Happy New Year

Wow, here it is 2011. New Years has come and gone, and with it goes the holiday break which further means back to the grind of school and college. But this break has been great. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here with family and friends. I have had a ton of fun.

Thursday night I went over to Dallin Shirley's house which is 22 minutes from mine with Brenton to hang out for one last time. This kid is going on his mission to Brazil pretty soon, so while most of us are heading back to school he is heading into the field. I know he will be an awesome missionary, and we had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know his family.

This is Dallin ready to conquer Mt. Timp for a second time.

He was all smiles as he greeted us at the door and let us in from the cold. His house wasn't the easiest thing to find in the world, that much is certain!

Matzen and his sister pose for a shot

The Shirleys have an incredible love seat thingy that could fit all three of us so we jumped on the chance to sit in it. 

We played this train game that was actually a lot of fun. Dallin dominated, but now that I know the tricks of the trade I think I would do better a second time!

Hahaaa awww...

Last time seeing this kid for 2 and 1/2 years. Its sad since we have become such great friends in such a short amount of time, and we have done so much together. Not having him at college this semester will definitely be hard. But we had a great end of 2010, 2011 will be awesome for all of us as we enter the mission field. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort with my family to enjoy skiing, one of my all time favorite hobbies. I honestly love skiing so much. You feel so free and alive up there on the slopes, and you feel so accomplished when your thighs burn after a black diamond run or after bombing down the hill going 60 or 70 miles an hour. We had a great time, and we all realized that this would probably be my last time skiing with my family for 2 and 1/2 years also. Sad! Who knows when the next time will be! But here are some great pictures highlighting our trip.

This was driving at 7 in the morning. You could just tell it was going to be an awesome day. So perfect outside, hardly a cloud in the sky. And there is Mt. Hood looming in the background.

I love driving up Mt. Hood because the scenery is amazing! The trees looked great with snowy caps on them.

Mt. Hood gets closer and closer.

Messing around in the car. 

This is the view from the lowest run, buttercup - the beginners hill. I was itching to get up to the top!

We finally made it up Vista, one of the prettiest runs because you can see everything!

There is one higher run, Cascade Express that goes to 5900 feet. I love this run because it feels like you are skiing forever until you get back to the lift. And the views here are absolutely exquisite.

Haha.

This picture is awesome because it captures the rustic feel of the Pacific Northwest. I love the trees on the left.

My Dad and sister posing for the camera on a side run.

I didn't have any lower face protection, so afterwards my face was so frozen I could only smile like this haha. I couldn't feel anything!

Luckily when I got back to the car I got to bundle up in this coat of sheer joy. I look like an elf or a jack in the box huh?

Here is a video of me snowplowing Brigitta. I did this a lot throughout the day, I probably got my dad the best in the face when he least expected it :)

How Time Flies

This feels like so long ago! Its crazy to think that only 4 months ago college was starting. Its incredible to realize how many friends I have made in this time. How many experiences I have had, how I have grown. I am glad that  I have all these memories to look back on. Here's looking forward to another great semester starting on Tuesday. Man, how this break has flown by too. Have a great day, everyone.

FUSHIGI

Has anyone ever heard of one?? Well my little sister Gemma got one for Christmas.

Here:




Well, it turns out that it is not that easy to make this ball levitate. It's all an illusion. I'm not trying to sway anyone from getting one, but it is kinda funny watching the instructional DVD and trying to learn to do those kind of things. At first we thought it was dumb, but as the night wore on the fushigi grew on Tripper and I and now we love this thing. Even though we still suck at it. Maybe I will put up the video of us trying it later haha.

Gitta that was awesome when you were holding both cats at once. A true feat to say the least. 

Uh I was bored and had a ball point pen so I drew this thing? Its like a big speeder thing with an open cockpit so you can enjoy the winter breeze as you sail through the sky.

You imbecile, red eye flashes twice...

Guess what?

Boom Baby.

It's been a long time coming. I'm telling you, Arsenal hasn't beat Chelsea since 2007. Finally, today, on ESPN they womped them 3-1. What a great game. A few of my favorite players shined and it just feels good for Arsenal to finally beat a good team for once haha. Maybe this will give them the confidence they need to take it all this year, they need some silverware badly. Hunter, I am sorry but you knew this would happen.

Gunners for life. 

Christmas Eve Photoshoot

We had some fun with my Mom's camera on Christmas Eve. Hope you enjoy them! 

My all time favorite picture with Cappy.

 We took a ton of pictures, here are some of the best. It took a few times to get the good ones! 

In the winter, Leo is like a bunny rabbit. Seriously. SO FLUFFY! And look at those eyes...awww...

Oh, and Gitta ALWAYS moves so she is blurry in most of them! 

 My friend Robbie calls me "a man of many faces..." I guess it was evident in this photo shoot haha. 

Christmas Eve!

Cappy started off the day ready to go. Man this dog is seriously awesome.

Here is Christmas in Vancouver, Washington. You got your standard issue clouds, gray tint to them. You got your standard issue wet road and driveway, standard issue greenery, standard issue drizzle of rain. C'mon snow! SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha. When it snows here, it is a Christmas miracle.

We drove to downtown Portland to get some last minute shopping done. On the way I found this awesome van.

Once we got to Portland we were going to Anthropology. On the way I found this smart car parked adjacent to the curb perpicicular instead of parallel. What an awesome way to go. I respect this guy for going against the standards of society and being his own person. Haha self expression and what not. 

Family tradition is to get pajamas on Christmas eve and watch old Christmas shows and eat an awesome dinner. I love this part of the holidays. You just know what to expect and the Christmas cheer is awesome every year. I like my pajamas this year. I remember one year I got some with fish on them haha. Those were cool too. This year pretty much everyone matched!

Merry Christmas!

Oh Yeah....

I can see now.

(I got contact lenses. Now I can read things from far off, and don't have to squint. It's a Christmas miracle! I took Brian Regan's advice, 'how can instantly improving your vision not be at the top of your to-do list?')

Merry Christmas Eve :)

This is what happens when...

...Siblings steal your camera!

Somehow my dad and I fell asleep in the exact same position???

Weird.

The Christmas Lights

I love Christmas lights, that's no joke. One of our traditions over Christmas time is putting up these Christmas lights. I help my Dad hang them all over our front yard so that as people turn left or right onto our wonderful street, Silversprings Drive, they can see the first house on the right and feel the spirit of Christmas. I love seeing them all lit up. See the little orbs or light? My friend would always call them "Ewok houses" because that is where all the little creatures live in the trees. I love having everything decorated for Christmas, it is so festive and cheerful. Oh, and if anyone has ever heard the Muppets version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", I love the part at the end when that random thing goes, "Meee Meee Meee Meee Meee Meee Meee" in a very high pitched voice because it can't talk. Sorry, that's random, but true!

This is me telling Brigitta to clean up her wrapping paper mess she made all over my floor because she had to wrap a present for her friends birthday really fast and never helped to clean it afterwards!!