Christmas Dinner

Even though it was just the two of us, Loren and I did Christmas right!

Hand-whipped meringue!

1920's Christmas Party

Shortly before Christmas, our friend, Nicole, threw an awesome 1920's themed Christmas party. Below are a few pics of Loren and me in our get-ups.

The Invisible Christmas Tree

Early in Novembver, Loren saw a commercial for Target (or some such store) where Christmas ornaments were suspended in the shape of a Christmas tree from a chandelier. We thought it would be fun to do something like that. The whole project involved lots of ornaments and fishing line, but the finished project was pretty cool. I'm pretty sure it's not coming down until April.

J-Dub's Wedding

I've been slack about updating the blog lately, but I'm catching up!  On Thanksgiving weekend we attended the nuptials of Justin and Jamie in Coos Bay, OR.  It was a great weekend.  The wedding itself was a sort of "flash mob" wedding.  The location of the ceremony didn't allow weddings, so we all pretended that we were there to look at the Christmas lights, then at the appointed time, a bag piper started playing and we convened at a gazebo for the ceremony.  As it happened, an enterprising park ranger caught on to the scheme, but even she couldn't bring herself to break up a wedding!  Below are a few pics of the wedding and Loren in her groomsman's kilt!

Vancouver

What a cool town! We went for the day on Saturday.  We saw Stanley Park and the Capilano suspension bridge.

Mom's in Seattle!

On Thursday we went to Pike's Place Market, the original Starbucks and Alki Beach.

Pumpkin day!

Loren and I went to a farm, and picked our own pumpkins to carve. Mine is the one on the left that looks like it is scared of Loren's!

Pike Place Market

Go 'Eers

In honor of the WVU-LSU game, Loren made a "black bottom coconut cream pie." If WV's offense is half as good as this pie, LSU won't stand a chance!

Release the kraken!

Our new wall art.

A Mariners Game

Even bad baseball is good baseball!

Seattle

We made it! Woot! We're in a hotel until saturday, when we can get into our apartment.  It's been an awesome trip! I'll update with pics of Seattle shortly.

Portlandia!

Just after breakfast with JDub at Pine State Biscuits.

Wells & Biggs

Here is a pic of Adam in Wells, NV. We also passed through Biggs, OR, but it was too dark and the shoulder was too narrow to get a picture of that. Just goes to show you that if you travel over 4,000 miles, you're bound to run into a town with your name.

Late lunch in Boise at Flatbread Community Oven

Bonneville Salt Flats

DAM(N)!

Loren and I took a tour of the Hoover Dam. Pretty amazing!

Egg-cellent

If you are ever in Vegas, The Egg and I is a great breakfast place.  Their eggs benedict is straight awesome.

Vegas, Baby, Vegas

Got here today around 2 PM and hit the pool all but immediately. Hello there, giant pina colada.  In other news, the fountains at the Bellagio are AMAZING!

Flagstaff Rocks!

Loren and I really liked Flagstaff.  Hiking the Grand canyon was awesome, but the town itself was neat too.  For example, I got pulled over this morning for creeping through a stop sign.  Not only did the cop let me off with a warning but he also recommended a great breakfast place: Mike and Rhonda's. (Incidentally, my friend Jacob Mongomery's parents are named Mike and Rhonda.  Coincidence?) In honor of Officer Campbell, I post the preceding pic of breakfast.

The Grand Canyon

I've been twice before, and this place just gets more amazing.  This was Dad's and Loren's first visit to the Grand Canyon.  We hiked to the first rest house on the Bright Angel trail (about 3 miles total down and back, 1500 ft. vertical each way).  It made us want to go back and hike more.  Also, I can't help but post a bunch of pictures, but they really can't do it justice.