Skiing and Hockey...in CA?

I have been very busy the last week or so and obviously have upset the balance of life for those of you who faithfully look at my blog for your once a week outlook on life. I realize this has effected you greatly and I hope this post will restore your life to normal. We went up to Myron and Andreas two weeks ago and had a great time at Folsom lake and hanging out. We went to the Dordt hockey game in Oakland vs Wyoming on sat (the 16th) and had a great time there. Although Dordt is a small college we must have had about 25 fans there. This may not sound like much, but compared to the 3 fans of Wyoming, it was a large crowd. The poor turnout of Wyoming prompted me to yell more than normal and demean their team and their hockey skills most of the night. Dordt won and it was the best I have ever seen them play...

Brenda with the love of her life.
Andrea and Brenda at the hockey game.

To the victor goes the spoils.

This weekend we organized a church ski trip up to Tahoe. It was a great time. We had about 15 people go and the conditions were epic for the mountains. There was fresh powder everywhere and the storm that moved in in the afternoon was very windy, but that created great drifts and sweet snowboarding. On Saturday night we got about 25 inches of fresh snow at the cabin and it was amazing. This is a lot of new, but is nothing compared to the 7ft or more of snow that was already on the ground. The driveway was like a canyon of snow and it is a good thing we stayed on the second and third floor of the house because you could not even see the first floor of the house. We arrived at home safe yesterday and had a great time.
Bruce shoveling the driveway.

Did anyone see the oscars yesterday?
If you answer yes to this please stop reading this blog...I cannot be associated with anyone who watches such crap.

I do not have much to say about this past week. I think that most of these pictures can speak for themselves. I wenty to the gun range and sighted in the Mauser for 50yds. The scope is a 2.5 so there is not much maginification, and it is easier to sight it in at a closer distance. I shot 20rounds and the bruise on my shoulder is the proof. What a good time.
The high ones are before I dialed it in and the others are...well...not bad if I do say so myself.
What is this? A frothy mug...an empty bottle... can it be...yes the home brew is ready for consumption and it is good. I helped a friend out with the brewing process and now it is time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. There is a time for everything...and it is high time I harvest this which I have sown.
Wow...spent cartrages and the culprit.
The Mauser which is often refered to as "western hospitality."

I just noticed this is about the manliest post in the history of the internet. Beer and Guns... although they do not seeming go together or ever should be combined, I have figured a way in which they can live in harmony on a single post. Maybe I should apply for a job at the UN and bring peace to the world? Or maybe that may not work so well.

Strait and skiing

This past weekend we went to the big city of Fresno for the legendary George Strait. He was awesome and we had such a great time. There were a wide range of people at the concert from old to not as old (there was not a lot of young people at this concert). There is not much more to say about the concert, except it was awesome.

Brenda and I enjoying the nosebleed seats.
Our view.

The next day I thought that since we were only a hour away from Kings Canyon National Park we should go and get some crosscountry skiing in. We rented skis at the store and then went out on thee trails. I do not think that there can be a better way to spend a Saturday or $22 then a day out in the woods. The ski rental was very cheap and we had such a great day to go skiing.
The trail.
The view from the top was great.
View again.
Very deep snow made for a good time.

On another note the election in CA had about 4 props on the ballot for expanding the Indian gaming in the state. Of course there were tons of comercials that wre trying to sway us one way or another. The state workers are all for it (they would get a cut of the profits though taxes) and there were some against it. The arguments for the measures are so lame that the people making the arguments must think we are robotic idiots that can't think for ourselves. Sure the state would get a lot of tax money, but there are externalities that are not accounted for. The state has to pay for gambling addiction helplines, foster homes for kids from families that break up due to gambling addiction, prison for those who steal to feed there addiction, and mant many others that I dare not go into it here. I guess I have been going on a rant at the end of all of my recent posts, but read at you own risk (you may actually learn something) has been my motto.

Ugly sweater

Well here we go again. I have posted pictures of the attempted family portrait during our time in Washington. As soon as we began to take the picture the kids went ape. There was a lot of crying and kids acting like...kids. Out of about 20 pics we got this as the best one. At one point Brenda and I acted as if we were crying, but I do not have that pic (I just have the one of us acting like we are having a great time).

This is the best shot...but don't look to close.Or...is this the best shot.
Beer Pong on the dinning table.
Our two hosts.

We went to a ugly sweater party on Friday at one of my co-workers apartment. We arrived at 8:45 and were the first ones there. We were worried that there would not be anybody showing up, but people trickled in and some did not show up till we were leaving at 11:00. It was not the friendly get together that were are used to, seeing as there was a keg/beer pong/ and jellow shots, but we had a great time and saw some awfully ridiculous sweaters.

Jason is showing off what he thinks the lady looks like who wore it before he got it from the goodwill store.

On another note, I wanted to comment on the writers guild strike that seems to riveting to all of the news channels, but does not make a mouse turds difference to anyone else. Do we really care if the mindless crap that hollywood normally puts out is no longer available for us not to watch. I am devastate that those award shows, that only the people in them actually care about, are no longer going to be able to put on. Can’t any of these actors write a 15 second bit by themselves? Give me 20 bucks, a couple of beers, and nothing to inspire me but a couple of goats kicking each other in the heads and I could come up with a better script than any of those shows have ever had. Guilds/Unions are excuses for overpaid below average workers actually get paid more than the rest of us for doing a lot less work.

Family, Family and.....more Family

We spent the last weekend up in Washington for my grandmother in-law’s 90th birthday celebration spectacular. It was a great time seeing my sister and brother in-laws and nieces. We even found out that Paula is going to produce a nephew in May. There were a lot of people in the house so Brenda and I volunteered to sleep in the shed (Jim built a new shop and there is a nice office area where we slept). We volunteered so we could stay onsite and not have to go to a friends house, but also because we wanted to get a good nights sleep and not be woken up by screaming kids.

Brenda and Kevin at the game. The Dekkers are smiling in the background.

Here is Abby. She is a spitter, but I held her alot and had a great time. Only one shirt got totally soaked, but at least she didn't crap on me.

We went to the Sunnyside basketball game on Friday and had a great time. The game was very close and despite the 10 to 4 fouls calls in the second half of the game Sunnyside won. Great game.

We went to a big family get together at a Chinese restaurant in Yakima on Sat. to celebrate Grandma’s birthday and the food was great. There was a flu type bug going around in the house starting on Friday and with two bathrooms and everyone but me and Kevin catching some form of it they were very busy and the family fun times were kept to a minimum. We played as many games as we could. Sat. night we played imaginIF and once the game was done it was evident how Jim felt about the game because he was puking in the sink (I guess he didn’t like it).

Maggies birthday celebration two days before her birthday. Notice the park ranger badge with her name on it. Also notice the spit on Dans soulder (not an uncommon sight).
At the celebration
This is a collage of Brenda grandmother and family. It was very cool to see some of these old pictures.
Brenda and her grandmother.

Oh ya, I got a 8mm Mauser with a 2.5 Lyman Alaskan scope on it from Jim for my hopefully soon to be hunting trip next fall. The rifle is awsome and I will post picture of me shooting it when I go to the range...which will be very soon. Guns are awsome.