Kissing Sweet Cheeks

Claudia and Adam blessed their baby Claire this past weekend, so we all trooped out to Portland for the occasion and to finally meet our newest family member.  Of all of the pictures I took over the four days of the children, I never had anyone take one of me with Claire.  So Adam may get his wish after all of his brother Trent being the favorite because he probably has proof of himself snuggling with this little sweetheart and I don't...which means she won't either.  But enough sobbing over my wounds!  There is a theme to my pictures:  babies and scenery.  And when it boils down to it, what made the trip fun was not so much what we did but that we were together.  So while I hate not being verbose (which I guess is what a blog was originally intended for), this is mostly pictures of the children whose cheeks I just adore smootching!

I WASN'T FIBBING...

...when I said the lovely ladies in my department have a habit of showing up dressed like the others! Here are two more examples:

Eeeek!

I like dystopian novels.  The conflict, the societal commentary...you've read them too:  The Giver, 1984, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, A Brave New World, The Uglies (series)...the short stories "Harrison Bergeron", "The Lottery"...And the movies are good if not slightly -REALLY - creepy:  The Island, Gattica, Minority Report, The Village, Planet of the Apes, Wall-E.  This is a really popular genre.

Here's my concern...am I reading too many dystopian novels?  They tend to be really heavy stories.  You start getting even more critical of society then you already are after reading these.  They are really heavy and mostly depressing and... I watched this and got chills (in the creepy way) as this video starts wrapping up.  Am I a paranoid dystopian junkie????  

(Click the links to find out what dystopias are and to watch the video)

Snowshoeing at Cedar Breaks National Monument

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. Laura, Clint, Jamie, Lisa, Jason and I headed up to Cedar Breaks National Monument to do a little snowshoeing and had a glorious time! Here are a few pictures of that exciting - and exausting - day!

New Year's Eve 2008

A few friends gathered at the abode for food, games and fun. Happy New Year everyone! (Belated, of course!)

What's winter without a few runs down an icy hill?

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

Green Bay had a record 40+ inches of snowfall in December . I was there for 8 days of the record month. The first picture was taken the first day I got home. The final was the morning before I left.

Let it snow................................Let it snow.........................

Let it snow............................... Let it snow..............................

Where'd it go???

Rejoining the world if but for a moment...

So, I've been cut off. You see, I am one of those unfortunately spoiled Americans who is so deprived as to not have internet access at home. And the only internet access I do have - at work - systematically blocks just about ever site I would like to spend any amount of time on. This includes blogger which I can still check but not update, log into or comment on.  So here I am on my sisters computer - when I should be spending time fully engrossed in the movie we rented - and I am catching up on a month (minus pictures). Here is the abridged version.

I spent the Christmas holiday in Wisconsin with my parents. It was delightful. The day I landed in Green Bay the high was -6. The day before I left it was about 50 degrees and raining. And in between it snowed every day, except for the day it rained. I spent a lot of time with my parents and had a good time though I was lonely to not have my sisters and their babies home with me.

I returned in time for New Years and had fun - played with friends, slept in, read a few good books, played some more.

School as since started up again for a week and a half. My current obsession is the trip to Paris, Madrid and Barcelona I am going on at the end of May. I wake up and think about it. I Google related articles and information whenever I have the chance and then reread those articles over and over again. I went shopping in Las Vegas last weekend with my friends and guess what I bought...things for the trip that I won't be going on for 4 1/2 months. I've already started buying travel sized toiletries and laundry items.

And there you have it...not quite a travel log, not quite a journal, not quite interesting. But I log to blog to my hearts content yet cannot. May the winter pass quickly for us all!