Game nights...

We had a few friends over the other night for board games. Josh and Trese got Jason a game called Guillotine for his birthday that we have been addicted to ever since! I would highly recommend it. We also got a new game from Mom & Dad Barnes called Bohnanza which we had yet to try, but we'll let you know how it is once we do. 

Jason's classmate Cory and his wife Melissa!

Montana Trip

We recently had the priviledge of packing our bags and heading west. Of course our trip was way too short, but the Barnes side of the family so kindly made the trip to Montana so we could see everyone at the same time! We missed seeing Joel, Jana and Beth though!

John is a senior this year, and I haven't seen him play basketball since he was a sophomore so we tried to plan our trip around a game or two. We ended up being home for the Plains game, which is one of his biggest rivals, and beating Plains is always fun to watch. John had a very good game!

We didn't figure out the sport mode on our camera until way after the game was over, and John wouldn't stop moving long enough for us to get a good picture!..so I do apologize for the blurry ones!

Congratulating the winners!

A few of the Barnes..

...and a few Buckinghams....

Sunday afternoon was spent in true Montana fashion..

....trying to get vehicles running...

Jason hadn't ever ridden a horse, so Mandy got Whisper saddled up and took us for a ride! ..such a good time!

And then of course, you can't skip the guns... 

Dad got out his .22 pistol for us to fire a few rounds. 

Loving Winter!

We're back to the grind of work and school here in Chicago, after a week of breathing fresh, crisp, smogless Minnesota air!  Our trusty Focus escorted us 11 hours north to Grand Marais, MN where a cozy cabin sat waiting among the birch trees. We arrived in the evening and had a nice little trek through the dark to our cabin.  Jason quickly became a fire starting expert and we were toasty warm! We spent the next few days snowshoeing, crosscountry skiing and playing lots and lots of games! We left New years eve and met Ben, Bethany and Holly at Ben's parents place for meeting and the evening. It was fun to see them and meet a bunch of Ben's family. 

Although it is nice to be home, we are excited to head back west to see our families!...10 days and counting down!

My firemaster!

Relaxing in the coolest rocking chair ever

....our bed was in the loft which kept us toasty warm!

The breakfast of champions was necessary to store up a little extra fat for the cold weather outside.

The view off our porch

Attempting the self timer with snowshoes on...

Creatively named outhouses.. a little interesting in 20 below!

It was 0F on the day we went skiing, however there was no wind so we kept pretty warm.  As you can see, water froze on Jason's eyelashes and I was surprised my hair frosted over. Jason thought it was hilarious to see what I will look like with white hair.

27 Km of groomed trails right out our front door!

 We definitely preferred skiing over snowshoeing and are looking forward to going again. I'm hoping that my balance will improve a little next time, so my arms won't be quite so sore!

The thermometer the morning we left...this was at 9 o'clock when we made our morning bathroom run....brrrr.....

Blustery

This morning we woke up to a loud and very blustery wind. Right now it is -5 out there with a windchill that is fluctuating between -22 and -26!!!! I guess that this weather is just preparing us for an adventure we have planned starting on Saturday. We are heading up to the boundary waters of northern Michigan where the windchill has been averaging -25 to -35 during the day & night for the past week and a half. Don't worry though because we will be toasty in a quaint little cabin.

Jason

Basketball Time Again...

It is about time I get back on here to tell tales of the basketball game that invoked so much jealousy from my husband! 

Many thanks to Kerry for inviting me! We had great seats and it was a close game which made it even better. I tried to take a few pictures but my camera wasn't working very well in the gym so I gave up and decided to just enjoy the game. 

think I still have a few feet to grow...

We got to walk right down behind the newscasters during warm ups...pretty sweet

Like I said, not the best pictures, but you can see how close we were...

While I was watching the Bulls, my youngest brother John was whooping it up with his highschool team. They are currently 3-1 and we get to see them play in January! 

Go Bluehawks!

 jeal⋅ous⋅y - 

jealous resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself. So, I just wanted to post a quick statement about why I'm jealous of my wife today. While I am studying away for my national board exam and a very tough Neuro-Opthalmic exam on Tuesday, my lucky wife will be midcourt, 18 rows off the floor at the United Center this evening with Kerry, watching the Bulls take on the New Jersey Nets. Now I hope you can appreciate my jealousy.  Jason

Once again, I am apologizing for my lack of updates.  We've been keeping busy with the usual work and school. Jason takes his board exams the beginning of March so he has started a rigorous studying schedule which seems to fill most of his free time.

We were sad that we had to miss out on being with our families over Thanksgiving, but were invited to join a bunch of the friends here. We had an awesome meal followed by the usual freezing game of football! I wish I had pictures to share...but you know how that goes.

I did manage to get a few pictures from my company's christmas party this past weekend..

Jen and I anxiously awaiting our bonus checks!