Merry Christmas!

Thanks to all who contributed to our Christmas Joy this day. Here's a few photos.

Woke up to new snow and the twins out back.

Fluffy!

And shiny!

From earlier - Christmas tree shopping.

Annie and Tess adding the bling.

Carrie directing the board game action.

Power tools and beer.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Firsts

First view from the top

First run

First rest break

First slice

First Robert Redford haircut

Hopefully it snows so we can do it all again.

Huckleberries, Pizza, and Football

Just a short update with some photos, because I'm too tired to think about writing anything. School's back in session so all we do is run around: scouts, football practice, birthday parties, super skippers, football games, parent meetings, errands, trips to Lowes, and oh yeah we still go to work. Carrie and I are both ready for Thanksgiving break. Only 60 more days!

We made it up to Snowbowl for the closing day of the summer season. Annie's friend Tess came with us. We've pretty much adopted Tess. We picked a bunch of huckleberries and then went to the lodge for pizza. Jacob rode the new zip lines, which were really pretty cool but way to high for me.

We made it to our annual Griz football game, which was great. It was a night game - pretty rare here since the stadium just added lights last year.

And of course Jacob is playing football. He loves it. He starts offensive tackle but plays all the special teams and a whole lot of outside linebacker. He's a pretty good tackler, and his team is playing very well.

We'll let you know if anything important happens around here. Until then just wanted to share some photos. Take care!

Summer Fun

School begins Wednesday for Jacob (5th) and Annie (4th) and Carrie (teaching 4th). So I thought I'd post a quick update on the family, since, as my mom continues to remind me, I haven't done since ski season shut down back in April.

This summer was just like every summer before. We spent most of our time outdoors camping and fishing and playing in the water. The kids played with the neighbor kids, Carrie took them swimming and to the playground and down to the creek, and I went to work but came home early a lot to do things with the family. We did manage to get back to Abilene to see my family and Carrie's brother's family and all the cousins. The trip to Kansas was pretty dramatic (traumatic for Annie) as one night camping in Nebraska a major storm blew in and separated our tent from the Earth with Annie still in it.

But we survived all that. So here's a few shots of the Sweatland family in typical summer action:

This is about how it goes. We spend time splashing in the water,

And then play some games, like Rummikub or Bananagrams,

At some point everyone goofs off in my tent,

Jacob goes fishing,

And then we roast marshmallows.

With school starting we'll be busy again with football and scouts and school and everything else.  Hopefully I'll have some real exciting stuff to post on the old blog here. In the meantime, we always enjoy hearing from everyone else, so give us a call or drop an email to Carrie since I can't read.

Home Improvement 101

Over the summer I've been slowly working on our fireplace. This winter past we bought a gas insert that we really enjoy, but have wanted to replace the eyesore of full-wall-length red and blonde brick that surrounded our fireplace.

Earlier this summer I started demo on the wall. I broke the bricks by hand with a 3-inch brick chisel and hammer, leaving only the center portion of the brick wall. I recommend renting a concrete saw if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. Anyway, after removing the brick I did a ton of wall repair and then began to frame the new hearth.

Leaving the bricks around the fireplace allowed me to reuse them as a surround, rather than having to reframe and cement board the new fireplace. When it came time to lay the new stonework, the old bricks worked well to support the thinset and stone paneling.

It's a nice product we put up: real stone cut and mortared together in 6" x 24" panels. At 1" thick they cut like butter with a tile saw, but took some work to hold together. Here's a shot of the finished product:

Next up is a set of homemade bookends over the new sheetrock. I've got plans for surround sound and my TV is already wall-mounted and ready to fold into the bookshelves and out of sight for all those fancy dinner parties Carrie and I like to throw.

Anyway, always looking for a set of extra hands if anyone wants to come out and lend some support! Hope all is well. I'll post some family pictures shortly...

Snowbowl Closing Day

Jacob and his buddy Charlie and I headed up for the closing ceremonies at Snowbowl today. The mountain stayed open a week later than every other slope in the state because of all the snow here, so we thought we'd go up and enjoy the warm temps, sunshine, skiing, and food. A lot of people dress up on the last day. It's really a big party.

Old school Larry Bird made my day:

Bird in the background, only slightly upstaged by the dude sporting the awesome tiger head jacket on far left.

Jacob and Charlie, being dorks.

A giant Beaver.

 Party scene.

Peace. Till next year Snowbowl.

Quick Trip to Bend

Carrie and the kids are on spring break this week, so we drove west and spent a long weekend in Bend, Oregon, with aunt Annie. I did a horrible job taking photos, so there's not much to look at here, but believe me we had a lot of fun in Bend.

Jacob had the chance to high-stick some trout streams, without much luck. The water was high and fast and not easy to fish.

Annie was asking the big questions about life. No answers were forthcoming.

We went to a trout hatchery, just to drive Jacob nuts. This picture doesn't do the place justice. It was a huge fish farm and the trout were big and aggressive. They had fish food available - like little kibbles or whatever - for the kids to throw to the trout, and the water would erupt with fish everytime the food hit the water. It was quite a site.

Anyway, sorry not many pictures, not even one of the family. It was a quick weekend, book-ended by a 600 mile drive each way.