DECEMBER-vol2

Christmas day was perfect! We celebrated with just us that morning, and then went sledding with Tom & Jess in the afternoon! Later that day we went down to southern Oregon to celebrate with Gary's side of the family! It didn't stop snowing for the 5 days we were there! So naturally we spend a lot of time in the snow...sledding and snowboarding!

DECEMBER-vol1

Well, A LOT has happened in the month of December. We moved (again), and LOVE LOVE LOVE our new place! It's on 2.5 acres of mature Pine Trees located in the Old Mill District of Bend... a little "country oasis" in the heart of the city! We ALSO flew down to SoCal before Christmas to see the Keating Fam! It was filled with great company, delicious food, a crazy-fun wedding and plenty of days at the beach! The picture on the left probably needs explaining, so here it goes: All of our friends make fun of the way I (gary) surf. They say I always have a "barrel stance" regardless if there is a barrel or not. So I caught this wave and made a little picture to send to all of them...proving that I DO INDEED always have a barrel stance...for good reason though...b/c I'm all about the barrel!

COMMUNITY

Here's a quick pic of our community group (minus 2 couples) that meet every Tuesday at our place..and no Courtney is not prego (she's just standing next to one of our friends that is). They're basically our FAVORITE people in Bend! It's crazy the amount of young people that move here, it's a really fun "breed" of people that WANT to BE here, as opposed to being FORCED or STUCK here! It creates kind of an unstable lifestyle living in such a privileged place, but it's all about the ADVENTURE! We just feel blessed to have so many like-minded people that we can share and experience this stage of life with!

Need Some Branding?

A brand is not just a logo, It's who you are and how you do business. Brand Development & Strategy is my passion. My job as a designer is to make sure your company accurately communicates who it is from the start to finish! It's about consistancy in the look and feel of your business. Choose any style and I will make it your brand! Check out my competitive price structures and my portfolio of work at www.garyachristenson.com

Engagement Shoot

Last night we had a photog session downtown with the BEAUTIFUL Kip & Kristin...check 'em out under "wedding & engagement" on ye ole website! We're honored to announce that we'll be shooting their wedding in Jan!!!

Our Fake Life

We're crazy blessed! We moved into a house that we've been "house-sitting" until it sells for a family from our church. With the housing market being so lame we thought it'd be a while until it sells, but it looks like it will be a short stay...but that's expected (it's a beautiful home)...I guess we were hoping for a few months to live in what we've title "The Fake House", but it's out of our hands! At least for a month or so we've lived the dream :) Now back to reality and back to small-ass rentals! :)

Miller Family

On Saturday we did a Christmas shoot with TEAM MILLER! They are an awesome couple here in Bend with a new(ish) baby named Isaac...freekin' cute!

*New* Website

CHECK OUT THE *NEW* WEBSITE!!!

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It's Not About You

Courtney just got done pouring herself into a 3 week human rights series here at Antioch. She's the new Director of Compassion & Advocacy for the church. It's been difficult to describe all the emotions we are feeling for the hurting people in this world. It started a few months back with feelings of anger when we were "slapped in the face" with these issues, and now that anger and outrage has moved to action. We are devoting our life to these issues of injustice! In fact, an issue of trafficking is happening here in Bend right now! Courtney's been in contact with the russian lady and is moving forward with freeing her daughter! We'll see what other dominose begin to fall from the introduction of these topics. We're stoked to be a part of a church that actually addresses issues such as modern day trafficking, slavery, and violence against women...these are TRUTHS that are happening right now! We can't continue to ignore it! Listen to some of the discussions on Antioch's Podcast!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY US!!!

It's been ONE whole year of marriage and I can't believe it's already come and pass. Now it's on to YEAR TWO and many many more! We celebrated our anniversary up at Crater Lake. If you haven't been, you really need to check this place out. It was breathtaking! We stayed in the old (1920's) lodge Saturday night, and the next day we actually hiked from the crest of the rim to the lake shore...the water is just as beautiful down there as it viewing it from the rim. In one of the above photos you can see the view from our window...A-freeking-mazing!

Catalyst Conference

I just returned from a conference called Catalyst in Atlanta, GA. It was basically mind-blowing! I went with some of the Antioch Staff (Kendall, Brandon, Kim) and my bro-heem Anthony from Oasis. It was 3 intense days of speakers, music and workshops...oh, and actually, I was a part of breaking 2 Guinness world records. That was cool! But the best part was a speaker named Francis Chan...he spits truth! Here's a link to the conference: http://www.catalystspace.com/

Best "gary" quote of the trip:
"Can you believe that it's DOUBLE DIGITS in Oregon right now" (in reaction to the sweltering heat and humidity of Atlanta, while it was snowing in Oregon)...I meant for it to sound colder than it actually was...guess you had to be there.

Kansas Wedding

We spent the long weekend in KANSAS...yeeeehaaaa! ...well, we spent MOST of the time in airports, rental cars, and jets...the other portion of the trip was to be a part of our amazing friends Jenny & Gavin's wedding! Courtney played the harp and I shot the wedding! It was such a great experience and we are so happy to celebrate Jenny & Gavin's life together. They are some of our most favorite people in the whole world!

Magazine Craziness!

I just got done designing one of my largest projects ever...a 24 page full on magazine! It was pretty hell-ish there for about 100hrs, but now it's printed and looks schanzy, and I'm stoked! There wasn't a centimeter of this magazine I didn't touch with the ole mouse! The Magazine is for Antioch, come pick up a copy!

Commercial Shoot

This past weekend a company I'm working with called Emote360 (a multi-media group that I design for) did a few commercials for a client of ours called GearUp!. We went out into the middle of Oregon to a town called Christmas Valley which borders the Sand Dunes of Central Oregon. It was dry, hot, and sandy but very beautiful. We took a snowmobile out there for one of the commercials...yah, crazy...it was a fun filled day and all of us behind the cameras got our fair share of rallying on all the toys! What is my job?...too much fun!

HUNTING BEGINS

The manly season of hunting has dawned on Central Oregon...and it's a good start...so far I'm winning. A few buddies and I have been doing a lot of dove hunting early in September (we reached our limits both times we've gone out). On opening day we shot 30 doves. Here's some photos of our goose hunt earlier this week. Count 'em...Eight Big Ole Canadian Geese! This is the side of me very few people understand...I just loved the outdoors and hunting is a big part of it for me! Deer season is coming up, then Elk, then more bird hunting...I have a feeling it's ganna be a gooden'!

Fall Boating

Here's the photogs of Court and I wakeboarding at out last "Christenson" family outing: Willow Lake - warm water, mountain views, glassy evening water, and rednecks that decided to be the "Willow Lake DJs" and play their incredibly annoying butt-rock at full volume from their oversized pickups...here's to you "Willow Lake DJ", thanks for never letting go of the 90's and playing your glorious tunes all day long! P.S. I loved to short jean shorts, high white socks, high-top sneakers, no shirt, and mullet combo...you are ruler of the lake!

FASHION MODELING

So we dabbled our feet in the glory swept world of male & female modeling, and we actually made the FRONT COVER of the magazine! Our CRAZY TALENTED friend name Ben Edwards got hired for The Fashion Issue of The Source, and needless to say, he found us :) Yah, it's just kinda what we do for a living...well, I mean...we're just really really ridiculously good looking. It's no big deal really, I mean, you've probably heard of us, we're kind of a big deal :) ...Anywho, in all seriousness, it was a BLAST!!! And I have a whole new respect for models and photographers (mainly photographers:)...it's no quick and easy process.

WANNA SEE MORE PICS? CLICK HERE and direct yourself to his main site (titled "pixels") and click on the tab marked "featurette" and we're there on the right...click it and enjoy the show!

Oh Canada!!!

We just returned from a killer trip of the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver Island in Canada. We hit up my cousins wedding in the North Cascades of Washington and then spent the rest of the week in Canada. It was insanely beautiful! The island was like a "Mini New Zealand" or something. It had lush rainforests, snowcapped mountains right on the beach, and TONS of water (sounds, bays, rivers, lakes, ocean). We took ferries to and from the island and did a ton of driving! It was an amazing trip!

CLICK HERE to view our Photoalbum of the trip!!!

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MAN TRIP 101

To have a successful "Man Trip", one must need the following:

Whitewater Raft, paddles, Gary, Kendall, Kyle, Brandon, beer, fly rod, flies, campfire, cliffs, rope swing, 16 miles of a raging river, steaks, sunburns, naked hippies soaking in hot springs at night...(dirty hippies)..., and one hitch hiking encounter with a free spirited man who referred to himself as the "divine director" for the upcoming takeover of the earth by alien life forms. WHAT A TRIP!!! CLICK HERE to see some funny videos of our trip on Kens Blog!

Visit from Bisel

This past weekend my long lost buddy from the heartland stopped by Bend for a visit. It was SO GOOD reminiscing with Matt Bisel about the lives we lived in Kansas back in Highschool and most of college. We were best buddies...just living the bachelor dream! We wrote songs, recorded, and toured together all across the Midwest. We even took some killer trips to the Hawaiian Islands. And now we're both married and thousands of miles apart. Court & I took Bisel up to the mountains where Matt saw his first siting of a Bald Eagle (it flew right over us while we were swimming). We also found some sweet looking tadpoles and almost got run off the road by a bike race! It was GREAT to see Matt again! I wish he and his wifee would pack up their covered wagon and ride the Oregon Trail to...well...Oregon!

WHITE WATER RAFTING

We just got back from the most random expedition we have encountered here in Bend. After church, we got a call from The Fitches inviting us to quickly come over so that we could meet up with some other folks who had randomly picked up a few rafts from a white water rafting company. The sketchy-ness factor was rising as the expedition began to unfold. The whole trip was on a whim and the most random people started showing up to take part in the action (none of which were rafting guides and no real experience to speak of). The idea was to forge the mighty Deschutes River! AND WE ACTUALLY DID, it was exhilarating! We floated a few miles and hit 3 really great sections of rapids that successfully folded our boat in half and launched two guys out of our neighboring boat. It was sweet! Court was falling out at one section of rapids, but we snatched her back in the boat before the river completely took her. Who would have thought that 20 minutes from our front door we could be white water rafting...and this is why we love Bend! Yesterday we were swimming in the mountain lakes and exploring the Cascade Mountain Range, and today we were white water rafting...and we've only been back from SoCal for like 3 days! Who knows what the next adventure will be. The skies pretty much the limit here in Bend.

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SoLong SoCal

All in all, our time in Southern California was perfect! We had our fill with the beach and the surf, hit up some great weddings, and got to spend some quality time with the friends & family that we love so dearly! We decided that we should live near the beach again sometime in the future. The Ocean is our first love, closely followed by the mountains...we need to find a place that has warm oceans with great surf and high snowy mountains surrounding it. The drive back to Bend, Oregon was a long one (15+ hours) but it gave us time to think and time to listen to what the Lord will have us do in the next few months. We're moving full steam ahead and stoked to see what this season of life has for us. He is faithful and we are willing.

SoCal Summer Vay-K

Here we are once again in beautiful sunny SoCal. Last time we were here was during Christmas...and before that was our wedding!!! It's good to be here and it's good to be in the water once again. We were a bit rusty on our boards, but now we're confidently shredding up everything! Okay, so here's the story thus far in our trip:

I picked up Courtney in SanFran (after her missions trip) and we drove the rest of the way down to SoCal to spend some much needed time at the beach and with Courts side of the family. So far we've managed to hit the beach nearly every single day! (that makes us happy) We've also hit up the Wild Animal Park and a theater show at Lambs Players on Coronado Island. We've had awesome dinners and conversation with the fam, and we're looking forward to seeing all Court's relative on the 4th up in Dana Point for the annual Keating get-to-gether (so much fun). We're stoked to be here! We decided that we need to move to a beach town again in the future..we just love playing in that ocean and soaking up that sun! ...MORE TO COME...

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Elk Lake Expedition

Court's been gone in SanFran for the last the couple days on a missions trip, so I've been kicking it bachelor style! Lots of non-nutritious foods and late nights working around the house. For kicks, I went out with some friends to a nearby lake called "Elk Lake" up in the Cascade mountain range. It was a beautiful and triumphant day! We drank some "skinny dip" from New Belgium, sailed a dock, and paddled around in a rubber dingy...can life get more interesting? I think not! At the end of the day, I'm thankful that I'm married and only have to "bachelor" it for a few more days!

Fly-Fly Fishing Poles

One of my best buddies Anthony Parla and I went Fly Fishing this past week on the Upper Deshutes River during the legendary "salmon fly hatch". The salmon fly is a rather large bug that likes to crawl down your neck and ATTACK your jugular vein...well, not exactly...they aren't actually aggressive and I don't think they bite, but they're just plain HUGE and creepy! So we fished and floated the river all day with a few other fellas by way of a drift boat. The experience and educational aspect of the trip was outstanding, but we only caught three trout :( Regardless, we had a great time in the great outdoors! The scenery was breathtaking!

Gary's Photo Shoot in KS.

I just returned from a photoshoot in Kansas for Sterling College. It was tons of fun but pretty draining! Three straight days of shooting, and 2 full days of traveling. This was my first real big photo trip and I loved it! I hope to do more with my photography in the future...I really enjoy it! Hope you like the slideshow (you can CLICK HERE to view the photos in our album (if the slideshow doesn't load below)).

Memorial Day in the Ochoco Moutains

We spent the holiday over in the Ochoco Mountains. They are different than the Cascade's b/c they are really green and grassy. They aren't high altitude peaks like Bachelor and Three Sisters, but they are a really "healthy" mountains with huge Pondarosa Pines that have lots of room around them and green medows with wild flowers. We spent the day cookin' over the campfire, shooting some skeet, and riding an ATV. It was sooo much fun. We went up with our rad friends The Millers (Michelle and Conor) and the Wytsma Family. Good Times, Great Oldies, Kool 105.0FM

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CAMPING!!!

We've been doing some Camping up in the Cascade Lakes (endless lakes seated up in the mountains...extremely beautiful). This trip we went with our good friends the Fitch's. We did some fishing, exploring, and story telling around the campfire...you should ask Jon to tell you the Marshmallow Man story :) We're looking forward to lots of camping this summer!

Gary's HomeBrew

Well I officially brewed by own beer - a crisp summer wheat beer. It basically took a few hours of cookin' and four weeks of sittin'...it sat in the bottles a few weeks and now it's ready for drinkin'. It makes me feel pretty burly, like a real Oregonian...now where'd I put that flannel and extra beard?

Oh Maui

We're actually missing Maui right now :( It's weird that we didn't miss it during the winter months, but now that it's basically summer and beautiful here in Bend, we miss the island. It's crazy to think that we actually lived there...in Hawaii...what a dream come true. Now it's our life ambition to LIVE in the places that most people vacation...b/c why not? I just mainly wanna hit some surf right now...we'll be in SoCal in a few weeks and I'm ganna surf my brain out!

Painted Hills

We took a little trip to the Painted Hills of Central Oregon with our fellow Bend-ites "the Parla's" & "the Fitch's". It was a rainy day but the hills still looked unreal. Up close the hills look like kitty litter...weird clay type soil...beautiful, but weird.

The Parla's and Fitch's are our close friends that we've connected with here in Bend. We currently meet together as a small group, and we also share a lot of life's joys together. We're meeting together and praying for direction right now. We all share a heavy burden of wanting do something HUGE with our lives...something bigger than us, and out of the norm. We feel honored to share life with such extraordinary friends.

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"The Valley" Trip

We took a four day trip over to western Oregon to visit a bunch of our Maui-an friends. Our days were filled with killer art shows, skate parks, nose piercing, bottomless coffee, soccer, interstate driving, kickin' it downtown Portland, visiting George Fox University and Oregon's annual Tulip Festival.


This is Courtney getting her nose pierced in Portland. Notice the amazingly sympathetic husband standing by her side. (FYI, I think the nose ring is SUPER HOT)

Matthew Solomon Strubhar killing it at Aumsville Skatepark.

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6 Months of Marital Bliss

Well folks, it's been six months of marriage and we're still stoked! It totally seems like yesterday when we were on Maui playing in the ocean, and it seems like 30 minutes ago when we were kickin' it in SoCal prepping for the wedding. Looking back, it's crazy to see the adventure we have been on! And it's not letting up anytime soon. The next 6 months are packed full of adventurous plans. Stay tuned for some summer fun in the Cascade Mountains, Kansas, Missouri, SoCal, NorCal, Washington, the Oregon coast, and Canada! To see some wedding photos, go ahead and CLICK HERE