You know you live in Iowa when...

Granted the following will not convince any of you that Iowa is, in fact, a great place to live. But, alas, I share with you because it is hilarious. (A compilation of things I have gathered. They are all very true…well almost true!)

You know you live in Iowa when:

1. Snow tires are standard on your car.

2. You wear shorts when it's 50 degrees out in March, but bundle up and complain in August when it goes below 60 degrees

3. You have gone trick-or-treating in 2 feet of snow.

4. Your school classes were cancelled because of cold

5. Your school classes were cancelled because of heat

6. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day

7. You don't put too much effort into hairstyles due to wind and weather.

8. You know you should listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.

9. Weather is 90% of your conversation

10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are
filled with snow.

11. You know all 5 seasons: almost winter, winter, still
winter, road construction & DARN HOT!

12. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car. (If we had one, this would be true)

Primary Quarterly

This pic doesnt do it justice.

Snow, dogs, and dancin'

January 11, 2009

Another chilly week has literally blown by!

1. We started back to school on Monday with a 2 hour delay because of the sheets of ice over the road. It was an unexpected delay so most of us were showered and dressed before we saw the delay. It didn’t stop me from hopping back into bed though.

2. We babysat the dogs Whitney and Taylor again. Tyler and Alayna are particularly good with them and I included some pics on the blog. I am not particularly fond of the whole “wet dog” smell, but they sure are good dogs.

3. Our family spent Friday night setting up for the Primary Quarterly Party that I was in charge of. I spent HOURS putting together FHE binders for every family in primary, a temple bingo game, sculptionary, and the breakfast. Even bought all the food. THEN…we got pounded! We got about 7-8 inches of snow! And the roads were slick so the party was cancelled. I was devastated in a way because no one got to see our beautiful set up and all that work. But I was happy in a way because I hopped back into bed until noon (I do have a valid reason for sleeping that long) Anyway, the Primary President took some quick pics on her phone before it was all torn down, so I will include them just so anyone can see them. It was all decorated in rainbow colors and looked awesome!

4. I am running the school Geography Bee along with another teacher this Wednesday. One of my students will be competing too. I also start running the Battle of the Books in February.

5. I don’t often recommend shows since people have such different tastes, but if you haven’t seen “Superstars of Dance” you really should watch an episode. Our family loves it!! There are 8 countries competing (Ireland, India, USA, Argentina, China, Russia, South Africa and Australia) and they do dances native to their country. They have groups, duets, and soloists. We have loved seeing the different cultures and stories behind them. The host is Michale Flatley from “Riverdance”. It really makes me think of my parents and how grateful I am that they raised us kids to appreciate and respect different cultures. We are now trying to do the same for our kids. I think it is on Monday Nights.

6. On another note I am ecstatic 24 starts again tonight and Lost this week. It has been entirely TOO long!

babysitting the dogs

Alayna and Taylor









Tyler, Alayna, Taylr, and Whitney (in the ballerina dress)









Tyler with Whitney and Taylor

Lotsa snow

Kayla, Marisa and Tyler shoveling










Alayna shoveling










Tyler










Marisa shoveling walkway

Jan 4 Photos

Our 1000 piece puzzle that we finally finished.











Alayna's boat

Puzzles, ice, and 2009!

January 4, 2009

I am so terribly sad vacation has ended! (insert sobbing here). Church was cancelled today because it rained last night and then froze over turning all the roads into sheets of ice. So, I crawled back into bed and slept for 5 more hours! Sweetness!
We spent the week doing all sorts of fun things. We finally finished the 1000 piece puzzle. I even started dreaming about puzzle pieces. As soon as we finished, Bob went and bought puzzle glue and we glued it together. We started another one today; we must be nuts! We also got some really fun new Wii games: Wario Ware and Mario Party 8. The angel game and the running one are so fast, but so fun.
On New Years Eve, the kids went over to a friends house (Marisa and Kayla babysat) to watch movies and eat goodies. Bob and I went to a different friends house with 3 other couples. We had this AMAZING fondue party with all sorts of meat and vegetables, and then an apricot crème fondue for dessert. We played the Celestial Companion game which turned out to be quite comical. Bob and I weren’t very good at it. Hopefully we will get a chance for a rematch. Then we came home, the older girls went to the church New years party while Bob, Alayna, Tyler, and I played on the Wii til midnight.
Guess this one is very short since all we did was play. Back to real life in 13 hours…