Okay, so we live in Idaho...

In the last couple of weeks we have gone from having weather below zero for four days, to three solid days of snow, to two solid days of rain, and finally, the last twelve hours we have had very thick fog.

Yeah.

Whatever.

Book Review: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

NOTE: ALL couples should read this book. If you're not a couple STILL read this book. It will help you in the future AND with current relationships....with whoever! Seriously, it is that good.

Stephen and I received this book as a wedding gift two years ago. It has taken us two years to finally sit down and read it together. I LOVE THIS BOOK AND I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE!!! Males included.

The book begins by talking about how every person has a love tank that needs to filled. The book proceeds to teach how different people have different types of love languages that fill their love tanks. It is very interesting. It has made me look at my relationship with, not only my husband, but with the many different people I have in my life. It helps me realize why people do the things they do. Definitely a good read.

The MAN of the Hour

Stephen played AWESOME tonight at his basketball game AND he got an 82.5% on his Economics test. By the way his teacher is the most difficult teacher in the entire world. I think that she's disappointed that she got rejected from an Ivy League School.

I LOVE YOU HONEY!

Christmas Lights

Stephen and I bought our first set if Christmas lights for the outside of the house. It'a been so much fun to decorate! We started putting up our Christmas lights the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It took us four hours to get three quarters of the lights up. It wasn't until the next Saturday we were able to finish the last of it in an hour and half. Stephen takes such good care of our house! Doesn't it look great!

Never go to Walmart on Black Friday...

We were in Pocatello with my parents this year for Black Friday. We didn't have anything really big that we wanted to get, but I HAD to go to Fred Meyer for the half off sock sale. I need new tights!

The first store we had on our list was Walmart...I know, I know, I'm not a huge fan, but...ok no excuses. We were at Walmart. THAT PLACE WAS INSANE!!!!!! I really cannot put enough question marks on that thing. We arrived at Walmart at 4:50 and were there when they did the countdown and unwrapped the deals. Within 10 minutes the entire from of the store was crammed with people. We couldn't even get out of the store! I hate Walmart...grrrr.

Honestly, I can't even remember all the stores that we went to. Except for Home Depot. Because of the pictures. We were really tired and bored. We woke up at 4:00am.

After Home Depot we went to breakfast at Perkins. I had the best Eggs Benedict. Black Friday was so worth it after I had that breakfast. Wahoo!!

Thanksgiving Football, Thanksgiving Dinner, Thanksgiving Games

I LOVE Thanksgiving! We began the morning by making a great breakfast together. Just before breakfast Dad sat us down and read us the story of how the pilgrims came to America. He told us of all the hard times that they had coming to a new land and trying to start everything new. He told us of how the Indians helped the pilgrims and of their first Thanksgiving.

The thing I remembered most was the reason that the pilgrims left. They left to be able to have religious freedom! The pilgrims first left England and traveled to Holland. There they were able to practice their religion, but their children began to practice Dutch traditions. The Dutch at that time were very frivolous and focused on worldly things. The pilgrims were worried that their children would forget their religious traditions, therefore they left Holland and traveled to America. This made me think of how we, as Americans have forgotten that part of the story.

As I listened to my dad tell that story, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I LIVE IN AMERICA AND I HAVE MY FREEDOM!!! I am also especially grateful for the opportunity to practice my belief. I know that we have a prophet on the earth today, President Thomas S. Monson. I know Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and was given the power to translate the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is a second witness of Jesus Christ of the people in the Americas. I know the Bible is also the word of God. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church restored on the earth. IT IS TRUE!!!

I have been so grateful to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday!

After the story of Thanksgiving and breakfast, we played football. According to Stephen, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without football. Aunt Kelley and Uncle Evan's family came up to join us. We split up the teams pretty evenly and had a pretty good game. I just thought it was hilarious when my team would huddle us and come up with a game plan. I had no idea what they were talking. With all of their football jargon, they might as well have been speaking in Chinese. I do have to brag about one thing...I TACKLED MY DAD!!! It was supposedly touch football, but I figure that they wouldn't yell at a five foot one hundred pound girl...Here are the pictures of our wonderful event.

Here's a picture of the whole clan. Don't we look awesome!! I was freezing...I'm the one in the hoodie and the huge Denver Broncos coat...it was my dads.

Of course, you can't talk about Thanksgiving without mentioning the amazing Thanksgiving Dinner. My favorite Thanksgiving food is the marshmallow covered sweet potatoes. I LOVE THEM!!! There is so much butter and brown sugar in that dish...These pictures are all a little odd, so take them for what they are. Pictures taken around the dinner table are just that.

After dinner, we had game time. If anyone has any desire to learn what chicken foot is, just come on over. The game that is pictured emimated from the minds in the pictures. I'm guessing that it was some sort of cowboys and indians. They used rubberbands to knock over each others little action figures. They also had dominos to be little forts to protect the action figures. First you had to knock over the dominos and then the action figures. There is a wonderful video of the game below.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

BBC

Okay, I totally stole this from Emily's blog...I really wanted to have the list for myself! I love reading books and this is a list I would like to help me keep it up.

BBC Reading List Share

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions:Look at the list and mark those you have read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
-LOVE Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
-Yeah, started this one quite a few times as well. I just can't finish it!

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
-Loved, BUT it took me about 100 pages before I really got into it.

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
K. Come on. If you haven't read these, you just need to. My high school AP English teacher refused to read these at first because they weren't up to her literary expectation. She picked the first one up and then couldn't put them down.

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
-Really liked this one.

6 The Bible -
-Still haven't finished the Old Testament

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
-This is one I really want to read!

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
-Great book.

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
-Yeah...haven't read this one either. Maybe we should just get rid of movies. I have a hard time reading a book after I have seen the movie.

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
-Not a fan...

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
-This one is a little too controversial...I'm not so sure.

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
-I seriously have not read this?!

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
-I've started reading this at least 5 times. I really need to just read it, It is supposed to be amazing!

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X
-This is my favorite book. The movie's got nothin'.

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - As Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
-Bleh

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
-Awesome book!

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X
-Loved!

I really thought that this was quite an interesting list. Here goes keeping up on my "X's". If my math is correct I am at 19.

Job 4 Me

I finally have a job! I've been on at a temp agency for a l o n g time and I finally got a call. I had almost completely forgotten about it when they called me last Monday to ask if I wanted to go in for an interview. I went to the interview on Tuesday and was called later that day and said that I got the job! They wanted me to start the next day. It went really fast and I was a little shell shocked after the whole experience.

I work at another subcontracting company called TML or Service Experts. They install the heating and cooling for homes or businesses. After I'm done working I'm going to be able to build my own house! I started working for an electrician, went to insulation, and am currently in heating and cooling. I will be working primarily in the new construction residential billing.

I have only been at work for four days and I am quite impressed with how they do business. The work environment is so friendly. I really like the people that I work with. There are a ton of people and remembering names is going to be an issue. This company is all for the customer. They are also very good about keeping up appearances. This is the first construction company that I have worked for that has had a dress code. I think it is really nice, the workers have dress codes as well. They want us all to look professional. Wouldn't you be more likely to get heating and cooling from people who look like they know what they are doing?

All in all I feel really good about where I am at. Yeah for good feelings!

Basketball Tournaments Begin!

Stephen has started playing in a city league basketball team. There first game was last night at 9pm at the Meridian Middle School. It was a lot of fun to watch him play. Kenna's husband, Marc, also plays on the team. To be completely honest, I didn't watch a whole lot of the game. I was busy talking Kenna's ear off...she didn't get as much homework done as she probably would have liked. I'm just glad that I have a basketball wife buddy!

Stephen did have a couple of really good plays. It was funny to watch him interact with his teammates. He had a couple of really good fouls...sorry I didn't get pictures. I'll bring my camera next time.

If anyone wants to come watch their amazing team...they won by the way...the Dharma Initiave will be playing most Wednesday nights at 9pm. Come and watch them play their hearts out!

Curtains-a-la-mode

The title to my blog may seem a little odd. "Curtains-a-la-mode". When you see the awesomeness that is my curtains, you will understand the blog title.

I am an HGTV watcher. To many men strewn across the country, this is probably a very bad addiction that should be curbed. My husband is one of those men. Every time that he comes home and I have a new idea for our house, he groans and states, "You are not allowed to watch any more HGTV." I'm not a very good wife for completely ignoring his demand. I AM ADDICTED!!! (If Stephen had known this would happen when he really wanted to get DISH, he might not have ever signed up.)

One of my latest projects, care of HGTV, has been curtains in my living room. I really didn't know what I wanted to do and so I started looking at window treatment books in the numerous visits to my favorite sewing stores. Finding the one that I wanted, I went to a sister in my ward, who is a professional seamstress, Deana, to learn the ropes of curtain making. Lookie at what I came up with:

In talking to Deana, she told me to begin by mounting a board in the studs above my windows. I went to Home Depot a bought a 10 foot long mdf board. The board needed to be about nine feet long and I wanted to have some sort of decorative edging around it. I called another sister in my ward, Tiffany, to help me out. She is really good with wood and has a lot of tools to get things done. As a side note, Tiffany put her entire deck in by herself. She also did her kitchen back splash on her own. She's amazing. I took the board to her house and she cut it down and used her router to make it pretty around the edges.

I spent forever looking for the hooks that I wanted . I couldn't seem to find them anywhere. In talking to Kenna, I finally found the ones. Thank you Craft Warehouse.

Here are my curtains before hanging them up. Isn't the material SOOO cute! They had a screaming deal at Home Fabrics.

Here is one of the panels hanging on the wall. Wow...I can't tell you what a difference it made to our living room. It actually made it look like a home rather than a house. That sounds a little weird, but it is true.

Here's the finished product! I'm so excited! I was so proud of myself for taking charge and getting the whole thing accomplished on my own. They are hiding behind the couch, so it is kind of hard to see them. I gave you a few different shots.

Halloween Partay

I LOVE Halloween. I actually really love holidays, period, but I especially love Halloween because I never really got to celebrate it growing up. With my parents in the farming business, harvest came first...therefore no Halloween. I do, however, remember one year that we finished harvest early and so we got dressed up and went trick-or-treating to a few members of our church. Because of the person that my Dad is, we could only go to as many houses as we had homemade apples pies to give in return...I know it sounds weird, but it's my Dad. (Exit random detour)

This year I threw a 'bomb-diggity' party. Seriously, it was that fun! My original party list included twenty-four people and we ended up with sixteen. I think that it was a pretty good turn out.

With it being Halloween, of course I threw a costume party. It took Stephen and I several weeks before we were finally able to agree on a costume. Here's the picture. Let's see if you can guess. It should be quite obvious.

Yep. Mario and Luigi. Isn't it really clever? Stephen came up with it. When we bought the green hat it had a Boston Red Sox logo on it. I took my seam ripper and tore it right out. Krystal was really excited about it. Dang Yankee's fan. Stephen cut these logos out of felt and I hand stitched them on there. Don't they look cute?

This is Bob and Sara. Aren't they the greatest Raggedy Ann and Andy? Sara said that she got these costumes from her grandparents. They dressed up every year and this was one of their costumes.

Shane and Krystal. Surgeons. Krystal walked into my kitchen and poured Tabasco sauce on her outfit so it looked like blood. That didn't work so I gave her the ketchup. In the picture she is actually holding a serrated knife. That just sounds disgusting.

Jeff and Amanda. This one was hilarious. If you look real close you can tell that Amanda is pregnant. Pregnant nun. Jeff's arms seriously looked like they had tattoos. I had to touch his arm to see if they were really fake. It was kind of like nylon. They looked great.

Jeremy and Meg. Crazy biker dudes. Jeremy's hair was way awesome. I seriously love the jackets.

Marc and Kenna. When I opened the door to let them in I was so surprised...Kenna had a real rabbit. The magician and his assistant. Marc said that the suit he was wearing was his Dad's wedding suit. If you notice, the pants are high water and his jacket had polka dots. I really want to see his parents wedding pictures.

Here's a close up...of the bunny.

Michael and Grayson. They came dressed as.......themselves.

Morgan and Jess. Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth. I was so shocked when I opened the door and saw their costumes. They looked hilarious. I couldn't believe how they totally pulled it off.

We had a costume contest and gave away the greatest prize...a twenty dollar gift certificate to the Edwards Movie Theatre! And the winner is...........Dog and Beth!!!

We started the party with a game of pictionary. We had everyone come up with words and put them in separate bowls and played boys against girls. Some of the things that we had to draw were incredible, if that is the right word for it. Some of the examples are: Bean with Bacon Soup, Burn Victim, Roller Derby, etc. Crazy words, crazy people. I really don't want to say this, but the boys won.

After pictionary, we had a break for the wonderful goodies. Stephen made the really awesome smoothies. I froze whipped topping in the shape of ghosts and them put them on top of the smoothies. The looked really cool and I'm sad I forgot to take a picture of it. I made a bajillion cupcakes that had cute orange and chocolate frosting with cutie patotie Halloween sprinkles. I also made WAY to much nacho cheese dip. So if anyone wants to come over for nachos, I have a ton.

We then had a rousing game of Upset the Fruit Basket. I'm not going to explain the game, but it is way fun. I LOVE parties! We then announced the costume contest winner. A lot of the couples left after that and then we chatted and played Catch Phrase. It was a fun time! Thanks for all of you that came!!!

BOO!

We have been "BOO!"ed. I've never been "BOO!"ed before. Coming from a farm, we never really had neighbors to "BOO!" us.

Last night Stephen and I were sitting on our couch when someone knocked on our door and ran. We opened our door to homemade cookies, homemade bread, and this cute little poem:

"BOO!
To our good friends on our street.
Our homes' locations made us meet.
You now have been Boo'd, but who could we be?
We'll never tell, it's a secret you see.
We placed these goodies for you and yours
Then we ran fast, after knocking the door!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Place this Boo on your front door
And make sure you Boo two neighbors of yours!"

My only problem is that these secret friends of ours made THE most delicious chocolate chip pecan oatmeal cookies in the entire world. I REALLY want the recipe. Ggggrrrrr what is a woman to do...

Super Saturday

Party for the Relief Society!! On Saturday we had our annual "Super Saturday". This is where all of our Relief Society sisters get together and make crafts or take classes to learn different skills. I have been so excited for the last month. I signed up for the cupcake class.

A sister in our ward, Jamie, decorates cupcakes in the coolest way. Jamie had a table set up with some of the cupcakes she had decorated. Sorry, I forgot to bring my camera to the class so you'll have to use your imagination with my descriptions. The coolest cupcakes were her spaghetti and meatballs. She had a group of twelve cupcakes placed closely together and then using a tip on tubed icing, she drizzled white frosting on top of the cupcakes to look like noodles. On top of the noodles she had ferrero rocher chocolates as the meatballs. As her sauce she used raspberry jam and drizzled it over the meatballs. As her final touch, she grated white chocolate over her masterpiece to look like Parmesan cheese. IT LOOKED SO COOL!!!!

These are the cupcakes that I decorated. They are not nearly as cool as Jamie's, but I tried. This first one is for Halloween...just in case you couldn't tell.

These cupcakes are my turkeys. They were kind of destroyed in my car. Originally they looked like big orange, white, and brown feathers. In the car they melted and fell. It was chocolate that we drizzled on wax paper and put in the freezer to set...the sun made them 'unset'.

These are my cute coconut snowmen. As an aside, everything that Jamie used in her cupcakes are edible. And I mean EVERYTHING!!! This was way fun. I am now learned in the art of cupcake decorating...kind of.

Ta-Da!!!

I found this tricycle at Ross on Friday. I was SOOO excited! I have finally begun to decorate my planter shelves. This is the first. Hopefully more is to come. Now I just have to find some cute fake plants to put in it.

Sleep Talking

Last night at 2:17am Stephen woke me up.

Using his full voice he said, "Guess...what, Kami. You...are...a traveling hazard, you really are! It's like a danger zone for everyone on the road." Stephen laughed and went back to sleep.

I got out of bed and wrote it down. I wanted to be able to use it as blackmail sometime.

Homemade videos

***WARNING***

NO BLOOD WAS SPILLED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS VIDEO...

This is what I have been doing for the last week. I have another week to go to finish the project. Let me explain myself to those of you who are not familiar with these practices...

Stephen is a bottle salesman. I could try to glamorize it, but that is what he does. To make money on the side I do little projects for Stephen's company. One of the more charming side jobs is cutting tubes.

These tubes are used in numerous types of bottles. Think of the little bottles of soap you have sitting next to your sink. You stick your dirty hands under the running water and then place a hand underneath the soap and use your thumb to push the tube that dispenses the soap. THOSE ARE THE KINDS OF TUBES I CUT!!! It all sounds very prestigious, I know, but someone has to do it. I take the pre-manufactured tubes and cut them to the specific length that the customer needs for their different types of bottles. TADA!

Plug for Stephen...If you ever need any sort of container for canning or food storage, go to containerandpackaging.com. They rock.

...AND...

The next time you purchase a bottle of perfume, or lotion (not a squeeze tube) you can think of me. The hard working laborer. Cutting tubes.

Quote of the Day

Speaking to Krystal and I, Stephen said,

"I think you guys get your goofy attitude from your dad and your sassy attitude from your mom."

Awaiting your reply Mother...

Farm Life

Stephen finally got a taste of what harvest is like. We drove ten wheelers, we rode in semis, we picked clods, we picked potatoes, we rode motorcycles, we threw clods at the porta-potty...harvest really is fun!

Friday night I drove Kelsey's truck while she went on a date. It was really fun to get to drive again. It's been a LONG time. I got in the truck and went blank. I forgot the shifting pattern, I forgot how to turn on the belt, I even forgot how to turn the engine on! It was pretty pathetic. Everything came back in a hurry though. When you are under time constraints, your brain magically functions!

Saturday was a slow start in the morning...at least, slower than usual. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise on a very cold morning. Stephen got some awesome pictures!

Saturday we began by helping Kory and Charisse can spaghetti sauce. Doing it with Charisse gave me a lot more confidence in being able to do it myself next year...I think I can, I think I can.

Here is Krystal, Karli, and I finally entering the field. Technically that is a one person motorcycle, but when you are really cold, you cram as many people together as you can to keep warm.

Here is Stephen watching how to load the truck. Every time I would tell Stephen about harvest, I think that he got bored. When explaining harvest, it doesn't sound too exciting until you get to do it.

We can't forget Kory! He's loading Mom's truck. She got a new truck this year! She's very excited because now she has bunk beds. Kory had to experience the awesomeness and so he drove her truck to the dump.

Stephen and I rode into the dump with Kory and Charisse. This is us sitting on the top bunk. It was really cool. No one under 18 is allowed at the dump and so when Mom brings Karli with her she hides her on the top bunk and no one sees her! The windows are tinted so you can see out, but no one can see in. Sneaky little Karli.

While at the dump Kory went through the same process I did with the semi. He forgot too! See, it's not only me. Eventually he got backed in and unloaded.

We ended early on Saturday so the guys could go to the priesthood session of conference. Before they got ready Stephen wanted to go on a motorcycle ride. As soon as he got on my Mom's bike, Emmett hopped right on. Stephen was a little surprised, but very excited. Stephen wants a dog SSOOOOO bad! This is Stephen and Emmett and Charisse and Kory!

I got on the back of Stephen and we drove off. After riding for a minute, the bike was acting really weird and wouldn't go very fast. Stephen stopped and Emmett jumped off. He looked at us and said with his face, "You weren't going fast enough." He then started to run in front of us and then looked back as if to say, "Let me show you." I'm serious! That is exactly what he was thinking...you could tell.

After the guys left for priesthood, the girls had chill time. We had so much fun! Grandma came over to just be a part of the gals. We were chatting it up and laughing, while Grandma kept complaining that she couldn't hear a word we were saying. She didn't want to hear what we were saying anyway...

When the boys returned, we met Kelsey's beau, Nathan. After a brief introduction, we began a rousing game of Sardines...in the dark of course! Mom and Dad's house is no big enough to play with the lights on. Just to let everyone know, I was the best hider. It took everyone the longest to find me. People would come into the bath room, where I was hiding, and leave again without even noticing me. It was great fun. The best part was when Mom was the last person to find me. Stephen was second to last and so when she finally realized that she just yelled, "STEPHEN!!" It was really funny. I think that she was nervous that all of us were going to jump out and scare her.

When it was Stephen's turn to hide he barricaded the door we were counting behind. He thinks he is so funny. We had to shove through a whole bunch of chairs and pillow cushions.

The next morning we awoke to this:

A TON OF SNOW!!! It was falling in huge flakes and was not letting up. We had our traditional omelets for breakfast and then Stephen and I, along with Krystal and Shane drive home. Before the drive home Shane did this...he is wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The picture is blurry because I zoomed a lot because I refused to go outside in that weather. Bbbbbrrrrrrr.

ThANkS MOm aNd dAD!!!! We had fun!