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Monday, December 29, 2008

Wandering Eyes

This past Sunday was the Sunday right after Christmas, so our meeting up in Island Park was themed around the holiday and what Christ's life brought to us. So naturally, you'd expect Christmas hymns, etc.

The brother conducting the meeting welcomed us all to the meeting, and then announced that we would open by singing hymn number 210: "With Wandering Eye."

In case you were wondering, that is not the correct title of hymn 210. The correct title would have been "With Wondering Awe." I've never seen a congregation laugh for so long in a meeting.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Snowmobiling

So, I'm a big fat chicken and didn't especially want to go snowmobiling. I've only been once before and I ended up destroying my knee. This wasn't exactly encouraging for me to go again. Add on top of that the fact that I'm pregnant and a fall could hurt the baby. Also, my belly is growing, so the snow clothes they had for me didn't really fit well. (My snow pants had to stay unbuttoned and I had to lift the bottom of my coat above my hips before I could zip it up.) However, the family wanted to go to Big Springs which I already know to be pretty, and it was already determined by the amount of powdered snow that this would be a trail ride. Also, BJ and I would be riding on a two-seater (so that all of us could fit), meaning no jumps. I was convinced to go. Turns out, it was quite fun! (Ok, I knew it was fun from the last time I went, but one time that ended in disaster isn't really enough to convince my over-working brain that it will be fun again. I'm a little more convinced after this ride.) Again, we will tell the story in pictures.

To continue on showing you how deep the snow is, check us out at the beginning of the ride. That lump of snow behind us are the snowmobiles that haven't been uncovered (they had a tarp over them) and the snow we're standing in goes up to BJ's knees (just over mine).


We got to Big Springs, where the water is the same temperature all year long. Here I am feeding the ducks and the fish (though, you can't see the fish in the picture).
This is the John Sack Cabin across the spring. Isn't it so beautiful in the winter? If you look at the very bottom right of the picture, you'll see a water wheel next to the little cabin. So much fun!

This is all of us on the way back except BJ's dad, who is taking the picture. BJ drove on the way out, but I ended up with frozen toes, so he had me drive back. (There are hand and foot warmers in the driver's seat.)
Turns out that letting me drive was a very bad idea. Sorry Nick! We hope you'll be ok... eventually.

Look how much snow!

We've gotten a whole heck of a lot of snow up here the last few days, so we've been taking pictures to show you all. This first one is the view from the living room window (the only one not boarded up for the winter). I'm loving the icicles.
This truck was leaving Island Park. Look how much snow is sitting on top. Yes, it has snowed since then.
To the left we have BJ's dad's truck (well, it's borrowed, but that's what we drove up here.) To the right, see that white hump? Yeah, that's BJ's car. Yipes!
Lastly, remember the time lapse photo I promised? Well, it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped it would since we had to keep moving the camera. (Note to self: get a tri-pod.) So we picked a picture from the beginning, middle and end that seem to work well together, so hopefully you can see the progress of the snow growing on Christmas day. If not, ignore this.


Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Christmas! aka Snowed In! Part 2

Christmas has been great so far. It has been snowing like crazy. Seriously, we've probably gotten over 2 feet of NEW SNOW since yesterday. What makes me laugh was that last night Teresa asked if we were going to have a white Christmas. We all kind of laughed, because we already had a lot of snow. Teresa clarified that she meant would it snow on Christmas, so Nick and Jessa decided find out for sure and pulled out the Magic 8 Ball on their iPods. The first try came up with one "Try again later" and one "For Sure" (or something similar). So they both tried again and both got "Yes, most definitely". We were convinced, and sure enough, it's true! We actually started taking pictures of the window every 30 minutes, to get a time lapse sort of thing. It's not perfect because the camera gets moved slightly, so I don't think it's gonna turn out as cool as I wanted, but we'll try to put together some sort of video on here for y'all when it's done. (Yes, Jess, you were our inspiration for this.)

Because we got so much new snow that's very powdery, snowmobiling has been mostly out of the question. BJ's dad and Nick went snowmobiling this morning and came back with the report that it was "almost fun". Instead we've spent the day opening gifts, playing games (I won at Settlers; it was nice to beat Jessa for a change), watching Serendipity, reading, and putting together a puzzle. It's been nice and relaxing. However, considering the amount of snow we got last night and today, we're grateful that we decided to change our plans and come up early, else we may not have come up at all... or at least not until a few days after Christmas.

We'll have more pictures to post later. (BJ got a camera for Christmas! Fantastic, since I forgot mine at home...) Just wanted to let you all know that we live and that we're having a great time watching the snow from our nice, warm cabin. Even if it does mean that we're completely snowed in. (BJ just measured that the snow is anywhere from 2-3 feet above the bottom of the windowsill (which, admittedly, includes the snow that has fallen off the roof.)) But, since we don't have to go anywhere for several more days, we're going to enjoy it while it lasts. And just hope that the forecast of snow every day until the day we leave won't completely bury us. :)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Snowed in!

Last night we went to bed after hearing on the news that I-15 was closed, except for emergencies, (the freeway to get from Utah to Idaho), Highway 26 was closed (the road to get from the freeway to my house), as well as many, many, other roads. Certain cities put out proclamations detailing when your car was allowed to be on the road and when they would be out plowing, so get your car off the road. It was craziness. We completely understood though. Earlier in the day, we went over to Damian and Kim's for an hour or two and by the time we left, Damian had to shovel us out of their driveway, the drifts behind us had grown so high. We got to our road and were skeptical as to whether we could get through or not. (That end of our road is known to be one of the first road closures in this area.) So we detoured through Ririe and came back on the other end of our road and bucked drifts to get in.

This morning I was awakened by the phone ringing 3 times (each time separated by my mom's cell phone ringing). I finally called my dad's cell phone wondering where in the world they were. They were out taking pictures of the snow! Yay! Then the phone rang again. It was my dad's boss telling him to stay home from work because all the roads between here and there were closed. Wow. Mom and Dad came back from taking pictures, turns out the end of our road is most definitely blocked in. Let's show it in picture-form, shall we?

This view is from way down the road. You can see the blockade if you look closely.

The neighbor decided to pull out his Bobcat and try to dig it out. If you look closely (you may have to click on the picture and view it in another window, up close), you'll notice that instead of the bucket lifting up, his back wheels lifted up. Oops?

Let's pull out the trucks to help rescue the Bobcat! (Please notice the height of the drift as compared to the stop sign and other trucks.)

This is the typical drifting across our road... all the way down. It's basically a one-way street. Gotta love Idaho snow.



Hope everyone else is having a white Christmas... or at least dreaming of one. It's all about the adventure, my friends. :D (Just drive safely. I've already heard of too many people running off the side of the road or flipping their cars... strewing Christmas presents everywhere. I want no more such reports.) Also, be careful. There are reports of another storm (accompanied with a good Idaho wind) coming through on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Drive safely, my friends!

Plans? Who needs plans?

It's a good thing we are flexible. We've changed our plans so many times since we've gotten up here that we no longer know what we're doing. We've told almost everybody some different plan, so no one actually knows what's going on. Often ourselves included.

Difficulties:
- BJ and I are in charge of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner
- BJ's parents got delayed a day due to the storm yesterday.
- There's another storm coming through Christmas Eve afternoon/evening and staying through Christmas day.
- We woke up this morning to our road blocked on one end and the highway on the other end of our road was closed. The highway is now open, but it wouldn't take much to close all of the roads again.

So, the current plan (which is definitely subject to change) is to go with BJ's parents to Island Park today and stay there until they leave ... somewhere around the 29th. Then we'll come back to my parents' house for New Years, etc. And we'll do our Spain dinner for New Years instead of for Christmas.

[catches breath]

Let's just hope the road to Island Park stays open. Else, I suppose we'll have an even longer snowmobile ride to get in to the cabin.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

I'm glad we decided to come to Idaho on Thursday instead of Friday. Weather in Utah was so bad that several flights were delayed and the Church actually sent home all the employees early due to adverse weather. That's when we had planned on coming home. Instead, we've been happily camped out at my parent's house since Thursday night, braving the weather here and there to go out shopping. Luckily, for the most part, the weather here in Ririe has been great. Cold and windy, maybe, but no scary driving incidents.

We had planned on meeting BJ's parents in Idaho Falls this afternoon. Turns out that there is a blizzard in SLC, however, so they're not coming until tomorrow. This might be a good thing, though, cuz from what we've heard, the road to Island Park is one-way right now, due to all the snow. So now the question is, do we go to Island Park tomorrow, then come back to Ririe Wednesday, then back to Island Park Wednesday night? Or do we just stay in Ririe until Wednesday night and get less time with his family? (We're in charge of Christmas Eve dinner at my parent's house.)

Luckily, no matter what we do, we're surrounded by family. This is happy. We are quite fortunate when I compare us to the other weather horror stories I've heard over the last few days.

Happy Snowy, Windy, White Christmas!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Sometimes, I don't feel so old

I just found out that my dad has been alive for all but 6 prophets. I've only been alive for 5.

He really is "older than dirt".

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Narrow Shoulders

I have many physical curses in my life. Today I am going to complain about one in particular.


Yes, my friends, I have been cursed with narrow shoulders. You wouldn't think this would be such a big deal, would you? But try finding shirts with any sort of a non-choking type neck that doesn't show off far more than I would like to. Or try to carry any type of bag on your shoulders. Temple bag, laptop case, purse, you name it. If it's carried on the shoulder, I hate it. Every morning as I walk into work with my purse and my laptop precariously perched on my shoulder, stopping at least once to pick them up off my elbow and return them to my shoulder, I remember how much inconvenience narrow shoulders really are. So next time you hate something about your body, remember it could be worse—at least your bags and shirts stay on your shoulders.

Heartbeat

Last time we heard the baby's heartbeat (about 3 weeks ago), I decided the sound was best described as a marathon runner running while breathing into a microphone.

Yesterday we went again and the sound had changed. BJ declared that it sounded like a dog barking through a radio.

I wonder what'll it be like next time...

Update on the baby. (S)he is now 3" long (about the size of a shrimp) and has fingerprints! (No more crimes for you, little baby.)

Friday, December 12, 2008

What's new in the life of BJ and Tianna


Many of you knows what this means.  Most of you are married.

Many of you have no idea.  Most of you are single.

We're pregnant!  We're due June 20, 2009, putting me at 13 weeks along as of tomorrow.  So for those of you wondering why I have been so sick and tired recently... now you know.  (For those of you who are clueless about pregnancy symptoms, those are two of them.)  I have an excuse!  I'm not actually sick and tired all the time for no reason!  Also, if I don't eat your food, please don't take it personally.

We were going to wait one more week until the first tri was over to tell the world (when the chance of a miscarriage decreases significantly), but I find myself hating keeping this a secret and telling more and more people over the past few days.  We figured we might as well tell everyone now, and let BJ's sister Teresa tell her friends.  (Which she has been dying to do for about the last 2 months or so.)

We will report back with the baby's gender in about 7 weeks (ish).  Until then, brace yourself for the funny stories we have been withholding from you for 13 weeks.  Now we are allowed to blog them.  :)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wish List

If I could pick only one thing to put on my wish list this year, I would most definitely want a washer and dryer (in a set!) installed in my house. Like, seriously. This would make me ridiculously happy.