Once there was a Snowman, Snjowman, Snowman...

We had our first snow today. It was great. Nothing really stuck, but it was still fun to watch it come down. It made me think of the following story.

My last year of BYU, I lived in an apartment complex that gave me my very own assigned parking spot. I was pretty thrilled to not have to worry about having to fight the craziness that is BYU approved housing area parking. There were only a few downsides of this pre-assigned spot. It was on the top level of the parking garage, and thus not covered (sad day, especially since I paid so much to get that spot) and on top of that, for whatever reason, mine and my roommate's spot always had more snow than anyone elses (i think it was something to do with shadows and where the wind blew, but what do I know?).

Well, one day, I woke up and looked out to about a foot of snow. I planned accordingly and left with plenty of time to get to the library to meet my study group. I went out and turned my defrosters on full blast and got to the job of scraping the snow off my windows. In a few minutes, (remember, I'm from Utah, I have a lot of experience) I was ready to go. I got in my new jeep (pertinent fact in a minute), put the car in reverse and tried to drive out. That's right, TRIED to drive out. I was stuck! I pulled forward a bit and tried again, but nothing. I told myself to stay calm and not panic. I thought to myself "good thing I have a jeep, no big deal, I'll just turn on the 4-wheel drive and be on my way."

I started fiddling with the thing that said 4-wheel drive, but nothing was changing/happening. Talk about feeling like a dumb girl. I was in a stinkin' jeep and I was stuck in my parking stall. Not, some exotic, cool offroading place, but my little parking spot in my parking garage. Next I did what most people in my predicament would do (or I've been informed not really, apparently, i'm a weirdo in this regard), and pulled out my owners manual. Sadly, turning on your 4-wheel drive must not be that difficult because I couldn't find it in there at all.

So, I called my dad, he gave me a few ideas and wished me luck. I went back to the dumb lever I was originally playing with and started playing with it again, but still, nothing would happen.

At this point, I had watched multiple, small non-snow cars drive away just fine and was getting a little frustrated (it had been close to 30 minutes at this point). I was in a freakin' SUV, why was this happening to me? Our manager was out shoveling snow, so I finally swallowed my pride and asked him for help. His response was, "huh? but you have a jeep, just turn your 4-wheel drive on!" I sheepishly explained that I didn't know how to do that, so he climbed in, pulled the lever (yes, the same one I had kept playing with), and in less than a minute said, "there you go!" Seriously?!! Apparently I wasn't pulling hard enough... I thanked him and completed my drive of shame out of the parking lot.

The next day at church, a group of people were talking about the storm, and a kid (who I didn't really know well at all) started laughing and said that I had a good story. My spot was right below his bedroom window and apparently he sat and watched me in my all of my stuck glory and laughed and laughed. So much so that one by one his roommates came in to see what the ruckus was about where they too joined in. I couldn't believe the jerk just sat and laughed at my pain and didn't come and help me! Talk about feeling dumb! Good thing I am such a forgiving person though because he did eventually become a good friend.

Oh good memories!

Then Comes Baby in the Baby Carriage...

No, no, no, not mine, but I did offer to throw a baby shower for one of my good friends. I'm happy to do it for her, but i'm not going to lie, i'm feeling a little over my head. This is definitely not my forte. Does anyone have any fun activities/food ideas for me?

As Requested

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
3/4 c. miniature chocolate morsels
3/4 c. finely chopped pecans, divided
Graham crakers, butter cookies, pretzels (we had vanilla wafers, which were delicious)

In a bowl, combine cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, butter, brown sugar and vanilla, beating with an electric mixer until smooth. Add chocolate morsels and 1/2 c. pecans. Refrigerate until firm about 2 hours (i just stuck mine in the freezer about 40 minutes, it worked fine). Shape mixture into a ball (or football) and roll in remaining 1/4 c. pecans. Serve with graham crackers, butter cookies or pretzels. MAkes 8-12 servings.

Here Comes the Sun (or Not)

I'm not sure what happened to Fall this year. It seems like we had about 3 great days of crisp, cool Fall weather, but then it suddenly turned into Winter. While this means great things like first day of cute coats, boots and sweaters, we're still in denial (ok, maybe it's just me) and have yet to turn on our heater (minus a few hours when we had guests). Matt seems to think its time though...

So after the great decorations debacle, I had to redeem my title of "Domestic Diva" somehow. We had a BYU game that night, so I decided to make a game treat. It was my first time making anything that like, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Chocolate chip dessert cheeseball