Ahhhh … the Carr/Taylor clan has landed (well, half of the clan anyway … the remaining ladies are sorely missed!). It all went off without a hitch. Wednesday morning I finished tidying and laying out beds (Andrea let me borrow a mattress because I just couldn’t bear the thought of anyone sleeping on our couch – the cushions slide off if you just look at them sideways = not very comfortable). I vacuumed and baked coffee walnut scones while intermittently looking outside at the SNOW (I think we’ve actually time traveled back to Canada or something). Then I headed off to the airport at 1pm. The plane was early for once (it wasn’t Air Canada) and they all arrived in good spirits along with their luggage. We toodled off to the car and Tony and Matt did a fantastic job of cramming everything in (there were two seperate cringyness moments when they slammed the car door shut only to find that it _wouldn’t_ shut).

We oohed and ahhed at different things – greenery, homes, mountains, clouds, etc. Then everyone settled in nicely. Vic is sleeping in the t.v. room on the twin mattress. Tony has let Matt sleep in the queen bed in the green room, while he sleeps on the camping queen air mattress on the floor in the green room. We played bridge while waiting for Tim to get home from work and it felt so much like a genuine ski trip . After dinner we sort of moseyed before turning in … all the while it SNOWED and SNOWED outside! We woke up this morning to a totally transformed landscape. Duvall hasn’t seen this much snow since … well, since about November actually, but before that it was years! Global warming ….

All the lovely snow though made our first day of skiing fantastic. It was sunny and cold for WA but not for us Canadianites. About -7 or so celcius. It took a while to get there from all the snow on the roads, but it was virtually deserted … awesome. We arrived home just in time for the guys to show up for Tim’s bible study group which we both had forgotten about. So now Matt and Tony are upstairs with the other 3 guys having a little group. Very nice as Vic and I are getting some downtime …

Which leads me to the title … I’m going to Vegas baby! From March 27 to 30 inclusive I will be enjoying a suite at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. I’m so excited! I’ve always wanted to go. I have zero interest in gambling … I just want to see all the extravagance and the gaudiness side by side. Maybe run into a few sketchy celebrities … take in a show … just sort of hang out. I’m going to try to remember the video camera so I can record things like the mini eiffel tower, mini statue of liberty, the bellagio fountains … crazy bums or tranny’s doin’ their thang …

So … anyone want in?

What a week(end)! The earlier part of the week was spent mostly comatose on the couch in front of the t.v. (my first ’set-back’ with it since we got it though). Tim had forgotten to mention that his carpool buddy would be on holidays, hence he’d need the car again for the week. I did manage to get coordinated enough to drive him one day and Jason ended up graciously transporting his butt home . Bridge on Tuesday was great – quite a bit of all-out laughter which was really nice to have with new friends.

Friday Tim took the day off and we + Andrea went skiing. If you’ve just read Tim’s blog you’ve got an idea of what a trial it was, but let me elaborate for you: NEVER AGAIN will I go to that place. The category of run that I had a great time challenging at Jay Peak was almost sheer horror at Snoqualmie. I am the one who (tried) to walk down the mountain after already being stuck for 20 mins in some trees and snow up to my waist because the freakin’ trails weren’t marked! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to even walk down the mountain with dignity as I kept getting stuck in snow up to my waist (again), so I clicked back in and painstakingly finished it … UGH! Tim was an admirable trooper and our frustrations never verbally went past the high pitched/sharp tone into profanities (which is saying alot given how crap the situation was). Andrea, though frustrated herself, gracefully made it to the bottom much faster than I did – way to go! I was very proud of her . Apparently Steven’s Pass is much much better … I will give it a whirl in the near future. Friday night a bunch of peeps went out to see the new Aeon Flux flick … meh. Some of the effects were cool, but I though they were awfully cheap on the fight scenes. Too quick to cut to new angles, etc. Perhaps Theron wasn’t coordinated enough to have an extended scene? I will admit I haven’t seen the anime so I don’t know how true to form the film was. At least we can all turn our attention to the Chronicles now … I am so psyched for that one!

Saturday Tim took off for Steven’s Pass with a work friend early in the morning. I was happy to let him go as he hadn’t yet had the opportunity to ski the hell out of anything yet . I slept in (even late for me!) and then headed out for an afternoon of shopping with Andrea. She got her makeup done at Estee Lauder (their Microsoft Christmas party was that night) and I made an appointment to get it done this Friday for Tim’s work party (it’s still completely FREE to do that here! No obligatory $25 purchase or anything!). The evening was quiet while we worked on different ‘projects’ and stuff.

Sunday dawned a cold and (black) icy road situation so we didn’t make it to church (the disadvantage of living at the top of a mega-steep hill). Early afternoon we and the neighbors hopped in their Jetta and headed out to a Tree Farm! I was SO EXCITED! My fam’s never had a real tree (or at least I don’t remember it) and this is mine and Tim’s FIRST TREE so I was like a kid in a candy store . The smell was glorious! Amazingly it didn’t take very long to pick out the perfect tree – thanks to Tim who spotted it right away at the entrance. It’s huge (see photos on Tim’s blog) and is a Douglas Fir. To quote Tim at the checkout, “We know it’s a good one because it had people living in it.” Heheh … when they put it in the tree shaker a bird’s nest fell out … with a blue egg still inside (sorry mom, I would have kept it for you, but it was kinda um … wet and dirty). The downside to our whole experience was that neither of us remembered to bring the camera – doh! Later on while Tim was at band practice the three of us headed out to Costco where I scored some nice but cheap, real garland for my banister. I put it up this evening with lights and hung some ornaments on it … just need some big red bows for the final touch. Heheh … our living room smells like a pine forest now … heaven . The whole day was great … and made so much more ‘authentic’ with the snow still clinging all over the place … in a few days it will be gone as the temp. is rising throughout the week.

Countdown to puppy: 6 more sleeps!!