sNOw fun

For any of you that know me will also know that I hate cold weather. In fact I have even given up one of my favorite hobbies, snowboarding, because cold weather makes me want to die. Perhaps I can attribute this to the fact that while living in Arizona I chose to basque in the sun for hours on end. I didn't necessarily sun bathe if that is what you want to call it. I would sit in my car, with the windows rolled up, in the middle of summer and enjoy every minute of it. I loved being out in the hot air loving every minute of it.

After adjusting to the wonderful heat for many years trying to go back to a colder climate has been miserable. People will often ask me how I managed to grow up in Wyoming if I hate the cold weather so much. I have no reasons or explanations as to how I did it but thankfully I am not there any longer. The sad reality however is that I managed to move to a state where the humidity only adds to the fun. The summer is unbearable because the minute you walk outside you are sweating your face off and in the winter it is just plain cold, and bitter at that.

Anyway, enough of my complaining. I just thought I would post some of the rare pictures of me in the snow. These pictures are from our Christmas vacation where we spent time with both of our families. Sterling managed to talk me into playing in the snow two different times.

The first time was when Kaili decided that making an entire snow family was the best idea her little mind had ever conceived. We didn't make an entire family because the snow was not cooperating but we did manage to make one snowman and one snow dog.

Sterling and I were in charge of making the snow dog and though it looks more like a snow turtle, you will be pleased to know that Kaili absolutely loved it. And from the pictures you will also note that Joseph loved it as well.

The second time that Sterling convinced me to play in the snow was so that we could go sledding with his family. I have some pretty sweet videos of Sterling, Rachel and Mary Jane going off of two jumps but unfortunately I recorded with my camera turned 180 degrees and unfortunately you cannot rotate a video to post it properly. So the pictures of us on the tubes will have to suffice.

Perhaps next year I will not be such a big baby and do a little more. After all when it was all said and done we did have a rather enjoyable time. Maybe Sterling will buy me some hand and feet warmers so that I don't have to complain so much. Or even better I could just commit to not complaining....no thanks, I'll take the warmers.

Harder than I ever imagined

So if any of you view(ed) this blog on a regular basis, I am sure you have been discouraged from doing so at this point. Not because I don't post anything really interesting but because I simply do not post.

I have decided, again, that I am going to try and do a better job of updating our blog so that people know what is happening in our lives. Perhaps I have said this before, but my biggest problem is that I feel like posting without pictures is boring. At this point my problems are compounding because I also don't really like to take pictures. Given the previously stated circumstances the end result can only be failure.

When we first decided to set up a blog I thought I would be amazing at it. I just assumed that I would be as good at blogging as I am at most other things. Well I wasn't far off on that assumption because as with most other aspects of my life I am only mediocre. I must have been delusional the day I decided to make a family blog and thought I would be a diligent at posting.

The only thing I can do at this point is to do things that are interesting enough to post, carry the camera wherever we go and do my best to post at least once a week, perhaps on my days off.

Hell Froze Over

So I am sure that we have all heard the phrase "...when hell freezes over."

When we first moved to Iowa I remember unloading our moving truck, sweating my guts out and thinking that somehow Sterling and I had just arrived in hell. Sterling had to keep drinking water or Gatorade in order to keep himself hydrated and alive. As for me, I had to simply keep moving in order to keep myself from either sitting down in the apartment and refusing Sterling further help or from getting in that truck and driving back to a dry climate.

It took a good five months before Iowa froze over and I do mean this literally.

I kept hearing rumors of horrible ice storms that knocked down power lines leaving people without power for up to a week. I couldn't imagine what the Iowans were talking about but I had to trust their stories until I could witness it for myself. Well I didn't have to wait long before our first ice storm was announced and found out that the rumors were actually true.

On December 1, 2007 at 7:45 am Sterling and I headed out to do some shopping and other errands for the day. It didn't seem like the ice storm was going to be too bad since at that time there was no ice falling from the sky nor was it raining both of which I thought necessary for a proper ice storm. I soon came to understand that it doesn't take more than a few minutes in the grocery store for an ice storm to go from non-existent to full-on ice storm.

Once we got home from our morning errands we didn't leave the house for the rest of the day and though the ice was outside I could feel it chilling my bones even while I was inside.

So when someone says "...when hell freezes over[.]" you can actually tell the person that it has basically happened and I am living proof that Iowa, on occasion, freezes over.

So if you are wondering what the first picture on the page is of then let me explain. The picture is taken from the passenger seat of the car. I rolled down the window and the sheet of ice remained in place while the window willing rolled down. You can't just scrape off 1/4" sheet of ice that happens to form on the car during a "mild" ice storm.

Supposedly the storms will worsen right before spring and so we would ask each of you to enjoy the weather that you experience because it could be worse, you could live in Iowa.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STERLING

November 29th was Sterling's 24th birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. When your income is limited something really special is a little far fetched so I had to rack my brain to think of something. I figured that maybe something with his classmates would be fun since they are the people with whom Sterling spends the most time. So I hacked into his email account, sent an email to all of his classmates and some other friends and invited them over for a little surprise birthday party.

I did a pretty good job of keeping the party a secret until the night of the party when I was talking to Sterling about the house being clean and asked him if he thought everyone would mind a couple of dishes that were still drying on the counter. Luckily Sterling bought some story that I made up on the spot and let the comment go without further investigation.

Sterling went to donate plasma and I stayed home to finish the final preparations for the big night. I made a cake, brownies, bought the fixin's for banana splits and rootbeer for floats. Finally all of his friends started to arrive, about 15 minutes before he should have arrived at home, and he called to tell me that he got started late and wouldn't be home for at least another 1/2 hour. His classmates had a big project due the next day so I am sure most of them had to get back to the school and get to work so I started feeling badly. However they were nice enough to stick it out and wait for him to get home.

I talked everyone into singing Happy Birthday the way that Sterling's family does which includes an additional first where you sing the words, "many more birthdays" in the place of "Happy Birthday."

When Sterling walked in the door I think he was really surprised but he was really surprised when his classmates and friends broke out the second verse of Happy Birthday as performed by the Sheffield's on every birthday occasion.

We had a lot of fun and it turned out better than I could have imagined. I hope that Sterling knows how much I love him and that I want to be able to give him everything he ever needs. He is the best husband for me and I hope that I can spend the rest of eternity making him happy.

The First Sheffield Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I remembered all of the Thanksgiving Days that I had spent with my family as a child and it seems like it was an all day event that involved family, friends, food and fun. The problem we ran into was that we didn't have any family to celebrate with, we don't have any friends, cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for two is not really worth all of the work (according to me) and it was freezing here which limited the fun that we could have.

We talked about the fact that Thanksgiving day is a day to spend time with family and watch a lot of football and decided that someday we will have that. As for now we would have to make do with what we have. We considered eating a non-traditional dinner which included steak and crab, making a small turkey breast and some traditional side dishes or going to a restaurant. The restaurant idea sounded the best since I didn't have to do any cooking and Sterling didn't have to do any cleaning up afterwards.

So on Thanksgiving we woke up to our first day of snow in Iowa and though I was devastated about the snow I was still excited for the glutton-fest that would take place later in the day. The snow didn't stop Sterling from going out and playing football with some guys from the ward and though he extended the invitation for me to go and watch, I kindly declined and stayed home where I could stay warm.

Luckily the restaurant that would be serving Sterling and I our first Thanksgiving dinner was a block away so that we could walk there and roll back. The dinner was a buffet style dinner with lots of food and desserts to choose from. I don't think either of us ended up eating the turkey but we did enjoy some ham, mashed potatoes, yams, pasta, fruit, salad, rolls and riblets. The food was decent but it just can't compare to a mother's Thanksgiving feast.

Perhaps next year we will put a little more effort into it. Or maybe I could talk my mom into coming out here and celebrating Thanksgiving with us so that she can cook and maybe teach me a thing or two. If I don't learn anything than at least I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving the way that it should be!