Arctic Blast

Since Jaren and I lived in Logan, UT for three years (or three winters), a 5"-8" accumulation of snow over a two week period should not seem like such an amazing thing. However, here in the beautiful Northwest we are not used to getting snow. When we get snow, it's usually less than an inch and melted the same day by the rain that follows. When the snow stays, it creates a big mess. This is the first "white Christmas" I have seen in Washington since my family moved here in 1996. For nearly the last two weeks now we have been getting what the news has been calling an "arctic blast" (cold air coming down from Alaska). The rain that we usually get here during the winter time turned to snow all through the frigid past two weeks. To see snow stay on the ground, then more accumulate, then a 1/4" sheet of freezing rain, more snow, more snow again, etc. has been quite exciting. The funny thing is that it is such a HUGE deal here. The news has been reporting daily, all day long on the weather and snow conditions. Regular TV shows have been rescheduled for showings early in the morning (like 3:00am) because the news is taking it's place. It's quite funny that this has been nearly the only thing on TV. Church meetings were cancelled and our Stake Christmas program postponed for two weeks in a row now. Not to mention the Relief Society Christmas program I have been working on for months that will now take place the 8th of January. The Northwest doesn't really have snowplows so the roads stay a horrible mess. They do a bit of plowing on freeways but mostly require traction devices, snow tires, or studded tires when driving on all state highways and freeways. My mom and dad had to make a trip to the store to invest in a snow-shovel. My mom and I shoveled the front porch, back porch, driveway, and sidewalks for a good 2 hours and were very sore the next day. After being inside for three consecutive days, I finally got to the point where I shoveled a bunch of snow into the bed of my truck (to help with rear traction), strapped cables on the front tires and went to the store to get out. Ever since my scary accident involving a semi-truck in the snow I have been terrified to drive in/on snow, ice, slush, and even heavy rain. Even though I was driving a 4 wheel drive truck with cables going 25 mph, I was quite proud of myself at how much I started to venture out in the snow. It has been great. In the next couple of days it will warm up to rain and all of the snow will melt. I got a few pictures to show the beautiful snow here.

Mom and dad's house and front yard.

The sreet in front of mom and dad's house.

The freezing rain covered the trees in a 1/4 inch thick sheet of ice.

The freezing rain also put a 1/4 inch thick sheet of ice over my entire truck. Thank goodness the door wasn't frozen shut and I was still able to get inside. (Click on the picture to see the ice covering the truck)

Christmas music

As a tribute to my sweet husband who will not be able to spend Christmas with me or with any family and friends at all, I've decided to play some special Christmas music on my blog playlist during the final week before Christmas.

1. "Sending you a little Christmas" - I know this song has been on here since the 1st of the month but this song expresses my feelings of how I wish I could help Jaren have a nice Christmas even though he is so far away. If I could gift-wrap myself and send me to him, I would. Since that is not possible, I'm sending my love and prayers (and a small package) until he comes home.

2. "Soldier's Silent Night" - As I listen to the words of "Santa Claus" I get all choked up about the soldier. I hope Jaren isn't so alone on Christmas. At least he will be in a bed instead of on the floor. Other soldier's might not be so lucky.

3. "O Holy Night" - This is Jaren's favorite Christmas song. We have to listen to it several times throughout the Christmas season (both of us singing along) because he loves it so much. I had to put it on here for him.

I will try not to get all mushy but I absolutely must take this opportunity to tell Jaren and everyone reading this how proud I am of him. I was so blessed when Heavenly Father sent him into my life. He's such a great guy and I know he's in Iraq right now because he wants to help and serve his country. He also wants the experience so he can be a better Chaplain and relate with the soldiers he will serve one day. He's always so loving and patient with me. He's a better husband than I could have ever hoped for and I am so grateful for him. (I love you sweetie!)

Dumb Christmas tree lights!

Foreword: I appologize for the length of this post. I got a bit carried away but you will probably get a kick out of it.

There are a few specific things Jaren told me "came with the package" when we got married. These he informed me were absolute and there was no bargaining on the matter. They are as follows...

1. I must like white water rafting. His whole family has gone white water rafting as their summer family vacation since just after Blake and Teresa (Jaren's parents) were married. Jaren LOVES white water rafting. He looks forward to it all year. He decided to take me on my first white water rafting trip when we were engaged and before hand told me I must like white water rafting or he would not marry me. All of you who truly know Jaren understand this. I was terrified at first and it has taken our whole marriage so far to get mostly comfortable with the swift moving (cold) rivers that we raft. I have come to not only like it but even enjoy it...thank goodness. If not, I think Jaren would have dragged me down the river anyway.

2. Our first son will be named Blake. This Jaren told me after we were married. He must have been thinking about having kids at the time because it had only been days since we had returned from our honeymoon and out of the blue said "Oh, by the way, we're naming our first son Blake." To which I dumbfoundedly replied "ok" after not having a say in the matter. He then said "it comes with the package." Blake is not only his father's name but Jaren's middle name. Good thing I really like the name Blake! :)

3. Any and all Christmas trees we ever have will be/have:

a. REAL

b. Noble fir

c. lights wrapped around almost every branch

My family always got Douglas firs for our Christmas trees. My dad would wrap about 4 strands of lights around the outside of the tree. Jaren said that was absolutely unacceptable for our tree. Growing up, his family always went out and cut hundreds of Christmas trees and sold them at the family Nursery. People would pay them to string the lights on their tree. Jaren participated and spent several Christmas seasons wrapping tons of lights around the branches of beautiful pine trees. When we got our first real tree, he used this talent to show me how he thought all Christmas tree lights should look. I believe that year and every year since he has strung at least 15 strands of white lights on our tree.

This year, I am living with mom and dad while Jaren is in Iraq. For the first time in my life, mom and dad actually decided to purchase a Noble fir. So, I thought I would carry on with Jaren's tradition and attempted to string the lights myself the way he does. This is not as easy as it looks. Doing the top is ok but when you get to the more full bottom, you can't see a thing trying to wrap the lights around one branch with tons of other branches in the way. I had to have my mom follow me around the tree holding the branches out of my way. How Jaren does this all by himself, is a mystery to me. Since I am also not very experienced with the lights, I didn't check the individual strands until I had spent about 15-20 minutes each putting them on the tree. Good thing they all worked when I checked them. I used all of mom and dads lights then ran out (6 strands). So I climbed into the attic to get some of my lights that are being stored up there (another 4 strands). There is now a line on the tree between their lights and mine. Theirs have more of a yellow light and are a bit more dim than mine. I also got a little carried away with the first strand of my lights and there is a very concentrated and bright section in the middle of the tree. After all four strands were used, I stopped for the day. I could only handle a couple of hours at one time.

Today I went back up into the attic to get another 5 strands and finished off the tree with 4 of them making a grand total of 14 strands of lights! Mind you, this is not a big tree. Aside from the noticeable difference in the lights on top as opposed to my lights on the bottom, the tree looked mostly great. A few minor bare sections but what can I say...this was my first try. Jaren would have done a much better job but he has had years of practice. I still felt a sense of accomplishment for making it through this torturous task (I nearly gave up 3 times). When I came down the stairs and looked in the living room to see my beautiful handi-work, I was dismayed to find the top 3/4 of the tree completely dark. I then spent several minutes trying to find out why the lights that were working 20 minutes before were no longer working! I grabbed the last strand of lights and went around the tree trying to find the one that wasn't working. Just as I found the culprit light strand, the one I was using to test the others stopped working too. Am I cursed or what? I managed to work it out so all of the strands above and below it are plugged into the extension cord. That one section is a dark spot. I was NOT about to take them off and put on a new string. I have decided now to NEVER string the lights again! I firmly believed before that the lights are Jaren's job and am even more resolved about it now. Oh, and Jaren...I won't ever say a thing about the lights again. You can just do your thing. You are great at it and you won't hear a peep out of me.

You can't see too well from these pictures but here is my Christmas tree with 14 strands of DUMB lights! I won't say that out loud though, the other strands might stop working too! ~ Emily

It doesn't look too bad. The culprit strand is the lower middle section on the left, underneath the really bright section.

That rascally little strand of lights!

Jaren's address

Jaren has moved to a new location (which I don't know and he cannot tell me). I am posting the new address so if you would like to send him a letter or care package you can. If you send a package, use the Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes. They come in several different sizes. The large box is the one I use and it is $10.95 up to 70 lbs. If you use your own box of about the same size, it's anywhere from $20-$30. Make sure it is flat rate. Using the Express Mail doesn't get it there any faster once it leaves the country. It doesn't take long though. He has received the packages I've sent him as early as one week and as late as two and a half weeks. Here it is:

Jaren B Glover

341st ENG CO/54th ENG BN

APO, AE 09322