Here is the long awaited "Christmas Picture" update....
I probably have a few hundred pictures that I took - so I just went through and picked a few that shows most of my family.
First I'll start with the "Seattle" part of the family, this is where my "Bjork" side of things comes from.
This is my dad and two uncles at the indoor Go-Kart track (a yearly tradition when all the family gets together) - Uncle Ned on the left - dad in the middle - Uncle Tom on the right.
This is after the last race - guess who finished first...
That is my Uncle Tom on the left and his oldest son Brian on the right.
Christmas at my Grandpa Cliff's house - that is my grandpa above - he's turning 80 in a couple weeks.
My cousin Steven, Dad, Uncle Ned and his youngest kid - Liam.
Liam playing with a new toy - My cousin Steven's new wife in the background (I forget her name... sorry)
My cousin Lily (Liam's middle sister) and my niece Samantha
Opening presents... Uncle Tom, Cousins Lily and Liam, Uncle Ned and his wife Lisa, and my niece Samantha.
Now on to the "Idaho" side...
This is my Step-Dad and me (I left early in the morning - so he didn't have a chance to get dressed for the day). This is where "Kropatch" comes from.
These are my Pastors from the church that I grew up in. Two of the coolest people in the world. Pastor Lowell and Bonnie Carlson. Pastor Lowell reminds me a lot of Pastor Jerry. They are both in there mid-70's and going as strong as ever - just a few years back built there first house. Before that they lived in a big Tepee....
This is my Grandparents on my Mom's side. Chet and Bobby (Barbara). They are also really cool. Everybody says that I get a lot of my personality traits from my Grandpa - so obviously he has to be cool.
This is my newest niece. Alina Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards) Fields. She was just born in November and was just learning how to smile when I saw her in Seattle.
My sister Kim and her daughter Alina.
Alina - a little tired after our Christmas day in Seattle.
My nieces - Samantha and Alina. Samantha loves being a big sister (she is four) - before Alina was born she would tell everybody that she had to work really hard and eat all of her vegetables in order to become a "Big Sister"
This is Kim - one of my twin sisters - and her daughters.
Samantha and her Dad - Logan. Samantha loves to help everyone open their own presents.
More Samantha - she loves to have pictures taken of her.
Samantha helping Grandma and Papa open their present.
Samantha and Me at my Grandparents house in Idaho.
Samantha posing for the camera, after a trip to Claires in Seattle.
This is my grandparents house in Idaho - the house is built in the shape of a Nautilus shell - pretty cool. My grandparents love the "southwestern" feel as you can tell.
Another shot of the house.
My Mom, Samantha, and my Mom's - Husbands - sons - son. All playing with new Christmas presents.
More presents being opened - you can see my grandparents Dalmatian's butt - the girl with the brown hair is my Cousin Boo (Barbara).
Here's a shot of my grandparents house from the front.
This is the house that my family built to live in (it wasn't completed until after I left for the Navy). Now my sister Kim and her family live there.
This is the view from my grandparents house.
And this is a pretty good view of our 40 acres in Idaho that I grew up in.
This is looking down the valley - the mountain is the same one you see two pictures up. When it's not cloudy you can see Canada - in the middle.
Here's some various photos...
This is "yellow snow" on a snowman that didn't last.
And I saw this near a gas station that I was filling up at and thought it was kind of funny.
So that is most of my family - and a little bit of my Christmas trip this year - Sorry it took me so long to get that out to everyone.
Later,
Ben
