Happy New Year!

Thursday night was a ton of fun, getting to see David and Kira was great and just picking up like no time had past was wonderful. We played a lot of Wii and man playing some of those games is a workout. Both mine and Nick's arms were sore a bit from boxing and Rayman's cow toss game and present delivery, the last two especially are a workout.

Friday we spent most of the day at David and Kira's before we came home and went to a Christmas party for my mom's dragon boat club. I got to play a fair amount of ping-pong and a couple rounds of pool while there.

Saturday was a blast. Uncle Paul and Sheryl came up for the day. First we all(Dad, Mom, Erin, Nick, Paul, Sheryl and I) went to my grandpa's to shoot clay pigeons and what was left over from the last shooting fest. I did really well shoot most of my pigeons this time. It was funny watching everyone who had not shot a 12gauge before shoot, especially my mom, who would take a step or two back after the recoil. After shooting the shotguns we moved on to the pistols, a .357 and a .22. We shot up the laptop, can of plums and generic spam, because they hadn't got shot up enough last time. When it was my turn at the .357 I got out a can of root beer I had been saving for my turn, shook it up real well and then shot it. Got a nice explosion out of it, not quite as nice as the 30-30, but close. After we had used up all the pistol ammo my dad got out the 12guage and put five rounds in and unloaded them on the can of spam and the laptop. That really wiped out the laptop and spam, it was so funny. Then everyone went upto the house, except my dad, Nick, grandpa and I, because they were all cold. Then we got the .22 rifle out and spent the rest of the .22 ammo on what was left of the two computers from last time. When that was done Nick and I split five rounds of 12gauge on the two to finish them off. It was soooooo fun and I got lots of pictures to post once I get back to school. For dinner Uncle Paul took all of us and my Grandparents out for dinner to a really good Chinese restaurant for dinner. Then we went home and visited for a bit while cleaning the guns.

Today has been pretty uneventful. Nick and I did some grocery shopping for mom and some other small errands, while her and Erin got the house ready for the New Year's Eve party we are hosting. We did do our final Christmas tradition today and that is to burn the Christmas tree. It went up in fifteen to twenty foot flames in about thirty seconds and was really hot, but lots of fun to watch.

Hope the coming new year is filled with wonder, surprises and adventures. Have a good day and give thanks to God for allowing us the pleasure of anpther year in his wonderful and amazing creation. God is good. ~Semper Fi

Yar there she blows

Tuesday was so much fun, even though it did rain so we couldn't shoot clay pigeons. Shoot the 30-30 was by far the most fun. I shot a unopened soda can and it completely exploded blowing the top off and making a nice four blade fan thing. I got lots of pictures of us shooting and before and after shots of the targets. The weather permitting we will go clay pigeon shooting on Saturday. We also watched Madea's Family Reunion and everyone liked it.

Wednesday was pretty uneventful. Nick and I went to my grandpa's and cut, split and loaded the Ranger with wood, so that was nice to get out and split and run a chainsaw again. Then ran some errands in town and got some more ammo for Saturday and went to lunch at Taco Bell, mmm good. Later, we watched Lady in the Water. It was pretty intense at times and overall a good movie.

Today Nick and I are going to my friend David's house for the night, haven't seen him and his wife in about a year. Going to have a gaming party, finally going to get to play the Wii. Its going to be fun. I think that is all for now. God bless. ~Semper Fi

Another Xmas Break Update

Wednesday
Sara B and I finished moving what was left of the wood, which took about thirty minutes. We had a good conversion the whole time. When we were done we got cleaned up and I took Sara B and Bethany out to lunch at Taco Bell, since I was craving it and they didn't have any other places they wanted to go. It was a nice lunch, food was good, company was good and the talking was good. One of the sauce packets had "Will you marry me?" on it for those random sayings and I told Sara B be that would have been great to use for how she got proposed to. She was playing a mischievous joke on her friends from ACU. After lunch we played Sequence and talked some more and then I showed them some pictures till Rebecca got home. She had gotten me my Christmas present, a nice light blue checker button up shirt and a gray t-shirt. Then we got ready to go out to dinner for Rebecca's birthday. I wore my new shirt and all the girls liked it, especially Sara B. We went to Western Sizziler(?), a buffet kind of place. The food was good and so was the fellowship. When we got back to the house we watched RV, its a pretty funny movie with a good moral. During the movie Bethany was trying to find out how soon she would be able to get home, since Denver had just gotten nailed with a blizzard that dropped two feet of snow and shut the airport down. She was supposed to go home on Thursday. She finally got a ticket to go home on Sunday. After Bethany wanted to watch another movie, since she missed most of RV, so we did. We watched Akileela and the Bee, doubt that's spelled right, it was a good movie and it was nice just watching it with Sara B and Bethany. Then we went to bed after a good day.

Thursday
In the morning Mandy made crapes for breakfast before she had to leave for the airport. Rebecca, Bethany and Sara B were taking Mandy to the airport and then going shopping. While they were gone Veasna and I took a old couch and mattress set to the thrift store. After that I started to clean up the weight room. I got a lot of it cleaned up and vacuumed. When Sara B and Bethany got back we watched several of Sara B's family home videos. We got some good laughs out them and it was neat to see Sara B's biological mom, she died of cancer when Sara B was quite young. Seeing them all young was pretty funny/neat to see how much or little they have changed. Then we had dinner with a family they watch the little girl once in a while and have helped out in the past. After they had gone Ray, Bethany, Sara B and I played dominoes for awhile. After that we went up to the barn to play ping-pong, but decided we needed to move the table to the weight room so we could have enough space to play and not have to chase/find the balls when we missed. It was a bit of a challenge getting the table from the barn to the driveway so we could roll it, because it was dark out and I had to walk backwards carrying one end while Sara B and Bethany had the other end. After we got it moved and setup in the weight room we played for a quite a bit and then Bethany went to talk to her parents so Sara B and I continued to play. We had a good time playing and laughing and talking. We ended up playing ping-pong for about two hours. It was a good last day till I get back from break.

Friday
Early in the morning, four am early, Sara B and Bethany took me to the airport. We said our good byes and then I headed into the airport. The only exciting thing, besides getting home, to happen during my trip home was in Cincinnati. While there the fire alarm went off and a funny message played over the loudspeaker till someone got on and said to ignore it as it was just a test and I found Sara B a nice present.

Saturday
In the morning I went with my mom and sister to my mom's rowing group. We rowed in a dragon boat. It was a lot of fun rowing around in Oak Harbor bay and trying to stay in time with a lead. I did pretty good for my first time and will probably do it again next Saturday. Later I went with my dad and brother into town to pick up some ammo for the .357 and .22. After the store we went to my Grandpa's to get some wood. It was nice getting to split some wood once again. I could tell I hadn't used those specific muscles in awhile. Later that night we went over to the Beaches and played Joker and talked and ate for quite awhile.

Sunday
Went to church in the morning and then to the store and Dairy Queen for lunch. Got home and watched the Seahawks throw another game away they should have won. For dinner the Grandparents came over. We had our Christmas dinner with duck, mashed potatoes, corn caserole, roles and salad, mmmmm was it tasty. After dinner we played boggle for a bit and then watched Nacho Libre, a very funny movie.

Monday
Had french toast for breakfast along with sausage and fruit. After breakfast we opened our presents. I got a new book by John Eldridge and two button up shirts. We will be doing some more shopping later. After present time was over the whole family, even mom, went paint balling in the yard for about three hours. I was the only on not to get shot the whole time. Man it was so much fun, I had forgotten how fun it was. Then we did some yard cleanup and moved and fixed part of our electric fence. When that was done my dad, brother and I went rat hunting in the horse barn, I was looking forward to it, but there was only one small rat to be found and he set the trap off and got out side before I could shoot him with .22 pistol. Its been a good Christmas. Tomorrow we are going to my grandparents and shoot clay pigeons and a bunch of other junk. We are taking our shotguns, .375, .22 and the 30-30 lever action, which I haven't gotten to shoot yet :( Oh man is it going to be fun. I will have some good pictures to post of our paintball outfits and the shooting carnage.

That is all for now. God bless. ~Semper Fi

Moving lumber

Today Sara B and I moved a bunch of wood that is being replaced on one of the outside gazebo things. I cut the wood into about four foot chunks while Sara B moved them to the burn pile, which took about forty five minutes. Next we started moving the new wood down from up by the barn which is treated wood and a bit damp from the weather, so it was quite a bit heavier then the dried and slightly rotten cedar wood. We moved wood for about forty five minutes and by then our forearms were dieing, so we stopped. We had some good chatting time while we moved the wood, I enjoyed it immensely, and it was just an very enjoyable time. That is all. Goodnight. ~Semper Fi

Break post

Break is going really well at the moment. Sara B and Bethany got in Friday night and something surprising happened, Allan stopped by the house for a bit. It was good to see him and get to chat with him before he left for break since I haven't seen him in months. Saturday was graduation and it was pretty short. We had a party for all the grads at the house. Courtni's, Sarah's, Ryan's and Veasna's families all came into town. Courtni's sisters, Sarah's family and Ryan's dad all stayed at the house, so it was a little crazy. I don't remember what day it was, probably Thursday, but I hung out with Ryan and his mom for a good part of the day and she took us out to lunch at Sonic and then Ryan gave us a tour of the chiropractor's office he interned at this past semester. Anyway back to Saturday. Veasna and her mom cooked most of the food, which was outstanding of course. We had about forty five people, most of them where family to the five graduates we had from our house this semester. Dana, Nate and Ryan all left at some point on Saturday. The apartment was a little depressing to go in to after Ryan and Nate had moved all there stuff out, but it is all cleaned up now and is the cleanest it has been since I moved in. Sunday I went to church with Sara B and Bethany. I wore my new button up shirt, which looks like a cowboy's shirt and Sara B really liked it. Caleb and Lindsay came to lunch and it was nice to get to see and visit with them. For dinner the Montgomery's church was having a soup fellowship, so I went with them to that. After that we all, the Montgomerys, Cole, Bethany and I, went to go look at the lights on campus and at Berry Hill Park. The lights at Harding where really neat. Monday was a good day. I spent most of the afternoon cleaning up the apartment, while Sara B and Bethany where out with Rebecca, so it is nice and clean now. Monday night was really nice. After dinner Sara B and I made almond bars, mostly Sara B as I was supervising. Sara B put the whole stick of butter into the mixer while it was going so a whole bunch of flour flew out and she freak out a little bit, it gave Bethany and I a good laugh. Earlier that day Sara B dumped half a dozen eggs on the floor and was having trouble getting pizza in her mouth and then she got a piece of carrot in her nose, so Bethany and I had a good time giving Sara B hard time. After the flour mishap everything went fine in till I put the bars in the oven before putting the glaze on them and realized my mistake when we got done making the glaze and was thinking this is going to cook to long, then I was like duh, put he glaze on first. Anyway they still came out great. Then Sara B and Bethany got cinnamon roll dough started in the bread machine. After that Sara B, Bethany and I watched Madea's Family Reunion. We all sat on one couch with Sara B in the middle, it was really nice. After that Sara B and Bethany finished the cinnamon rolls and while they were cooking we watched the home videos from Florida and our camping trip to Heber Springs, it was pretty funny. It was just a really good night. God is good. ~Semper Fi

Done with the semester

Today I am officially done with this semester, yay. Sunday night we had our software showcase for softdev. The showcase is a chance for the public to come and see what we have been working on all semester and the winner of the AI tournament is announced along with the overall winning team. My team won the AI tournament, but didn't win over all, so I was a little bummed. The team that won deserved it though. I really would like this week to get over a bit faster though, because that means Sara B will be home :) I have been work on a walking stick for Ray since he likes them and it should be pretty neat once I get it done. I also should finally have Erin's book case finished now that I have plenty of time to work on it. I the war with my false self has been intensify lately so please keep me in your prayers. ~Semper Fi

Checking in

Quite a bit has happened school wise since my last post. Wednesday after break our Softdev projects were due. It was existing to have the teacher install then play a game. The team I was apart of installed first since we were the only ones ready at the time. We did have a successful install and the teacher played a successful network game as well. Not much else happened the rest of the week that I can remember. I did talk to Sara B that Monday during half time of the Seattle game. It was a little strange because everything was back to normal here at he house, so it seemed as if break didn't even happen, Sara B felt the same. This week on Wednesday I had my computer science comprehensive exam at 7am, ugh. It wasn't very hard and I only had trouble with a few questions, but the test is only 5% of the grade in the class so its not the big of a deal. I think it is more for the teachers anyway. Then later the same day I had a calculus test, which I think went well. Last Sunday Seattle played the Broncos and won! It was a really good game. I also talked to Sara B for a bit on Monday and will probably talk to her tonight. I think that is all the interesting stuff the has happened since my last post. ~Semper Fi