Holy Colee!

I am a little frustrated with mother nature this week. She's making it impossible for me to just kick back on my "vacation." The weird part is, it's not even what she is doing in my part of the world, which is snowing.... lots and lots of snowing.... but that super lame earthquake in asia is making work a drama instead of a lovely quiet week like it should have been ;) OK. I am done whining. Life is good, really. The snow, while I do not like driving in it, is very pretty and much needed and it keeps it relatively warm. I think today we spent the whole day above 0F!

Cannon is staying with us this week, too. This makes me happy. He is a 7 yr old stinker, but he's keeps things interesting around the house. Mom and I tend to be a little quiet when we are left to ourselves. Today while I was at work, they spent the day sledding in the slush. Everyone is soaked to the bone.

Tomorrow is another day!

Well, maybe it's not for another hour or so, but that can be easily overlooked. Merry Christmas!!!! We actually had our Christmas today, because Christmas Eve is when my brother and nephew come to visit. They got here just in time to hurry and get the small one ready so we could go to church. The service today was the choir program (yay) which I didn't participate in because I was staying home to wait for the boys, but that's ok. Cannon and I watched and listened. After lunch we came home and had a lovely dinner, which I am pretty sure we could not eat fast enough to make the small one happy. He really wanted to dig into the presents. When we finally finished he went a little crazy. It's funny to see him get so excited about the most random things and everything is "EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!" even though only about half of the gifts will even get played with until February ;) Once again the farm animals win the most used in the first day award. They are always a hit with him, but I am pretty sure he has just about everyone imaginable at this point. Except, I am told he does not yet have an emu, which is apparently a farm animal, since the man down the street has one roaming in his field.

Anyway, after the boys left, we went down to Kelly and Justin's to play games and try and keep the kids awake so they maybe will sleep past 2 am. I am pretty sure it won't work, but since a couple of them seem to be coming down with a little bit of a bug, they have a better shot of sleeping than most years :S I am going to bed now. Oddly, I get to sleep in on Christmas. With no kids at home, we get to sleep in as long as we want.... or at least until the phone rings with kids on the other end so excited they can't wait to tell us what Santa brought them.

Thank you People in NC. And right back at ya! I did have a lovely drive yesterday (and since it is snowing today, I am feeling even better about my choice of yesterday). I stopped in Logan for lunch with Trista and Shar, and got to meet Shar's new baby. His name is Demitri (or Darnell if you choose to side with Trista). He is beautiful :) Go figure, eh? But really. All that black hair :) I'll load a picture once I get back to a computer with a connection better than 26.4k. When I got home, my mom was super excited :) It was great. Last night Kelly and Justin came up and put in mom's Christmas present, which is a new kitchen counter top and sink. It's going to be a project for a couple of days more, but they got a good start on it, anyway. It's going to be fantastic.

Ok... I gotta jet. It's time for aerobics at the church house :)

I get to come home a day early!!!!! Don't tell my mom, it's a surprise. I've known since most of yesterday, but I haven't told her yet. I'm telling you now because she's already at work. So unless you tell her - she won't find out until I am already home. I am stopping in Logan to visit some friends, but I should still be home about the same time mom get's off work :) YAY!! If I had my way about it, I would be gone already. That just seemed mean to the people I would have had to wake up when I got to Logan. If I wait one more hour I can meet them at a reasonable time for lunch.... so I am trying to be patient. It's harder than it seems like it should be.

It is driving me crazy to have to be at work this week. All I can do is plot how to get out of town earlier than I have planned. I am going home for the holidays. I still have to work, but I am only working half days, and assuming they don't get tired of me, I will be doing it from the Bear Lake County Library. I like working from the library. The ladies there are super nice, and it's pleasant to have people around to listen to while I work, even if I don't talk much. I feel bad sometimes when I have to take calls there, because, well, it IS a library, but so far, so good :)

I want to go home!!!!!

Yesterday ended up being a very productive day. I am officially done with my Christmas shopping and it's all wrapped up and ready to go. My tree is very pretty with packages underneath it, even if none of them are for me ;)

We went to a dinner party last night. It was very nice and the girls had obviously spent a lot of time making sure everything was perfect.

I love the holiday season. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music. Today was my ward's choir program at church. I joined the choir last week on a whim, but what it meant is that I got to sing in the program today. We sang some of my favorites, including The First Noel/Pachelbel's Canon. I left the meeting feeling completely ready for Christmas.

Tonight, just to be sure, I am watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I figure since I can't be home for my family Christmas party, I'll have a little one of my own :)

What a good week it has been. I got moved into a room with windows at work. It was a little sad being the only one left in the big room, so this smaller room is very cozy, and now I can watch the snow fall. At least I'll know what I am headed out for at the end of the day.

Dav came to visit on Wednesday. It was great, we spent the evening downtown looking at Christmas lights and doing a little shopping. It was a lovely night. It rained the whole time we were walking, but it was a warm(ish) rain, and a light jacket night. He spent the night on the couch and Thursday we did a little more shopping, ran an errand, watched a movie and then took him up to his folks' house. His parents are some of my very favorite people.

Unfortunately, I had to work on Friday... but hey, I've got that window ;) Today I have GOT to finish my Christmas shopping. It's embarrassing to still have so much to do. We've been invited to a little party tonight, to which we've been asked to "dress for the occasion." It sounds like a lovely way to spend a Saturday night!

Contrary to popular belief, couples and families do not have a copyright on holiday cheer. We asked, "What do you think are the biggest benefits of being happily single during the holidays?" Besides "getting to kiss anyone or everyone under the mistletoe," (a pretty big plus, anyone would have to admit) here are a few more singles-only holiday perks:

~No arguments in the car about who said something stupid to whom at the family party.

~Not having to wake up at some ungodly hour to open gifts and pretend I'm surprised or elated.

~Decorating the tree in green, pink and purple bows if I feel like it... or not at all.

~Not having to coordinate everything with a lazy husband who made us late everywhere we went, then just fell asleep on the couch wherever we were.

~I can go shopping and completely avoid Home Depot and the golf store. Plus, I can hit every store I want without hearing the whine, "Do we have to go in here?"

~Spending less money and anxiety on trying to find that "perfect gift." I can buy myself something instead.

~Because I'm single, I still get as many presents from my mom as I did when I was a kid. As soon as I have kids, I'll get an ugly sweater and slippers from her, and nothing else. I know, because I've seen it happen to my older sister!

~More time to spend with my family and friends, and less stress trying to juggle multiple families and expectations. I can spend however much I want, have dinner wherever I want and spend Christmas wherever I want, rather than spending time with people out of obligation.

~I don't have to watch the Christmas football games. Instead I can sit down with a mug of cocoa and watch the "What Not to Wear" marathon all afternoon.

~I have more energy and time to put into doing good in the community. Last Christmas morning, I volunteered to serve food at a local restaurant that put on a huge spread for homeless people in town. It made me so grateful for everything that I have in life — which is a lot.

Duct Tape is like the force. There is a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together.

I have no idea who this child is, but she doesn't look like she put up too much of a fight while daddy taped her up. I do appreciate that he put the duck up there with her.

I was driving around town today with no true purpose, and I ended up behind a City Cab. I laughed to myself when I ready the sign on the back of the van. Live the Dream, Now Hiring." I know there is at least one of you that is going to tell me that driving a cab in Salt Lake really is "The Dream," but I can't help but think, what a sad dream that really is.

I didn't really accomplish much today, but I did go visit my grandparents. I lucked out and my cousin, Tim, was there visiting from Colorado. I also got about half of my Christmas shopping... I remember now why I try to do that before Thanksgiving.

Well, I guess I am a hypocrite, after all. What other explanation is there for me having such a hard time believing the silly love stories when people fall in love at first site, but I have no problem believing that Clarice would risk her life to go looking for Rudolph after meeting him only one time at reindeer practice?

Yesterday, I took a nap. I woke up feeling better than I had from a week of odd night's sleeps.
I think naps are an interesting phenomenon. When we are little we are forced to take naps. They always come at the worst time of the day, when we're in the middle of playing. When kids get a little cranky, the suggestion to fix it is a nap. We're sent to our beds until we can come back and be nice.

As we grow up, however, naps become a luxury. They're a treat for a Sunday afternoon, or after a big holiday meal. When adults get cranky, the suggestion is an anti anxiety pill or a brisk walk around the building. I think we should insitigate adult nap time. How many of today's conflicts could be resolved if we would just walk away from the table, take a nap, and come back with a cool, refreshed head.

Ok... now I am just rambling - oh wait...

These are my girls. Curious George came to the library:) I don't know anything else about this photo except that it makes me feel happy:)

We took photos on Thanksgiving... other than Daniel really needing a haircut... Look how cute we are!



This is my mom :) Incase you missed it somehow....

So, if anything had happened between my last entry and now, I promise I would have posted.... As is, I've spent the last week camped out at home trying to minimize this cold I am catching.

This weekend has been pretty good though. Friday night we went out to dinner with some new friends. We went to a pub called MacCools. Traditional Irish fare be had, I was very happy with my American Prime Rib. I am a red meat fan. The horseradish sauce left a little to be desired, or at least a little more horseradish and a little less sour cream, but the service was good and the company was fantastic. After dinner we went back to Becca's and played games and had cocoa. I haven't laughed that hard in so long I can not remember. I needed it, really. We then went to look at Christmas lights, at 1100pm, in a car with no gas.... While there were not many lights on that late, we did get manage to get quite nauseated on the rollercoaster also known as Avenue I.

Yesterday I went shopping as I have decided it is far past time I should be done with Christmas, but am having trouble getting into the right spirit of it all this year. Anyway, as I didn't have anything else to do but hang out at wal-mart on a Saturday night, I decided it would be a good time to get my oil changed (4 months after the "next change due date" in my window). The very nice guy at the service desk said it would be about 45 minutes. 2 hours later I walked out. UGH. However, I went to visit Bethany and VeAnn and got caught up on my "The Office" episodes.

Today, Brad invited us to go to a Break-the-Fast potluck dinner. It was great fun! It was a group of people we'd never really met before, so it was a good night to just visit and get to know new peeps. Good times I say!

Well, really, that's about it. So, just for giggles, here are the pics I stole from Dav from my HouseWarming party. See how you missed out?!




Brian, RC, and Chris


Me and VeAnn :)


Ryan and Alyssa (Feb 9th!)


MadGab :)


Brett and Becca


Barry and Jake


Brad :)