Snowshoeing in Hyak - New Year Style!

family and friends often ask us how much snow we get in seattle. we reply, 'none.' then they precede to ask us why we bought new down hill skis and snowshoes. we reply, '45 minutes into the mountains; crap load of snow!'

to ring in the new year we headed out to hyak, washington [60 minutes into the mountains] to test out our new snowshoes that we got each other for christmas.

to start our day, we stopped at sawdust coffee company. although it's in a strip/outlet mall, it probably has the best view of any strip/outlet mall in america! just look at those mountains!

we ordered two sandwiches, which we would save half for a little post-snowshoeing recharge.

hyak has miles and miles of groomed trails for cross-country skiers and plenty of untouched powder for the snowshoeing crowd. they even have quite a few sledding hills for the youngsters. this was the perfect place for us to learn how to snowshoe.

we quickly got strapped in [brooke practiced quite a bit in our living room], and headed out on our maiden voyage. we quickly learned a few things. 1 - don't step on your snowshoes while walking.

2 - step flat. if you don't, you'll sink down through the powder. andrea unfortunately sank down 2-3 feet!

3 - take time to observe your natural surroundings. we were excited to test out our new binoculars that mom and dad trisler got us for christmas! they are amazing! we could zoom way in on a...well...we really didn't see any animals, but we could zoom way the hell in on a bunch of tees and mountains! thanks!



4 - there might be obstacles. proceed with caution and help others. in this case, we ran into a log [covered with snow] crossing over a stream. did we have to cross it? no. but would not crossing it have been fun? no.



the folks we helped cross were kind enough to take our photograph.



after a couple of hours of wandering through the snow, it was time for a break.



time to air out the sweaty gloves!



which in hindsight really isn't a good idea, because if you drop your water bottle into two feet of powder you'll be fishing it out with bare hands! no more warm, sweaty hands.



brooke got cocky and tried to run a 45 degree hill covered with 2-3 feet of powder.



he did not see the results he had expected.



we saw these crazy people and all of a sudden felt somewhat normal again. with a snowboard strapped to their feet and a kite strapped to their waists...use your imagination. these folks were nuts! now we had something to look at through our new binoculars!



we had a great afternoon!



time to gear-down, jump in the car to warm up and eat our left over sandwiches!



mmmm....cold turkey and cranberry!



mmmm....cold bbq chicken! it's going to be a great new year!

Apples to Apples

Although we've know Matt and Danelle for a while, we go to church with them, and we're in the same small group, we've never really hung out. So we invited them over for dinner last night and a round of Apples to Apples. Danelle was the first person we met when we got to seattle; she works at the little coffee shop across the street from our building. we chowed down on andrea's amazing manicotti, talked a while, then preceded to play Apples to Apples.

matt and danelle...acting.

conferencing about green cards.

a sample of our rounds.

she is such a priority! my wife!

so i've eaten a lot of oranges this week...they're good!

as in 'my new shoes are so delightful!'

and the winner is...

getting worn out.

peep the digs. small.

even snorman the snowman got in on the action!

Turkey Tom's Demise...aka: An Amazing Thanksgiving

this year we shared thanksgiving dinner here in washington with a couple from portland. andrea took it upon herself to prepare the entire entree...and it was amazing! here's how it unraveled:

andrea thought the turkey looked so cute that she
named it 'turkey tom.' too bad for tom...as you'll see!

little turkey tom's little right wing.

ouch! that must hurt turkey tom! is that a neck...or...
something else?!

woo! cleaning turkey tom out! where are the guts?
i didn't know you had to do this sort of stuff!

ewwwww...i found the gibblets...whatever they are!

i liked it when she started talking about 'brinning!'
i later found out that it meant to soak turkey tom
in salt water. i was disappointed.

you are on a "roll!" they were amazing!

we were joined for dinner with kris ann and jon.

that's kris ann carving turkey tom. we it was my turn
to play the 'dad,' i froze...i had no idea what to do.
i was glad there was a vet in the audience.

delicious!

my wife made the best thanksgiving dinner i think i've ever had! it was great to spend the evening with our friends jon and kris ann. after dinner we journeyed up a floor to their condo to enjoy a most delicious dessert and a game of scattergories! later we played a new game called 'mexican train' and enjoyed the company of wesley, bob, and paul. we missed our families, but we couldn't have asked for a nicer thanksgiving on the west coast!