Beating Boredom

With a lot of time on our hands, and not a lot of money, we decided to go shopping. We have this little "game" that we do sometimes that's really fun. Each person takes $2.00 and draws a name. You have to go to the store and buy something for the person you drew for the money you have. Here's what we got.

Damon got Aaron some PlayDoh so he can be creative

Jeff got me a mug since mine broke.

Aaron got Jess some cards, because we have been playing a lot of cards lately

I got Damon cards as well. (Yes, same ones, that's funny!) He plays a lot of cards so more for his collection. And, since he is getting his license soon I got him a brand new 2009 Corvette.

Jess got Jeff pop - self explanatory

We traded our gifts at Carl's Jr. over some french fries. We had fun.

Rockin Grandma

Can you believe that I got my mom to play Rock Band!? What a trooper! We had to do the kick drum for her, but she did pretty well on the drums. Come on Grandma Smout - you can do it too!

Fancy Night Out

Teresa and Mike decide they wanted to celebrate a successful FedEx holiday in style, so Mike reserved a limo for the evening and had dinner reservations at a fancy pants restaurant in Tacoma. We had never been in a limo before, so that was way fun, and there aren't many opportunities to dress up so we enjoyed that a lot too. They had one other couple come with us, and they were fun to hang out with, Lance and Kristine. We did dinner and dancing until the limo time expired.

I can tell you though, fancy pants is not really our style. Don't get me wrong, I could totally get used to it if I had a lot of money, but we do not. So, $40 for a tiny salmon and 4 asparagus was a little out of my budget. I was totally in sticker shock for the rest of the evening and don't think we have ever spent so much money on a meal for two before ($65!) But ,we had fun and were really glad for the invitation.

We Got Rockband

Well, our vacation at Great Wolf Lodge got canceled, and out trip to Utah/Idaho got snowed out, so now we all have a week and a half with no plans. We decided to take the money we would have spent on our trips and got rock bands one and two.

We have played it several times, and have enjoyed it. Plus it's just something we can all do together, if we can get Jeff to join :o). So, that is how we are probably going to spend the rest of our weekend at least. Then the snow should mostly be gone and we can go from there. But, in the mean time - Rock On!

Rock Band at the McConnells

We went and hung out with the McConnell's for Christmas Evening. It was fun just hanging out and doing a bunch of nothing. We played cards, ate a lot of pizza and cookies, played a lot of Rock Band that Santa brought them for Christmas, and watched Hancock again. It was fun!

White Christmas!

Watching the morning snow. Yes, it's snowing again. But it's Christmas, so it's even better today.

"It's a ball in a cup. Mexico's favorite toy for 350 years. The ball is on a string attached to the cup, so there is no worry if you don't catch the ball in the cup." (Family Guy)

Santa's feeding the addiction!

More albums for the collection.

Godzirra!

Jess just wanted books and CD's for Christmas, so books and CD's she got! That should keep her busy for a week or two :o)! And, yes, I was in attendance for Christmas morning - just picture me behind all of these shots. I usually am the one taking the pics, so I am not in them and no one thinks to take the camera from me (and no, I am not going to ask to have my picture taken, especially first thing in the morning). But, I am here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Christmas Eve

We were able to get ourselves to Orting, to my moms house, for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. It was nice to just relax, watch a movie (Hancock), play games and eat way too many cookies. But, it's Christmas, so the calories don't count .... right?

Final Snow Count

About 12" was our final count. I think we got a lot more than that all together, but with a little melting in between snows, that is what the final accumulation was. I don't know if we have ever had that much snow here before.

As promised though, we just decided to resolve ourselves to our changed plans and just enjoy ourselves. We had another awesome, and VERY beautiful walk, and just enjoyed the fact that we were all home with no where important to be.

This is CRAZY!

Just as we thought things might wear down, and we got the driveway all cleared, this is what we woke up to this morning.

Okay, you can't really appreciate just how much snow we have right now based on these pictures. They really don't give it justice. I know everyone is probably super tired of listening to our snow woes, but holy crap THIS IS SEATTLE!

I did come to a conclusion this morning though. The snow is beautiful, my family is home and together safe, and it's Christmas. I'm going to just enjoy the beauty of it and not worry. It is going to be a very quiet and simple Christmas with just us, but that's okay. I'm sorry I cannot get together with any family!!! But, I'm not going to let it ruin my holiday.

We'll give you a final count on inches if it ever stops snowing :o) I'm sure it's over a foot right now though.

Cleaning up Snow

Okay, you Idaho/Utahans may be used to this kind of snow, but us Satellites ARE NOT! This is probably the most snow I can remember ever having here - Ever. We have had snow for a week now, with another 4 inches last night. We are up to 10 inches now, with more possibly coming on Christmas Eve.

This was after brushing off the car after the second big storm. All snow on the car now is just from last night.

The kids and I spent all morning cleaning off the walkway and driveway to keep things safe. I have to work tomorrow (if clients come) and I don't want the liability of people falling. Plus, Aaron drove to work today, so we needed the driveway clear so he could get back into the garage tonight. It's pretty steep, so it's very easy to peel out on, even with the 4 wheel drive.

Of course, we don't have proper snow gear, since we never get snow like this. No snow shovel!! It took us a few hours to get all this work done with one regular shovel, one flat ended shovel and a great wire broom. All is well now - until it snows again. But, non of us will be working then, so it won't be quite as crucial to get it cleared up.

Winter Walk

I couldn't take another treadmill day, so we all bundled up and went for a walk. Jeff decided (and we encouraged) that the roads were just too bad to go work. Especially for a job he only had for two more days. Walking in the snow is quite a workout!

At the end of the snowfall last night we got some freezing rain on top of it. The top 1/4 inch of everything was a complete sheet of ice.

I think these two guys were fighting over female rights.

And, now it is snowing AGAIN! We are suppose to get another few inches today. t his is just SO unusual for this area! I have never, in my entire life of living here, had a winter like this. We have had snow for a week now, and it will probably be another week at least.

It wouldn't be so bad if people around here didn't have to work for a living :o). Commuting is pretty close to impossible around here when it's like this. I guess, what's ya gonna do? I think we will all be snowed in tomorrow, if not longer. It sucks for all of us though - don't work, don't get paid. You can only not work so long.

3rd Snow Storm

We got hit really hard last night - the biggest of all the storms thus far. After several hours of it snowing, we were running out of things to do. So, we suddenly got a bug to just go outside and play. Jess and I went first and played with the sled in front of the house for a little while. Aaron and Jeff couldn't resist and joined us shortly after.

After a while we decided that our "hill" was just way to small so we went over to a huge hill in our neighborhood to sled down. We had a blast and were out until about 10:00. I guess a good use of a late night snow.

What a poser!

This morning I measured 6 inches. That's a lot for here!