Merry Christmas!

Hey guys! Here is my best mustache ever! I would like to dedicate it to Dallas Stobbe for the new and exciting step he is making in life. You rock Dallas!

Sad to say, but it kind of feels right

To some of you this may sound weird, to others perhaps not. On November 24th, my gorgeous wife and I, and the family were celebrating American Thanksgiving up in Kalispel, Montana, where much of her extended family lives. Let me just say that they are amazing and I love them very much!
Her aunt Twyla and uncle Randy, live up in the mountains in a log house, and that's where we got to stay. Absolutely gorgeous.
So, let me explain the picture. While we were up there I had the privilege to go off-roading with Melissa's uncle Darryl (let me say that this man is an absolute hoot, and spending any time with him I consider good time). We went cruising through the mountains of north-western Montana, and it was very pretty scenery. We broke down once and did some walking, but I didn't mind. I loved the fresh air and time to stop thinking about the fast paced life.
We did get his International Scout working again, and later in the evening went driving which ended up in a crash and complete destruction of his 4x4 rig. I smacked my head on something, and got a spare tire in the back of the head. It may have left me slightly concussed, but not enough that I would add it to my tally. I was too coherent in my opinion. I guess I am still at ten.
The weird part about it, though I was in much pain for two days after, was that it reminded me what it felt like to be like back in the day, which felt kind of good in a reminiscing kind of way. Fortunately, my new dislike for pain over-rules neat little tinglies from the past and I have no intentions of going after it again.
All in all thanksgiving was great, Melissa's family is amazing, and I can't wait for next year!

Life continues to change

Recently I sat down and thought to myself, life has definitely changed. I once was a farm kid, who was always doing something dangerous or stupid, playing hockey, looking for thrills, and staying as far away from being responsible and organized as possible. I now consider myself one of those city folk (not necessarily on the inside), I haven't played hockey for two years, and I find myself enjoying things to be neat and tidy, perhaps slightly organized. Fortunately, my newest comrad in life, Jason (the senior high/college pastor @ our church) is a chip off the old Bible College block and we manage to revert to a lifestyle less approved by our better halves.
Before I go to far, this picture is of my jeep that I am building. My buddy Casey and I brought the tub home to my house so I could polish up the body. I do all the mechanics at his house and we are nearing the end.
Back to Jason. Here is a story. Jason and his wife recently had a little girl, their fourth child. We decided to celebrate by leaving work a little bit early and sit down and drench ourselves in incense with "holy pastor cigars." Unfortunately, on the way out of the building we were snagged to move some office stuff life books, stacks of papers, a fridge, water cooler, etc. by our boss. The new Phil of today would have just done it and moved on. Somehow the fridge and water cooler ended up in front of our boss's office blocking his exit route before we left. Don't ask me how it happened, it just did. We are also very fortunate that we have an amazing boss who likes a good prank and we are picking up on the fact that we may see some retaliation. All said and done, we got er done and then were fumed with "holy smoke" from "Jesus stogies."
That tall guy in the red is Jason. Amazing! It's wierd to think but since we work in the same office, it's kind of like being in Bible College all over again. I don't know if that is always a good thing. Well, not at least for getting work done.
To conclude this blog, here is a picture of my beautiful wife Melissa:

The Kneeboard

One of my our favorite things to do in spring/summer/fall is to go boating with our family. My brother-in-law David and I decided a year ago to take on kneeboarding and bring some excitement back to the "beginners" ride. We've done a whole bunch of tricks that I have never thought possible but do make for an exciting time. This last week we headed down to Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada, and had a blast. Melissa did some pretty sweet wakeboarding while we were there. She kneeboards too but prefers to laugh from the boat as David and I beat each other up with our new innovations on the kneeboards.

Utah...It's a great place to be. The ministry at Sout Mountain Community Church is going really well. Our junior high ministry, is healthy and growing. I only do junior high now. My wife, Melissa, is beautiful! Our home feels like home and she has made it that way. Skiing and snowboarding in the winter is awesome! Kneeboarding and wakeboarding in the summer is fantastic. My inlaws break all stereo-typical notions of what inlaws can be like. I admire my father-in-law, I love my mother-in-law, and my brother-in-law, David, is complete Bible College material (to me this means a quality friend). It's a great place.