This Season

Here's a taste of what the Christmas season has been around our house.

With the dinning room being under construction, and the fireplace being in the dinning room, stockings have been hung up the railing with care.

And scotch tape.

And the star is too heavy for the top of our tree...

I helped a co-worker drop clothes off at the Homeless Shelter.

This weekend the kids and I will be cleaning out their closets and their toys.  We'll clean out our blanket closet and go buy a bunch of new socks.

And then, with the kids, we'll take their used clothes and toys (all cleaned up) down to the Homeless shelter.

In a hopes to instill in my children how rich of a life they live, and thus have a responsibility to help others.

I got to eat lunch at the Capitol yesterday with my co-workers for our AG Christmas lunch.

I love that building.

I love downtown.

Jayme made this beautiful rag tree that I've kept under the big tree.

And probably will for every year.

"Wrap yourself in the holiday spirit."

I got my Christmas craft on for our neighborhood Christmas breakfast at the church.

With a huge, huge thanks to my girls.  Those lollipops are a two man job.

You have to put the cellophane on the floor, put the balloon on the cellophane, and then hold the tube (sometimes tubes, sometimes rolled up posterboard) on the balloon.  They would hold it while I gathered and hot glued the cellophane around to the tube so we could secure the balloon in without popping it with the hot glue.  I couldn't have done it with out the extra sets of hands.

And Cali got to see Santa again.

Our friends introduced us to the most awesome, magical Christmas house.

There are so many blow up decorations, covering every inch of their yard, up in their trees, hanging on wires in the air, sitting on their roof...

You just can't see it all with one visit.

I've been three times this week and I still find a new blow up that I hadn't noticed before.

Like the mooning Santa:

And the bear with his tongue stuck to a pole:

And Santa in the outhouse, which sadly, I don't have a picture of.

This weekend will be focused on donating to the Homeless Shelter.  I'm hoping that will set the mood for giving with our Circus.  For giving for the simple fact that it creates joy for someone else, and that alone creates the greatest feeling in ourselves.

We have so very much in this life.

We must reach out to those who need a helping hand.

Because when we give what we have, we always seem to have what we need.

That's what I get.

The snow started out as sleet, a combination of rain and snow falling wet from the clouds.  It eventually turned into giant white flakes that stuck to the ground and began to build.

This is what I get for complaining about not getting snow like we used to, I thought to myself.  Serves me right.

But I still stand by the thought that we really need the moisture in our state.  And it really didn't bother as much as it usually does to have it be so cold and snowy.

When I got home from work The Man was already out and playing in it with the kids.  Snowmen in various stages of completion dotted my yard and The Man began to do donuts.

I was standing on the driveway and he caught me with the spray of the snowy rooster tail that flew up behind him as he spun.  The drops of wet snow that were flung at me stung when they hit, and began to slide down the neckline of my shirt.

I decided to catch this on video, but this time I was determined to get out of the way of the snow that was going to be whipped up into the air.


I had snow flung into my ear and again had it slipping down the neckline of my shirt as it pelted me.

I'd had enough snow.

It continued to snow through the night and into the next morning.  We had a foot of snow sitting in our yard and it continued to fall.

So we did the only thing we could think of.  We packed up the kids, piled into the Navi, and headed south to St. George where we could be sure that even if temps were cooler, they were warmer than at home.  And there wouldn't be any snow.

So we visited Grandpa Dick and Grandma KC.  I needed my dad's help with a video homework assignment anyway (that will be coming tomorrow.  My first vlog with my dad as my special guest).  We left the snow behind and headed to fifty degrees of not so freezing cold.

And it was nice.  We wore jackets instead of snow suits.  I videoed my vlog with my dad and then we took them out to dinner.  We watched a movie snuggled up in their TV room and ate air popped popcorn.

We slept with the windows open.

We went to church and then had a wonderful roast dinner.  The kids ran and screamed in the backyard, working out all of their energy.

We talked .

We ate pie.

We contemplated making a permanent move, but not for too long. It's too complicated a process.  There are trivial things, like jobs, to worry about.

I think Sean said it best when he said, "I wish we never had to leave here."

Thanks for the weekend Mom and Dad. xoxo

what do you love about your state?

I had to chisel my car out of ice this morning.

This is especially fun when the driveway also has a layer of ice on it and I'm wearing heels and slacks for work.

These pictures were taken last week, not this morning.  The Man went out and shoveled and unburied my car for me.  That's true love.

I think when it's close enough to be thinking about Easter dresses and dying eggs that we should have tulips blooming, not snow falling.  Though I guess in Utah you get to have both.

{last year about in MAY}

I make myself feel better by telling myself that there are Medicaid Fraud Control Units in all 50 states so I could reasonably apply for a job with any of them now that I have experience with it.  Reason #57 of why I like my job.

There are a few states that I want to find out about.  The pros and cons of living in them, and mostly how the weather is, what are the downsides of the weather etc.  Like how Utah has snow 9 months out of 12.  I often ask myself, blizzard or hurricane?

Hurricane.

Of course, I say that with out ever having been in one.

Maybe I should return to my 4th grade roots and do state reports.
Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
Louisiana
Alabama
Mississippi
Texas
Arizona

See a trend here?  I want south east.
I'd be okay with Arizona though.  I can handle 9 months a reasonable temps and 3 of blistering hot.  It just doesn't have ocean front.

And California, I have fun cousins there.  It's just the ocean is cold on that side of the US.

I wish I knew more people who have lived in these states so I could get a better feel for how it is to actually be there.

Anyone out there know someone who can help me?  I'd love to know.  What do you love about the state you live in?  What don't you love?