Today, the day after Christmas, we found snow. Oh how I miss it. We are currently in Spokane, Washington. I love the northwest... I really don't know how else to say it. Today we went snowmobiling in search of the good ol' white stuff. Despite having to dig out a few stuck machines, rolling two snowmobiles, and dislocating my knee, we had an incredibly epic day of riding. The sun was out, the snow was perfect, and the company was even better. I'm only slightly limping, and my knee is only slightly bruising and swollen, and it was totally worth it. I will just need to take it easy so I can heal up for snowboarding next week.

I loved watching Russ experience "true riding" today. He had been on a snowmobile before, but going with my wonderful father is a whole different story. Russ did awesome, and I think he may have found a new hobby. 

 Before the ride. Excited and happy to be in snow.

This is me on top of Mt. Kalispell enjoying the absolutely gorgeous view. Oh, and this is moments before I attempted the steep climb one more time before the end of the day and ended up rolling the machine on top of my leg. All for the love of the sport, right?

Other than snowmobiling, we have been catching up with family and friends, eating, playing games, and eating even more. I have especially LOVED spending time with Brittney and Stuart. I miss them so very much. We also got to talk to Jace on the phone. He is serving a mission for our church in Kobe, Japan and we get to talk to him on the phone twice a year--Christmas and Mother's Day. I think the phone call pushed 4 hours. He sounds great, and speaks Japanese which is so random; honestly, he could be speaking gibberish and I wouldn't know any different. But it was fun to catch up with him. We miss him like crazy, but are so proud of him for his dedication, unwavering faith, and optimism.

The family gathered around the phone on Christmas Eve, talking to Jace who is so very far away.

I love my family.

Hope your holidays have been just as enjoyable as ours, and hopefully a little more injury free.

Kids say the darndest things

Our friends have these two little girls, Abby (age 5) and Avery (age 4, as of today). They are adorable, we love them, and they love us. Abby even left her mom and came and sat by me during church last week. Every time we are at their house they color us a picture... usually something along the lines of my little ponies, puppies, or flowers. You know, typical 5 year old stuff.

Tonight we went to Avery's birthday party. It was fun eating her funfetti cake and mickey mouse chicken nuggets and watching her open her dress up high heels and polly pockets clothes. The highlight of the evening, however, was this:

 {Please notice what the red arrow is pointing to}

At first I didn't notice this little surprise and I just said "oh Abby! This is such a nice painting of you, Avery, Russell, and I!" And then she said "and look! you have a baby inside you!!" Oh yes, it appears I do.

And no, this is not an announcement. Just a funny story.

{On another note, I'm really glad I caught this moment. It makes me smile.}

NO! Not the buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!

This weekend, our friends Brandon and Megan had us over to make gingerbread houses.

We began the evening with some wonderful Wasul and discussion on how to build the houses. We ended up each making individual houses and the night turned into a clear manifestation of our individual creative processes. It was a lot of fun and needless to say you can probably judge who the creator of the following two houses were.

"The Lewis Home"

"The Man Cave"

So at the end of the day, whose house would you live in?

For pictures of the Chapel/Barn house and the Nativity by Brandon and Megan, keep an eye on http://brandonandmegan.wordpress.com/.

Merry Christmas!

From a proud Fictionist fan.

Ok like he said.

I'm really excited for Fictionist. These guys are like my brothers from other mothers (and one literally is my brother-in-law), so I've missed being around for all the many accomplishments and news accompanied with the band while I was employed by them (which, by the way, was an awesome job). But since I've been gone in Texas some really exciting things have happened! The list is as follows:

a) They band is back in the studio! Check out these awesome clips live from the studio on the "blog" tab at their website.

b) As Robbie mentioned in the video, the band has been nominated for the Best Independent Song in a Rock n' Roll album! This is huge. The song nominated is the title track from their latest album, Invisible Hand. If you would like to vote for them, go HERE.

c) Three tracks from the latest album, Invisible Hand, will air on the PBS series, Roadtrip Nation. The song "Wakes" is featured in episode 1 and 4, "Tightrope Hill" in episode 1 and "Noisy Birds" in episode 2.  Go HERE to watch the series online.

and

d) They just rock.

July 25, 2009

Our wedding pictures finally arrived last week! I know the day was like forever ago, but I thought I would share a few of our favorites. I apologize in advance for the mass amount... but picking between more than 400 shots was tough! Anyway, thanks again for everyone who came. This day flew by way too quickly, but thanks to pictures we are now able to relive this perfect day.

All pictures by:

Photography by Mckenzie

 {And for the record, she was totally great. We loved her!}

How we know we're not ready to grow up...

When telling Russ about the meeting I had at work today about the Cafeteria Plan, he turned to me with a slightly confused look and said "is it food?"

Sent from my cubicle.

I've gone sky diving and I like to rock climb, but this is a whole different level. My Grandpa shared this video with me, and I'm glad he did because it reminded me of how good it feels when you accomplish something you may originally have been too scared to do. Don't worry mom, I would never be this extreme, but it is inspiring... I need to go on an adventure.

http://www.wimp.com/dangerousclimbing/