What happened to Dave?

Well as most people who read my blog know, it was a very interesting Christmas season for our little family this year.
Sam and I left for Utah on the 18th of December, and Dave was supposed to follow us on Saturday the 20th. But, due to the insanely crazy, worst timing ever weather, he was unable to get a flight out of Portland from the Saturday before Christmas! That's 5 days!! And nothing!! He couldn't get a flight because everything was cancelled or booked. People were camped out for days at the airport. His flight had been rescheduled from Saturday to one on Monday. So I thought "well that kinda stinks, but at least he'll still be here." So on Sunday, Dave spent at least 3 hours digging the car out of the snow and trying to get the thick ice that was layered around it off as well, just so he could get up early on Monday and head to the airport. This he all did without a shovel, but a plate because no one has shovels in Portand. So the next morning he got up, went outside, and it had snowed again with another thick layer of ice surrounding the car and on the ground which prevented him from even moving it. And to top that off, the popular mode of transportation in Portland, the Max line, wasn't running, there were no buses, and there were no taxis to get him to the airport. So he was stuck again, but he did find out a little while later that all the flights were cancelled that day anyway. So he was stuck again with little hope of finding a plane ride dwindling. The only possibility of any plane ride would have cost $550, and he would have arrived the night of Christmas, assumming his flight would have been on time.
After that realization we explored every single option: drive to Utah? No rental cars, roads froze n with ice, freeways closed down going north to south, and east to west, towns declaring state of emergency. Train? no tickets, and nothing going out of Portland. Bus? no buses coming in or going out. Ya know, at least on the movie "planes, trains, and automobiles, he eventually makes it home." But that wasn't the case for Dave this year. His dad ended up driving from Salem to Portland in what usually takes 1 hour, ended up taking 4 hours to pick Dave up and bring him down to at least be with his family. After the 4 hour trip back to Salem, and after 5 days of being alone, he at least was with his family.

Yes, it was weird and sad waking up on Christmas Day with no Dave to watch Sam open up presents. Hopefully this crazy situation won't ever happen again. I was sad we didn't get to see many of the people we'd hoped and planned to, but hopefully next time!

But in spite of all that, I was still happy to be with my family. We had a great time with everyone! Sam loved playing with all her cousins and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. We miss everyone already. Thanks Mom and Dad and Al for taking such good care of us at home while we were there. And to the rest of my family. I love you all!

just a couple of pictures from Christmas!

Celebrating with/without family

Well it's Christmas night and it has been a very enjoyable fun-filled day....with one, BIG, exception!!!

NO DAVE!!!
I still can't believe I didn't get to spend Christmas with my husband this year! Stupid weather. The bad weather could not have happened at a worse time.
It's hard to see how much fun your child is having opening presents from family and playing with cousins on Christmas, and her daddy isn't there to see it.
It's been hard, but the one comforting thing is that he at least was able to get down to Salem (barely) to spend Christmas with his family.

So we will just have to have our own post-Christmas celebration when we go back home on Sunday.

Miss you Dave...a lot! Sammy and I love you!

What the?....are we in Utah?

We woke up this morning to this:



So apparently the State of Oregon shuts down when it snows. Although it does only snow like twice a year here, so they are not as prepared for snow as what I am used to in Utah. Not a ton of snow plows that are working hard at 4 in the morning to keep the roads clear up here.
I was so excited to see the snow though! It is good preparation for me getting ready to come to Utah this week! But even though there is only a couple of inches, the freeways are shut down, church was cancelled, and you are not allowed to drive unless you have chains on your tires! It's like people in Utah drive in the rain there, just like people drive in the snow up here....not well.
So even when the snow does stop, (it's almost 2 and it's still going) it's only going to get worse because everything is going to freeze and there will be black ice all over the roads and freeways. So.....it is a good thing we went grocery shopping last night, and I have my shopping done before going to Utah, and Dave will not be driving to work this week, it's either the bus or stay home. They keep saying on the news "Do Not Go Out and Drive Unless You Absolutely Have To!!"
The only thing I am a little worried about though is what the weather will be like on Thursday when I leave for Utah...hopefully no flight delays!



Also I have to add a couple of pictures of Sammy's curly hair. It's just long enough to put curlers in, but when you take them out she kind of looks like she stuck her finger in a socket. It looks cute for a few minutes before going crazy!

Hold me closer tiny dancer...

So lately Samantha has really been into dancing. I think she really started getting into in after we took her to nursery a couple of weeks ago and she was dancing to the fun music with the other kids. But she also loves dancing to the music we listen to at home. Her favorite song to dance to is Doris Day's "Perhaps" song. The way she dances involves turning around in circles, waving her hands around, and stomping her feet a little bit. But then again, isn't that how we all dance? I decided to take a video of it because it's funny to watch!

p.s. if you watch the video, make sure to pause the music on the sidebar before doing it! :)



Funny kid!

Al says I'm a frugal nerd!

Something to be proud of I think! But then again, aren't we all becoming this way??

So I think if I didn't have Samantha with me at the store today, I would have done that much better, but I was pretty happy with how my shopping trip went anyway.
Between going to Walgreens and Target, I got a lot of free stuff today that was awesome! At Walgreens I saved $39.74 and only spent $23.17! I got the two maybelline lipsticks for free, the reynolds foil free, the Johnson's soap for free, the Intuition razor for $1, the electric toothbrush for $1.99, the two Colgate toothpaste tubes for $2, the Huggies for $7.50, the juice for $2.50, and the two flameless airwick candles at Target for free! I had to buy some other things while I was there, but if I had only purchased those items, I probably would have only spent $5!!
The funny thing is, I am totally still kind of a newbie at this couponing thing and there are some ladies I know that have 4 kids and only spend $40 a week on groceries for their whole family!! Yeah....I have no idea.
Anyhoo, I have to keep myself busy finding new things to do or to learn like saving money, or learning crafty things since I don't have Family Christmas parties to go to, and none of my family is around. But speaking of crafty, my sister in law taught me last week how to make ornaments, because she is the queen of crafty, so I learned how to fold strips of paper in an intricate way to make it come out looking like this!

yee haw!

Black is the new **tch!

I was one of those people that went out shopping today.
At first I wasn't going to do it because Dave had to work, and that meant I'd have Samantha with me. But I thought since I'd be driving Dave to work early enough, that she would still be in a good mood to last through a couple of stores. So I planned it all out. Where I would go first, what I would get, and the fastest route in between stores.
Surprisingly we did pretty well! Fred Meyer, Joanns, Target.....and then......Macys!!!
I wasn't going to go but I didn't find the cutest clothes for Samantha that I wanted at Fred Meyer and I knew they were having a huge sale on kids clothing. And, it's at Washington Square that has about a million stores, so I would have to fight for parking, and I didn't have a stroller. But I did it anyway.
Well of course it was crazy. Luckily though, I got a parking spot quickly. I carried Samantha through the store and found the kids dept. At this point after the previous stores, she was a little ansy so I let her walk a little bit. And when I found what I wanted, I looked at the check out line in the kids area and it was forever, so I thought "hmm...maybe if I go to the men's section I can get out faster!" So we trodded over there and the line was considerably shorter, and I thought "great! I got in, and I can get out real quick!" Well the line went pretty fast....until it was the guy in front of me's turn. He was this short, bald, greek guy that was dressed all nice and kept turning his nose up at me because Samantha and I hadn't gotten all dressed up that early in the morning to go shopping like he did.
After the 5 minutes it took to ring up all his stuff, the lovely old woman ringing him up said, "and would you like to open up a Macy's credit card with us today and save 10%?" And I thought, "oh no, he wouldn't. On Black Friday, with a million people trying to get in and out quickly, he wouldn't do that." Well of course, the guy said yes and from that moment to the time when it was my turn took 20 minutes!!! Literally, I am not exaggerating! One by one people in the line behind me started leaving and I tried to keep patient and keep Samantha happy by singing her Christmas songs over and over, I kept saying to myself "it's not worth it to leave and get in line somewhere else!" And the guy, didn't even flinch. When it was about finished 10 minutes into the credit card application, he wanted to add his discount to a previous purchase he made on shoes a few minutes before! So they had to get back on the phone, call the company, the employee talked to them, then the guy got on the phone, I mean it was ridiculous!! And I'm sorry but after 17 minutes in, I'd had enough, and I looked at the lady and was like, "uh, can you give me a time limit to how much longer this is going to take??"
Old crochety: "It should only take a few more minutes. Our customers reserve the right to participate in store offers such as credit cards."
Angry mother who has lost her patience (that's me): "Well that's fine I understand that! But there is something called common decency!" At that point I didn't feel bad that Samantha was crying. I just moved her closer to the guys head!
He never apologized, the woman never apologized. It was pretty ridiculous........*sigh*.........I love the Holidays!!! :)

The Trailblazers!

The other week Dave and I went to a Portland Trailblazers basketball game against the Houston Rockets. I have never sat so close to the floor before! We were on the 5th row! Those tickets were pretty pricey! But it was really fun sitting so close. I was a little nervous though. For those of you who know Dave really well, he likes to yell at players during the game. Well one of the players on the Rockets is Ron Artest, ya know the guy that got in trouble for assaulting a fan last year??? Well needless to say I was sure he would hear anything that Dave had to say at him since we were so close, but luckily Dave toned it down......a little. He would get close, and you would hear Dave go "Ronnie!!.....Ronnie!!" ugh..embarrassing. Just don't throw a cup of water at him! But besides that, the game was really good. It was the game where we won in overtime with .08 seconds left with a three pointer! But during half time they had this awesome entertainer guy that played a floor piano instrument with tennis balls. It was cool!