I Feel Like Our Snowman

I hadn't noticed it on the way to church, but coming home I noticed that our snowman's hat, head, and middle section were missing. Clinton told me that they were taken last night while we were at the Chili Cook Off. As if that wasn't sad to hear and put a damper on my mood, I got terribly sick later on.

I felt exactly how I did on July 11, 2010. The only reason why I know when it was, is that it was over my birthday weekend. Clinton and I went out for my birthday Friday, July 9th and we went out again Saturday, July 10th. I was hesitant to go out that second night because I was suppose to give a talk the next day. I was tired, unprepared for my talk, and I woke up at 1:00am and was sick all through the night. The hard part is that I felt nauseous, but I never threw up. I was so sick that I called the Bishop that morning to let him know I would not be at church. There was no way I could stay up front and give my talk when I couldn't stay out of the bathroom for very long. I disliked spending all that time on a talk, only to not give it. I ended up speaking in sacrament a few months after that.

Tonight, I had awful diarrhea or something. The previous time, a friend of mine said that it was probably food poisoning, because it usually hits about 4 hours after eating, and that's exactly what happened. If what I had was food poisoning, it was either some sort of delayed reaction from eating the various bowls of chili Saturday night at the Chili Cook Off, the leftover chicken enchiladas and rice I ate for lunch and dinner (but Friday night when our family ate them we were fine), or I have no idea. Maybe it wasn't food poisoning, but the chili by itself did something strange to me, who knows.

So, nevertheless the cause of my illness, I felt like our snowman - terrible, not quite myself. I was sick for a while, laid down to take a nap around 7:30pm, woke up at 9:30pm, and still felt sick for another hour or so. Eventually I was able to sleep. I'm hoping I feel better Monday morning.

Building A Snowman With Dad

It finally snowed again this season. I didn't mind that it hadn't snowed much or that it hasn't been extremely cold, but it was fun to see the great things that can be done with snow.

Clinton was excited all morning about making a snowman with Justin. He told him that after he dropped the girls off at school, they would go play outside in the snow and make a snowman. I had to remind him that Justin had school today, so he couldn't play outside very long. Since he wouldn't have much time before school started, Clinton decided it was best to wait till after school to play. He told him he would pick him up from school and they would go sledding outside. They probably spent about 45 minutes sledding and then came home and went right to work on building a snowman.

The snow was wonderful. It was the best packing snow. I didn't see them roll the first two parts of the snowman, but I did get to see them do the head. It was very cute to see Justin help. He came and asked me for a carrot for the snowman's nose. Unfortunately, we didn't have regular long carrots that would be perfect for a nose, I only had baby carrots, so that's what was used. Justin loves carrots and asked if he could have one to eat. I gave him a few to eat at different times and one time he dropped one on the wet, dirty ground. I told him to wipe it into the snow to get it clean. He decided to drop it in the snow, try to grab it with his chubby mittens, and wipe them off. He had a difficult time picking them back up. It was quite funny to watch.

Clinton and Justin gathered sticks to make the arms and also looked for some good rocks for the eyes. Justin came up to Clinton with what he thought was a great rock, but it wasn't actually a rock, it was a clump of dirt. He put it down and had to look for another one. The snowman was topped off with one of Clinton's hats that is from when he worked at Whittman-Hart.

A great time was had by the both of them. I took a few pictures quickly while the snowman was still intact. The weather wasn't cold enough to keep it from melting. You can still see the snowman, but he has a distinct "lean" to his body. I guess we'll have to wait and see how long he lasts.

Once There Was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman

Today, the "crafty" ladies in the Woodridge 1st Ward Craft Group got together to make snowman families. I am not generally a crafty person, but over the past few years I've been known to be crafty on occasion. Amy Anderson cut and prepared the wood for our project. I sanded the edges, painted them, and hot glued the front part of the hat onto the snowman. It is not a difficult craft to do, but it does still take time since you are waiting for the paint to dry before moving onto the next part. I'm not quite done. At this point, I sill need to decorate my snowmen with buttons, scarves, and decorations for their hats. Once I am complete with my project, I will have to post the pictures. I enjoy doing crafts and spending time with people in the ward. Luckily, Cameron slept the entire time for me. I could have made a snowman to represent each person in my family, but that would have taken up too much time. I think you get the idea of a snowman family with two adults and a child. If I would have had all the decorating supplies with me, I could have left the church with a completed project. That doesn't always happen, but I love it when it does.