Chevy 4x4

Yesterday morning we woke up to fresh snow, just a couple of inches. It was continuing to "snow" but it was more like chuncks of water plopping from the sky by 7:30am. It was sloppy, sloshy and wet on the 15 minute commute to work. I took the truck for the second day in a row. I like taking the truck because it makes me feel like a country girl and because the van was on E and I didn't want to get up any earlier for gas before work.
 I looked out the window at work at 3:30 when a pt called and cancelled her appt for tomorrow. I knew that they were calling for bad weather, but it looked wet and foggy, not snowing or icy. The temperature wasn't freezing.
 About an hour and a half later, I looked out the window and saw lots of white. I finished up an hour later and headed home. Steve had texted me to warn me it was bad. An let's face it, he knows me!
 I didn't have the windshield scrapper, so I borrowed the the Nurse Practitioner's (ours was on the kitchen counter).
From the looks of the parking lot, I dropped the truck into 4 high and was on my way.

The usual commute home proved to be quite unusual. All that slush was now thick ice and the roads were now snow-packed. As I approached an incline on the drive home, I saw that the traffic was slowing down and lining up. Cars were stuck on the ice, wheels spinning and vehicles sliding. Once the traffic came to a stop, a lot of cars weren't able to get the traction to go again. The truck was having no such problem and was able to slowly pass them by. I looked out ahead of me and there were but 1 or 2 cars in front of me in the distance. I left bad that they were back there struggling. On the other hand, I was grateful for the truck.

On the drive home I was serious and thoughtful, no radio on,... and I began to think.
I feel like my posts are getting redundant as I am going on my 3rd year sharing my thought- but I was brought back to the idea of preparedness. Yes, I should know better. The Church teaches it, and common sense dictates to be prepared. How true is the scripture: "be prepared and ye shall not fear."

Not even a week ago the water header corroded and sprung a major leak. We were without water and am sad to say we didn't have a drop in the house that wasn't in the toilet or on the down stairs carpet. My laundry wasn't done, so it was a HUGE mess in the laundry room.  My van gets down to E more often that it should. I didn't have an ice scrapper in the winter in Utah. I don't have much food storage aside from ramen noodles and expired cream of chicken soup. I can't find a working flash light in the house. At last check, my 72 hr kit had size 3T pants for Jenna who is now a size 7/8. We need tires and would have liked to help the landlord out with the water heater but our emergency fund ran out when we were job hunting! As of 10 pm last night we were out of milk and bread and down to a mere 1 or 2 diapers!

I have had that feeling that those people must have felt when they slid off the road..."well crap. I wasn't prepared for this! Where is my 4x4! and why didn't I wear a coat?" The feeling is helplessness, anger, fear and resentment of self.

So apparently the only thing we have right is that we have a Chevy 4x4.

I suppose with the new year preparedness may be the theme. Not because we fear a massive Earthquake tomorrow or a terrorist attack, but because it's important to be prepared for life! Life happens: jobs are lost, electric goes out, ice develops on windows, water heaters bust, and natural disasters do happen that are out of our control!..and let's be realistic, four-wheel-drive can't always save the day!

Playing and ...water?

After the presents were open and things were settling down, we started to move around a bit and get ready for Blanding. Steve ran to put the jeans in the dryer and arrived in the basement greeted by water...lots and lots of water. In short, the hot water heater leaked all 50 gallons and free flowed for a while onto the carpet in the basement hallways, family room, Jenna's room and the laundry room.
The kids had no idea that anything was amiss. They didn't mind not brushing or exercising hygiene all day as they played with their new toys. Steve and I figure that we spent about 6 hours Christmas day sucking water out of carpet and sopping up water with towels and a wet vac. Yes, it sounds awful... and I have to say this was probably the most memorable Christmas on record (for other reasons too), but after a whole other day of no hygiene the water was up and running warm by Monday at 3:30pm.

I wasn't such a trooper at the time with soppy carpets, the smell of dampness and the pile of laundry that was multiplying, and the sea of dirty fingernails in the house, but Steve was a good sport and the kids didn't care one bit about the situation.  I had  to work Tuesday. Steve had all the kids and managed to do nearly all the wet and dry laundry, clean the dirty downstairs bathroom, clean out the fridge and make the house devoid of stench from trash, dishes and laundry. How nice! Merry Christmas to me!

Anyway, despite the flood and missing seeing Steve's parents and my family, we had a wonderful Christmas. We did lots of fun things as a family this season. We ate well. We had fun with Santa. We visited with friends from out of town and laughed hard. We played games with Steve's siblings. We were recepients of tremendous generosity, and it was Gage's first Christmas.

We hope that you had a great Christmas too!

It was a happy morning

Christmas morning the kids slept till about 6:15am. Steve and I went to bed at 1am or so and not 10 minutes before we went to bed, Jenna was making her way up the stairs. Steve led her back down to bed and lied with her until she was able to go to sleep. She was so excited, she was sure sleep wouldn't come. IT did...and so did Christmas morning. Jenna and Zac both ran into our room..."HE CAME. HE CAME." Zac was literally jumping up and down. We woke Trev up who was squinty-eyed, but quickly came around. Gage slept through the whole event.

The kids had a great time. They were treated so generously by family and Santa.Thank you a million to all. Steve and I had a lot of fun watching them.

Christmas time is happy time

We had a fun Christmas season, not just a fun Christmas morning. I enjoyed the time spent with each other.

Our Elf, Frisbee, was fun this year. He is safely back home from what we understand.
We continued our gingerbread house tradition... although this brand was pretty small. Maybe next year we will make our own house and not just assemble one and decorate it. Jenna and Steve had the most fun with it. Zac and Trev ate as much candy as they could get away with!
We did bake cookies and treats as a family. I think the peanut butter cookies were the best.
Steve made some new fun dip. Jenna called it "sea salsa", then corrected herself and called it "sea dip" or "dip of the sea". It was actually a shrimp and crab dip with a cocktail sauce base that you eat with chips. It was delicious. He also made clam dip...as I always say, "you can't go wrong with creamchesse."  He baked a ham and rolls, and we ate on it for days. It was very good.
We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at least 3 times and Elf twice...the Polar Express twice, Charlie Brown's Christmas and Rudolf at least twice.
 We read the Night Before Christmas narrated by my mom on Christmas Eve and the Nativity movie with the kids. I hope the kids felt the Spirit of Christmas that night.
 We spent many nights looking at Christmas lights and went to a home in Pleasant Grove that has their lights set to music that you can tune in on the radio.
Most special was that we chose a family to do the 12 days of Christmas for. Each night for 12 days, we snuck to their front door, dropped a prize and ran like fools! The kids thought that it was fun, although they were skeptical that I could run! Steve and I took turns helping them. We had so much fun last year as the receivers, this may have been more fun! We will probably do this for years to come.