Christmas At Our Place

We had Christmas at our house this year! My parents, brother, grandma, aunt, uncle, cousins, and Jess' grandparents all came to our little condo on Christmas eve for dinner, singing, and presents.

^Grandma, Eileen, Reuben, Gabriel and Isaac

^Dad and Binx

^Mom, Donny, and Jess

^Grandma, Isaac, Me, Jess

^Jess' grandparents

^Grandma, Gabriel, Eileen, Reuben

^Jess' grandma Marika w/ her camera

^Eileen, Isaac, Jess w/ her new coat

^Me leading in Christmas songs

^Jess and I w/ my parents and her grandparents

Preview For Prince Caspian!!

If you know me well, you probably know that I have always loved C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles Of Narnia." I've just seen the preview for the next film in the series: "Prince Caspian." I can't wait!!

Binx's Early Christmas Gift

Whilst we were doing some final Christmas shopping the other day, we stopped in at Old Navy. As we were checking out, we came across some clothing for pets that was half off. We thought of all the funny dogs that wear little sweaters and such, and then we thought, "how funny would it be to put Binx in clothes?"

We bought him a little blue polo shirt (it was the only piece they had in Extra Small, and considering the clothes were sized for dogs, that's the size that Binx needed. Yes, big fat Binx needed an Extra Small. That boosted his little ego, we're sure!). We figured that half the fun of this little endeavor would be watching Binx rebel as we tried to slip this little wonder over his head and pull his arms through the holes. And even better would be his meltdown of trying to get the thing off once we had it on him.

Somewhat to our dismay, he didn't put up much of a fight (he had just woken up, and was a bit groggy). Jess totally could've got it on him while I was filming the short clip you'll see below, but she was laughing, and couldn't hold him still enough, so I had to take over.

So here's Binx in his Christmas shirt. Click on any of the small pictures for the full experience, and leave him a nice comment on how handsome he looks.

Jess trying to put the shirt on him


Like I said, he'd just woken up from a nap


He's momma's handsome boy


This one shows how much of his girth is due to his fluffiness


Abercrombie and Fitch? How'd this ad get in here? Oh wait...it's Binx!

My Date With A Flat-Iron

Pastor Todd's daughters, Natalie and Ally, wanted to take flat-irons to my hair the other night before youth group. The results were amusing...

Having second thoughts...

Mmmm...fried hair...

Half-way there...livin' on a prayer...

Sweeeeeet

"You look like some type of wild beast from the prairie" - Jess

Thanks girls, I may do this more often... ;)

Winter Fun

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks. Mallory Smith came over a few Sundays ago and taught me and Jess how to crochet, which is a very difficult and time consuming activity. I've got a pretty good like 10-inch start on a scarf which I should be finished with by Dec. 2010.

We got our fake Christmas tree, and man it has been great. The lights are already attached to it, so you just put the pieces together, arrange the bristle tips to your liking (so cool!) and turn it on! I also put up Christmas lights on the outside of our little condo.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Jess tearing it up with the crochet needle


I make crocheting look very masculine don't I?


Christmas lights!


It's harder than it looks...I was very proud


Jess and our new fake tree!


Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

All's Quiet On The Blogging Front

Not a whole lot going on at the moment. By that I mean, that the everyday tasks of life have been pretty consuming the last week or so.

I've subbed a few more times at Village Christian, and I have an interview this Wednesday morning at the Hart school district. If I could get in there, I bet I could sub every day if I wanted to. Pray for that interview, that it would go well, and if God wants me subbing in those schools, that he'd get me in the classroom.

We had our church Christmas party (on the 2nd?? yeah, early is good) this past Sunday night. It was a great night of food and hanging out, listening to Christmas music, and all the stuff. We even did Christmas light tours with a big ol' truck and hay bales in the back. I didn't have my camera with me, but I might be able to get a few to post.

I put up Christmas lights on our little condo. I was pretty proud of myself, considering there was no convenient electrical outlet anywhere. I'll take a picture and put it on here so you can be amazed. The lights were $1.50 at Home Depot, so I got like 5 boxes, but I think I might want to get a few more...

Oh, and I think we're decided on getting a fake Christmas tree.

We think that the pros outweigh the cons in this area, and although there's a unique charm to a real tree, the tying it to the car, dragging it in the house, getting all sap-covered, and the shedding needles are just a pain. If you feel we're making a mistake, leave me a comment, and we can talk about it. The fake trees are just...so easy.

Thanksgiving In Mammoth

One of my college buddies, Tim Sullivan, let Jess and I use his family's condo up at Mammoth over the Thanksgiving weekend. We left Thursday morning and came home Saturday evening. It was a great time to rest, relax, and we even went snowboarding on Friday!

It was my first time snowboarding, so I knew it would be a rough day, and that it would be even more rough for me since I know very well that God did not build me to spend extensive amounts of time in 30 degree weather.

Jess had been snowboarding a few times, so she was able to give me the basics, and help me to get started. However, learning to snowboard is similar to learning to drive a stick shift, in that you can only have so much "book" knowledge, before you actually gotta get out there and tackle that unpredictable clutch pedal, and learn as you go.

According to Jess, I did much better than most beginners she's known, and by my fourth trip down the run, I wanted to document my progress, so I held my camera in my hand and took video of my descent. I usually fell pretty consistently towards the beginning of the hill, and then I'd get going ok, and even link a few turns, but the mountain was crowded (as only two runs were open on the whole mountain), and I was not confident in my skills of turning sharply or stopping, and I'd take the dive to avoid a collision, or to just stop when I thought I was going too fast.

True to everyone's words, my whole body was sore immediately following, and even as I write this, I'm still moving pretty slowly from soreness. I admit it, I am somewhat of a wimp. I don't like being really cold, and I complain when my limbs don't move without pain. Despite the pain, snowboarding was fun, and I may do it again someday (although I might like to try skiing, as the mechanics of skis just seem like they make much more sense).

We got a lot of reading in over the few days, and had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner of spaghetti on Thursday night. Other than the extreme cold, the weather was gorgeous, and the mountain was certainly majestic to take in.

So thanks to God for creating such an awesome, amazing place, to Tim for letting us use the condo, and to Seth for letting us borrow his snowboarding gear. Here's a few pics from the trip, including the video of my awesome snowboarding skills...

(blowing snow on the mountain Thursday night [the snow machines, not us])


(Jess and I; I'm already really cold here)


(Jess reading by my killer blazing fire)


(Jess on the slopes)


(Me towards the end of the day; my fingers are numb)


Here's my trip down the hill caught on video: