Long time, no chat! Well...my new year resolution is taking affect before the calendar switches over to 2009. I've decided it's been way too long and I've been far too negligent for this to wait. It's time I get back to it. And surprise...a new look to go with it! Hope you like the design.

Christmas is coming up fast, with lots of excitement for our clan this year. The dogs will spend most of the holidays at home this year. My brother and his fiance (a June 2009 wedding!) will travel east from Seattle for a week here in Montana. Their visit will be kinda old school style, as they'll arrive on the train to Whitefish on the morning of December 22. Maybe we can whip up a light snow to welcome them as the train rolls into town. We always have a blast when the Hanzelka's are together and I'm sure this time will be no different. The day after Christmas, we head to Moscow, ID to spend a few days with Ty's folks and his sister's family. New little Ava will get her 1st Christmas rights-of-passage. It'll be fun to have a little one around...the awe and magic of the holiday will start to creep back into our lives as the tiny tot gets to experience all the traditions for the first time.

Yeah...funny how the magic just isn't there with the mutts. There seems to be more yelling and caution that enters OUR lives when the holiday grows near. "Wally...step AWAY from the tree!", "Wally...get AWAY from the ornaments!", "Wally...quit STARING at the Christmas lights! They're not alive...promise!", and finally...facing the near-tears that I've experienced every year since 2002 when I unpack ornaments. Memories of Hunter's first Christmas flash to my mind as I delicately handle the RUINED baby's 1st Christmas ornaments he so thoughtfully picked from the tree for gnawing and munching. Thanks, HUNTER!!! I still hold on to them for the sake that 1) there's sentiment in what's left of those things and 2) I can chuckle about it when the time comes to put the ornaments away at the end of the season. Tears...chuckle...tears...chuckle...it's an emotional cycle I've come accustomed to every year.

To the more immediate happenings around the Anderson zoo, we had a crazy morning that started with the visit of the cable guy, followed by the Culligan man, followed by a visit from my Pops (with coffee...thanks, dad!!!). As you can probably guess, this also meant a morning FULL of barking as each guest came and went. We're working on it, though, and Hunter's getting a little better at controlling his announcement of each suspicious (and non) arrival to our home.

One final note...it's been FREEZING here the past couple of days. Negative 12 the other morning with a windchill that has it feeling much, much colder. The dogs voyaged out with me for a run on Saturday, but Sunday was just too darn frosty for them and I had to leave them behind. Hoping that by tomorrow we'll be back in a normal range so they can get out for some extended exercise (they're getting just a wee bit restless). However, it was pretty funny to watch Hunter literally tip-toe his way back from a potty-stop in the backyard and Wally has been wasting no time at all in the great outdoors.

And since we missed you at Thanksgiving, here's a couple of photos as evidence that we did indeed stuff ourselves...Hunter too.