Apartment and Snow Pictures

Hey Everybody,

Wow! What a crazy week of snow we've had here in Salem, Oregon. We are so thankful we moved in when we did and, since there was no school all week, we've had the whole time to unpack and get 'settled in'. We had a fun week of Christmas parties with some great people, but we are ready to 'head home for the holidays'. We are hoping the weather will permit us to head up to Sandy on Monday. We had a magical time in Portland with some friends on Friday. We were walking the streets of Downtown and it was snowing, we saw Santa and had some great food and it felt like we were in a movie!

Anyways, here are some promised pics of our new place. I think we're on the verge of getting a new camera...

Kealy and our Christmas Tree:


Our living room:


Our backyard (I think its time to get a dog...Kealy's not so sure)


Santa's Village:


Our first dinner in our new place:


Our master bedroom:


Rest of the bedroom with our own bathroom!


The 'man room' (the study)


We're finding ourselves under the mistletoe often:


Fun in the snow:


A tree in our front yard:


The two love birds:

Moved In...Welcoming The Snow

Hey Everybody,


We have moved from keizer to west salem and we moved this weekend, just before the snow came. We found a cool, three bedroom duplex with a garage (for our ping pong table)! It was exciting to move and we were so thankful we moved on Saturday before the snow and ice came.

We had a ton of help and they were all such a blessing to us. Moving can be so stressful and time/energy draining, but we were blessed with some strong men and it was an enjoyable experience.

We put up our tree and started a fire in our fireplace and we are enjoying the snow...hopefully you are too.


Today is also our 7-year anniversary of our first date. We're going to celebrate by 'ice' skating in our parking lot!

For our first date, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory, Ice Skating at the Clackamas Mall and then had ice cream at a view point in Sandy. I remember having a hard time driving because I couldn't pay attention to the road because of the BEAUTIFUL young woman next to me in the car. It was a day I will never forget!

We'll get pictures posted on the blog as soon as we get internet at our new place. Stay safe in the snow!

In Christ,
Ryan and Kealy Thorson

A Promise Not To Promise

Hey Everybody!!!

Wow!!! Its been a while. I can't promise you anything about staying up with posts, since I've said it before and haven't followed through, but in following friend's of mine and their blogs, I realized how much I enjoy seeing what is going on in their lives. So we are making an attempt to blog more frequently, especially around the holidays, when so much fun stuff is going on.

We are continuing to 'live the dream' and working hard, but enjoying our moments together. Kealy is working so hard every day, substitute teaching. She has done it all. High school art, Middle School Math, Elementary school classrooms and working with mentally and physically disabled, I admire so much her flexibility to walk into any classroom and handle the class. Countless students tell her how wonderful she is and what a 'nice sub' she is.

The other nice thing about subbing is some of the days or half days we have to spend together. We are enjoying walking, playing wii and lots of other things together.


This week is finals week for my first term of seminary at George Fox. It has been a great term and I have loved everything I have had an opportunity to learn and think about. I feel like I am getting better equipped for wherever my education might lead.

We are enjoying our ministry and service with Salem Evangelical. The college/career adults are a blast to live life with and they are growing spiritually and we are enjoying building relationships with them.



We had a wonderful thanksgiving with family and are eagerly anticipating Christmas time and all of the fun things and traditions we get to do. We went shopping today and had fun together and are having a nice, quiet Saturday afternoon together, a peaceful day in the middle of the crazy Christmas storm.

Sunset today...we need a new camera...it doesn't do it justice!

Hope your Christmas plans are going well and that, in the middle of the crazy and hectic time of Christmas, that we would each remember what it is really about.

in Christ,
Ryan and Kealy Thorson