It's snowing. I'm bored. Might as well blog.

Our drive up here was pretty uneventful until the last hour. We had been driving all day in very cold temperatures but the roads were clear and the van was running well so we didn't think there would be a problem. In Conrad, MT our battery light came on and our heater stopped working. It was -25 F outside when this happened. Ryan pulled over and we scrounged around the car for some cardboard to put in front of the radiator that appeared to be frozen. Good thing I had brought Gap boxes with me to wrap presents in. The Gap saved our lives! Not really but that would be a good story. We said a prayer and made our way to Shelby which was about 30 minutes away. At a gas station there, Ryan tried various methods to thaw our car but the temperature was now -29 and there was nothing that was going to help. Not even my hair dryer, that we learned does not conduct much heat at all in -"are you serious?" temperatures. Everyone was miserable. We had been driving 11 hours and I felt like crying. Grace fell asleep sitting up and Hanna did break down and cry. Finally we called my brother and Becky came to pick us up. We loaded all our presents and luggage into her car and she drove us to their house in Milk River, AB which was 45 minutes away. Ryan and Monti went back to Shelby the next day and were able to warm the car up enough to drive it home. Lesson learned...driving for 11 hours when it is -15 or below does not make for a happy car. Luckily we were not stranded in the Montana wilderness surviving on one another's flesh nor were we eaten by the Yeti.

Artist's rendering of a Yeti


Since I've been here I've been thinking about things I like and dislike about Magrath/Southern Alberta:
1) I dislike that I can get stuck in a snow drift on the way to church
2) I like that even though I'm late for church because of the snowdrift incident, I am able to find a seat in the chapel. This would never happen in our Santaquin ward. I'd be sitting on the roof.
3) I dislike that The Trading Company only has one kind of tampons. I hate Tampax!
4) I dislike that I still get embarrassed buying tampons at The Trading Company.
5) I like that I can go to the movies on Christmas Day and it's not busy.
6) I dislike that going to a movie costs me a days pay.
7) I like that it looks like a winter wonderland outside.
8) I dislike that I have been sedentary for the last week. How do people here go on a run? Do I need spikes on the bottom of my shoes? Maybe I should take up snowshoeing.

Merry freakin Christmas!

Lucky you! I decided to resurrect the Van Fleet Family Christmas letter this year. We’ve had a few changes in our lives that I thought were worth writing about.

Ryan was promoted to Sergeant this year. This means he got a raise, which means I’m happy. We are all very proud of him and he worked really hard to get this promotion. He’s basically a detective for the Utah Highway Patrol and really likes what he does. When he accepted the promotion he also agreed to move closer to his office in Taylorsville. Because of this we put our house up for sale in June and being optimistic, we also bought a lot in Lehi and started building a house there. Unfortunately our house hasn’t sold yet so we now refer to our new house being built as “the summer home”. We are hopeful that the timing works out and we don’t end up with two mortgages. The really exciting thing that Ryan gets to do is go to the Presidential Inauguration in January. He was chosen to represent the Patrol with a few other officers and they’ll be there as security for the President.

I’m still working at the elementary school as a reading tutor and on Wednesdays I work in Grace’s second grade class with a girl who has Down’s syndrome. My favorite part of my job is seeing the girls so often. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find a full-time teaching position next fall in Lehi. My exciting thing I got to do this year was go to Playa del Carmen in Mexico with my mom. She called me up one day and asked me if I wanted to go and of course I said, “yes”. Ryan and I also took a trip to Chicago in April to visit friends. We’re traveling to Canada to have Christmas with my family for the first time in many years and I’m praying that the roads will be clear.

Hanna is in grade four and she’s a sassy one. Sometimes Ryan and I worry that she is already smarter than us. She does really well in school and likes to have fun or be funny. I see a future as a doctor or stand up comedienne.

Grace is in grade two and is a sweetie. She is a great reader and is already correcting Ryan when he reads aloud to them at night. She started piano this year and is really excited to play “We Three Kings” at the Christmas recital.

We feel very blessed to have great family and friends.
Happy Holidays!

Weird thing my kids want for Christmas

You can tell by this post that my kids watch too much TV. That's because Satan himself came and told me my kids should watch more TV. Hail Satan! It's winter, don't tell me your kids don't watch more TV in winter. Anyway they both told me they want The Snuggie for Christmas. Oh, it's a marvelous blanket that has sleeves in it! What more could a child want? Funny thing is, my Grandma Wilde made me something like this for Christmas back in the day and I did use it a lot. I think my parents still have it. Time to re-gift! Maybe I'll trade in the (insert super awesome gift here in case my kids click on the bookmark and read this) and get them Snuggies instead. Twenty bucks and Christmas is D-O-N-E.



Thanks for everyone who responded to my post below. I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to hurt people when I blog. I already hurt my mom by using the term "mom hair" and I wasn't even talking about her. My mom has awesome hair! Someone hurt me yesterday without even knowing they did. They forgot to mention something to me and I felt left out. People do it all the time and I realize it wasn't intentional. It has just made me realize that I want to be more aware of other people. The other part of the story is me having to suck up my pride so that I can do something I enjoy. Pride stinks and I have a lot of it. Not the good pride, like thinking your kids are great, but the bad kind, like thinking someone sucks.

The blog dilemma

Something happened today that I want to blog about but I'm afraid I can't. My blog is listed on Facebook and I comment on other's blogs. I'm afraid that I'm too "out there" to be able to talk about what I really want to. I'm kind of bummed out by this. I don't like having to make hard decisions. I want to be able to come on her and vent about whatever or whoever is getting me worked up and believe me, that is a lot of things/people. In some ways, I feel like I'm not being real but censoring my thoughts but then I also have to think about what other people will say. The "hood" is always looking for something or someone to talk about so I'm guessing it wouldn't be too long before what I said on here, got out there. I'm so conflicted! I don't really want this to be a sappy blog about my most bestest family and life. We all know my thoughts aren't all sunshine and roses and I'm sure you'd rather read those than non-stop drivel about what my kids are doing. Everyone has cute kids! That's why we procreate. If we didn't think our own kids were cute, why would we even bother? Well, I'm going to think about this some. Van Fleet out!

While I'm pondering, feel free to look at this picture of a kitten.

The Japanese are so...

Check out this cell phone commercial with Brad Pitt. What is up with the talking polar bear at the end?

Not the most fascinating post ever

I couldn't sleep last night due to Ryan being gone and me having the freedom to lay in bed watching TV while Facebooking on my phone. I finally turned everything off and made a real attempt at sleep. As I was getting into my sleeping position I starting wondering how other people sleep and this thought eventually put me to sleep. I sleep mostly on my stomach, hugging a pillow with another pillow over my head. Yep, it's crazy and I can't sleep well at all if I don't have all my pillows. Ask my friends. They make fun of my head pillow frequently. I think I started doing this when I was in university and had roommates that would stay up late talking to their loser boyfriends on the phone. I would put the pillow over my head and drown out the noise. It's stuck and now it's hard for me to sleep any other way. In high school I was similarly OCD about the way I slept. I had to listen to music and it had to be completely black in my room. Towel stuffed under the door so no light would come in from the hallway and a blackout shade on my window. Oh, so crazy Shea. Oh yeah, so how do you sleep? Please tell me someone is more crazy than me.

People I could fit in my pocket

My friend Kim and I have this joke where she puts me in her purse or pocket. It's funny because Kim is really tall and I'm really short. I don't think she could really fit me in her purse because I've seen it and it's not that big. Maybe a duffel bag. The reason I'm talking about this is because I saw Gary Coleman in person for the first time since he moved here a few years ago. I've had sightings in the past but no real in person encounter. I was pulling into the Santaquin post office and I saw his big truck parked outside. It had stickers on it advertising their weird home business, that from what I can tell, sells Scentsy candles and a variety of mugs. My heart started beating quickly because I knew Gary Coleman was going to be inside that post office. Sure enough, I walk in and Gary is at the counter mailing off some Scentsy candles (he was making the post office lady fill out the mailing labels!). A crazy old lady was leaving as I was walking in and she said, "Well Gary, sorry I talked your ear off. I'm pulling for you. Take care." He mumbled, "It's okay" and went back to his mailing. I'm standing behind him and the first thing I notice are his bright green Crocs. That's right, he was wearing Crocs. Now I have my very own Crocs but I do not wear them outside the perimeter of our yard. Crocs are for children and yard work only people. Maybe those are the only shoes that don't hurt Gary's little feet. The post office lady called me up to the counter and now I was standing right next to Gary. The whole time I'm trying not to laugh. I found him there, mailing his candles, wicked funny. I left without saying anything to him because the word on the street is, he's not friendly and I didn't want Gary getting mad and punching me in the ovaries.

Let's talk about Christmas. I wanted a new fancy schmancy digital camera for Christmas and I got it. I also want a lot of other things but I don't think I'm going to get them because said camera was a tad pricey. I like getting presents but I also like giving them. I think it's fun to try and find the perfect gift for someone. I like the challenge. What do you want for Christmas? Or better yet, what would you like if money was no object? I'm thinking a shopping spree at Nordstrom or a Volvo XC90 or even better yet, a new mouse because my roller ball isn't working on mine.

My car