I don't know how good these will come out when I

post them, but this was yesterday at the Air Force base.

What you see on the trees is not snow, but hoarfrost.

It was so foggy that the fog was freezing and building

up on everything in site. It was beautiful, but made

driving a real hazard! The wind was blowing and in the

last picture you can see how it was building up in a

"blown" pattern. Half of every thick tree (evergreens)

was white with this blown frozen frost and every

skinny branched tree was completely covered. Very cool!!

While the snow has been a true pain in the ass this winter, these pictures of the backyard when the sun came out were too good to pass up. It looked like a million sparkles had been dumped on the trees. It hurt your eyes to look at it! This is what I love about winter!

Ok! Ok! Ok! I have heard that there are actually interested parties reading this blog, do I will try and be better about posting. I always feel like it should have pictures and I don't take all that many anymore.

I have been doing my best with this busted knee business. I am going to physical therapy (evil people!!) and trying to get the knee straight. It was bent in the brace for so long that the muscles and tendons have atrophied (sp?) So now I spend an hour or more having every kind of hideous contraption ever invented attached to my knee to try and help it along. I am loving the shock therapy - especially when he said "I'm turning it up now, let me know when you can't stand it." So when the tears are squeezing out of my eyes and I say "ok, thats it!" he turns it up 2 more notches... SADIST!! I have to work on it at home also, so every day I am doing some painful exercise or stretch 3 or 4 times a day.
NEVER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR HEALTHY KNEES!!!

Maddison wants me to say something about her in this blog, so I will tell you all that she is a sweet daughter and she is the coolest kid ever! She is getting great grades in school also! She and David are working hard to get the bikes ready to start racing this spring. I think her first race is in the last week of March. I never realized how much there is involved in getting the bikes ready each year. They take them apart and put them back together with new this and new that on them (I couldn't tell you what all there is, I don't even understand what they are saying most of the time. I just say "mmmm-hmmm" and nod my head, with an occasional "Wow, thats cool" thrown in.) All I know is its good that she is the youngest, because I would hate to spend this much money on multiple kids! It makes me wish for the over-priced traveling teams again! :-)
Speaking of traveling teams, Hayden has been asked to join a traveling team for basketball whose goal is to go to Nationals. We have never played to that level before, and I think it will be fun. We gave a tentative yes, but are waiting to get a baseball schedule from the High School to make sure it doesn't interfere. We have to have him play baseball in case he never reaches 6'2" which is really the minimum height for college basketball. To be any shorter you have to be really phenomenal! I would hate to limit his options. His basketball team for high school is still undefeated - I think they are 11-0. His grades are coming up nicely (thanks to the fact that he can't get his licence unless he has a 3.0 or better :-)
Justine is 30 days away from leaving for boot camp! I think she is still excited for it, and maybe a little apprehensive. This will be a huge step for her, and we really hope this ends up being her niche. She got to go for a 3 day trip to schweitzer ski resort and had a blast and she is in Pullman visiting friends for 3 days this weekend (at WSU). She is going to visit Mimi and Papa in 2 weeks in Arizona, and then she comes back and leaves 3 days later. She is managing to squeeze in alot of stuff into this last month for sure! Lucky Girl!!
Ok, so I will post more on this site, but maybe not all with pictures. I do have a few that I will post next of some of the weird weather we have been having. These last 2 winters have been odd for sure! Nothing like ice storm year, but different. I am hoping all the new transplants from milder climates will give up and go back where they came from. Keep the 208 small!!