Utah drivers, California drivers--who's worse?

My husband and I are having an ongoing conversation about who's worse: Utah drivers or California drivers. Jeff insistst that Utah drivers are annoying, and I think Cali drivers are nuts.

The first time I drove on the CA freeway was on our honeymoon. Jeff and I were driving all of my stuff out from Utah (where I was living at the time), and since we were taking two cars I was forced to drive behind Jeff. The cars came too fast, and there were too many lanes--I couldn't get my bearings, so I putted down the freeway at 55 mph, white-knuckled, sweating, and cursing Jeff for making me drive.

But this trip has proved to me without doubt that Cali drivers are worse. So far, on this trip, Jeff has been pulled over by a policeman for running a stop sign--didn't see it with all of the snow--and we have run our car into a bank during a snowstorm. Luckily the plow came by about 30 seconds later and threw an entire bag of salt under our minivan to get it going again. It's not that Jeff is a bad driver--he's actually pretty good at it (and better than I am, but don't tell him that). It's just that, when it comes to the weather, sunny California doesn't give you many opportunities to develop your snow driving skills!

Anniversaries

Kids sure throw a wrench into anniversaries.

Tonight, Jeff and I celebrated our fourth anniversary--2 days late. We were celebrating Christmas dinner with my family on the 27th, and my sister's last night in Utah was the 28th, so we celebrated tonight. We were excited to do some after-Christmas shopping, go to dinner, then cuddle in front of the t.v. Jeff even shaved for the occasion.

It was a production to get out the door--first, we had to enlist my mom for babysitting support. Thankfully, she's willing--and the kids like her better than me! Then, we had to forego the naps for Jenny and Lizzy, our one- and two-year-olds, so they would go to sleep at 6:30. Lizzy thinks she belongs right in the middle of the bed between Jeff and me, so we have to get her to go to sleep before we leave or she wanders the house looking for us. Luckily, it only took ten minutes and they were both out like a light.

The anniversary was totally fun--we got Jeff some trendy jeans (finally) and a jacket (and I got a pea coat for $39), then we ate Mexican food, reminiscent of our first date. But, we were ready to head back early for some cuddle time . . . only to find that Lizzy was wide awake on a sugar high, waiting for us to get home.

So now the three of us are headed off to bed, where Lizzy will "shush" us and tell us in her little chipmunk voice to be quiet and scoot over so she can have more space in the bed.

But we don't really mind =).

A New Direction

I'd like to take a new direction with this blog . . . so tired of academics! Instead, I want to write about the things that are most important to me--my family, my children, my friends, and the relationships that give life meaning. It will be much more fun to write!

Tonight, for example, I was supposed to finish a syllabus for my organizational identification class. Instead, I made dinner with my sisters, talked about pajama pants and fuzzy slippers, and played Guesstures with my kids (with occasional participation by my husband).

I need a place to write about the funny stuff of life. Like when my sister Michelle wipes her teeth with her napkin after meals ("to get the sugar off") or when my brother Steve impersonates Santa on the phone. So I'm putting away my books for a while and looking around to see what is going on around me.