A Hazy Shade of Winter

This January has been stinky.

• Have not had one day above 32 degrees...most are around 20.  Brrrrr
• If it isn't snowing, then we have an inversion.  We had 12 straight days of inversion at one point.

     An inversion is when the polluted air gets trapped in our valley.  I can't see any part of the Wasatch mountains that are only a 5 minute drive to get to.  When outside you smell smog in every breath and you can even taste the smoggy air.  Plus, if you take a deep breath you cough from choking on it.  So horrible.  

• Snow has come down in 5 inch or more segments at a time.
• Since I have only seen the sun shining brightly against a blue sky once this month, there's about 2  and a half feet plus of snow in my backyard, and 4 foot icicles coming off our roof.

We're experts at shoveling 

The driveway was all cleared off in the evening...

Here's the morning, with our neighbor who scraped it another 2 times in the night

Oh well, enjoy it and teach Dex to drive his truck in the snow

In past winters the inversion and snow were never this bad for such a long duration.  Because it's either cold or bad air quality we can't take walks.  That was always my sanity helper before.  The one time I attempted to take a walk on a "warmer" day, I learned that nobody cared to shovel off their sidewalks of this 2 feet of snow.  

I have looked on the internet for fun indoor things.  We try some, and after the work I take to set it all up.  Dex usually ends up hating it.  Funny guy does not like to use his fingers to paint or get messy of any sorts.  If you get one drop on it, he cries until it is washed off.

Another fun indoor activity, making phone calls to whoever requests them.  He loves to chat to grandma's most.

So I have an active little Dexter trapped inside cause of winter, and I'm exhausted to give him the play he craves.

So I booked a ticket for a trip to Vegas for me and Dexter.  Hopefully with some warmer air and sunshine I'll be able to enjoy the snow again.  Plus having grandma's to give him the attention he wants is a big bonus.

Part of the exhaustion and grumpiness is...I'm pregnant!    

Thankfully this time morning sickness has not struck hard.  I think not being in the basement with all those nasty smells made that part better, and Kyle's been awesome to take over when he can the other trigger points of my nausea.  

I've been twice to the doctor.  First time was to a midwife who I liked a lot, but she referred me to see one of the doctors in her clinic.  But I liked this doctor too, and she was very nice but frank about things.  But I didn't feel like just another chore on her list, which I felt at my previous doctor. The clinic is amazing, and at each appointment I get an ultrasound.  So I've already had two, and the last one showed that it is another active baby.

On Saturday I was 12 weeks, so a long 28 more to go.  But I have already started to feel the baby kick. Kind of a crazy feeling again.  

Christmas Break

So I'm far behind, but I think it'll only be needing two posts to catch up.  And it will also have a ton of pictures. These are from before Christmas

Not happy meeting Santa at ward Christmas party

Playing in the first real snow fall of winter

Uncle Tyler was there to take our pics

So fun!

Trying to do fun things while stuck inside with freezing temps

First up, Christmas!

We drove down to Vegas the Saturday before.  Dex slept for 6 of the 8 hours... Hallelujah!

Sorry, being in the tiny backseat with him when he's all awake wanting to get out is not fun.  And his 2 hours were happy ones too.  Anyways, later that evening we had a friend party.  The boys played Nerf wars, and the girls just ate and talked.  I would have played, but I was not feeling peachy.  It was fun to see most our friends, cause on our normal visits we don't have much time to visit with everyone.

Sunday was with the Hansens, and we did a musical number for their ward's Christmas program.  Dex loved having Nub Nub to play with, and the rest of the aunts and uncles.

Christmas Eve was with my family, which is very chill.  We ate Pei Wei letuce wraps, last minute Costco shopping for someone's chocolate strawberries present, played Dominion with my mom and grandparents, and watched some movies.

Well...CHRISTMAS day!  We all just woke up when Dexter did, which was around 6:30 Vegas time.  We let Dak figure out his stocking and unwrap the Santa presents in there.  Then on to family gifts.  It's the longest I remember it ever taking with my family...probably like 30 minutes.  And that was because Dexter was slow at unwrapping his.  He wasn't like going crazy to rip it all off, or move on to the next presents.  But he was cute and liked all his presents there.  We ate some breakfast and then hurried over to the Hansens.

Mom got a calendar with pics of her two grandkids in it,

Dexter stuffing chocolate in his face

Opening up the Castle

Melynn got a Mockingjay pin

Now it was time to chat with Jake on his mission...but this year they let us video chat with him!  His internet was pretty slow so we only saw him on video for a little while, but he saw us the whole time.  It was super fun for him to see everyone.

Gathered round the computer

Dex watching his cool Elder Uncle Jake

Then onto present unwrapping, which was now Dex's naptime.  So he slept while everyone else unwrapped, and once we were done so was his nap.  Then his turn...which took forever since he was done with presents.

Aunt Audrey helping

The boys teaching Dex the proper way to storm castles

Christmas foosball

Aunt Danielle even convinced him to chill on her lap 

The boys played some card stuff

Well the next days just went back and forth between the Hansens and the Thompsons.  That made it interesting to have to repack our bags and car each day.  Next year we'll improve on our method and probably stay 2-3 days at a time.

Well over the next days we:

Game night at the Waldron's...lots of fun!

Dex trying on cousin Milo's to be giraffe outfit...it fit him

Played tennis

Went to Spencer and Stephanie's wedding

Danced the Mother/Son dance at their reception

Dexter had glowstick dancing at their reception too

Look at those smooth moves

Uncle Trevor was so awesome to let him wear his creation

All dressed up in Christmas outfits for church

No Pictures

My laptop officially is out of use. That's the reason for lack of pictures and posts. I haven't figured out which of our older computers to take over.
Christmas was great. 10 days down there in "warmer" weather and everyday with family. Now its back to below freezing daytime temps and snow a few inches deep on the ground.
I'll post pics and the fun time of Christmas soon.
Happy New Year.