Lynnaea's First Snow!

We had an unexpected snow last night.

About 2 inches.

So this morning, I bundled up my baby and took her outside for about 5 minutes.  Sat her on a blanket.  She mostly looked around.  Mainly at the other kids that live in our apartment complex who were out there making a snowman.

So here are a couple pictures from her first foray into the powdery white stuff!

All bundled up in the cute monkey hat and mittens from her Aunt Monica!

Yep, Mommy gave her a snowball.

She tried to eat it.  Because everything goes in her mouth.   And she was highly unimpressed.  This is a cute picture, but there was an even more hilarious face shortly before this that I missed.  Bummer!

But she tried it again anyway...  Just to be sure.

Then we came inside and got all warm and snuggly and bunny-coated up for church :).  Look at my baby girl!  8 1/2 months.  And with the sweetest smile and prettiest eyes!  No, I'm not biased ;).

Snopocalypse

That’s what someone at church called our freak snow and ice storm of January 2012 :). And I think it’s a great blog post title! It was also a lovely 2 days of (non)work. And let me just say that last week’s work week was the most awesome ever! Because Monday was a holiday. Tuesday was work. Wednesday was an official snow day for which I got paid. And Thursday was a day I was not going to attempt skiing my car down my hill along with the other sledders (who were on sleds, not in cars). I got paid for that day too, but it required use of my floating holiday and a bit of annual leave. Eh, but it was worth it. Both for laziness’ sake and the sake of my safety. So yeah… They had predicted snow starting Tuesday afternoon, but by Tuesday at 10 p.m., there still wasn’t snow anywhere in sight. So I went to bed assuming it was all a lark. But by 5:00 the next morning, I learned it hadn’t been. Jeremy called and said, “Is it quiet where you are?” I replied in the affirmative, realizing that it actually was very quiet (like I mentioned before, the traffic is easily and often heard on my road) and he said it was quiet where he was, but that’s what happens when it snows… After we hung up, I decided to peek outside. Yep, it had snowed! By that point, about 4 or 5 inches. I didn’t have to worry about putting the trash out. I called the County offices to determine what my day would be looking like (though I was pretty sure I wasn’t going in anyway, because I’m not a winter-weather driver). They said they were on 2 hour delay. I was fine with that and rolled over and went back to sleep. But not for much. And actually, I might have gone back to sleep before looking outside and then called at 7 when my alarm went off. Either way… I was happy with a 2 hour delay and the knowledge I could call back at 8:30 and find out what was happening. But at that point, I didn’t go back to sleep… I laid there thinking about snow days. And how they would be so much more fun not spent alone… By 8 I had roused myself and was puttering around eating breakfast and watching an old family video (Christmas 1994) and I was watching the snow fall. I had ventured right outside my front door to sweep off my mat (I don’t have an overhang over my front door) and it was COLD! The little kids sledding said, “HI!” Ah to be young! I was happily snuggled up inside instead of sledding ;). So I went back to the couch, waiting for time to call to find out the verdict about work. Then a knock came at my door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but figured it might be the mailman. It turns out it was Jeremy. They had closed his job down after telling them they had to be there and better find a way in. My house was closer, so he biked over in the lovely cold sleet/snow mix. And when I called in, I learned the County offices were officially closed. Yippy!! So we enjoyed some home-made hot chocolate and watched “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” Hilarious movie. Thursday my job was open, but I didn’t go, because my hill was still a skating rink. I called my boss, and she said the roads at the County offices were horrible too, and even several people who live in the same city as the offices weren’t able to even get out of their driveways. Apparently the call was changed later in the day to opening at noon. But since I’d already decided to take the day, I never bothered to call back in and learn that. So it was another lazy day. I stayed in my pj’s for 2 straight days. By Friday at noon, the rain was falling and turning everything to slush, and I was tired of being inside and decided I would venture out and brave driving in the slush. Aside from one spinning-tires-and-going-nowhere experience, I survived. And learned something new through that spin-out joy. I only went to the grocery store and the Laundromat, but that was enough to get me out of the house for a couple hours.

By Saturday travel was no problem. Jeremy and I ate a light lunch at my house and then headed to Wal-Mart to do some shopping (had to replace my paper shredder), and then we went to the pizza place we hadn’t been to in a while (we didn’t enjoy the last pizza we had there, but this time we got the one we knew we liked! And it was delicious!). Sunday was church (and also a sleep-in morning for me…). It was kind of a chaotic day. Which I suspected would be the case based on how our 5 kiddos were acting in Sacrament meeting. Phew! We had some wiggle worms. And Primary was no different. But we survived. I had choir after church (I’m not enjoying it being after church anymore, because that puts me there until 5:15… Makes for a long day). Then I saw Jeremy for a bit after church. And then we begin another work week. And this one’s not of the super-cool variety ;). But such is life. I will say I thoroughly enjoyed my 1-day work week with a 5-day weekend. Ahhhh…

In Everything Give Thanks

What an interesting week it has been! Winter has come early to the Pacific Northwest, as you may have seen in the prior post. It has been a deep freeze here, and to say we, as a county, were unprepared is an understatement. Nobody was expecting the snow to stick on the ground on Monday. And nobody was expecting the never-above-freezing temperatures we are still experiencing. This makes for icy roads, by the way. Nobody was expecting to spend 8 hours to try to get out of town, if they needed to go (you can ask my brother about that one... In 3 hours on Monday night, he moved about 100 feet, and ended up getting home at 3 in the morning -- he had left his house at 3 in the afternoon (he was called in to work) and never even got out of town -- and then only because the police finally came and made a u-turn route so everyone could avoid the freeway, where the on-ramps were so iced over that people were skiing in cars...). Accompanying these frozen temperatures were howling winds. I never heard the official speed of the wind gusts, but I do know that they were incredibly strong. We lost power at the house for about 30 seconds. Lea's house lost power at 6 p.m. Monday night. Thousands and thousands of residents in my county (which was hit the worst by the windstorm) were out of power for over a day.

But as this is a day of Thanksgiving -- and a week of Thanksgiving, I will tell you the reasons for which I have given thanks this week, in spite of some of the craziness.

I am thankful for fun new traditions with new friends. As many of you may already know, Lea's family and I have a Monday night tradition known as Marvelous Monday Meals. Also Lea's daughter's boyfriend Dan comes too. It has been incredibly fun. We try new recipes (and hope for the best ;)). We have had Swedish meatballs, Philly Cheesesteaks, brocolli salad, creamy tortellini soup, chicken taco soup, chicken cordon bleu, etc.. For dessert we have had apple taffy pizza, chocolate trifle, coka cola cake, baked Alaska, etc. It has been a scrum-diddly-umptious time and entirely fun! We usually enjoy dessert while watching episodes of Scrubs. And every week, this is the highlight of Monday. Her whole family talks about it. I have an album of it on facebook, and will be making a cookbook from our Monday meals (with pictures!) soon.

And so this past Monday, I was making slow-cooker White Chili. And so the snow was kind of putting a cramp in Marvelous Monday Meals plans, which can never be a good thing! But with the snow starting to stick around 2 p.m., and me leaving the funeral home at 3 so I could make it home safely (studded tires or not, I'm not an experienced snow and ice driver, so I didn't want to be taking any chances), it was looking like a strong possibility that we would be cancelling Marvelous Monday Meals. And that was tragic. But in the end, we found an alternate solution :). And so Lea's husband and son came and picked me up (Dan was already at the house from after school). With hot chili in hand, and everything to spend the night at her house (including 2 chick flicks to watch, because I was pretty confident I wouldn't be going to either job the following day...), I piled into the truck and we made our way to Lea's. We actually didn't encounter any driving problems, but we saw the southbound freeway traffic, and that was grid-locked! Of course, we arrived at Lea's, and there was no power! Which meant we didn't have any cornbread muffins to go with our chili. But everyone was so happy to have the warm chili. And we anticipated that the power would be on in no time, and we could snack on cornbread muffins and the cinnamon cobblestone muffins that were to be dessert while watching Scrubs. Because they've lived in their house for about 10 years now, and they've never been without power more than 30 minutes. So we were optimistic. And, because I had thought to charge my laptop at home and to bring it with me, we rigged it up with speakers, and watched episodes of Scrubs while we settled in to wait for power. By 10, we were ready to turn in. We were bundled up. And we still had no power. But we figured it would come on during the night. It was 61 degrees inside when we went to bed. And the following morning, when we woke up to no power, it was 51 degrees inside! YIKES! So we walked around in blankets and coats. Hahaha. I called in and both jobs were closed. So there was no problem there. Didn't have to worry about being anywhere. Turned out we were in a stretch of the city that didn't have power, but the grocery store about 3 minutes away had power. So Lea's husband, daughter, and son went to the grocery store and got hot chocolates and coffees for everyone. Which makes me think of one of my thankfuls: I'm so thankful to live in a time of modern convenience!! And that, even though we were living without power and cold, there were some people who were not, and so we had options. I think I was born in the right time. I simply don't think I was cut out for days of no electricity. I am also thankful that, even without power, the toilets still flushed. I love indoor plumbing. Again, something without which I don't think I could function :). Or at least not well ;). So here are me and Lea. We had been up for a while, but I had only just put in my contacts, hence my tired-eyes. At this point, Lea had managed to get out of her warm bed and make it to the couch where she piled up the blankets. Hahaha.
As the day wore on, we decided we were hungry. And since power was not coming back, we improvised. Chuck thought of the bbq grill. And believe it or not, we had eggs, bacon, and toast (along with hot water boiled on the grill for more hot chocolate or coffee, and for washing dishes!). And so, here's a thing for which to be thankful: it gave me an idea of a way to do things when power is out. I think I need to invest in a charcoal grill and charcoal! And besides that, it was fun! It was an adventure!

After eating, we still didn't have power. So the whole chick-flick plan went out the window. We kept laughing and saying, "Don't the power people understand that their lack of hooking up power here is affecting our watching chick-flicks!?!" These are important things, people. But we decided to entertain ourselves with games. We ended up playing Skip-Bo. And that was fun. But here we are, all bundled up: me, Lea, Xavier, Morgan, and Dan. Chuck was still outside playing Survivor: Tundra. Hahaha. And so, I'm thankful for non-electrical entertainment! And for friends with whom to enjoy those non-electrical entertainments :). Even when we're frigidly cold (did I mention it was 29 degrees outside)!

We continued to be hopeful about the restoration of power. It didn't happen. And by this point, it was 4 p.m., and starting to get darker outside, and colder, and the temperature inside had dropped to 49 degrees. So here I am, texting people to see how they were holding up, all bundled up. And so I'm thankful for technology that allows us to keep in touch when the power is out (at least through the end of battery life ;)). And I'm also thankful that almost all of the time, I have a warm house. And even in this case, where we weren't enjoying heat at the moment, we were out of the elements, and that is such a blessing too! And we had tons of blankets and coats and sweaters and socks to keep us bundled up and as warm as possible.

But with the temperature dropping and still no heat or power -- and no more hot water either -- it was time to get me home and time for Lea's family to find a warm place to stay for the night. So Chuck drove me home. Dan went home (and got there safe, thankfully, in spite of incredibly icy roads and a huge slip down a big hill and the need to walk home to get his dad to help get his truck out). And Lea and her family found a friend with plenty of room and heat where they could stay for the night.

In spite of my greatest hopes, both of my jobs were open on Wednesday. And the roads weren't horrible. Temperatures remained below freezing, so nothing was melting. But the roads were surprisingly clear. So I went to both jobs. And arrived safely. I left the funeral home at 4, because my mom had bought tickets to The Forgotten Carols in Seattle. Lea went with us. And we had such fun! We walked on the ferry on the way over. Took a taxi (witha driver who ran a red light) to Benaroya Hall (which I keep calling Benny Hana Hall -- I just can't seem to get it right!), and got in and waited. And took pictures.

The show was fabulous!!! Plenty of humor. A sweet message. Beautiful music and talented singers! It was awesome! I'm so glad we went :). When it let out, we caught a cab back to the ferry terminal. He was another crazy driver. He went really fast down steep hills and scraped the car. But we arrived in once piece ;). We ate gourmet for dinner (at 10:00 at night) called McDonald's. Hahaha. Well, that was what was open late by the ferry! Turns out the Subway sandwiches inside the terminal was open too, but we didn't know that! So here are me and Lea on the ferry home. In the background (though you can't really seem him) is this dude that had blue and white long dredlocks in a mohawk-type thing. He didn't have hair anywhere else but the down the middle of his head. The weirdest thing is that he was on the ferry on the way over to Seattle with us, we saw him in the ticket line as soon as we all got into the ferry terminal when we arrived in Seattle, like he was buying a ticket back, and then when we got back after the show, he was in the terminal again, and was riding the ferry back with us! It was bizarre! We are wondering if he just rides the ferry back and forth for kicks on a Wednesday night. Hahaha...

So we dropped Lea off after a fun and laughter-filled ferry ride home. And then we got home at about midnight.

I've also pondered some deep thoughts this week (and some not-so-deep). Like why are eggs (huevos) and nuts (nueces) not equal across languages? Or like why does my good memory have to encompass the bad memories as well? I don't have an answer for the first question. But for the second, I think I do. I think that, even though I would often rather forget some of the more painful memories of my life, perhaps they are there and will remain there as a reminder. A reminder that I don't want to feel those things again. A prevantative measure so that I won't make the same mistakes again. And for that, I can definitely be grateful.

So yeah, it's been an interesting week. Opportunities abounded to make the best out of a bad situation in many cases. And overall, I have been able to see so many things in my life for which I should be grateful. And today we will enjoy Thanksgiving with most of my family. And I will continue to be thankful for the things that I have. Because it's everything I need and so much more :). And I am reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I'm not just to be thankful in the good things, but in every thing. Even the hard moments that bring life's lessons. Because, as the Lord reminds me in D&C 122:7: "all these things shall give [me] experience, and shall be for [my] good."

Do You Know...

....I still go walking when it's literally freezing outside? I just bundle up A LOT. You probably can't tell from this picture, but I'm wearing the hat, a t-shirt, a sweater, the coat with a hood, the pants, and pajama pants underneath the pants to add extra warmth for my legs.
...that these are not snow shoes? Yeah. When I left the house this morning, we knew it would be snowing. Because it already was. But it wasn't sticking to the ground, and we didn't anticipate that it would. So I figured I was okay in these. At 3 this afternoon, when I left work (early due to snow), I got the affirmation that I should always listen to my mom... And wear smart shoes.

...what a 32" flat screen tv looks like? It looks like this: Plus 3 others just like it. In case you can't tell, these are studded snow tires. And I am the (questionably) proud owner of a new set. And my tv plans went out the window... But at least I'm still out of debt. And the truth is, what good is a tv or vacation money if I die because I didn't have studded tires for the crazy winter we are predicted to have (and it looks like their predictions were spot-on, even though I had hoped they were just making it up for kicks and giggles...).

...that I can still smile when freezing cold, a bit bent out of shape about my tv, and a little annoyed with Mother Nature for giving us yet another bad winter (starting before Thanksgiving) in a place where they supposedly don't get bad winters but once every 20 years? Yeah, I can. Here's proof.

Yep. It's going to be a baaaad winter.

Forks Fun and a Familiar Face

I have a lot of catching up to do. It's been over 2 weeks since I last blogged, and even before that, I had stuff to blog, but I was holding back so as not to raise suspicions of people... like Stacy :). So, here goes the week of March 7 through 15.

On March 7, my mom, Christina, the girls, and I went to Forks, WA. For those of you who don't know, Forks is where those ever-popular Twilight books are set. At 2.5 hours away from me, it was a do-able day trip. And it was something fun to do. Plus, I could finally get Stacy that Forks dirt she had requested months back. So we went. It was a chilly day. A rainy day. Not out of the ordinary for this part of the state. What was out of the ordinary was when it started snowing on us. Yes, here it was, March 7, and we are getting snowed on. The good news was that it wasn't sticking to the ground. So we continued our way to Forks, passing through Port Angeles. The girls did magnificently. We enjoyed light banter. We got to Forks and pulled off at the sign. And okay, so we got honked at by the locals. I was embarassed. Seriously embarassed. But as we trudged up to the sign (that has a make-shift walkway that, I'm sure, has made an appearance because of the books' popularity), I saw tons of shoe marks in the mud, so I knew I wasn't the only one :). That helped a little.


So we got that picture, and then I had to collect the dirt. I really did feel so silly. But hey, it was for a worthy cause :). And I collected the dirt by the sign so that there could be no question as to whether or not it was authentic Forks dirt ;). And my little helper Desiree helped scoop dirt up too.


Around this time, Christina said, "Hila, we have company." I immediately thought the worst and said, "Is it the police?" Hahahahaha... Turns out it was 3 teenage girls from Canada. Priceless. And these 3 girls ended up following us to the next "hot-spot" on our list -- Forks High School.


I had a map that I got from the Chamber of Commerce site. Basically the only two spots I saw worth visiting were the High School and the Police Station (where the main character's father worked). So, we went to the City Hall, where the police station really is.


Then we went to a store. My mom bought us each a t-shirt. Mine is black with silver writing that says, "Real Vampires Sparkle in Forks, WA." They sprayed it with glitter so that I'd sparkle. I didn't wear it that day, though. I was saving it for Stacy's Twilight party in Alabama. Anyway, I ended up getting pins for everyone who would be at Stacy's party. The pins said, "Vampires Rain in Forks, WA" or something like that. I thought it was clever. They aren't the run-of-the-mill pins you can get through mass distributors, since the lady said her boss designed them. So, I thought that was neat. The lady also threw in 8 pairs of plastic vampire fangs, since I bought 8 pins. Oh, I also bought a pencil for my friend April's daughter Courtney. Anyway, they also had this map of the city with all the "hot spots" for Twilight. So, you know we had to do it. We ended up going by the hospital and taking a picture with the sign for Dr. Cullen's parking space.

If you can't tell by the way I look, I felt very self-conscious. Because right about this time, a guy was walking over and saying, "Why are you taking a picture with my parking space?" I chuckled and flippantly said, "Don't you know you're famous?" And he laughed and said, "Yeah." Then he shook my hand. As I was looking down to shake his hand, I saw his badge around his neck said "Dr. Cullen." And I quite stupidly said, "Oh! You really are Dr. Cullen!" In retrospect, I feel like a total idiot. What a total duh moment. He so was not a real Dr. Cullen. I'm sure he made that up for that specific purpose. Hahahaha... Sometimes I get flustered enough to be really ditzy.

We drove by the house that was supposed to be Bella's, but it wasn't all that. But I did stop by and get a picture with the Forks Memorial Library sign.


We also went into another store, where Desiree got some vampire teeth. She loved these.


After this, we drove out to La Push.

I didn't know Stacy would've loved rocks or something from here... Sorry about that. Next time, I promise :). Anyway, we made our way down to First Beach. It was so pretty. Unfortunately, it was also very cold. So cold, in fact, that it started hailing on us. But whatever. We were there to take pictures, so we did.


Also, I thought this reminded me a lot of The Goonies. Which is probably because that movie was filmed off the coast of Oregon, and the Oregon and Washington coasts look alike. Anyway, it was cool. I'd like to go back when it's warmer.


There was a restaurant on the road to La Push that was supposed to have a full Twilight menu. We didn't stop, though, because we had planned to eat at Bella Italia in Port Angeles on the way back. So instead, we snacked on the Twilight conversation hearts I bought for us at the grocery store:


So we got snowed on again on the way into Port Angeles. And this time, it was sticking. Blech. But, we made it :).


Much to our chagrin, it turns out that we couldn't find Bella Italia. I was so distraught. We should've eaten at the Twilight restaurant!!! Oh well, guess you can't win them all... We ended up at McDonald's. I'm telling you... Italian would have been much better!

And so ended the Forks trip. But it was fun :). A great memory. And lots of fun to get the stuff to take to the Twilight party at which I was going to be a surprise guest!

That week, I just worked and watched the kiddos. Nothing out of the ordinary. Although I did take a picture of Emily holding up her head like a pro. I don't know how they grow up so fast...

Also, by this point, April and I had come up with our girlie theme for our get together in Birmingham. So we were working on ideas and stuff throughout the week.

But then on Saturday, the 14th, Donna was in Seattle! So, I took the ferry over to Seattle and met up with her at Pike Place Market :). It was so fun to see a familiar face from Alabama. So we walked all over the city -- which was super easy, actually -- and found a bakery and a burger place that were noted in her travel guide. We also hit the Starbucks at Pike Place Market -- the first Starbucks ever. Most amusing was the girl behind the counter trying to sell Donna a different coffee experience. "Would you like it brewed in this special machine that is made to enhance the flavor, for just a few cents more?" When the questions finally came to, "Do you like a creamy chocolate flavor in your coffee, or do you prefer a bold berry taste?", Donna finally said, "You know what? I think I'll stick with the regular Pike Place blend. Too many choices confuse me." I laughed so hard!


Donna walked with me back to the ferry terminal, and we passed this sign -- and had to take a picture (keep in mind St. Patrick's Day was coming up). Gotta love Seattle.


I spent Saturday night finalizing some things. And then I woke up on Sunday, and this is what I saw:

Seriously not what I wanted to see. We didn't go to church, because my mom's car was sliding on the hill coming up that morning. And before it was all said and done, we had about 3.5 inches of snow! On March 15!!! CRAZY! And seriously, I was going a little psycho... I was quite concerned about my flight status for that night. In the meantime, I packed and prepared the Forks Dirt vials for everyone. I flew out on the red-eye -- which was a tad delayed because we had to be de-iced twice. But those stories are for another day... For now, this is about half of my catch-up. With a promise of more to come!

Vanilla True and True

Okay, so seriously. My life is rather vanilla! I go to work when I'm not watching the girls. I rarely have anything exciting on my plate these days. At work, I've finished all the backlogged filing and am now working on going through the files one by one. You ever suggest something that seems really easy at first and then turns out to be a nightmare? Hahahaha... Phew! I only thought I knew how badly those files needed fixing! I'm making new cards for every file (which means a 3x5 file card for each name associated with each file and how they are associated) and also sometimes separating files or combining them as is appropriate. It's pretty interesting to see how things are done about 5 million different ways. I look forward to when I am making some serious headway in the project. So far I've completed 9 whole files. Something like 5,000 to go ;). (And that's just my mental estimate, which is probably way off...). But I do know that it will be so worth it when it's all said and done. Though I have discovered that working on the file cards, because I'm doing them on a computer, does prevent me from belting out music... And you know what? I miss that! I'm hoping I'll get a computer out in what is endearingly referred to as the tin can or the boxcar in the near future :). Then I can sit out there and go through files... and SING!

So, today, surprise, surprise, it snowed... again! It didn't stick, but they were huge, fat flakes of snow. Wish I'd had my camera, because the snow was really falling hard. In the middle of that, I went out to check something in the park. And Bob was nice enough to take me to where I had to go on the Gator, so I didn't have to walk all that way in the snow. The people there are so nice. And fun. I really enjoy the environment :). I will say I was sooo cold when it was all said and done, though! And tonight, I think it's already freezing outside. Ick. This is March, people!

And so there you go. I have nothing else interesting to say! I told you my life is very vanilla these days :).

Oh! But, my friend Donna -- with whom I used to work at Troy -- is going to be in Seattle next weekend! So, we're going to hang out in the afternoon :). So that is exciting :).

Also, I'm working on the Twilight Trivia game for Stacy's party. I'm almost done now. Just typing up the questions -- of which Christina and I came up with 44.

*And Elka guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Snow Blows in the New Year

And so it snowed again today. It's supposed to turn to rain sometime in the night and pretty much be gone by the morning. Here's to hoping, because I'm totally planning on hanging out with Christina tomorrow.

So how did you spend your new year? I stayed up alone in the basement watching Fever Pitch on hulu. That's such a cute movie. It'd been years since I'd seen it. It's one I'd like to own. I'm a sucker for chick flicks. On New Year's Day, my mom and I went over to Brad and Tarylyn's, along with Christina, Desiree, and Emily. We spent the whole afternoon over there and played several games of Apples to Apples (which was hilarious!). And I made those bacon cheese mini appetizers, which got unfortunately browned in the oven, but were still edible. I just hate it when my food turns out darker than it should. And my mom made wassail. And it was a fun day and we laughed a lot. Tarylyn and Christina really enjoyed the game, and I look forward to playing it again. And later on we made S'mores. The plain way, Julie. We didn't get artsy ;).


I ended up staying the night at Brad and Tarylyn's, since I'd promised the kids I would have a sleepover with them at some point. Samuel slept on one end of the couch and I slept on the other end. It was his turn to do so, since Saria did last time. I sure do love these kids. Even when they wake me up early in the morning. I still love them. I pretty much spent the day over there and we watched movies. The day was a pretty day... sunny. Oh, I got a text message from a Southeastern Alabama phone number that I didn't recognize, and the only message in the text was another Southeastern Alabama phone number I didn't recognize. I don't return calls to numbers I don't know, so if you are reading this and you're the one who sent it, that's why I didn't call you back. Of course, chances are, it was nothing. Because I didn't get another one. Probably a "wrong number" or the such.

My mom and I ran errands on Saturday, and then today was church. Being that it was the first Sunday of the new year, we swapped times with the other ward and are now going to morning church, which I personally prefer. Probably because I've always done it it this way, and I tend to be a creature of habit. But anyway, so I'm happy with the new time :). I taught my first lesson in Relief Society and I was so nervous! But everyone said I did a really great job and that no one would have known it was my first lesson if I hadn't said it was. So yay! I was seriously nervous. And then, of course, it started snowing in the afternoon while my mom and I were doing laundry and watching Bones.

Oh, and check out this gift I got from Elka, Mrs. S, and my Aunt Hila! (My mom got a black pair with warm lining):

Okay, so I never thought I'd have a pair of these, because they really are rather odd-looking shoes. But I have a pair now. And they are quite comfortable. And I'm all about slip-on shoes. Especially ones you can wear with socks :).

So, that about sums up life for me. Oh, except on New Year's, when we were getting ready to head to Brad's, there was snowy slush on my car. Enough of it that I wanted to use the windshield wipers to clear it off. So, I learned a new lesson (one that should be pretty obvious, but as I learned it the hard way, perhaps I should share it here...). Make sure you close your car door before turning on the wipers to rid your windshield of the snow. Because otherwise it just pours into your car. Genius... Genius.

A Recap with (tons of) Pictures

So as many of you may have read, my dad didn't go to Panama after all. He came here instead. And I love him for it. Especially because he could have been in the lovely weather of Panama (and I know it was lovely, as a family friend emailed me the day after my dad arrived here and told me the weather there in Panama had been beautiful for about 3 weeks), but instead came to the snowed-in Pacific Northwest! On the up-side, he did come to all of our rescue! My dad knows a lot about cars, and he knows how to finagle a situation and keep us safe. So, he got my mom's car off this hill, even without the snow tires. He helped me unpack my stuff from the gargage to get my mom's snow tires. And then he proceeded to spend around $250 on tire chains for everyone's vehicles. Because nobody was prepared for the weather that we got. Have I said before that my dad is like a hero sometimes? Because he is. And I love him. Of course, I didn't end up getting my requested 3 bags of platanitos. But I guess I'll forgive him... this time :).

And for the benefit of those of you who (like I was until now) have no clue what tire chains for the snow look like, I took a picture of the chains on my car. So, that's just an FYI. Also, you can't go over 35 mph with these on. But it's also a hassle to get in and out of the car to take them off and put them back on when you need them or don't. Ah, the joys of snow driving! But I will say that it was preferable to cabin fever.


So the week of Christmas was spent driving around a lot from house to house. We took my dad to surprise everyone house-by-house, and let me tell you... that was an adventure. Brad's road was solid ice. In fact, they would just slide down it on a little sled-like thing:


And ice and tires (even snow tires) don't really mix. So, we had to roll backwards and get to a flatter part of the road and then put the chains on. Christina was so surprised to see my dad, she cried. Poor thing. And then we went and saw Ben and visited with him too. So, Tuesday was a busy day. Wednesday I don't even remember what we did, but I know we saw family. On Thursday, Christmas, my Aunt Sue and Uncle Ernie came over for Christmas. Christina and Desiree and Emily also came over, since Nick had to work and she would've been alone all day. So, here's the bulk of the pictures of present opening:


Here are a few pictures of me with some of my presents:
Christina and Nick gave me an mp3 player (a 4 gig Zune):



Brad and Tarylyn got me Mama Mia! (but I didn't take a picture... shame on me!).

Julie gave me a beautiful bag with my initial embroidered:


Aunt Sue and Uncle Ernie got me warm cozy pajamas and socks:


And Le sent me Chinese plums and toe socks!! Which are totally awesome for flip-flop wearing :) :

Christina got Breaking Dawn from Nick, so I will eventually borrow that from her. So that means, in one way or another, I got 3 of the 4 things on my wish list. Surprisingly, there were no takers on the Toyota Yaris. But perhaps that's good. Seems I should reconsider and ask for a 4-wheel drive instead, as preparation for any future huge snowfalls.

We ended up having to wait until Saturday to do our whole family Christmas, because Brad and Tarylyn were pretty much trapped in their driveway until Friday. So, Saturday we all went to Brad and Tarylyn's and we had our family presents. And then we went to Sears and took our first ever family pictures. Both for the 6 of us (my parents, Ben, me, Brad, and Christina) as well as for everyone, including all the grandkids. And I totally love that Sears releases the copyright.



Monday was spent running my dad around to see everyone one last time, because he left early this morning :(. All in all, it was great. I'm so glad my dad came to celebrate Christmas with us and see Emily. And just to close with a shot of snow, here's a video of the crazy weather!

10 Inches

That's how much snow was on the ground by the time it stopped snowing. Well, roughly 10 inches. It's wild! Nilla Wafer, who basically has never experienced much of any kind of snow, moves to the Pacific Northwest where it doesn't really snow. And we get the worst weather they've had in nearly 20 years!!! How crazy is that!?!

Here was the measurement before the snow started falling on Sunday:


That means I've pretty much been having cabin fever. Except Christina and the girls came on Saturday and stayed until today. Mostly because Nick was going to work the weekend and there was a fear that they might lose power and Christina felt better about being here with the new baby and Desiree in the event they or even all of us were to lose power. We didn't lose power here, but Brad and Tarylyn lost power for 2 1/2 hours last night. And they live close to Christina. Of course, we had to go down the hill and meet Christina, Nick, and the babies at the bottom of the hill and carry everything up the hill. We have not wanted to try any cars on this hill so far.

Okay, so here are more things I've learned about snow and ice.

1. Okay, when you step on snow, the next day, that place where you stepped becomes ice. And as I learned before, ice is slippery (even if you're in tennis shoes and not heels), so you definitely don't want to step on the spots. But they look pretty cool. Check this out... and even the dog prints do the same:


2. Don't attempt driving a car up a steep hill when it is not properly equipped with snow tires and/or chains. Here's what ended up happening to my mom's car when she tried this (she missed hitting the home-owner's fence by just a bit, and ended up abandoning the car about 4 houses down from where we live, overnight):


3. You can sweep off your car:


4. It does look pretty when it snows. And just when you thought Thursday and Friday's snowfall was phenomenal, you get to see what happens when it snows more on Saturday evening and Sunday:


5. Your feet eventually become numb if they are enclosed in snow for a long time (and Desiree doesn't like snow that is this deep, can you tell from her facial expression?):


6. Desiree only thinks it's fun to get thrown and stuck in the snow two times. And then she's done with that:


7. Snowballs really do hurt:


8. But they don't taste bad. Yes, I know, and have always known, that it's ice... frozen water. But come on. I had to taste a snowball:


9. According to Christina, Emily looks like a frog in this picture (she was getting lotioned up):

Okay, so that wasn't really related to snow and ice.

10. On snow days, you just need to have snackies. So, I made Overnight Cinnamon rolls (consult your cookbooks, family), cheese olivettes (thanks, Elka, for putting the idea in my head), lush dessert (because we had the ingredients, so why not?)), and applie pie (because the apples had to be used). In our defense, we had a very healthy (and yummy) Garlic Vegetable Soup... also in the cookbook :). And for once, there isn't a picture associated with the food I mention! Will wonders never cease?

11. Perhaps most importantly... You're never too old to make your first snow angel :).


Want to know something I learned about winter weather about 8 years ago? I learned that the term is wind chill, not windshield. See, the first year I was anywhere that actually got cold enough to use the term wind chill (remember, I spent the first 18 years of my life in Panama, where the weather never changed, other than to be rainy or dry), I thought they were saying windshield and that the way they determined that was by touching the windshield of a car and whatever that glass registered was the temperature they were announcing. I had been in Alabama a good couple or so years before I realized what they were really saying. I guess I could blame in on the Southern accent, right? Hahahahaha.... Okay, if you know me, you know me thinking it was "windshield is so Nilla of me :).

*Okay, and Elka and Anna have guessed the movie quote correctly! *

(Anna, the previous thing up there was not a quote. I had just not been keeping up with the quote of the week thing, and I didn't know when I'd put up a new quote, so I wrote that I hoped my quote game would start again in the near future when I start watching the movies I own once again :). But your guess was pretty darn good, based on what I wrote! Sounds like a line from one of those movies!).