Snow . . . :Þ

So Rexburg was getting to be pretty beautifull last week. The grass was beginning to green, and even though you still needed a thick jacket it was pleasant to walk outside. Then it snowed again, and it's been gray and cold and now windy to boot. Today the snow is coming down so hard and fast that you can't see it unless you're looking at one of the dark green evergreen trees, and then you just see a slight whitening as it whizzes past.
I doubt everything will get covered over, and it probably won't stick at all, but the point is. . . what the heck weather?!
Other than that it's been a great week. As many of you are well aware I had a birthday on Friday. It was an odd day. I can remember in the past being excited about some event that I was expecting, whether a party or something else, but this year was different. I woke up at 4:30 and went in to work early so I could get out early. The whole time I was almost giddy with excitement. I was just in one of those good moods that wouldn't be crushed. I even had one of those tax returns that would usually have made me regret my descision to go into tax accounting, but this time it barely phased me. I left work a little before one and hurried home. I quickly shower and shaved, wanting to look my best for my birthday and then went and got my hair cut. I got home at the same time as Jason and then decided to go to the temple for a 1/2 hour before dinner. When I got back there was way too much steak cooking and I knew.
I should also mention that there were two other surprises that day. Jason left my gift on the couch where I would find it when I got home along with a huge happy birthday sign.
And when I got home there was a note on the door to pick up a delivery at the neighbor's house.
When I did it was a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers from my mother and Al. It smelled heavenly.
That night Jason cooked my my favorite dinner: Steak and potatoes, we had our friends over, and we played a brand-new boardgame (new to me) Carcassonne. It was a blast.
Did I metion that Jason had also dropped off a german chocolate cake with double chocolate brownie fudge ice cream at our friend house to surprise me with?

Let's just say it was a good day.

That same day Jason was able to go to a regional Automotive competition in Idaho Falls. He competed in two events with the school. There was a 100 question test to be completed in 1/2 hour, and then an interview section. He enjoyed them both, but the interview section more.
BYU-I swept the interview section and got all three placed, and they had 2 out of the 3 places in the test section. Jason didn't get his name called, but he had a great time. So we both ended up having a great day on Friday.
Alisabeth did too. Unfortunately because we were both busy that day she ended up at a neighbor's house for most of the day, but she had a blast. Jason said when he went to drop her off she took one look at the toys and didn't turn around to say good-bye. :)

We also had a neat experience with her yesterday. She was acting a bit cranky because we weren't giving her enough attention, so I stopped and went to play with her. She quickly grew cheerful and laughing. We played with blocks for a few minutes and then I remembered that her favorite book was only a few feet away around the corner of the bed. I began looking for it. She quickly got distracted and came over to see what I was doing. Once I found it I handed it to her with an eager face and a small imploring sound like she so often gives when she wants me to read her a book.
She took the book looking at me strangely and then tried to hand it back. I made the sound again and she smiled and sat down quickly opening the cover. The book I had chosen was a church song that was made into a book, so when I read it to her I sing each page with a small pause in between as I turned them. She quickly began to sing. It wasn't anywhere near the real tune, but it was very definitely her version of the song. She would pause for a second while she flipped from page to page and went through the whole book looking at me and singing me the song. It was so cool. When she was done singing at the end she closed the book and said "All done" just like I do when we finish.
I love her.

The rest of the week was pretty ordinary. I worked, Jason schooled, the baby played.

I did set up my schedule for next semester and ordered all of my books through the school only to find after I had received them that I could get all of the same ones in the same or better condition for 1/3 of the price on-line. Needless to say I'll be standing in line as soon as I get all of them to return the sadly overpriced school collection.
I feel bad purchasing from other sources because I know that textbooks is one of the places that the school can actually make a decent profit, but I just can't justify the additional expense when we're trying to live paycheck to paycheck, sad as that seems.

I also went to the chiropractor this week for the first time since before I got pregnant with Alisabeth. I woke up in horrible pain and stayed that way for two days. I couldn't lift my arm very high and getting dressed was an issue, so I called up and got into to see a doctor. He was good and definitely helped, but as I paid the bill I was reminded why I haven't gone in so long. One appointment cost almost as much as 1/2 of our bi-weekly food bill.

And the last excitement: They opened a new Costco in Pocatello (1 hr from where we live). Jason and I drove up on Saturday and stocked our house. The best part? We bought a 7 cube freezer. It's a small chest freezer, and it's perfect for our apartment. It fits nicely between the counter and the diningroom table. It will give us the freedom to take advantage of opportunites that we couldn't before. (Such as the purchase of a 1/2 cow or pig from a butcher for cheap.) Sadly, we're carnivors, so these things are important. Now, if I could just convince Jason to start hunting :)

Well that was our week in a nutshell. Life is good. No complaints here. I hope the same goes for all who read these words. You are important.