I finally got a Pendleton blanket! The dentist that I work with is going to be leaving soon to be the mission president in Chile for three years. He asked if he could stop by on Sunday and didn't say what for. Anyone who knows me knows that I spent the week worrying about why he was stopping by. He gave me this nice Pendleton blanket and said thank you for all the years I worked with him. HOW NICE :-)

So no picture for this one, but I had to share....Brian cut his finger through the fingernail at work in the kitchen and could not get the bleeding to stop. He came up with a very unusual solution.....he deep-fried his finger!! He put batter on it and stuck it in the deep fryer until he could feel the heat. The cooked batter made an airtight seal around the cut and stopped the bleeding. Later he took the batter off and it appears to be healing fine. Who would have thought this one up except Brian!

In cleaning/sorting Dad's stuff, I took the T-shirts he designed off the posterboards to wash them. Most of the posterboards were blank, but a few had artwork on them. I could tell that they were all his artwork, probably designs he didn't like and cut up. This one was fun to find. If there was ever a picture Dad would create for Rick and Holly, this would be it! It is in good enough shape to save, so let me know if you want it Rick and Holly....

I just have to say today that I love my job! We had our yearly staff meeting and they took us on a shopping spree at Washington Square, followed by lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. And it looks like we will be going to Hawaii next year for spring break. We also got cool Stormtech vest jackets with our new logo. I spent my money on a bike trainer so I can ride my bike indoors. Life is good today.....

Brian was up in the attic at work where they keep stuff for big events and he found this vintage country club wool jacket. It fits him perfectly and they said he could keep it. Very nice.....

Oh, and I forgot to put this picture in with Christmas Eve. Damien liked his cowboy hat. He was tired and his rocking horse scared him, but he liked it later.

When the weather cleared, we went to St Helens to visit Dan's family. Freyja is only two months old here and I think Odin likes his new rocking horse! Michael and Daniel were excited as always....

So, this was Christmas Eve at our house this year. We had more snow than we ever get here, so Dan and Tammy couldn't make it to our house. Sharon was here and Cheri came down from Tacoma in the snow. Michael made it out to Tigard and brought Andrea and Damien over for the day. Brian spent all day cooking - he made prime rib! You can see that Brian really enjoys meat, that is his giant slab of meat on that plate. I have no idea where he puts it all. That is also Brian's great wrapping job (he gets it from me). I saved Michael's mom's Santamobile she made in the 60's for the table centerpiece.