SNOW AGAIN?

It's snowing again! What is going on? It's February and we've got snow! It just won't stop. Hopefully we won't get much accumulation. I was looking forward to Enrichment tonight but won't be able to go if the weather stays nasty.

Well, as you may have noticed. I finally got around to changing my blog background and removed the Christmas music. (Without help I might add). I added a little 'blinkie' too. Hope you like it.

Wish you could visit me and see my clean office. I don't remember when I've had the clutter so under control. I've been sorting. organizing and filing with a heavy emphasis on the 'round file'. In fact, the whole house is clean (with the exception of Lonnie's 'off limits' areas.) We had an Empty Nesters party here last night so that was my deadline. We had a nice time and lots of friends came. I've got goodies left. So that's good news if we have any company.

Lonnie is headed to Death Valley with his friend Greg, the jeep (the blue piggy bank) and his truck camper. They are leaving Valentines and will be gone a week or so. I'll be busy starting a new calling (for Lonnie and I both). We will be teaching English classes for the Spanish branch in our stake. We're looking forward to it. It is not a formal type of class. We will get together for 20 minutes 3 times a week and learn useful sentences that will help ESL people with their life skills. It will be interesting how it works out. It has been successful in some areas and no so successful in others. We're hoping for the best.

Happy Valentines!

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative......

We should be the most positive people on earth because we have the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we know we are spirit children of God and we know our loving heavenly father placed us here on earth to succeed and not to fail. What ever the outside influences and occurrances we can be comforted by this inner knowledge. I gave a spiritual thought at an Enrichment meeting last night and this is the most powerful quote from that message. Just thought I'd share....Happy New Year!

Can camels fly?

The snow is getting deeper and deeper. We are expecting more tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, and Christmas Day. We're worried about Santa and especially the reindeer! They're not very tall you know. Remember from the poem 'eight tiny reindeer'? Well, I've heard that Santa is calling in reinforsements. (Now that's a TALL order!) Can camels fly? How about giraffes?

Truthfully we are loving the snow so much that we can wait till next year for Santa to come!

Merry Christmas! We love you.

New Flash

I was visiting the LDS Newsroom site and found that you can add a widget to your site right from there. So here's a the news of the Church - it changes daily. I feel like the newsboy of old standing on the corner. "Here's the news. Read all about it! Get it while it's hot!"

Who Knew?

Remember Santa's reindeer?

Dasher, and Dancer,
Prancer and Vixen,
Connie and Linda,
Donna and Kristen

Led by Ruby the red nosed reindeer

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, both male and female reindeer grow antlers each summer. At the beginning of winter the male reindeer drop their antlers, usually late November to mid-December. It is most interesting to note that female reindeer do not drop their antlers until after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore we can state with confidence that every reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh had to be a girl, that's right, a female girl! Yeah, every one - even ‘Ruby’ the red nosed reindeer. With this in mind some of our old friends have had name chanages to better identify them. You'll notice that the first four pass pretty well as female names. But the last four - not so well.

It's amazing what you can learn on a 'stay at home snow day' isn't it? By the way do you remember the last four names? Comet and Cupid, & Donner(Donder), and Blitzen.

Reindeer Oats

Well right on schedule (after I quit looking) I found the Reindeer Oats and the poem from last year. Isn't that the way it works? Oh well, I rather like the new poem better than the old one. I also found some cups and a cute little idea called Snowman Soup. It's an idea I used for Visiting Teaching some time back. It consists of a mug with a package of hot chocolate and a candy cane in it. Tied to the cup or the candy cane is a little poem:

Snowman Soup

We've been told you've been good this year,

We're always glad to hear it!

With freezing weather coming soon,

You'll need to warm the spirit.

So, here's a little Snoman Soup,

Complete with stirring stick.

Just add hot water - sip it slow,

It's sure to do the trick!

Happy Holidays!

Today, December 14th, we moved to our new Chapel - and then left because it snowed!

The long anticipated day has arrived. We moved into our new chapel. It is big and spacious and we almost fit into the chapel but in the end we had to open the over flow curtains. Relief Society was the same way. We almost fit. We had chairs in rows, chairs around the side walls and then a few more were squeezed in. I'm sure we had visitors and some who don't come out very often who came to see the new building so it may not be that full all the time but eventually they will have to divide our ward or divide Relief Society! We are having a weather event. As I've said before the building is beautiful and we are excited to be moved in. Sadly though, we left abruptly, part way into our last classes because it's snowing. Big deal for the northwest! Actually, I-5 is closed for ice somewhere south of us. We are told the airport is closed which is certainly no more than 25 miles away and we were told there was an accident in the northbound lane of I-5 at an undetermined location near us. So-o-o we canceled the rest of the block and headed home. Those of us who moved into the Bliss Rd building when it was new remember having to vacate that building the first day because someone (a child, we later discovered) pulled the fire alarm. We're laughing and wondering if having to evacuate new church buildings on the first day has become a new prescedent. LOL Well, I wish I had a picture of the building, it's quite impressive. However, I do have pictures of the snow right after we got home. You will really laugh when you see how much snow it takes to close things down. But while you're giggling remember we don't have the road equipment to handle snowy weather and if it is going to get icy there is little control for anyone on the roads. We actually slid a little coming home - as did the truck following too close behind us! We all remember the BIG ice storm we had in Jan 2004 when there was ice on ice 4" to 6" deep on the roads, sidewalks, our trees, and bushes. If something slid on the ice it just kept going until it hit something. That week, whenever we opened a door or went outside to look we could hear popping sounds. Day and night there were popping sounds continually. It was the limbs of trees breaking from the weight of the ice. The damage was extensive. We all pray we won't have another ice storm. Right now the weather predictions are for below freezing everyday for the next week. Truly we are having a weather event!