Ben and Jenelle DOT COM

That’s right — much like J. Lo and Ben Affleck, we too have developed a new nickname, courtesy of our three-year-old nephew Lucas.

Lucas is by far my favorite nephew and is definitely a lot of fun to be around. Spending time with Lucas and the rest of my family was the highlight of the trip. One of his favorite things to do was to sit and watch the Christmas tree, especially when the lights were on. He would drag you in the living room, tell you exactly where to sit (and you better not move!) and then we would just watch the tree. He loved sitting there and looking at all the ormaments on the pristmas tree (we’re still working on some of those sounds)That is — until Santa Plaus came down the pireplace bringing a choo choo train, a few green teddy bears, and of course, a stuffed Bambi.

In the days after Christmas, we spent some time with some old high school friends — Michele and Ashby from Westside — and Amanda and Dave, our most recently married friends. And, we spent plenty of time shopping, being lazy and playing with Lucas’ very cool new train set.

Since things at the Walter compound were a little crowded over the holidays, Ben and I stayed at the Embassy Suites — only about a mile or two away from home. I learned something very important about Ben this trip — he gets very excited about free breakfast! The hotel offered a free cooked-to-order breakfast every morning for hotel guests, and Ben made sure we didn’t miss it! (Except for the morning when mom made us some very delicious chocolate chip pancakes.)

Overall, the hotel was very nice — I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to visit good ol’ Beaverton. However, we did notice something mildly annoying but still pretty comical. Apparently in Beaverton, a Ford Expedition counts as a compact car. And here I was feeling guilty about parking the camry in a compact space. No door dings on mom’s car! In the hotel parking lot alone, we saw about 10 trucks, SUVs, and vans taking two spaces to park — and not necessarily intentionally. These people are just lousy parkers too lazy to readjust.

Our trip back wasn’t as fun as the trip out — no free business class upgrade. But we did manage to take a bump and get a free roundtrip ticket each. All we had to do was spend a little extra time in the airport. And we finally got to see the wonderful film, “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.” It’s one of Ben’s new favorites.

So after a long vacation, we finally went back to work today. It was hard to get back into the swing of things — and we already miss sleeping in. It’s supposed to snow all night tonight and all day tomorrow — maybe we’ll get lucky and get a snow day!

There’s lots to tell from our trip to Oregon. I’ll save most of it for Jenelle to write about later.

One cool thing that happened on our trip home — we took a “bump” from our 11:25 a.m. flight from Portland to O’Hare to a flight leaving at the gate next door at 12:09 p.m., and we both got a free roundtrip ticket out of it. Even though weather delays prevented us from leaving until after 2 p.m., it was still worth it. Our next trip to Portland (or perhaps somewhere else) will be courtesy of the folks at United.

Pictures soon!

I admit it — I’m guilty of overusing the phrase “I’m keeping busy with…” when I write e-mails to people telling them how I’m doing. One of the reasons is days like today. Here’s what I did:

7:00 a.m. — Dentist Appointment

8:00 a.m. — Work

4:00 p.m. — Guitar Lesson

4:30 p.m. — Go to the post office

5:00 p.m. — Go to church, practice, and set up for…

6:30 p.m. — Church service

7:45 p.m. — Go pick up my new suit (My 44L doesn’t fit, so I bought a 40L! Yeah!)

8:30 p.m. — Get home

So, yeah, I’m busy, but I try to enjoy every minute of it.

Speaking of enjoying every minute, Sunday’s early Christmas party was a fun-filled event. The meal consisted of chicken, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and corn bread from Boston Market. Yum. Dessert was Schwan’s peppermint ice cream. Yum again. I took on the role of “Santa” for the gift opening, doing my best Uncle Nick impression each time I handed out a present. I’m thankful for every present I received.

I was worried that this event might take away from the splendor of the Christmas Eve gatherings we always hold at Grandma & Grandpa’s place — but looking back on it, I’m glad we spent some quality time with both my parents and grandparents. I’m still going to call sometime on Friday evening to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Whoa, today is an exciting day in Family History….

In between church and an early Christmas party on Sunday, I reached another milestone in my running career. It was about eleven months since I began regularly hopping on a treadmill a few times a week. My goal back then was to lose a little weight. My goal on Sunday was to run farther than I ever had before — specifically, 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles). I originally wanted to complete this task on the streets of Sturtevant, but anyone who took a step outside that day would understand my decsion to do it on the treadmill instead. I clocked in at 1:22:58, which is a pace of 8:54 / mile. This is about the pace at which I ran the Roma 5K

back in July. Granted, running on a treadmill is easier than running outside, even when the weather is perfect. On a treadmill, the impact on your knees is smaller, and you can hold on to the side rails to catch your breath if you’re getting tired (I did that several times during the last mile or two). In any case, I’m excited that I was able to complete a 15K, and I’m still determining what challenge I’ll take on next.

In the “How much do you weigh?” department, I’ve lost approximately 50 pounds this year, and I currently tip the scales at 175 pounds. The difference is readily apparent after watching a video of me from Ella’s baptism last year. I recently got a letter from Adam H., one of my groomsmen, who was apparently inspired by my efforts and has lost 35 pounds of his own (way to go, buddy!). I certainly don’t need to lose any more weight, but if I keep working out, it might happen. One option I have is to increase the frequency/effort of my strength training to build some muscle. In any case, if I put on a holiday pound or two in the weeks ahead, I won’t sweat it one bit.

Got any questions about my exercise habits? I’m more than happy to share. Write or leave a comment below.

Photos are ready! Right here!