Jennifer and Adam become engaged

It's true!

Adam officially popped the question and Jennifer officially accepted his proposal.



Of course that calls for a celebration at the local Mexican restaurant.

With Adams little tribe, who are very delighted.

His mother and I are delighted, too. Looks like a spring wedding.

Lift-off April 8th.

Our plans are solidifying.

Matt and Heather; Adam and Jennifer are with us 4/10 to 4/18.

Michelle, our neighbor, is staying 4/20 to 4/28.

Bill and Marlene are coming approx. 5/1 to 5/7

Dennis and Carol, neighbors, arrive 5/13 and depart 5/20

Beware, Russell, here we come. We plan for a trip to Honolulu for a couple of days in May, hopefully on the Super Ferry?

We still have space in the last half of May for some guests.

We're back from our Spring 2008 Trip

We've just completed our 3249 mile spring trip through Prineville, OR; Reno, NV; San Marino, CA; Monterey, CA; Redding, CA, Ashland, OR and Vancouver, WA.

We visited great relatives and friends, including:

• Molly and Dave Freitag, always enjoyable folks, in Prineville, OR and their two poodles, Schatzy and Abby.
• Nancy and "Big" Ed Frykman (5 days of great joy and "Big" Ed's wonderful cooking). Nancy is the best tour guide ever;
• Carolyn's long lost cousin, Nancy Brown and her husband Tim (great fun) Redding, CA;
• and, Pirkko Silfversward, Lars ex-wife (you remember Lars?) in Ashland, OR;
• we also got to visit my cousin Clark McKee and meet his new wife Terri in Reno (congratulations). Clark really married up.
  
• and, Jim and Carolanne Olson (our ex-sister-in-law in Vancouver, WA.
• Thanks to all for adding your warmth and hospitality to our adventure.

Everyday one of 18 days was absolutely jammed with adventure, culture, eye-popping scenery.

Must see in your lifetime:

• Central Oregon, including the High Desert Museum near Bend, OR.
• Central Oregon in general.
• The route from Reno to Lancaster, CA down the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
• Joshua Tree National Park.
• The Huntington Library in San Marino.
• The Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
  
• The La Brea Tar pits, Los Angeles.
• The Hearst Castle, San Simeon.
  
• California Highway 1 from Santa Barbara to Carmel.
  
• Monterey Aquarium, Monterey.
  
• Northern California from Redding to Ashland, OR.

A good long road trip will reminds all us of what a wonderful country we live in. Virtually every turn was a spectacular vista and we met wonderfully nice people from the couple in a Lakeview, OR resturant to Jann the Swede, the barber in San Marino who added new meaning to getting a hair cut.



Please enjoy our trip via our Buckmaster's Spring 2008 Trip slide show. Give it a little time to start loading.

This is what Jennifer does.

Among other things she gets Microsoft products featured in movies and tv programs. Here are two examples:

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

In an episode airing Sunday, March 2nd, Xbox was asked to help a family with 5 children. The family helps “at risk” children in the community as well as mentally challenged adults. The family lives in a 600 square foot home with some of the kids sleeping on the floor to make room for everyone. Their house is in disrepair, and this is where Xbox comes in.
Currently the EMHE team is working on a home in West Virginia. The family has 5 children all from the ages of 13-16. One of the focal points of the home is going to be a HUGE entertainment center in the living room-- complete with a 60" plasma TV, stereo, etc. They would like to incorporate Xbox 360 into this entertainment set up and will highlight all the items that are donated to the family.

We pulled together an Elite, new accessories, and copies of Guitar hero as well as other appropriate E & T rated games.

My Dad is Better than your Dad

We provided prizing for the new NBC show “My Dad is Better than your Dad” and received great verbal mentions as well as product shots on the premier last night. We didn’t pay any fee for this placement & have been assured by production that we will receive mentions (at a minimum) in every episode. We’ll pull viewership numbers & will have some footage shortly. Keep an eye out for it next week!

Here’s a synopsis:
"My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad," premiering on Monday, February 18 (8-9 p.m. ET), is a fun-filled, family-friendly competition series from the producers of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" (Mark Burnett Productions) and NBC’s "The Biggest Loser" (Reveille). The series will finally prove the familiar schoolyard boast -- "My dad is better than your dad!"
Hosted by Dan Cortese ("MTV Sports," "What I Like About You"), the high-energy series features dads and their respective 8 to12-year-old sons or daughters at the forefront of the action -- leading them in exciting larger-than-life challenges testing dad’s strength, smarts and their ability to work as a team. Ultimately, the triumphant dad will strut away with the all-important bragging rights and the opportunity to compete in the "money" round, with a chance to win up to $50,000.

Headed for Southern Califorina

Here we come!

Before we go to Maui we're in the planning stages of a trip to Southern California. Carolyn has a "cousinette", Nancy, and her husband, Big Ed, who live in San Marino, CA. It's been years since we've been to their home and California in general.

This is a year of reconnecting with family and friends we've neglected for years.

Map to California and back. How does this route look? Where to stay between LA and San Fransico? How is the weather between 2/28 or so and mid March?

Any comments?

We're headed back to Paradise

Carolyn and I are going back to Maui. Departure to Maui is 4/8/08 with a return of 6/5/08.

Looking forward to having Matt, Adam and Jennifer with us during the early part of our stay. A first time visit to Hawaii for Jennifer. We find it so enjoyable to share Maui, especially with first timers.

Got any ideas for us? Things or places you like to go to or do? Favorite restaurants? Just looking for suggestions.