Sad, sad, Broncos

Erin and I went to see the Broncos v Texans game this past Thursday. We showed up in full Bronco regalia.... unfortunately the Broncos didn't bother to show up for the game.
This is the view from our seats. It seemed like there were lots of Broncos fans around.When we got home from the game we spent some quality time playing with the dogs.
It's been a little cooler outside this weekend. Battlecat likes to curl up in a ball when she's cold.

More Battlecat naptime
Kelsey really likes to cuddle....due to a 'shaving incident' I am currently beardless.

Preaching and Running

This weekend was pretty busy. On Saturday night Erin and I went to my company party.
We had a really good time and sat next to people from my team at work. Erin spent a lot of time talking to one of the newer members of my team from Tanzania - he had a lot of stories.... anyway - there was a raffle for prizes. Our number was called and I went to claim my prize. A guy at my table won a digital camera, someone else won an Ipod, and another person won a portable DVD player..... I got this:

A Juan Pablo Montoya diecast car..... I don't know what a Juan Pablo Montoya is.... I'm not sure if this post qualifies me for immediate dismissal from the state of Texas... but I'm just not into racing. Maybe someone can comment and tell me why I should be honored to have this thing sitting somewhere within my cubicle.

Anyway - the party was actually a lot of fun.

Sunday morning I preached from Matthew 3:1-12 which is the Gospel reading for the 2nd week of Advent. The sermon can be downloaded from http://www.kaleohouston.com/podcast or you can find it here directly:

http://www.kaleohouston.com/mp3/advent_12_09_07.mp3

Immediately after service ended I had to run home and get changed for the Jingle Bell Run - a 5 Mile run through downtown Houston to support the YMCA. As the race was sponsored by Chevron Deep Water, I got roped into running with some guys from my team at work. Lots of people ran in costume..... my main goal was survival..... I finished the race in 55 min and never stopped running so I feel good about that. Sometime after the 5 mile race started there was a 3 mile family walk.... and they shared the return leg of the course with the runners.... so for the 5 minute mile people I guess that wasn't a big deal... but with about 1.5 miles to go I ran into a large mass of families.... strollers.... dogs... and little kids which really crushed my momentum.... but I powered through. I'd like to get the time down a bit and keep running. I had a good time training for the race. I've never run longer than 1.5 miles before that....

Pre-race photo of The Salt Monkeys (that's a little depth-imaging geophysicist humor for ya): Errol, Tim, Fan, and me

The beginning of the race

Daniel helping his dad cool off after the race

Agony...but finished

Post race team photo

Anyway - that's all for now. I have a picture of Erin from the Christmas party looking gorgeous with her new haircut and pretty dress... but the colors get distorted when I put it in blogger..... strange.... Erin has 3 exams this week so she could use prayer for her sanity.

Turkey Day

Erin and I have had some visitors over the past couple of weekends. First, we had the Carpenter's. Chris and Martha are our favorite neighbors who moved to TN. They have two dogs and a very cute daughter named Abby G. The Carpenters were in town for the weekend and we had a good time hanging out with them. The dogs loved Abby G. Battlecat wanted to give her lots of kisses.

For Thanksgiving, my parents came to visit. On Thanksgiving we went to the Strom's house. Their 94 yr old neighbor made the turkey and it's clear that the last century has really honed her skills of turkey cooking... it was delicious.

As is our custom - we got up at the crack of dawn to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Erin and my Mom both wanted to be at JoAnn's when it opened. Being asked to help color coordinate fabric at 6 AM is one of life's great joys that only married men really get to enjoy.

We had a great time with my family. It was 80 deg or so before they got here, but as soon as they arrived, the temperature dropped to the 40's. It was beautiful.... although I think my parents were hoping to escape the cold weather. It was really nice to get to go on walks with my Dad and the dogs and to hang out with my Mom. My Mom helped me make a turkey on Sunday!

This past weekend Erin and I re-arranged our bedroom.... and a couple of weeks ago Erin and I re-arranged the living room and the rooms upstairs. It's like a brand new home..... except it's not. We also went to the Behold the Lamb of God concert with some folks from church. That was pretty amazing. I really like Andrew Peterson's music. This weekend is going to be pretty busy. Erin's got one more week of Family Medicine after this one, so she'll be studying. My company Christmas party is Saturday night, and Sunday morning I'm preaching. Sunday afternoon I'm running a 5 mile race with some people from work to benefit the downtown YMCA in Houston. 5 miles is the longest distance I've ever run in my life.... so here's hoping I'm still alive after the run.

Erin got a pretty significant haircut this weekend and she looks beautiful. This gal who cut her hair cuts the hair of basically everyone that attends our church so she came highly recommended and did a great job. We may post pictures in the near future (sometime before 2009). Until then I leave you with some pictures from my parent's visit.
Battlecat and Kelsey really liked laying on our futon upstairs and hanging out with my parents. (Battlecat is wearing her Broncos collar... but to no avail... the Broncos totally suck.)
Battlecat likes to find warm places to curl-up.... my Mom and Erin were spending some time reading on the couches in the living room so the dogs joined them.

Here's proof that my Mom, deep down inside, actually does like dogs.

And this is my Dad in his natural habitat... fixing a computer. He helped me get all the files off of Erin's old PC and transfer them onto our new(ish) one so we can donate the old one.