One more post about SNOW...

Seems like in our neighborhood it's a competition to see who can get their snow shoveling done first thing after the snow stops. Ash & I have usually been towards the last ones to finish up...mostly because Ash has been working late a lot this week finishing up a big project. And, I have little desire to do it because let's face it: I grew up in the country - and we never really shoveled snow unless it was really really bad (or rake leaves, either).

Anyway, tonight after a long day (and week) of snowfall, I decided I'd get my daily workout by shoveling the sidewalk & driveway tonight. After 45 minutes, this is how far I got:

In my defense, you can't see the entire sidewalk in front of our lot that I finished in addition to this. Just couldn't do the second half of the driveway. So, Ash is going to have to finish up. I did my best. I'm going to blame my bad follow through on my 2+ hour commute home today. It was a long day and mommy had a glass of wine while Helena ate chicken nuggets this evening.

-Emily :)

Feels Like Winter

Today is the 4th day in a row it's snowed here. I don't think I've ever experienced this in my entire life! We're quickly learning to deal with the onslaught, however. For instance, staying inside the entire weekend while it snows is not going to possible or we'll for sure suffer from some major cabin fever by March. Oh, and I desperately need a more varied assortment of boots. My 3 pairs are not going to cut it when I have to wear them 5 times a week! Definitely need more stylish options.

Some good things about the snow here:
--The wind doesn't blow like it does in Kansas. Makes things much more tolerable for sure.
-- Temperatures lately are very reasonable -- around 25-30 degrees -- much better than the negative numbers I've been hearing about in Canada and the more northern states.
-- The road crews really are pretty good about making things as good as they can get. And I say this despite my 1 1/2 hour commute this morning. Ugh.

Sorry for the boring weather post. That's all I got right now...

-Emily :)

In summary...

Some highlights from our week:

1. Attended a KU Alumni Association happy hour on Tuesday in downtown Salt Lake. It was really refreshing to hang out with fellow Jayhawks. And I tell ya, it's weird how small this world really is. We met one guy & his wife who used to hang out with Ash's college roommate. And Ash saw a girl who went on the same study abroad trip as he did. We also re-met the two KU pharmacists we've encountered here...one at the Target by our house and the other at Walgreens...who also are neighbors (to each other, by accident). Anyway, we made some good contacts and I think we'll hang out with everyone again in the future. Nice to have some more friend possibilities out there, for sure!

2. Apparently my dad got a deer this week. And I'm told there's some story about him falling asleep in the tree stand. Maybe he could fill us all in on whether or not whiskey or extreme fatigue was involved. Oh, and here's his prize (if you're squeamish look away now!)...I hope we don't have to have deer steak for Christmas.

3. Helena is very enthralled with the new play kitchen Great-Grandma Claudene & Great-Grandpa Ash sent forChristmas. She played with it for awhile and then started taking the fake kitchen stuff into the real kitchen...because, duh, that's where it belongs!?! Not in the family room. I promise I'm not purposely raising an anal retentive child. She's just smart and it's genetic, she can't help it.

-Emily :)

Hoover Dam

Also while in Vegas, we took a little side trip to see Hoover Dam. As many of you know, Ash is incouragable when it comes to marvels of civil engineering, so needless to say we all had to go with big, hungover smiles on our faces.

All kidding aside, it was actually pretty cool to see. The dam is HUGE, and even more impressive to me is the new bridge they are building over the gorge:

I just am unable to fathom how they get those structures to be safe, let alone how they go about building them in the first place.

Here are a few more pics from our afternoon. If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend stopping by and taking the (short) tour.

(the dam)

(peering over the edge)

(The Lake Mead side)

(Colorado River side)

Las Vegas- Take Two

I'm just now getting around to posting some pics from Vegas. Sorry for the month-long delay! Oops!

This pic of the Paris hotel balloon reminds me of the $18 souvenir drink/cup I carried around for the better part of an evening, only to throw away at Coyote Ugly so that I could get hang out there for 20 minutes. Arrgh. I totally fell under the spell of the cool souvenir cup. Such an amateur move. :)

The rest of the pics are at my flickr account. Enjoy!

-Emily :)

Feline Sabotage?

This past Saturday Ash & I hosted our first ‘dinner party’ at our house since moving to Salt Lake. Yes, we’ve been here for over six months, but seriously, it’s hard to make friends when you have a small child who goes to bed around 7 p.m., are collectively working 90+ hours a week, and your neighbors generally don't speak when spoken to.

Anyway, our new friends moved here from Chicago last winter and we all had a really good time hanging out together. They also have a daughter that is the same age as Helena, so that was fun too. Although I can say FOR SURE that I’m glad I don’t have twins…the two of them running around the house for 3 hours was exhausting for all of us!!!

So at some point during the evening we’re ordering takeout, Ash is searching up in the family room for another menu for us to look at, and all of the sudden I see him frantically running around with carpet cleaner in his hands. I say “What’s going on?” His reply: “Trying not to kill a cat.” I think, oh, the cat must have puked, unfortunately a common occurrence in our household. Then Ash says, “No, no puke. Stella just peed…on their daughter’s coat.” Pause. Freaking out. OMG. We were both COMPLETELY MORTIFIED. Profuse apologies abound. Fortunately, these very nice people were laughing about it as I raced downstairs to throw the coat in the washing machine immediately.

After they left for the evening, Ash told me Stella was also getting ready to pee on my friend’s UGG boots AND her expensive-looking diaper bag. Thank GOD he was up there and caught her in the act before it got worse.

As a sidenote, if anyone is in the market for a cat (Andrea??), just let me know. If we don’t have any takers, Stella will be in the basement from now on when we have potential friends over.

-Emily :)