YES TO SNOW TIRES!!!!!!

As soon as we get back from California I am going to have a hard look at the budget and find the $500 to get snow tires. Why you ask? Well simple, I had a bad experience with the snow last night when I picked Faith up from Daycare. So I am mad at the snow and I am getting a pair of studded snow tires to seek safety and freedom from being overly parinoid. You see I picked Faith up from Daycare and was headed back up the little hill, really it's not that bad of a hill, to get out of the parking lot of daycare and I began to slide, backwards. I was very proud f my panicky self because I remaind relativly calm. I was able to get the car to stop, turn it around and go out the other way, the other way taked me down a little hill and around to where I can enter the church parking lot and go through there which sets me out on a main road, and I only cried for like a minute. Still that was enough for me to realize that we need safer tires for this weather. Son SNOW TIRES it is.

SNOW TIRES!?!?!?

With the beautiful snow came the realization that we cannot drive around much unless we get snow tres. I know what you are thinking...what about chains...well chains are great if I do not need to drive into Moscow. As many of you probably know...chains are not suppose to be driven over 30 mph and the speed limit driving into Moscow is 55 mph. So that doesn't work. For right now my tires seem to be doing ok but they scare me because they do not always grip well and I worry about something happening because of all the hills we live on. The only problem come where it always comes and that is the cost of snow tires. I am looking at aroung $400-$500 for a whole set...then comes the question...where do we store them??? WOW!!! I really do not know what to do here. Well, I guess we shall wait and see.

Family Snow Time

It's beginning to look and feel like Christmas

Well, yesterday we got hit with our first Artic storm. The day started out like a normal winter day...very cold. THen it became windy and rainy, by about 2pm it was snowing, now it has snowed one other time since the "winter" season began but it was too warm for it to stick and it was melting off as it hit the ground, not this time. This time it stuck. It snowed for about 2 hours then it warmed up a bit and turned back into rain, which resulted in slush. By 5pm the rain had stopped for a little while. This ment we were able to go to the Drive Thru Nativity at our church, which was really cool and I will post a blog on that, go to the grocery store for 3 items, go by my frind Katie's to check in on her cat and pick up a rolling pin to borrow, Katie is in San Francisco for AGU ( American Geological Union) Fall Conference, then home. When we got home all of a sudden the wind and rain picked up again. When we went to bed it was rainy and windy but most of the snow had been melted by the rain and turned to mushy slop. This morning we woke to a LOT of snow. It continues to come down. We have already gotten about 3" of snow. We are suppose to continue to get snow through the weekend. It is not expected to start to die down until late Sunday and even then, it only get REALLY cold. By Wednesday we are suppose to be at -13 degrees. I'll admit that is a little cold. I guess I have gotten used to the weather becuase 25 degree weather doesn't even bother me anymore, but those single digets I think might get to me a bit...HA HA HA ! Here are some pictures from this morning. I will post more as the snow piles, and this afternoon when Garratt gets home we are gonig to bunddle Faith up and take her out to play in it and see how she does so I will post those later too!!



This is a bush outside of our back porch area.

This is our apartment. You can see the snow coming down as the pic was taken.

This is looking off our balcony. The haze area is where we can usually see part of Pullman. Not today!!

Here is Garratt sweeping the snow off our Balcony before it gets piled too high that we can't get out there to do it.

This is what the snow on the balcony looked like when we opened the door this morning. There was already almost 2" of snow. The green blob is our Outdoor Foreman Grill that we put a tarp around to protect it from the weather, I guess the snow got to heavy and knocked it down, so Garratt had to shake the tarp out, wipe off the grill and then we decided to lay it on it's side and wrap it up in the tarp that way, smart thinking I know!!!

CONGRATS CASSI

For those of you who read Faith's blog you probably already saw this ...for the rest of you. I mentioned a few weeks ago that Faith's daycare director was having a baby. Well, they found out yesterday that it is a GIRL!! YEAH!! It was really cute though, because they had a contest at daycare yesterday and all the kids, staff and parents got to dress up in blue and pink, and pick sides. At first everyone thought that it would be a PINK TEAM and BLUE TEAM...nope...it beacme TEAM CASSI (those who thought it was a girl) and TEAM DAN (all who thought it was a boy), for those who didn't catch on, Dan is Cassi's husband. Then today they were giving away little prizes to all those who guess right. It was very cute. Faith was all "PINKED" out because Mommy knew that it was a girl. (Mommy wore pink yesterday too!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNICEF

Today is the UNICEP birthday, for those of you who do not know much about UNICEF I am pasting in a blurb from their website. Also here is the link for the website if you want more information or if you want to know how to support them.


ABOUT UNICEF

UNICEF is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. We have the global authority to influence decision-makers, and the variety of partners at grassroots level to turn the most innovative ideas into reality. That makes us unique among world organizations, and unique among those working with the young.

We believe that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress. UNICEF was created with this purpose in mind – to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. We believe that we can, together, advance the cause of humanity.

We advocate for measures to give children the best start in life, because proper care at the youngest age forms the strongest foundation for a person’s future.

We promote girls’ education – ensuring that they complete primary education as a minimum – because it benefits all children, both girls and boys. Girls who are educated grow up to become better thinkers, better citizens, and better parents to their own children.

We act so that all children are immunized against common childhood diseases, and are well nourished, because it is wrong for a child to suffer or die from a preventable illness.

We work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people because it is right to keep them from harm and enable them to protect others. We help children and families affected by HIV/AIDS to live their lives with dignity.

We involve everyone in creating protective environments for children. We are present to relieve suffering during emergencies, and wherever children are threatened, because no child should be exposed to violence, abuse or exploitation.

UNICEF upholds the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We work to assure equality for those who are discriminated against, girls and women in particular. We work for the Millennium Development Goals and for the progress promised in the United Nations Charter. We strive for peace and security. We work to hold everyone accountable to the promises made for children.

We are part of the Global Movement for Children – a broad coalition dedicated to improving the life of every child. Through this movement, and events such as the United Nations Special Session on Children, we encourage young people to speak out and participate in the decisions that affect their lives.

We work in 190 countries through country programmes and National Committees. We are UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The small town that we live in is a little bit BORING...compared to Turlock at the Holidays. You see all the years we lived in Turlock, we went to the Tree lighting festivities on Friday after Thanksgiving and then we did the Christmas Parade Festivities the first weekend in December. We also had different other events at the Church, (i.e. the Choir Performance, the Childrens Musical, the Women's Christmas Dessert) and then there were other events (i.e. EMC Fesival of Trees the Garratt worked every year for the past 7-8 years). These are all things I miss. These were events that helped you get into the Christmas Mood...it helped you find that burried Christmas Spirit that you hide away all year until December and love to let out. We miss all of this. What we found here in Pullman is some fun decor and a Christmas Tree Lighting that was ok!! It was fun but not what we are use to. That's basically it. This little ceremony that lasts 30 minutes and then a bon fire at one of the resturants. Granted there were very beautiful decorations in the windows of all the shops, but still sort of a let down. The only other event that I am looking forward to is our church does a drive-thru nativity that is running next weeked and looks like a LOT of FUN!!! I will post about that next weekend. So here are some pictrures!!




ME & GARRATT!!!



Faith waiting for Santa (who she really doesn't like) and waiting for the lights!

The TREE!!! Well Sorta...you can use your imagination!

( I will try and get a pic during the day so you can see it better)

Faith loved the Tree and the lights.

The bon fire at the OLD POST OFFICE RESTURANT!!