Christmas in Whistler

It is absolutely beautiful here.  Big fluffy snow flakes have been falling almost continually since our arrival.  It does seem to slow down at night after we have gone to bed but we don’t even notice!!  We went to lunch at the Spaghetti Factory yesterday.  It was a very beautiful, peaceful walk down from the upper village.  The snow is just sitting thickly on every branch.  The mountain was covered with skiers.  Almost makes one think about taking a lesson!  The snow was so wet that by the time we arrived at the restaurant my hair was soaked to the skin.  I didn’t have the hood for my parka with me, darn it.  Rob gave everyone $10 canadian (par for US$) and we drew names again and had to find something in that range for gifts tonight.  It was a bit of a challenge and tax here is HIGH.  It was fun to split up.  Some people have favorite stores and whoever got those names knew just where to shop!!  Taylor drew Ashley and immediately knew that he was going to the Cow store!!  We got home just as darkness was falling.  The whistle on the tower marked the time as 4:30.  The snow is deep in the village.  Rob has had fun taking pictures but he wishes it would stop snowing for just a little while so he can take pictures without white bits everywhere.  Ashley, Travis and Taylor braved the pool last night. It is quite hilarious, I think.  I am standing there in my parka under the heat post with gloves on my hands and they are all half naked in the water.  Travis hit the hot tub but Ashley isn’t allowed so we came back upstairs after about 45 minutes. We played Canasta after they returned from drying off and warming up.  Chris snowboarded most of the evening….from the chair in front of the x box.  He was quite good.  When asked if he wanted to try for real, I believe the answer was “heck no!  I have no desire to slide around.” Hahahahhah   Today we make preparations for our Christmas dinner this evening.  I brought everything with that we would need.  I would have brought my Kitchenaid mixer if I thought there would be any room but I knew better.  It was a most interesting pack job to get us and our stuff into two sedans for the drive up here.  Grocery shopping in Squamish meant that any remaining available space would be taken up with fresh produce and dairy products.

We are delighted to have our family all together with us.  God bless you all and have a Merry Christmas.

We're home!!

What a wonderful visit we have had with our family in Utah.  Ashley and Travis told us that our grandchild is a boy!! Now I can shop! :-)

When we left from our home the weather was less than ideal.  We didn't think we could make it up the hill to drop Harley at the kennel! There was a bit of slipping going on since not all of the hills had been sanded and there was quite a bit of snow....everywhere.  The kids only missed one day of school instead of two and a half.  They cancelled school the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

We stopped in LaGrande on the way down.  It was soooooo cold!  I think it was 5*.  We did find a wonderful pizza place with amazing wings so I guess it was worth it.  :-)  When we left in the morning it was -18* in Ladd Canyon.  I was glad I packed that long underwear but I wish I had been wearing it! Did you know that when you go to where it is cold in the winter that you should change out your windshield washer fluid? Yep.  It freezes if you don't have the stuff in there for -35*.  Ours thawed out on Friday!  We had to pour windshield washer fluid on the windshield when we stopped at every rest area because the roads were so wet (hey, better than ice).

My sister is so organized.  We each had a portion of Thanksgiving meal to prepare.  Up until the very last little bit before dinner we didn't even have any traffic jams in the kitchen!  The meal was amazing.  There were 16 of us. I think we had 6 pies.  I believe that by the time we left on Sunday there may have been one piece left!

We did go out shopping on Black Friday.  We thought the parking lot was pretty empty when we drove by Walmart.  When we got to the mall we saw where everyone was!  There was not a parking place to be had.  It was packed but the shoppers were all very pleasant.

Friday evening we took the train up to the Lights at Temple Square.  That is always a fun trip.  It was a bit cold at Temple Square.  It was only about 20* and the crowds were a little lighter than the two previous times we had been there.  Ashley and Travis went back to the spot where he proposed!

Cards! My gosh, we played cards.  I we played Canasta with 10 people and divided into only two teams.  Did you know that you can finish a game of Canasta in just three hands when there are that many people? Travis hadn't played before but he sure loved to freeze the pile!  Travis also taught us Hand & Foot.  Christmas is sure going to be fun!!

We left Sunday after church to head home.  We had been on the road for about an hour and a half when we found out that the road was closed ahead.  BUMMER!  We ended up driving up to Pocatello and over.  The roads were hideous. We did find a room in Twin Falls.  Surely, Monday's drive would be better.  It was only slightly better.  It was sure nice to sleep in our own bed last night!

Outage!

Yes! We live in a place where power outages are ...commonplace, not like a third world country, but sometimes I feel like we travel back in time 150 years!

It started all innocently enough.  Lightning and thunder!  It was great what a show!  We don't have lightning all that often here so it is a treat. Well, the wind kicked up and boy, did it pour.  Torrential would be appropriately used in this situation.

We were settled in to watch our Monday night programs on tv.  I was chatting with my daughter on Facebook.  We turn on the tv and the brown outs begin.  We had hope that it would be nothing. At 8:20 the lights went out!  Totally bummed about missing our show.  How silly that seems now!  Anyhow, we found some candles and gathered all the flashlights.  After getting this all lit and we could see our way around the house, we decided to go to bed.  What else is there?

So the kids slept in and didn't make it to school.  I believe that had more to do with the inability to take showers than anything else.  No one was allowed to open the fridge.  We were hoping all day that the power would return.  No luck! 

Tay did make it to his Salsa class.  I went with him.  We picked up a $5 pizza for dinner.  You know, I am not really a fan of $5 pizza for any reason other than convenience.  I am sure I will see it on the scale when I weigh in at TOPS on Thursday.  The whole way home from class we are silently praying for electricity.  We saw lights the whole way home until we turned down our street.  I think we have been here before.  Two years ago we were a week without electricity.  Not fun but we did learn a lot.

Rob woke me at 3 am.  The lights were on!!  Hurray!  I reset the alarms to get the kids up in time for Seminary.  I thought about turning on the dishwasher that had been full with soap in the dispenser since dinner on Monday evening.  I dismissed that thought as silly.  Are you reading into that yet?  You should be.

At 7 am the power went out again.  Now we are all discouraged.  Fortunately, Rob and Tay got a shower in.  I woke Al but he said to wake him at 7:30.  I did take one of those 90 second showers after the power went off.  You know the kind, you turn the water on and then off, do your business and flip the water back on.  At least my hair was clean now and I didn't get that cold water headache!

At 8am the power came back on.  I am not holding my breath now that the power will remain all day, but the dishwasher has run and I did get Taylor's laundry rewashed.  I am hoping that the next storm will be kinder to us but if not, I know where all the candles are!

Crazy Busy

Aren't you just crazy busy at this time of year?  Sometimes I wonder if I am always busy with projects and other "stuff" and just don't notice that that is the normal state of being. Oh well, no matter.

Two Saturdays ago the weather was decent.  You just can't let a dry, not too cold Saturday pass in November without at least thinking it would be a good idea to put up those Christmas lights. So with a few extra moments in our day we put up some lights!  We put up about the same as last yeat but that is not good enough this year.  No!  That just wouldn't do.  I don't know that the light display at our house will be spectacular or something one should purposefully drive by to see.  We gave that up years ago!  But, our daughter prides herself on helping design our lighting scheme.  She no longer lives here but lives in another state with her new husband.  Last year she let us know how pathetic our lighting attempt was.  I have to admit it was a bit half-hearted, at least on my part.  In an effort to not hear about how pathetic our lights are this year we have purchased more this past weekend and hope to double what we did last year!  I hope that we will have another decent day to put them up! Rain, cold, and wind do not make for a pleasant task.  I even hear whisperings of snow for the coming weekend.  I hope it remains just whisperings though.

The high school play opened this weekend.  Yep, my two sons at home both landed roles in this fall's play.  They are putting on Charlotte's Web, the classic children's tale by E.B. White.  Rob had not ever read it or seen the animated versions.  I recall the animated version of my childhood where Templeton the Rat was play by Paul Lynde in the 1973 version.  It was fun to go and see how the kids would interpret this tale.  Alex was cast as Templeton and Taylor was cast as Avery Arable.  I must say the Mr. Sims, the drama teacher, does a great job casting students in roles. Alex wore a three piece grey pinstripe suit with white spats on his shoes, a grey Bowler hat with rat ears, a grey felt rat's tale and a ratty nose that he couldn't stop rubbing (on purpose).  Taylor was the quintessential younger, obnoxious brother right down to white socks with dark pants!

We attended the play both nights. All the kids do an amazing job.  There are 18 actors in the play.  It seems like such a small cast to me but it works well. Alex gets a kick out of startling the little kids.  They sure think he is memorable!!  Parents were all enamored with Taylor's scene stealing abilities.  He is actually supposed to do that! It is fun to watch all 18 kids up on stage giving it their all.  Kudos to them all!

The Childrens Sacrament Meeting Presentation was this past Sunday!  I am always amazed by the little kids and how they can get it all pulled off.  I know that some of them are so terribly nervous.  They never give up.  They get up there and do their very best to share with their parents and others all the wonderful things they have been learning in Primary.  Everyone stays awake in Sacrament Meeting on this one Sunday!  I love that.  I didn't tell all the kids but I was just as nervous as they were when I got up to do my part!

It is report card day!  Yes, tonight we will go pick up the report cards.  I think with both boys there will be one B+ and all the rest will be A's.  They do quite well and they seem to like school.

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving.  When I spoke with my sister she said it would just be us for dinner.  I am glad we won't be 20+ people.  I always feel bad for the cook when there are more people than that.  We have lots of things planned that weekend, too.  One person in our group actually wants to go out shopping on Black Friday.  We are planning on making tamales.  I am really looking forward to that.  We might even try to squeeze in Harry Potter! I think we will have to go see some Christmas light displays, too.  They are of significance to our daughter.  She was proposed to at Christmas Lights on Temple Square.

If you have been wondering about the chickens, no worries!  We don't know what our critter was but we have been able to figure out how to keep them out of the animal food.  They can't get into the cans but they do roll them around trying! 

Well, it is getting dark so I think I will go turn on those Christmas lights!  I know it is too early but....I can't help myself!

Just getting started!

I thought I would try a new thing--so here I am giving this blog thing a try.  I don't know that I will have anything to say that anyone would want to read but I have kids and maybe they will look every once in awhile!

Today, thru modern technology, I went for a walk with my sister living in a different state. I love technology.  She took her dog Gizmo with her.  I got to hear him greeting other critters along the way.  It was fun.  I also got to visualize the town's Christmas display.  They were checking the lights just like we were last night.

I finished a quilt top yesterday.  I had been working on it for three days.  It will be for my grandbaby due in April.  I am sure it won't be the only one though!  It seems like while the boys are late with play practice I have a couple more hours to work uninterrupted on things around here.  I am pretty sure the next project will be a little Christmas wall quilt for my sewing room.

We have a critter!!  I am not sure what kind of critter it is but it really likes Pigeon Checkers ( the pigeon food).  We have three little metal cans with lids sitting outside of the chicken coop/pigeon loft.  One holds chicken food, one pigeon popcorn (seeds), and the other Pigeon Checkers.  A couple weeks ago two of the cans had their lids laying on the ground.  I thought that was odd.  The cans have been out there for over a year and we haven't had any issues.  Then a few days latter the lid is off the Pigeon Checkers.  It seems almost every morning the lid is off.  This morning I heard a very interesting noise from out back.  It was too dark to see anything but when I went out to care for the flocks the lid was overturned on the ground again.  I need bungee cords!!

Off to find a new project!