An unexpected sight

So we go to pull into an empty parking place at the Aggie Parking Terrace at Utah State University last night, and discover that it's not quite empty. It is occupied by a couch. Yes, a couch. Or maybe a loveseat. Something along those lines, anyway. (Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, but my phone didn't do so well in the dim lighting.) Couldn't really figure out why it was there, but it was fun speculating on the possible reasons. It was a good distraction for a few minutes as we recovered from the drive through Sardine Canyon in the snow and got ready to face an even worse drive back in the even worse snow. There were times we were wishing we were just relaxing on this couch . . . in the parking terrace.

New experience

No pictures to prove it (couldn't find my camera when I looked for it at the last minute), but Mark and I went snowshoeing for the first time ever today. We went part way up the Lake Blanche trail up Big Cottonwood canyon. It was really beautiful--clear air (which during all these inversions we don't see often down in the valley) and really light snow for a little bit. Didn't make it all the way to the lake, but I probably wouldn't have made it all the way down if we had gone that far! (Not as young as I used to be, and I was discovering new muscles during this process.) Mark's friend from work (Randy Romrell) and his wife took us. They're far more experienced at it, having been twice before. So what I learned about snowshoeing: those grippers on the bottom of the snowshoes really work well; one tends to work up a good sweat if dressed very warmly on the way up the trail; one tends to cool off considerably when not working so hard on the way down the trail; if the weather has cooled off meanwhile, one tends to really start to get cold on the way back down. But it was a fun enough experience that we'd both like to go again.

Christmas survey

Tagged by Bethany so I would update the blog?? Not sure this qualifies as an update, but it's at least a new entry.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper for family; gift bags for others so it looks pretty. But without the wrapping paper, I wouldn't be able to do my now-famous tags. Okay, they're only famous inside the family, but it's my favorite part!

2. Real tree or artificial?
Artificial. Dad's and Katrina's allergies, you know.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Gets later each year, it seems. Keep trying to coordinate it with the schedule of that one college kid we have, but it seems she's always busy when we're available and vice-versa.

4. When do you take the tree down?
This year it was after Andrew had cleared the bottom third of ornaments. I decided it was time to stop fighting it.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Nope.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Something I didn't even know the name of but I just looked it up and it's called a Newtonian Demonstrator or Newton's Cradle. (We always called it the "five-ball thingy.")

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My mother.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Andrew. And his little sister.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Two small ones. Wish we had a really nice one. I'll try to inherit my mother's.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Definitely the gag gifts Mark's family sends (or now some of the nieces/nephews on my side) in retaliation for what Mark gives them. Thanks, Mark. Mary comes up with some pretty interesting books for me that way.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
Charlie Brown Christmas, Muppet's Christmas Carol, and It's a Wonderful Life in that order.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I used to try to be done (with Christmas and Katrina's and Bethany's birthday shopping--silly of me to have kids at that season!) before Katrina's birthday, about a week before Thanksgiving. I only made that goal a few times. I actually start early in the fall, but the majority gets done late November-ish.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Only the gag gifts (see #11)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Orange rolls and cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

16. Lights on the tree?
Yes. Would be sort of boring without, wouldn't it? (They're colored, and I put them on. The girls and I do the tree while Mark does his Christmas scene.)

17. Favorite Christmas song?
The Eyes of A Child by Air Supply, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day from the hymnbook, and almost any Christmas song sung by the Tabernacle choir.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and unofficially Rudolf. I know it from the song.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star, but I'm not terribly in love with the one we have. Have never found the perfect tree-topper. Bethany's sounds cool, though.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One on Christmas Eve, the rest Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
SO MUCH Christmas music on the radio before December. I don't liked to be pushed into these things.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Disney (plus a few sentimental favorites--the three bells my grandmother made, for example). This was actually the first year our tree had a theme other than "put on everything that will fit"!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Something easy that everyone likes. The past few years it has been chili.

25. What did you want for Christmas this year?
Pretty much everything that I bought for the family to give me. (And how many other women do the same thing?)

Homework

This is how it goes at our house. (But only when concerning Math. Dad's great at History and Economics.)

Go Cougs!

Woot! That's all I have to say about that.

Baka!

Thanks for taking the time to visit us during your quick business stop to Seattle, Grandpa!

Dad's latest marathon

Mark is pleased to report that he came in first in his division in the marathon he ran yesterday. Competition was stiff--he was the only runner. He decided that since his knee was acting up and he missed the latest Logan marathon that he would create his own. So it was called the First Annual Black Pearl Marathon. He printed up his own bib and everything. And we came up with a great medallion for him to wear afterwards. And the whole thing was run on a treadmill. And yes, he's crazy. But we love him.