This week has been weird and busy and very fun. We have been finishing getting ready for Christmas and having family which has been exciting. It figures that as soon as all my course work is ready for me to start it is the middle of the holidays. ’Tis the season to flake out on your other commitments, right?
Merrick was in town and we got to have dinner and hang out with him Thursday night. He has such an interesting and exhausting life right now. He is traveling all over the world. I would die of jet lag. I’ve seen Elisa’s jet lag and she is not exaggerating! Merrick talked software with me and that’s fun.
It was great to have John and Renée and Jeff and Sarah and Sophia arrive earlier than expected yesterday. We ended up getting to relax with them before they left for Anacortes this morning.
I just love this time of year. It is so wonderful that everyone (hopefully at some point) is reminded and thinks about the wonderful gifts we have all been given. Our family, our many material blessing, all our opportunities and even the crazy trials that have molded us into better and stronger people, and especially the Gospel and our Savior making all of our eternal blessings possible for us. I love the scriptures that talk about God’s purpose for making His plan. In the D&C we are told that His work and glory are to bring about the immortality and eternal life of men. And then in 2 Nephi we are told that we are to have joy. This time of year especially reminds me of the joy we can all have and why. I just love it!
Elisa and I had to go without power for a day. The house is heated by a gas furnace but it doesn’t work unless the fan gets electricity. It got cold! I had six shirts on and was rolled up in bed with six blankets and I was still cold! There are hundreds of thousands of people in the area that haven’t gotten their power back yet. A windstorm caused it all. Trees fell on power lines in a lot of neighborhoods. We visited a ward member this afternoon whose street was blocked off from an enormous tree that had pulled down a power pole. The cords were still draped across cars and houses running down the street. It’s been three days since the storm but there was so much damage that work crews haven’t been able to get everywhere yet.
There was no work going on at Microsoft on Friday. They don’t know how to run a software company without electricity. I didn’t have any ideas myself so I just came home. 🙂 Elisa and I finished a bunch of home repairs this weekend. We celebrated getting to the end of our “Have TODO” list.
Elisa and I danced until we dropped last night. It was my company’s Christmas party. If you imagine a Microsoft company party then you’ll be able to guess how many people were on the dance floor. (Answer: me and my beautiful partner). I had so much fun dancing that I woke up this morning thinking I had just dreamed it. That sounds really cheesy but I just love to dance and Chad is such a blast.
Well, also we were still on vacation when we last wrote. We stayed with Jordy and Chris for Sunday through Tuesday. Jordy made the most incredible fried chicken dinner for us. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Jordy took us to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. It was really amazing to see the acrobatics of the dolphins. I especially liked walking through the underwater tunnel surrounded by sharks. We played cards with her and Chris. Chris ended up having to work a couple shifts while we were there.
There is so much to be thankful for. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all sorts of extended family from both the Stabler and Church sides of my family. Chad and I were in charge of making 10 pounds of mashed potatoes. We also got to help my mom make her fabulous pies. I made apple cider. I made it twice–one batch that had too much allspice to be ingested, and the other batch that turned out OK. 🙂 The food was great, the company was wonderful and we have enjoyed a couple of days together doing finishing work in our bathrooms and conceiving exciting ideas for spreading some Christmas cheer. We have thought a lot about our family members who are far away and have been especially wishing well for them and praying for them. Daniel is having a birthday today and we’ll be celebrating it at dinner at my parents house. Even though he is coming down with some sort of sickness, Chad sneakily whipped up a special treat for my birthday too. It sure smells good! We are taking it easy while we can before the many choices and many changes to come.
