Oh the weather outside is.....

     Well it took getting on a plane, flying to southwest oregon, renting a car and driving over the Crater Lake pass, but I finally found where they were hiding all of the snow!  We have had a very abnormal winter in our neck of the woods, every time it has snowed it's immediately followed with temperatures in the mid to high 30's which just melts all the snow leaving us in a constant state of wet, slushy, frozen conditions.  The one thing I've figured out this winter so far is that the colder temperatures are always a little more acceptable when there's some snow on the ground for you to go out and frolic in!  

     Besides preventing us from enjoying the joys of winter like sledding and snow angels, the severe lacke of snow is beginning to be a major concern for the area farmers as no one seems to be able to predict how their crops are going to do with no moisture in the ground.  Even though I found some snow in the higher elevations of southern Oregon, the experts will tell you there is no where near the amount that there needs to be.

     I never used to pay so much attention to our water needs before I was in the crop insurance business, now I seem to spend more time reading weather related articles then I do Golf Digest!  Some would say that's just what happens when you get older but given my admission to desires of making snow angels I don't think that's the case for me:). 

     So all we can do is continue to pray for snow as it is needed in many areas throughout the country, and know that with an awesome God who can create such a beautiful place as this in control one way or another he will provide!  Don't be fooled by this picture, that's not a lake, it's an eerie layer of fog that I was about to drive into!  Kind of cool:)

Remember, the next time it snows go make a snow angel, we're NEVER too old to have fun in the snow!:)

Right here, right now!

     Well here we are having successfully survived yet another holiday season.  It's been a while since my last post simply because I had to take a couple days off last week to let my waist line lower back down to a movable status!  I swear each year about the second week of December I tell myself that I'm not going to eat so much over the holidays, then by about the 24th I convince myself that I'm not doing too bad when in reality I've already gone overboard, and finally sometime shortly after each Christmas I just completely give up and vow to try harder next year!  Sound familiar?  My biggest crutch is the majority of the teeth in my head are of the sweet variety, I could literally eat an entire days worth of meals consisting of nothing more than holiday pie!  Luckily for me though I am no different than every other American in the country and I get the glorious opportunity to start with a clean slate every 365 days!
     
     I don't know why we feel like January 1st is any different than any other day, yet somehow this day carries the mystical power to give us all the feeling of hope.  So naturally as the clock neared midnight on the 31st last week Kelli and I had made it up to see the new year for the first time in a few years so we took the chance to share our hopes and aspirations for the upcoming year with each other.  Every year most of us make resolutions that are next to impossible to achieve, you know what I'm talking about, the ones that don't usually make it to the very next 1 on the calender!  So this year Kelli and I did things a little different and made resolutions that in our heads were going to be a little easier to keep.  We both talked about improving in certain areas of our lives but our resolutions could easily be summed up in one sentence.  The only person you have to be better than is the person you were yesterday.  I know I've used this quote on here before but I truly feel like it is about the best one I've ever came across!  Too many of us, me included, get caught up in whats going to happen and we tend to not pay enough attention to what has already happened or what is happening.  I'm not saying it's not a good idea to set goals or make plans, what I'm saying is once those plans for the family vacation are made, or once you've laid out your goals for career development, put a little more focus into whats going on in the now.  Trust me I know it's going to be difficult, after last weeks collapse by my beloved Cowboys that ended our season early I have struggled every single day to not tell anyone who will listen about how things will be different next season!  So this year I encourage you all to spend a little more time simply trying to be better than you were one day ago.  This is something that a recovering addict like myself has to focus on in order to stay healthy, taking things one day at a time, but I feel like even those who aren't struggling with addiction could become better people from it.  Give it a shot and see how your life changes:)

Remember, just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day!

Merry Christmas!

     Tis the season to be jolly!  For many of us Christamas is the favorite time of year and I am no exception, I love it!  It is the perfect time of year to get together with those we love and spend some quality time with them.  Maybe part of the reason I love it so much is becasue I usually get two Christmases!  This past weekend my brother Curt and his family were in town for an early Christmas as they are going to be in Butte the rest of this week.  It was great to see them all as we havent all got together in quite a while.  We hung out downtown most of the day Saturday doing some shopping and soaking up the Christmas spirit that the mall had to offer.  Then on Sunday we went over to mom and dad's for a big meal and gifts!  Everyone got really good gifts and even though I think my Dallas Cowboys stocking hat and coaster set was the best gift, Jaxson was the one who was most excited about his Thomas the train pajamas!  I will not soon forget the look on his face as he opened the box and imediately started saying, "train, train, train!"

     Of course once we had them opened we had to model them for everyone!  This is truly what the season is all about, seeing the joy on little kid's faces as they open up a carefully wrapped package with no idea what is inside but overwhelmed with the joy that they got a gift all to themselves, I never tire of watching this.  It makes me remember the true reason for the season which is celebrating the birth of Jesus and spreading peace and good will torwards others.  Doing kind things for others is something I believe is not done nearly enough in this world, I know I need to get better at it, and watching my niece's and nephew's open up their gifts reminds me of the joy something as simple as a pair of pj's can give a child!  I believe we can all learn something from that!  

     Tatum and Matt tearing into gifts!

    Aunt Kelli with her hands full:)

Remember, joy to the world, The Lord has come, let earth receive her king!  Don't let the real reason for the season be forgotten!  Merry Christmas to you all!

What a week!

     Man oh man what a whirlwind week I had!  It all started with my beloved Dallas Cowboys crumbling in the second half of their game against Green bay and giving away a win that I still can't talk about a week later!  What happened Sunday afternoon is simply inexcusable as a team and embarrassing as a fan, but even after such a horrible loss we still have a chance to make the playoffs!  Oh and as my lovely wife reminds me, there is more to life than Cowboys football:)  The silver lining to my teams collapse was the fact that we had our good friends the Ralstons staying with us for the night on their way over to MT for the holidays.  We had a great time with them, as we always do, and it was capped off my them giving me a mini Cowboys helmet!  It's a pretty cool gift that will surely be sitting right next to my little orange Cowboys fan every single game, and yes I checked to see if it would fit her and it's a hare too small:)

     Monday was spent cooling down from the football game, then packing for a work trip to Klamath Falls, OR.  Dad and I were scheduled to fly down there to work some claims but we knew we were in for a long day when our flight leaving Spokane was delayed an hour.  Any time two Gannon's are on a flight together you expect a certain amount of GL (Gannon Luck) to happen, but even we weren't prepared for what happened this day.  We made it to Portland just fine, an hour behind schedule, but no big deal because our connecting plane into Medford was the same aircraft.  So we went in and got a coffee and loaded right back on the plane.  I was seated in the very last row and in front of me were three flight attendants all dead heading into Medford for a break.  The flight attendant working our flight was in constant communication with these three, leaving me stuck in the middle to eavesdrop everything.  Normally I would have buried myself in a book but all they were talking about was the poor weather conditions in Medford and the chances of us even landing!  Turns out the fog was so bad that a plane coming from Seattle had already turned around and now these four ladies were talking like we had no chance to land either.  This was not really a big deal for me cause we could always come back later for the claims if necessary.  The scary part came when the captain came across the intercom and told us about the fog and that he was going to give it a try anyway.  He began his decent and just as I could start to make out tree tops and cars on the roads he powered back up and pulled back up in the air!  It was probably the eeriest feeling I've ever had being what looked to be a few hundred feet from the ground, then going back up!  We headed back to Portland, where Dad and I made some frantic changes to our schedule and got on a plane back to Spokane and cancelled the rest of our work trip.  I knew we had made the right decision when I spotted this on the plane while we were boarding.

     So because my work trip got cut short I was privileged enough to sit in the dentist chair for 2 1/2 hours and get two of my teeth prepped for crowns!  I chipped a tooth a few weeks ago and needed one crown anyway and they found a good sized cavity on the tooth in front of it so they decided to prep it for a crown also in case I decide to do a bridge.  Anyway, it was not exactly how I had planned on spending my Wednesday afternoon but hey, things could have been worse!  Luckily after the dentist chair I got a day to catch up on some work from home and my week came to a close in a good way, by Curt and his family coming over to visit for the weekend!  I went out and met them all in the valley yesterday and Jen and the kids shopped in the mall while Curt, Dad, and I hit balls at the simulator in Dick's Sporting Goods.  It was pretty cool, we had all three Gannon boys there and we got to show the pro at Dick's three VERY different golf swings that all have similar results!  The pro found himself in a lack of words when our loopy non-traditional swings produced favorable results on the simulator:)  It was a perfect way to end an eventful week!

Remember, sometimes a plan is made just to be broken up and remind us to slow down and enjoy life a bit!:)

What a day!

     Who knew two people could have so much fun in just 24 hours!?  This past weekend as you could tell from my previous post we were in Portland.  It was a relatively short stay but man did we fill it with fun!  We started our day by heading down to Voodoo Doughnuts in old town for some of the best doughnuts I have ever had, and I consider myself quite the connoisseur of sweets!  We then headed over to Ikea and made our way through the maze to find the platform bed frame we were looking for, along with a few other "necessities".  Next we went to the Oregon State Zoo where we pretty much had the place to ourselves because of the 19 degree temperatures!  Although it was extremely chilly, we still saw all of the animals except the lions, tigers, and bears.  Most of the animals were indoors from the cold but they had indoor viewing still so we got to see almost everything that we wanted to.  I think both of our favorites though was probably this baby elephant and his family.

     This little guy is only a few months old and the big ones you see with him are his mom on the left and his "auntie" on the right.  I guess when elephants are born their mom gets help form another female who is adopted into the family and considered the aunt, together they take turns protecting the little one its entire life.  It was pretty special to sit here and watch these magnificent creatures for a while!  We enjoyed every second of the zoo while we were there, then at the advice of my cousin Amber, we went down to a section of downtown that was full of little shops and restaurants all decorated up for the holiday.  We walked up and down the street hitting up all of the little shops and a couple big ones, like a two story Pottery Barn that I had trouble getting Kelli out of!  It was fun to walk around these stores with her and watch her design mind at work!  We then had an amazing dinner at one of the restaurants before heading back towards the house we had rented.  We capped off our day of fun by going to the Kennedy elementary school, sounds exciting right?  This is a school that was shut down in 1975 because it was too dilapidated to continue using and a local family bought the school and completely transformed it into a fun center!  Inside the school there are 6 pubs that each serve food, a restaurant, two event centers, a 100 degree salt water soaking pool, and a movie theatre!  We sat in the soaking pool for about an hour then got out and went to a movie where admission was $3, the popcorn was an affordable $4, and it's in the old auditorium where they've replaced all the original seating with love seats, couches and lounge chairs!  It was an amazing experience that we will definitely do again when we go back to Portland!

     Our busy yet fun day was finished off by relaxing in the quaint little rental house we had found, reminiscing about all of the fun we had.  Even though it was only a couple days it truly was one of the best vacations we've ever had!  There is so much fun stuff to do in that city that I feel like we could go back 10 times and still not even break the surface of all that we'd want to do!  It truly was on we will remember for some time!

Remember, everyday can be fun if you just open up and let it happen!:)

Another year!

     This weekend is kind of a big one for me as it got started on friday by me chalking up another year of sobriety!  It's been 11 years now since that fateful day North of Conrad when my life was changed for ever!  Almost every day has brought with it some challenges but thanks to an amazing support team another years worth of those days has come and gone.  Any recovering addict will tell you though that this is not a game that is winnable, we all only hope to make it to another day, one at a time!  So this day, I am writing this from a tiny little house that Kelli and I rented for the weekend in Portland, OR.  We'd never been here befroe and it is only 6 hours from Spokane so we decided to take a little mini vacation to celebrate my 11 years.  We got here yesterday and imediately went straight downtown to walk around and shop then try to find one of the restaurants that my cousin Amber recommended, she's lived here for years so she had tons of suggestions for us which was really great, and while we walked around we experienced more in about four hours than I have in the past month!  As soon as we parked we walked around the first block we looked up at the first giant building of the evening and it was the Church of Scientology!  We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!  As we walked past the front door I was hoping to see Tom Cruise inside greeting people but no such luck:)  We continued our walk through the chilly night air and headed up the street to try and find a place to eat.  Along our walk we came across something that made my day, Georgia's Grocery, conveniently located below Georgia's Hotel!  

     It's kind of hard to tell from this picture but there it is, mothers name in neon lights:)  We headed around the corner and found our place to eat, it wasn't on the options Amber gave us but we just stumbled upon it and had to try it out, Henry's Tavern.  Turns out Henry's is pretty dang good!  It's a sports bar on one side, restaurant on the other, and pool room upstairs with extra bar seating.  We sat upstairs in a booth with basically a coffe table, and we both ordered burgers cause even though there was steaks and other entrees on the menu, they advertised that the burgers were their specialty.  They didn't lie, Kelli had the blue cheese burger which she said was amazing and I had the stuffed burger!  A thick patty of beef stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, fried onions, and smoked bacon!!  It was literally the best burger I've ever had!  With full bellies we did some more sight seeing which included a home decor store Kelli has only seen on tv before, West Elm.  We made a pass through there and it was totaly worth it as I watched Kellis eyes light up like mine do at Augusta National!  We then headed back to the truck and made our way to our little house which is only about 15 minutes away from downtown.  We had a great nights sleep here now were getting ready to head back downtown for another fun filled day of exploring Portland!  

     Remember, some of the best days of your life are the ones that start out with absolutely no schedule:)

Winter is here

     We came home from a great weekend in Stevensville on Sunday and spent the majority of our travels on not so desire able road conditions!  It started raining I the morning and the closer we got to the apex of Lookout pass the more snow we ran into.  The roads were a little slick but they could've been a lot worse, still we came across two accidents.  Thankfully though we made it home safely, just took a little longer than usual.

     When we got home my relief from the roads was short lived as the local weather man informed us that it would be a while before we saw temps above freezing again!  The most frightening part of this news was the discovery that I think I might be getting old!!  A little blustery weather never used to bother me, now all I want to do is cozy up and stay warm!  So we spent last night out in the cold putting up a few lights, made some finishing touches to the inside Christmas decor, made ourselves some hot cocoa and did just that, cozied up!  And with a weather forecast like the one below I expect to see a lot more of this in our future:)

Remember, sometimes others don't understand your journey, they don't have to it's your journey!