Merry Christmas!!!

The Boys with the Christmas tree.

Christmas Tree Hunt

At the beginning of December I told Julie that we were just going to buy a Christmas tree and not go out and cut one down. Little did I know that she would get what she wanted and that was a tree from the forest. Our small group planned a Christmas tree hunt one Saturday. As you can see we have not gotten any snow yet. Usually we have a couple of feet of snow and it is a little hard to find a tree. I get impatient when that happens and I just find the closest tree to what we want and cut it. This year we had a great time with our friends though. I think we drove 10+ miles into an old burn area up to the tree line. There are rules when you cut trees, they have to be at least 300 ft from a river, have another tree within 30 ft from another tree and so on. To tell you the truth, we broke most of the rules. But it was for a good reason. :-) Merry Christmas every one...

Finally Sugar Beets Picture

Ya, I know. There are a lot of sugarbeets.

A big sugarbeet and Matt with a dirty little beet

Snow making machine......

Well Winter is here.... I have only worked one day at the mountain so far. What I am doing now is making snow so we can open on the 28th of November or possibly sooner if these storms coming produce snow.

This photo shows a 2009 BR 35o next to the first groomer Mt Bachelor had on the hill back 50 years ago this year. I will not be using this groomer but one just a couple of years older.

Well here we go...... I (Nathan) am making this blog so that we can share our lives just as our family is with their blogs. This blog may take some time to evolve and to be more exciting as time goes on. I decided to blog instead of facebook because it is a better way for the people like me without facebook to see what friends and family are up to.

The Bend Vandersluis family is made up of my wife Julie and are two amazing dogs -  Colby Jack and Clark. Julie and I have been married for 2 1/2yrs, but been together for 5yrs. Colby is 5 and Clark just turned 1. I am, as some may know, 29.

As you may know I have been laid off of my job since June. So I have just been working for some friends and family when they need it. My friend Matt and I just got back from Minnesota - we were helping with the sugarbeet harvest. It was a great time - hanging with my cousins and working when we could. But now I am just waiting for the snow to fly so I can starting working at the mountain. I have a job as a groomer at night, midnight to eight in the morning, it should be a good time and I will have for sure have some good stories......