We're Back!

You think that we've given up on the whole blogging thing. I blame time; things have been moving too quickly for us to keep up with them all. Summer flew by, as well as the fall semester. We managed to make it back to Utah to visit family for Christmas. It was a short visit since I had so much work I needed to get done in the lab, but we managed to see many family members and had a great visit. We were especially excited to meet our new niece Eliza Woods. She's very sweet but has a grip that rivals a grown man's, as I found out when she grabbed some of my hair. Our families are all doing well, and we're looking forward to visitors in the spring and summer.

The biggest change in our lives came right before Christmas- Kevin was laid-off from Crowe. It was a mixed blessing. He wasn't happy there and had been looking for other jobs since fall, but it didn't seem like great timing right before the holidays. The job market is very bad in Michiana with unemployment at 10% in some areas, so we weren't sure what he'd be able to find available. Fortunately, Kevin's skills are in demand, and he managed to find two potential jobs. He took one that is all the way in Indianapolis (a 2 hour drive from South Bend), but was the most interesting and would be the better career move. We're not sure how all the commuting will work out, but I'm optimistic things will work out. He'll start this Monday.

As for Riley, he's as cute as ever. He's loving the cold weather and especially the snow. He'll run and jump into a snow bank, hunch down, and start eating all the snow around him. We also suspect he's part seal. He likes to slide his cheek along snowy patches on the sidewalk and slowly roll the rest of his body down. Once down, he lays on his side and uses his back legs to slide him along the sidewalk. He also thinks he needs to be let outside to roll in the snow every hour. We had a cold spell last week, but it didn't seem to phase Riley. I walked Riley one evening without realizing how cold it was outside. Fifteen minutes into our walk, my hands froze. I was concerned I was getting frostbite but I wasn't very close to our house. I ran to a friends house in the neighborhood, and luckily he was home. We spent a good twenty minutes warming up and then quickly headed home. When I got home, I found out it had been -26 degrees. We're still taking Riley to agility classes too. He's not the fastest or most graceful dog, but he puts his whole heart and body into it (which inevitably results in knocked down obstacles). At our last class, Riley was walking towards Kevin, looking at him full in the face. Kevin decided to tease him and pulled his coat over his face; Riley freaked out and started looking everywhere in the room for Kevin, except where he was actually sitting with a coat over his head. Everyone in the room just said, "Whoa. That's one smart dog." But we love him, and he always makes us smile.

Kevin is really progressing on his photography. A picture of his was featured on a CNN.com iReporters article on Chicago. His pic was selected out of thousands of entries. Check it out at http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/getaways/01/23/snapshots.chicago/index.html. It's the picture of the train. Best to you in the new year!