Holiday happs

Not the best picture of us but it suits. Happy New Year from Nathan, Nuka, and Miss Marley Mae

Ok so we are back in business.

My laptop and camera got stolen when I went down to pick up Nuka at college. We left the car for a couple hours and came back and found that the window had been smashed and the stuff gone! Really sucks! No use dwelling on it I guess. Once again it made
me realize how silly and temporary our material things are.

I guess the hardest part was loosing several years worth of photos stored on the computer. From now on I will definitely be backing up all those files...

Anyway I am typing this out on my new computer thanks to insurance. Hopefully Papa will get his camera back soon as well.

Live and learn I guess...

On a happier note, We have been enjoying an amazing couple of weeks with family. As well as a wonderful Christmas!!!

The family went to Bend for the community Christmas eve service at the Tower Theater. Had a good time singing carols and seeing friends. Then we returned to Good ol' Madtown for Christmas eve dinner, followed by ( of course,) White Christmas. Good times!!! Christmas day was wonderful! Enough said!

I am so very thankful my family! For Nuka, Kesh, my parents, and siblings. They mean so much to me. I know I might not always show it, but you guys mean the world to me! I Love you so much!!! Thank you.


Hoping the weather is semi descent tomorrow. As it looks like the crew is going to be heading out to brave the frozen tundra of central Oregon for some good old Smith climbing. It feels like ages since I touched real rock. Lets hope the skin holds...

Soli Deo Gloria

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry it's been a while, computer got stolen! Details later...

For now, Merry Christmas! Hope you're filled with God's joy this season!!!

Soli Deo Gloria

Update

Ok, so more to come this week, but first here is just a quick little update.
I spent the last week visiting my beautiful fiance at college, and then on Friday,got to take her back home for Thanksgiving break.
We spent all day today, driving back and forth to Bend. First to go to Antioch, and back. Then to Go to our friends small group, stopping to climb at the gym on the way.
We ended up getting a couples membership, which is sweet cuz it's only 10 dollars more then what I was already paying for just myself. So now we are all set! Let the skin growing, and re-growing, begin!!!
Tomorrow we will be back at the gym at 7 o,clock for the opener of an on-going competition series called Boulder Bash. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come out and join in the fun. So if you actualy read this before tomorrow night, drop on in to the Bend Rock Gym and hang out with us! Should be lots of fun. Let you know how that goes!

So here is just a quickie about what's going on, and some pics from my last trip down to cali to see my woman.

I am busy working, (thank the Lord!) Also studying Biology online, which is sadly going rather slowly, do to my work schedule right now.

Last Tuesday started a new season of indoor soccer with the Antioch team. We lost the first game rather badly... but still had fun. Got to get back in shape though. Definitally sucking wind out there!

Also hitting the climbing gym pretty hard. Probably head out to Smith today to try my luck on some of my projects. or maybe just log some verticle miles... No real expectations, just happy to touch rock again! It's been kind of hard finding anyone to go out there with me. My brother Jasper is hitting the online college really hard and doesn't really have the time to go belay me. And I lost all my other climbing partners to college, including my wonderful fiance!

Nuka Jane is down in Cali, doing an amazing job at college! I am so very proud of her! She is totally the opposite of me, in that, she actually can study hard, and do well in school. Where as I have trouble focusing, and retaining text book information.

Anyway we are both really excited about the upcoming Thanksgiving break. When she will be able to come back up here to Madras and enjoy a week of home. Not to mention getting to see her new niece! Which reminds me... Her sister Kelisha, had her second baby a couple weeks ago! A little girl named Mercedes Priya.

Congrats to Orrin and Kelisha! You guy are awesome! We are keeping you, and your amazing little family in our prayers!

Enjoy the pics... More to come!

Amazing weekend!

Engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big news!!! I mean really big!!!


Renuka Jane Phillips and I are now engaged!!! Yes it's true! It's the most wonderful and amazing thing ever!!!

Nuka and I have known for some time that God had given us to each other! It was such a crazy, wonderful, and amazing thing! Nuka is everything to me! I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with her! She is such a wonderful, and very beautiful woman! I am so excited as I look forward to the life we are going to share together, and the adventures we will surely have! I am so blessed to have her! She is by far my better half! She keeps me in line, and supports me in all I do. She is such a Godly woman! I am so blessed!
As of right now we are still figuring out the (plans). When to get married, where to live, what to do, and so forth and so on... We will be looking to God to supply the answers for all of that! As He is the orchestrator of this amazing love she and I share.

Nuka and I hope that all of you, family and friends alike, will share in our joy and happiness. Please keep us in your prayers, as we have a lot of decisions to make. And a lot of patience is being required in order to make them.

Thanks!

Right now I am in Cali visiting my adorable fiance at college once again! Flicks and tales on the way!

By the way! Nuka and I ended up getting a puppy! Her name is Marly Mae, and we are not quite sure of the breed yet... But she is very cute and alot of fun!


yeah! That's my amazing fiance with a couple of Ball Pythons!





She's a climbing stud too!!!!

California vist, and Up-coming Colorado

So the reason for the lack of posts this summer is simply lazeness, and too much going on... I will try and sum the summer up in a couple of sentances that will absalutally not do it justice. Here goes...

In short I had the most amazing summer of my life, it was fun, it was crazy, and it was life changing!

I know that was a very poor, and dissatisfactory etempt but o well...

Anyway here is what has been going on as of late.

I went down to North Cali Friday afternoon to give my Nuka Jane a suprise visit at college. Anytime spent with her is absalutally amazing, and this weekend was no exception! She is such a wonderful woman who has a huge heart for God, and I am so thankful for her! And I am so very proud of her as well! :)
While I was down there I was able to bag a cool little 5.12a, with Nuka on the belay. I don't know what the route was called but it was fun! After an absalutally amazing weekend with my woman, I headed back home and am now in the process of getting ready to head out to Colorado with the crew! We're bouncing out of here at 3 am tomorrow morning. Have so much to do before then. The trip will be about 10 days, and we will be stopping in Ogden Utah, Joe's vally, and Rifle. Before finally reaching Brandon and Marrissa's house in Denver. And there they will be taking us to their favorite climbing hangouts for the remainder of the trip. Alot of driving is ahead of me!!! But we're absalutally stoked! I feel strong, energy is high! Should be a good trip! I will keep you posted.

Tomorrow we out!!!!

Enjoy the pictures of Cali with Nuka :)

Finding the balance

The past couple months have been a bit of a struggle for me, trying to find time to fit in all of my other activities around work, and some school. The main problem is simply motivation. IF I could just go out and make it happen, instead of sitting around thinking about making it happen, then the whole thing would be solved. Instead I find myself waisting alot of time on un-important things, when I should, and could be a bit more productive...

Anyway here are a few pics to hold you until I get some more exciting stuff going...



Awesomeness


More paint





Nuka with a baby great horned owl

34:16

34 days 16 hours till the world cup baby!!!!! Go Brasil!!!

random photos from the last month

Update

Working, working, working............

A little project...

I'm currently working on a little art project on a wall in our friends the Phillip's house. It's my first attempt at anything up scale, so we shall see how it turns out. Here are a couple of teaser shots...

Good Year

It's been a good year to be a Gerhardt.

First of all, Boise State went undefeated in football once again!

And now Duke won the National Championship!!!!!

Cali Trip

The past month has been really really busy, mostly with work. I've been spending alot of time in the car and away from home. Kinda exhausting.

Anyway we had pretty much scrapped the idea for the California trip durring spring break. Just to much stuff going on... Instead Jasper, Kesh, Naveen, and I were going to do a short backpacking trip up the Crooked River.

At the very last second a couple of things came up and it became obviouse that we needed a backup plan. So once again I suggested bombing down to Cali for the weekend. My mom amazingly gave the ok, and a few hours later we had thrown some stuff into the car, picked up kesh, Nuka, and Naveeen, and were on our way to north Cali.

I Was going to write a detailed post about the trip, but I think I'll just let you enjoy the pictures. In short: It was awsome!!! Good times!


On the road


Goof balls!





What can I say...


Waiting for the Petersons at In n out


The holy grail!!


Crew





Uncle Kasey as we call him


Good form chap!








Kesh and I, not the best in the mornings...

Climbing wall

Back in January I finally got some motivation, and went out and built a small climbing wall under our deck. It turned out pretty sweet, bit of an overhang, and really small holds... Perfect! Let the training begin!

The Crew is hoping to take a trip down to Cali for spring break. That's the big one as of right now. It hasn't been finalized but we are pretty stoked to make it happen. Would love to bag some hard climbs down there. As well as an in and out burger or two...!

On top of that I have plans to bolt a couple of potential routes I've been eyeing in our local canyon. Long, steep, and hard, should be really cool, would love to have a couple of really hard projects in the canyon.

We shall see!


Building the wall



Testing the wall

Apologetics Conference

Heading over to the Kilns Apologetics Conference tonight at Westside church in Bend.
Really good stuff, high profile speakers from around the country. Talking about the New testiment. Starts around 6:30. If you're looking for something to do this weekend come on out! Goes all day tomorrow as well!

The comp

The comp went well.
It wasn't a huge turn out, but enough to make things interesting. We climbed for 4 hours straight. Trying to rack up as many points as possible. The harder the climb, the more points you got. In the end we were all super tired, but it was tons of fun as always, so absalutally no complaints. And we were able to raise some money to send down to Haiti, which is what it's about.

And somehow I actually managed to bag second place! Yeah! Not bad for my first one. Now I am trying to get the skin on my fingertips to grow back. Ouch! what a life!

Here are some pics


Perfect pre comp drink!

When you can't sleep, draw...

I don't know why, but I am having problems falling asleep as of late. Ever since I returned to the states this summer I have had sleeping issues. I'll be up till around 4 in the morning reading, drawing, or playing guitar, just because i can't fall asleep.

That said, here are a couple of pieces I drew when I should have been sleeping... enjoy!





More to come...