Valentines week-end

We hope you all had a good week-end. Ours was enjoyable.
Watching the Olympic Games is proving interesting, at times jaw dropping and definitely great. I'm not sure I would have that kind of dedication and money draining ability to hone physical abilities to that high of a level. You definitely have to respect them all. We are enjoying the snowboarding events.
We celebrated our wedding anniversary by attending Jim Brickman and Friends in Concert with The Nashville Symphony. Very entertaining and fluffily romantic :) Anyone buying one of his CD's at the event received some free gifts - Valentine CD and recyled shopping bag.
The kids all got class reports back and are doing well. A's and B's.
Nik gave a talk in Sacrament on Sunday about how reading the scriptures and attending seminary helps him grow closer to God. He did well. It took a wee while for his talk to dry out after Kris's juice container sprung a leak all over everything on our way to church.

Kris is now back on seizure medication. Hopefully the dose will be high enough to be effective but low enough that she has no side effects. She has been spending the weekend working on a photography assignment. She is learning to use Corel Painter at home so she can do altered art. Very interesting. She is loving seeing how she can change some of her photographs to graphic art.
We are contemplating what to do with our truck. Some of our friends had a look at it last night and another suggested a person who might be able to work on it for us. Personally I think we should enter a demolition derby :)
Today we have more snow. School is out because of President's Day.

Life in the Bubble

This is what happened on Tuesday when I hit a patch of black ice, swerved to miss oncoming traffic, thought I had corrected, then slid again and ended up sideways in a stream bed/gulley facing the opposite direction of traffic flow. Fortunately I missed a truck that had already slid into the ditch not too far from where I landed.

Yeah for a stout seat belt that held me hanging in place till the firemen were able to cut the windshield out and retrieve me. I got a bit wet but was able to hold myself up out of the small amount of cold water flowing through the doors.

  I was able to climb up the muddy bank with a lot of help and fortunately did not suffer any serious injuries, which is more than can be said for those involved in another accident further up the street. The ambulance and paramedic from my accident went to them. Between us we closed of the road in both directions for a while.
Thanks to the lady from Cross Timbers who stayed with me till the emergency crews got there and to the gentleman who initially checked on me and tried to get my passenger side door open but was unable too. And a big thank you to my friends the Zurawski's who were passing the scene on their way home, were spotted by me, flagged down by the police and helped me get home and settled.
Why the title "Life in the bubble" ...... I firmly believe God protected me because as the truck was in flight I felt as if I was surrounded by a bubble and it cushioned my landing. I also received a priesthood blessing later that evening that indicated I was being protected.
Our truck was towed away from the scene by the wrecking company, then AAA brought it to our house the next day and it now sits in our garage till we decide what to do with it. Technically it is considered "totaled" by the wrecking company.

Creating a mini man

With all the snow did we make a snowman .... not exactly..... our young son likes to make miniature snowmen and yesterday was no exception :)
It was very carefully sculpted and deliberated over. The twigs were thoughtfully picked from our nearby bushes.
Just after the creation the last of our windows was put in. High drama for the installers. Their truck got stuck in the snow trying to get turned around in our neighbor's driveway. Took them about an hour to get dug out.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

We have been getting some decent snow for the first time in about 5 or 6 years. Started yesterday morning and stopped about an hour ago. There's supposed to be more coming. I am loving it, though I know it has got to be a hardship for many people living further north. So far we have about 3-4". It's crunchy, it's crispy, has some ice on the top, and Lucy cannot quite work out what to do with it all :)

Lucy and her snowball

So we had a little bit of snow. Just enough for Nik to make a nice size snowball which Lucy decided belonged to her. Then she and I played catch. I should really have had my camera at that point to get a picture of her racing round the back yard with a snowball in her mouth. We kept going till there was nothing left :)
We did get more snow after this picture was taken but what you see is what had the kids out of school for 2 days :)

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year to each one of you. May it prove to be a productive start to a new decade.

The last day of 2009 saw us having our windows replaced. The weather held up fairly well. Now we just have to repaint the shutters and re-stain the front door :)

Christmas greetings

From our house to yours. May you enjoy the peace of Christmas and the love of family and friends.

Nativity

We have a version of this beautiful picture displayed in our living room year round. One of my favorites.

How much longer?

Waiting for family to come home or eyeballing squirrels?

Christmas tree toppers

Here's a look at what is on the top of two of our trees :) A twiggy wreath on our main tree in the family room and a poinsettia on the little tree in our front living room.
One of these years I might talk John into buying a white Christmas tree for a our family room because the strong pink walls (a surprise from him and the kids) can be a bit of a challenge to decorate against.

Mammograms and Christmas trees

Mammograms are a necessary inconvenience in my opinion. Had mine this morning at our local imaging center. New technology to boot which may result in another visit just because the new style images often come back looking different to the older ones.
Decorating the Christmas trees are underway. The big one is in our family room and the small ones are in various parts of the house. I love twinkly lights and am making some garlands to go on shelves:)

Brrrr.

The beginning of December has arrived and I guess winter is definitely here. We woke up to a hard frost this morning. The water in our outdoor dog bowl is frozen solid !!!!!! Looks like it is also cold enough in the sunroom for me to be moving the plants into the warmth of the house.