tired at home

our trip home was wonderful--we are fine-tuning the art of time in central oregon. in the past our breaks have always been overwhelmingly full of family time and running from this house to that house. of course that was part of our trip, but it was all we did. we managed to enjoy the beauty and adventure of the area a bit too!

best part: grandma came over from the valley for three nights. it was such a blessing to celebrate christmas with my favorite lady. what a trooper though, she had to ride through some nasty snow storms coming and going. mom, grandma, and i went for a little manicure treatment on christmas eve and the people at the nail place just loved grandma! we made some precious memories with her. like i said, we also go to get out and enjoy central oregon. both brandon and i love the feeling of being tired from working hard, whether it be from mountain biking, cross country skiing or working in our (small) yard. while we were home we cross country skied three days in a row: tumalo falls, three creeks, and from black butte to suttle lake. needless to say, we were VERY tired and it felt great!

these first pictures are of our trip with rob and becky to tumalo falls. there was much snow blowing in our faces and down our coats on the way there, but the trek back was peaceful and serene with the snow at our backs and the trails sloping downward.

i don't look cold at all, do i?

the beautiful falls

we also got the chance to meet up with laura and be introduced to her new beau, kevin. our trip with them sent me over the exhaustion edge as we were breaking trail through 2 feet of snow the entire way. fortunately a delish meal was our goal and we were lucky to have someone willing to pick us up--the trip back just wasn't happening.

laura and kevin taking a break