Author: kyle

Finishing work.

Abigail was there!!

Under skies that obligingly turned from habitual gray to clear blue, Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama on Sunday drew the largest crowd of his 15-month marathon campaign for the presidency.

Sixty-thousand people packed into a park alongside the banks of the Willamette River to listen to Obama, with another 15,000 left standing outside the gates, according to city fire officials. Hundreds more anchored their motorboats, or floated in kayaks and canoes.

… Even after months on the trail, Obama seemed slightly stunned by the size of the crowd, saying “Wow, wow, wow” as he surveyed the audience.

“We have had a lot of rallies,” he said. “This is the most spectacular setting, the most spectacular crowd we have had this entire campaign.”

In August of 2004, then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry held a large rally in the same location, drawing about 45,000 people.

But on Sunday, Obama topped that without even being the official nominee, speaking to a crowd filled with sunscreen-smeared babies in sun hats, union members in matching T-shirts, elderly ladies fanning themselves under the hot sun and twenty-somethings dancing to his opening act, the Portland-based band The Decemberists.

Some voters lined up before dawn to see him, including Michelle Kay.

“We are all so sick of Bush, his lies, the war,” she said. “When Obama came out he was so honest, so refreshing.”

Others arrived at the last minute, such as Afang Tang-Christianson of Beaverton and her husband Daniel. She is due to give birth to twins in the next week or two, and the two had spent the morning at the hospital when she began feeling early contractions.

But after leaving, she said they came straight to the rally, adding, “It’s all about a new beginning, a new start. We are really hoping for change in Washington.”

Here’s a movie of one of Abby’s first attempts at crawling. She was 7 months and one week here.

Abby is going crazy lately!

Not only is she crawling all over the place, but today she started standing up all by herself!! She is able to stand in her crib and look out at us now.

Her grammy and grandpa came to visit us this month also:

Here she is hanging around the house:

Here she is with her friend Heidi:

And here she is going crazy:

Well we drove down to Eugene late Friday afternoon, hoping to get the chance to see Obama speak at Mac Court. As luck would have it, we were able to get in (along with Abby) and be very near the stage. He gave a great speech, even though Abby tried her best to interrupt! Here are some pictures:

I’m hoping this will work. Here’s a video of little Abby laughing. She’s a happy girl!

Well we are all three settling into the new year. We bought a new computer to make it easier to organize photos and update our website, so hopefully that will allow us to write more.

Abby is four months now and going strong. She is able to sit up, push up her body with her hands, and has even rolled over on her own a few times. Oh and she is really good at standing with support! She babbles on and on trying to make vowel sounds. I think she will be an early talker.

Here are a few recent pictures:

And here are some from Christmas time. This is Abby’s cousin Peyton:

Last night Sara and I took Abby to her first Trail Blazers game. We were lucky to have tickets in the TEK suite so that it wasn’t too loud. It was a great game, with the home team crushing the Dallas Mavericks. Abby couldn’t believe all the people when I showed her the crowd. It was a sellout with over 20,000 in attendance. She’s never been so stimulated!