It's SNOWING!!!

We went to church this morning and when we walked out, it was snowing! By the time we got home, this is what it looked like at our house. It's slowed down a bit, but it is still snowing.

Thankfully, it's Sunday and we've already done our grocery shopping for the week. We're going to sit inside, watch football, and enjoy the snow from the warmth and comfort of our home.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Tree makes the news

You'll find us and our tree on the KING 5 TV Web site if you know where to look.

Tree lighting ceremony

Tadaaaaaa!

This year's Christmas tree

After months of questioning and debating whether we were going to get another monster of a tree again this year, we finally made up our minds.

Here we are hunting for the perfect tree. The sun was out and there was no snow on the ground. We couldn't have asked for better weather.


After closely scrutinizing every tree in half the forest, we settled on this one. Unlike last year, we didn't get that chorus-of-angels-singing effect when we saw it.


We bought the 12- to 20-foot tree permit. Notice it's longer than our truck. That's a big tree - 22 feet long to be exact. I snipped off the top and it was 20 feet.

Here it is loaded up in the bed of the truck... hanging WAY out.


While this tree is probably one of the tallest ones we've brought home, it was quite a bit easier to set up than some of the others. I don't know if it's because we're becoming pros at it or because this one was lighter than the others. Probably a combination of the two.


I'll get some more pictures posted when we get it decorated with lights. We were too tired to put lights on it today after driving out to the forest, hunting, cutting and raising the tree.

My gift to you this holiday season

A couple Fridays ago I was at my desk reading something when this word popped, literally POPPED, into my head. I stopped what I was doing and turned around and said to Dave (my office mate), "Dave, what do you think of this word?" And then I walked over to the white board and wrote it down for him to read - wowch.

Dave read it aloud and annunciated it properly. He thought for a moment about it and then said he liked it. However, it wasn't a very enthusiastic response. I quickly explained to him that it was a wow+ouch=wowch equation, thinking he'd be more excited if I explained it to him clearly. I explained that it's for those situations that are mind bottling - brilliant and painful at the same time. Frankly, I was quite proud of myself for thinking of it and thought it deserved a better reaction from him.

I guess he had to think about it for a while before realizing just how valuable of a word combination it was. He sent me an e-mail later in the day showcasing his proper use of the expression. It was the perfect WOWCH situation.

Here is the e-mail chain for your enjoyment. I've deleted real names and sensitive information to protect the innocent.

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From: Captain Kirk
To: Chesland, Daved

XXXX and XXXX are now in disagreement on the train station schedules. This means XXXX will not give us permission to stop the trains at XXXX. I thought this had all been worked out a long time ago but I was wrong. If the schedule issue is resolved this week, we are good to go. But the firm, guaranteed, no questions asked , no risk whatsoever station opening date is now up in the air again. This railroad work is never easy and always unpredictable.

Captain Kirk

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From: Chesland, Daved
To: Terpster, Dustan; Holster, Jams

Wowch! We built a train station, but trains aren't allowed to stop at it.

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From: Terpster, Dustan
To: Chesland, Daved

Nicely played. Definitely deserves a wowch.

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From: Chesland, Daved
To: Terpster, Dustan

Perfect Wowch. I've been looking for that word my whole life.

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My gift to you this holiday season is a new word - WOWCH! Be safe and use it responsibly.

The right to life, marriage and religious freedom

Hi friends and family,
This isn't your usual Terp blog post. I think you'll find it a little more serious than what you're used to, a little more lengthy, and lacking of pictures. I hope that won't deter you from reading further. I think many of you share the same faith and convictions as us and will find the paragraphs below powerful and compelling.

How this blog post came about
My boss asked me to fill in for her this week while she was on vacation. I spent the week working in Shoreline (just north of Seattle) at our region headquarters office. Rather than commute between Bellingham and Shoreline every day, I house sat for my boss, which was a 10-minute commute instead of 90 minutes. Since I was on my own in the evenings, I got together with friends in Bellevue to hang out. Now, normally you wouldn't catch me listening to talk radio in the car, but that's exactly what I was doing Monday night in the car after having spent the evening with friends. I'm thinking it was a God thing because of what the program was about. I ended up listening to a 30-minute segment of Focus on the Family by James Dobson. At the end of the show I was left feeling convicted and compelled. It was about the state of our society and what Christians can do to make a difference.

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From their news release
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 20, 2009 — Today a group of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars released the Manhattan Declaration, which addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty. The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not—under any circumstance—abandon their Christian consciences. Drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 150 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders.

“We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.”

“We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral.”

“…We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”

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I highly recommend you take the time to read the seven-page declaration,

http://manhattandeclaration.org

and, if you feel so compelled, sign the declaration.

Did you know
As the current administration's health care package stands, we will all pay taxes that will directly fund and support abortion clinics. This is extremely alarming.

Listen to the Focus on the Family podcast - It's titled "A Manifesto for Righteousness" and was broadcast on 11/23/2009. You won't regret it.

Our new floors

For the last month our lives have been completely consumed with wood floors. We tore out all our existing flooring downstairs and replaced it with 700 square feet of 3/4-inch thick, 5-inch wide, tongue-and-groove, unfinished Brazilian Cherry wood. After weeks of discombobulation, I'm happy to report that things are starting to get back to normal around our house. Oh, and the floors look pretty great too.

Let the tear our process begin.

Bringing the wood in to "acclimate" to the humidity of the house.

Tearing out all the old and nasty carpet. We've wanted to do this since we first moved in. It felt really good to rip it out.

Abby helped pick up all the little staples that were left behind when we tore out the carpet.

Here's the staple I stepped on. I got a little blood on the floor. My foot was sore for a week.

Tearing out the Oak wood floors in the kitchen/dining room.

All the carpet and wood floors torn out.

The first rows of Brazilian Cherry go down.

All the Brazilian Cherry is installed but doesn't have the finish on it.

Now the finish has been put on.

I think the worst part about this whole process was having to park the cars outside for two weeks. That was rough. I suppose it's a small price to pay for such wonderful new floors. The floors look even better with all our furniture moved back in.

Harvest Party 2009

Sticking with tradition, Taylor and Mindy Swedberg graciously opened their home and hosted this year's Harvest Party. For the last several years we've gathered at a local farm to take hay rides, sling apples, drink cider, pet animals and pick pumpkins. We decided to skip that part this year and just meet up at the Swedbergs with our pumpkins already in hand. Mindy made a fine stew/chili/soup and we enjoyed the evening hanging out eating and carving pumpkins.

Here's how our pumpkins turned out this year. Do you have any guesses what ours are?


Everyone carving their pumpkins.


It was too cold and windy to take a group picture outside.


This is a scary picture of Peter. I think, (repeat) I THINK, he's making the face of his pumpkin. One can never be sure, especially because Anne Marie and I have our backs to him. Scary!


Our pumpkins. Mine is the one in the middle on the bottom. It's supposed to be a person in jail.

Quick jaunt to Indiana

Abby and I recently flew out to Indiana to visit family and see my cousin get married. It's been about 20 years since I'd last been back there - that's what I think my Dad and I figured out anyway. We had a great time spending time with my Mom's side of the family.

Here are my sister (Chandra) and her husband (Garrett) and my parents at the church before the wedding.


Here we are outside the church after the ceremony.


This is my Aunt and Uncle - Vianne and Sheldon - the parents of the groom. They were gracious enough to open up their home to us while we were there. They were rockstars too. They stayed up late chatting and got up early to make sure all of our needs were taken care of - all during the weekend of their son's big day too. My cousin Shelly even gave up her bed for us - what a nice cousin.


Sheldon is my Mom's brother. See the resemblance?


Here's the pretty couple dancing at the reception - Nathan and Annette.


The day after the wedding, my Dad, Garrett and I went flying in Barry's plane. (Barry is married to Vianne's sister - my mom's brother's wife's sister. No direct blood relation to me. Clear as mud, right?)


Garrett and I took up the back seat. There wasn't a bad seat in the house (I mean plane). Poor Garrett had to watch me up-chuck in the back seat. Twice I've been up in a small plane and twice I've tossed my cookies. As appealing as going for a fun ride in a small plane sounds to me, I think I'm going to pass the next time I have an opportunity. I really want to like it. I don't get sick on big planes, boats or in cars. It's weird that I get sick in the little planes. Oh, and I had a really BIG lunch too. Filled that gallon-sized ziploc bag pretty full. I decided that sleeping was my best option after that, and slept the last hour of the flight.


The view from the plane. As you can see, Indiana is FLAT FLAT FLAT.


It was fun to be back, even though it was for a short period of time. A big thank you to all the family who helped make our visit so much fun.

Dislike the wind and here's why

I needed a forum to express my displeasure with the wind. What better way to reach an audience than through my blog. Seriously, I'm totally fed up with the wind. I've said numerous times today and I'll say it again, "I hate the wind."

You're probably asking yourself, why does Dustin hate the wind so much. For many reasons, really. Right now, though, I hate it because I was hit by an errant shopping cart speeding through the Fred Meyer parking lot tonight.

It was howling wind and spitting rain outside, so I pulled up to the curb to let Abby out of the car so she'd be that much closer to the door. (What any nice husband would do for their amazing wife.) I then proceeded to find a parking spot, when all of a sudden I noticed out of the corner of my eye a shopping cart speeding across the lot straight for me. I had two options: Stop and let it nail me; or gun it and swerve. It was a going to leave a mark no matter what, so I gunned it and tried to avoid it. WHAMMO!!! I was hit. UGH!

Thanks to the wind we have a dent in the car! Way to go wind. You've ruined my car and my night. Boo.

(I would have attached a picture, but it's too nasty and dark outside to snap one. Maybe later.)

Go HAWKS!!!

Wow, what a blowout! I would have never guessed that the Seahawks would win so convincingly over the Jacksonville Jaquars. Not after having lost their last two games. I fully expected them to lose again. Instead, we spent the whole game jumping up and down, hooting and hollering because they scored so many times. We whalloped them 41-0. INCREDIBLE! Mind bottling, really.

Here we are all decked out in our Hawks gear walking to the Stadium.
Left to right: Corey, Taylor, Mindy, Holly and me.


Me, Abby and Corey.


In our nose bleed seats before the game started.
Left to right: Abby, Me, Taylor, Mindy, Holly and Corey




It's always so much fun going to the games. There's nothing like cheering for the team with 60,000 other fans. When the Hawks are on defense, you have to be ready to work. The whole stadium stands up and screams as loud as they can. We lead the league in creating false starts with our noise. Then, when the offense is on the field, you sit down and relax.

I don't think we've been to a game yet when they've lost. We've had some amazing luck picking games over the years.

Tromping through a corn maze

Abby and I went and visited our friends Ryan and Michelle on Saturday. Since it was so nice out, we decided to go visit Bob's corn maze. It turned out to be a bit more challenging than we expected. In fact, if Ryan hadn't snuck a map of the maze in with him, I'm not sure we would have found our way out. It was easily the most difficult corn maze I've been in.



Ryan and Michelle enjoying the corn maze and each other's company.


Ryan strutting his stuff through the maze. : )


A corny picture of me.


A corny picture of Abby.


Abby and Michelle enjoying some pumpkin flavored ice cream.


Can you believe that it is fall already? It's just crazy. Soon we'll be ringing in the year 2010. That's mind bottling.

Did it again: I'm 2 for 2

It doesn't matter what else happens today, today is a good day! You know why? I've had success again. I caught a second mole trespassing in my yard.

I woke up last weekend and noticed a single mole hole in the back of my yard. It was barely visible, but I spotted it. I prompty dusted off the trap and set it in the yard. I checked the trap repeatedly the first few days to see if I'd caught anything. I started to lose heart after a few days when nothing showed up in the trap. I went outside this morning to set up the sprinkler and noticed a new mole hole. I thought, "Ugh, stupid moles!" The hole was on the other side of the yard from the trap too. I figured I better check the trap just in case. Much to my surprise, the trap had a mole in it. SWEET!

I was pretty sure I'd got my money's worth with the trap by catching the first mole. Now I'm positive I've got way more than my money's worth with the second catch. Maybe I should start my own mole-trapping business.

I hope the rest of you have an uber-amazing day too!

Hiking to the Oyster Dome

We went for a hike on Saturday with our friends Daniel and Hollie. We drove to Blanchard Mountain and then hiked several miles north across the face of the "mountain" to the Bat Caves and Oyster Dome.


Here we're standing at the Bat Caves and the base of the Oyster Dome. This area is called the Bat Caves because extremely large rocks have fallen off the large wall behind us and piled up. The piled rocks have created "caves" that you can crawl through. We didn't crawl through any on this journey.


Ah, the view from the top of the Oyster Dome: It's breathtaking. It's, I think, about 500 feet above the bat caves. The trail to this point is basically 5oo feet straight up - pretty rough. The view is worth it, though. You can see a lot of the San Juan Islands.



Apparently, Hollie isn't afraid of heights. Personally, I couldn't get that close to the edge. Abby took the picture, so she must not be all that scared either.


Here are the four us posing at the top of the Oyster Dome, relishing the fact that we made it to the top and dreading the climb down.


After the hike we went to Saturday night church and then capped the evening off with a visit to Coconut Kenny's for great Hawaiin BBQ food.