B Celebrates a Decade

Our eldest tuned 10 day! There are two moments in our lives when we've felt old ... BJ's first parent-teacher conference when we realized, holy cow, we're really parents and then just now when BJ turned 10 today. We have a kid in double digits!

Wow what a 10 years it's been. We are so proud of BJ and all he is and will become. He's a great kid, an incredible brother, a good athlete and a good friend. We couldn't ask for anymore. To celebrate his decade, I've put together a little montage with a couple of pics from each year, enjoy!

Happy Birthday B - Man -- We Love Ya!

Monster Jam

On Sunday we took the boys to see the Monster Truck show in the Tacoma Dome. Anyone that knows our boys know that BJ has loved them since he was about 2 years old. As much as B loved them, Brennen loves them about 10x more than B did. So Brennen was very excited for the Monster Trucks. Even though Brennen has been fighting a cold for the last couple of days, he was a trooper and loved the show.


B decided to get a Blue Thunder Monster Truck hat and Brennen got the Batman monster truck pillow. (B was tired of him stealing his GraveDigger one!) The boys always look forward to the annual show and can't wait 'till next year!

Changing jobs for the new year ...

2008 has gotten off to quite the start here in the O'Donnell household. At the end of December I was offered a full time position at DHL and I accepted the position. Once I had put in my letter of resignation to UPS my manager tried to persuade me to stay. It turns out they did a good job persuading me to stay because just Wednesday I accepted an offer. UPS came in at the 11th hour with a great offer for a full time job, I'm now an Industrial Engineer for UPS. They came to me when I only had 2 more days with the company.

I had to then call DHL and let them know the situation and that I wouldn't be starting with them on Monday. It was a tough decision to stay with UPS, but I definitely believe it is a decision that will payoff in the end.

Now it's time to shift schedules a little bit again. I'll be working from 4:30 ish - 1:00 am ish. A little better than what I'm doing now, but more importantly it will allow our family to start getting ahead a little bit and start planning for the future. One of the pre-requisites to taking the job is that I can still coach soccer in the fall and they have said that it shouldn't be a problem, which was very important to me!

So now the question is ... "What can brown do for you?" Pretty cheesy eh?

Happy New Year!!!

We had the opportunity to spend some time with friends on the Olympic Peninsula in Quilcene. It was great to get away from it all and welcome the new year with friends & family . The boys had a great time on the beach, and B learned how to look for Oysters, even though there was no way he would ever eat one. The weather was amazing, for December on the coast.

Brennen walking on the shoreline

BJ with an oyster ... he thinks it is!

We had a chance to get some family pics, much to B's dismay, and took the opportunity. Brennen is so blonde, sometimes his hair blends in with the sky & the sun. I think we got a couple of good ones! (Take note of the shorts Bryan & B are wearing, even in the cold, by the water in DECEMBER!)
Brennen absolutely loved his adventure and the ferry! I don't think there's much that this kid wouldn't try.

Brennen had to be in the front of the ferry, with all the wind

Sunset on the Olympic Peninsula

Goodbye 2007 - we're ready and waiting for the fun and happiness that 2008 brings with it! Happy New Year to all of our friends and family, and may the new year bring you nothing but love, laughter & happiness! Check out more pics from our New Year's Eve!