One of the unique activities that we got to do while up in Wyoming was going to a roller skating rink that Jill’s parents had reserved just for the family. I have to say that I was quite surprised how terrible I was at it! I had assumed that it wouldn’t be any different than rollerblading, which I’ve done for a long time, but it turned out to be completely different.

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Before long, everyone had gotten the hang of it and we all had a lot of fun throwing around a football and kicking a soccer ball at each other. Before long, Asher decided to throw on some skates and take a spin around the rink. With a little help from Jill, he was quickly on his way to skating across the room by himself.

Today we went skiing and snowboarding, which is awesome because it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been able to go. I thought I would be clever and bolt my video camera to a bike helmet and get some great video of me going down the hill. Unfortunately, the camera was angled too low and most of what was captured was just a bunch of snow passing by. I did, however, manage to capture one moment when the camera was pointed in a direction other than down.

Unfortunately, it was while I was rolling down the hill after catching the front edge of my snowboard.

Asher has never really seen snow before and so it was awesome to see him experience it for the first time. While initially he seemed a bit timid about sinking into this mysterious substance, he soon found an activity that allowed him to forget about the freezing cold – sledding!

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Jill’s parents live on the back side of a golf course, so there were plenty of fun hills for Asher and his cousin Abby to slide down. Of course, there were always plenty of aunts and uncles around to ask for a ride back up to the top of the hills.

This year we had the opportunity to spend Christmas with Jill’s family in Riverton, Wyoming. Jill and Asher were able to fly up on the 17th, while I spent the week finishing some projects at work and made my way up on the 23rd. With the exception of Marcus who is on his mission in Uganda/Ethiopia, everyone was able to make it.

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We all had a blast and stayed very busy with all the various activities that were planned. Just some of the many fun things we did included sleeping overnight in a snow cave that we built in the back yard, skiing and snowboarding, roller skating, caroling, soaking in the hot tub in below zero temperatures, opening presents and more!

Jill and I were excited to share our newfound talent of board breaking with Jill’s brothers and sisters. While this isn’t generally part of their Christmas Eve celebration, we figured it’d be fun for everyone.

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Everyone who tried to break a board was eventually able to. Not surprisingly, it took me a couple of times to bet it to break. Jill’s little sister Marcia was able to bust through her board on her first try! It must be a talent that runs in the family.

Since Jill and I will be heading up to Wyoming to spend Christmas with her family this year, we decided to head down to Houston a few weeks before Christmas and open presents with my parents.

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Asher was very excited for Christmas this year. While last year we couldn’t get him to stop playing with empty boxes, this year he was all about ripping up wrapping paper and cheering with delight as he opened gifts from his Grandma and Grandpa.

After many e-mails and proposed dates and locations, all of SG (family and friends) were able to work out a time and place to have the SG Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun to finally have everyone under the same roof.

Adam and Ariane were kind enough to offer their home as a gathering place and it was amazing to see how much our original group of five has grown over the years. Between all the adults and the herd of children running around, we all enjoyed a great meal, reminiscing about high school, and a few Christmas carols.

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Given everyone’s busy schedules and lives, I’m not sure when we’ll all be able to get together again, but based on how much fun we all had, I hope it’s soon!

I usually don’t post videos because it’s always hard to keep people’s attention for more than just a few minutes, but I thought tonight’s activity had some real merit, so bear with me. I had been reading on the internet that board breaking is supposedly not all that difficult, so with a quick trip to Lowe’s and a couple of cuts with the chop saw, we were all ready to give it a try.

By the way, I’m obligated to point out that Jill, in fact, was able to break the boards before I was. Let that be a lesson to not ever mess with her! Now let’s see that again in slow motion!



So if anyone is interested in trying this at home (which I’m not advocating) remember to cut the boards square and have the person holding the boards hold the edges (not the end grain) with the grain running vertically.

Today we met Brig and company out at the Zilker Botanical Gardens to take some Christmas card photos for each of our families. It was a bit chilly, but once the sun came out from behind the clouds it became quite bearable.

It became immediately obvious that Asher has quickly adapted to being in front of a camera as he was all smiles while the photos were being taken. I had to admire Brig and Stephanie in their ability to keep Mason, Alex and Brady entertained for a good half hour while we took photos in several places around the park. Here are the results!

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In all, I think we got some really good ones (thanks Brigham!) and hopefully you’ll be seeing one of these in your mailbox soon.

It seems that getting into the Christmas season this year has really done the trick. With all the effort of putting up the Christmas tree and lights in addition to drinking lots of hot chocolate has tricked Mother Nature into temporarily thinking that Texas is a winter wonderland and not the brain-meltingly hot desert we’ve all come to know and love.

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For a good five minutes today it decided to snow outside of my office. I had brought my camera with me to do some photo work for a client and this is what I ended up with instead. Katherine, our intern, who has never really seen snow, got a kick out of the experience.