Finding Christmas

At Fiesta Mall tonight I saw something that totally surprised me. Right in the middle of the mall is a lovely nativity display. How cool is that?!! But the scene was incomplete because the little Christ child was missing. Now what do you suppose that means?

Craziness

Things have been a little....complicate around here.  Nothing much to complain of, seeing as we are all fine and nothing seriously is wrong.  I guess it's just that sometimes things go smoothly, and sometimes they don't.  It's been one of those not-smooth times.  I think it started last Wednesday when the guy that came to stretch our carpets (pull them tighter) and clean them didn't bring either his carpet stretcher nor his work van with the heavy duty carpet cleaner.  He thought he could get by with a portable carpet cleaner (his van was in the shop) and a little hand tool to fix our carpets.  He cleaned one room with the portable cleaner, wasn't too happy with the result (nor was I), then we decided that he might as well just stretch them.  He said they needed to be wet to stretch properly so he used his machine to wet all of our carpets down.  After a while of tugging on some carpet in one of the rooms he decided he didn't have the right tool to stretch our carpets.  So...I told him that I would talk to my husband and figure out what we wanted to do and we'd get back to him later.  That was the nice way of getting him out of my house.  At that point, ALL of our furniture and belongings were off the carpet and tucked away in the garage, out on the back porch, or in the dining room.  The carpets were all wet and we didn't know who to call to get the job done so we could get the house put back together.  We managed to find a couple of referrals, one for a carpet cleaner who thankfully could come the next afternoon, and one for a carpet repair guy who could come on Saturday morning.  So, what was suppose to be a one-day project turned into four days.  Or more, since I still have a bunch of food storage in my dining room that needs to find it's way back to it's spot.  Thursday evening was an interesting night.  The carpet cleaner (second one) was running behind and didn't get to our house until 5pm, the same time my boys' music class begins.  I let him inside, ran the kids to class, stopped at Trader Joe's for something to cook for dinner, then came home to put the groceries away.  Then it was time to pick them back up.  In the meantime, Mark got home around 6pm, the same time our home teacher came over.  We met him on the back lawn, since there was someone inside still cleaning our carpets.  That night the carpets were wet so we made do.  Mark and I threw our mattress on the dining room floor where we slept that night, Dallin and Adam slept in a tent in the backyard.  Owen was the only one who got a real bed that night.  Moving all of the furniture around made it obvious it was time to switch everyone's beds, something we've been planning to get to soon anyway.  Owen moved up from his crib and got Adam's old bed.  Dallin and Adam need a little more space in their room so we didn't set Dallin's bed back up--the plan was to get a bunk bed ASAP.  Plus, the carpet repair guy was coming Saturday so it didn't make sense to put the rest of the beds back into the rooms.  Saturday was General Conference, which was great, but between that, getting the carpets stretched in the morning, moving furniture in between sessions, and picking up a bunk bed for the boys that was listed on Craigslist, our house was definitely suffering by the end of the day.  I decided to have Dallin and Adam help me put the bunk bed together that night while Mark was gone at the Priesthood (young men and men's) session of Conference.  That was quite tricky, but we figured it out.  Actually, at one point I couldn't figure out how to bolt some pieces together.  Mark took the bed apart to bring it home and I hadn't seen how exactly it was assembled.  I thought we wouldn't be able to get the bed set up that night, but then I figured out where everything was suppose to go.  Dallin started cheering, saying "Great job, Mom!!" and the other boys joined in with some chanting, "Yay, mom!  Yay, mom!."  It was quite the moment!  Since we hadn't had a chance to buy mattresses and only had one twin size one, Dallin and Adam both shared the top bunk that night.  I did make one mistake setting the bed up that night though.  One that would be most evident the next night.  The bed has two height settings and I forgot to set it on the lower one.  Instead, the top bunk ended up much too close to the boys' ceiling fan.  Yep.  Someone got smacked in the head, pretty good too.  Sunday night I heard Dallin yelling for me to come into his room.  Mark was holding Adam's head and there was blood dripped here and there.  Adam was playing on the bunk bed and got up on his knees and got hit.  We thought he would need stitches, but after a few minutes the bleeding stopped, and since it is covered by his hair we weren't as worried about him having a scar.  We bandaged it up that night and Adam slept on the floor.  That's where he's slept since because I still haven't been able to go to the store and buy a mattress for the bottom bunk. We also lowered the bunk bed that night before Dallin went to sleep.  I am still nervous about the bunk bed, since the ceiling is low and there is still a chance the boys could stand on the bed and get hit with it.  I'm not sure what we'll do yet.  It probably shouldn't make a difference, but we just a couple of months ago bought and installed that ceiling fan, and it's a really cool one that they both really love. 

Yesterday and today I have spent lots of hours working on a fall guide for I Heart Mesa.  It's going to be pretty awesome, but I am sure glad we are finished with all of that research and writing.  I need to clean my house and get this food storage out of my dining room.

A Few Things About Owen

Owen is at such a fun age.  This is my favorite age, from about 1 1/2 til maybe around 3, when they are so incredibly fun but still very innocent.  I love hearing him talk, watching him do that awkward but heart-melting little dance he does, and well, every single stinkin' thing about this kid is just CUTE.

 

Owen loves to eat butter, mayonnaise, syrup, jam, etc., as if those things were meals in and of themselves.  Here he is caught red-handed with some ranch dip.

He is a good little helper.  He will sing the clean up song but sings it like this, "Me cup, me cup..."  He likes to help me put the laundry into the dryer.  He will look through the clothes and point at who owns the items he's putting into the dryer.  "Is Adam's!"

 

He is your typical two-year-old mischief-maker. So sometimes I just let him make the messes and I throw him a few measuring spoons and bowls to make dumping more fun.

He loves to "readabook."   I love hearing him saying that to me as he brings me a book.

He loves his brothers.  He snuck into this picture of Dallin on the first day of first grade.

Playing with Adam.  

He had the sweetest curly hair.  I just trimmed it and lots of the curl is gone now.   {Tear.}  I don't know what I was thinking.  I mean, look at this guy:

For his second birthday (back in July) we had a homemade ice cream party.  It was pretty much amazing, if I do say so myself.  I would love another excuse to do it again, anybody wanna come?  We had family over and everyone enjoyed seeing little O and eating seven flavors of ice cream and sorbet.

 

Did I tell you he turned two?

 He is obsessed with Batman, whom he calls either Bat-Bat, Superbap, or just Bat.  His favorite movie is Finding Nemo.  He'll say, "I wan watch Neno, I wan watch Neno"  most every day.  He loves watching videos of himself and he has learned to answer the question "What's your name?"  His answer sounds something like "ow-eh."  He loves playing "monkey" with his daddy, which is basically just Mark acting like a monkey and jumping and hollering then picking Owen up and throwing him on the couch.  He also likes to get in on the action when Dallin and Adam are wrestling with daddy.  Owen is fearless and is a hoot to watch.  He will make aggressive faces and jump mercilessly on Mark's face, whatever it takes.  Of course he is very loved and brings smiles to our faces every day. 

Derby

We have now experienced roller derby first-hand! What a feeling. Marily's sister plays for an El Paso roller derby team--the Tex Pistols--and tonight they had a bout in Tucson. (That's right. Swimmers "meet", tennis players "match", but derby girls duke it out like boxers. Not exactly. If they hit or push an opponent with the hand or elbow they have to sit in time out).

We're pretty new to the whole derby scene, and one of the first things I noticed is that it is in fact a scene. The sights are kind of a mix between Halloween and hockey...on roller skates. I also learned that it's a lot like city softball league except instead of whacking a ball players attack the opposing player known as the Jammer, each player gets to pick a cool name for herself, and after the bruising's done the opposing teams will still like each other and may even hang out.

We had a lot of fun cheering for her sister.

Go Goldie A-Go-Go!

What's the Deal With Russell Pearce?

Well, the day is coming and the local media is more excited than a gaggle of tweens at a Justin Bieber concert. Their favorite “lightning rod of controversy” who has been “ensnared in ... controversy” because of his “controversial political stances”, yes even Russell Pearce, “one of the state's most powerful and controversial politicians” is now subject to a recall election in November. (Note to reader: all the preceding quotes came from the Arizona Republic. And no, not from a collection of articles...all from the same article)! While it’s easy fun to laugh at journalists’ overuse of meaningless adjectives, at some point we serious citizens have to take a step back and consider what to do about the whole affair.

After all, hasn’t Russell Pearce been wasting time on illegal immigration bills instead of focusing on more important issues? And what’s the thing with some Fiesta Bowl scandal we keep hearing about? And why does he always look so angry in them photographs?

Before the campaigns get into full swing now may be a good time to consider what Pearce has actually done as a legislator and what this election means in context of other considerations.

Sure, we already know that he gets high ratings from groups for being a “Hero of the Taxpayer” and having a 100% pro-life voting record, but what about dealing with the urgent fiscal issues facing Arizona?

Sometimes the Arizona legislature will have to go into special sessions in order to deal with budget issues that don’t get resolved until the last minute. Kind of like the federal government is doing right now. But under Senate President Pearce’s leadership the budget was finished within 100 days of regular session. Difficult decisions were made to come up with a budget that would put Arizona on more stable financial footing.

But what about the cuts to education and health care? Here’s where it gets interesting and makes it look like Pearce has been onto something for a long time. Education—overall enrollments are down so it’s a reasonable move (even though painful) to make during hard economic times. Health Care—AHCCCS paid for 20,000 births in 2007 but only for 7,000 in 2010. Why the sudden drop in state-funded births and students? At least part of the answer is SB 1070, the immigration bill that has made Pearce so notorious.

Pearce has helped the state reduce its costs by pushing an immigration law that prompted many illegals to voluntarily leave. What’s not to like about that?

Hot Roddin'

We finally took the boys to the Hot Wheels races tonight. These races take place every Friday night in the Ace Hardware parking lot on the southwest corner of Gilbert and Baseline.
The way it works is that they set up a really long, 2-lane track and participants race their Hot Wheels cars. The races go in heats with the winners moving onto the next race. The winner and runners-up get prizes! To participate, you pay $1 and the organizers give you a brand new, in-the-box Hot Wheels car. You must only use that car in the race, and the cars are randomly assigned to
the racers.




One of the gentlmen there kept giving out cars to the kids so although we showed up with just one car that Dallin had in his pocket we came home with about 10. Even Owen got into the act. The most difficult thing was to keep him away from the track when it wasn't his turn to race. And even though his car litterally wobbled down the track for a loss he was so excited to see the cars go.

People start showing up after 6pm, but the actual racing doesn't start until about 7:30-8:00pm.

it's an attempt to kind of catch up around here

So instead of saying too much, we'll just dump a bunch of pictures in a post.

Sound good?

We had a little party for our co-op preschool I've been doing with Adam.

Adam, Elsie, Ainsley, and Wrigley

Dallin's kindergarten celebration.  He (we) loved his teacher, Mrs. Brown.  She was very attentive to her individual students and made sure to give Dallin what he needed to grow and learn this last year.

In order to make sure we schedule in enough fun this summer, the boys and I came up with this summer checklist:

Here are the items:

Play kick the can, go to Amazing Jakes, summer reading program, swimming at a cool pool (City pool), splash pad, Dallin started writing 'go to Legoland' but I made him scratch that one out, go see a movie, go bowling, go to Bass Pro Shop (their summer kids camp activities), road trip, farmers market (at Superstition Farms), Hot Wheels races, lemonade stand, rock selling (Dallin wants to paint rocks and sell them), make popsicles, go to Golden Hills Park (brand new Mesa park with shaded playground), and play at the Salt River.

These pictures below are out of order, but it's too much work to shuffle them around.  Here are Owen and Adam at their 'toddler time' at Westwood basketball camp.  Dallin did basketball camp, but I missed getting his photo. 

Playing in the water

 Oh look, basketball again.  This is owen dreaming big:

Homemade rasberry pudding pops:

 It makes me happy--and proud--to see my little guy in a Westwood shirt.  We might have to move back to west Mesa someday. 

 These pictures were from our debt-free celebration dinner at Waldo's BBQ.  We are happy to announce we have paid off our last loan and for the first time in our marriage we have no consumer debt.  Although we didn't have a mortgage when we got married and now we do, so are we really better off than we were eight years ago?  Anyway, we've worked really hard and have also seen HUGE blessings come our way as we've committed ourselves to getting out of debt.  Yay!  Also, we left the waitress a $20 tip that night, and it felt good. 

Adam at Golden Hills Park.  (It's shaded, see?)  You CAN go to a park in the summertime around here if you go early enough.

This is Mr. T.  He stares at us from the floor in our bedroom because he knows he should be up on the wall in Mark's office.  Mark's best friend Coy gave this print to him and Mark has had it up in his office.  When he switched jobs he took it down, and just hasn't gotten the courage to hang Mr. T. back up in the new office for everyone to see.  

We went to downtown Mesa and here is proof.  Gotta love the Ghostbuster guys.

...and Queen's Pizzeria...

 ...and fresh peaches from the Backyard Farmer (he delivers to your door)...

  

 The annual Skousen trip to the cemetery for Memorial Day.  This year breakfast was at our house.  We had a good 60+ people over here that morning.  Here's Adam and Dallin by my grandpa Pete Skousen's grave:

Eating dinner at the Superstition farmers market.  The food was really good by the way.  The president of Mesa's chamber of commerce was there to do a ribbon cutting ceremony for the market.  He saw us eating and asked me if I was from I Heart Mesa.  I was flattered and pretty surprised, that he'd recognized me.  He's the only one that has as far as I know.

Dallin at the petting zoo at the farm:



Hey, it looks like I'm out of pictures.  I guess that's all for now.

What's going on

Let's start oldest to youngest. Save the best (all three of them) for last.

Mark started his new job yesterday.  Things are looking good, and he thinks it will be a good experience.  Not so good: it took him an hour to drive home yesterday in the rain.  But, he should be working more reasonable hours than his last job, so we're thinking he'll be home about the same amount and still in time for dinner most of the time.  We have been awed at how the Lord has guided us in our lives and how we can look back over the years and see His hand and how he's led us to where we are.  When Mark told me he was getting laid off I told him I was looking forward to seeing what happens.  Those big life changes are when we've seen the Lord's hand in a big way and it's awesome to get those experiences from time to time.

Mark had three days off work last week between jobs.  It was also spring break and he got paid for all the vacation days he never took from his last job.  I was really wanting to use that money to go to Disneyland.  Something materialistic in me has been yearning to go.  But, long ago we already had mapped out our plan for what to do with our money including savings and paying off debt and after those things are done, then Disneyland is on the list.  Instead we were practical and only used $200 to "vacation" for those three days.  We went camping at Lost Dutchman State Park one night and took a road trip to Tucson to go to Old Tucson Studios for another day.  We had a good time, though the kids were pretty whiny, especially at Old Tucson, but I still kinda wish we'd done Disneyland.  Sometimes I get tired of being patient.  I've been patient long enough. :)

Here are a few pictures of Old Tucson.  My newer camera got dropped by a kid with the lens out.  A 1-foot drop to the counter right on the lens can ruin a camera for good.  So now I am glad I never got rid of my old camera, but I don't tend to pull it out very often because I'm not happy with the pictures.  Any suggestions for a good point-and-shoot?  Anyway...













I am trying to get us more organized around here, both in creating some schedules and in physically organizing our space.  I've had some successes but most my efforts are still at the beginning stages.  One thing that has been a success is getting the boys on a morning and evening routine.  They have this chart that shows them the things they need to do in the morning and the things they need to do at bedtime.  They can do these in whatever order they want so that gives them a little freedom to do it their way.  At bedtime we usually read scriptures and pray as a family first, then we decide with the kids how much time they need to get their bedtime routines done.  We set a timer (10-15 minutes) and when it beeps it's storytime.  Mark reads or tells a story to whoever is ready for bed, or he just reads a book to himself some nights when neither Dallin nor Adam are ready.  After storytime is over, whether the kids are ready for bed or not, they go into their rooms.  If they are ready for bed they get a song and a backscratch from Mom and then good night.  If they're not ready for bed, no song from mom.  This has worked out great for us because we don't nag at bedtime anymore.  We still have some nights where kids don't cooperated and they cry and cry because they miss stories or songs.  I want to sing to my kids every night and have that time with them, but I know overall we'll have more quality time if I stick to my guns and don't nag and yell at them to get dressed, brush their teeth, etc. 

Dallin is loving kindergarten.  He has some great friends and loves to play board games.  His favorite games are Stratego and Chess.  I don't play chess with him, I don't know if I've ever played a full game, but he'll try to get the older neighbor boys to play or he'll play with Mark, and when we're at Grandma's house for Sunday dinner he'll play with Uncle Ryan or maybe Grandpa.  He loves to read and is always telling us about the things he's learned about bugs or animals or outer space from his books and magazines. 

We're kind of goofy around here.  Last night at dinner Adam wasn't wearing a shirt.  Mark asked Adam why he wasn't wearing a shirt.  Then Mark and I must have been looking in the other direction because the next thing we knew Dallin's shirt was gone too.  One of the things Dallin likes to do is put a blanket over your head and breath into your face.  It's really weird and a little gross, so he thinks it's hilarious.

Adam has the best smile ever.  He is very interested in writing these days and will ask how to spell things so he can write words.  I've learned a trick I've used on him--when he gets tired and grumpy I get him involved in singing songs and he cheers up.  I've used this lately when we've gone hiking and after so long he's gotten tired, so we sing songs and he forgets he's tired.  He is a great helper and is always eager to bring the groceries in the house or help me cook.  He also loves juicing citrus.  I love to hear Adam talk because he has the cutest voice.  He'll explain things that happened, "a long time ago,"  or "a really, really, really, really long time ago" which means last month, or earlier today, or yesterday.  The boys love wrestling with Mark, and even Owen gets in on it, though he's learned to be cautious.

Owen is 20 months. I'm kinda not liking the fact that 20 months makes me think of 24 months which is 2 years old. He is the sunshine in our home. He is hilarious, and makes everyone laugh and smile all day. When he is mad at me he growls like an angry dog, when he is happy he does a little happy trot, when he is sad his sad face is so darn cute it even makes me smile.  He is not super talkative, but he is saying more all the time.  He says, "baboop" for book, "ada" for Adam, "Dada" for Dallin, "shzzz" for shoes.  His curly hair is awesome.  When he sees a dog or a picture of a dog he sticks his tongue out and pants.  Dallin trained him this way:  You ask, "Who tempted Adam and Eve?" and Owen raises his hand and yells, "ME!"

That is all for now.  Now I feel a little better getting some blogging done. 

Update

It's hard to get back into blogging when I haven't written in a while. There's too much to say, and I don't have time to say it all, so where to start?

Mark took yesterday and today off from work. He has too many vacation days, since his current job (which ends Tuesday) he had a hard time taking a break from. So, for my birthday yesterday he told me he'd be my personal slave. I tried to come up with something good, but all I wanted him to do was clean. I didn't have to do any dishes at all yesterday--and they all still got cleaned. It was wonderful. I had a really nice day with calls and visits from family and friends.

Today Mark accepted a job offer! We have been very, very fortunate. We know a lot of people that are looking for work and have been looking for a long time and somehow we got lucky enough that what Mark does is in demand and so the job search went well even in this economy. He is an accountant and for the last 6 years has been managing an accounting team for a company that owns physician groups. Since health care is growing, he was able to find another job in the health care industry doing about what he's been doing. The job is farther away and the commute will be longer than he hoped for, so it took us a few days to figure out if this was the right thing for us. The more we learned about the company the more we liked it. And it looks like he'll be working more regular (read: fewer) hours and will get lots of vacation days so we think we'll have as much and likely more family time than before. We are really excited. The Lord has really blessed us and it is easy to see that now looking back over the last several years how different decisions have led us to where we are now. Thank you to all of our family and friends who have helped with the job search in whatever way, especially in prayer and love for our family!

Today's been a great day. This morning we went for a hike to the wind caves in Usery Park, had lunch in the car on the way back, and got home in time to get Dallin to afternoon kindergarten. Thanks Danny and Lachelle for letting us borrow the backpack for Owen. He slept in it most of the way up and enjoyed his elevated view on the way back.

I'll have to post some updates on the boys and what they have been up to, but that will be another time.

Things on My Mind

I kinda feel like unloading a bit of what is on my mind lately. A few thoughts:

1. My heart has been heavy lately thinking about someone I love. This person is going through a really, really rough time and lives far away from me and that makes me feel hopeless. Today we had a lesson in Relief Society that made me think of this person and I totally lost it. When I got home from church I could still feel this physical heaviness weighing on me. What do you do when there isn't much you can do?

2. Mark is looking for a new job. His company got bought out several months ago. Supposedly, things were going to stay the same for everybody but now they have decided that the accounting would all be done at the corporate level so no need for Mark and the other accountants that work with him. So, we're looking around, Mark has until March 15th until he's let go. We are not worried. We have savings but we have worked super hard to build our emergency fund and it would be nice to not have to dip into that if we didn't have to. Mark is a hard worker and has always without complaining worked hard for our family. A friend said to me, "Well, at least you'll get to see more of him if he's out of work," and I said, no that's not the plan. If Mark is out of work he will wake up at a normal time in the morning, shower, shave, get dressed in slacks and a collared shirt and look for a job for eight hours. I actually heard Dr. Phil talk about this once years ago and it has stuck with me: "If you don't have a job your job is looking for a job." That's how it's going to happen around here, and it's going to take my own dedication just as much as it will take Mark's to make sure that happens. Friday, Mark's family watched the boys so we could go out suit shopping so he'll have a nice suit for job interviews. I've never been suit shopping before, and it was kinda fun seeing my attractive guy modeling suits. We were pretty happy with the one we picked out.

3. I feel like we are pretty frugal folk. Sometimes I look around and wonder how people have the money to spend on certain things. I shouldn't compare, but I do. Sometimes I just have to tell myself that perhaps they don't really have the money to spend on this thing or that thing after all or that they choose to spend their money and maybe they don't have any money in the bank.

4. We have some debt still from when we were first married. Mark had a little and I had a little when we got married and then we had a little more that first year or so when money was super tight. It wasn't gigantic but it's been a slow process paying it off. When Mark was getting his masters degree a few years ago we used a student loan to pay off the credit card and the loan of one of our cars because the interest rate of the student loan was less. We've slowly been ticking away at that over the last few years and if the stars align and Mark is able to find a new job that will start right away when his old job ends in March we will be able to pay all of that off this summer and we will be totally debt free except for our mortgage. We will also have a good chunk of money set aside for emergencies. We're praying that things will work out that way but who knows what the Lord has in store for us.

5. If you don't mind, if you know any accountants that might have a connection for Mark, please let us know. He figures the best way to find a job is by knowing the right people, so I feel like it is my responsibility to spread the word. He is not a tax accountant, he does corporate accounting. He is a CPA, has a masters in accounting and has been a controller for a small company for the last 5 years. He's also very nice and looks good in his suit.

We did have Christmas around here

Hey, I'm not quite a month behind yet.  Better late than never. 

One night for Family Home Evening we acted out the nativity.  We pulled out some fabric, towels, and other items and let Dallin and Adam choose which part they wanted to play.  Owen didn't get to choose.  He's already an angel so that worked out.

Dallin was a wise man.  (The angel disrobing in the background).

 

Adam was a shepherd.

Mark and I were Mary and Joseph and we don't have any baby dolls (we are a family of boys) so some sort of animal was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a serving tray.  Mark read from Luke 2 while we acted out the scene.  Afterward, Adam was looking outside.  The neighbors across the street has put up a lighted nativity scene that day and now it was dark and lit for the first time.  Adam exclaimed, "Hey!  That's the same play that we were doing!"  So it was the perfect opportunity to take the kids across the street and reinforce the message.  Sometimes those moments just fall into your lap and it was a sweet night with the boys. 

Here's a few other pictures from other things we did:

Mark and his jazz band played at the temple visitor's center one night.  Looks like this might become an annual tradition.

Owen and I watching the performance.

We went with the Melzers to a free "Media Night" for Zoolights.  Finally all this work for I Heart Mesa is starting to have some perks.

There's a neighborhood in Mesa we have visited for the last few years where an older couple dresses up like Santa and Mrs. Claus and visits with kids in this bench that they set up in front of their yard.  They collect donations of food and cash for the Child Crisis Center.  Aren't you glad there are good people in this world?

I love this picture below, partly because of the look Adam is giving his little brother.  The paper in the tree is one that Adam wrote.  He asked me how to spell, "I love my baby brother" then he put the paper up in the Christmas tree.  It says "I LOEV MY BABY BROTHER. LOEV ADAM."  Dallin and Adam were happy they got "warm pajamas" for Christmas like Owen has.  They wear these every night if they are clean.

And you can't tell from this picture, but it was snowing when I took it.  We got a good 15 minutes of snow at our house the week after and the boys were running around with our neighbor Jack signing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."  The snow was big enough that it would land on our clothes and on the ground for a few seconds.  That's a big deal around here.  I think I've only ever seen snow fall once in my life, on a band trip to northern Arizona.

I figured I'd better post because Mark has scared my from leaving the blog blank for too long.  You never know what he is going to put on here.