Gobble Gobble!

We have a lot going on this fall but we still wanted to do Thanksgiving at our place since that has been the tradition over the last few years. Kevin took control of the turkey situation and did a fabulous job again. His brine recipe is fabulous and he's really getting it down pat.

Kevin getting the turkey ready for the oven!

We had a good group of people over and it was great seeing Jason. Jason moved up to the city about a year ago and we don't get to see him as often anymore. I think we are going beach camping this weekend though so we'll get some quality time in with him before we go!

It was a really laid back day.  After doing a nice table setting last year I was ready for more of an 'eat off your plate in your lap' setting. No one seemed to mind too much and it was exciting having another Thanksgiving newbie at our place. Andi's first Thanksgiving! Those Canadians don't know what they are missing out on!

We watched football and even broke out a few games. Guesstures was a big hit and we had fun appointing an MVP for each round. (Not always the best player but often the person who looked the dumbest acting something out)

Matt, Dennis, and Daryl chillin' on the couch

Happy Thanksgiving!

Only our second Thanksgiving with Brian and Moria but it feels strange knowing we won't be spending next year with them too.

It was a wonderful day and we are so thankful for all of our friends out her in California. When everyone is so far away from family you really start to depend on your friends. We've been so lucky to have found amazing friends and they will be missed.

Big Sur Camping

We hadn't been camping since our big Half Dome trip in July and we finally got to go again. Brian and Moria reserved a spot at the elusive Julia Pfieffer Burns campground. There are only two campsites on this cliff overlooking the ocean and they had to book the spot nearly 8 months ago. At first it didn't seem like we'd be able to go but we managed to work it out and head up for one of the two nights.

Brian, Moria, Colin, and Andi arrived at the campsite a few hours earlier than us so by the time Kevin and I arrived it was already dark. They had a fire going and we enjoyed sitting around and taking in one of our last camping trips out here in California. 

In the dark we could only hear the ocean below us but when we awoke the next morning the view took my breath away. 

This is seriously the view from our campsite. 

We lucked out and the other campsite remained vacant giving us a really secluded feel. I think the rain the day before scared them off...worked out well for us. There was no rain in the late afternoon/evening or the next day!

From the road leading up to where we parked you can get a better idea of where our campsite was situated. Absolutely incredible.

After breakfast the six of us headed out for a hike to check out more of our spectacular surroundings. 

The day was incredible. The absence of fog this visit made it seem much warmer than when we were here in August. I guess we'd better enjoy this weather while we still can!

Hanging out with the redwoods.

Kevin and Colin in an epic joust battle.

A stunning sight!

After spending a little time in the woods we drove a little bit on highway 1 to get closer to the water.

We spent some time just taking it all in. We're going to miss California!

Finally we made it all the way down to the beach. We ate our lunch next to a stream flowing into the ocean. It doesn't get much better than that.

Kevin and I had to head back after this but the others had one more night. I was jealous of their sunset pictures from the campsite. It was a fantastic trip and I'm so happy that we were able to make it!

Quiz Night Champs!

The Graduate Student Programming Board has a quiz night that they try to do monthly for the grad students at Stanford.. We've been to it before and did a decent job. Brian rounded us up to give it another go. I am personally terrible at trivia but luckily we had a few all stars who carried us in for the win. We were supposed to have won a tab from the restaurant that is in building we were at but all we got were a few t-shirts. It was still fun though.

This is a terrible picture. It is slightly blurry and there is a strange white spot on my face. (I'm not savvy enough with my limited photo editing tools to know how to fix it)

Champions!

Our Last Big Game

After Stanford's devastating loss to Oregon we were ready for a win against Cal in the 114th Big Game! It had been raining the day before and was rather chilly outside and damp everywhere. The forecast, however, indicated that it wasn't going to rain the rest of the day so we were pretty relieved.

James was back in town so our assistance wasn't needed for this tailgate. Although we are always happy to help we were still exhausted from the weekend before and more than willing to just show up. (Tailgates are a lot of work!)

Kevin, Ryan, James,and Daryl

It is so strange knowing that next fall we won't be at every tailgate and home game cheering on our Cardinal.

I was determined to make treats for at least one football game this year. I'd bought the supplies at the start of the season and needed to use it up. The Big Game seemed like the perfect game.

Football Rice Krispie Treats

As soon as we walked into the stadium it began raining. It rained and didn't stop for the rest of the game. So much for the forecast...

 One pregame highlight was the army guys parachuting in. Watching them enter the stadium in the rain did look really cool even though I couldn't really capture it in photo.

Beat Cal!

We were sort of hoping for a blowout so we could get out of the cold and go home. It wasn't though so we stayed and tried to keep warm by moving around and cheering like crazy.

James, Kevin, and Miguel

Stanford did end up winning even if it wasn't pretty. They slipped back up one spot to number 6 in the BCS rankings. One more game left against Notre Dame!

Dennis and Cara

We're moving to....

Michigan!

Last week Kevin accepted a position as Senior Chemist at Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan! It is such an exciting time and I couldn't be happier for Kevin.  After nearly 5 1/2 years out here in California we will be making the move to Michigan. There are so many things we have grown to love out here in Cali that we will miss dearly but we look forward to this new adventure and a new state to explore.

Kevin is finishing up his written thesis and training people in his lab on various things as his writing quarter comes to a close. My notice at work has been put in and it is crazy that in just a few short weeks I'll be unemployed. We hope to fly out to Michigan before Christmas to find a house or an apartment and the we expect that the moving company will pack up our stuff at the end of December or beginning of January. We feel grateful that we'll be able to spend some of the holidays with our families back in Topeka before getting settled in our new home. 

There will be more details to come after we know a little more and after I get a few more posts up. The last two weeks have been chock-full of activity and I don't expect that to change in at least the next week. I'll do my best to get updated though.

Those Darn Ducks

The last Stanford game was one of the biggest games in a long time for Stanford. Cardinal went into the game going for an 18 game winning streak with their last loss to this same team last year. A Pac-12 Championship game was on the line as well as any hope (even if small) for a National Championship. To add to it, Game Day was being held at Stanford for the first time ever. 

Dennis and Daryl asked for help for this game so we came out of retirement to assist. After driving to Oregon last year, waking up early for GameDay, and then watching us lose at Autzen Stadium...how could we not be there for this face off?

Once the cars and coolers were loaded up we walked over to the oval to get in on some of the action. I was pretty impressed by the turnout. Stanford only has about 7,000 undergrad students making up around 40% of the student population. It may not have been as impressive as some other schools but it looked full on T.V.

Not only was a tree hat put on this year instead of that hideous duck hat, but we actually got a picture with Jim Plunkett....a legendary Stanford quarterback, winner of the 1970 Heisman award, and two Super Bowl championships with the Raiders. It was a brief run in and we didn't really get to talk to him much but it was still exciting.

At 9:30am we were set up and ready for a tailgate. Dennis and Daryl were prepared and brought eggs, bacon, and orange juice so we could enjoy a lovely breakfast instead of just eating burgers all day long.

Scotty made it....yippee!

As usual we had games to add a little friendly competition to the tailgate. We had a relatively small group for quite awhile. (Understandably....the game wasn't until 5pm. Only a crazy person would be up since 6am for a night football game)

One of the best things I saw all day was the burning of an Oregon shirt. Normally I probably would shake my head at such nonsense but I was able to make an exception pretty easily for the Ducks. I became the official photographer.

There were a few kid's playing football in the field behind this who had Oregon shirts on so I felt a little bad for a second. Then they started laughing so I got over it and enjoyed myself.

The way it burned was really cool leaving just the 'OREGON' and the 'O'. The smoke coming off of it made for a pretty awesome picture.

We didn't seek out any Oregon fans to play 'Lance Armstrong' against. We kept it friendly and just had an inner tailgate competition. Our team did win though...it was awesome because we hand picked the team and had a few people who had never played before!

Colin, Dennis, Andi, Cara, Kevin, Moria, Brian

Finally it was time to head in for the game! Spirits were high and the energy in the stadium was amazing!

It was great seeing full stands!

This is one of the last pictures taken while we were still happy and excited.

The game took a turn for the worst and it was not a great showing by Andrew Luck and our Cardinal. He threw 2 interceptions (one off the chest of a receiver) and had a fumble. It was a sad day and we lost :( Pac-12 championship...over. Number 4 ranking....over. A sure bet for a Heisman winner...over. Maybe it was just too much.

We still have a couple football games left against Cal "Beat Cal"! and Notre Dame. After taking a few days to be depressed we're ready to cheer on our Stanford Cardinal this Saturday!

More Kansas!

While the wedding and meeting Adell were the main reasons for this trip we managed to fit in quite a bit more stuff. After cleaning up the reception hall on Sunday we headed out to Auburn for several birthday celebrations. It has been a few trips since both of us have been able to make it out to see the Copp family.

I enjoyed meeting another adorable baby. This is Kieryn, my cousin Steven and Melissa's four month old  baby girl. It felt strange (in a good way) holding an older baby after two week old Adell. 

Great Grandmom, Kieryn, and Hailie

Kevin and I watched Hailie and Seth while my parents were at a concert. Seth has been wanting to unlock Toadette on the Wii MarioKart for ages and we finally did...along with several other characters. Once Toadette was unlocked we all looked at him and you could tell he was trying to hide his excitement and smile. Eventually he couldn't hold it in any more. It was pretty cute!

Hailie isn't much into racing on the Wii so she and I started being commentators for the race. Whenever it was Hailie's turn she ended up just singing for all of us.

The kid's had school so we didn't have a ton of time together. Mom and I did manage to get a few things done. We went through a few boxes of Grandma Koch's dishes so we could decide what was worth keeping /had memories attached. Besides getting rid of several boxes of stuff we also donated at least one box of other old coffee mugs Mom had in the basement from over the years. 

Much too quickly it was time for me to head back to the airport. Mom and I picked up Hailie and Seth a few minutes early from school so I could get there in time. 

Goodbyes are never easy but hopefully we'll be back soon and get to stay a little longer.