Hey KG! This elbow's for you!

Melis' and I stayed up late last night to enjoy one of the most satisfying (and, at times, bizarre) Blazers games in recent memory. The reigning champs were in town, and we hadn't beat them since 2004. On top of that, we were without our star, Brandon Roy. Nevertheless, the Blazers fought hard, at one point putting 6 players on the floor (the refs didn't catch it until after the Blazers had scored, so the points stayed up on the board), and pulled out the win.

Much to Melissa's dismay, I've been teaching Karsten that the Celtics are the "bad guys." It was quite gratifying to finally knock the bad guys in the face (both literally and figuratively).

Happy Anniversary Tony & Bre!

This photo is supposed to symbolize the beginning of the young couple's eternal journey (so please no comments thanking us for portraying Tony's best side).

Our 2008 Family Christmas Letter

Click to enlarge

snow, dead animal and more snow... Happy Holidays!!

On Saturday morning, we found snow on our yard and driveways (like most of the free world, or at least the ones I pay attention to). But it was mostly gone by the end of the day.

On Sunday, we woke up to more snow... whatever, "no time to enjoy the snow, go get your church clothes on" I say to Karsten and Taeg' as I pulled open the blinds downstairs so I could see what I was planning to iron. We discovered this little cute Bambi deer curled in a ball, under our eves trying to stay warm and dry. He hung around our house off and on through out the day. We enjoyed watching him.
Well, Monday morning we woke up to quite a bit more snow and fairly cold temperatures for Eugene. The town (well, everyone but the attorneys) shut down and hung out on the streets to sled.
Karsten and Taeg' convinced me to go out in the snow before 9am to enlarge our previous snowman's head that had dropped off on the ground from the warm weather. We stomp out in the front lawn to get our snowman's head and what do I find? Freak'n Bambi froze to death and chose my yard to do it in. Karsten was convinced he was just sleeping, I was secretly wishing he was right, but I knew that no one or no thing can sleep in such an uncomfortable position. Why does my yard attract dead things?

OK, back to your super fears and intimidating hero names.

__________

Travis adds: When I told a co-worker about Bambi's tragic end in our front yard -- she implored me to give it a proper burial. I started to laugh, until I realized she was being serious. I replied that I didn't think I could dig down far enough into the permafrost to dig a Bambi-sized grave.

I must confess feeling a little sad as I lifted the carcass by the legs last night and unceremoniously placed it in our yard waste bin for the garbage man. That said, there's no way I'm holding a funeral for a wild animal -- no matter how cute.

I am the Batman!

Tony and Bre joined us yesterday evening to watch the latest Batman movie: The Dark Knight. I'd read the reviews saying it was a pretty dark, intense movie -- and I now agree. Superhero movies generally follow the principle established in Star Trek -- Kirk, Spock, and Bones often face terrifying peril, but only the no-name crewmen in red shirts actually get killed. In The Dark Knight, don't expect someone to emerge unscathed simply because they are a main character. By the final hour of the movie, I had no expectations about who was getting out alive -- the peril was capable of touching anyone.

That said, the movie was highly entertaining. I'm not a Heath Ledger fan, but I have to agree that his portrayal of The Joker was outstanding. He was not a cartoonish villain who wanted to rule the world -- instead, he was a scheming psychopath who just wanted to see the world burn.

During the movie, Bre recalled that Batman drew his name from his greatest childhood fear. She suggested that if she did likewise, her superhero name would be "Snake Woman." Melis' said she fears being startled, so her moniker would be "Sneak-Up Woman." My worst nightmares generally involve fleeing something both unseen and terrifying. For some reason, I am only capable of running in slow motion. I guess that makes me "Paranoid Slow Man" -- which probably wouldn't earn me much superhero cred in the Hall of Justice.

Please leave me your superhero name in the comments section.

A Night in Jerusalem (our ward Christmas party)

Tonight we attended our ward Christmas party as a family. The theme was A Night In Jerusalem -- the gym was lit only by "stars" (about a million white Christmas lights strewn across the ceiling) and decorated like a biblical market place. We donated canned foods as we entered and received our coin purse (a cloth bag filled with kidney beans painted silver). We strolled through the market place, purchased some cheese, fruit, bread, and (Travis' favorite) "Bishop's wine." The vendor (a member of the bishopric) told us it was a cabernet sauvignon of an older vintage, but I'm pretty sure it was just Welches. It only cost one silver-painted bean per glass.

We spun dreidels, hammered nails in the carpenter's shop, and enjoyed mingling with the rest of our ward. Israelite attire was mandated for all -- which generally meant bed sheets, bath robes, Birkenstocks, and flip-flops. We also saw what appeared to be a Kuwaiti oil tycoon, and at least one boy dressed in his karate uniform. We obviously weren't particularly interested in historical accuracy. Shepherd boy Karst' continually asserted he was actually a pirate.

Have a Mashugana Christmas!

We concluded with the Nativity story put on by the primary children (Karsten was a very convincing sheep). It was a fun evening.

catch up

6 months ago, or at least it seems...we went to Ohio for Thanksgiving. My sister Kim thinks she needs to live over there for some reason. You can run but you can't hide. We had been planning on it for awhile and are glad we went. There was a lot of lounging and EATING and EATING and EATING and then a little puking at the end, but we are back to eating again.

Taegan spend all day in the bathroom, before we left, getting herself ready.

Sariah picked the best seat in the house for watching movies. Caleb celebrated his 8th birthday before we got there and received the movie KunFu Panda for a gift. The kids watched it so many times, even Kim and Travis can quote some of it. I must have pushed my 'mute the world' button, because I still haven't seen the whole thing.


Caleb chose to be baptized and we were glad we could be there for it. The BEST BAPTISM EVER... the deed was done and I had eaten treats in under 1 hour. It even started a few minutes late. By the time Sariah is eight they will have it down to 30 minutes or less.

So they have this dog named SYDNEY. I am sure she was glad to see us go. Taeg' loved her a little too much, plus the girls slept on the couches so poor Sydney had to sleep in her doggy bed.
Someone got this great idea to play TWISTER, but we couldn't find the spinner thing so we appointed someone (that knew their colors and the appropriate parts of the body) to randomly call out stuff. It eventually turned into WWF wrestling, but I declared myself the winner. Caleb and I will have a rematch eventually.


The food was good. The family was great. The bed was awesome. Until we meet again or until I figure out the facebook thing.

Happy Birthday Mom!

For the first couple decades of my life, my mother led us to believe that she was only 19 years old. I've since learned that she's closer to 29. At any rate, I hope she won't mind me publishing this video that I discovered in Dad's sock drawer -- it was labeled "Wildcats!"

Ty's account of the past week

Tyler renders an account of his family's Thanksgiving week, and even posted some pictures (including Taeg's glamour shot below).


I must disabuse him of the notion that I am "resting" while Gary Edwards labors. I am actually deep in thought -- planning my next move. By the time Gary had loosened the soil, I swung into action like a post-hole digging Kung Fu master. Ska-doosh! I'm done before the photographer could even take the shot. I was already back in silent contemplation mode. Lesser post-hole diggers (I'm not naming names... just Tyler's) worked very hard, but took way more time to do the same work.

Melissa's in charge of reporting on our trip to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving Day with the Nall's.