Hapy Holidays From the Kovars (Old Site)

Christmas is literally just around the corner, and I am amazed at how quickly the holiday season has gone! Just a few weeks ago I was thanking the calendar for the extra time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year... and now it seems as though the time has gone faster than normal. No matter how many days we have to prepare, it is always a last minute scramble to get gifts in order, make cookies and fudge, visit everyone, attend the parties, and put out the cards. (You’ll all be lucky if my cards actually make it out for Christmas this year, I might target ‘New Years’ cards instead!) I don’t think it helped matters that Andy and I both were sick during the month. I’ve been the lucky recipient of three viruses since Thanksgiving. Personally, I hope I am done for the year!

This should be the final blog for 2007 for me... I will see you all again in 2008. Andy and I have already set our New Years resolutions to do some work on the house. We’re expecting to meet our future child at some point during the year, and know that will turn our lives upside down. (Boone doesn’t know it yet - that should be a fun surprise for him!) Still no news on that front, but we are just so happy that we were able to complete all the paperwork, take all the training courses, and enter our chosen program this year.

Whether our holiday card reaches you before Christmas or after, I want you all to know that we are thinking of you during this holiday season. We hope that you take the time to stop, enjoy the lights, the music, and spend the time with your families. We’re wishing you the best of years in 2008!

Considering Arks (Old Site)

Last time I updated my blog I wrote about a nice little storm that had stopped by and dropped a few inches of lovely snow for us. I actually believe that I wrote that we were lucky that rain had come in on Sunday to melt it before the work week began. Luck might not have been the best word to use. I was unaware of the volume of rain fall we would receive on Sunday night and all through Monday. Pictures like the one above were typical sights around us for a few days last week. Andy stayed home from work for two days ... which was a good thing because most of his routes were blocked by significant amounts of water. I, however, got in my car and drove in to work, which was quite an adventure. On Monday morning I drove through two ponds and was turned around 3 times. The last road closure that turned me around was due to flooding on a road in front of me, where I saw only the top 1/3 of a red sedan and a pickup truck turned completely on its side. The best was on my drive home, where I had a few particularly tense minutes as I drove through one nearly washed out street on the way home. (The next morning it had been closed.) I am happy to report that we are safe, that there was no flooding in our neighborhood, and most of the streets around us are now open.

I have decided that if the weather is going to continue to throw us curve balls, it may be a good idea for us to invest in some survival items for the future. For one, we need to check our food storage supplies... drinking water, canned food, etc. Second, we’ll make sure that we have wood to burn for heat if needed. Next, I’m thinking a generator would be a great idea... it is really annoying to lose power. And finally, I think it might be a good idea to invest in an ark. I saw pictures of people kayaking down I-5 in Centralia last week, but I’m thinking that an ark might be more comfortable. We could get all of our neighbors together and build it on the field at the elementary school. Yes? Well, I guess it’s not the most practical idea... But when the rain kept falling last week, I did seriously start to wonder just how high the water was going to get in some places.

This week we have been lucky to have very calm, although cold, weather. I hope that it holds up for another week. Andy and I have done barely anything to prepare for Christmas... and I could use the good weather to get a few things done!

First (and Second) Snow of the Year! (Old Site)

Some of you know, (which means that some of you don’t,) that Andy and I were raised in Southern California. As Southern Californians, we only saw snow when we made the conscious choice to drive to see it - usually for a day or two - and then we drove back down to the warm valley that was, and is, Riverside. I lived in Utah for a couple of years when I was going to college, but as I didn’t have a car I didn’t have to learn how to drive in the snow. When Andy and I were trying to decide where we wanted to live, snow played a big part in the decision. My criteria were simple - if we were moving it had to be to a place that was not humid, not too hot and did not see a lot of snow. That left us with Northern California (too expensive) or Seattle. So we picked up and moved to the Puget Sound region. We are entering our 10th winter here, and every year we seem to have more snow, and it seems to start sooner. This year and last, the snow started the week of Thanksgiving!

Our first snow was this past Monday, it barely stuck and was gone by morning. Then our second snow was on Saturday, it accumulated a few inches, but luckily rain came today and it’s now nearly gone. We do really enjoy the way snow looks, and last year we really got used to driving in it. That doesn’t mean we like driving in it though!

Boone got to see snow for the first time this week, and he loves it! He was having fun playing in it and seemed to enjoy eating it as well. He kept asking us to go outside yesterday, it was pretty cute. Speaking of Boone, he is really turning into an awesome dog! He knows most of his commands very well, and will follow them either from speech or hand signal. He’s good at sticking with us instead of wandering when we’re outside... and he has turned into a cuddler.

We are doing well, and enjoying the start of the holiday season. We spent Thanksgiving with our friends Carleigh, Joe and their family... it was a lot of fun, but I neglected my camera so I have no pictures to show for it! I’ve been listening to Christmas music on the radio and we decorated the office. Soon I will have to decorate the house... And hopefully I will take pictures of that.

There hasn’t been much change for us in the past two weeks... we’ve just been enjoying our time together and getting ready for a fun Christmas. We’re doing well on the adoption front, and are at a period of waiting. As there is more news on that, I will let everyone know. I’ve updated Boone’s picture album with his six-month picture, and I’ve also put a couple below in case you don’t go visit the whole album!