Bryce, I'm Sorry

So I just got a rather haughty facebook message from Bryce pointing out that I had not blogged in a while. I apologize. And I'll make up for it right now with a super long post. Get excited.

Since I last posted, we had Thanksgiving Break and it was wonderful. We kicked it off with the Turkey Bowl which, being from Missouri, I dominated. Wednesday morning we slept in, hung out and took our time getting ready to depart for Dan's. Kristin, Mike and I were the only interns who ended up going. We left the canyon mid-afternoon and arrived to Bend at around 5:30.

We had all agreed that we wanted to go see a movie and get some dinner (simple pleasures that we don't take for granted since living out here). So we met up with Dan at the Old Mill District which is this cool outdoor shopping district in Bend. We decided to see August Rush which came out that day. We went and got our tickets and then headed to Red Robin to grab some food. I had never been to Red Robin which you would think is a crime by people's reaction to that statement out here. So we went and their burgers are, in fact, ridiculously good. It actually lived up to the hype.

After dinner, we went to the movie and Dan's parents, sister and sister's fiance joined us. The movie was really good, although sappy. But we all loved it and really was just fun to go to a movie. We headed back to Dan's after and stayed up playing Bang! with his younger brother and older sister.

The next day, we slept in, had an awesome breakfast, took a driving tour of Bend, stopped at the Deschutes River and then spent the rest of the day eating and playing board games with Dan's family. It was so fun and relaxing. The next day was much of the same. Becca and Peter drove up and we hit up some Black Friday sales and went to a really fun and festive Christmas tree lighting at a resort called Sunriver. It was beautiful and relaxing. Dan's family was so wonderful and it was great to spend a few days in a real home just relaxing. They definitely took care of us which was so wonderful.

We headed back to the Canyon on Saturday in order to be home in time to watch my Missouri Tigers dominate the Jayhawks. It was an incredible victory and it was so fun to watch it with some of the other interns and introduce them to the incredibleness that is Mizzou. They had no idea. As you can see from the picture, I represented for my Tigers.

We spent the next couple of days just chilling in the canyon. The Iveys, Mike, Kristin, Darren and I were the only ones here so we had a lot of fun just hanging out. It was a really great group. I feel like most of the people that stayed at the canyon were the people I hadn't gotten to know as well, especially Mike, Dan and Darren. Everyone who was here was just chill and fun and it was so relaxing and fun. I feel even more comfortable here now and feel like I really solidified a friendship with all those guys.

We went back to work on Tuesday which was a pretty easy day, although I was developing a nasty cold. We had small group that night which was our best small group yet. I made orange chicken and crab rangoon, a la the Dudenhoeffers, which was super yummy. And then I told my life story, the extended version. Seriously, I talked for a long time. It was just nice though because since we switched it to Tuesday this week, we didn't have to worry about getting done in a hurry to get to worship afterwards. So we ended up having a 3 hour small group. We like to talk. And the boys kept running up to the door and then leaving when they saw us which was funny and made us all feel loved.

I woke up the next morning and was completely out of it. I took a couple sick days the past couple of days and have literally not left my condo. I'm feeling a lot better now so I'm gonna go back to work tomorrow. It's been sucky, but people here are really good about taking time off to get better. It's a physically demanding job and we spend a lot of time outside, so if you don't take the time to get all better you just end up sicker. So my bosses have been great.

That being the case, I'm going to bed at 9:00 tonight. So I have to get some stuff done. I added some pictures to my last blog, so check those out. Love you all!

Bryce- I hope this has satisfied you. I added pics because I know how much you like them. Go Tigers!

Turkey Time!

So, our Thanksgiving break started today and it could not have come a moment too soon. I am stoked for a couple days off. Although, I feel like I just got beat up. Tonight was the 1st Annual Turkey Bowl. The boys have been talking for weeks about playing flag football and tonight we kicked it off. Kristen and I went thinking we were going to watch but ended up playing and it was so fun. It was us and Sarah from the kitchen as the only girls. The boys had the classic problem of never throwing it to us, but after they figured out that I caught literally every pass that was thrown to me, they started sending it my way more. It was freezing cold, I got laid out a couple of times, the grass was slick and the boys were brutal, but I had a chance to wear my Mizzou beanie and repeatedly yell, "Third in the nation, baby!" So all was good.

The past few days have been a little crazy here at the Canyon. This weekend was huge and Saturday was the busiest we've ever been in the Sassy. It was crazy. But it was also a ton of fun. It felt like there were so many kids here but it's only half of how many will be here during the summer which is even crazier. But the Sass was a lot of fun and people were great about stepping in and helping us out even though they had already worked a full day.

Also, I continue to be amazed at how much money kids will spend in the snack bar. There were these 2 kids this weekend that had to have each spent 30 bucks. And that's in one day. And they're served meals. Kids blow through the money.

After the Sassy on Saturday, we got the privilege of seeing a concert by Jonah Werner, who came as special music this weekend. I like his music, but beyond that he is an amazing entertainer. He was very funny and definitely had everyone's attention the whole time he was on stage.

Sunday was an easy day. Checkout took forever and consisted of a lot of standing around. I became officially certified to handle food in the state of Oregon. And I spent the afternoon in the Washboard which is fun in small doses.

Sunday night we had game night which was so fun. We started with a game of Battle of the Sexes, followed by Catch Phrase and, our intern favorite, Apples to Apples. We have definitely picked up that game are fun, which is extremely exciting for me. Because I love games, at all times. I'm hoping I'm not getting too competitive. But I am. I can't help it.

Monday was All Clean which was really fun this week because the guys stayed with us all day. We're starting the Deep Clean on the Quads which is going to be ridiculous. After we finished bathrooms, we stripped all the mattress pads, blankets and pillows off the beds and hauled them to the Washboard. There is now a huge, daunting pile of stuff that we have to wash, literally 8 feet tall. After that, we broke up into random teams to do random things. Nick and I began polishing all the chrome in the bathrooms. It was fun to hang out with Nick. The more I get to know him, the more I like him. However, satin shining the chrome is a much longer process than you would think. Everyone was done with all their jobs in both quads and we only had 1/4 of one quad done. It sucked.

After work, we headed home and got ready for Dip Day at the Milstens. The Milstens have a traditional, non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner consisting entirely of dips at their house every year. It was a really good time, mingling and hanging out and grazing through all the dips.

We had a little celebration afterwards back at the condos as well for Becca's birthday. We have a lot of fun together. There was some dancing...
We had to work today so that we could get days off in a chunk over Thanksgiving. So us girls were in HK and spent literally all morning finishing the chrome. We had decided to start at 7:00 and take a 45 minute lunch so we could get off at 3:45 which was great. I'm kind of turning into a morning person. No, that's a lie. I still can't function in the morning, but I like it when I have to go into work early and get done early. It makes such a difference.

Anyway, we spent the morning polishing and after lunch headed to the Washboard. We were only there until about 2:30 though. After that we went back to Geronimo and spent the last hour of our day decorating Geronimo with snowflakes and such for Christmas and deciding on the rules for our girl secret santa exchange and what movie theme we want for Jen's craft day that she always has in December and consists of sitting around watching movies and crafting all day. It was a fantastic way to end the day. Our job is great.

We came back from work and Lacey and Mandi headed out and Drew left yesterday, so our house was really empty. It already feels weird. But Kristen and I watched a couple episodes of Felicity and I cooked Paige's pasta for dinner. And then we headed to the Turkey Bowl, dominated, came back and watched movie. It was a great night. But I'm gonna be sore tomorrow. This is also the latest I have stayed up since I got here. It's almost 2:00 which was basically my bed time back home. My life is definitely different.

So, I'm going to be in Bend the next couple of days and other than that just hanging out doing nothing. I'm going to be very available. Phone calls would be much appreciated. I love you all and miss you a ton.

I'm a Gamer, Baby

So I just got back from maybe the most fun event I've been to since I got here: Game Night at the Inglsbys'. Craig and Kathy Inglsby are my heroes partly because they're a lot of fun and cool people, but mainly because they own an incredible amount of games. But I digress.

Thursday was another easy day in HK. Since we got caught up with laundry things have settled a lot, but that will all start up again after we finish the deep clean and have another round of laundry. We did have a staff meeting in the morning where we talked about the Staff Christmas Party and were volunteered by, well, everyone to put together a little number to perform. We have some great, funny ideas so it should be a blast.

After work, we had small group and intern worship. Small group was at Jen's and was again very fun. Mandi shared her life story which was great because she's the one I feel like I've gotten to know the least. She's very quiet, so it was good that she had to talk for a long time. Worship was fun as well although it has gotten pretty cold which makes it hard for me to sing. Lance Wagner came and shared with us about scripture memory which was pretty cool. Also, he recited Colossians. Yeah, he's for real. My favorite point he made was that he tends to memorize large chunks of the Bible or whole books so that he doesn't take things out of context. It was cool and challenging. Also, his 9-year-old daughter can recite Titus. For real.

I was in HK again all day today. We started out cleaning the Sports Center. Becca's home for the weekend and Mandi and Lacey were in the D Hall and the Kitchen, so it was just 4 of us cleaning the Sports Center. But it was fun. After lunch, Sara went to the store so Drew, Kristen, Sara Morrow and I cleaned the Sassy and then Drew and Kristen got off because they were in the Sports Center tonight. So Sara Morrow, Jen and I did really random things like clean the vacuums for the rest of the afternoon. It was fun spending time with Sara, she's really cool, quiet natured but in a calm way not a shy way and also pretty funny.

I helped with Morning Mud this morning which was fun but also a little crazy. People show up for $.75 espresso.

After work, I came home for a while and then went to dinner. There's 2 groups in this weekend. The first, bigger group is from Walla-Walla High School and is a leadership weekend put on by their student board. It's kind of run by a teacher there who is married to a guy on YL staff who also happened to be one of my Work Crew bosses at Malibu. So he's here this weekend helping put on program and stuff. It's funny because it looks a lot like a YL weekend but without the spoken name of Christ. They're a lot of fun and very enthusiastic. The other group is a small Campaigner group from Sunset High in Portland who are just having a retreat and using some of the smaller buildings.

After dinner, we headed to the Inglsbys' and got our game on. It was so much fun. A lot of people from property were there and there were kids running around all over the place and lots of yelling and laughter. And they have literally the most board games I've ever seen. An entire closet full. We were there for almost 3 hours playing, it was so much fun.

For Bryce- You have to find and play a game called Cash n' Guns. You'll love it.

No morning espresso this weekend! Which means I will be sleeping in tomorrow. Praise the Lord.

Much love.