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!