SNOW DAY!!

Snow is something Tennessee doesn't see very often so when the weather dumps 6-8 inches on us people around here are sure that they can't do anything.Rick went out to shovel our driveway only find that we didn't have a snow shovel. We left ours in Utah because everyone told us we wouldn't need one. So there we are with a push broom, a regular shovel and a rake trying to clear the driveway. We are doing this because we need somewhere to park the car that couldn't make it up the hill to our house and was still parked at the church parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Our next door neighbors felt bad for us and lent

us their shovel. They said that they hadn't used the shovel in years. (It was noted that it hasn't snowed this much in 15 years) Rick was nice enough to dig out some ruts for them when he finished with our drive, but they were content on being "snowed in."

I took Katie for a walk down the hill to fetch the car. We weren't the only ones to abandon our vehicle and trek up the hill Friday night during the snow storm. We were however the only people that had any idea of how to get your car brushed off, unstuck, and drive home in the snow. I spent more time digging out the other cars and Rick ended up pushing a van practically the whole way out of the parking lot. No wonder they don't go anywhere.

We relaxed at home and Rick even got some studying done. It was so nice to have a day off where no one expected anything of you because of the weather.

Being from Utah we expected everything to be back to normal by the next day. The roads were decent for the most part. (They really don't have snow removal out here)

Today is Sunday 2 days after the storm and guess what.......

it is a SNOW DAY!!! My very first one! I know snow days are suppose to be a public school term but anytime I have church cancelled due to snow I'm going to call it a SNOW DAY!

Without 3 hours of meetings we spent the morning at Rick's parent's house eating yummy waffles, do some sledding, and building our very own snow family.

What a great day! No wonder kids pray for snow.

';

Home sweet Home

I was sure that being home would have a calming effect on our lives and we left the craziness of bumps, bruises, and crashing things behind in Utah. I was sadly mistaken though.

Thursday January 7th, 2010 kicked our year into gear. We were over at Rick's parent's house having some dinner and watching the championship football game when the snow really started coming down. (that is for TN at least, I've seen worse) I was nagging Rick about pausing the game and putting Katie's PJ's on when all of the sudden Katie tripped and started crying. I just thought she was tried and sat there. Rick jumped up and picked her up only to find that she was bleeding. I reacted to that!

Upon inspection the "trip" included a toy car somehow ending up in her mouth and now she was bleeding because she cut the back of her mouth and her Left Top molar was now hanging down. I really couldn't believe that she knocked her tooth loose. It was still hanging and attached.

Not knowing what to do (I hadn't found a dentist here yet) we called the only dentist we knew, Kyle, Cindy's son-in-law that lives in Texas. He said that we needed to try to put it back in place and get to a dentist as soon as possible.

So there we were one screaming child and 4 adults (2 of which were covered in blood) trying to find someone who could help. Kyle said that there should be an emergency contact for a dentist with the local hospital. 8 hospitals later no luck. We called all the offices in the phone book. No emergency contact. I called a couple ladies from the ward to see if they had any information on their dentist to no avail.

Finally Rick cross referenced one of the dentist in the yellow pages to his home address in the white pages and Kevin called for me. The dentist was nice and offered to meet us at his office in Harrogate. This was around 10:30 pm.

Everyone drove through the snow and made it to the office. The dentist had one look at the tooth and said that since she sheered the roots off there was no way that we could save the tooth and he ended up pulling it anyway. He did add that we did the right thing and in a similar situation could have saved the tooth but with the roots broke off the tooth would die either way.

May I add I was very impressed by the dentist. He too was watching the game and left in the middle to help my child. Not only that, he had guests in town and was willing to leave them to venture into a snow storm late at night and he didn't charge us a thing. He was great with Katie too. He calmed her down, and patted her head long before diving in after the tooth. He even gave her a cute tooth holder because he knew it was the first tooth she ever lost. Needless to say he gained 4 adults and one child as patients for his willingness to help.

What a way to start a new year! At least any time someone asks Katie for something unique about herself she can say she lost her first tooth at 15 months.

By the way Katie went to the doctor and is very healthy. She weighed 19 1/2 lbs and was 31 1/2 inches tall. Pretty much decent height and very skinny. What girl wouldn't want that.

Posting overload

10 posts in 1 day. I'm sorry for posting so much all at once. I was trying to catch up. I'm pretty proud of myself though for doing so many.

December Fun

These are some pictures of the fun we had while visiting Utah. Katie loves the snow. She would grab her coat and boots and try to put them on by herself just so she could go outside. I think she really enjoyed having other people around during the day besides mom. She gained a full pound while we were gone, found that she loves pretzel sticks, and can now say please and thank you. I had the opportunity to go to lunch with some of my girlfriends and even get my hair done. Rick went skiing at Sundance and played harder than anyone. I think he was just happy not to use his brain for a few weeks.

Going out with a Bang!

Our year was full of some crazy things. We moved across the country, Rick started med school, and Katie turned one. All in all it was a good year. It had its ups and downs. Plenty of frustartions but even more happy moments. We said goodbye to the year with both sides of our families playing some mean Tripoly at my grandma's house. Katie was no where near ready to go to sleep at midnight and we were up until 1:30. Which worked out perfectly because it made her

tired for our long day of traveling on the 1st back to TN.

Before we left Utah we did have some fun. The entire family took turns Snow-mo-sledding. It is a sled pulled behind a snowmobile. Rick even ventured out and went Snow-mo-skiing. Katie went for a couple of rides on the snowmobile and I took my turn getting whipped around on a tube. It was so much fun. Everyone should try it someday.

Day After

The day after Christmas we were able to drive to my brother's house in Bountiful about an hour and half away. His family moved the same week that Rick and I moved to TN. It was the first time we were able to see them since last spring. Their house was nice with a huge backyard. He had built a really nice shelf in the baby's room to display Joee's doll collection. It was nice to see them and play with their little boy Bo. We missed Bo's birthday party on the 30th of December because Katie had a runny nose and cough and the weather was horrible. It is crazy the way life goes. The next time I see his little family will be next summer if everything goes well. By then I will have niece that might be crawling which I will not have met yet. (Joee is due in January).

My sister has all the pictures on her camera. I'll add them later when she emails me some.

Mikayla's Blessing

The Sunday after Christmas we spent at Rick's brother Chad's. Rick helped bless Chad's daughter Mikayla. The house was full of young families. We were able to get some pictures snapped of us all dressed up as a family.

Christmas

Katie enjoyed handing out presents Christmas morning. She didn't quite understand the rip open the paper to find something inside. Next year will be the year! It was fun to watch her open her stocking though. She marveled at each thing as she pulled them out of her sock and was really upset when she finally reached the bottom. Rick's brother Steve joined my family that morning and was surprised that he had a large portion of gifts under the tree. The nice thing was that everything fit in the luggage to come home yeah!

Watch Out for Ice

Rick flew into UT a few weeks after Katie and I because he had some exams to take. He was happy to finally have time to spend with his brothers. One night after playing some racket ball Rick and Steve were traveling back to my parents. The final turn became a disaster zone. Snow had covered the warm road which created a very Icy situation. Rick came to the intersection and couldn't stop due to the slick conditions and proceeded through the stop sign at about 3 miles an hour. Unfortunately for him a truck was driving by at that exact second.

The worst damage was done to Rick's pride and driving record.

Results: 4 people that walked away, 2 totaled vehicles and 1 expensive ticket for driving too fast for conditions.

My mom gets to shop for a new vehicle now which she is excited to do and got some nice shelves built by my husband in remorse.

This all happened within 24 hours of Rick arriving in UT. He said that after this we will never own a minivan, it was an omen.