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!!!

www.garyachristenson.com

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!