Snowmageddon. Or Snowpocalypse. Whichever you prefer.

John and I have had to change our Thanksgiving travel plans due to The Great Blizzard of 2010 (dun dun DUNNNNNN), so what better way to while away the hours than by updating our fantabulous blog. I figured I better be quick since who knows how long it will be until the power goes out...or the world ends...

We had our first big snowstorm over the weekend and got a foot of snow. (Here is Johnny digging us out so we could drive to church.)

I THOUGHT that storm was bad enough considering what a mild November we were having, but apparently Mother Nature had other ideas and wanted to one-up herself by providing us with this fun blizzard gift tonight (pictures to come. It hasn't quite reached us yet). If Mother Nature would have just been humble and content with the storm she gave us on Saturday night rather than being greedy and prideful, John and I would at this point in time be in Logan. Wonderful, wonderful Logan. Hanging out with our wonderful, wonderful family and maybe even eating some Aggie ice cream. Thanks a lot, Mother Nature. And I tell you what, you will rue the day if you decide to extend the storm into tomorrow and put the playing of the Utah State versus Utah basketball game in jeopardy. I have not been to an Aggie game in TWO YEARS and so help me, I am going to this one.

That is all.

Reason #96 in which we discover that it doesn't take much to make my day.

This morning I was fortunate enough to hear the two most glorious words in the English language:

"No cavities."

Best. Day. Ever.

With a hip hip and a clippity-clop...

Well, I guess I’ll start off by saying happy November. I am extremely proud of myself in the fact that I have already taken down my Halloween decorations and replaced them with my Thanksgiving ones. Granted, the amount of Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations I own in no way rivals the boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations I possess that are not so easily put up or taken down, but still…an accomplishment is an accomplishment.

Now, for the re-telling of our Halloween fun (up until I got food poisoning late Saturday night…but I will spare you the details other than to say that the times I truly know my husband loves me are when I’m sick). I am nothing if not a fan of traditions, so my celebrations throughout the year are largely tradition-based. Hence the following.

My friends and I watch The Watcher in the Woods every year. I don’t even remember for sure how, when or why this tradition started, but suffice it to say that it has been going on for almost 10 years. If you have not seen this movie, wow. FOR SHAME. Early-80s Disney horror at its finest. We’ve gotten to the point where we can quote our favorite parts word-for-word and are even able to bring them up in non-Halloween settings. (Also, the alternate endings for this movie are CLASSIC. Seriously. Look them up on YouTube.) We have progressed over the years to include potluck meals to go along with such fine cinema, because grownups have potlucks, dang it! And usually we treat ourselves to dessert in the form of pumpkin empanadas from the very classy Taco Time. We did not grow up on the West side for nothing, people.

We spent Friday night with Darth Vader, Spiderman and Yoda (AKA my cute, cute nephews) at the annual Stapley/Shegrud Halloween party with my dad’s side of the family, at which we went through a “scary” spook alley, watched the animated version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and had a rollicking eat-the-donut-off-of-the-string competition. We have been enjoying all of these activities every year since I was a little girl, courtesy of my Grandma and Grandpa Stapley (who have both passed away). This was the third viewing of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow this October for me and John, but oh how I love it. We all sing along with Bing Crosby as he tells the tale of Ichabod Crane (kind of odd, but nice just the same). It's kind of funny listening to how upbeat and lighthearted the title song is...and then you hear the line "With a hip-hip and a clippity-clop, he's out lookin' for a top to chop." Yeah. Little morbid. But SO fun. That is the magic of Disney, I guess.

Truthfully, I spent most of the night trying to convince myself that it would not be OK to steal this little one and take him home with me...

Bragging Rights

Remember that one time when one of John’s logos was going to be published in a big-time art magazine?

Allow me to brag about my husband for a moment. Yesterday I was busily working when an e-mail showed up in my inbox from John that went something like this:

“I just found out that one of my logos got accepted to Communication Arts, which is a HUGE resume builder. My company has tried many times to get something accepted, but this is the first time in company history that we have got in. We are going to lunch to celebrate. Looks like my job is secure.”

For those of you that didn’t already know, John is a very talented graphic designer. Getting published in Communication Arts magazine is a BIG DEAL in the graphic design/art/photography industry, so he is understandably excited. Zillions of artists try to get their stuff published and very few get in, so yeah, I’m pretty much married to a rockstar. (Literally. Have I mentioned that John is also in an awesome band? Swoon.) His logo will be appearing in the January 2011 issue of the magazine, but here’s a sneak peek for all of you lucky people.

I am so, so proud of John. He works hard at his job and it is definitely paying off. Plus, he’s just super cute, so bonus for me.

Snow

Well, friends, it had to end sometime…the above average temperatures we have been enjoying have officially come to an end. It snowed today. Our heater is on. I had to bust out the long sleeves. John has finally manually switched the temperature gauge in my ghetto car (with the broken temperature gauge on the dashboard) over to “Heat.” But it’s not all bad. Because the first thing I think of when I think “snow” is Bing Crosby and Danny Kay. If this doesn’t bring a smile to your frozen, snowy face, then you have no soul. Merry 60 days till Christmas!

Happy fall! (And various other ramblings that you may or may not find entertaining.)

First of all, don’t you just love Fall? I have thoroughly been enjoying the MLB Playoffs (go Giants!) and college football games, the Creamy Pumpkin Wallflowers enveloping our house with a yummy, cozy smell, gazing at my cute fall/Halloween decorations in adoration and making all sorts of Halloween plans with friends and family. LOVE this time of year. But without further ado, here are some of my daily musings for your reading enjoyment.

It may be time to cut my hair. Or start wearing it in a ponytail every day. This may sound weird, but I totally get distracted by my split-ends every day at work and waste a good amount of time picking them. (And yet, my hairdresser assures me every time I see her that my hair is very healthy.) Too bad John’s not a fan of the butch-cut, or I’d go all Halle Berry on my hair. (I jest. In truth, I love my long hair and would probably cry every day for a month were I to cut it off. I’m so vain.)

Have any of you seen that Sister Wives show on TLC? I have to admit that it is oddly fascinating. I have polygamy in my family history (hi, great-great-grandpa who had a secret room in your house in which to hide from police), so it’s not really that far removed…but it is still such an odd concept to me. Especially weird to see the husband kissing his “fiancée” as one of his wives is in the hospital getting ready to give birth to his 13th child. As a woman, I do not know how you would be OK with that. Either of those situations. Ick. Yeah, I think I’ll just stick to a monogamous relationship, thank you very much. Oh, and equally as intriguing as the show itself is the fact that the husband (Kody, I believe) walks just like Ted/Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. And has equally as awesome hair.

Call me crazy, but I am in desperate need for Daylight Saving Time to end. I’m not a morning person as it is, but forcing me to get out of my warm, comfy bed when there is not even a single trace of light from the sun visible yet is borderline torture.

We had a late-night/early-morning intruder destroy (as in, EAT) the lovely knock-out roses that were blooming in our just-planted garden up until a few days ago. The very roses that I just hadn’t quite gotten around to photographing yet for an upcoming blog entry. The culprit? Deer. The very same deer that I still get so excited to see roaming around our neighborhood. What can I say, I grew up in the city and led a sheltered, wildlife-free childhood. (Minus the dead duck that we once found in our gutter…and that one time when my brothers accidentally shot a bird with a BB gun. Whoops.)

This particular deer wasn’t wise enough to wipe away his/her hoofprints and left a tell-tale sign of its presence all around the garden. Not the brightest bulb in the light socket, eh? (Ha. I love me a good metaphor.) Good thing we’re getting our fence finished up to keep those pesky deer away so hopefully everything else we’ve planted will survive.

Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 shall from hereafter be referred to as the Great Spider Massacre of 2010. A new record was set for the number of spiders killed in our entry way in one fell swoop: 14. Oh, spiders. You should know better by now than to come inside my house and think you can get away with it. For I have the gift of spider-spotting, and John has the gift of spider-killing. You can’t win. GIVE IT UP ALREADY.

We didn't start the fire. But a machine gun sure did.

Wow, what a night we had last night...for a professional journalistic look at the events of yesterday, go here or here. For my personal, time-lined experience, read on.

2:10 p.m. Leave church. Smell something that smells sort of like a campfire, but don't really think much of it. We live in kind of a rural town, so lots of people have their own fire pits and such.

2:30 p.m. I head over to a Young Women's meeting and notice a plume of smoke coming from the mountains south of our house. Figure it's a distant wildfire or controlled burn and nothing to be worried about.

3:30 p.m. Head home from meeting. Plume of smoke is getting bigger and looks closer, plus the air is getting a lot smokier. Get a little concerned.

5 p.m. John and I leave for Sunday dinner at my parent's house. I jokingly grab our CD of wedding pictures and bring it to the car, you know, in case we have to evacuate. Are greeted by this sight:

Am suddenly really grateful I decided to grab the pictures. John and I debate back and forth whether we should turn back and grab more of our irreplaceables/valuables in case the fire comes over the ridge and somehow makes its way to our house. Decide to go to my parent's and see what the news is saying. Discuss on the way what items we will take with us should we return home and find out that we do, in fact, need to evacuate. Mine are mostly sentimental ... pictures, scrapbooks, journals. High on John's priority list: his keyboard, guitars and computer. Ha. Therein lies the difference between women and men. (But in John's defense, his computer has most of our digital pictures and a lot of his logos and artwork on it. And he makes extra money with his musical instruments. So I suppose he gets points for practicality.) We see lots of police cars and fire trucks racing past us heading south. Even see a Blackhawk helicopter take off and head in that direction. Start to wonder if this thing is more serious than we thought.

5:42 p.m. Arrive at my parent's house. Greeted by the news that half of our ward has been evacuated and that my friend's brother's house a few miles away from ours is in danger. Find out that we are not in the evacuation zone, so decide to stay and eat dinner. Somehow put my fears aside and relax a little bit.

7:40 p.m. My parents return home from taking a spin in my brother's new car. My dad says we should go to our house; the fire looks like it's getting bigger.

7:45 p.m. Leave for our house. John and I are in separate cars (we left his car at my parent's house over the weekend) and my parents and brother are in a third car. I am in the lead and call John when I spot the massive flames on the mountains to the south. Start to panic a little bit. It takes me about an hour and a half to finally get to my house, a drive that normally takes less than a half hour. Yell at all of the gawkers on the side of the road who have their video cameras and tripods out and are congesting traffic. Get frustrated by people shooting up the middle lane and trying to butt in front of me and the other cars in front of me. Freak out a little when I see news cameras everywhere, flashing red and blue lights all over the place and a raging fire right in front of me. Get stuck in gridlocked traffic less than a block away from where we turn to get to our street, finally decide to bail and go the other way, only to be rerouted by policemen. Also, my phone dies, so I have no way to get a hold of anyone and am not sure where everyone is. Break down in hysterical tears when I finally get home. John hugs me for a good five minutes, despite my ugly hysterical crying face. Our house is fine, but we can see the fire from our front and back yards. We take a walk up the street and can see a house on fire about a half-mile away from us. Get lots of smoke and ash in our eyes. Cannot comprehend what it would be like to lose your house.

The view from our backyard

Gather up some of our belongings to take with us just in case...take a little more than we would have if it would have been a mandatory, rushed evacuation (hi, clock from Gardner Village and Willow Tree statues). Watch the news, check Twitter and Facebook to see if our neighborhood is going to be evacuated.

11:20 p.m. Decide to play it safe (and get away from the smoke) and spend the night at my parent's house after seeing that a lot of our neighbors have been told by police to have bags ready to go just in case something happens. Look back as I'm almost to Bangerter Highway and try not to drive off the road as I see that the whole mountain appears to be on fire and is dangerously close to houses. One of the craziest things I've ever seen in person.

11:45 p.m. Spend another awesome night sleeping on the air mattress. Goes along wonderfully with our smoke-filled hair and clothes, so it's pretty much like camping. Watch the news until the coverage stops around 12:30 to see if there are any new developments. Try to sleep. John tells me in the morning he's had some pretty wacky dreams, as is to be expected.

So there you have it. To put it simply, we are safe and our house is safe, so it's all good in the hood for the most part. Our house surprisingly doesn't smell as strongly of smoke as I thought it would, but our cars still smell pretty bad. We are so grateful that there wasn't more damage done to homes and that, as far as we know, all of our friends and neighbors are safe and their homes are OK. Those firefighters sure are amazing. I looked at pictures of the fire pretty much all day and it's unbelievable that more houses didn't get touched. Thanks to everyone for all of your texts, phone calls, emails and offers of help and concern! We have sure had enough excitement over here, at least for a little while.

The view from our backyard earlier tonight