Sunday Dinner

Today for dinner I made a roast in the crock pot, and Clark made some smashed potatoes. This is only the second time I have made a roast, and I must say that this one turned out quite wonderfully! I even made gravy with the drippings (the last time I made gravy, it didn't turn out at all, so I am really proud of myself). It was a very yummy meal that would have made all of you very envious.

In other news, it snowed today. That makes for 5 weekends in a row that we have recieved snow. Today we probably got about 6 inches. The crazy thing is that about 25 minutes before church, I got a call that said that our ward will be holding sacrament for those who can make it to the church, and all other meetings for the day were cancelled. We went to sacrament, but we would not have gone if we didn't have 4-wheel drive. Even with that, we were all over the roads. I am so glad that we got the trailblazer, Clark and I wouldn't have made it this far into the winter if we only had the escort and the neon. That car has gotten us through many a snowy road this winter. I just don't understand why Colorado is having such a hard time clearing the roads. I mean this is Colorado...don't they expect to get lots of snow? And yet with every snow storm it takes them days to clear the roads. It is as if they are caught by surprise with each storm. I just don't get it. Clark had to go into work this morning, and he said that even the freeways had not been plowed yet, and that they were just as bad to drive on as the side streets. What is the big problem? Makes no sense to me.

So for Clark's b-day I got him some leather gloves from Marshalls (it is a store like Ross and TJ Maxx). He wore them today because of all the snow. Anyways, come to find out they are gore-tex brand, which I guess is a pretty good brand, becuase when a guy at work saw them he said something like "oh, I have a pair of gore-tex gloves, they are way nice. I spent $200 on mine, how much were yours?" We spent $10. Granted they were super, super on sale from Christmastime. And I doubt they are the same quality as his mucho expensive gloves, but it still makes me pretty proud that Clark and I got such a good deal. Woohoo!

what a good lookin' group

It has taken me forever, but here are some Christmas pics.

Brrrr

Okay, at 10:00 this morning my weather pixie said that it is 1 degree outside, and yes that is Farenheight, not Celsius. I wish I could just stay home under a blanket and drink hot chocolate. Oh well, I gots ta go to work.

cause it's not hard to fall, when you float like a cannonball...

Well, once again, let me tell you that everyone in Colorado is sick and tired of all this snow. Last night Clark got stuck in our neighborhood, while he was driving the little red car. It was really sad. He was about 300 ft from our house. It took us about 15 minutes to get the car out, and that was only after one of our neighbors saw our predicament, and was kind enough to come help. It's kind of funny, back in my senior year of hike school my good friend Minh gave me a little shovel to put in the truck of my car, just in case I ever got stuck in any snow. Up until now, I had never had any reason to pull out that shovel. Well, Minh is now in Africa, but I think she would be happy to know that that little shovel got lots of use last night!

In other news, I went to the doctor yesterday and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again. It is such an amazing experience to be able to hear that tiny heart beating away. The doctor said that I am quite boring, because everything is going so well...let's hope that things just keep on being boring!

Poor Clark has been working like crazy this week. I guess busy season has officially begun. He had to get up at 4:30 twice this week, and the rest of the week he has been getting up around 5:00. He even had to go in today! I think that it is really stupid that these accounting firms can't hirm more people (even temps!) to help out during these next few months. Especially because Clark says that the most time consuming stuff that he does is stuff that a temp could easily accomplish. He takes the second part of the CPA exam on Monday, and so working all these crazy hour days haven't given him much time to study. I am sure that he will do great, though. He is a pretty smart cookie. Wish him luck!!

I think that I will now end this crazy long post with some of my favorite pics of Janet's (Clark's sis) wedding. As most of you know, I was enlisted to be their amateur photographer, and I think there are a couple of pictures that turned out quite nicely.

ENOUGH OF THE SNOW ALREADY!!!!

The streets in my neighborhood were still completely covered in snow from the last two storms. And now tons more is getting dumped on top of it. Arg! I am so sick of this neverending snow. The streets are terrible to drive on!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Clark and I both didn't have to go to work again today. This has been a pretty bad snow storm (you know it is bad when the malls are willing to close down, during their biggest sales week of the year). Last night the other receptionist at work called me, and she works in the morning, so she had gone in yesterday before the storm got too bad. Well, she couldn't get home last night! She was driving home along a pretty major street here, and the cops had blocked off the road, and so she was forced to find a hotel for the night! She lives about 5 minutes South of me and Clark, and so if I had gone to work yesterday, than I too would have gotten stranded!

So, last night we decided to have Christmas a little early, what with all the snow and all. We had been planning on opening our gifts on Friday night, so that we wouldn't have to bring them all to Utah with us. Instead we just decided that since we were snowed in, it would be a great time to open gifts. Clark got me a down blanket that is oh-so-warm, and a hot chocolate thermos, and a dvd burner (becuase we have a dvd camcorder, and so he wanted to get that for me so that we can edit videos once we have the babe). And I got Clark a nice looking BYU watch. Also, Clark surprised me by getting us both a new camera!!!!! We have been looking lately at some digital cameras that fit the lenses for my current film camera, and we had picked out a Canon 8 megapixel that we really wanted. So Clark went ahead and got it for us! I am totally excited, and I have already played around with it a lot. We had both really wanted to get a nice camera before the baby comes, and so this is a great treat. I took some pictures of Izzy with our new camera. Check it out.

This picture shows how high the snow was blown against our 6 ft fence

Izz absolutely loves playing out in the mounds of snow!

Be careful what you wish for...

Who was that crazy person that was dreaming of a white Christmas? On the news they are calling it the blizzard of '06. It's not so much that it has snowed a ton, but the winds are pretty fierce, and so it is causing a whiteout. Clark's work sent him home at 10:00 am, and I just called my work, and they told me not to worry about coming in because they will be closing early (which is a big relief, because I was not looking forward to driving home at 8 pm in the snow). The news is predicting that we will get 10-14 inches by 10 pm tonight, and the storm is supposed to last until tomorrow at noon. Totally crazy. They have cancelled all flights leaving Denver International (makes me glad now that we couldn't leave sooner for Utah becuase of work, otherwise we could have been stuck at the airport right now). They are also closing a lot of the highways around town. I am just glad that I get to be at home, and not on the roads today. See you all in a few days!!!

The view from our upstairs window. It is almost completely covered in snow!

The view of our backyard. You can't really tell from the pic, but the wind is blowing really hard.

Ginger Spice

The other day I wasn't feeling so well. I think it might have been something I ate, because Clark wasn't feeling completely up to par either. And, I am proud to say that I still have not yet thrown up (cross your fingers!) So I asked my boss, Paul, if there was anything I could take to settle my stomach. He got me some ground Ginger to make into a tea. I decided to try it yesterday. What an interesting experience. The tea made my mouth kind of tingly and warm (like I had just eaten something spicy, and as Dad would say, it had a nice "glow"). It kind of freaked me out, and so I asked one of the acupuncturists about it that day at work, and she said that it was normal. Basically what she told me, is that pregnancy has made my qi (pronounced chi) unbalanced. Qi is the life energy that flows through the body, and good health depends on the quantity and balance of Qi in the body. Apparently pregnancy can cause the Qi in one's stomach to become loose, which allows the food to make its way back up...otherwise known as morning sickness. The ginger tea is supposed to strengthen the Qi and thus make you feel less queasy. Kind of interesting stuff if you ask me.

Tonight we are going to Clark's work party. It should be pretty fun. The invitation says "black tie optional" which means that if you have a tux, you should wear it, but if you don't then don't go out and rent one. However, what does that mean for us women? I am just going to be wearing a black skirt that has some creme colored flowers, and either a black shirt, or a creme sweater. I haven't quite decided. Anyways. I sure hope they serve me lots of food at the party, because that is the main reason I am going :)

It was meant to be...

I am just sitting here at work, waiting to close up. We had a patient show up almost 30 min late, and so I will be closing a little later than I might have. I am getting kinda hungry, so I hope I don't finish up too late. But while I wait, I wanted to make a post that proves just how right Clark and I are for each other. The other day I was talking to a patient and she said that she thought that "gee" was a type of butter, so today I googled it, and this is what I found.

According to Wikipedia, ghee (pronouced the same as my last name) "is a type of clarified butter that is important in Indian cuisine. Ghee is made by simmering unsalted butter in a large pot, until its water has boiled off and its protein has settled to the bottom. The clarified butter is then spooned off, taking care not to disturb the milk solids on the bottom of the pan. This method of preparation gives ghee a somewhat nutty aroma that Western clarified butter does not have."

And so, it is now quite clear that it must have been something akin to fate that brought Clark Gee and Staci Butterfield together.

Christmas time makes us better, kinder, more thoughtful

President Faust said the above at the Christmas Devotional today. I think I look forward to watching this devotional as soon as the winter season begins. Needless to say, I was very excited when they sang one of my favorite songs at the very beginning, The First Noel. It is such a beautiful song that whenever I listen to it, I turn the volume WAY up. I guess I picked that trait up during my many years of listening to Mom blast The Battle Hymn of the Republic.