The Kiers

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Spring Break Celebration

For Spring Break this year, we celebrated Roger's parents' upcoming 50th anniversary.
Travelling with cousins is lots of fun!

We all had a wonderful time at Disneyland for a few days.

Hannah and I even found a birthday cake just for us in Mickey's house!

Then we all headed to Indio. On the way there, the 5 of us stopped in Chino to visit my grandparents. We had a birthday party for Hannah at the nursing home where my grandpa and grandma live. We were thrilled that lots of relatives were able to be there, including my parents, aunt, cousins and their children. The kids had fun doing an egg hunt together!

Then we headed to my Beppa's house for a great visit. Hannah loved playing with her cousin Mya!

Hannah's 5th birthday in Indio.

We went for a hike at Joshua Tree National Park, where Hannah got her first Jr. Ranger Badge.

We did plenty of swimming in Indio and had a great time in the nice, warm weather!

The trip was a wonderful way to spend time with family!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Hawaii

In February, we went to Hawaii for my cousin Sara's wedding. Roger played the guitar, and my mom and I sang "Deeply in Love."

It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding!

The bride and groom.

The food was delicious! Many kinds of wonderful Hawaiian foods were served!

The reception was also amazing. This group performed many different dances in many beautiful costumes.

There was even a surprise from a Dutch friend at the reception! Sorry the video is so dark.

My family after the wedding.

Here is Roger at a heiau. We took my brother-in-law and his friend along on our way to the beach, and here was his text to my cousin: "We thought we were going to the beach, but Roger took us to a pile of rocks." :)

We did make it to the beach after our archaeological stop.

We stayed in a building with my parents, aunt and uncle, cousins, and other family. This was our view.

We stayed in the top right of this building. There were kayaks we could use, so we definitely took advantage of that!

Roger and I even were able to go on a hike to a waterfall. It was a great hike, but the trail was very muddy and we had to cross the river about 10 times. See how muddy my shoes are? They were covered by the time we got back to the car. Some people jump into the water here, but all the clawed creatures lurking behind rocks at the bottom scared me off! Still, it was a beautiful hike, with many nice viewpoints.

Since we were without our kids (Thanks, Mom and Dad Kiers!!), we were able to tour much of the island, including Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, Kailua, Dole Plantation, Pipeline, etc. Here we are at a beach on the North Shore.

Another heiau.

Here is one of the highlights of the trip. We had a little worship service on Sunday morning while we were there. Here are 40 family members of 4 generations, singing "How Great Thou Art." This has been a favorite song of our family, as it always brings up memories of wandering through "forest glades," looking down from "lofty mountain grandeur"...It was so special to sing it in such a wonderful place, surrounded by family.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Random pictures from the rest of winter

With a handful of treats, you can get a dog to do almost anything, even play Uno!

One weekend, we went to the Squaxin Island Museum, and then stopped by Twanoh State Park, where the kids kept busy by jumping over the water.

Nathan got his feet quite wet...

Hannah joined in, too!

They can be calm, too, especially when they are looking at shells and rocks.

Then we were thrilled to find this Yard Bird at an ice cream stop in Union, since we had just seen the documentary on the history of Yard Birds.

One day, I was surprised to come home to find Roger cleaning pieces of a mammoth tusk on our driveway.

Here it is reconstructed.

One of many pieces of Hannah's artwork.

Before Alan and Nathan's band concert. Buddy and Hannah wanted to be in the picture, too!

Nathan got braces!

Hannah was very excited for Disneyland!

Monday, March 1, 2010

2009

Looking at the pictures on our blog from the past year, it looks like we had a wonderful care-free year. The pictures on my cellphone tell a different story: at Starbucks with Hannah on the way to my Pake's (grandpa's) funeral in March, staples in Nathan's head from a fall in May, a puzzle we completed in the waiting room of the CCU at the hospital while visiting my mother-in-law after her cardiac arrest in June, the 2nd degree burn on my arm, back, and shoulder in November...

I spent more time grieving this year for those who have died, and for those who were diagnosed with cancer (for a first or second time). I also wept the last time I saw my maternal grandparents because of the progression of my grandpa's Parkinson's and my grandma's dementia. My grandpa went through a lot last year, and was the subject of many tear-filled prayers. I hope we'll be able to see them again this April.

Of course, we have much to be thankful for--we are happy that my Pake is in a better place and is finally free from pain, Nathan healed very quickly, my mother-in-law has made an amazing recovery, and my burn is finally healing well. Also, I graduated from my college program and got a job as a speech language pathology assistant, Roger's knee healed after years of pain and he ran his first half-marathon in November, Hannah is growing up and is enjoying preschool, Buddy isn't quite so crazy anymore, and Alan and Nathan are enjoying school, and enjoyed playing soccer this summer and football this past fall.

I am thankful for healing, and thankful for the time that I had to take off after my accident in November. I was able to step back and see what was really important in life, what my priorities should be, and what needed to change.

I started this post a long time ago, but am determined to finally post it. I have felt almost deceptive for posting only smiling, happy pictures during such an intense year.

Now that I've said all of that, I feel like I can finally post a few pictures from our wonderful Christmas season. For the first time, I felt like I was able to slow down and enjoy every minute with my family.