Twilight, snow, friends and Barbies

Christmas afternoon I started to get tired and I took a nap. Melinda woke me and before I was fully and awake and in my right mind, I somehow consented to go see 'Twilight' with everyone. There was a group of about 9 of us so being in a crowd of family made it fun to laugh at all the super sappy romantic bits. The movie was an over-the-top chick flick. My favorite part was when the vampire hero Edward went into the sun and instead of disintegrating like any respectable historic vampire would, he "sparkled." It looked like he had a fight with some glitter glue and tragically lost. Yet, I have to say now I will feel more informed when I hear all of the Twilight references from my DW and DD. They have now both seen it 4 times now, but Connie and Wendy have seen it so many times that they've stopped counting.

It was snowing when we left the theater. The white blanket of snow covering everything, and the gently falling snowflakes illuminated in the amber street lights looked sublime. The roads were quite slick, but traffic was light and we had snow tires.

Saffron was very happy to play in the snow the next day. Here she is helping shovel the snow.

Ian and I did most of the heavy lifting.

Yesterday Melinda went out to dinner with her old high school pals, Jen and Amy to Paradise Bakery. I can't imagine how they managed to get out of their with only 1 cookie. Last time I was there I bought 2 dozen. Well I did give them away as gifts, but I swear, those cookies are like heroin!

After dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's tonight, Saffron brought me downstairs to play Barbies. I didn't really want to but she asked me so cutely and sweetly that I couldn't say no.

Snow

We woke up today with snow on the ground. It seems like winter sneaks up on us every year. What happened to fall? Lisette is bummed out about the cold weather, but it brings us that much closer to ski season!

I haven't been keeping up everything very well, but here are a few things that have been going on with us lately:

• After being without one for almost 2 years, we finally broke down and bought a new dishwasher.
• Marsha took me out to see The Rat Pack - Live at the Sands at Kingsbury hall. It was Sammy-OldBlueEyes-Dinotastic!
  
• Lisette is adjusting well to public school. She joined band class and is now happily playing the clarinet.
• Miles and Ian were very happy to play with their cousin Holden today.
• Saffy is now going to speech classes on Mondays.
• I took Ian and Miles to see Momix and Kingsbury hall last Friday. It was kind of new-agey-odd but the physicality of the dancers was astounding.

Snowy night

Today was a very nice day, notwithstanding a little wind. It was a pretty day with some sunshine that melted all the snow; so much that it almost seemed liked spring. Tonight was quite the contrast.

It started snowing on my way home from work, but it wasn't too bad. We went up to Melinda's folk's place because Richard and Jan were in town, but it took us 30 minutes to make a 3 mile trip. Cars were backed up, it was very slushy and very slick and we were down to one lane because of road construction. We would have turned around, but that would have been just as bad.

We made it without injuring anyone and then had a nice dinner with everyone. Afterwards Kevin helped Miles and Ian make a giant snow fort on the back porch. We left around 9:30 and the roads had at least been plowed so the journey home was only mildly treacherous.


James was arriving from China and I was supposed to pick him up at the airport, but thankfully Carrie was able to get him for me. She lives near Bangerter Highway, so she's closer to the airport. (Thanks, Carrie, I owe you one.)


I walked outside tonight because I left something out in the car. I'm always amazed at how light it is outside when there is white covering everything. Everything seems so peaceful and lovely covered with a blanket of snow. And of course the snow always seems so much more cozy when you are home in your warm jammies.

Boxed trees and snow

Last Monday we popped Vince Guaraldi's' "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in the CD player and put up our Christmas tree. I'd like to say we made a trek to the woods in a one horse open sleigh and cut it down, but we didn't. We went down to the storage room an pulled it out of a cardboard box.


Friday night we got a load of snow, and more on Saturday. If my hip keeps getting better, maybe I'll take Miles to Brighton to go skiing. They got 30" new white fluffy in the last 48 hours to a grand total of 65". Wahoo!

Kids update

Lisette had an un-sleepover party with a friend in Bountiful, Friday night. Melinda picked her up even though it was snowy, and she they got home at about 1:30 AM. She had fun with her other friends staying up playing and watching movies.

Miles has been baking for us. This week he has made:

1. Peanut butter cookies
2. Blueberry muffins
3. Puff pancakes
4. Blueberry shake

Ian has washed the dishes 4 times this week. The other kids are horrified by washing the dishes, but Ian isn't. He says, "it's easy you just have to wipe, wipe, wipe." We got tons of snow this weekend and today Ian started shoveling. If you're in the market, I highly recommend buying a home with the driveway facing south. Most of the times we ignore the driveway and the snow will just melt. It's great!

Saffron loves playing out in the snow. She thinks Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree is a toy tree. She been having fun playing with all the ornaments.

Love at first snow

Tonight we finally got our first snowfall. Saffron couldn't wait until daytime to go out, so her brothers were more than happy to accompany her. They even dug out her winter boots from the storage room.

She was concentrating very hard on making tracks. She was very happy in the snow. One of her favorite books is "Snow" by P.D. Eastman and Roy McKie. Every time I think of snow the words of the book come to me: "Snow, snow, come out in the snow! Do you like snow, yes or no?"

Ian is practicing his snowball skills. I have a feeling that Miles is going have ski dreams tonight.