Skiing with Manny!

Well, winter is in full swing although quite similar to a typical eastern Washington winter.  Cold temps that rarely drop below zero with the occasional snow fall (10" or so on the ground).  Biggest difference you ask?  That would be the near daily moose encounters here in town as they seem to rely on the urban vegetation for winter forage.  The other day 3 nice bulls were hanging out in the hotel parking lot across from my office!

Despite the fact that we'll be in WA/ID over the holidays, we got the Christmas spirit going strong here in the Turner house.  Stockings are hung by the chimney with care and a warm fire burns here almost daily.  The crown jewel of our decorations is easily our 5' black spruce tree which was carefully selected off of our property right here on 97th Ave! 

We can hardly believe that its been nearly 6 months since we've seen any of our family and are excited to spend some time with everyone over the holidays.  Only thing left to do is for me to finish........errrr start my shopping!

Project update:  Laundry room is nearing completion.  Cara helped install the new pocket door and I've learned a lot about plumbing and electrical through this project.  Of course the perfectionist in me has caused this project to stretch out more than expected.  Simultaneously, the basement apartment is about a week away from being finished, stay tuned for final pics on that front.  The finishing touches are being added, tenants are being reviewed and a lease should be signed before Christmas with an early January move-in date!

Aside from staying busy with work, projects, church and weekend social outings with friends, the highlight of our December was learning to Nordic ski as we traversed to a Forest Service cabin up the Russian River.  The cabin is about 4 miles from the trail head and we decided to rent some skis from REI and teach ourselves how to gracefully fall on 'skinny skis'.  While the learning curve on the way in to the cabin was a bit steep, we got it figured out and had a blast on the way out the next day.  The winter trail actually took us across the Lower Russian Lake to our home for the evening, Barber Cabin.  Who would have thought Cara would get to water ski in Alaska after all?!  Finally, what posting would be complete without a picture of our newest member of the family?  Manny had a great time explore the

winter scape with his new buddy Riko, our friend Tony's dog.  They got along the entire trip aside from a vicious tussle they had over Cara's love.  Blood was shed, differences were sorted and everyone is fine after the fact but it could have been much worse!  Thankfully Cara was able to remove her ski and use it to forcefully separate the two scrappers.  Manny will hopefully think twice next time he attempts to express his dominance over a Doberman twice his size!  Anyway, here is a final picture of our little buddy taken from the middle of the lake on our way out from the cabin.


Thank you to everyone who sent Christmas cards, its great to hear how everyone is doing and be able to keep up with folks while we're away.  Merry Christmas to each of you, be sure to savor the time off with your family and sing praises to the One who's birth we celebrate!