CATCHING UP - KLEMMS

So I had heard a lot from Mike about his best friend from when he was a kid - Keith Klemm - since we were dating 8 years ago, but only last month did I meet him in person! (we've communicated in email and a little over the phone before then) The longest Mike and I have ever been apart was when he went to Tennessee for a week to be in Keith and his wife Joy's wedding. A few days after he got back, we were engaged. I actually met Keith's parents long before him...when we went to Hawaii while I was pregnant with Adrienne, we spent the day with his parents who were stationed there.

Keith and Joy have moved a lot since they were married which is a lot to do with why I'm just now meeting them...they lived in Japan for awhile, and Maryland, and most recently San Diego. Now they're moving to Marysville, so that's why I am finally getting to know them. They have two little ones close in age to our kids - Kalvin is going to be 4 soon, and Knox just turned 1. I first met them last month at Mike's parents on Mother's Day, and later that day they joined us at Raab Park for my family's Mother's Day picnic. Here they are at the Miller's (Mike's sister Kristine is on the left):


Joy and the boys went back to San Diego to get them ready to move up here, which happened this week. Keith stayed here and worked some on the ship that he'll be stationed on (the same ship that Mike has been working on for the past year) - I'm not sure completely on the timeline of their events in the last few months, but Joy has been without her husband for a lot of the time and Keith has been back and forth - he flew back for Father's Day weekend. While he was here and Joy was in San Diego we spent a lot of time with Keith hanging out. He helped to put up the beams in the basement for the first floor, he went with us to the Dosewallips waterfall, we went out to dinner, and just hung out. He and Mike spent a lot of time together also. So, it was nice that once I finally got to meet him and his family, that I got to spend a lot of time with him and really get to know him - he's a crack up! I feel like I've known him for years already. I can see why he and Mike get along so well...they have a lot in common and similar senses of humor.

Here are a few pictures taken in the last few months:

Keith in his '66 Corvair
Mike and Keith
This week...the family moving their stuff up from San Diego:
The other night...Keith steamrolling over the kids (they loved it!)
When they drove up early this week, I guess they were supposed to be able to move into their place, but there was some reason that things were held up and they couldn't move in when expected. So, they've been staying over at Mike's parents house. Since they had time to kill, I invited Joy to come with me to a craft activity at the church yesterday. It was nice to get to spend some time with her, and Keith was great and watched all the little ones (Adrienne came and helped with the crafts), so we got a chance to talk while doing the craft instead of being distracted by the kids. This is what we made (will look a lot better hanging up in our new house instead of our our current tin can!):


We look forward to a lot more time spent with the Klemm's in the next few years while they're stationed here!