Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Great Snow of 2010

Well, we got a nice weekend treat. The forecasters were actually right and we got snow!!! It started Friday afternoon, at about 5pm. I braved Wal-Mart after work (it's my usual grocery day and I just can't break my normal routine). Wal-Mart was slammed!! But I had mentally prepared myself and managed to stay calm and not lose my mind. On the way home, the roads were already getting snow covered. That's the fasted I can remember snow laying on the road. I almost put the Tahoe in a ditch twice, but I managed to make it home with our bread, milk, and eggs.

After watching it snow all night long, Mike and I were anxious to get up Saturday morning and try out the new sled I rushed out to get on Thursday. We had breakfast, dressed in all our waterproof motorcycle gear, and went down to get the dogs. Foggy was stoked...Yana, not so much. We tried to get Yana to ride in the sled and let us pull her. She would ride for a bit and then bail. We decided to just take her back home. She was rather pleased with that decision.

So, Foggy, Mike and I were off to find the perfect sledding hill. We slid down a smaller hill then we were off through the woods (not an easy task on a steep hill, carrying a sled, with a dog on a leash and 8 inches of snow). We finally came out of the woods at the mack daddy sledding hill. Unfortunately, I have no proof of said hill. I didn't take my camera out (didn't want to damage it). This hill was very very steep and we were quite exhausted just walking up. Mike went down first. He was headed straight for a tree but managed to change course and avoid disaster. After he laid in the snow for about 5 minutes getting his strength up for the trek back up, he made it back up the hill for my turn. I started a little farther over on the hill to avoid the tree. I took off and it was so fast, I must admit, I was scared. I think my screaming was a dead giveaway of my fear of death. With about a quarter of the hill left, it basically goes straight down and you get airborne. Did I mention that this hill heads right toward a pond in the neighborhood? By the time I hit this cliff, the snow was stinging my face and I couldn't see a dang thing. I was nervous about going in the pond so I jumped off the moving sled. That was a mistake. I had the breath knocked out of me just a bit (flashback to childhood sledding incident). I wasn't so sure that I hadn't broken a rib. Mike was yelling at me to get up....you get the idea.

I recovered, trekked back up the hill, had a gameplan in mind for my next slide down and went on to have a GREAT time sledding. This was the highest, steepest, and fastest sledding hill I've ever had the honor of sledding down. Mike kept whining that he'd bruised his back...no such bruise ever surfaced (Mike said "It's a deep tissue bruise"). We drove by today to check out the possibility of sledding this afternoon and our sledding path was muddy. Others had found our sledding mecca and it was spent until the next snow. But we've got the sled now so we'll be prepared!!

I did manage to take a few pictures once we got home. Foggy was so cold he went and sat down in front of the fire and started licking his cold paws. He was a trooper!!!

House with 8 inches of snow.


Proof of how deep it was.

Yes, that's my crazy husband, on MY motorcycle in the snow. He didn't get too far.


More proof of how much snow we had.


Finally, a Wike Family snow tradition....snow cream!!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Happy Birthday!

Friday was Mom and Dad's birthday. Mike and I went to visit them Saturday and take them out to dinner. Both grandbabies were there as well. Kathy and Virginia were in town visiting Kathy's friends and Susan and Samantha were in town visiting her friend Lezlie. So, all of Mom and Dad's girls were there to celebrate their birthday!

The kiddos are both walking pretty good now. It is really adorable to watch them walking (or trying to walk) all around. It's fun picking on Samantha. Mike finds endless entertainment in Samantha's Fozzy Bear trick. It really is just too funny. Susan, you need to get a good video of her doing that. She needs to see that later in life for a good laugh. Both kiddos are really sweet and are lots of fun!!

I really didn't get any good pics this time. They just wouldn't cooperate. But, in the spirit of keeping to my New Year's Resolution, I've posted them anyway.






Sunday, January 17, 2010

I Got Nothing

I've got nothing to post about this week. So, I thought I'd post an entertaining YouTube video that I'm sure most have seen by now, but like I just said, I've got nothing else this week.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

It's Party Time!!

On Saturday we celebrated Samantha's 1st birthday. She'll actually be 1 on January 14th. She was full of energy and loved being the center of attention. I've got lots of pictures because they were just too cute not to post.

There's the B-day girl. She uses her toy as a walker. Very creative!




This makes me laugh out loud!! This is the cake that Samantha's mother made for her. Sad isn't it. What's even sadder is that this is the 2nd (and better) attempt. I believe she tried to ice it a wee bit early. To make matters worse...it was a carrot cake!!!! The adults had chocolate cake (thank goodness!)

The above picture of the cake was necessary to set up these pictures. Here we witness the two parents trying to coax Samantha into eating that masterpiece.



Her expression says it all. Actually, I thought this was a really sweet and adorable picture.

She's giving the cake her famous "What the heck?!?!" look.


And finally, after cutting it up into small pieces, she ate some of her birthday cake (and lived). I guess it tasted better than it looked!

Here's the B-day girl opening her presents! Wow, that's a cool guitar, I wonder who got her that most awesome gift??


I LOVE this picture...Virginia with her balloon, getting strapped in for the ride home.



Ohhh, look at that adorable face...she is such a sweet, sweet girl!!



Couldn't resist. Mike was seriously concerned that her head was going to fall off!!!

Both nieces are now 1 year old. They are so much fun and just sweet babies. Can't wait until they start talking and we actually know what they're thinking, instead of having to guess.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

2009 - A Retrospective

In no particular order...


Mike and me in Morocco...what a trip!!


Our adorable nieces this Christmas


The highly elusive Working Husband (without wife)



This pretty much sums up Yana's year (and life)



Annette's ride on the Harley


One of my favorite pictures...the beautiful snow we had in 2009!

Valentine's Day flowers...I was surprised

The infamous peanut butter nailed to a tree...stupid squirrels!!

Last but not least...Samantha joined us in 2009!!

Can't wait to see what 2010 holds!!