All Hallows

Our ward does a Trunk or Treat every year on Halloween.

This year posed a problem.
Halloween was on Monday night.

Why is that such a problem? you ask.

Here’s why:

Monday nights are reserved for family home evening throughout the Church. No Church activities, meetings, baptismal services, games, or practices should be held after 6:00 p.m. on Mondays. Other interruptions to family home evening should be avoided. An exception may be made when New Year’s Eve is on a Monday.

That’s straight from the Church Handbook of Instructions. No ward activities on Monday nights.

However, somehow our ward got special permission (from the Stake Pres? From President Monson?) to do the Halloween chili cook-off and Trunk or Treat on a Monday night! I think it helped that the entire partay is in the parking lot. And the fact that it’s probably one of the biggest non-member/less actives drawing event. Everyone in the neighborhood comes (and brings chili) – even people who never come to Church on Sundays (or any other day of the week). I also think that a lot of neighborhood kids who are in other wards come and start their trick or treating out in our church parking lot. It’s safe, fun, and you get a warm bowl of chili! Plus, we usually start at 6pm and it’s not quite dark yet.

Keeping with tradition, we were about 30 minutes late (last minute costuming, last minute chili preparations… you know, the usual).

Last year we made the mistake of taking the kids on our street after the Trunk or Treat. Duh – all the people at the houses were the same folks at the Trunk or Treat. So this year we got smart and went to the neighborhood on the other side of the main road. The kids made it up one side and down half of the other side of one street (probably about 1/8 of a mile – which is pretty good for little ones!)

Toward the end, J’s bucket got so heavy she couldn’t carry it anymore! And by the last few houses, Papai was carrying her. But she really enjoyed everyone doting on her and gushing over her costume. J the paper doll. A costume that cost under $1. Score.

We also had one of those scary car-almost-running-over-small-trick-or-treater experiences with V. They had just scored some candy at a house with a very big, but gentle, Mast-weiler (Mastiff/Rottweiler mix – one of the most beautiful dogs I have seen!) and we were headed back down his walkway to cross his driveway to the sidewalk when a chick comes ripping into the driveway. V was already making his way to the sidewalk. I don’t think she saw him, but we yelled at him, and he took off toward their garage, away from the car. We were all freaking out, but there were no injuries, and after some great big hugs, we were all fine.

When we got home and started getting ready for bed, I was asking J if she had fun trick or treating. Of course she had fun. Here is the rest of our conversation:

  Me: What did you say when you went to the houses?
J: Trick or treat!
Me: And what did you get?
J: Candy!
Me: And then what did you say? (expecting her to say “Thank you” – my favorite part about trick or treating is getting to practice manners!)
J: Strawberries!

Me: …

Okay. Well, we’ll work on that.

A Day for the Governor

This weekend was a big one for us! Friday night was the military ball, Saturday was Governor’s Day, Sunday was my first day teaching Relief Society in our new ward, and Monday is the E4-E5 promotion board!

The military ball will get it’s own post, and maybe I’ll post over on My Soul Delighteth about teaching Relief Society.

Saturday morning Russ had to be at formation at Camp Williams at 0700 (for those of you who don’t speak military, that’s 7:00 am – and we live about 20-30 min away from Camp Williams, depending on traffic). We had stayed at the ball until about 2300 (again, that’s 11:00pm) dancing to Article 15 (the UT National Guard’s band). So we didn’t get home until around midnight. I don’t even remember what time Russ got out of bed, but I don’t think he left until around 0630. I won’t ask him how fast he drove (he took his motorcycle) but he ended up getting there on time.

On time for some waiting. They had a formation at 0700 and then released every body until they had to form up again around 0930 for the parade. If you are unfamiliar with the Army (or the military in general) their motto is “Hurry up and wait.” You might think that it is “Army of one” or some such nonsense, but it really is “Hurry up and wait.” That’s what they always do. Form up and then wait for forever for nothing. Or something. But they have to wait. Wait wait wait wait. But you better be on time to wait.

I didn’t get to Camp Williams until about 1005, a few minutes after the parade started, but I think all we missed was a prayer and maybe the national anthem or something. We got there just as Governor Hubert was speaking. We had to park all the way in the farthest north corner of Camp Williams, but the army was cool and picked us up with a van and dropped us off right by the parade. On our way down to the parade grounds three C-130s did a fly over. They were pretty close to the ground, and the kids got a kick out of it (Joseline thought it was a little loud).

We got to the parade grounds and found a seat just about in time to watch the soldiers parade around.

Now, a military parade is not like a Fourth of July parade or a Homecoming parade. Basically the soldiers form up with their companies and in their units, and in their battalions, and they march past the Governor and salute him so he can “inspect” them. I’m sure he doesn’t really do much inspecting. He probably just smiles and looks pretty for the cameras. Mostly a military parade is just for show – but it is a cool show, and a powerful representation of our military. There were so many troops there. It was the entire Utah National Guard – Army and Air Guard. It was crazy. The Guard also had three Black Hawks fly over during part of the parade (just before the Air Guard marched by, I believe). The kids loved that, too.

I didn’t get a good picture of Russ because I was too busy trying to point him out to Vincente. By the time I remembered that I need to take pictures, I had to take them of the back of his head.

Russ was the third from the front on the second row.
You can see his beret where the arrow is pointing.

The band was great, and the soldiers looked fabulous.

After the “parade” they had a fair type thing where all the units and battalions sold food and the Guard put up a zip line and a bounce house. They also had a lot of booths advertising all of the services the military has for families. I signed up for the FRG for our unit, talked to some Military OneSource folks, and got information on the local Family Assistance Center. We also signed up for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. Apparently they are the people who lobby our politicians to keep the benefits for the Guard soldiers.

They also had an Apache helicopter and a Black Hawk medic helicopter the kids could get around, touch, and (for the Black Hawk) get in. The Apache folks were a little more touchy about the kids getting in the cockpits – but I think that’s because Apaches have guns, and the Black Hawk didn’t. The pilots were all really nice and talked to us about their helicopters.

Vincente loved being the helicopters and decided that he is going to join the army and fly helicopters when he gets “big like Papai.” Cute kid. I told Russ that I secretly hope that Vincente will join the National Guard when he is old enough. No matter what else he chooses to do for a career, I would absolutely love for him to be a citizen-soldier!

The last thing we did was head over to the 19th Special Forces Group’s tent where Vince tried his hand at a paintball gun. He was actually doing pretty well. He was aiming. Russ said Vince couldn’t figure out just how to use the scoping bars (or whatever Russ called them) because he was consistently hitting the wrong spot so he probably had the target through part of the scope and not the whole thing. Anyway, after hitting a few targets and some unsuccessful attempts at shooting the rest he told Russ he was done, so Russ finished out – left handed. And of course took each one out in one shot.

Joseline mostly sat in her stroller and enjoyed a cookie. She tried the bouncy obstacle course but ended up getting stuck. She liked the helicopter, but I think what she liked most of all was being with Papai. She’s super attached to that guy.

Conversations with a 4 year old

Russ was laying with Vincente tonight at bedtime. Here’s how the conversation went:

Vincente: “Papai, you’re superly awesome.”
Papai: “You’re superly awesome, too.”
…
Papai: “Papai’s going to the other side of the world for a little bit.”
Vincente: “There’s lots of water over there so you can’t go over there.”
Papai: “Papai’s going to fly over the water in an airplane to some more land.”
Vincente: “Oh.”
(Joseline makes a ruckus)
Vincente: “Joseline’s really silly, huh?”
Papai: “Yeah, she’s like Mamãe.”
Vincente: “Yeah, Mamãe’s silly, but a little smart, too.”
Papai: “Like you.”
Vincente: “No. I’m a lot smart. I’m a lot of smart than you. I’m superly smart.”
Papai: “You are superly smart.” (trying to suppress the laughter)

Earlier Vincente and Joseline had been coloring in a Portuguese preschool workbook. Russ mentioned that Vincente doing the workbook pages must have boosted his confidence a little.

Ha. Just a little.

Lightbulbs

I had an epiphany the other day. Let me catch you up on a few things, first.

Things have been crazy here. Sometimes good crazy, sometimes bad crazy. I feel like I’m always writing that on here – my life is crazy. Well, it is.

And I have been struggling a lot with feeling like I am doing a much as possible in the day. Most days I get to bedtime and I wonder where on earth the day went, and how on earth I didn’t get the laundry done, the dishes washed, and the bathrooms spotless. Because I stay home all day, and don’t have any obligations outside of my family, I feel like I should be able to be super mom at home – super spotless house, great meals cooked, clean laundry folded and put away, not to mention spending hours playing with my children, reading to them, and going places with them.

Well, here was my epiphany. There are not that many hours in a day, and when most of them are punctuated by unexpected messes, potty accidents, and children fighting, they seem to get used up a lot faster.

I have always tried not to have too high of expectations for a clean house and home cooked meals because two small, very high energy children (if you know my kids, you know what I mean – touch touch touch touch, fight fight fight, talk talk talk talk talk, sound effects sound effects sound effects… it never ends. Seriously) make doing all that very hard, and I don’t want to spend my children’s entire childhood cleaning the house. I’d rather play with them, and the other stuff can wait. Sure I can teach them to clean with me – but honestly, that doesn’t really get stuff any cleaner because they make a bigger mess than they fix. But like I said, I’d rather do things with them and have a little bit dirty house because “babies don’t keep.”

  Back to my epiphany (that was only part of it) – I went though in my head what my day looks like. I wake up around 5:30 or 6 (on good mornings – i.e., when Russ hasn’t kept me up all night watching TV shows or movies or talking), so that I can have a few hours (usually only one) to myself to prepare for the day – I usually spend this time reading the scriptures and writing on my scripture blog. Then the kids wake up and I feed them breakfast around 7:30 or 8. By 9am I have cleaned up breakfast, and have the kids dressed and ready for the day. Then around noon, we eat lunch, then we read together and I put the kids down for naps around 2pm. By the time Joseline wakes up (and Vincente, if he even napped) we eat dinner, and then it’s time for bed. So, If you look at things this way, the only time I have to do much of anything is in the morning, for about 3 hours. Sure I have nap time, and I do a few things, but I don’t really like to spend my kids’ down time doing things I could do when they are awake, like cleaning. I prefer to do things I can’t do when they are awake – like reading a good book, writing, or taking a quick nap, myself.

Sure, things will change as my children (and our family) grow, but right now this is how it is, and I think that if I can keep realistic expectations – that is, be okay with only having essentially 3 hours in the day to get things done, then I should be fine. In fact, the reason I’ve been doing so much better the past several days is because I have been okay with it, and I’ve been planning my days better to take advantage of those few hours. And I’m much happier.

When I am feeling down for not keeping the house spotless, my dad reminds me of this poem:

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

(“Song for a Fifth Child” by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton, Ladies’ Home Journal October 1985)

I Love to See the Temple

This year the Primary is singing “I Love to See the Temple” for the Sacrament Meeting Program.

Vincente didn’t like to sit with his class in Primary. He much preferred to sit with me at the piano (I am the Primary pianist in our Portuguese ward). So one Sunday as I was playing “I Love to See the Temple,” I looked down to see Vincente taking everything out of my bags and stacking things up. I asked him what on earth he was doing.

“I’m building a temple!”

Look – Lightening McQueen is even going to the temple!

Teach Me How To Jimmer

Ahh…. Jimmer Fredette.
Well, when things got crazy with Jimmer Fredette, we had to watch a few games. I think we watched a few games leading up to March Madness, and then we watched the sweet sixteen game when they lost (you know, when Jimmer practically choked). Anyway, the games leading up to March Madness were fun, and Vincente quickly learned who Jimmer was.

I watched this music video with Vincente, and he quickly learned the “chorus”: “Teach me how to Jimmer, teach me, teach me how to Jimmer.” He was a Jimmer fan from the first time he knew who Jimmer was.

A few days after seeing this video (and maybe watching a game or two) Vincente was out on the deck “shooting hoops” and ran to the door to tell me, very excitedly, “Look, Mamãe!! I’m Jimmer!!” and proceeded to carry the ball across the deck and dunk it.

Later in the summer, the BYU Alumni magazine had a four-page fold out of Jimmer, and Vincente wanted to hang it on his wall.
It was there for a while until Joseline ripped it into a few pieces. Crazy child.

Neighborhood Fun Run

The first weekend of June is our neighborhood’s annual Fun Run. It’s free, fun, and mostly just for kicks.

 

This is our first year to participate, but I am sure it won’t be our last. It was really a lot of fun to get out with our neighborhood, and the run was around our neighborhood, so it was perfectly safe for the kids.

They had a 1/2 miler, a 1 miler, and a 5K. I would like to do the 5K next year, but this year I just did the 1/2 miler with the kids.

This year the run was on a drill weekend, so Russ wasn’t there, but we had a blast anyway!

Vincente ran almost the entire 1/2 mile (I was so proud of him!) and I ended up carrying Joseline for most of the 1/2 mile – I figure that carrying a 20-something pound two-year-old would make up for the fact that it was only a 1/2 mile.

Don’t you love it! And look at that Army haircut
(he wanted me to cut his hair like “Papai”)

Vincente at “parade rest” – don’t you love that serious “attention” look?
What a kid.

And then when people noticed his haircut he would say
“You can call me ‘Papai’”
Ba ha ha ha! Such a funny kid!!

Backyard Campout

We love camping. A lot. You wouldn’t know because we haven’t really ever been camping since we were married (other than the summer we spent in a cabin at Scout Camp – which was pretty much the most adventurous thing we have ever done).
Memorial Day weekend this year (2011) was the perfect opportunity for us to head out on a long awaited adventure. We were going to do it. It was going to be a blast. Then we looked at our budget. There was no way we could pay for a campground and gas to get there and still be able to pay the bills. Being the responsible (HA!) grown-ups we are, we decided to have a backyard campout.

It ended up being perfect. The weather was fine (a little cold, but hey, camping out is about roughing it, so that was perfect). Our backyard was mostly a big level area of dirt, perfect for pitching a tent. So pitch a tent is what we did. Then we started up a fire and cooked tinfoil dinners, then roasted marshmallows for S’mores, and then stayed up late into the night eating horrible snacks around the campfire, simply enjoying one another’s company. Then we piled into our little tent (we have got to upgrade before we go on a real campout) and spent the night enjoying the outdoors in our backyard. Doc stood guard over the campsite. And then slept in the tent with us. That sweet dog. We really like him!
Because I have lots of pictures about this campout, and not much to say, I have included recipes of the evenings food for your camping enjoyment!

And remember, you don’t have to even leave your backyard to have an adventure! Camping can be super fun (and super cheap) if you just camp in your backyard. You can even invite a few neighbors over and pull out the guitar and ukulele (what we always did at family campouts) and sing some fun camp songs.  Don’t know any camp songs? Check out the LDS Young Women’s camp songs on the Church website. Or just do a Google search for camp songs. You won’t come up empty, I’m sure of it.
Tin Foil (aka “Hobo”) Dinnerspotatoes
carrots
onions
meat (ground beef, chicken, steak, whatever whets your appetite)salt
pepper
other seasonings as desired (we use seasoned salt and a little garlic powder – we love garlic!)butter
square pieces of tin foil
---------------------------Slice the veggies (potatoes, carrots, onions, and any other veggies you decided to use) very thinly. If desired, spray your tin foil with non-stick spray, then line with carrots, then potatoes, then onions, then meat, then layer it again, but backwards (onions, potatoes, carrots). Your meat should be surrounded on all sides by the veggies – otherwise your meat will get dry and your veggies will be crunchy. No one likes a hobo dinner that is crunchy. On each layer, sprinkle some of your seasonings, and add a little blob of butter.
Once you are finished layering your food, take two sides of the tinfoil and pull them together, forming a triangle with the tinfoil (your food is at the bottom of the tinfoil). Roll the top (where the ends meet) down until it is tight on top of the food. Then roll up the ends.
Throw your dinner on the hot coals. Let it cook about 5-10 minutes on each side (depending on the amount of veggies, etc). When it’s done, dump it all out on a plate and enjoy!
Campfire Cornenough ears of corn for everyone in your campsite (plus extras if you want to share with the neighbors) – do not shuck your corn
salt water
-------------------------------------Make a big bucket or bowl of cold salt water and soak your (unshucked) corn for a few hours (we only let ours soak for about an hour and a half, and that was fine). About five minutes or so after you put your Hobo dinners on the coals, set your unshucked ears of corn on the coals as well. Turn the corn constantly – every few minutes or so – until the husks start looking cooked. It probably will only take about 5 minutes to cook the ears of corn. Take them off the coals and let them cool for a minute (probably about as long as it takes you to unwrap your Hobo dinner). Pull the husks down, but leave them on the corn – no need for ear holder things, just hold the husks. Smother your cob of corn in butter and salt, and enjoy!


S’moresAs if I need to post this recipe.name brand graham crackers (I’ve tried store brand, and unless they are different, store brand crackers are too crumbly to squish the marshmallow – our favorite brand is Honey Maid, but you use whatever you like – or have a coupon for)Hershey’s chocolate (again, a place you should not skimp when it comes to S’mores)Large Marshmallows (here, doesn’t matter what the brand is. But we tried these chocolate swirl marshmallows a while ago – WHOO HOO they were yummy)------------------------------------------------
   Take a whole graham cracker and break it in half. Place three squares (more if you like) of chocolate on one of the crackers. Place the marshmallow on a roasting stick. Hold it over the coals, turning constantly. Don’t worry that it doesn’t brown up all at once – the key to a perfectly brown marshmallow is to be patient, and turn it constantly. Once the marshmallow is all goldeny-brown, lay it (using the roasting stick) on top of the chocolate cracker. Take the other cracker and smash it down on top of the marshmallow. Slowly pull the roasting stick out of the marshmallow. This is the perfect way to make a S’more with the least amount of stickiness.

 

Little Slugger

Because I just downloaded these pictures from my camera today, and we have a T-ball game tonight, I thought I would share our little slugger:

Running home -

With “coach” -

And would he be a man (or a jock) if he wasn’t caught adjusting himself?

I promise that I wasn’t trying to get this shot! He moved his hand just as I snapped the picture. I think it’s adorable.

T-ball is certainly fun. No stress, just fun, every gets a chance to hit, everyone gets a chance to “catch” (and by catch I mean, hold up their mitt, then after the ball sails past them, or falls 4 feet in front of them, run to pick it up, and throw it at – er, to – a teammate, who then throws it home), no strikes, no outs, just fun! And the last kid up to bat hits a home run by default (so all the kids can come back in and the teams can switch).

The worst drama is when two kids run after the same ball when they are playing on the field. And then there was the kid that did somersaults to second base. And the one who skipped first base altogether and decided he’d go straight to second. The fun that is 4-year-old T-ball.

Little Biker Dude

 
Vincente is getting to be quite the little bike rider. I feel bad that he’s only now discovering the joys of biking. I haven’t had a bike since we were married, and we only bought Vincente a real bike for his 3rd birthday, and we only now live in a neighborhood where we can ride all the time (the streets are relatively flat, so great for learning).

He really likes it, and I like being out with him. Russ bought me a bike for Christmas, and I just recently bought a little baby seat that mounts on the front. We’ve been meaning to take our bikes down to the river trail, but we need to get a bike rack for the car first.

General Conference Prep

I played the Prophets and Apostles matching game with Vincente again today. He did really well remembering the names! He even got Elder Hales and Elder Scott straight (I really struggle with those two when I see them – hearing them I can differentiate, but their pictures look a lot alike, especially in black-and-white printer paper quality).

While we were playing, Vincente says to me, “I was the prophet when I was telling you what to do.” It took me a minute to remember what on earth he was talking about, but then I remembered for Family Home Evening last Monday we had Vincente pretend to be the Prophet, and Russ pretended to be Heavenly Father – Russ would tell Vincente something to tell me, and then Vince would come around the corner and tell me (“put your hands on your head” “sit down” “stand up” “fold your arms” etc). I couldn’t believe that Vincente remembered that lesson! He has been surprising me left and right with his gospel knowledge. I worry, because we attend a Portuguese ward, and sometimes I think he doesn’t understand what is going on in Primary. On top of that, he doesn’t have a long attention span and never looks like he is listening, so half the time I think we’re just talking to ourselves. But then he goes and says stuff like this, and reminds me that prophets talk to Jesus, and I’m just floored. Over and over again.

Anyway, I was getting excited for Vince to see the General Authorities at General Conference in April, and then I remembered that he has never really heard their voices. So I hopped on to LDS.org and looked up the “General Conference Highlights” and showed him this video:

He actually did pretty well naming them while he was watching.

The thing that struck me, though, was how quiet he was during the first clip of President Monson. I could tell that he was feeling the Spirit while he watched. After a minute, I started explaining what each apostle was talking about in Primary terms - “He’s telling us that we need to obey.” “He’s telling us that we can have the Holy Ghost with us to teach us.” “He’s telling us to be like the Savior.” “He’s telling you to keep the commandments so that you can have the Priesthood, which means you have the power of God.”

Then, on one of the clips of President Monson, Vincente says, “Hey, President Monson! Do you talk to Jesus?” And then, Vince changes his voice (to sound like President Monson, I assume) and says, “Yes, I do.”

It was a really humbling experience for me to listen to that sweet (if somewhat silly) testimony of my not-quite-four-year-old son, affirming that he knows that President Monson is a prophet, and that President Monson talks to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

When Elder Oaks talked about the two lines of communication with Heavenly Father, I tried to reinforce the testimony and explained that Elder Oaks was telling us that we can talk to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father when we pray, and that we can also listen to the prophets because they talk to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and tell us what to do.

I plan on playing the matching game with Vincente more, and then also playing the “highlights” clip from last year’s General Conference. During the six months following April’s General Conference, I’ll play the new “highlights” clip for him every now and then. I think the “highlights” clip is probably the best tool yet for exposing little kids to General Conference. There is gentle background music, and the clips are short (1-2 minutes) and it’s only 16 minutes from start to finish. Vince was just about done at 12-13 minutes, but I tried to help him stick it out. It’s just perfect for his attention span – 4 two hour sessions is going to be entirely too much for him right now, but this will help get him ready to sit and listen to longer talks. And later as he gets older, we can play clips of the talks by the apostles in longer segments.

I think we will have him sit and listen when the Prophet addresses us. I haven’t decided what to expect out of him for the rest of it. We’ll try to get him and sit with us (by me explaining what the speakers are saying – in Primary terms), but I don’t know how much he’ll care to sit through, and I would like to be able to just sit and soak up one or two sessions. We’ll see how it goes.

Of Sleds and iPhones

This was back in November, when it snowed so much it was almost up to my knees, but I never got around to posting the pictures.

On this particular snow day, Russ had the van at work and so I walked half a mile in the snow with the kids to the nearest park (and probably the nearest hill – we live in a very flat part of the valley). Vince loved sledding, but I think Joseline was really cold, so... not quite as happy as V. I don’t blame her. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the park (I was pulling her in the purple sled because the sidewalks weren’t clear enough for a stroller. I need to get one of those bike trailers that converts to a sled with a harness and then get myself some snow shoes and just take the snowy world by storm with my little babies in tow! 

By the time we were ready to get home, I patted my pocket to make sure my phone was still there, and to my horror, it was gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went down the hill on a sled, because I knew that I had it when we got to the park. The kids were screaming because they were cold and tired, so I knew that I didn’t have time to look for it right then. Thankfully it was fully charged, so I figured I could go find it when Russ got home. Well, then he wasn’t going to be home until really late, so I called my sister and asked if she would mind watching the kids and lending me her phone so I could go find mine.

Russ got home just as my sister got here, so she went with me to find the phone. It was dark and cold and the world was (thankfully) quiet.

Christy called my phone over and over again, but ... nothing. Then, when I was near the place where we had been sledding down the hill, I heard something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but then I told Christy to call again, and I HEARD IT!! My phone! Ringing triumphantly under the snow somewhere. I didn’t know exactly where it was, but I had a good idea, so I started digging like a dog in the fresh snow just at the bottom of our sledding hill. My hand hit something hard and I heard the ringtone fly past me, landing behind me. MY PHONE! Relatively unscathed, too. I hadn’t seen a hole in the snow where it would have fallen down, so I figured that when I went down the hill, it must have slid out of my pocket and then through the side of the 12”+ snow in front of our sled track.

I still can’t believe I found it. I had resigned myself to never finding it until the snow melted again, but there it was.

Ha ha, and just a few days before that, I had dropped it in the toilet (it fell out of my back pocket). My poor phone has been through a lot, but it still works great!

And for your viewing pleasure, a (very) short clip of Vince going down the hill. I forgot that I had it zoomed in for picture taking before I started the camera, and this was the last time we went down the hill before we left.