Christmas in the Desert

We headed up to Bishop, Ca. for Christmas this year. My bud Joel, who currently lives south of Bellingham, WA made the trip down to see his family and Katie and I. It is so pricey to go anywhere by plane for Christmas anymore. Plus, I think we have more fun with family in the warmer months...there is so much more to do.
We headed out on Christmas day to the Buttermilk mountains. This range, part of the Sierra mountains, separates Sequoia N.P. and Deathvalley N.P. Not to mention Yosemite is about an hour northwest of Bishop. We tied ropes to the hitch and tubed through backcountry roads.
Joel, Dr. Rich and I. Notice the goggle print on my hat. I kept forgetting to put my goggles on making for a nasty wind burn.
There is somthing about snow blanketing the desert that is absolutely beautiful.
Joel hanging from a burnt tree.
We hiked a short distance to a waterfall.Katie and I by a waterfall. We got there by stepping over part of the creek that was frozen. I don't want to make it more than it was but on the way back Katie cracked off part of the ice. Then Rich came back and started jumping. He was trying to break the rest of the ice so Joel and I would have a more difficult time getting across.Me, scott, tubing in the Buttermilks. I am not going down this hill but up it. I am being pulled behind a truck.Below, I am wiping out as my intertube hit a snow bank and I lost control. I did my best to avoid the sagebrush and rocks.The family we spent Christmas with.Christmas eve dinner.I lost a bet. Ohio State decided they weren't going to play against USC. I had to do the dishes. I'm still not sure if Joel felt sorry for me or if he was in on the bet too.They had a rec room. A little pin ball and foose (sp?) ball made for a competitive evening.We took a gondola up to Mamoth mountain. I didn't see any mamoths. It was nice to have a white Christmas but even better now as I look outside at the blue sky and warmer temperatures outside back here in Loma Linda.Joel made our trip home interesting as he tapped the breaks to see if it was icey. He screamed like a little girl as we slid into a snow bank. We really weren't in danger and the car was stuck just enough to need a push. Joel and I enjoying a hot beverage up at the ski lodge.The gondola ride.Bishop from a high point. Looking east

With Gratitude...

I woke up this morning to a leaf blower. Katie had already left for work and my next thought turned to the garage door. It has been having problems and I know she can't stand it. I don't like leaving stuff out in the open especially when the grass guys are around. Nothing against them; I just don't trust them. So the cold air hit my chest and my bare feet started to numb as I made my way on the cold concrete to close the garage.


Kate and I receive more love than we give out. That isn't a goal we have. We have been blessed. There are few ways we can show our gratitude. We are the opposite of wealthy at this point in our lives, we are farther away from all of you than I ever thought we'd be not to mention this is the most intense time we've ever experienced.

As I pack for our Christmas trip to Bishop I can't help reflecting on Christmas. I have been moved by the meaning of Christmas. Thank you God for your son!

What's the point? My point is this- no matter how much I sometimes feel like I can do it on my own I never can. I could probably eventually use my personality to get me a great job. I could work myself to death through school and be really successful. I could probably run down anyone trying to break into my garage. But the reason I am who I am today is because of wonderful parents, all four of you, who encouraged me and helped me in anyway they could. Good friends and family who asked the hard questions and kept me in check. A wife who respects me but knows how to hand out a piece of humble pie. And a God who walks with me every step and has heard every breath that comes from my lungs.

We are incredibly blessed. Thank you for your investment into our lives! We have great plans and are passionate about what we are capable of in our future serving others.
This isn't a substitute for "thank you's". Hopefully we will get something to you in the mail soon. We have intentions of taking some nice pictures of us in Bishop this Christmas. We will get you one for your fridge.

Men's Dinner

We had our men's dinner at our church. Originally, it was a breakfast but because there were so many guys that wanted to go we added a dinner. I enjoyed the event cause most of the people I know attended Friday. There were about 250 guys on Friday night and 400 right now (Saturday morning).
Katie asked me to go set up Friday morning. I thought it would be only a couple hours. I was there till 4pm! I can't believe only a couple of people put on these events. They looked exhausted and were so happy that I came to help out. Did you know that 100% of what gets done at churches in America is done by 10% of it's members? That's just disappointing.

All by myself I turned the lobby into a locker room and a pro shop. With what I had everyone thought it was great.
They opened with a drum line and then bagpipes. It was neat.This is Wally Armstrong. He was our speaker. He spoke on "the ultimate mulligan." He gave examples of his life on the golf course. Two that stuck with me were, "A man stands his tallest on his knees before God." and "Your not good enough to get that mad."

I was able to talk to him one-on-one for awhile. I named off courses I've played with my dad to see if there were any that I'd played that he hadn't. None. He loves Northeast Ohio and Firestone and talked to me like I played the tournament too. Bruce, the guy that put on the event, designed these metal sculptures. He found the top 12 golf courses in the country, duplicated their logo and sent them to a guy who laser cuts metal. Holly, his daughter, cleaned them up and did other stuff that made them look really good.

Pinehurst was one of the designs. It will be on it's way Dad and Cheryl. I didn't post it cause I want you to be surprised.
These were just a few of the caddies. From Left: Katie, Holly, Heidi, Sarah, Becca, and Katie Anne. Holly is in my class at Loma Linda and is our social vice president. Katie Anne, Becca, and Sara are the wives of my three new friends.I helped with this commentator stand.We had a few golf carts out front. This was one of them. When Bruce handed me the keys I had flash backs of being 16 again.

Friends!

Months ago, when Kate and I began to attend Trinity church we knew no one. We knew we couldn't just go and leave right after the service so we decided to make an effort to get to know people. It helps that Katie is an employee and meeting tons of people everyday. This was good, but we noticed there was a lack of people our age at our church...or so we thought. In the last few months Katie and some other new friends decided to make a list of every person in their 20's that attended Trinity. The result was a Christmas party with well over 40 people our age.

I'm excited to see what happens with all these people. I'm finding for myself there are three guys that I have spent most of my free time with. Ryan, Brian and Mike. All are married and Katie gets along with their wives well. I met Ryan when Katie invited his wife over for the USC/Ohio State game. He is a USC fan (and wouldn't have been invited had I know that before) and as you can assume I didn't think to highly of him after the game. Mike came to a pick up softball game. It was evident he wanted friends cause he was so bad at softball. It's kinda a joke now.

Ryan invited Katie and I to our first professional hockey game: The Los Angeles Kings. Mike invited us to the San Diego Zoo. I appreciate their initiative because they value our friendship even though I am overwhelmingly busy with school.The lady below wasn't all smiles the whole evening. I smoked her in the white elephant exchange and these binoculars went home with me. They are some nice binoculars.
Brian and Mike hanging out by the fire.
Ok, that's all. We miss everyone. As the holidays get closer it gets a little harder to be away from family. Luckily, there isn't an ounce of Southern California that feels like Christmas.

Some Good Ol' Shootin' up in Washington

Just before Thanksgiving, Katie's two uncles, Jeff and Shawn, along with cousins and brothers went for an afternoon shoot.

Presidential Duties

It is the holiday season and with that comes added responsibility for just about everyone. For me, it means being Santa Claus. Yes, that's me in front with a few of my classmates.
How do you like my sweater? It's ugly isn't it.We had a good time. I didn't play santa the whole time. Katie and I intended to only go for a short time but we ended up staying almost the whole time.
This is Paul...he didn't get the memo to wear an ugly sweater... Paul and I lived two miles from each other in Washington but I never saw him or met him in the five years I lived there. The south hill isn't that big so that's surprising.


This morning I went to "grade review." It's where all the teachers get together and discuss grades and individual students. As president I was able to attend but only for the grades part, not the individual students part. It was fun but intimidating with all my teachers and future teachers in the same room.

2 Down 10 to Go

Yeah, two quarters down and ten to go. Talk about looking up hill. Hahahah. So far i've gotten in a few finals and have been very happy. We'll see how that translates tomorrow afternoon when I get my final Letter grades. Now I will catch up on stuff that has been put off from the quarter. Sleep is one thing. I am going to sleep whenever I need to. If my body says, "You are tired." I am going to walk to my bed and sleep until I wake up (or until Katie says get up).

I'm enjoying my new job with the Autisic kids. It will be nice to have something to do over break because I have about 60 hours a week that just freed up now that school is over. I just picked up another person to train as well.

San Diego Zoo

We had fun at the zoo. I got to see all the animals I wanted. I was disappointed in the lions. But that was the only disappointment.

I can't remember what this guys was but I told him to turn his head down and to the left for the picture and he did.The giraffes were mating. I thought that only happened in march. I only say this cause Katie's dad was wondering when they mated.We told Isaac, Katie's cousin we would get pictures of the koalas. Isaac, see the koala bears? They were asking where you were. You'll have to get your aunt and mom to come down and see them. Ask your mom about the birds and the bees before you come bud cause the koala cages are by the giraffes.
Polar bear hiding his face from my camera...

I'm glad I wasn't in the water for this shot...
This zebra picture was my favorite of the day.

Mike and Rebecca, and us -- in front of the Flamingos. Good times! They had free tickets and graciously invited us to go.

The ground just shook a little. Weird. Three finals left. Tonight I start my first day at the Autistic clinic.