Welcome Emmett Gregory McLachlan...aka Paco

Emmett Gregory McLachlan was born on December 19th at 7:59pm. He is 6lbs 11oz. and 20 inches long. He has beautiful black hair and huge feet! Danelle and Geoff were amazing according to my mom...which I am sure she would not make up! We are all so happy for them. This is Mae's first cousin from the McLachlan side, and she analyzed him the whole time!

This is the best picture I got all night. He is adorable! I think he has Geoff's nose. Notice his little hand by his face...that is what prolonged the labor.
Geoff introducing Seamus to Emmett! Not sure how he is going to deal with being #2.

The boy's and their baby's. This is as clear as we will see Mae in a picture, she doesn't stay still for long.

Congratulations Geoff and Danelle, he is amazing and you are going to be great parents.

No more dreaming of a white Christmas...it's here!

This is the view from mom and dad's front window! Yes, that is hanging off the roof.

Me trying to shovel off the snow drifts. The news said you shouldn't be out for more than 10 min at a time or frost bite can begin. I totally believe them. The wind was crazy, when I went in my face was beat red. I had even hit my nose with the shovel and didn't feel it!

Merry Christmas...may we all have a white one!

Break came early!

Not enough time today, so here is a brief recap...Austin and Amy arrived in Seattle on Monday just in time for the snow to hit Mount Baker. The week went quick with the late arrivals, early releases, canceled school and games. We ended up being able to leave a day earlier, with was a huge blessing, because the roads were clear and the sun was shining! This is a outlook of Bellingham bay going into Fairhaven.

Our trip home was beautiful, I couldn't stop taking pictures out the window the whole time. This was on HWY 2 or Stevens Pass.

The mountains peaking out of the clouds in Monroe.

Quinn, Me, Austin and Amy

Quinn in the snow on Monday!

I would love to say that I was a big help in cutting down the tree this year, but it's pretty much a one man job! So Quinn had the honor...next year it will be my turn. We went to this cute little tree farm over by the school called Rivers Edge, it runs right next to the Nooksac river. It was fun, it took us about 20 min to find the perfect tree. We got it home and had it up in about 30 min. It didn't take us long to get all ready for Christmas, we have been playing Christmas music and sitting by the fireplace almost every night. I love this time of year! The only thing missing from the tree picture is the topper. We decided we didn't just want some cheep thing. Instead we made our own at the shop. It is a wooden star and it turned out great. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it...so you will have to wait. Until we meet, happy holiday season, hope everyone is doing great. Merry Christmas!

As you can tell, we have some lights that won't work!

A very intersting way to carry the tree! Only Quinn:)

The most adorable picture ever

This is my adorable niece Mae and her cousin. Mae is 13 months old and the other cutie is 4 months old...and they are the same size. Little Mae is on the left, in case you don't know who she is. What a beautiful child. For those of you who don't know, my other brother Geoff and his wife Danelle are due in December with little "Paco"...we call the baby that because they aren't finding out the gender...hope it's not a girl...she'll be stuck with the name Paco forever! I'm so excited for the holidays to finally spend some quality time with the fam and all it's new members! Quinn and I have spent Saturday and Sunday decorating for Christmas. The house is so cozy...sitting in front of the fire or by the tree reading a book is our favorite thing to do. I will post some pictures of all the festivities soon. Love to you all...hope your enjoying the start to the holiday season!

Happy late birthday to little Mae

Here are a few pics Brooker took while we were in Spokane. I can't believe how fast Mae has grown up. I miss being around but love when she acts like she remembers me. I am so proud of Sean and Rachel for raising such a beautiful little person. She is amazing and you two are great parents. Thanks for letting me hog her when I am home...I'm looking forward to Christmas break!

Happy late birthday Mae...you are one beautiful kid!

Districts

I know you have already seen this picture, however, I couldn't get the other ones from the paper on here. To speed everyone up to date, last night we lost to Lynden(the #1 seed in the state) in the first round of districts. But we came right back and beat Cedarcrest in the 2nd round to make it to saturday. Now we will be playing against the Cascade Conference #1 team Archbishop Murphy for a winner goes to state game. We play at 12pm saturday at Squlicum high school for those of you close enough to come(actually only Brook and Dave) :). I am so proud of this team. We had such a rocky start to the season and they have never given up...and now they are playing at their best. I appreciate all the support and long distance cheering! Love to you all...I'll let you know how saturday goes.

Mr. LeSage

Most of you may already know by now...but for those of you who don't, Quinn is officially a teacher here at Mt. Baker High School!

Yes, you heard me right. He will be teaching all the wood shop classes and digital media. The shop is a total mess so this first semester will be damage control, but there is no where to go but up.

Who would have ever guessed that we would be working in the same enviornment! I guess North Carolina really paid off after all. All the hours Quinn worked last year (for absolutley no money) went towards his 2,000 hours he needed to be qualified to work here! Talk about a total blessing.

It feels so rewarding to know that hard work pays off. Never in our wildest dreams did Quinn or myself guess that we would both be teachers, let alone at the same amazing school:) What a happy day.

Love you all, and hope to see you soon. PLEASE.........feel free to come see us any time, even if our schedule is crazy, we love guests!

A day at the beach

This was one of the last Sunday's we had off before all the madness hit. It was a sunny unusual day in the good old Pacific Northwest!
I already forgot that Quinn had a beard! What a handsome dude! And it was worth is cause he brought home a caribou from Alaska!

If you enlarge this one you will see him flipping over! I just happened to be taking a picture and when I looked at the screen I saw that he was almost in the water! It was hilarious. Good thing it was actually sunny and warm.


Quinn was much braver than I.

My AMAZING team

This season has been full of adversity. But on top of it all, my girls have learned to work together and be good teammates. I am so happy to have the chance to coach such great girls. This picture is from our team camp out before the season started. It was a sight to see...and probably my last one. How quickly I forgot what High School life is all about!

From left to right:Sara, Kayla, Brandi, Leah, Kelsey, Kyla, Kelsey, Mary, Mikaela, Annie and not pictured yet is Jaydee...My sophomore stud!

The busy life!

This was our hike at Artist Point..it is the farthest up you can drive on Baker. It was a beautiful day...but there were a ton of people there. By the end it started to snow!

Quinn looking over the edge...scary!
This is Nooksack Falls it is right off the MT. Baker HWY. A beautiful place. There are fences all around because people get so close and people die each year.

This is our house...70's and brown...but huge! So come and stay with us we have plenty of room:)

The view from our front room.
The sport court!

The creek out back after a crazy rain storm! Salmon spawn up it!
Hope you are all doing well. I thought I would get some quick pics up while I got the chance. I miss you all and hope everyone is doing fabulous!

Fragrance Lake Hike

Late last night, Quinn decided that we needed to go on a hike today, so we did! We found one called Fragrance lake off Chuckanut Drive. It was beautiful, and we got up their early enough that we were the only two in the forest! The weather started off a little overcast, but by the time we got to the bottom it was all blue sky's. Its days like this that remind me that we live in a beautiful place. The lake was small, but worth the hike. It was almost straight up the whole way and we made it into a nice little work out. It would be great for a hot summer day, the water was crazy clear and perfect temp!
Across from the head of the trail is Larabee State Park. We took a little side trip down to the beach and it was breath taking. We walked around and decided on a nice little rock in the sun and ate lunch. What a perfect day:)

This place is also supposed to be incredible for crabbing. Quinn can hardly wait!

Chuckanut Drive

Things have been extremely busy lately. We are adjusting to our new home and enjoying the little time we have to explore. What we have found is incredibly beautiful. Last weekend we went down to Seattle to see family and friends and on our way home we took the famous Chuckanut Dr. It is incredible, you come around the corner from farm land and woo la, the beautiful Chuckanut bay and the start of the San Juan Islands! To add on to that it was a gorgeous sunny evening!!!

This is a view of Mt. Baker just past Mt. Vernon