The Nate We Love

Check out www.TaylorSpraguePhotography.com to see a few photos of our brother-in-law Nate. As we previously posted, Nate is a very talented musician out in Los Angeles.

Though Nate has the artistic gaze and was voted hottest husband by Jessica Picard, our nieces and nephews know him as crazy Uncle Nate. The following pictures explain why :).

Snow

This picture shows two things:
1.) We have gotten record setting snowfall.
2.) we have an amazing grounds dept. here that has worked hard to
chisel out the walkways as is evident by the two foot high walls along
the paths.
Sent from my iPhone

What do YOU do on a Snow Day?

It's called Vingball, and yes that is a conference table with
yardsticks :)
Sent from my iPhone

Home Made!

Joanna made her first home made cheesecake! It's delicious!
Sent from my iPhone

Holy Snow Storm!!!

We are Loving This!
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Snow Covered

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Friday

Snow Falling & Picture Editing
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Date Night

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Introducing....

Nathan Picard. One of the most talented musicians we know. Nathan has been the leading force behind a couple bands over the last decade. Now, he is stepping out on his own. We are so excited! Now we believe that we will be able to see more clearly the honesty and depth behind his music. Check out his website. Disclaimer: Nathan may be our brother-in-law, but this review is unbiased.

New Kicks

It's been a few years, but I finally pulled the trigger and got a new
pair of shoes. I'm pretty sure multiple family members have given
money for new shoes for Christmas or a birthday for multiple years in
a row now, but their generosity never beget footwear. The day has come
and many thanks to those who gave :). What do you think?
Sent from my iPhone

They're Engaged!

(taken with an iPhone) Nate and Amy. Nate is one of the greatest guys I know. He asked Amy to marry him over Christmas break. She said yes and we went and took pictures yesterday to celebrate it. So excited for them!

Our Current View From the Kitchen

And in case you can't tell... there is beautiful snow falling!

A More Mature Birthday

Our good friend Missy had a birthday yesterday. It was just her 30th. So we had her over for some authentic Mexican food, gave her a gift, and then headed into the Burgh with Mr. Ryan Holt.

The Gift: A popcorn maker! She was quite elated as you can see.

The whole reason for going into Pittsburgh was to go to the Melting Pot. Joanna and I had been only once before and this was Missy and Ryan's first time. She declared it a more grown up birthday celebration and that cakes will no longer due.

Ryan, always one to take it up a notch, decided to try and "roast" the marshmallow over the burner. It worked. He said it better that way.

Mmmm... a much more mature birthday ;)

A New Gold Standard...

Today was our last day for our old Gold Card. Personally, I will miss the 10% it saved us whenever we visited our "third place". Well... a new year, a new gold standard :).

My "Office" Window Today

Colorado So Far...

We were blessed with a white Christmas!

Seriously...that's not even a postcard. That's just a quick picture out the passenger side window! We love Colorado.

The Armstrong side of our family surprised Joanna with an impromptu Birthday Dinner, complaining they never get to celebrate with her when it's her actual birthday. You may notice the "cake" is actually Starbucks Ice Cream.

This time of year around the Lorenzen house is always full of season inspired scents. Not the least of which is Laurie's infamous candied pecans!

We took a trip up to Copper Mountain with our friend Missy. This was Joanna's second time ever attempting to snowboard. She had not tried in six years and it may be another six till the next time :). But what a view!

The calories burnt off snowboarding were quickly put back on when we grabbed a bite at The Rio. All three of us were moving quite stiffly at this point (not to mention Missy got pink eye!).

Upon our arrival to the Lorenzen residence, Laurie shared the good news that a cat had adopted the house as his own. Joanna loves cats...I could do without them, so it's fun to have a temporary one while we're here. (For those who have known Joanna for a while, doesn't that cat look eerily similar to Joseph? We are assuming it's one of his many long lost illegitimate offspring :D)

A romantic evening Lorenzen style.... a warm fire and your mac.

Joanna and I, along with my sisters and her parents returned to the church we got married in for a Candle Lit Christmas Eve service.

Jon and Kari drove 17 hours with Irelynd and Haidyn and the two dogs and got here late Christmas Eve. We miss our other nephews and niece and their parents, but it has been great to have the San Diego Lorenzens here.

Christmas Day was split between The Armstrong side and the Lorenzens and I took most of the photos with the actual camera...those will come later. This is the only photo I took of Christmas day with the iPhone. It's quite Christmas-ie and she is quite beautiful.

This is Colorado So Far...

Nueva York

We headed up to New York State this past weekend to do our final wedding of the year. Sarah Taylor (now Lincoln) planned it on this date so she could specifically get pictures in the snow. So far it has been a pretty mild winter though and even when we woke up on Friday, there was no snow on the ground. But Sarah had been praying and the further north we got, the more snow was coming down. The ended up closing the interstates and we took side roads the whole way. It was beautiful! Big snowflakes coming down, everything covered in white! And the next day...the day of the wedding...it was completely sunny. There were a few adventures on our trip, but the wedding went great, and in the end we had a wonderful time together.

The Interstate

Jamestown, NY

At one point during the reception, we set our cameras down to get a little slow dance in. When we looked down, our cameras were getting a little friendly themselves :).

On Sunday, we took a little detour to go visit our friends the Kirkseys who live in Houghton, NY. It was freezing rain the whole way there which is just gross. But half of the way there we had our own personal escort. The cop kept us at about 35-40mph on the interstate and just stayed in front of us in the middle lane. We're kinda of a big deal you know.

Basketball Champ...Once Again!!!

I just want to brag on my wife a little...she's amazing for many reasons, but tonight she and her intramural basketball team took on a bunch of young rascals and took home the gold. I love watching Joanna play. She still goes after it and plays some mean ball. So Sweet!

Go Ducks!

Representing the Pac-10 out east today! The Ducks will face the Ohio
State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl.

Time in AZ