California

This past weekend I got the opportunity to catch up with some friends in California. One of them is going to Grad school at Stanford University, so that is where we stayed and did most of our Sightseeing. Sadly, Amanda was not able to come along, do to her new job. We had a lot of fun in a short period of time and were blessed with awesome weather.

Brian, Marnee, Steve, Me and Mark at the University.

Us pretending to see something (that Mark obviously dislikes).

Stanford's Student Union

Everybody at the Beach

California

Tis' The Season...

The weekend after thanksgiving Chris and I drug out our little Christmas tree and all our Christmas decorations (which wasn't much) and set the mood with Christmas music. The only thing we were missing was the snow. Apparently when you live in the desert you don't get much snow. Lois, because she has become a part of the family (or so she thinks), decided she wanted to get in on the fun of decorating.


Except she waited until all the decorating was done before she wanted to play with the ornaments. Chris and I have both tried scaring lois to keep her out of the tree.


She soon learned that if she wanted to get anywhere near the tree she had to be quick. As Chris and I were sitting on the couch one evening she came booking around the corner from nowhere. She made a giant leap to the very top of the tree and hung as it slowly tipped over, pinning her between it and the entertainment center. Unfortunately, it still hasn't stopped her from staying out of the tree.

I almost made the decision of taking it down today. I know Christmas hasn't even come yet but I was so sick of putting the tree back together and making it look presentable. We finally came up with a solution.....

Snubby x 2

Just before sunset

After sunset

You can see the chunk that was taken out of his snout.

I went sturgeon fishing again this past Sunday, only this time I had bought my own rod and reel. Jesse and I fished all day and had no action until the very end when we moved to the hole that produced a fish last time. He hooked one that we battled for ten minutes. However, the line broke and we lost him. But, just before we left I hooked one with my new equipment. It took us 30 minutes to reel him in and it turned out it was that same fish that we had caught before. Good old Snubby.

Job, Christmas, Skis

I have officially finished two weeks of work and I even survived. It's definitely a change from having a 4 month vacation, although I learned a lot in the 4 months. So far I love my job. I'm a nurse at an Internal Medicine Clinic and the people I work with are great, (from what I can tell in two weeks :) I am working the same hours as Chris which is really nice, however, he is no longer benefiting from my cooking and cleaning. As of right now I'm still trying to find a balance between working full time and being a housewife...actually I don't think there is a balance so once in a while its mac and cheese for dinner and if we are really fancy we throw in some hot dogs. But all in all I feel really blessed to have found a good job...even if it took a little extra time to find.

Chris and I are fortunate enough to be able to come home for Christmas. Initially I wasn't sure if I would get time off so soon, but my work seemed understanding so we will be flying out Christmas Eve and staying till that Sunday. We are more than excited. I'm not sure how we would have faired having Christmas away from home it will be interesting enough for thanksgiving (any advice on how to cook a turkey?!)

We finally broke down and bought some skis yesterday. With all the places to ski around here we figured they were a good investment. Now all we're waiting for is more snow in the mountains.
I think that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the short novel!!!
Love,
Chris and Amanda

Sturgeon Fishing

I had a blast sturgeon fishing. Jesse, a guy from our church, took me out this past Sunday. It took a couple hours to finally get a bite, but only 15 minutes to reel in. It was very tiring, I cannot imagine reeling one in for longer than that. It was 6'1" and we figured that it weighed around 150 pounds. In the pictures you can also see that its head had been hit by a propeller or something. Apparently, it had been caught before and nicknamed "Snubby".

Me reeling it in.

Kind of hard to see.

Snubby

Jesse and Snubby

Adios

Pictures

Sorry we have not posted in a while. We went without internet for a month because our wireless card quit working and we were too lazy to get a new one. But we have done a lot since we last posted and here are a few pictures to prove it.

Chris and his engineering counterparts.

Hells Canyon from above Oxbow Dam.

The Snake River in Hells Canyon

Chris in front of Oxbow Dam

The Snake River

Some natural cold springs.

A lizard near the Banbury Springs

Lois playing a very popular game in the Punt Family (Sequence).

Sunset over the Snake

A Basejumper in mid-air.

Amanda over the Malad Gorge

Chris

The Malad Gorge

Us on a walk in the South Hills

The South Hills

Amanda is going to kill me

Who says cats are boring?

A good Saturday morning game of fetch.

Boise Golf Trip

The unique Hotel room we stayed in.

We loved the bathroom.

Chris pretending to read something interesting.

Lois in a bowl (not at the hotel).

Last weekend we took a quick trip up to Boise. Some of our friends were able to get us a very cheap room at a very interesting new age hotel. The next day the guys went golfing, up in Payette, at an Idaho Power Tournament while the ladies went shopping. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants (Texas Roadhouse) as well as a new favorite (Pollo Rey), where we had some of the best fish tacos we have ever had. It was a short but neat trip and the guys ended up being very excited because they took second place in the tournament. It was a good time getting to know some more people and exploring a little bit more.

Gotta Run,

Chris and Amanda

The weekend

Yumm...Last weekend we went to Mike and Abby's. While the guys went golfing Abby and I made Carne Asadas with authentic mexican beans and rice. They were so good. I must say it was quite interesting in the kitchen with Abby and I, you see we are both very indecisive people so it took longer then it probably had to. It went a little like this. Abby: How should we prepare the meat Amanda? Amanda: I don't know... what do you think? Abby: It doesn't really matter to me, however you want... You get the point. It was so nice to sit in their back yard which is making us anxious to get our own house. But all in all we had a blast and are really enjoying getting to know them.

I cut my hair!!! Yea it felt really good, even though summer is almost over ( I know I shouldn't of said it) I should have done it sooner. I realize it doesn't look that short but I cut over 6 inches off so it was much needed.

This last weekend Chris took me on a drive down to Clear Lake. Its very pretty down there in the canyon with all the orchards and the snake river. Above is a picture of a pear tree, I'm excited to take our parents down there so we can do some fruit picking. We ran into Chris' boss down there which was really random because our vehicles met down at a fish hatchery and nobody was there because it was after hours how crazy is that, anyway they suggested that we go to the visitor center and check out the 8ft sturgen.

I should have thrown in a paper dollar so you could get the jist of how big it really was because the way the picture looks your probably thinking I'm telling a "fish story"

Here is a pic of Chris and I standing in front of one of the many springs in this canyon. Even though it was hot out the air felt really cold from the spring. It is amazing how much water seemingly comes out of nowhere. I'm surprised the canyon wall doesn't cave in.

Love,

Chris and Amanda