Dear Family and Friends,

We had a very busy year this past year... beginning on January 2nd! We began the year by starting a large home renovation project to convert our living room vault into a 2nd story bedroom and office. For the first few months of the year, about a third of our house was not usable. It is now complete, and we are very pleased with the finished project. We added a new office for Kristy, a new bathroom, moved our laundry room upstairs, and converted our old laundry room into a mud room. We also refinished our kitchen floors (using a darker color) and replaced our kitchen island. For a complete description of the project chronology from the very first day of construction, please see my blog on the matter... Vault Removal 2006. During some of the heavier phases of the construction, we vacated our home completely and vacationed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We traveled from Seattle by train. It was a fun trip. Here are some sample pictures (click to enlarge):

A narrative of our complete Vancouver vacation can be reviewed on Rus' blog: Vancouver Vacation Trip Notes and Photos

We celebrated Eliana's second birthday in March and invited our family and friends. The theme of the party was butterflies. Kristy made all of the kids little foam butterfly wings and antennae. The kids wore the wings while they played several games: musical flowers, pin the butterfly wings on the caterpillar, and a treasure hunt which ultimately led the kids back to a butterfly piñata. After the games we had the traditional birthday cake and opened some presents. Eliana was very cute throughout the day.

Here are some sample images from the party (click to enlarge):

We had a pretty good Easter. We were able to spend the day with family. Both on our own - the four of us - and with Kristy's extended family. In the morning the kids opened up the presents in their Easter baskets. Both the kids love opening presents... we could wrap up empty boxes and Eliana would be thrilled just tearing off the wrapping paper. Some of their presents included new Easter outfits for Church. Here is a pic (click to enlarge):

Yes, they are pretty darn cute. We agree.

In July, we celebrated Berkeley's 4th Birthday on the 22nd (his actual birthday is on the 29th). This was Berkeley's first "real" birthday party. He invited over about a dozen of his friends and had a fun time playing in the water on the hot day. Here are a few pictures we snapped during the event (click to enlarge):

For complete party details, see here.

On July 24th (the Monday following Berkeley's birthday party), we received a beautiful new addition to our family... Olivia Louise. She was born at 2:08pm (Pacific time) and weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz and measured 20 inches in length. Here are some our favorite photos from the many dozens we took of Olivia during the first 36 hours of her life (click to enlarge):

	Kristy's OB likes to immediately place a newborn on the bosom of the mother (after some very minor cleanup) to begin to encourage a strong mother/baby bond. So this picture was literally taken just a couple of minutes after Olivia was born. Rus has snapped similar pictures of Berkeley (here) and Eliana (here).
	Here is Olivia all wrapped up and peacefully sleeping. Olivia has a very mild temperament.
	Kristy snapped this picture of Rus and our little baby girl. We love this picture. Look how tiny she is in Rus' hands. She has beautiful eyes.
	Rus took this the day after Olivia was born. She is laying here next to Kristy with her little body being held by Kristy's right arm. She is a great baby.

You can review the full gallery of birth pictures on Olivia's web site. But be warned, you will spend hours upon hours staring at our beautiful little girl ("[Sh]e's an angel! An angel straight from heaven!" -Dot from Raising Arizona).

Adding Olivia to the family has blessed our lives. It has been challenging at times, but the reward are well worth the trouble. Fortunately, Rus have been able to continue to work from home and stay close the kids and help Kristy from time to time when her hands get too full. Working from home definitely has its advantages:

Berkeley and Eliana adore Olivia. Though they are rough with her at times (unknowingly), they genuinely want to care and look after her. There have been many sweet moments with the three of them together. For example, here are some pictures of the three of them sharing a bubble bath together... look at the third picture... see how Eliana is washing Olivia's hair. These moments are so very precious and we feel very grateful to be their parents.

In September, Berkeley started his first year of away-from-home school... preschool. He loves it. Many nights while we are tucking him in bed he will ask, "Is it a preschool day tomorrow?" with great anticipation for an affirmative answer. Eliana also attends a co-op preschool with two of her cousins that is taught by her mother and two of her aunts. Here are some school pictures of Berkeley and Eliana (click to enlarge):

For Halloween this year, the five of us dressed up as The Incredibles. Yes, even Olivia had a costume. Of course, we took a few pictures to share with family and friends... here are just a few (click to enlarge):

For the second half of November and the early part of December, we spent our time together on vacation. First we spent 10 days in Cancun (including Thanksgiving Day), and then we spent 7 days splitting time between San Diego (Sea World, Legoland) and Los Angeles (Disneyland). It was a wonderful family vacation. All told we spent nearly 3 weeks on vacation together and created many lasting memories and preserved many of them in picture. Here are a few samples (click to enlarge):

(vacation pictures pending)

While we were in Los Angeles, we had a family portrait taken. This was the picture we included this year in our Christmas cards. We also had a darling picture taken of just our three children... see below (click to enlarge):

If you want to know more about what has been keeping us busy during this past year, or if you wish to stay current on the activities and events that will keep us busy during the upcoming year, then we invite you to regularly visit Rus' blog or subscribe if you like. Rus generally tries to update his blog daily; if you subscribe, the content can be delivered right to your computer auto-magically. Ain't this here new-fangled Intarweb grand?!

We wish you all a very merry Christmas in 2006 and many happy returns for 2007.

cheers.

--rus & kristy.