Sunday, December 21, 2008

Our Winter Drive

On Thursday and Friday we packed up the Mustang and drove to Oregon for Christmas. We were anxiously checking weather reports and road conditions to see if the drive would be alright. Although we heard that the roads and weather were not that good we still decided to make the drive because the reports predicted that it was only going to get worse. The first half of our trip went well and we weren't even too concerned when we got to a mountain pass that required chains. We came prepared and we were ready to take it slow. We got over the first mountain pass and decided we were ok to take off the chains. All of the sudden I heard Sean say "great, we have a flat tire". I looked out and the tire didn't look flat but then I say a chain link sticking out of the tire and air leaking out. All over the road were chains that had broken off from trucks. We thought we had done our best to miss them but apparently not. Luckily we were only 9 miles away from a Les Schwab.


At Les Schwab we inspected the other tires as well only to find that the other rear tire also had a chain sticking in it and looked flater then the first. What are the chance of that?!

There was a huge line so we decided to make a snowy treck to Roosters dinner.

After an hour and a half pit stop our tires were fixed and we were able to get back on the road. Unfortunately, it was now a little latter then we would of liked. A few more hours into the drive is when the snow started. Thick white powder quickly started accumulating on the roads and as it got darker out our viability decreased and the storm thickened. We were grateful when we saw the snow plows come up behind us but we then became bitter when we learned that the plows were not allowed to scrape the road in Oregon and as they plowed their only contribution to the roads were to pack the snow even more. We tried to just go slow so we would not have to put on our chains in the dark but as we drove there were moments that we could not see cars in front or behind us and the snow was coming down so fast that the tracks from the other cars were being covered up. After driving 15 miles an hour for a few hours we finally gave in and pulled in front of another car that was putting on chains to use the light form his head lights to help us put on chains. We returned the favor as another car pulled in front of us. The chains gave us a little more confidence so were were then able to drive 30 miles an hour.

The drive that would have normally taken us 8 hours to make took us 17 hours! It was one crazy adventure but have no fear, we made it safe and sound.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Things We'll Miss About Utah...

Our house is in boxes and we are moving in three days now. We don't know if we will be coming back to Utah or where life will take us so here are a few things we will miss about Utah.

FRIENDS!
(sorry we don't have pictures with everyone)

Our jobs

Sean will miss being a teacher at the MTC

I will miss my job as an Athletic Trainer, especially at East High School

Our Home


BYU


Hiking Adventures


Skiing


And much more...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Christmas Craft

With Christmas nearing I decided to make some little gifts. Costco had Stephen's Hot Chocolate on sale so I figured I could come up with some way to make them nice Christmas presents. We bought a bunch of them and then I wrapped them up, made nice little bows and cards to go with them and whala, a classy, easy Christmas gift. Merry Christmas!


Monday, December 1, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we made a last minute decision to drive to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We were originally going to stay in Utah but with gas at $1.66 we just couldn't resist!
Before we get to Thanksgiving we would like to thank Chris Paolini for the book Brisinger which we listened to all the way on our 14 hour drive to Eugene and home again. Listening to these books has become a road trip tradition that has gotten us through many long drives. Thanks Chris.

This trip gave Sean the perfect opportunity to play around with our new camera. Here are some random pictures we ended up with:
Plugs and Sarge

Me studying up for London and an orange


Thanksgiving was filled with love, laughter, football and lots of food. Sean's Mom and I cooked all day while the boys went out and proved their manliness at the annual ward Turkey Bowel and then came home and watched more football.
Cooking...


The artsy table shot

Turkey is ready!

Sean's mom gave great turkey carving lessons. I hope Sean took notes.


Mmmm... Turkey!

Setting the table.

The Big Bread Story: We had a bag of 72 frozen white rolls but somehow the freezer was left open and we were left with a big mound of dough. We were able to pick off enough to make about 24 rolls but we were still leflt with all this dough so we figured why not bake it the way it is; and so was born the big bread. It ended up being a great hit and it made delicious french toast the following morning.
Thanksgiving was great! There is nothing better then being sorrounded by people you love and eating some good food.

The Drive Home

Classic Oregon Winter weather.

We just happened to stop at a rest stop with a great view during sunset.
Moments like this sure make the drive worth it. And for all those other moments there's always Brisinger...