Call in the National Guard we have a snow emergency

I may sound as if I am making fun, but I am not. When I would tell people in Illinois that I don't know how to drive in the snow (I do now since I have lived there) they couldn't believe it. "Well what happens when it snows at home?" I would always hear. "Well if it's bad enough, then we just don't go anywhere." I would respond. I heard comments like oh that's crazy, you can't just shut down the city like that. Or you're just wimpy and don't know HOW to deal with snow. All have been wrong and although this is the worst storms this area has seen in 40 years it proves that we are not crazy or wimpy and yes snow CAN nearly shut down a city...even an entire metro area. Now I have never seen a storm this bad before, but it reminds me of the times we would just stay at home for a day or so. This storm is requiring us staying in a whole lot longer. I have not left the house since Friday and don't know when I will. It is Monday night and it looks as though we may not be warming up until Christmas Day or after. It's crazy. I just looked at the news online and Gresham, OR has been declared a state of emergency and the National Guard has indeed been called up to help. I never thought I would see snow like this anywhere but the mountain, but here it is right in our front yard. On the bright side though we will have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Snow in Oregon

We made it to Oregon safely. It was a very long car ride, but the kids and dog did well. We hit some bad patches starting in Wyoming, then off and on until we got here to Mom's house. It has been snowing pretty much daily since we got here, which is very unusual for this area. It has been nice and pretty to watch, but I need to get the rest of my shopping done and was not counting on this! Hopefully I will be able to get out without the kids so I don't have to drag them out into the weather. One thing we did was go downtown Portland to see one of Kendra's friends at work. It was kind of icky out so we opted to take MAX down (those in Illinois, think MetroLink) and Mason was very excited to ride the "train". It was fun, but I think it was a bit too cold for the kids. Luckily MAX dropped us nearly in front of the place we were going. Other than that, we haven't done a whole lot.

In other news. I finally heard from Mike after a week of nothing. He is doing well and hard at work in his final destination. He misses everyone and sends his love to all. I have been hearing from him pretty frequently since he reached his final destination and have been a lot more at ease. I will update everyone if I hear anything of significance from him and just on him in general.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and safe New Year's.

It's been way too long...

I really am going to try to update this more often. My only problem is that I have so little time to sit at the computer with these little ones here by myself.

Morgan is now almost 9 months old, and Mason a little over 2.5. Morgan is pulling himself up, crawling and "cruising" around the furniture. Mason does things that amaze me everyday. He is such a smart little guy. Mike is now gone and out of the country. I have not heard from him since Saturday December 6th and am not sure when we will hear from him again. He wasn't quite to his final destination when I last spoke to him and he didn't know what kind of communication resources would be available to them when he did arrive. I am going to try to update when I do hear from him so that I can let everyone know how he is doing.

That was short, but Morgan is demanding some attention, so I have to run. If anyone reads this today, it is Mike's 31st birthday, so give him a little extra thought if you would.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!