The Peirce Family Blog

December 2011

2012-01-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

The annual Tzortzis annual Gingerbread house decorating party.

Chris, Heather, me, Jim and Katja

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - Diablo Rock Gym

Gregor Peirce: On a Mission

Gregor Peirce, a 19 year old Touchstone route setter for the past year, has had a very successful season in Bishop this year.

After making the 6 hour drive from the Bay to the Buttermilk boulders, Gregor hiked directly to the classic crimp fest The Swarm a V13/14 in fading light.

“I didn't warm up because I was running out of daylight and I had to make every try count because I was running back and forth between the camera and the base of the climb,” said Gregor. “A few tries in I found myself standing on the top. It was an amazing feeling to send it all by myself with no one around.”

On the drive back to his campsite, he stopped by the Grandma Peabody, and Direction, a V13. “I had no expectations, but I threw on my headlamp and a couple tries later I had sent the thing,” said Gregor.

The Swarm from Gregor Peirce on Vimeo

In between setting at the Touchstone gyms and taking classes at Diablo Valley College, Gregor back packs, boogie boards, and plays a mean game of ping pong. “Watch out Scott Frye,” he warned the current Touchstone ping pong master.

Gregor first went to Diablo Rock Gym when he was ten years old. The family trip with his two older brothers and his dad was a memorable one. “I cried my way up a 5.7 on my first day.” Gregor began climbing in earnest two years later. “. I remember begging my parents to drive me to the gym. Fortunately, my mom liked to read so she would sit in the car and read a couple nights a week while I climbed.”

Gregor got strong fast. At 15, he won the Youth Nationals, at 16 he made the adult finals, and at 18 he won Youth Nationals again. In between he climbed Scott Frye’s classic Surf Safari, a 5.13d near Mickey’s Beach. He also climbed The Buttermilker, a V13 at the Buttermilks and Crusader For Justice, a V13 at Moe’s Valley."

Of course everyone went climbing again for Christmas vacation. I stayed home alone and did some cleaning - well a lot of cleaning. The article was published in the DRG newsletter. Gregor finally sent the "Swarm" and is #1 on the 8a website in North America for juniors. Too bad he'll age up in February and #1 will return to Julian.

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-07T12:55:00.001-08:00

Kristin with CJ and David. We haven't seen them in so long but Gregor will go visit before he leaves on his mission in February.

The last harvest of the season. We had the brilliant idea of hosting an "end of harvest" dinner and what we couldn't cook up as part of the meal we went home with the guests. We had pumpkin muffins made from real pumpkins, tomatos & cucumbers with herbs and balsamic, apple pie, roasted carrots and BBQ steak.
During Thanksgiving week everyone went to Bishop (not me, of course). This was Mykaela's first outside climbing trip. There are about 1,000 pics of climbing but I like posting the people pics instead. Maybe another post for the climbing pics.

November 2011

2011-11-19T21:14:00.001-08:00

GRANDMA DOERING TURNED 104 ON NOVEMBER 9
THIS IS 4 GENERATIONS OF GIRLS!!

October 2011

2011-11-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

Halloween in the Neighborhood
We grew this monster pumpkin in our backyard

September/October 2011

2011-11-19T20:45:00.000-08:00

Stevenson & Company offered to take Gregor and Syd on the General Conference pilgrimage to Utah. With Riley and Natalie leaving for their missions this year they were down by 2, but picked up 2 more to fill their minivan to capacity. They visited multiple temples to do baptisms, went to the BYU football game, and attended as many general conference sessions as they could squeeze it.

This will be Gregor's new look in February 2012!!

BISHOP - The grand opening of Gregor's mission call!!
Joao Pessoa, Brazil

LABOR DAY AT STINSON

August in the Garden 2011

2011-08-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

While I was away the garden flourished! The sungolds started turning orange - sunflowers opened - apples swelled - giant pumpkins appeared out of nowhere and Jim had more lemon cucumbers than he could possible eat. I think that there is nothing more satisfying than growing and eating your own food. It takes so long, so you really appreciate it when it comes time to harvest.

Mallory's Adventures in Upstate New York - August 2011

2011-08-15T14:04:00.001-07:00

LAST STOP - NIAGARA FALLS! No explanation needed accept to say that this beautiful color of water I will forever call
"Niagara Blue"

We spent Wednesday night at Letchworth State Park - 'The Grand Canyon of the East". It was magnificent and had beautifully manicured lawns and well-kept forests. We ate a delicious dinner at the restaurant inside the Glen Iris Inn.

Touring the sites in Palmyra after we dropped the girls off was one of the highlights of my life! I can't explain the love and appreciation I have gained for Joseph Smith and all those associated with the restoration of the gospel. His family, Oliver, The Whitmers, Emma. It was truly a spiritual feast. The peace that surrounds those sacred places is real.

THE LOG HOME WHERE JOSEPH LIVED WHEN HE DECIDED TO GO TO THE GROVE OF TREES BEHIND THE HOUSE TO PRAY.

THE ERIE CANAL

THE VIEW OF THE SKY FROM THE TOP OF THE HIL CUMORAH - IT LOOKS LIKE THE HEAVENS ARE PARTING

THE PETER WHITMER HOME

THE GRANDIN BUILDING

August in Palmyra - EFY

2011-08-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of KC and Sydney in front of the Sacred Grove. KC and Sydney went to EFY Palmyra - the first ever held in this location. It was an amazing and spiritual week for them - "best week of my life" - to be exact. Their Band of Brothers was wonderful to them and their roommates (Jessica and Ashley from Colorado Springs) were sooo cute and fun. A life changing experience!

July 2011 - Senior Photo Shoot

2011-07-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

July 23, 2011 HAPPY 80th!!

2011-07-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox celebrate their 80th birthdays this year with a surprise party. People came from far a wide for the event - Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Los Angeles. Here we all are!

June 30, 2011 IN THE GARDEN

2011-06-30T09:17:00.001-07:00

Looks great but no food yet because it has been so cold and rainy - in fact it rained all day on Tuesday June 28!! I actually harvested the first zucchini yesterday.

I had no idea that nasturtiam was so sturdy and prolific. It is planted here on t really cool trellis with some cucumbers. These are the happiest cukes I have ever grown. The trellis is an idea from Suellen Winegar - it is foundation mesh and we had to buy it at Concord Feed where they sell it for cow fencing.

The thornless black berries have been competing with the natives so we tried to cut back all of the stickery ones this year. They are both excellent berries but I really don't like the thorns.

This is supposed to be a pumpkin but I have no idea what kind it is.

The two spotted ladybug

Father's Day 2011 -what!! No Mother's Day?

2011-06-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is the tie that Sydney made for Jim when she was about 10?? years old. He still wears it every Father's Day. She never perfected the tie making after that but has great potential.

PROM April 2011

2011-06-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

The pictures are self-explanatory. Sydney went with Mitchell Larsen and Mykaela went with E or A, can't remember who is who.

April 2011

2011-06-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Sydney and I drove to San Diego for Spring break. She stayed with Mykaela and her family in a beach rental and I stayed with my dear friend Mary. It was so good to catch up and get away for a few days. The San Diego temple is so beautiful inside. It rained while we were there and this rainbow appeared out the back door of Heather's rental - breathtaking!

March 2011

2011-04-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Favorite Swaziland Picture - so Scott!!

Sydney passed her driving test with flying colors in February - only 1 point off - and celebrated her 17th birthday on the 23rd AND got her braces off - AND went to "Mormal" (mormon formal). It was a busy month for Sydney.

Mallory got pinked slipped and Jim did an 8 week "peel" to remove sun damaged skin.

Cade and Morgan took Syd and Gregor skiing last month and Cade fell and hurt his wrist. Turns out that it was broken for a full month and had been compromised before that from a previous unknown injury. He had surgery on March 22 and will be unable to use it (go to work) for a few months. He broke the scaphoid bone in half and it was so far apart that he needed a bone graft and pins. OUCH! Lots of drugs prescribed.

January, February, 2010

2011-04-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't written anything in so long because Jim left his camera at Kristin's house in San Antonio, by mistake, and we haven't taken any pictures since. It also seems like nothing has happened with us since Scott left but you can get the updates on the kids at Cade & Morgan's blog and Letters from Elder Peirce.

Christmas Message 2010

2010-12-22T09:19:00.002-08:00

If you have taken the time to see our blog, I've decided to add a Christmas newsletter here. I don't like the thought of sending out a newsletter every year with the Christmas card and having people gag over our news, so I figure if you go to the blog you must really want to know what is going on. So this is what our year has been like - in not so cute-and-newsy fashion, but the real down and dirty truth:

1. Jim has had a busy year - thankfully - when sub contractors are walking onto his job site asking to work for free, his company has stayed very busy with overtime opportunities and several big jobs lined up for 2011. He has been biking a lot and is still pretty fit for an old guy. He also spends a lot of time at the climbing gym with Sydney and whoever else he can find to train with. He has been teaching the 15 year old Sunday School class for the past 2 years but will be starting a new assignment in the Stake Young Men's presidency in charge of scouting. He was the obvious choice for that and will do a great job!

2. Mallory - I had a challenging spring when the Lafayette School district cut my Science Specialist position from 80% to 50%. So, I took up some slack and coached swimming all summer and ran a Fall program for about 20 kids. It was a busy time but I really do like coaching swimming so it was enjoyable. I also picked up some new piano students and have 17 now. A little side note - a week after Scott got his mission call he asked me to teach him how to play the piano. We sat down together one time and then things got really busy. As you can see from his letters he still wants to learn how to play on his mission. I feel like I need to make it MY mission to teach my LDS students how to play hymns through note, intervalic and directional reading. I still swim almost every day but am starting to have shoulder aches and pains, so am considering some vertical cross training for the new year.

3. Kristin will be moving back to California this spring and we are so excited to see her more often. She came to visit in February and then again in October to see Scott before he left on his mission. She has been working in IT and CJ is in Kindergarten and David just celebrated his 1st birthday. Jim and Sydney have been saving up and will finally get to see San Antonio and visit them during the Christmas break before they move to California.

4. Cade and Morgan. After their 3rd move in their first year of marriage due to terrible neighbors and lame landlords, they ended up in a very nice Walnut Creek apartment. Cade is a full time route setter for the Touchstone climbing gym and Morgan is self- employed as a nanny for a few families. They will be back in school this coming year and continue to seek fun and adventure. Morgan and Cade can have everyone laughing and having a good time within minutes of entering a room. When they come to the house, Gregor, Sydney, Morgan, and Cade ALWAYS have to play at least one game of halo, which usually involves them laughing and yelling the entire time.

5. Scott - AKA Elder Peirce is serving in the South Africa Durban Mission. You can read all about it in the blog I made - another brilliant idea I had so that I don't have to keep forwarding his emails to a list of folks who will just trash them or yawn their way through reading them. If anyone is curious they can just go to the blog and see what's up. He opened his call on June 9 and didn't leave till November 9. It seemed to last forever, but Durban requires FBI clearance which takes up to 13 weeks. He had many exciting adventures and made A LOT of money during his wait time, so it was good in many ways. He completed 2 years at DVC where he played waterpolo and competed for the swim team. He was ward clerk for the Walnut Creek singles ward until his mission and said when he found out what the calling actually was - "It's a hard calling - I have to go sit in an office all day!"

6. Gregor graduated from Campolindo High School - amazingly - and set his sights on more climbing and less school - actually no school. He just started this month working on the route setting crew with Cade and is very excited about getting pay checks because he wants to save up to go climbing in South Africa next summer while Scott is still there. He got his eagle scout award in May and sent a v13 boulder problem in Bishop last fall- in the climbing world that is really good and a post was put up on an international climbing website called 8a announcing his accomplishment. He also practically lives with Cade and Morgan. Wether they are all spending time at our house, or he is over at their house after work.

7. Last but not least Sydney - beautiful, sweet, wonderful Sydney. What more can I say. Over the summer, she got a job as a lifeguard and a swim coach. She was so busy! By the end of the summer, and going into her junior year, she decided she did not want to continue playing water polo, like she had years past and instead wanted to just rock climb. She has climbed for a few years and although many people assume that her brothers are the only ones that are really into it and really enjoy it, she has turned out to love it! She especially loves to boulder and likes to train at the gym with Jim. She will hopefully get her drivers license next month, fingers crossed. And she also enjoys hanging out with her friends and, although it is an odd talent, she happens to be an amazing bargain shopper, and makes the best Snickerdoodle cookies.

8. Others:
Grandma Doering turned 103 this year on November 9 - coincidently the same day that Scott left for South Africa - and even more concidently the same day Cade also entered the MTC in Provo in 2005.
Kodi our gigantic golden retriever is still with us and is going on 14 years old.

We hope you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a GREAT NEW YEAR!
Mallory

November 2010 - After 5 months of waiting the day has finally arrived!!

2010-12-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

NOV 9 Scott finally leaves for South Africa Durban Mission. He opened his call on June 9.

5 months is the longest wait time we have ever heard of.

NOV 9 - Grandma turns 103 - that's YEARS OLD!

Gregor sends a v13 - the "Buttermilker Sit" in Bishop you can watch it on vimeo!

October 2010

2010-12-06T23:01:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for Scott to leave. Family pictures and a visit from Kristin and baby David. CJ had to stay in Texas but they are moving to Cali soon so we are very excited about that!

Random Summer Fun

2010-12-05T22:19:00.001-08:00

Scott Quin and Jackson climb Mt. Shasta after Quin returns from his mission in Wisconsin.

The Annual Labor Day Stinson Beach Outing

2010-12-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

This is the last family beach picture we'll be taking for a while. We really should have coordinated our outfits better.

And take a good look cuz this is the last time you'll ever see this - 2 years is a long time!

September in the Garden 2010

2010-09-05T22:31:00.001-07:00

This giant squash just keeps on growing. I don't like it because it is the prickeriest squash ever. You need heavy gloves to harvest because the little stickers are all over the outside of the squash. I've let many of them go instead of picking them and they're huge.Apples are looking very nice and very wormy - will be making apple crisp soon. The tomatoes are finally going and I have so many I don't know what to do with them. The Sungolds continue to astound everyone who tastes them.
Still sunflowers - these seeds didn't get going until late in June - the bees love them!

August 2010 - Boating and Hiking

2010-09-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Jim, Gregor, Scott and the scouts went to Zion's National Monument to hike the slot canyons.

Wind and water have formed these amazing mazes in the rock over eons of time. Best trip ever!

Sydney went to the Delta for a week on the cat with Mylaela and the Tzortzis family.

July in the Garden - SUNFLOWERS!!

2010-09-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

June 2010 Girls Camp

2010-09-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Jim, Gregor and Sydney went to girls camp with the 5th years. Rappelling on China Wall at Donner Lake.

Gregor Peirce - Surf Safari Attempt

2010-06-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

June in the Garden 2010

2010-06-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

A very large carrot

Berry season! Last fall was our first season of berries - no production the first year but this year we have harvested enough to eat and freeze 1 bag per week. There are Loganberries (thornless) and thornless Blackberries. We experimented with strawberries at the base of the plum tree - water the tree and the berries at the same time - and they seem pretty happy so I'll probably do strawberries around 1 more tree and garlic around the rest to protect from bad boaring bugs. I pick enough berries to eat and cover 1 cookie sheet - wash and dry - put on the cookie sheet in one layer in the freezer overnight and transfer to plastic freezer baggies. My favorite thing to make is berry/peach crisp - the peaches make it less intense/acidic - I think.

Blackberry
Loganberry
Strawberries under the plum tree

Mostly blackberries today - the loganberries seem to ripen sooner.

Memorial Day 2010

2010-06-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

FAILED SURF SAFARI ATTEMPT

We went to Stinson and Gregor attempted Surf Safari 3 times - fell in the same place each time.

BUT, the weather was perfect and the video was so cool that I am putting it on the blog because when he ends up sending it on June 21 no one is there to film.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jimpeirce#p/a/u/0/ULTRX7h2-pA

June 14, 2010 MISSION CALL!!

2010-06-15T10:21:00.001-07:00

Tonight we all gathered for the opening of Scott's mission call - SOUTH AFRICA, DURBAN

I thought he was going to Arkansas because the Stevensons pulled this huge prank on me and on Friday Dave told me "Congratulations on Arkansas" and I believed him - then they even went so far as to forge a letter that Scott strategically left on our kitchen table 3 days later that said he had been called to Arkansas. Scott waited 5 WHOLE DAYS to open it - went up to the temple by himself tonight - what a great idea! Then he came home and we all gathered at 10:00 pm and he read it to us - Cade, Morgan, me, Jim, Gregor, Syd, The Stevenson family, Tanner and Danny and Kevin some girls from the singles ward and Kelly Holt. It was all good.

June 2010 Gregor's Graduation

2010-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Gregor graduated from Campo but couldn't go to the graduation ceremony or grad night because he was in Oregon climbing at divisionals (2nd place) so these are pictures of Baccalaureate?? (sp - no time to look it up)

Cameron Bell, Gregor and Riley Stevenson

May 2010 - Scouts and Swimming

2010-06-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

Scott ends his college swimming career with DVC at the State Championships in Pomona, CA

Rossin West, Cameron Bell, Kurt Linderman, James Dawson, Rile Stevenson, Gregor Peirce

Gregor and 5 of his friends all received their Eagle Award at the same time.

March 2010 - Grandparents!!

2010-05-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Kristin and the boys came to Sacramento so that Jim could give baby David a blessing. After church we all had dinner with Kristin's family and our family. This is the first time we have ever all been together! It was a great day!!

February 2010

2010-05-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

KC comes to visit. Sydney skips out on school to go to SF.

February 2010

2010-05-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

On President's weekend Cade and Morgan took Sydney to Bishop. I was a little worried since it was her first time without Dad but they took good care of her.

Merry Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

We all squeezed around our kitchen table for the Christmas Eve feast.

The Yoga Toes - The gift most made fun of - but the most used.

GREAT NEWS! Baby David Gabriel Ruvalcaba was born December 28 on our 25th wedding anniversary!! 9 lbs 2 ounces! Pictures later.

December 7 - Snow in Lafayette

2010-01-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

November 9 - Lottie turns 102!!

2010-01-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

Xavier's Roof - Bishop, CA 11-09

2009-12-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

Gregor traveled to Bishop and Yosemite several times this Fall and filmed this climb with his new video camera. Xavier's Roof is a V11.

November 2009

2009-12-19T10:29:00.001-08:00

DVC won the conference title again this year - here they are in Stockton at the big 8 tournament.

October 2009 - Water Polo Season

2009-11-21T15:47:00.001-08:00

Sydney was JV team captain for water polo this year and Scott played his second season at DVC. They won the conference title for the second year in a row.

September 2009

2009-11-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

2009-11-21T15:34:00.001-08:00

Jim spent the month of September building a climbing wall in the backyard. Its 45 degrees and very challenging. The area is equipped with some other training gear so the family can train at home now.

Sydney and KC at EFY Plymouth, New Hamshire

2009-09-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

Sydney and I traveled to Boston so she could go to EFY with her cousin KC. I LOVE Boston. The suburbs are so quiet and quaint. I didn't like the colonial style homes but loved the little cafes, graveyards, churches, historical sites and ponds.

Cell phone disaster averted

2009-09-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

Sydney lost her phone down in between the rocks at the Cape Neddick light house and this little guy with the skinny arms retreived it after several people came to our rescue. They all contributed things they could find from their cars - a fishing pole, umbrellas, flashlight, walking stick.

The mass effort to retrieve the phone. There were

about 15 people standing around.

Me and Lydia in Maine.

Ogunquit

2009-09-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

This is KC and Sydney at the beach in Ogunquit. We we watching the storm clouds come in and got caught in a major deluge.

September 2009

2009-09-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

Jim and I thought we would try to go natural this year and grow our own food. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says "Food, not lawns!"? We embraced the idea and turned half our backyard into a garden, just to see if we could grow anything. Jim, of course, being a builder made a Fort Knox type fencing system and then he went to the horse ranch on Fish Ranch Road to get free manure. We piled it up about 8 inches high into mounds that looked like graves, covered it with wood chips so it wouldn't smell so bad and 6 months later we put in some seeds and starts and Jim put in the drip system. We planted right in the aged manure and this is what happened. This is tonight's harvest of sunburst squash. I keep forgetting about them and then they get too big. These are all over 4 inches in diameter. Last week I harvested all of the zucchini and sunburst and roasted it for the veggie platter at the wedding.
Tomatos and Marigolds are companion crops. That means they are happier when planted together and will resist pests and disease. There is basil in there but the monster tomatoes went wild. Next year I will prune and stake them, but they do seem happy, don't they.

3 colors of beans in the trellis - purple, green and white. I think they are organic because I brought home the seeds from school.

These gigantic sunflowers are over 12 feet tall. My neighbor gave me about a dozen seeds from his plants last year that he saved and I was sad that most of them got eaten by snails when they were just coming up - only 4 made it - thank heaven! This is only 2 plants.

Just before dark I went out and quickly harvested these sungolds and zebra striped tomatoes. I have no idea what the light red ones are.

My pumpkin is about the size of a large medicine ball and there are 3 others just like it. I came home from Boston and found this and thought it was a watermelon, but as you can plainly see it is turning orange. I since found out that watermelon has lobed leaves.Most of the starts came from The Burton Valley garden so I didn't know what I was putting in, but this seems to be eggplant. I have no idea what to do with an eggplant. I have never bought one but I know they are supposed to be healthy.

This is the view from the back of the yard. The pumpkin was taking over so I chopped it back before the wedding last week.

Katherine Ann Kuhrau - I'll miss you!

2009-09-01T23:26:00.001-07:00

On August 31 I flew to Seattle for the memorial service of my dearest friend, Katherine Ann Kuhrau. This was one of the saddest days of my life. I miss you!! All of my Seattle photos are stuck in an old hard drive. I will add a better picture later.

August 2009

2009-09-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

Cade and Morgan were married on August 29, 2009. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
The colors were Tiffany blue, black and white, but the pictures don't do justice to the setting for the reception. The Laney's house is amazing as it overlooks the Orinda hills. It was a beautiful warm evening which is unusual for Orinda.

These are all of their friends from the climbing gym.

We copied the chinese lantern idea from Shelley Detton

(you can google 7 layer studio - May 2009) they were perfect and

when the sun went down the lights glowed inside.

The Laney's incredible backyard!! The Tiffany blue shoes!!

July 2009

2009-08-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Gregor in Maple - July 2009

Gregor and Sydney spend a week climbing in Maple Canyon after ropes Nationals in Salt Lake City.

May 2009

2009-08-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

Gregor went to Stinson Beach and finally sent "Surf Safari. The climb overhangs to cliffs which tumble into to the ocean as you can see from Troy's vantage point.

April 2009

2009-05-10T17:14:00.001-07:00

Scott travels to Long Beach for the Community College State Swimming Champs at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach. He grabbed 12th placed in the 200 free and 14th place in the 100 back

March 2009

2009-05-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Easter with the family. Cade has some unresolved issues.

February 2009

2009-03-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Gregor travels to Boulder, Colorado for the American Bouldering Series Nationals and he won!!

You can see this video that Jim made.

November 9, 2009

2009-03-27T12:30:00.001-07:00

Grandma Doering turned 101 years old!! Can you believe it!!

This is a 4 generation picture - Hazel, Sydney, Lottie and Mallory.

That's a lot of birthdays!!

November 2008

2008-12-31T19:09:00.000-08:00

Mallory turns 50!!
November 18, 2008

The last trip to Yosemite this year. Syd and Gregor got to skip school for the trip. I came home one morning from working out and they hadn't left for seminary yet, but were supsiciously dressed in camping clothing and they announced to me tht Cade told them they didn't have to go to school and that he was taking them to Yosemite.

No comment from Jim.

November 2008

2008-12-22T11:12:00.001-08:00

Cade and Scott decided to stay at home after all and ended up going to DVC. They also decided to try collegiate water polo and played on the DVC team. The team took the conference title for the first time in many years and qualified for the State Championships. Sydney also took up water polo this year on the JV girls team at Campolindo and now has a new passion - second to rock climbing. Good times!! (Cade # 11, Scott # 8)

October 2008

2008-11-14T18:16:00.001-08:00

Notice around the front door that the chicken wire we have grown fond of over the past 4 years has been replaced by new windows and shingles. Jim does nice work!!

Labor Day 2008

2008-11-14T18:09:00.000-08:00

Our annual Labor Day trip to Stinson Beach. Jim had a little run- in with a chop saw just a few days before, so he couldn't go boogie boarding this year. (See lower right corner of picture)

August 2008

2008-11-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

After two short years in the Bay Area Ken, Lydia and KC relocate to Boston while Steven and Melissa attend the Universtiy of Wisconsin. Sydney and cousin KC show us their true feelings.

July 2008

2008-08-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

SUMMER FUN

In June, Cade and the Stevensons climbed Mt. Whitney before Quin left on his mission to Wisconsin.

In July, Cade and his cousin Steven climbed Mt. Shasta.

Scott hiked in the Ansel Adams wilderness with the Scouts in July.

Cade and Scott went on a fly fishing excursion to Kings Canyon.

June 2008

2008-08-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

SCOTT

graduated from Campolindo High School and ended his swimming career with Orinda Aquatics. Next year he and Cade will be attend DVC and go on road trip with the money they save by living at home.

SYDNEY graduated from Stanley Middle School and will be a freshman next year - looking forward to that - and will continue her interests in climbing, swimming and girl stuff.

GREGOR traveled to Sandy, Utah in June to win the Divisional Ropes Climbing Championships and stayed in Maple Canyon for 2 weeks climbing the BIG walls.

KRISTIN, CJ AND CADE all were home in June - 7 people in 1,200 square feet - well, you do the math. Cade will work with Jim this summer and head off with Scott in the Fall.

CIP has been in Iraq since February.

May 2008

2008-08-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Scott finished his High School swimming career as a North Coast Section finalist in the 100 backstroke.

April 2008

2008-06-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jim had a really bad bike crash. He had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulence. Fortunately he is recovering nicely, but the bad news is that his bike didn't survive the crash, so now he can't ride until he gets a new one.

February 2008

2008-06-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

We all traveled to Boulder, Colorado for the National Bouldering Championships. Gregor placed 14th in the adult final which was pretty good considering he was the only male youth climber to qualify. He had a bad fall in the youth final (got a concussion) and had to withdraw from the competition. The rest of us had a wonderful time in Colorado.

Cip, CJ, Kristin, Scott, Sydney, Cade, Gregor, Jim, Mallory

2007-12-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2007

2007-12-25T17:59:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Peirce Family