I know, I know. 3 posts in 2 days? Must I have nothing better to do than play in snow, take pictures, and then bombard you with more to read and look at? Well... the answer is of course, NO! I am gleefully off work until Friday and have no agenda other than to kick back and relax, get over my cold, and play with Greg and Belly in the snow.
Tomorrows plan for the day... Jury Duty. It will be the 1st time I have ever been called and I am torn between being happy to be off work and paid for the day versus having to sit in a small room and be bored all day while the jury process goes down.
Last night once Greg was home safe from work the 3 of us headed out to the backyard to play in the snow and attempt to build a snowman. Neither Greg nor I have ever built a snowman. It is seemingly easy...make 3 snowballs, stack 'em, add some stuff to make the face, and then project complete and you have a snowman to admire. Welllll..... after several attempts at 1st making a giant snowball, we realized that maybe there was something more to the process. Maybe we are just morons and can't figure out how to manipulate snow. Anyway, after working for a bit, we were able to create a mini snow family.
Today, the snow has only partially melted off. It is still pretty chilly out, in the low 30's. No new real snow and probably no real chance for any measurable snow any time soon. :o(
We played outside tonight and were finally able to build "Snowman Mattie" with success! After sliding around in the snow for a while we came back in and Belly got to enjoy some hot chocolate while watching the Laker game with Daddy. Isn't winter great?!?!
Remember when back in the day you had to pull out a giant camcorder that weighed 20 lbs and was the size of a large briefcase just to take a video? If you wanted to share it you had to have everyone come over and watch it at your house on your VCR.
I took a little video of Belly playing in the snow today. I wondered.... how might I share this with my family, my pals and comrades? I could email it... no, too time intensive with all the typing and looking up email addresses. And then alas, I discovered another reason to love technology. You Tube. Yes, I have looked at it before but never once considered actually using it to share our videos, etc.
Well folks, today that all changed. I downloaded the video clip and here it is in all its glory for you to enjoy. It's about 6-7 minutes long but I hope you will enjoy it.
Well now that half the month has passed by I guess I should get back to blogging. I guess I got a little behind on the updates. Since New Years not a lot been going on other than we have all been battling colds from hell. They will not go away!!
The only exciting news is..... SNOW!!!!! Last week we were teased by the weathermen. They all predicted 1-2 inches of snow at the valley floor but then when we woke up it was cloudy and not flake of snow! So when they predicted there might be a chance for snow today, well, we just didn't take any heart to the predictions at all. It has been very, very cold here (ok, well, not cold by polar bear standards... more like cold enough that Greg actually changed from shorts to pants at least twice this week alone- that should say alot). Lows in the teens and highs just in the 20s/low 30s.
This morning when we woke up it was a winter wonderland. Actually, when we woke up it was still snowing and I must say, pretty heavily at that time. Drifts in our front yard of at least 4-5 inches, some parts of the yard have even more! This is the most snow Greg and I have ever had in our own front yard, total accumulation is at least 2-3 inches in Aloha alone. Sure, its been cold here, freezing rain and fog; ice storms, wind storms, torrential rains... but this, this is fantastic! I guess we have had a few snow stories since moving here, but this is the cake topper of snow for us. Belly loves it!
Greg unfortunately had to go into work today because the publicexpects/demands to eat apparently (shouldn't everyone in a non essential job just call in sick???!?!) so Belly and I hopped into the car and drove him to work. The 6 or 7 mile drive took about an hour each way thanks to very slick and icy conditions on the roads. The snow was still falling on the way to and from his work and people were sliding off the roads and getting stuck in drifts. We however, survived the trip with not a single slide across the ice and snow, not a moment of getting stuck on inclines, and thankfully, not a fender bender thanks to the several asshole drivers who think today is a good day to drive 50 mph.
After we got back home Belly and I headed out in the front yard to play in the snow. I took a few thousand pictures. hahahaha :o) We had a snow fight and Belly had a blast running around and digging in the snow. Greg will be off work later this afternoon and we have plans to build quite the snowman.
Here are a bunch of pictures from today (be prepared--- there are a lot of them!).
We are hoping that however you were celebrating was fun, exciting, and kept you safe. Our "new year" ring in was pretty uneventful. I had to work (more about that later), Greg and Belly rang in the new year watching the ball drop on TV.
Wondering what we resolved this year? Wondering why I chose that pig image up there? Yeah, it's all tied together. I know-genius, you say. Well, the only resolution I plan to share with everyone is that we resolve to fatten up our piggy bank this year. Greg's looking at another promotion in just the next month or so, thats a nice little raise that should start adding some fat to the bacon. I figured I shouldn't share any of my other resolutions since I just tend to break them anyway. If I make it till the end of the year on my other goals, then I will share them. :)
Belly resolves to grow just enough to move from a car seat to a booster seat this year. She isn't quite tall or heavy enough and all her little friends are growing faster and getting new seats. Jealousy is definitely a motivating factor. Belly also resolves to learn how to write her name this year and maybe even start reading.
Lastly, as we ring in the new year, I wanted to send a message to everyone to be safe this year. Yeah, I know, safe schmafe. Act responsibly, don't drink and drive, we have all heard the lectures. A recent call I took cemented for me all the reasons to be careful and cherish time with your family and friends. I don't normally care to share stories at work with anyone other than Greg and a few select friends but this particular story just seemed worth sharing.
On the 30th a man and his family were driving on Interstate 84 (an East-West corridor through Northern Oregon). There was an accident at the far eastern end of Multnomah county about 5 miles east of Multnomah falls. He had pulled over as a good samaritan to check on the driver of the smashed up vehicle. While he was walking towards the accident another car came out of nowhere and nearly hit the good samaritan. The man, trying to avoid being hit, jumped out of the way. Unfortunately for him, he jumped over a highway barrier and fell 60 feet to his death right in front of his family. Needless to say, his wife and child were distraught at watching their husband and father plunge over a barrier. Several hours later the man was rope rescued but it was too late and the fall too far. He didn't survive, but the drunk driver with a suspended license and a bunch of open containers from the original accident did. I did not (thankfully) have to take the call from the man's wife. I was the link to start police from our county out to the accident on the request of the Oregon State Patrol. Being a part of calls like this, incidents like this, really drive home the point to me that even though we are responsible, random things really do happen in a split second that can change our lives forever. I hope that everyone will take a minute to think about if this were us in that good samaritan's shoes or the shoes of his family. Please be especially careful this year, take your time, pay attention to the surroundings of you and your family, and never allow anyone to drink and drive. May God keep you safe this year.
