Christmas Vacation & New Years in Oregon

We spent the first two days of our trip in Portland. Very cool "little-big" town. Of course it rained a lot, but we took the opportunity to talk about wedding plans, and just enjoy each other's company.
We found a very hip little coffee shop that would make cute designs in your mochas. A heart and a leaf. Awwww.
I couldn't resist modifying it a little bit.

Had some Cuban food. D-lish.
We checked out the very cool and trendy Doug Fir bar.
No caption needed.

We then traveled over Mt. Hood to Bend. In a snow storm.


On New Years Eve day, we got really lucky and caught a "Bluebird Day" skiing at Mt. Bachelor. Fresh snow and blue skies, it doesn't get much better than this!
Take me to your leader. (L to R - Doug, Dan, Chris)
Tatiana and Andrea had their very first day of skiing together. They had a blast!

We met up with Doug & Andrea, Doug's brother Kevin & wife Whitney, and friend Chris for a New Years Eve celebration.
Dan, Chris, Doug.
Tati, Whitney, Andrea.
Dan, Tati, & Kevin.
Whitney takes her broken femur in stride! And don't worry about the outfit, she was going to an '80's party.
Rock On Chris!


Tatiana then took me to Smith Rock State Park where she rock climbs in the summer. It's an amazing place, even in the winter. There were a couple of brave (& cold) climbers, but not many.

See that little rock in the center of the pic below? That's the top of Asterisk Pass. We hiked up there to check out the view.
View from the top of the pass looking back down to where we were standing. The sheer slab on the very left of the picture is where some of the climbs are. Incredible.
Sitting on the precipice of Asterisk Pass, looking over the other side.
Above Tati's head is that little rock from the first pic. Ugg boots were NOT made for climbing.
I was really impressed with climbs that she's previously done there. They literally go straight up a wall, 200, 300+ feet. It's crazy!

Like all good days in Bend, ours ended at the Deschutes Brewery.

Merry MXmas

30th Family Christmas Party

This year marked the 30th Anniversary of the "Family" Christmas Party. Hard to believe it has been 30 years. What started as a simple get together for a few families with no relatives in town has grown into quite the tradition. Some friends have come and gone, some family can't make it every year, but the tradition lives on and is being passed down to the next generation. Big smiles all around.
The traditional singing of "A partridge in a pear tree." Maybe our all time worst rendition ;-)
The men once again attempt "Good King Wenceslas." What we lack in ability we make up for with enthusiasm ... two-fold.
The girls embarrassed the boys with their singing.
Nancy and JoJo.
3/4 of the Haas family.

This was Tatiana's first Family Xmas party, I hope we didn't scare her too much.

John and I have been known to "loosen up" a bit.
I can't believe someone actually got a picture of us kissing! That's amazing!
Jerry, Dan, & Leslie.
Ashley might have a crush on Zack.

Annie passing the tradition down to little Ellie.

Today's headline reads ...

She said YES!!!Two years ago, Tatiana and I met on a blind date, on of all days, April Fools!!! (Thanks Tommy). After dating for about a month, we took our first trip together. It was a riding trip up to Castillo Ranch. I was surprised that she would want to go and watch me and my friends ride dirt bikes. But she was really excited by the idea. As a coincidence, it happened to be her birthday that weekend. That Sunday, on the way home, I took her up to one of my favorite lookouts and then we stopped at the Cold Springs Tavern.

Well, fast forward two years and we're back at Castillo Ranch. Tatiana is now riding dirt bikes herself (getting darn good, I might add). So after two beautiful days at the Ranch, I convinced her we should repeat our "date" we had. So back to the "lookout" and back to Cold Springs Tavern.

I popped the question at the top of Figueroa Mountain, with the sun setting on the end of a perfect day. She said yes!


Back to the Cold Springs Tavern to finish of the weekend. Great food, cold beer, live music. Magical atmosphere. We're so happy to have found each other and excited to spend the rest of our lives together.

TLD (Tati Loves Dan)

Castillo Ranch

Back up to Castillo Ranch again for another Honda Ride day. The lack of rain so far this year have left the hills brown, but it's still gorgeous. Gustavo perfectly prepped the track and Jim Castillo even made an appearance on his brand new white YZF450.
Tatiana about to catch some air.
Free-ride session with Travis Marks.
Me trying to "keep up" with Travis.
Group Photo.

Guitar Face

Photo courtesy of Brian Tinkler
http://www.photosbytink.com/baja2007/

Muddy Buddy

Tatiana and I did the Muddy Buddy Race. 6 mile team race. One team member starts on the bike , the other starts running. Each mile there is an obstacle and you switch from running to biking. The last obstacle is a big mud pit that you have to cross with your teammate. We ended up finishing in 01:00:05, good for 19th out of 67 in our class.Pre Mud Pit.


Marlon and his Dad Eric competed as a team.