Winter Already?

This past Thursday, October 25th, we went up to the cabin in order to winterize it.  Ironically that morning we got SNOWED on.  I was a little nervous to go up since we normally get more snow up at the cabin than down here, plus it's usually 10 degrees cooler, but luckily the weather held out enough and we made it.  We followed Dave and Joann up in the Tahoe pulling the trailer.  Dave took the trailer up in order to load the ATVs up and bring them back down so we can get the tracks on them for the winter. 

When we got up to the cabin there definitely was snow.  Once we pulled off the main road there was a couple inches of snow we had to drive through.  Thankfully our little Corolla made it just fine.  It was rather cold when we got there of course, both inside and outside the cabin.  It was 36 degrees outside when we got there.  Luckily after starting a fire and turning on the space heaters, by the time we went to bed it was warm per say.  We were also blessed that the pipes didn't freeze before we could get up there (our prayers were answered).

Nyles warming up by the fire

 

It sure felt like winter up there.  The next morning it was 18 degrees outside, brrrr!  Steve and Dave attempted to go out fishing that morning but unfortunately the water pump in the boat was frozen so it wouldn't go.  They then came back and put the boat away for the winter.  I helped them sort through things and get the ATVs loaded up.  We also moved more firewood up so it would be ready to go.
  

    Strawberry Lake "steaming" in the morning.

 View from the cabin

Lots of snow

Winter already?

 Me, Nyles and Bailey at the cabin

Steve teasing Bailey

After we got things winterized except the turning the water off, Steve and I left while Dave and Joann stayed up one more night (they turned the water off just before they left).  When we got down we unloaded then Steve went w/ Dave Thomas fishing for a few hours.  I finished unpacking, showered, fed Nyles, then went over to visit Melissa Thomas until they got back.  When they got back we all went over to Sweet Tomatoes for a quick bite to eat.  It was fun chatting w/ them.  They were leaving the next day to go on a cruise in the Caribbean.

Saturday the 27th Steve had a training he was in charge of for his capstone class.  He left at 7:15am and didn't get back until 3:45pm.  He has to put in 100 hours for his project and is getting really close to being done.  He has about 18 hours left, so hopefully by the time I have to go back to work in a couple weeks he'll be done.  After the training was over he went up to the U Hospital to give Daron's wife Kristi's mom a blessing.  They came here from Nevada to get better treatment though we're not sure what's wrong. 

On Sunday I had my PEC meeting at 7:30am.  After going to that I swung home and picked up Steve and Nyles.  Nyles was pretty good during church, except a little bit during 3rd hour when Steve had him for Elder's Quorum.  After church we went home and had our home teachers for a 1/2 hour, then I fed Nyles, then had my counselors over for a RS Meeting.  We went over callings again, since we've had a lot of new sisters move in the last couple months (which is great!).  I think I heard we've had over 85 callings in our branch extended since January.  That's just this year.  I've been RS President for almost 2 years now just to give you an idea of the amount of change we have here.  Fun, Fun :) 

After my meeting I fed Nyles again, then we went over to LuDean's house to celebrate Dave's birthday.  We also celebrated Stacie, Diane and Joann's dad Carl's birthday.  We had cake and ice cream and played Halloween Bingo.  Afterwards Steve and I helped clean up then we stayed and played a game w/ Dave, Joann and Diane.  Nyles even stayed up for the game.  It was a fun evening!

Nyles w/ his Boo shirt on (the ghost glows in the dark)

 4 Generations on Joann's side (Joann, Steve, Carl and Nyles)

After we got home from playing games we got Nyles ready for bed and put him down at about 10pm.  He normally wakes up at least once during the night, but last night he slept through the whole night!  He didn't wake up to feed until 7:30am!!!!  It was soooo nice to sleep the whole night.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that this trend will continue.  Especially since I have to go back to work in a couple weeks and I'll need my sleep.

Cute baby Nyles sleeping like an Angel

Last Saturday, October 20th we had the McGrath Family Halloween Party at Melanie and Brandon's house.  We found a cute mouse costume for Nyles at Savers for $2 and figured we'd think of something for Steve and I to go w/ it.  With Joann's help we came up w/ 3 Blind Mice.  Here is a sneak peak at our costumes.  I'll put more pictures up shortly.  I made sugar cookies w/ orange Kool-Aid frosting and candy corns and chocolate cupcakes w/ orange and brown M&Ms, but we had lots of desserts so we didn't really eat them.  We had dinner and played games, though Nyles was a little overstimulated so we just hung out instead.

Cute little mouse

The next day, Sunday, I had Branch Council at 7:30am.  After the meeting I came home and picked up Nyles and Steve.  After church we had a munch and mingle, but since it was taco soup and I can't have beans or spices, I took Nyles home to feed and change him.  I then came back w/ him for my home and visiting teaching meeting.  Steve went with a few other Elders and helped pass the sacrament at Health South Rehabilitation Center so Nyles stayed w/ me.  He was pretty good, but got a little fussy towards the end, though I can't blame him since it was a long meeting.  After the meeting I hurried home and made chicken cordon bleu.  We wanted to help our before LuDean had surgery on her arm the next morning.  We then took it over to LuDean's house and had dinner w/ her, Diane, Dave and Joann.  Joann brought rolls, rice and a salad, all of which tasted great.  We had my sugar cookies and cupcakes for dessert which was leftover from the night before.  We then played Ticket to Ride, which was a lot of fun.

On Monday the 22nd while Steve was at class I had the opportunity to go w/ the missionaries and teach a lesson to a couple investigators.  I had our neighbor Melissa watch Nyles while I went over.  We planned to teach them the 2nd lesson but ended up mostly answering questions that they had.  It's a mom and daughter who moved her from Las Vegas.  Apparently the dad's side of the family are members but they've never been involved much in the church.  We should have another lesson w/ them this week.  Unfortunately they weren't able to make it to church since they were sick.  Hopefully this next week.  It's fun teaching the Gospel to investigators again.

On Tuesday the 23rd I went over to Chase bank to correct a transaction I saw online which was incorrect.  A couple days before I had gone through the drive through to deposit a $50 check and the cashier lady actually filled out the deposit slip for me.  Mistakenly she wrote $500 instead of $50, and though the check was clearly $50, they deposited $500 into my checking account.  Though it was tempting to do nothing, especially since I called their 800 # after I saw it online and they told me they couldn't do anything but I'd have to go to the branch who made the mistake, I wouldn't have felt right about taking money that wasn't mine.  Ironically, when I went to the bank to correct the mistake they didn't say anything about them making a mistake.  All they said was that they'd correct it for me, as if it was MY fault or something.  Oh well, at least I know I was being honest about the whole situation.

On Wednesday the 24th Steve took me to my eye appointment.  I hadn't had an eye exam in a couple years and figured it was time.  I had planned to do it earlier this year, but since I was pregnant I decided to wait since sometimes your eyes can change after having a baby I hear.  My contact prescription changed just a little bit but my glasses prescription changed a lot.  I hadn't updated my glasses prescription in a while since I hardly wear them, but now that I wear them at night when I breastfeed I figured I'd probably better update them so I can see better.  Since my eyes got dilated during the exam it made it hard to see or focus on things.  The Dr said it would last a couple hours, but it ended up lasting more like 6 hours.  Not being able to see gave me a headache, but thankfully Nyles took a nap w/ me on our bed while Steve was gone to class.

Well we're excited to go up and visit my family this weekend.  Barbara is blessing her little girl Calley Mae.  Nyles and her are 6 weeks apart, fun! ;)