The Lohr Journal

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting our blog! Now that we’ve sent out Christmas cards with adorable children on them to entice you to visit our website, we should probably update it with what we’ve been doing this year.

We could say we’ve had a great year, and that would be true. We could say we’ve had a challenging year, and that would be true too. It’s been one of those years where a lot of great stuff has happened, but we wouldn’t necessarily want to have to go through it all again.

So, to give you a window into our eventful year, here are the top 7 things we’ve been up to: (If you didn’t have a part in our top list this year, don’t take it personally, and be nicer to us next year.)

1. It’s a Movie! About a Phone!

After over a year of work and creative energy, “Dialtone” the movie is finally complete. All in all, over 300 Christians volunteered their time to make it happen and the response from it has been great. We were accepted into the San Antonio Christian Film festival and are excited to see what God has in store for “Dialtone”. Find out more (or order a DVD) at www.dialtonemovie.com.

From christmas blog

2. 2 Bar Exams Down, Real Life to Go

Brian passed the California bar exam last year, and this year he passed the Washington state bar exam. We went to the “swearing in” a short while later to make it official. It was a long road for all of us, but we’ve finally leaped a big, annoying hurdle. Brian starts his new legal career at a small law firm in Olympia at the beginning of the year.

From christmas blog

3. Benjamin and Emma

These two couldn’t be more fun and I’m guessing it’s humanly impossible for them to be any more busy than they are.

Benjamin is 3 and is talking like crazy. He’s always learning something (so we have to be careful what we’re ‘teaching’ him) and he never takes a rest until you lay him down and command him to do so.

Emma is the happiest, goofiest, little girl ever. She’ll be two on January 11th. She’s sweet and cuddly which is a big change from Benjamin, but she’s always right there to do whatever her big brother is doing.

We can’t say enough about how God has blessed us with Benjamin and Emma.

From christmas blog

4. Tante Resi and Idaho

Natalie’s Aunt (Tante) Resi came to visit from the Netherlands. It was a really neat visit. It was Brian and the kids first time meeting Tante Resi. We were so grateful that she came all this way to spend time with us. We did all kinds of stuff, and then went to Idaho to get everyone together. We saw Jake’s very interesting work environment at Quest Aircraft where the Kodiak is being assembled, took the chairlift up Schweitzer, and did all kinds of great stuff with Natalie’s parents, Ruth and Jake, and Tante Resi.

From christmas blog

5. Mom’s Group and Mops

Natalie started the Mom’s Group 2 years ago for Young Mom’s from church and around the area. It’s still going strong and is growing with more kiddos and more moms. It is a lot of fun, and a good time for sharing encouragement and support.

Natalie joined MOPS this year and that has been fun for both Benjamin and Emma and beneficial for Natalie.

From christmas blog

6. The Beach

We had a chance to spend a couple days at Cannon Beach (our favorite coastal destination) that we didn’t pass up. A last minute decision took us to the beach, and Ruth, Jake, and Kiana happened to be there for a day to hang out with us too.

From christmas blog

7. Fun in Washington

We love Washington. Throughout the summer we took every opportunity we could to drive up to Mt. Rainier and hike around, visit the zoo, or just take a stroll or bike ride on the Foothills trail less than a mile from our house.

From christmas blog

Thanks for stopping by to get a snapshot of what we’ve been up to. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We Have Snow!

2008-12-18T20:07:00.001-08:00

Our Christmas Tree

2008-12-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

The Palouse

2008-09-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

From Kingdom of Walsh

On our way back from Sandpoint, we stopped at my parents property in the "palouse". It's just on the Idaho side of the WA, ID border. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful spot. Benjamin and Emma could have run through the wheat all day long, but we had a long drive ahead of us.

Sandpoint, Idaho!

2008-09-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

From Sandpoint, ID

For the first half of Tante Resi's visit we had fun in WA, for the second half we all drove to Idaho to stay with Ruth and Jake and visit with Mom and Dad.

Ruth and Jake have a beautiful place and we had a great time in the perfect little town of Sandpoint. We walked around downtown, did some shopping, and spent an afternoon up at Schweitzer where we rode the ski lift up to the top and hiked around. Benjamin and Emma loved it.

On our last night, Ruth, Resi, Mom, and I cooked another Indonesia meal. It was a great trip.

Tante Resi! Tante Resi!

2008-09-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

From Resi at Home

Tante Resi came all the way from the Netherlands to visit us last month! It has been 8 years since we have seen each other, and we had a very, very special time.

Benjamin and Emma loved her and it was a constant struggle to keep her safe from "playing choo choos".

We went to Paradise at Mt. Rainier one day, where Benjamin would yell "Tante Resi! Where's Tante Resi!?" whenever Brian and him would take a different path than us. It was a beautiful view and we did our hike and got in the car just as it began to rain.

Tante Resi brought some amazing pictures of our "family tree", and she cooked a authentic Indonesian meal for dinner one night, it was delicious. (The most difficult part was finding an East Asian grocery store that wasn't overtaken with either rats or homeless people to buy all the supplies.)

We also had a BBQ at our house with Grandpa and Sherri and Aunt Sue. After that we were off to Sandpoint, ID!

More Fun on the Fourth of July

2008-07-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun from bike riding to eating happy cakes and more food then thought humanly possible to consume. We also were able to stay for a night on Anderson Island in our parent's cabin. It was so nice and relaxing with no other distractions we were able to really focus on the kids.

2008-07-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!!! We had a great weekend and we'll posting soon detailing all we did. Until then, here's a message from Benjamin at the 4th of July breakfast table.

Fun in the Yard

2008-07-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Point defiance outing

2008-07-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

We saw Belugas, Puffins, walruses, and much much more. Benjamin kept us on the go. Whenever we were looking at an awesome sight such as the Polar bears swimming, Benjamin would say nice and loud "see more". It was quite amazing we made it through the whole zoo in one hour.

Emma's Birthday

2008-03-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we forgot to post pictures of Emma's Birthday! It was her very first birthday party and she liked it... especially the cupcake. It was great to have everyone over.

Anyways, here's some belated pictures from Emma's first birthday party from way back on January 11.

Filming with Kiddos

2008-03-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

We've been busy. Super busy. That's why we haven't posted in awhile, but hopefully that will all change starting now.

One of the reasons we've been so busy is that we are working on DIALTONE, a Christian short film that's going to be amazing. (You can read a little bit about it at http://germaneproductions.blogspot.com or on http://kt-keepingtime.blogspot.com) It's been hard work and has taken almost every weekend for the last month or so. The toughest part of it all is that Benjamin and Emma haven't been able to join in the fun. (Freezing cold, dilapidated warehouses that have huge puddles of water and debris everywhere you look make for great movie sets, but not the greatest place for children.)

So it was a very exciting weekend day when we were able to shoot at our house for a small bedroom scene. Emma and Benjamin were able to be around and have their first experiences on a film crew. I'm sure it won't be the last time they are dragged into something similar.

Here's some pictures of them helping out. Emma kept an eye on my acting and Benjamin watched over the pizza and then played with some trains. Extremely helpful, we wouldn't have got the shots without them.

Snow!!

2008-01-28T21:23:00.001-08:00

We had our first real snow today. Here's some pictures of Benjamin and Emma enjoying it.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! If you're here because you saw our website address on our Christmas Card, welcome. Feel free to check earlier posts to find out what's been going on with us this year and to see more pictures of us than you've ever wanted to see.

( Just click on any of the slideshows to see full size pictures and browse through at your own pace.)

Christmas is great. No matter what circumstances you're in, Christmas comes along and its hard not to be joyful. It's a good reminder for us as Christians because that's how we should always live our lives. No matter what the worldly circumstances, Christ came to earth, lived a sinless life, and died for our sins to save us and give us eternal purpose. That's something to continually be joyful for no matter the circumstances, and that's why we celebrate.

Here's some pictures of our trip to "Zoo Lights" at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

We have a Tree!

2007-12-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to pick out our Christmas tree. We didn't cut one down ourselves, and we didn't just buy one at the grocery store. We met the event halfway and went to a fruit stand/farm. Still in the mud, but no saws around Benjamin. Perfect.

It was a lot of fun. It was Emma's first Christmas tree shopping experience and she did fantastic. Benjamin, for whatever reason, wanted to do nothing but throw rocks at the white flocked trees...and drive the tractor, and run around the enormous wooden snowman that spit out snow from his mouth.

To top it all off, after we got home with the tree, it snowed and after we decorated we got to play in the quickly melting winter wonderland.

Check out the pictures below. If you click on the slideshow you can see full size images and skip around to the ones you want to see.

Benjamin's 2nd Birthday!

2007-12-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

We'll be posting a brief re-cap of the day very soon (or days I should say). Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Top Five Things We Would Have Written About If We Had This Blog A Year Ago

2007-11-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

There's no neutral ground in our lives anymore. We have a home full of very strong personalities, and every outing, event, task, and even the restful moments are full of a lot of different experiences and point of views all wrapped into one.

In this type of atmosphere a blog is definitely a good thing. You see, I figure if we jot down some thoughts and pictures on the stuff that happens, soon after it happens, we'll be able to look back and see more than just a big energized blur of Benjamin intensity. It's always good to give your experiences context, and a blog kind of forces you to do that. Plus everybody else can look at some pictures too.

So for our first post... Our Top Five Things We Would have Written About if We Had a Blog Sooner(chronologically ordered, and not necessarily in order of importance) .

1. Emma was born on January 11, 2007. She's even cuter now. We couldn't be more grateful to God for her.

2. I worked for Senator Benton in the WA Senate once again and was able to work with my brilliant, like-minded, lifelong friend Daniel Bittner who worked as our Session Aide for the second year in a row. We made a movie about the legislative process aptly entitled.... The Process. (I might post it sometime.)

3. After the legislative session ended we went to the beach. And then we went again. I don't think Benjamin slept the entire time.

4. Natalie started a Young Mom's Group where mom's and their children can get together to relax and share scriptures, experiences, tips, and food.

5. I took the California Bar Exam in July. Just found out I passed last week, Nov. 16th. God's confirmation of this path for our life came at a great time. It made for a pretty good Thanksgiving.

Stay Tuned! More exciting posts, videos, and pictures to come soon!