Seattle pics, C in CC, and Cooking Baking

Okay, time for a real update. There of been a lot of gatherings lately so I'll go in chronological order. First off, here's a couple of my favorite pictures from Seattle. I took the first one on the ferry on our way back from Bainbridge which is across the Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. The second picture is from the famous Pike's Place Market. I was a little disappointed that they weren't throwing fish like they did in the FISH video, but it was winter so I guess I'll give them a break.

Now, unto the more recent events. Last weekend I went to Gustavus, my alma mater, for Christmas in Christ Chapel. This is something my family has done every year for probably the last 10 or more years and it was a good time as usual. Unfortunately, it was also the night of our first snow storm so that made things interesting. Thankfully everyone made it there and back safely. Here's a some pictures from that night. The first is of Courtney taking her first ever bite of lutefisk. She is pretty brave. I had a bite too and one was more than enough. Fish and jello are both good on their own but fish shouldn't taste like jello. The second pic of the Christ Chapel Choir (one of three choirs that participate in the program). It was the only pic I took during the performance because apparently taking pictures is "distracting to the performers as well as other members of the audience." Whatever. I waited until the very end so if they decided to kick me out I wouldn't be missing anything. I also circled Jill. She is my roommate's, Katie's, sister. And last, but not least is a group picture of my family minus Jeff, who was unable to attend. For those who don't know my brother Phill, this is an amazing picture because he rarely smiles especially when a camera is in sight. He has a reputation of being mean and is proud of it so this might cause him to lose his title as a mean, cold jerk. He maintains that he is not smiling in this picture, but that he was laughing at the fact that my dad and sister kept insisting that they needed to squat down during the picture in order for Phill to be seen. Phill said that he was amused by their foolishness and that his "smile" was malicious. I still say that a smile is a smile and that that is the biggest smile I have ever seen on Phill's evil face.

Back row: Nancy, Phill, Chris, and Courtney Front row: Charlie, Jess, and Tracie

On Sunday, the day after Christmas in Christ Chapel, we had our 8th annual cookie baking. There was a small hitch in the plans. Rita and Renee planned on hosting the gathering at their house, but on Saturday night while doing a self-cleaning the glass window in their oven broke. We couldn't bake cookies without the oven so we had to move the location to our place. The only problem was that we didn't get home until midnight and we had cleaning and grocery shopping to do. It was a short night for Katie and I, but we made it. Here's a picture of the broken oven, courtesy of Rita. Next is a pic of Rita with Katie's cat, Shay, before she left. And finally, a picture of the cookie bakers and all our goodies minus Rita.

Renee, Tracy, Katie, and Tracie.