Tag Archives: Allyson Andrade

Meeting A Spokane Icon

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On Saturday night, Sidney and I met a person from my childhood past. Throughout my time growing up in Spokane, the local news was constantly on at our house. My parents made it a priority to tune in because of community connectedness, the ability to follow our local sports teams, and sometimes just for background noise.

We also tuned in for the weather. Whether we needed an update on the latest snowstorm, info on what to wear for Bloomsday, or just a general outlook on what the unpredictable and diverse weekly weather would bring to the Inland Northwest, we turned to the local news.

Growing up in Spokane during the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a power player on the local weather scene: Tom Sherry.

On Saturday night at the St. Mary Gala, Sidney and I met Tom Sherry.

Sherry’s name was synonymous with Spokane weather—and, if I dare say—Spokane celebrity in general. If you know anything about how the local news works, you are aware that a typical newscast consists of multiple throwbacks to the meteorologist for weather updates. Watch an hour of local news and you will most likely see the weather person a handful of different times.

With so much exposure, you better believe a sense of pressure exists: either develop rapport and trust with your audience or find a different job.

Well, given those two options, there was a reason why Tom was comfortably installed at KREM for decades. I believe Sherry’s success and longevity went way beyond his command of the weather. He was charismatic, relatable, and deeply ingrained within the community. The man’s legendary charitable work alone gained him the respect of Spokane local news viewers.

I remember the feeling of peace, comfort, and normalcy I felt upon returning to Spokane in 2020. After leaving the community in 2005 to go to college and eventually start my career, I returned 15 years later to find a familiar presence on the news.

Re-connecting with Sherry via the airwaves gave me the opportunity to introduce him to my wife and children before his retirement in 2022. Then, on Saturday night, I had my first ever chance to connect with him in-person.

Over the weekend, St. Mary Catholic School held its fundraising gala. None other than Tom Sherry graciously agreed to emcee the event. The dad of two children who attended St. Mary, Tom holds the school in very high esteem.

After telling our friends, Ryan and Allyson Andrade, of my family’s history with Sherry, Allyson took it upon herself to flag down Sherry during a gala break. Tom came over to our table and talked with us for several moments and graciously took a photo with Sidney and me.

When I told him I was part of a KREM family growing up, he quipped, “Thanks for keeping me employed.” He then talked to Sidney about living in South Carolina and mentioned his connection to Charleston. We also discussed what makes St. Mary so special and other topics. The conversation was just as warm as Tom came across all those nights on KREM.

Thanks for emceeing the St. Mary Gala, Mr. Sherry, it was a pleasure to meet you. Don’t Blink.

Summer 2023

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We are more than halfway through September and Labor Day seems like a distant memory so please forgive me if I bring up an outdated word: Summer.

Ah yes, Summer 😎. Because things have been rather busy around the Reser household I neglected to recap Summer 2023 in a more timely manner. I hope you can forgive me. If I do have your pardon, I figured I would rewind the awesome summer the four of us had by listing 10 themes/events from the season. In no particular order (except maybe the first item), here we go…

New Home – At the very beginning of August, we moved into our new house. This major development was felt the entire summer as we packed up our old house during both June and July. After we moved all our belongings into our new abode, it took the rest of August (and beyond) to unpack.

This is our new home by D.R. Horton.

Godparents! – In the middle of June, Sidney and I became Godparents for the first time. We were honored and blessed when our good friends, Ryan and Allyson Andrade, asked us to be the godmother and godfather of their sweet little boy, Noble.

Sidney and I became godparents to Noble Andrade. Fr. Jeff Lewis of St. Mary Catholic Church in the Spokane Valley performed the baptism. Noble is the son of Ryan and Allyson Andrade (photo courtesy of Rachael and Josh Photography).

Hoopfest – A highlight of the summer was definitely competing in Hoopfest! I played on a St. Mary team that under the guidance of Fr. Jeff Lewis managed to make it to the championship game. It was a wonderful bonding experience with my teammates and we all appreciated the chance our children had to be part of it.

I felt like our team overachieved in a pretty competitive bracket. People in this photo include (from l-r) JJ Nazzaro, Amy Martin, Fr. Jeff Lewis, me, and Ryan Andrade.

Weddings – It was such a blessing to attend three weddings at St. Mary this summer. Two of the weddings were for couples that Sidney and I mentored through Pre-Cana. The other couple, Dylan and Fidela, are our friends and former neighbors from our Young Adult Catholic group.

We had the blessing of attending three beautiful weddings this summer.

Extended Fourth of July Weekend – With the Fourth of July on a Tuesday, it set up the opportunity to take a nice four-day weekend. During that time we had a picnic in Riverfront Park, went to the aquatic center, watched the debut of a friend’s band, saw big cats up close at Cat Tales, and more. Independence Day itself was a treat as we sipped gourmet sodas, enjoyed a cookout at my parents, and then watched fireworks with friends at Pavillion Park in Liberty Lake.

Sidney watches the fireworks at Pavillion Park in Liberty Lake on the Fourth of July.

Vacation – For vacation we headed to the west side of the state. We spent one night in Seattle where we watched a Mariners game and then spent several days in beautiful Seabrook. It was great to get up close and personal with the Pacific Ocean.

What a fantastic vacation it was. We took our photo at Seabrook’s signature oversized chair.

Summer Reading – All the fun we had outdoors didn’t stop us from hitting the books. Sloan and Beau participated in the Spokane County Library’s summer reading program. They logged nearly 20 hours of reading over the summer and although they didn’t win any of the drawings we sure read some memorable stories.

Sloan posing with a couple of the books we read this summer.

Fun in the Water – We didn’t meet a pool we didn’t like this summer. Scorching temperatures made the decision easy to cool off at both public and private swimming pools. Sloan is a little fish while Beau is still pretty anxious.

Just some of the pools that the kids swam in this summer.

Labor Day Getaway – We spent the traditional end-of-summer Labor Day weekend in Missoula. The kids enjoyed their first taste of Montana as they attended a Griz football game, ate Big Dipper ice cream, spent time downtown, and hiked The M.

Our family inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium prior to the University of Montana vs. Butler football game on September 2, 2023.

Pickleball – We picked up a new sport/activity this summer. Our new neighborhood has a pickleball court so we naturally purchased some paddles and balls. It has been fun to compete against Sidney while also watching Sloan pick up the game.

Sloan loves pickleball already!

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It was a memorable summer for sure! Thanks to everyone who played a role in making it so much fun, especially my wife and children. Although it is always sad to see summer go, it is hard to dwell on it when your autumn is already off to a busy and exciting start. Don’t Blink.

First Thursday Rundown of Summer 2023

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Happy summer! It doesn’t get more glorious in the Inland Northwest than it will over the next couple months. So if you are fortunate enough to live in this little part of the country, all I have to say is enjoy. Here is tonight’s rundown…

Summer Plans – Since we are talking about summer, I thought I would share Sloan’s plan for the season with you. At school she completed the below “Surfing Into Summer” exercise. Sloan listed great summer activities like reading and swimming but she also listed something rather specific too. For whatever reason, she indicated her desire to go to Froyo Earth on July 3. Her time for hitting it up is even specific—10:20 (she didn’t specify a.m. or p.m. but it would have to be the latter as Froyo Earth is open 12 p.m. – 11 pm.). As long as Sloan is negotiable on that time and allows us to go earlier, I think this ice cream date can be arranged.

Take a gander at Sloan’s summer plans.

Father’s Day Gift – This weekend I will hit the streets of Downtown Spokane for Hoopfest. As I have practiced with my team for the tournament, I have suffered from awful cramps. My wife, always so thoughtful, got me the perfect Father’s Day gift that will hopefully allow me to play pain-free. The gift I opened this past Sunday was a bottle Theraworx Muscle Cramps Spray. I spray it on my calves before physical activity to prevent cramps and if I do experience cramping the product claims to relieve the pain if I apply it during an episode. Crossing my fingers that it works!

Sidney got me this muscle cramp spray for Father’s Day.

Baptism Photo – Recently, I wrote about a very special baptism. On June 11, Sidney and I became the godparents of Noble, the son of our good friends, Ryan and Allyson Andrade. On Tuesday, Allyson shared with us the photos from the beautiful morning. There are so many good ones that I would love to share but space is at a premium so here is one that shows the parents, godparents, Fr. Jeff Lewis, and most importantly, Noble 😊

What a memorable day this was. (l-r) Ryan Andrade, Allyson Andrade, Sidney Reser, Noble Andrade, Brent Reser, and St. Mary Catholic Church pastor Fr. Jeff Lewis. (photo courtesy of Rachael & Josh Photography)

Flamin’ Hot Stream – My streaming pick of the week can be found on Hulu and it tells a pretty intriguing story. “Flamin’ Hot” is a movie that centers on the guy who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Richard Montanez was a Frito Lay janitor when he broke rank and managed to pitch his idea to the company’s CEO. Richard convinced the head boss that the Hispanic market needed something like spicy-flavored Cheetos and the rest is history. Or, fictitious history at least. Of course I did my research after the film and found that the storyline took tremendous liberties in the same way that “Cocaine Bear” did. Still, “Flamin’ Hot” was an inspirational comedy that provided 90 minutes of entertainment.

“Flamin’ Hot” covered a pretty interesting story about a unique product.

MYOB – I crossed this while mindlessly scrolling Twitter. Not a bad message, I know I am tempted to look over the fence from time to time. Luckily I haven’t been poked in the eye…yet.

This appeared on my Twitter feed.

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And that shall do it for tonight. I am looking forward to a great weekend of basketball and I will offer more information about when/where our team is playing during tomorrow’s special Friday blog post.

June 11: Blessed By The Sacraments

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Today, Sidney and I celebrate our seventh anniversary. Ah, “lucky seven” indeed. Our marriage grows stronger each year because we become better at accepting the grace that God bestows upon married couples. Yep, there is something supremely powerful about the sacrament of holy matrimony.

Incredibly, this morning, the date of June 11 became even more significant for Sidney and I.

Sidney and I entered into holy matrimony on June 11, 2016. Little did we know that June 11 would increase even more in significance a little later down the road.

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A special invitation came exactly three weeks ago as we strolled into the sunshine after the post-mass coffee and donuts social hour at St. Mary. We walked out of the gym with our dear friends, Ryan and Allyson Andrade. Our family started to pull ahead because the Andrades were naturally taking extra care with their brand new 5-day-old baby boy. But before we could completely leave them in the dust, I turned around.

“Brent,” Ryan had called my name.

I changed directions and walked back toward our friends. It was at that moment that Ryan and Allyson asked us to be the godparents of Noble Josiah Andrade. The raw emotion of humility was amplified even more when they told us the date of the ceremony.

This is me holding Baby Andrade at 9 days old. We had been asked to be his godparents a couple days before this photo was taken.

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In the single greatest honor that Sid and I have received together as a married couple, we stood with Ryan, Allyson, and their daughter, Aria, as Noble was baptized by Fr. Jeff Lewis during today’s 9 a.m. mass at St. Mary. As Noble was washed of original sin, Sidney and I became forever bound to him—and to each other once again—in the role of godparents.

We snapped this selfie after Noble was baptized at St. Mary Catholic Church in Spokane Valley on June 11, 2023. Fr. Jeff Lewis performed the baptism.

Suddenly, June 11 managed to mean even more than it had from 2016 through 2022. No longer just a date when Sidney and I committed to each other, it was now a date when we also committed to the life of a precious baby boy. Alleluia!

Sidney holds Noble at his baptism reception. How lucky we are to be part of this little dude’s life!

Today has been the most meaningful anniversary we have had since tying the knot and it is going to be tough to beat in the future. That we were trusted with such an important role in Noble’s life is in part, at least I believe (although I can’t read the minds of Ryan and Allyson), a testament to the strength of our marriage. Our friends saw something in us that they thought would be spiritually beneficial to Noble and now it is our turn to prove them right.

As Sidney wrote on Noble’s cross, he is very loved. And Sidney, you are loved too! 🙂

Happy anniversary, Sidney! Happy baptism, Noble! I love you both and look forward to many more glorious June 11s. Thanks be to God. Don’t Blink. 🙏