Does it snow in Seattle ?

After 13 years in Seattle we have determined that it does snow in Seattle, each year we get some snow generally an inch of snow will close down the city and suburbs as well. This year has been extraordinary the school systems have been closed for a week and the snow and cold just keep hanging around. The Picture are from the Gold Creek neighborhood. They look like they should be from the mountains.

For the first time in many years I had to shovel my drive way we received much snow in 24 hours.

Jack liked playing in the snow while I did all the work, Chris helped the snow removal efforts until she got her hands on the camera.

Just how much snow did we received in a short period of time. While not much by the standards of traditionally snowy places, this is a record for us.

In the end we had a winter storm system that all but closed down Seattle, the airport, trains, and buses for multiple days. The little lady went where she wanted with little to no difficulties. One day I did put on the chains as the snow removal trucks were not running the side roads and there was a foot of snow on many of the streets.

Nov. in Reveiw

November came and went so very quickly. It was a good month, Christine and I prepared for the Christmas Holiday by purchasing an artificial Christmas Tree. The tree is 9ft tall and while it fits in our home today I am not sure what we will do in the future, most homes have 8ft ceilings. We also spent Thanksgiving with all of our children in Utah. We stayed at Michelle's home. Dinner was at my sister Julie's house with many of my siblings and their families. A highlight for the day was meeting Victor and his parents. It was fun to get to meet them they are very nice people who have a great spirit about them. I love it when my children make good choices and live up to their standards. I am grateful that all of our children are doing well and staying close to the gospel. Greg rode the train to SLC from Grand Junction, he seemed to enjoy the ride. He took the train home from Provo. Greg is doing well with his teaching and we are proud of him. Holli is a real joy she keeps everyone happy, we know she is missing school and her friends but is a good lesson in life to sometimes do things that are less than fun. The highlight of thanksgiving food was not Turkey, ham or any of the trimmings but rather the dinner made by Mandee the night before Thanksgiving. I loved the Mexican chicken and peppers it was great.

We returned home after the weekend and decorated the house and tree for Christmas. We are ready for the month of December. This coming month will be great as we will spend Christmas in Utah with our family.

Not It

Last week before our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving we were blog tagged by Heckafunny. Well I see that others have not responded yet so all I can say is "not it".

My forth picture from the forth folder is an old one of several years. The picture was taken in Shenyang, China. It is in a tourist shop outside of the forbidden city in Shenyang. This was my first visit to China and it was a lot of fun. The culture is interesting, I was not much surprised having lived in the orient for 5 years as a young man.

I have returned to China since this picture and enjoy my trips. The trinkets in the picture are used as charms on phones etc.. I purchased many charms and have been using them as trade items in the Geocaches that I find.

Halloween

I like riddles: What does sugar, plastic, flour, cardboard, and US postage have in common? You got it, a Halloween treat box from Mandee and Camshaft this last week. The cookies and dipped pretzels were great. Watched the wedding CD several times, great pics.

I also have reviewed all of my favorite three blogs, Michelle and digital scrap booking are looking pretty cool. Holli is a joy to read as I hear her excitement in the words she writes. Mandee and Camshaft keep one of best on line journals, via their blog.

Thanks too all for the enjoyment.

Good Eats

So what do a Pork Roast, Apple Cider, Sweet Potatoes, and onions have in common? Nothing unless you combine them in a slow cooker for 7 to 8 hours and then they make a terrific Sunday meal. You guessed it mom is experimenting with her new cook book. I am the "Food Network" judge and get to sample the cooking.

In a talk given by president Monson over 30 years ago while addressing BYU and talking about Marriage he told the story of the young newly wed couple. It seems the young lady was serving hard burnt biscuits for dinner and the young husband true to form simply stated "I wish you could make biscuits like my mom, the young wife replied and I wish you could make dough like my dad".(lol) I thought it was funny.

October in Review

I just completed updating for Sept., so what the heck why not add a few words for Oct. The month of October came and went so very fast. Things started with Camshaft and Mandee's wedding. It was a beautiful fall morning and the Temple was beautiful. It was especially nice as all of our family was together an event that is becoming more and more difficult to make happen. I have included a picture of the gang including the new addition, if you can not tell the tall one is Cameron we decided to gain height in the gene pool through marriage.

Well after the wedding the newly weds headed for their wedding trip.. If you want to know about those events you should talk with them or maybe checkout their blog. Chris and the rest of the family had another major event to celebrate, that's right Chris turned 25 for the second time. She was officially queen for the day; in reality she is queen every day.





Well Chris and I flew back to Seattle and returned to work for a short week and then preparations began for a wedding open house. We invited a few close friends over to congratulate Mandee and Camshaft on starting their new life together. It was a lot of fun as my Mom and Holli both cam along for the ride. For more details see Camshaft and Mandee's blog complete with pictures.





All of the major event ended for October, Halloween came and went. We did not have any trick-or-treaters or maybe that is because Chris and I were at the Temple as Halloween was on Friday this year. Things were slow at the Temple. I suspect families were out doing the Halloween thing, it is probably for the best as we only has a skeleton crew working that night (lol).





The fall colors were especially bright and vibrant this year. We did not take many pictures was we were very busy with family things At work we did find one tree that was especially stubborn and did not want to give into the coming fall and leafless in Seattle season. As you can see only one red leaf on the tree. It has been this way for several weeks, I suspect it will change with the last storm system.

Sept. in Review

Well I do not know where all the time has gone it is now Nov. and I am updating Sept. The month of Sept started with a trip to Ogden, Utah. Christine and I loaded the "Little Lady" we had boxes and stuff to take to Mandee and Michechell who are permanent residents of Ogden. As well we took belongings to Holli who is living with her grandma Child for a time.

We arrived in Ogden early Saturday afternoon and participated in a wedding shower hosted by Michelle for Mandee who was to be married in Oct. I say was to be married as that event has came on gone as well. It was fun to see Mandee's mouth full of gum as she did not answer many questions correct. I guess her and Cameron have a little communicating to do. After many years of marriage I may not be able to answer the same questions about Chris, maybe we have a little communicating to do as well.

After a good nights rest we (Chris and her parents continued our trip to Colorado to spend a few days with Greg and check out his temporary home. I really love Colorado and enjoyed our sightseeing. We visited Delta, Ouray, Silverton, and Telluride.

The highlights of the trip were the city of Ouray and I loved the documentary on the San Juan Mountains. This area is blessed with more 14,000 peak mountains then any other location in the US. For me the final highlight of this little city was the 1-on-1 visit with Greg. We re-treated to the hot tub which was on the banks of the river it was dark, cool and raining where we sat in the warm water and then talked about life and goals. It was great until we had to get out and make our way back to the Cabin brrr.

The next morning we took a drive to Silverton over the million dollar highway, wow what a drive some of the most spectacular scenery to behold. Silverton was fun we arrived as did the old steam engine, we spent some time taking pictures and visiting before our return trip on the $1,000,000.00 highway. A much easier return drive as I was on the mountain side of the road and not the drop-off side of the road. Going to Silverton I decided that my half of the road was coming out of the middle. I was much more generous on our return trip and stayed on my correct half of the road.

Telluride was a little disappointing, I guess I am not a yuppie. I do not all of the trendy stores and don,t ski. The drive and company was great the town I can probably do without visiting again in the future. Maybe it was the film festival that brought way too many people out that way.

The Next day Greg was back to the classroom and George, Elona, Chris and I decided no trip to Delta would be complete without visiting the Black canyon.





So a side trip was made on the way back to Salt Lake area. I love the Gunnison river and Black Canyon it is spectacular and humbling to see what creations have been made for our enjoyment.

We returned to Ogden and spent a few days helping Michelle with her house, painting, window work, and crown molding. See Michelle's blog for the final views it was a good job and fun to help her a little. Chris and I returned home via the beaten path through Idaho and Oregon.

Nothing of any major effort took place in Sept, we worked and prepared for the early Oct. Wedding. All was safe and the excitement grew for the day that we would enter the Temple with Cameron and Mandee to have them start their eternal family.

I guess I should mention that toward the end of the month my Aunt and I did a little match making and Michelle was introduced to a reportedly nice young man. I guess we will have to wait and see if she and he are compatible and where things will take us.