Day 23.

I am thankful for the kinda-sorta “blizzard” we had for a second today.  I am thankful for the excitement and fun it brought.

They (the meteorologists) sure talked up a big storm, and we were excited!  But, it wasn’t as big as we’d hoped for…  it did pile-up outside the door.

I think there were some people praying that it would putter out.  We were praying to get snowed in, for the power to go out, have to live off of our food storage, use the lanterns and flashlights for a night (or two), cook dinner on our camp stove, sleep underneath mounds of blankets snuggled closely to each other to keep warm.. 

You know, an “adventure”.

We had fun while it lasted…

After dinner, as I sat down to finish Lynn’s birthday shirt, Merrill came in my craft room, looked out the window, rubbed his hands together, and said to the girls, “Let’s go out and run in it!”

We were all down.

Soon, everyone had on snow gear, and we were out in it. 

We made a few snow angels, chased each other and even had a couple of tackles and white-washes.

After that, it was inside for hot baths, hot cocoa & homemade doughnuts, and snuggling while we watched a movie.

What a great day!

Maybe the next storm will pan out the way WE want it to (sigh..).

Inside fun for a snowy day..

Currently, we are watching "Anne of Green Gables", the perfect flick for a snowy Utah day, well first in line right after "Lonesome Dove".
Lynn woke up this morning telling me her legs didn't work. That is a pre-cursor for nauseous tummy, or in other words, her being sick. Luckily, we haven't had any occurrences to prove her illness, just a pale little face, and not so much energy.
That means, my plans to go out to lunch with a dear friend, were nixed..
But if Lynnie not feeling well hadn't done it, I am positive the snow would have. Merrill shoveled this morning before he left. I was wet and heavy, made his back sore.. I think he cleared a good 5-6 inches. It has been coming down steadily ever since. My two sweet neighbors have cleared the sidewalk and driveway a second time. They are so sweet!
My deck is nearly 3/4 of the way up to the railing.. my picnic table which was cleared off the other night by the girls who were playing out there, has nearly 12 inches on it!! Underneath the table is this really cool snow cave.. the snow on the ground surpasses the benches, and the snow on the benches surpass the tabletop.. all making a pretty cool place to play. Now if I were only small enough to play in there ;)
I have a confession to make..
I LOVE IT!!!
I love the storminess, the way everything is so white, peaceful, and clean.. the coziness of being cooped up all warm and snuggled inside. I would be totally content to get snowed in!
So you all who hate this white stuff, can totally blame me!
I have figured my taxes, and have learned many things in the process. A few that I thought I might share.
- You must have a Federal copy of your W-2, even if you e-file. Audit anyone?
- You may qualify to e-file and have a professional prepare your taxes and e-file for free if you meet a few requirements, one being that you make less than $56,000 a year.
- H&R Block's Tax Cut is awesome!! They found $2,000 more in refund (cha-ching) for me on Federal and $30 for state... yay!!
- If you e-file for the first time, you need not track down a PIN you use your AGI from the previous year's return.
Hopefully this saves you some time on hold with the IRS listening to the hold music (Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker score..) on repeat.

Things that make you go, hmmmm...

Waking up to this much snow... in October!
Seriously.
Gum in Ashley's hair, discovered in not enough time...
Not enough time to remove it humanely and painlessly.
I should have cut it.
I didn't have enough time to try any other method, so I combed it out.

On some science show on Food Network, they did an experiment testing different methods of gum removal, specifically removing it from hair.
Same gum, same method of getting it in the hair (someone smooshed it in), but four different methods of removing it. Each person had been given the same tools to help in the removal process (i.e. comb, towel, I think water...), but were each given one extra thing to help get the gum out.
#1- Comb (well, they all had that...)
#2- Ice
#3- Peanut Butter
#4- Canola oil
Do you know which one worked the fastest and got all the gum out at once?
The canola oil. They just massaged it into the hair and gum, and it all came out in one piece.
I didn't have the time to do that, and wash it multiple times to get out all the oil.
I had sharing time to get all set up, and the talk for opening exercises (Brother Marsh was sick and no one else was prepared...) so I had to do that too. Not to mention we had the snow to contend with in getting to church....
With the world and the economy being the way they are, wars, human nature in general, and this kind of crazy weather, makes me think more and more about the second coming.
Something else to get those thoughts rolling:
In mom's patriarchal blessing, it tells her that her children will be in positions of authority in the church when Christ comes again...
-Ken, in Elder's Quorum Presidency
-Joe, in Elder's Quorum Presidency
-Me, Primary President
-Kev, new calling, which is in leadership...
Hmmmmm....

sNoW!!! (part II...)

Mer said that he spent a total of 15 minutes in the warehouse today, to eat a quick lunch, and to type up a UPS item... The rest of his day was spent either in the plow truck or the backhoe, moving snow. Someone came and plowed my driveway :)... Mer said it wasn't him, so thanks to whoever did it... Dix? I attempted to shovel just a path from my door to the garbage can... Laughable. Do you realize how much of your abdominal strength is involved in shoveling???

We had a fun day inside. I put on "Narnia". Kind of felt like our day, lots of snow and all. Lynn is so smart. She was asking me a lot more questions about the movie and why certain things were happening. It was a great teaching experience about symbolism. She understands the atonement a lot more now than just a few months ago. I think C.S. Lewis is someone who really knows the Savior. A neat experience to be able to bear my testimony.

Oh, and here's my layout...

Crazy page, eh? This is how Lynn makes me feel lately. Can you believe she eggs-on her three year old sister to use some questionable language, and then when I get stern with her, she laughs at me??? Yeah, CRAZY page.... Merrill says he wants to abolish that word. I thought there would be the picture-perfect definition of that word today as we had 8 kids under 6 helping us paint hand prints on bags for primary teacher appreciation gifts. Not so with Christie the pro and her pro kids... Wish my kids were so good!
So I didn't believe the meteorologists... They haven't been quite spot on this week. I put-off some of my errands until later this afternoon, and like clockwork, right when I really get going, the storm hit. Needless to say, I turned around by the time I hit Riverdale road... 20 mph everywhere and anywhere you happen to go isn't fun. I did get groceries done! My neighbor gifts are done, credit must go to CK... their idea :)
Are you ever curious at all how much Merrill loves me? I had the craving for Pepsi, again. I should have bought it when I was shopping, but I thought, "You don't need that..." So I didn't. I started to want it bad again. He went out in one of the later waves of the storm and got it for me... I know, so sweet!

I got more accomplished today than I did last Saturday, the day I did "nothing"... We even got errands run. When we left the house, it was clearing up from the rain, the sun was out, we thought that the "snow storm" every news channel had warned us about was just a tease, or that it had passed over us... well, we were at our second to last stop, Blockbuster getting more Halloween shows, and it turned into a blizzard. The car was covered with snow by the time that our ten minute trip inside was over. Merrill drove over to the grocery store, across the parking lot, and I ran in to get a couple things for dinner prep. Then we began what should have been a ten minute drive home. It was crazy! Hills, first snow of the season covering the roads, same snow blinding your view, and people who have forgotten how to drive in Utah snow. Great combination for Saturday afternoon fun. A half hour later, we safely arrived at home. It makes me reflect on our morning prayers. Every day it seems like the same things are said. The girls pray that Merrill will have a good day at work even when it is Sunday... But it is the other repetitive things, that we are just in the habit of asking Heavenly Father for help with everyday. Help us to be nice. Help us to share. Help us to be safe. Help daddy to be safe at work. Bless Lynn, or Ash, depending on who says the prayer. It is those things that we just say, out of habit, that our Heavenly Father still listens to in all of our repetitiveness. Sometimes I wonder, what would happen, if anything, if those things weren't asked for at the beginning of our day. Today is one of those days where something certainly could have happened, but didn't. I am so thankful for those answered prayers. In family prayers tonight, I made sure it was not repetitive, and I made sure to thank Heavenly Father for the safety he had put upon us this day.