My lack of postings recently has rivaled that of the people I usually give a hard time to so I figured I will give one before the long dry spell that is Christmas vacation. This past weekend Brenda and I went to my company Christmas party up in San Francisco. The party was all of the northern California offices and about 200 people attended. Our office made up about ¼ of that. To encourage people to go, my office manager rented a bus for the ride up and back. this was the nicest bus I have ever seen with leather seats and all the bling(what you expect from a Mercedes). I think this was mainly so everyone could get a sober ride to and from the party. When the bus picked us up at the last main pickup point the party was obviously in full swing and my ever entertaining coworkers did not disappoint. I work with a wide variety of people from construction workers to office engineers and boy do they like to drink. Of course there is a lot of foul language at my worksite with all of the const. workers, and they did not make any exception for the bus ride. This is not something that Brenda(while working at a Christian school) is used to and I think she got a taste of what I hear every day. We did have a great time and got to eat a lot of great food.

Big smiles all around.

Sunday we had Joel visiting and went with him to Kevin and Lyndsay Schenk’s in the CV (central valley). We had a great time visiting with Ethan and Morgan and catching up with old friends.

This week an arctic chill has hit the bay area. With temperatures down into the high 20’s(this is at night, daily temperatures are still up in the 50’s) the Californians are freaking out. How can anyone cope with these temperatures??? These babies out here are really chapping my hide. I will continue to humor them for the time being, but my patience in running thin. Have a great Christmas season and if you did not get a Christmas card from us…to bad just go back through my blog and read this year’s events and put a Merry Christmas at the end.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Once again I come to the table and begin a blog after a long absence. Brenda and I have been very busy like most of you, but I now have a chance to post a few pics. This Thanksgiving we did what any childless, young, couple who does not live close to family would do. Go camping. I know this was a bit of a long trip and the irony that we drove longer to go camping then it would have taken to visit to the formentioned family is not lost on us. Last year we went camping in Utah as well and we had such a good time that we thought we should go back to Utah and hit up the national parks that we did not get to see the first time.

We arrived on Wednesday in the afternoon at Arches National park and set up camp. This would be our home for the next 3 nights so we pitched the tent and set up camp. We went to bed early this night and that is a good thing, because not 15min after we shut the tent...it started to sleet and rain. The rain was light, but it continued for the next 35hrs or so. We still did a lot of hiking on Thursday regardless of the rain...we did drive a long way so we thought we had better make it worth it. The mist and clouds gave us a view of the desert that most do not get to see.

Friday the rain stopped and the mist was lifting. By 1pm the weather was great and we could see for miles from the vista points in canyonlands national park. The views were quites something and we were very glad that the mist lifted otherwise the park would have been a lot less spectacular.

Saturday we went for a few hikes before driving to Salt Lake City to pick up the elk meat from the butcher. after that it was home yesterday afternoon and back to work today. All in all it was a darn good trip and as always was an adventure.

Brenda at the unofficial Utah symbol of Delicate Arch. It is a lot bigger in real life than on the licence plate

Brenda at the campsite on Thanksgiving morning.
Rain....huh. Nothing a little trunk lid with a tarp rigged over a sideways picnic table can't fix. Thanksgiving meal was delicious and fun despite the way it may look.

Our neighbors at the campground deep fried a turkey and gave us a bite. We went over there when they asked if we wanted to warm up by the fire and then they gave us this. We had already eaten, but it was so good we could not pass it up.

Brenda at Landscape Arch

Brenda in Canyonlands at the Mesa Arch

This was a great viewpoint that we could not pass up.

After a short hike we were rewarded with this great view.

One of the few pictures with me in it...nevermind I look like a dork

This dirt road we tried to go down, but the wimpy park service had blocked it off due to rain and mud on the road. What ever happened to personnel responsibility...thanks park service for keeping me from having a good time.

One of the Arches known as the windows.

Balanced rock...really creative naming.

My not so subtle attempt at an artistic shot.

Climbing in the slot canyons.

Skyline arch which was about 200yds from our campsite.


We hung out at a Cabelas in Salt Lake and Reno during the trip. Brenda loves going there because it make her feel at home...you know all of the dead animals on the walls. I finished the elk mount about two weeks ago and here it is. Yes I did do all of it myself and it was not all that hard.



I had this plaque made and mounted the two shell casings from the fatal shots. I have one of the bullets, but I decided to to mount that.

Comstume party #2

Last weekend we went to another costume party and then on the saturday we went to Andrea Kampers art show. It is always a good time seeing friend's and of course going to see some good art. Here is Andrea giving her artist talk.

The costume party we went to is becoming a tradition every Halloween. We played some scary tricky games and had a pretty fun time.

Here is Jen and Camille..or is that Leia and Yoda???

This weekend we got a free night at a hotel in downtown San Jose. Normally I would not get a hotel just 10min. away from our house, but since it was free we thought why not. the hotel was very luxurious and we had such a good time walking around downtown and staying the night. It is so nice that the election is now over, but yet again the liberal far left is not happy here in CA. These people seem to always be bitter and need something to complain about or they would have nothing to say. I am talking mostly about Prop 8 which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. This proposition passed and now the minority liberal complainers are out in force saying it is the same as racism or sexism. I calling BS on that. Get over it and quit complaining about everything.

Here is Brenda dancing to a little Bluegrass...and no she did not drink a bunch of moonshine before the filming of this video.

Costume Party #1

This Friday night we went over to our friends house for a costume party (the first of two that we are going to be attending this year). They had the whole house set up and even got it catered. Of course the food was fabulous and there were a lot of people there that we have not met before or had not seen in a long time so it was quite a good time.
The guy in the cowboy boots and the pregnant chick were dressed up as a white trash couple.

Drew Froese carved this joker pumpkin.

I dressed up as a hunter and I carved this Elk pumpkin.

Drew and Amy were a baker and a stove with a bun in the oven. She is due next month.

Harry was Michael Phelps (he usually did not have this wig on, but just tried it on for fun) and Mindy was Joe the plumber.


Brenda went as an elk and I was a hunter.

Drew acting like...well an idiot.

Josiah had a little accident.

Tri-bi-athlon

Last weekend there was a all girl triathlon out in Napa that Brenda participated in. She and some of the other teachers from the school thought it would be cool to participate in and all went up as a group. I arrived just in time for the start. I guess it would be called a biathlon because they cancelled the swimming portion due to the high winds and whitecaps on the lake. Instead of the swimming they just ran the 1/2mi distance they were supposed to swim. Brenda was a bit disappointed because she had been training for the swimming for a while, but with the cooler weather and high winds she was happy she would not be cold for the whole day. Brenda did a great job and finished the 3.5mi running and 11mi bike ride in 1hour 31min.

Nice hardware.

Brenda before the race getting her bike ready before the race.The supportive husbands. Of course I was on time because I care about my wife. These guys were a little late...what does that tell you?
Very very tough women. I am told that their team names was the "sisterhood of the dark knighties" (I have no idea why).

This past week my grandmother died so we went to Ripon for the funeral on Friday. Although it is very sad to see her go we had some great visits in the past few weeks and we are thankful that she did not suffer a long series of medical problems like so many others do. It was very sad to go to the funeral, but it also was very nice to see my family again. I think that this is one of the first times in 10-15yrs that all of my aunts and uncles were together in one place. Those kinds of family get togethers are priceless and something I know my grandmother would have loved.

The Great White Hunter

So yes I did just get back from the hills and I had a great time. I went on this hunting trip to Wyoming with one of my friends from college (Isaac Borema). We arrived last monday to rain and word that it snowed about 1ft at hunting camp. The camp was in the wilderness area and had to be accessed by horse. We went up on Tuesday and there was indeed snow. The next day we went out hunting. A typical day of hunting would consist of waking up at 5:30, riding and hiking for about 5hours, taking a midday nap for a few hours, hiking and spotting till dusk and a hike or ride back to camp. This is very relaxing and I really got used to the naps. The food and our cook were great and we had a good time.

On Friday I we got a couple of bugles and chased this one bull for about 4hours. Dave and I went into the woods chasing the bull while the others stayed back. We snuck up on this bull within about 60yrds. We then hear a bugle and move in closer and very slowly. Dave then gave a bugle and the Bull immediately was pissed off thinking we were another bull coming to steal his girls. He responded and then we could hear that he was heading our way. I looked down the draw and saw antlers and knew he was coming. He came up the draw and was walking parallel to us about 10yrds away. He was walking past and I was just waiting for my shot. Dave then gave out a grunt to stop thee bull and I fed him 150grains of lead right in the sweet spot. He staggered back about 5' and then I gave him seconds (he was already mortally injured, but I didn't want him to suffer). He went about 5' and then was down. I could not stop shaking and I was so jacked up I could barely contain myself. I was such a rush and a great time.

Ike and the awesome PT cruiser we rented. I think it may have been the only on in the state so we decided to get it as muddy as possible. This is just the first day and there was more in store for this little car.
Dave is packing Dandy Mule for the ride up the hill. Our cook Rachael is in the background.

Meadow lake and the fall colors. Aspen are great in the Fall.
Camp is at the end of this meadow. Very nice spot and lots of trout in the stream.

Chapping wood for the week on the first night.
That's me and a few of the other hunters on the first night. The snow melted later in the week and the weather was great.

The smallest set of bear prints we saw....very fresh.
Heck ya. Elk take this as fair warning that a De Jong is in the woods.

Ike and I about 1hr before the real fun started.
The Bull I got shortly after the previous picture. A mammoth beast.
Notice the perfectly placed shot. Of course at 10yrds there is a lot of room for error.
After gutting the beast. I shot a hole right through the side of the heart.

This is about how far I was. Notice me in the back right of the picture taking aim and Ike is acting like the bull.
Skinning and quartering the beast.

I know I know....nice rack.
Sunsets were awesome of course and the Wyoming nights were breathtaking(can a guy say that??)

Dave, Ike, and I and being men.
Ike is scoping out the glacier and spotting Elk (or trying to). It was the hardest hunting season Dave has had in 20yrs of guiding.

Our crew at the trailhead.
Ike fashioned a back country beer koosie.

After we returned to civilization we went for a ride up to the Green River lakes and Squaretop Mountain.
Me and the muddy PT.

We also did some offroading in the PT and got it stuck on this rock. It is nothing that a little accelerator and the peace of mind that rental car brings couldn't fix. The frame had a very large scratch, but they don't check that when I returned it.

Daves son Sean had a football game that we drove to see.


All in all it was a great time and we both would do it again. Although Ike did not get an elk he had a great time and he was a good sport about the one I got a chance to take. He and I are splitting the meat (I couldn't eat that much meat in a year) so I am glad he can help me out there.

Check out this video of me trying to manly up the PT by adding mud. I should have shut the window. We also had Bernie (game and fish warden) in Camp and he sang some great songs.