But Baby It's Cold Outside

Chris and I have been pondering what to do with the week off school he gets for Spring Break. I have enough time off to take the week off work so we decided to go somewhere. Some friends of ours are going to Orlando and we had the option of going with them. Chris has a brother doing an internship in the Virgin Islands, so we could have decided to go there. Both those options were fine by me, I’m always up for going somewhere warm and sunny. After all, his spring break is the first week in March, a time where it’s still pretty cold and a time when we’re trying to recover from the effects of the bleakest month of the year. I hate February, it’s cold, usually overcast and if not the days are still pretty short so you don’t see the sun as much, and there’s nothing to look forward to in February. It’s only redeeming quality is that it’s short. But all this is beside the point. The point is that Chris and I, instead of deciding to go somewhere where we could shake off the effects of the cold, decided to go to Toronto. That’s right, we’re leaving for a week to go somewhere even colder! I hate being cold, and everyone who knows me knows I hate being cold, including Chris, so this should be an interesting trip. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to be going to Canada. It will be a first for both of us and I’m sure we’ll have a great time. Chris’ dad went on his mission to Toronto, so it holds more interest for us than it might have otherwise. I just wanted to point out the irony of leaving for spring break to go to Canada where spring probably won't arrive for another three months. Also, a little later in March, we are going to the Virgin Islands, so I suppose everything evens out.

The Curse Of The Rear-Ender

So I think that I must be cursed. I got rear-ended today on the way to work. This in and of itself is nothing to panic about, I wasn’t hurt, just a little shaken up, and the damage to the car was minimal compared to the three other cars involved. This can hardly constitute as a curse, right? I would agree if this was the first time, but this is the third time that I’ve been rear ended, the second time in our car that we bought just over a year ago! I was rear-ended three days before I met Chris (actually, I think that that accident was a part of the reason Chris and I got together in a weird sort of way). Then we were hit from behind on our way home from Church a month after we bought the car. It was snowy and the roads were slippery. Finally, I was hit today. I think that there must be magnets attached to me somewhere or a sign that says “Hit this car! Hit it hard, hit it often!” None of the accidents were my fault, but I think that there must be some sort of reason why accidents are following me around looking for the opportune moment. I think the only explanation is a curse. Someone hexed me, probably for cutting them off in traffic.

A Return To A Past Subject

Some of you may have noticed the glaring absence of posts about my hockey team on this blog. For all my claiming to be a hockey fan, perhaps more of this blog should have been devoted to the play of that sport. Not So! Some of you may remember my impassioned plea to my sisters to stop praying for my team to lose because they were in dead last place. Well, things have improved dramatically since then, so dramatically, in fact, that I was afraid of them redoubling their efforts when they heard how well our team has been doing since then. They are now in contention for first place in their division and are steadily moving up the ranks in the rest of the conference! Let me tell you a little bit about what has been happening with out team. On Thanksgiving Day, they fired their coach (I’m sure that the chants of “fire Hanlon!” from the crowd had something to do with that). Since then our team has been on fire! Their young superstar has the most goals out of everyone in the entire NHL. Their rookie was named the NHL rookie of the month for December and was the first rookie ever to post 4 points in consecutive games. Another player who has been playing on the minor league team but came to the NHL recently is one of the top 40 players in number of shots blocked and he’s only played in half the games that the other top 40 have. One of our young defensemen has the most goals out of all defensemen. They swept the number one team in the east, winning all four games. And last, but not least, the Caps have won us free wings! (one of the sponsors of the caps, a restaurant, have a promotion where if the Caps score 6 or more points in a home game, anyone who has a ticket can take it in and get some free buffalo wings. The caps did it once before the turnaround of the team, but it was a Saturday night, and Sunday isn’t the day for us to be getting buffalo wings. The second time they did it, however, was a Wednesday and those Thursday wings were good!) Also, Chris and I were able to go to the Caps meet the team party which is held every year for season ticket holders. It’s kind of neat to see all the players close up (they’re much bigger in person than they appear from our seats and on tv) and get autographs and everything, plus this year they gave us free tee-shirts and snacks and it was at the party that they announced that they had signed their superstar for 13 years. But don’t worry Jeaneah and Jenn, the playoffs (should we happen to make it that far) will be over in time for our trip!

I'm Not Writing About Anything Inparticular

The other day I was writing to my brother on his mission. I realized that the letter was pretty short. I wanted to write more about what Chris and I were doing, but then it hit me, Chris and I don’t really do anything but go to hockey games or stay home and read and watch tv. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the way things are going for us. You might think that we would get on each others’ nerves since we really only have one room in our apartment and we spend almost every waking moment together from the time I get home from work, but we haven’t. However, this makes for some boring reading. What should I write to my brother? Chris says I should make stuff up, he’ll never know the difference anyway. Missionaries will believe anything like “sure I’m interested in your message”. (This is what Chris said during our conversation last night. It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about. Missionaries, Message? Oh, Right.) I know that Chris was joking, but wouldn’t it be awful to write a bunch of lies to a missionary? That would be like telling a dirty joke to the bishop. It’s not going to get you excommunicated, but there may be some uncomfortable questions about your spiritual wellbeing. I suppose Jason, the missionary, will have to be content with my vague and somewhat abstract ramblings, much as the people who read this blog are.

Talk About The Weather And Everybody's Health

Normally, I wouldn’t write a post about the weather. It’s boring and what can I use for small talk if I have already written about it? However, Virginia is such an odd place in the winter that I have to make mention of it. It’s snowing right now. For the family and friends from out west, I’m sure the general consensus is “snow? Who cares.” For the area in which we live, however, the mind set is, “It’s snowing? I had better go stock up on toilet paper and bottled water before I’m stranded!” Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, people tend to go a little crazy when the weather turns bad. I was driving in to work this morning, it was a bit cold, but not a drop of moisture to be seen. Then on the radio, the dj announces that the schools in such and such counties have been closed due to an impending storm expected to drop one to two inches of snow. An Impending Storm! That’s right, it hadn’t even started snowing yet and the panic had already set in. And, apparently, whenever it’s about to snow, people rush to the supermarket and stock up on supplies as if they’re preparing for some sort of natural disaster. I would almost like to go to the local supermarket and sit and watch people prepare for the worst before a storm. I'm sure the scene would be kind of novel and a little funny, like a talking dog. Also, may I just say that if they cancelled school every time it snowed one or two inches in Idaho, school would only be two months long. At Bear Lake High, they only cancelled school if the temperature was -20º or colder, and that was only because the busses wouldn’t start when it was that cold. They didn’t care how much it snowed or if there were two inches of pure ice on the roads, as there sometimes were for weeks on end. Not that I’m complaining. I’ve gotten a few days off work due to snow, and it’s always entertaining to watch people out here react to bad weather. Speaking of getting days off work, due to snow, our office closed early today!

A Few Games

The other night, Chris and I were invited to play some games with some friends. It was a really fun evening for a few reasons. 1) Getting to know better some great people. There were four couples there and having the chance to chat with everyone was fun even if I spend most of my time just laughing and listening and slipping in a comment when it had the least chance of being heard. 2) We watched the premier of the show American Gladiator. The show is a remake of a show that was on ages ago and they have now brought back in high style. I don’t know how many people watched it when it was on years and years ago, but in the small group we were with on Sunday, the majority had seen it and liked it and one person who was there amazed us with his American Gladiator savvy as he recalled the most famous of contestants, “Two Scoops”. Actually, the show is really entertaining, more funny than anything. We laughed most of the way through it. And it’s always more fun to laugh about something with a group. 3) There were some really good treats. I don’t make many treats anymore because I usually only eat them when they’re fresh from the oven and Chris has to eat the rest. I stopped making them too often so that Chris doesn’t gain 500 pounds. This was a fun chance to catch up on some good dessert. 4) We played some fun card games. My side of the family has always played cards as a family activity, as you can tell from the picture in Jeaneah’s blog post. I miss playing cards with them. As it’s not as much fun playing with just two people, Chris and I don’t usually play so this was like being home. Thanks Hopkins’!

Hi, this is Jeaneah. First person to guess who got a digital camera for christmas wins a prize.....yup, it's me. This is a picture of the card playing that went on at Mom and Dad's this christmas.....super fun! Gotta love that Lucky Duck. Jen and I were able to spend chrismas with the fam this year, and Char came along later in the day. We all played a lot of Mario Party on the WII, and I don't want to make Jaime jealous but there might have been some guitar hero involved as well. Then for Dad's birthday Mom, Jordan, Joe, Dad and I all headed for Reno where we watched National Treasure II (we all loved it!) and then we went to Claime Jumpers where we had an I Declair!!! My Favorite. We ran into the Hyde's at Claime Jumpers and we told them it was Dad's birthday and then they bought our dinner for us. They are so nice! So it was a great holiday in good ol' Hadley!