All is well here in Colorado. We're really enjoying our time with Rebecca's family. Life is so simple without work or a cell phone. And Rebs' dad and stepmom have been so gracious as to let us use their cars during the day by dropping them off at work. Two nights ago, we went to the Bonefish Grill for dinner, had some amazing food, but it was especially special because we were all together: us, Rebs' dad and stepmom, stepbrother Brandon who is in the Marines, his fiancee Kim, and Rebs' brother Josh, who flew to Canada the next day to meet his fiancee. Everyone's schedule (except ours) is somewhat complicated, so the fact that we were all able to be together was nice. Afterwards, we came back and had an early Christmas, opening a couple gifts at first, but Santa's helper (Gail) kept finding new gifts that should be opened at that very moment. So about half the presents got opened. We had some fun with doing one-legged squats (no alcohol necessary), and finished the night with some warm apple pie and ice cream.

Two things I've been enjoying a lot lately: working out and eating! If you know me well, you know that I really like eating. And the one thing for me that makes food even better is having earned it through a good workout. It tastes better and is always guilt free. I also like being in good health, so that doesn't hurt either. So yesterday, Rebs and I went swimming for about an hour. I think it was about my senior year of college that I actually fell in love with the sport. Before that, it had been a means to an end-- a scholarship. But I knew I needed a better attitude about it because of how much time we spent training. So I prayed about it and really set my mind to change. That last season was my best ever. I loved the way I felt gliding through the water with ease due to a finely trained body. I think that feeling has stuck with me. So now, even though I'm not in peak performance shape like in college, I love getting a good workout in every now and then.

I've been having trouble adjusting to the time change from Korea to here. Korea is 16 hours ahead of Denver time, so when I'm going to bed here, it's about when I was getting up a week ago. So I wake up around 3,4, or 5 in the morning and am wide awake. It's happened every day I've been here so far. But Gail usually gets up early to work out and she invited me to come with her. So this morning, when I woke up at 4:30, rather than trying to force myself back to sleep, I was excited to get up and have a workout buddy. We did a CV circuit that Gail's trainer made for us, which is basically a mix of arms, abs, and legs, rotating through each station usually with less than a minute rest. His name is Chris and seems like a nice guy. Very perky for 5 a.m., but I guess that could be good for motivating the unmotivated. After a half hour, he had to go with his next client, but that was fine with me because I was already pretty fatigued. It's amazing the difference you feel at high altitude. I get winded so much easier up here near the mile high city. I believe Westminster is around 7000 feet in altitude. So during my lifting and running, I feel like my heart is burning a bit, hard to get air, but at the same time, fine tuning itself to be stronger. C'mon red blood cells, multiply!

So here I am at 7:30 in the morning, having already had a good workout for the day, a nice Fa La Latte (God bless the eggnog), and written a blog. I kind of like getting up early, but will probably need a nap later.