Heather Lake Snowshoe

A few pictures of the snowshoe trip to Heather Lake from this past weekend with the Mars Hill Outdoors Group are uploaded. Our friends, Ann & Josh went and I'm not sure how much fun they had. It rained on us the whole way up, the trail was difficult to navigate in places with snowshoes (stepping over trees, through rocky creeks, etc.), and their snowshoes were terrible (they had no grip) so they were sliding and falling. I felt so badly for them. On top of all of that, it was their first snowshoeing adventure. I hope they try again sometime because my first time was a wonderful experience - much better than theirs! I realized how much of a difference having good gear actually makes, too, and I was thankful to have some good snowshoes. However, when I got home, my gloves went straight into the trash. They were soaked through for most of the trip and need I say NASTY! I really enjoyed the trip, although I was soaked to the bone. All in all, I missed N but had a surprisingly fun time.

Poor Sick N

N has been home 2 days now from work with a cold and terrible hack. He has also been in unbelievable pain due to an overagressive massage therapist! His neck is very stiff and gives him constant pain. Plainly put, he's a mess. I feel sorry for him but I didn't get my dad's wonderful nursing skills. I'm trying to show him some love and attention, but I guess I need to learn how to really baby him! LOL I've got other friends who have husbands the same way when they're sick, so I think it's a man thing. :) He's even so sick that he's not going snowshoeing tomorrow with me! Now that's SICK!

Hope your weekend is better than N's. :)

Christmas in Minnesota pics

Pictures from our Winter Wonderland in Minnesota can be found here in 3 different albums here:

MN Bells - Sledding and hanging out at the house when we first arrived

Christmas 2007 - Includes pictures of the big Christmas celebration at Juj's & Tom's, boot hockey and games that afternoon, our visit to Barry's & Nancy's, and dinner with some of the family at Za's (Italian restaurant)

Karla's Family - Includes pics of Karla's family on Christmas day and ice skating and sledding another day with her sisters and their kids

Just a warning: There are a TON of pictures! Enjoy!

A Thousand Tomorrows and Just Beyond the Clouds

Both of these books are by one of my favorite authors, Karen Kingsbury. A Thousand Tomorrows is a love story of a bull rider (Cody Gunner) and a barrel racer (Ali). Ali helps Cody to forgive family that has wronged him and Cody helps Ali to live a life worth meaning. A great story with great meaning, but be prepared to grab the tissue box. Just Beyond the Clouds is the sequel to A Thousand Tomorrows and continues on with Cody's brother's life and living with down syndrome. Another excellent read and very touching. Just keep the tissue box next to you for this one too.

I love Karen's books because I think she addresses real issues that people face everyday. She makes me think of what I might do in that situation and sometimes even relates to something I'm facing. These two books in particular helped me to think on bitterness, forgiveness, and the struggles that physically handicapped people face. So if you have a moment, these are pretty quick reads and you won't regret reading them!

Brisket Basics

N's parents brought us Salt Lick BBQ sauce for Christmas and N wanted brisket. I bought a 3.5 lb hunk from Costco the other day and finally decided to have it for dinner last night. I've never cooked brisket before, but I thought it would be like any other meat...just season it, stick it in the oven, and keep an eye on it. Because I didn't get home until later last night and I was starving, I threw the hunk of brisket on a cookie sheet, slapped some seasoning on it, and threw it in the oven on 425. After I had it in there for about 40 minutes, N called and said he was on his way home and as always, wanted to know what was for dinner. I told him we would be having brisket, mashed potatoes, and baked beans, if the brisket was done in time. This led to quick interrogation (and rightly so on his part) of how long it had been in the oven, preparation, etc. He quickly informed me that was NOT the way to cook brisket, I turned the oven off, and we had leftover bread pudding (which was more like a quiche with spinach, shitakes, and gruyere). So, I finished it up today as best I could - I put it on a bed of onions, with water in the pan, fat-side up. It's quite tough and dry, as you can imagine, but I'm now prepared for next time! We'll use this for sandwiches or something, and it will be just like eating Washington BBQ!

Grumpy Old Me

I've been a real grump today, even with the snow. It's mostly melted now, but it was beautiful gently falling out of the sky. I've got tons of stuff to catch up with this week...and did I mention I'm grumpy today, despite the yummy hot wings we popped in the oven and ate with celery & blue cheese and some spicy sauce? We also tried a new game. I've laughed, smiled, cried, and grumped all day. My, my, my...it's fun to be grumpy old me.

Happy 2008

We had a nice trip to MN for Christmas, and we're glad to be back home with Bex. (I'll post pics when I get a chance to download all of them.) It was so nice to sleep in our own bed last night, snuggling with Bexar. :) Yesterday, after picking Bexar up, we took him to the park, then came home and washed the dirty boy so we could relax and snuggle with him all day. It was so fun just enjoying being home, all together again.

It's time for me to get the new year started off with a bang...lots of cleaning, laundry, & cooking to do, and resolutions to make (or carry over from 2007)! Guess I better get off the computer and get started. Happy new year. I hope yours is a wonderful one.