I Live in Washington????

No, it's not a New Year's resolution and I hope it's not the end of the world, but it may be a Christmas miracle. Yes, Staci and I are now part of the blogosphere. Staci did all the work and I volunteered to do the text.If we did this correctly, you should also see a picture out our back door. At the peak (12/23), we had 14 - 16 inches of snow in our yard. Around December 13th, it started snowing and it's finally gone. Our white Christmas (which happens less than once a decade here in the Seattle area) came in 3 instalments of about 3-8 inches each. It's pretty cool and all, but the novelty is gone. The snow severely disrupted everything in our little part of the world. My group at work was somewhere around 50% attendance for the last 7 working days of the year (Boeing get's a paid break from 12/24 - 1/1 each year). The roads were so bad between Marysville and Everett that if you didn't have front wheel drive or 4X4 vehicles and were confident in your driving, you really didn't go out. Church attendance was pretty spotty for 2 Sundays and this is the month that counts for budget allocations. It's a sad thing that we think of things in that way.The worst part of it all was that the Christmas present I ordered for Staci and Dan didn't make it here by Christmas and barely by New Year's. It took 11 days to move 1200 miles. I gave a few Circuit City and FedEx employees a piece of my mind (like I can afford to lose that) and coincidently, the packages slowed-down afterward. I've now vowed to not use UPS and FedEx for shipping. I'm running out of options.Anyway, things are just fine here in the north Puget Sound. On Sunday (12/28), we drove down to see Steve and Mel and the gang. As I reflect on that visit and in reading through several of the family blogs, I realize just what a great family we have. We certaily have plenty of issues, but all in all, we're probably as normal, fun loving and well balanced as any family I've encountered. Maybe I just need to get out more. I thank you all for being who you are. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you at the end of June.