Enjoy Kenny...

Every year Janelle and I die when we watch this. It is the best way to kick off the Christmas season. Watch it to the end. It is wonderful.

I'm grateful for these people.



They made Thanksgiving great.

When I'm alone...

I do weird stuff.

Working in Healthcare means working Holidays. I'm used to it by now and I don't really mind at all. Right now I am by myself in the gnome home. Well... not entirely alone, I have this little guy. I haven't given him a name because I keep expecting to find him belly up like his two little friends. I keep finding myself talking out loud to him sincerely asking him how he is doing. I think he likes me. He is always staring right at me. He didn't used to.



I woke up with a terrible migraine today and when they come I end up throwing up and miserable. I went to Smiths to cash in my change which ended up giving me $40! That was a surprise. I tried to get some food because I hadn't eaten all day and nothing looked good in the whole store. To my amusement this little treat sounded great for some reason. Space food, who'd a thought. And why is Hobby Lobby selling it?



My new lens/Christmas present came in the mail and I am slightly confused about it. I have a lot to learn, lets just say that. Having no one in the house has led me to take pictures of weird stuff.



Tonight I am going to attempt to recreate this. That and cook me up some crab, now that all the crab haters are out of the house.

As of late....

I have loved being in school this semester but I am ready for it to be over!! My life has been lacking any and every element of FUN lately. I work almost every second I'm not studying or in class. It's been rough. Because of all this, my overworked brain has been telling me its okay to spend a little money on myself. This idea is healthy and normal in my opinion. The problem is that I am not stopping! Do you want to know what my downfall has been? Wool Socks!! What the heck is wrong with me? For some reason I feel like I need to have a countless supply of them. It's ridiculous. The other day I spent 15 minutes just looking at The Sportsmans selection of Smart Wool. You'd think I was moving to Alaska or something, maybe subconsciously I am planning on it.

Anyways, this post is to promise myself in writing that I am done! My feet should be warm the rest of the winter so you can stop worrying about them.

(I do fully endorse Smart Wool. Just don't get quite as carried away as I did, it might break the bank.)

Quote City

I have a love hate relationship with this post. I hate that I am writing this because it is targeted at a dear friends work (not them), but I HAVE to say it! So I am apologizing now for bashing opinions.

There was an art piece titled All War Is Suicide. Now, any of you who know me understand why I would get all worked up about this message. I am so sad that some people actually have this mentality. War is terrible! I think everyone knows that. But to say that it is suicide is insulting.

We make war that we may live in peace. -Aristotle

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. -George Washington

"Anytime while I was a slave, if one minutes freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told that I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it- just to stand one minute... on God's airth a free woman. I would."
-Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, a slave who won her freedom in court after petitioning the State of Massachusett in 1781

I think that all those uneducated punk bands and teenagers who love being anti-war because its the "cool" thing to be right now, don't understand freedom or history for that matter. War is terrible, but we would not be free without it and our freedom is the most precious thing we have. I am grateful for every soldier who has fought for me and who is fighting for me now. We are not in a draft, these men and women choose to fight for freedom and I think they deserve so much respect. To say that their job is suicide in an insult.

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty. -Sam Adams

One of my favorite things about my Dad is how much he loves the outdoors. When he was a teenager my Grandparents would drop him off in the Sierras and tell him they would pick him up in 2 weeks. He would pack just enough food to survive and a map and a compass. When my Grandparents would come back after two weeks he would be right at the coordinates he told them he would be at.
Now fish are his passion. If you look through his pictures on his camera 90% of the pictures are of fish. He is minorly obsessed with them. He will do just about anything to get to where the good fish are. He will backpack miles and miles just to get to a certain kind of trout. He only fly fishes and he is dang good at it and I love that. (Bait fishing is boring in my book, no offense.) His most recent trip was to Boulder Mountain which I was fortunate enough to backpack through a few years ago. It's beautiful there. I think he was planning to be there five days. My Mom called me after the third day and said he came home early. She said he said, "It was too hard." What!? My Dad doesn't say that. When he came up here last week I made fun of him for being old and not being able to handle it. He claims he never said that and that they just caught all the fish they wanted and were sick of freezing to death.

This morning I got this email from him:


Photos of Pete & Paul's Ironman Adventure to Blind Lake Oct 20-22, 2009 - A test of men and equipment. The lake did NOT beat us. The funny looking trout is a SPLAKE (Brook X Lake Trout Hybrid)
Dad







I love this guy. I'm so glad he is my Dad.

P.S. - My tent looks great in the snow.

This is the hardest part about winter

Not being able to do this.

It makes Hayley and I so happy, so happy that we end up doing this.

It turns Juje into a Pantene Pro-V model.

Thanks Nat

Juje and I were determined to spend Halloween at home this year. We didn't want to go to the Howl but didn't have any other appealing offers so we decided to be bums. When Natalie came home and found our sorry a's on the couch, she convinced Juje, which forced me to be convinced, to go out.

After a fifteen minute costume brainstorm we were out the door.



Matt was such a good hipster and Eric was such a good Plig. I loved watching Eric try not to eat his fake hair with his dinner.



It was a funny night.