

(I think he thought he could eat the oil on her hands

because the snout-marking was followed by a good bit of lip-licking.)

Pastor Steve and Pastor Sandy open the service with a pet prayer
Mike and Hank before the service
Jane and Cash
Sue Myers and Dash, the Tollefsons with Chewie, Mike and Hank
Hank and Laurie with the Pet Blessing Certificate

(I wonder if we're supposed to keep this with us, like his rabies tag,

to prove that the blessing actually took place when he's being naughty?)

Today, was the annual Blessing of the Animals at church. People brought their dogs and cats to church for the yearly pet blessing. While there were a couple of snarls here and there, the animals all got along remarkably well. Hank thought the service went a little long, so he started barking after a while...why were all of those humans and dogs just standing around? Surely, there's got to be a ball around here somewhere?! Although we were hoping for a blessing and an exorcism for Hank, I think we just got the blessing. He's still got a little devil inside of him that likes to come out every now and then. (But then again, we showed up for a free blessing, so we probably get what we paid for.)

Holy Crap! Winter!

After preparing for a cold and blustery fall weekend, it snowed! Most surprising and unexpected to have WINTER in October in Boise. We set a number of weather records...the last time there was measurable snow in October in the Treasure Valley was 40-60 years ago, depending on the TV meteorologist you watch. The flakes were beautiful...large, wet snowflakes...just like the "Seattle Snow" I remember as a child. I should have snapped photos of the deciduous trees, all slumping over under the weight of their leaves and the wet snow on top...or the aftermath, once the tree limbs snapped under the weight. That's just it...usually the leaves have fallen off of the trees by the time it snows and the branches are better equpped for the additional weight. Even better than watching it snow, was the fact that it all melted by Saturday night, clearing the way for a beautiful FALL in October in Boise.

4:45 on Friday Afternoon

I am sitting in my office, looking out the window. It has been blustery all day, and it just started raining. The trees and grass are lovely -- vibrant greens and yellows set on a dark cloudy gray sky -- so lovely that I had to take a photo. (Please excuse the poor picture quality from my Blackberry...it must not have a Micron chip in it.)

The weather is forecasted to be cold and wet all weekend long (and it may even snow!). And, although I would much prefer it be sunny tomorrow morning when I meet my running group, and sunny tomorrow afternoon so that we could do some yardwork, I am really looking forward to our first stormy weekend of fall. Isn't that why God made warm blankets, fireplaces, soup and college football? Sounds like a great weekend! Hope yours is a happy and relaxing one.

Laurie in High School

My friend, Ginger, tipped me off to this website: http://www.yearbookyourself.com/. With a quick upload of a current photo, you can "yearbook yourself" over the years...and it's a lot of fun! It definitely takes you back to all of those fond high school memories, when you were signing your BFF's yearbook with hearts over the "i's" and exclamation points at the end of each sentence! Reminiscing about how wicked cool the year has been! Anticipating how AWESOME the summer will be! And how the CLASS OF 90 ROCKS!

Mike in High School