Christmas 2010 - The Year in Review

Thank you for visiting our annual Christmas blog!

As we approach the end of the year, it's always a good time to look back. As we reflect on 2010, we are blessed with a lot of great memories.

Life with an 18 month-old is a very different experience than it was with a 6 month-old! Back when we rang in the new year last January, Henry was a chubby little cutie who was generally content to sit and watch the world around him. Today, he is a running, climbing, giggling bundle of energy! He really keeps us on our toes, but it sure is a lot of fun (and darn good exercise) chasing after him.

Henry is quite the little chatterbox, and he seems to learn a new word every day. One of his favorite pastimes is pointing at things and saying what they are. "Ball!" "Truck!" "Football!" "Puppy!" "Basketball!" "Car!" (Yeah, he's definitely a boy...)

While we didn't take any major trips this year, we got to create some great memories with gatherings and getaways around the Northwest.

In April, for Steve's birthday, we spent a couple days at Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge.

Henry's birthday in June was a big milestone. We celebrated with friends and family with a Hawaiian themed backyard barbecue. Henry had no trouble tearing into his cake - he made a glorious mess of it. It was a great feeling to know that we had made it a whole entire year as parents!

On Father's Day, we travelled up to Seattle with Bob, Melanie, Jeff, Marie, Luke and Ian for a Mariner's Game. The little guys had a hard time sitting still, but it was fun anyway.

In July, we went up to Olympia to check out Lakefair with the Traftons. Jennee and Jessica had fun reliving the summers of their youth, and sharing the experience with the kids.

Also in July, we did our annual "camping trip" at the coast with friends (the Scotts, the Chapmans, and the Snyder). We did some hiking, a lot of eating, played on the beach, and relaxed on the big wrap-around deck. We love indoor camping!

In August, Jessica organized a Building Champions team for the Portland to Coast walking relay. Her team of 12 ladies walked a collective total of 127 miles from Portland to Seaside. It was a big challenge, and a crazy long night with very little sleep, but it was an amazing experience.

Labor Day weekend, we got to go out to Bella Beach for the annual Sadler family weekend getaway. It was fun to see the three cousins playing together! Our house was a short walk to the beach, so we got to spend a lot of time playing in the sand. We also spent a day at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

In October, we had the opportunity to spend the week in Seaside. It was a relaxing time for the three of us to connect and play together as a family. We had some great weather, and Henry loved playing in the sand and helping Daddy fly a kite.

Halloween was a lot of fun - Henry was a garden gnome and went trick-or-treating for the first time. He had no trouble figuring out the routine of knocking on doors, and even yelled "Boo!" a few times. Amazingly enough, he left his costume on the whole time.

For Thanksgiving, we spent the day in Wilsonville with the Traffas family. Then on Friday, we went to Eugene to watch the Ducks defeat Arizona (GO DUCKS!!). It has to be said that this was a REALLY fun football season, and we look forward to watching the National Championship game!

Christmas is right around the corner, and we are already enjoying the season. We cut down a beautiful tree at a nearby lot, which Henry refers to with excitement as "Big Tree."

On the work front, Jessica continues to work at Building Champions in a part time role as "Communications Coordinator," which involves managing blogs, the newsletter, and social media, and allows her to work partly from home.

Steve moved from the Keller Williams Realty office downtown to the Bridgeport Village office in March. It is much closer to home, and he is happy with the switch. It has been a challenging market, but he is staying positive and busy working with home buyers, sellers, and investors.

Our families are doing well, and we have loved having both sets of grandparents able to frequently spend time with Henry. But the year hasn't been without its challenges. Jessica's mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in January, and underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Fortunately, they caught it early, and she was recently given a clean report by her oncologist and even enjoyed a trip to Italy this fall. God is so good!

We have been thinking a lot lately about what is really important, and we are looking forward to a peaceful holiday season spent with family and friends. Well, as peaceful as anything can be with a toddler in the house....

We wish you a lot of joy this Christmas, and the best kind of prosperity in 2011.

-Steve, Jessica, and Henry-

PS - Maeby has been very good this year, and will be getting some nice tuna in her stocking. She is patient with Henry and lets him chase her around - he even tries to hug her - and she has not scratched him once. Good kitty!

Christmas 2009 - The Year in Review

Thank you for visiting our Christmas Blog!

2009 has been a very memorable year for our family. On New Year's Eve, we were very excited to learn that we were having a little baby boy!

In January, we were fortunate enough to be able to travel to Hawaii for a "Babymoon." We spent three days on the Big Island exploring the volcano and swimming in geothermally heated ocean pools.

Then we traveled to Kauai for a week, where we stayed on the North Shore at Hanalei Bay. We hiked the Napali Coast, which was stunningly beautiful. We swam and snorkeled, and explored the Waimea Canyon.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was a catamaran tour - the hotel concierge had to make numerous calls to find a company who would take a "pregnant wahine," but it was worth it! We saw dolphins, tons of tropical fish, sea turtles, flying fish (at least Jessica claims she did), and whales. One whale popped up just a few feet from the boat. It was a wonderful trip, and we can't wait to take our little "Honu" back there someday. And da kine.

Shortly after we returned, Steve made a career move. He joined the Burton Team with Keller Williams, and has a new office downtown with a view of Mt. Saint Helens.

The next few months were spent preparing for the arrival of our baby boy. Jessica and her Mom did a lot of sewing together for the nursery. Jessica was also blessed to have three baby showers, and a lot of love and well-wishes shared for the little one. She continued to work up until her due date, May 28th.

The due date came and went, and we waited. Jessica went for walks, and we waited. More doctors appointments, and still we waited. 13 days past the due date, we finally decided to schedule an induction for 6am the following morning. And wouldn't you know it - Jessica woke up at 12:30am....in labor!

Henry Oliver Traffas was born on June 11th at 12:23pm, weighing in at 9lbs 3oz and 21 3/4 inches.

The past six months with Henry in our lives have been like no other. He is such a good-natured baby - he's very healthy and smiles a lot. He's a good sleeper, and definitely a hearty eater - just check out those cheeks! We're not sure exactly how we got so lucky...but we certainly appreciate what a blessing he is in our lives.

By the way, at six months old he is now 19lbs 7oz and 27 inches. He's sitting and rolling and trying to work out how he can capture the kitty. As of yet, he has not succeeded, but it seems to be only a matter of time. Maeby has been reluctantly patient and long-suffering.

Henry has also proven to be a good traveler. In July we had our annual "camping" trip with friends, and stayed in a lovely house in Gleneden Beach. In September, we went to Sunriver with the Sadler family for a long weekend. We hiked, explored caves, went fabric shopping, went golfing (guess who did what) and tried not to get attacked by mosquitos. Just a couple of weeks later, Jessica and Henry were back in Sunriver for the Building Champions Experience. Grandma came along to help. In October, we took an impromptu weekend trip to Pacific City.

We also managed to get out of the house a couple of times without the baby, thanks in part to Jessica's good luck. She won tickets on the radio to see Brian Regan, a favorite comedian of ours, just two weeks after Henry was born - so we had our first date night. Then in October, she won tickets to the Pink Martini CD Release Concert thanks to the magic of Facebook. Steve bravely stayed home with Henry while Jessica and Selina had a night out.

After three months of maternity leave, Jessica returned to work part time at Building Champions, as the Office and Communications Coordinator. She's enjoying her new role which includes publishing blogs, writing the newsletter, and managing the company's social networking (ie, Facebook). She has been with BC for almost 8 years now.

On October 15th, just one day shy of nephew Luke's second birthday, Ian Claiborne Sadler was born. Jeff and Marie seem to be adjusting well to parenting two little boys, and Jessica's parents couldn't be happier - in just a few months they went from one grandson to three!

Now, we would be remiss if we did a recap of 2009 without mentioning something about the OREGON DUCKS! Henry got to attend two games this year - the thrilling victories over Cal and USC - and is now considered good luck and will likely be invited back to Autzen. We had a lot of fun taking him to the games. We also attended the Arizona State game without him, and then Jessica had the ultimate privilege of going to the Civil War with Mom, Dad, and Jeff.

What a fun year for Oregon football!! We'll be tuning in to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day if you'd like to join us.

Thanksgiving was spent in McMinnville with the Traffas family. Patrick and Suzie made the trip down from Canada, and the Tovars traveled over from La Grande. All nine grandchildren were in attendance, and it was fun to see them all together.

We are looking forward to Henry's first Christmas, and all the joy that the New Year is sure to bring. We wish each of you all the best in 2010!

May you be abundantly blessed,

Steve, Jessica, and Henry Traffas

Christmas 2007 - The Year in Review

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for visiting our online Christmas update.

We've started to receive Christmas letters from many of our friends and family, and it appears that we're not the only people who had a busy year! As we look back on 2007, it's starting to seem like a blur of activity, but we thought we'd hit on a few highlights.

In February, I had the chance to visit Jennee and Carson - and their girls, Rachel and Sarah - in Tucson. We had lots of fun! I also attended a Sewing Expo in Washington this Spring.

Steve continued to grow in his career this year as a Real Estate Agent. We both had an opportunity to work hands-on with several listings, doing both cosmetic rehabilitation and staging. We hope to purchase and fix up an investment home of our own in 2008.

In March we made an important discovery......

.....Maeby does NOT like baths.

In May, we went on our annual Memorial Day camping trip with Selina & Phil, Jen & Tom, Annie & Jim, Matt, Tracy, etc. This year we camped at Silver Falls, and had a great hike and the traditional semi-crummy weather. We also managed to clean ourselves up a little bit and drive over to Cristom for some fabulous wine tasting!

In September, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary with a trip to Yellowstone National Park. We stayed a couple of days in Jackson and explored the Tetons, and then headed in to the park and camped for a few nights. We were amazed at all of the wildlife we saw - elk, moose, coyotes, wolves, bison, deer, antelope, black bears, and even a grizzly (from a very safe distance). Then on our way home we visited my Aunt & Uncle at their 2nd home in Livingtston MT, and Mike & Nani Franklin in Spokane. It was a very memorable trip!

After our vacation, we entered what one can only refer to as "Baby Season" - I suppose it's just that time of life for us!

On September 24th, Jennee, Carson, Rachel and Sara Trafton welcomed little Jasper to the world (aka, "Baby Gator"). They currently live in Tucson, so we have yet to meet the little guy in person but hope to see them when they visit the Northwest.

On October 6th, our good friends Jen and Tom Chapman welcomed Kaeden Matthew (or K-Mat). We were able to visit them soon afterward at the hospital, and he is a cutie! Steve even got to hold him. (hmmm...should I be concerned?)

And then the main event! On October 16th, Jeff and Marie Sadler - yes, my little brother! - gave my parents and Marie's mom their first grandchild - Luke Wesley Sadler. While I am very proud to be called "Aunt Jessica" by 7 kids on Steve's side of the family, he is my first biologically-related nephew and I can't seem to get enough of the little guy!

Luke's first day, snuggled up with Mom and Dad. He's pretty much the cutest baby EVER! :-)

Luke and his favorite Aunt, with proud Grandpa looking on.

Luke watching the Ducks game (even though his Mom is a Beaver, he fortunately takes after his Dad's side of the family). He cried when Dixon got hurt - but who can blame him?

Jeff is still with the Air Force National Guard, and was just promoted to Tech Sergeant. He is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in early February, after training back east in January, so if you are so inclined, please keep him in your prayers for safety. Marie will go back to work part time as a nurse while he's away, and the whole family will be pitching in to help with babysitting! You can follow along with Jeff's deployment - and see more photos of Luke! - on their website:

http://www.jeffandmarie.net

Soon it was November and time for Thanksgiving. While Steve spent the holiday in McMinnville with family, Jessica took her second trip to Mexico to build homes outside Tijuana. This year's trip was a little different, as we built one home for a pastor and his family, and also started work on a community center at the church!

Also, I had a group of awesome Pterodactyls to travel with! (from left: Anna Lewis, Meghan Fitzgerald, Laura DeVries, Nicole Keating, and me) If you want to read more about our adventures, visit:

http://pterodactylphamily.blogspot.com/

While I was in Mexico, my parents (Bob & Melanie) were moving to a new house! They didn't move far, just about 10 miles from Beaverton to Tualatin, but the communte is easier and they have less square footage to keep up, which is what they were aiming for. To hear more about what they are up to now, you can visit their site:

http://web.mac.com/mamaduck70/Site/Welcome.html

Shortly after Thanksgiving, we traveled to Laguna Beach, CA for a Masters' Coach Event (one of the quarterly events that I help coordinate at Building Champions). This was the last event of the year - I went to Scottsdale in February, Torrey Pines (SoCal) in May, and all the way to Skamania (45min from home) in August. This time, Steve accompanied me as the event was being held at The Montage, my absolute favorite resort EVER! We got to stay over an extra night, so after I was done working we enjoyed some R&R. The weather was stormy most of the time, but it made for a beautiful sunset.....

Since the Montage trip, we've been busy preparing for Christmas! Time has really flown by this year, so we're trying to stop and enjoy each moment as it comes. Next year is bound to have some big changes, but we have a lot of peace about whatever the future holds.

We wish you a restful holiday season, and a happy new year!

*Steve & Jessica*


As for Maeby......


...she slept frequently and squeaked at us indignantly a lot this year, and was generally ferocious. She sends her best.