Still Snowbound

Well, we're still stuck here with about 14 inches of snow on the ground with 3 to 8 more forecasted for tomorrow and Thursday. We've been working from home during the day and doing a lot of reading and movie watching at night. I've been cooking. Last night I made bagels, because really, what better time is there to try a recipe you've always wanted to make that when you have the whole evening with nothing to do and nowhere to be. They were actually very easy and tasty too.
For lunch today we took a break and headed down the block to have lunch at a pizza buffet because we both needed to get out of the house. Things aren't too bad on foot, but the roads are still a mess. Some of the snow is melting off of the house into icicles, but the rest of it seems to be staying put.
We're hoping that we get a break in the weather soon, ideally with enough time to still make the drive to California for Christmas, but the weather folks aren't being too encouraging.

2008 in Review

It's December, and another year is nearly gone. Thanks to a number of weddings, we got to spend quite a bit of time out of state and connect with many friends and family over the course of the last year. Looking back, we are very thankful for all of you, and we thought that we would wish you a Merry Christmas and share a few of our favorite memories from the year past.

In writing this up, we realized that we're not terribly exciting or are extremely forgetful, because we don't have anything to report from the first five months of this year. Our first notable adventure took us out to Joseph, a small town set at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains in northeast Oregon, where we celebrated our 2nd anniversary in May. While in Joseph, we took in some fantastic scenery while hiking, stayed in a cozy bed and breakfast, went bowling (Erica won a free game with her tremendous skill), and of course, dodged the raindrops.
Over the summer, we took a ten day trip bookended by two weddings. The Kriegler wedding in Los Angeles was the first stop. Fred was a groomsman in the wedding and got to introduce Erica to many of his friends from college. This was also Erica's first trip to the Los Angeles area, so some sight-seeing was in order. We were able to go to the beach in Malibu, spend some time with our friends Christopher and Amy and Fred's Aunty Jane, and check out the Harvey Mudd College campus where Fred went to school.
From Los Angeles, we flew out to Missouri for Erica's brother Ryan's wedding. Ryan and Sarah were married in the small town of Altenburg, where Fred got to experience many southeast Missouri traditions. After the wedding reception on the top floor of the Knights of Columbus reception hall, we strolled down to the bottom floor to crash Erica's 10 year high school reunion.

In August, Erica participated in the Portland to Coast walking relay with several of her co-workers, which is the version of the better known Hood to Coast Relay for people who don't like to run. Despite a serious lack of training and a late-night leg fueled by a blue cheese and bacon burger for dinner, Erica had an enjoyable time and came through relatively unscathed.

In November, Fred donned a tuxedo one last time for friends Josh and Yi's wedding in El Segundo, California. Erica got her second taste of California sunshine and got to meet another batch of friends from Fred's college days. Josh choreographed a heartwarming song and dance routine to cap the wedding ceremony. Fred and the other groomsmen played a supporting role in the act, which actually landed on YouTube.
Just recently, we've had some additional excitement thanks to some unusual weather. Portland is known for it's rain, but not necessarily for its snow. In fact, we are woefully unprepared for snow, which makes the several inches of snow that we got last weekend such a big deal. Then, this weekend's snow left us snowbound with plenty of time to pull this update together.
We hope that this letter finds you all well. Have a Merry Christmas, and may 2009 be a blessed year for all of you.

Love,
Fred and Erica

Thanksgiving

This is a bit late, but I finally downloaded the pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a really nice time. Fred's parents, his sister Sydney, and her boyfriend Dan spent the weekend with us. We had all of the traditional Thanskgiving foods, but the most talked about item was the 6 pound sweet potato that Fred and Sylvia brought with them from Califiornia--by plane. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of just how big it was:


The six of us ate maybe one quarter of the sweet potato at Thanskgiving dinner and made a batch of sweet potato biscuits for breakfast the day after. I froze enough to make two more batches of biscuits and we still have about a quarter of the potato left. I plan to cook it this weekend and try my hand at sweet potato pie.

Aside from eating, there was also time for everyone to compete in Wii bowling and boxing, which was a lot of fun.


The big excitement around here now is that it's supposed to snow this weekend. Portland doesn't really get a lot of snow, so when it's in the forecast, it's a big deal. I thought the newscasters in Missouri got worked up when a winter storm was in the works, but they've got nothing on Portland. The forecast has been for snow starting tonight at elevations below 500 feet (most of Portland). One news channel has had someone stationed at the top of Sylvan hill, which is high enough to usually see the first of the snow, since yesterday morning--when it was still about 45 degrees out and not even raining. We're not too worried about it all--we're well stocked to stay warm at home, and if things really are bad by Monday morning, we can both work from home. I wouldn't mind seeing some snow, but I have a feeling that all of the hype isn't going to amount to much.