This was my first Christmas in Virginia. The first year the family was out here, we all met in Iowa at my grandparent's (on my mom's side) house. The second year, last year, I stayed in Utah with my sister. This year, it took a lot to get us here, but we managed to make it home. So far, it has been fantastic.

Last Friday, we visited the oldest sister, Amelia, her husband Max, and the wee little baby, my niece, Lydia Elizabeth.




This was the first time Mike and I got to see her. As babies do, all she does is eat, sleep and poop. Amelia lives in Columbia, Maryland and just a couple miles down the road is a very quaint village called Ellicott City.



Ellicott City has small, local businesses all along the road that runs through it. It is a historic little town and was very fun to walk through and stop in at the shops. The weather when we went was ideal. It was cold, but a very light snow fell, creating the perfect mood for walking through town.




Saturday, we took care of some errands around town. We sent a package to Annie on her mission. I picked up a package and a gift for a friend. We chilled around the house. I napped. That has been one great advantage to having few obligations. I have napped between 1 and 5 hours every day. It is glorious. I just lay in front of the wood burning stove with the dog and sleep.



Sunday, we went to Camilla's young single adult branch and watched her sing in her Christmas program. She is quite the singer. Amelia, Max, and Lydia came to stay from Sunday through Wednesday and were at church with us.

Christmas Eve Day we awoke early and headed out for a 9 am showing of The Hobbit in IMAX 3D in high frame rate at the super huge mall in Tyson's Corner. We went early to avoid the masses that were descending for last minute shopping and because the 9 am showing was only $12. Watching in IMAX 3D in the high frame rate was well worth it. I would have to pay about the same price for watching on a small screen in 3D in not high frame rate with not so good sound in Logan. That afternoon we played games and then had Christmas Feast #1. I like a ham meal, but we had turkey for this one. The ham will be for New Years and at some point I was promised the old German Christmas meal too. Christmas Eve night we did all our story readings and nativity re-enactments, which is always interesting. In between most of these activities I napped. I'm serious...I have napped a lot. It snowed a little Christmas Eve Day, but nothing stuck.

Christmas morning dawned foggy. It looked really cool.



















We all got up and opened presents. I got a nice card with a little money from my grandma (on my dad's side), a soon-to-be-well-used "NO" button from Max and Amelia (we found it in Ellicott City and they went back and got it for me!), the usual in the stocking: socks, candy, cereal, and this year sunglasses (much needed too), and our Santa gift was a helicopter. You know, the ones you've seen flying around every mall. I haven't opened mine yet because there have been 5 helicopters flying all over around the house. Adding mine would be hazardous. The rest of Christmas Day we spent playing games, napping (just me, the dog, and the baby napping, as usual), Skyping Annie on her mission in South Carolina, and we watched a movie.



It snowed in the night and this morning, the day after Christmas, we actually had a good half inch or so of snow on the ground. It turned to a slushy mix and ended up pouring down the rest of the day. The snow is there, but it is bogged down by a good inch of rain. It is extremely slushy. Not much unlike a Slurpee, though I don't think you would want a Mother Nature flavored Slurpee.





During this snowy, rainy day, we planned our upcoming 2 day trip to New York City! We leave first thing in the morning. We also played more games, I napped twice, and Lance and Camilla went and saw Les Miserables. I want to see it, but I will prolly wait a bit.




I'll be in New York for two days, so look forward to that! This will be my first trip there.

Song of the Day is  "Carol of the Bells" by the Piano Guys.

Life on the farm is a big change from, well, anywhere else I've lived. The first rule you have to learn is don't drink the water. Our water comes direct from a well and is ok for showering, washing dishes (if you dry them), laundry and such, but it is not safe to drink. For drinking and cooking, we have a water cooler with hot and cold spigots. Also for drinking and for brushing your teeth, we have small and big water bottles.

The house has no central air or heat. In summer, window AC units cool your room at night and windows stay open to try to cool things. With the humidity though, it does little to help. In winter, a wood burning stove in the front room stays stoked all winter. My dad installed a fan system to improve the efficiency of the stove. To keep the air from drying out, a kettle with water serves as a humidifier. We also have a space heater for use in the far reaches of the house where the heat of the fire does not go. In order to keep a fire going all winter, the family, with help from the missionaries and friends, spend the year cutting wood.

We have no house to house garbage service. Each Saturday, the garbage and recycling folks come to the elementary school and everyone brings their trash there.

While my house in Utah is decked out with a home theater and all sorts of technology, we are a little more low-tech here. We have a custom built, fast computer, a small tv, a wii, and surround sound, but for entertainment, we're more likely to be on the piano, walking around the farm chasing rabbits with the dog, shooting .22's by the barn, or playing a game. When the sun sets though, we'll click on the netflix.

We live on a farm, but civilization is only a few miles down the road. Our house sits in the Rural Crescent, a nickname for the area formally protected from urbanization by an Urban Growth Boundary. Back as far as the 1970's efforts have been made to steer population growth to areas where public services such as water and sewage could be provided more efficiently. In 1998, the Urban Growth Boundary was established to prevent over development. While there are a few exceptions in some areas, only one house is allowed every 10 acres, which restricts new building significantly. Our farm is actually owned by developers who pay someone to grow crops, rent the house to us, and are waiting for the day that they can build a subdivision. It will likely be many years before that happens though, as the fight for the Rural Crescent is an intense one. Every year, proposals go before the county board to try to bust the Rural Crescent.

Anyway...just down the road is the edge of the Rural Crescent and within 10 miles we have a Target, Chick Fil A, and other places we don't usually go. We do our shopping a bit further away and being only 40 miles from downtown DC, there are plenty of HUGE malls and IMAX theaters to have lots to do. There are also loads of Civil War sites. In fact, a small battle that set up the Second Battle of Manassas happened right here in August 1862. The Battle of Kettle Run likely had some fighting that happened right on the property we live on. The historical marker for the battle is a mile down the street.

I'll take some pictures of the farm and put them up on here later this week.

Song of the Day today is "Back Home Again" by John Denver.

Weeks of planning, a day of packing, a lifetime of driving, but we made it safely and soundly to Virginia. The trip was full of surprises and at a couple points we thought me might die, but in the end it was mission accomplished.

The most important factor I watched in the days leading up to the drive was the weather. For weeks it was clear, ideal winter driving weather. Then, at the worst possible time, a winter storm hit. The storm was first forecast to last 5 days and clear up Wednesday morning. If we left Wednesday and drove straight through, we would avoid the storms that would develop later in the week along the rest of our drive. Each day, I continued to monitor the weather across the entire 2,100 mile stretch. Knowing things could change quickly, I made sure all of the final preparations for the trip were done by Monday. I loaded half of the car Monday night and told my brother and Myles to be ready to go at a moment's notice. By late Monday, it looked as if there may be a brief window Tuesday to leave. The storms would hit hard Monday night but be clear Tuesday, then would slam east Wyoming Tuesday night and then Wednesday and Thursday would begin to hit even harder along the rest of the path. I told everyone we would leave at 3 pm Tuesday when I was off work.

Tuesday morning, I looked at the weather and at the road cameras along Wyoming. We had to leave ASAP. I went into work hoping to be off by noon and leave by 1. Jeff said I could leave immediately but I knew Myles and Mike weren't ready, so I called and gave them an hour's notice. At 10 am, I went home and finished loading up and by 11 am we were on the road. If you ever wondered what a mess it looks like with 3 guys packing for a two week trip, here's a picture.





Normally, my room is very clean. I promise...










The roads in Utah were clear and dry all the way to the border. We hit a snow flurry heading up into Wyoming but it passed in seconds. Everyone tells horror stories about I-80 through Wyoming, but things looked good as we hit Evanston. Then we began to realize something. Wyoming really does not do much to clear their roads. All the way through Evanston we drove through slush on the road. There were tracks where everyone else had driven, so I put my tires in those tracks and drove. Right outside of Evanston, it got worse. All of a sudden, what was just slush became packed snow and the tire tracks were almost non-existent in areas. Then it got even worse. The road was covered in ice. For the next 100 miles from Evanston to Rock Springs, the road was ice. For about half of it, we could put one side of the car in a track that had less ice. For another quarter of it, there were times there were almost two full tracks to drive in. But, for many more miles than I ever want to drive on again, there were sections, including one especially frightening downhill stretch, where we were driving on nothing but packed ice. Here is a picture of what the roads looked like in the better stretches.

Through that 100 mile stretch, we saw eight 18-wheelers who had gone off the road. Almost all of them had completely turned around as their load swung them around and off the road. We also saw a couple small cars and trucks, usually ones with light trailers (which were banned through Wyoming during this weather), that had also wrecked. You could feel us slide a bit here and there, but through divine intervention, I managed to keep calm and navigate the impossible roads for 2 hours.








When we hit Rock Springs, the roads became much, much clearer. They were dry mostly with a couple slick, icy spots you could see.







 The further east we went, the less icy spots. As I mentioned before, we had a window to beat before the weather hit again. We were within probably less than an hour of missing that window. When we hit Laramie, it began snowing. The snow itself was not blowing, but the nature of this snow was such that when you drove over it, you kicked it all up like dust. You could see the road for the most part, but when the 18 wheelers would pass, visibility went to about, well, zero. The cloud of snow they blew all over almost sent us off the road several times. We would have to slow down rapidly to let them pass and even trying to stay on a straight course, by the time we could see again, we would be on the opposite side of the road. Thank goodness for the rumble strips. They saved us at least once. It did not take long to realize we would not make it very much longer in life without taking action. I realized that the blowing snow pushed to the right, so, I did what usually is the wrong thing to do. I stayed in the left lane and forced every 18 wheeler to pass me on the right. When they did that, not a bit of snow blocked my view. There may have been a few truckers that cussed me out, but, honest truth, that very easily may have saved our lives. We stopped for gas in Cheyenne and having driven through 2 hours of ice and an hour and a bit of blowing, near-death snow, I let Myles drive. I pulled up the weather satellite and found we were in the heart of the storm but the edge of the storm was only 20-30 miles down the road, so, I told Myles to stay in the left lane and we would beat the storm. Sure enough, as we neared the Nebraska border, the snow lightened and pretty soon the snow was gone. We had beaten the storms and slipped through our narrow window.

In order to stay ahead of the weather, we had to drive straight with minimal stops. Myles drove through the night, then Mike took over, then me again and we switched as our tired eyes needed. After Lincoln, Nebraska, we cut down to a more southern route to avoid any chance of snow along I-80. We drove through Missouri and across the grand Mississippi River.



Here's the grand Mississippi. On the west bank is Hannibal, Missouri. It is a quaint little town with lots of Mark Twain history and I recommend stopping a few hours if you are ever here. On this trip, we couldn't, but our family stopped before. On the east bank is a nice park you can have a picnic on the banks of the river.





Not much of consequence happened through Illinois. Ok, actually, that is not true. The highlight of our trip was in Decatur. We were getting weary from driving so I figured we needed a good hour stop. We could either stop at a truck stop and shower, or stop for a good breakfast. No one in their right mind would really want to shower at a truck stop, so, as if my guardian angel wanted me to find it, I happened across my Cracker Barrel map in my glove box. Lo and behold, a Cracker Barrel right off the interstate in Decatur. We stopped there and enjoyed a HUGE breakfast of good country cooking.





Eggs, ham, steak, biscuits, gravy, grits, hashbrowns, fried apples, juice...oh yeah..I love me some Cracker Barrel.









After Illinois there was little of consequence.







We drove through Indianapolis.
















Into and through Ohio.










Then in and out of West Virginia, through a bit of Pennsylvania, back into West Virginia, then we ended up on a scenic route through who knows where really on the border of West Virginia and Virginia. After that odd delay, we found our way to main roads again and around 12:45 am rolled into Nokesville, Virginia and onto the farm. Only my sister who we called upon our arrival knew we were coming that night. Everyone expected us Thursday night. We snuck in, set up our beds in the downstairs living room and went to sleep.





I left this sign on a chair blocking the way into the living room. It says "SURPRISE! WE'RE HOME!"

They also didn't know Myles was with us.







Thursday morning, one by one as they got up, they came down. My mom was first. She walked in, looked, counted 3 bodies and laughed as I told her we brought Myles. Then little sister Angela came in. She had to go to school and was mad she would have to leave when she knew we were here. Finally, my dad came in. He too was surprised to see us and even more surprised Myles was here. Camilla, the sister who left the door unlocked when we got here, knew we were here but was still surprised because she didn't know Myles was here.

Once again, I managed to surprise my family when I came home. Some may remember, others missed it, but in May I came home for a week and no one knew I was coming. I planned it so I got here while they were at church. I sat on the lawn with the dog and waited for their return. That was a complete surprise, but this time around it was still just as good coming a day early and having Myles with us.

Well...there is a lot to do here in Virginia, so I'm off to enjoy my break!

Song of the Day is "Feels Like Home" sung by Chantal Kreviazuk.

Well the final preparations are being made for the long, 2100 mile road trip home to Virginia. A 5-day winter storm began Friday in Logan, so Saturday morning after work I took my car in to get new tires. I researched tires a few weeks ago and the tire folks already knew what I needed, so I just brought it in, gave them the keys, turned a movie on my ipod and about 2 hours later, I was out of there. With the winter storm on break for most of Saturday afternoon and the roads in excellent driving condition, I drove to Murray to meet up with Mike and pick up some stuff to drive home for Grandma Meier. Also, we weren't able to see grandma and grandpa at Thanksgiving, so we really wanted to stay a night before going home. As usual, we have been well taken care of and have been able to help them out with a few things around the house.

I always struggle on how to word things pertaining to time on here, because I generally post late at night before bed, so it's halfway between yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I guess I'll stick with what I already started and just refer to the names of the days of the week. Sunday, the weather is supposed to dump several inches of snow in Logan, so we will leave Murray around mid-morning to noonish. Hopefully by then any snow will be plowed and ice melted so that even if more is falling, the roads will be a little better. In Logan, I have a couple more preparations to make such as cleaning the car, applying rainx to the outer windows to help reduce rain, snow and ice build-up, apply a different rainx to the inside to prevent fogging, and things of that nature. We have to hit up Sam's Club to get snacks and finalize our primary and alternate driving routes. I also have to work a bit this week, which is why we haven't already left.

While still a few days out, today we were able to get a general idea of the weather that will cross our path this week. Essentially, the winter storm out here will effect the mountainous areas but will clear out when we leave. Once we hit the plains, it should be dry roads and clear skies. The further east you go and the further in the week you go, a front moves out of Canada, bringing small chances of rain, possibly snow, but our calculations put us missing that at this point. There was nothing major in the forecast that worries us...yet.

Anyway, just about everything is go for launch. I am excited to take my first break in a while. I have been home a couple times for a few days, but this is a good, solid week and a half at home and it will be nice to have some down time.

Also, two matter of blog business. First, I am once again happy to announce a new follower. Chelsey Hawkes, a member of my ward, is now a follower. Welcome! Second, in the unlikely event that there is a post you really want to share with your friends and family on Facebook, I have included a convenient share button so you can do so. The Facebook share button is right below the "Followers" widget on the right side. You can't miss it.

Song of the Day today is "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by: John Denver.

Sorry I am a little delayed getting back on here. It has been a busy week!


Our ward Christmas dinner was a phenomenal success. Here's a recap. I went to the church around 10:30 am and began preparing things. First thing that had to get made was Jell-o. Everyone I talked to about having Jell-o was skeptical, but I believe the world loves Jell-o, they just don't remember until they eat it. I made 2 gallons of raspberry Jell-o. With that setting up in the fridge, I panned up our baked beans to be heated later, then began peeling taters for au gratin taters. A few minutes into that, my roommate Aaron showed up to help. We peeled, diced and soaked the taters in salt water to sit until later, then I prepped the yams. Everyone says they hate yams. Reason? Most people eat canned yams. If you want truly delicious yams, here's what you gotta do: get fresh yams! The easiest way to cook them is to bake them like a baked tater. Just put 'em on a pan and bake until they are soft like unto a baked tater. They naturally have lots of sweetness in them, so when they bake, some of that will secrete out, but that's why you have a pan there. When they are done, you pull them out, they will be easy to peel, then dice, lay in a casserole dish, top with butter, brown sugar, and a touch of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, and the real kicker here is not to top with normal old mini mallows. A few places, particularly Wal-Mart, sell gingerbread marshmallows. They are shaped like gingerbread men and taste really, really good when you toast them on top of your yams. Anyway, after I prepped our yams, which I actually diced before cooking and cooked with the spices and topped later (not as quick or easy as the described method), we ran around town finishing our other preparations. We picked up tablecloths from work, centerpieces from work, and 2 insulated cambro boxes to keep our food hot when it was ready. We also picked up a dresser I bought at DI, which I'll talk about later. Back at the church after our trip, we put our au gratin taters together. The secret to a good au gratin tater is lots of bacon, lots of cheese, plenty of seasoning (I used Lawry's seasoned salt), and enough cream. With all those ingredients in, we put them and the yams in the oven and then began setting up the room. We set 12 tables with 8 settings and for decoration, we dimmed the lights, put up a fireplace projected from behind a sheet on the stage, we set the tables and had the gift bags at each spot, and then we played easy listening instrumental Christmas music in the background. The food took longer than anticipated to cook, but in the end, we got it all out in time and everyone ate tons of food. Here are two pictures from the night.



Here is what the table settings looked like.Each gift bag had 3 Hershey's kisses, 3 Hershey's Nuggets, 2 homemade cowboy cookies, and one candy cane, all wrapped in cellophane gift bag and tied with green curling ribbon.












Here is what it looked like with the fireplace and the ward eating.











As you can see in the picture, we had lots of people come. Our last couple meals the numbers seem to have increased. I generally try to get a count, but I was busy changing pans out and such and did not get an exact number this time. We had 96 place settings though and only a few were empty and at least 1 table sat more than 8, so I would estimate we had around 85 or more attend. One funny thing that happened is halfway through setting our tables, another ward showed up. Apparently the building was double booked or someone did something wrong, but thankfully the building we were in was a huge family stake building, so they were able to use the other half of the gym without any problem. Even funnier is that their ward kept coming to peer in on our setup and the high councilor in our ward came in and said, "There's another ward over there...but our stuff looks way better." The food turned out really well. We ended up only having a few servings of a couple things left. The au gratins were scraped completely clean. The most gratifying comment I like hearing is when people say "I usually hate (insert food here), but I had some of those and I loved them." It's a big part of why I love cooking for people. Not for the glory of being able to brag about making people love foods they didn't like before, but just being able to provide them with a meal they truly enjoy, to me, makes it worth it. Seeing my ward go back for seconds and thirds and fourths and with all the thank yous and high fives, and even a hug I got, I know it was mission accomplished. During a week of finals and preparing for all the hustle and bustle that's coming, we all were able to sit down and relax with a good meal and good friends. There is nothing better in life.

Now, about that dresser. I was at DI looking for a sheet for our fireplace projection when I saw a very nice dresser at a very, very nice price. So, I bought it. I would like to sell my current dresser and use this one, but if it doesn't end up fitting, I will just re-sell the one I bought. It is nice enough it will be an easy sell. I had intended for it to go in our new house, but due to the high cost of and stress of moving out right now, even though we got the house and had the lease and just needed to sign, we opted to stay where we are. Here is a picture of the dresser.










 It is well built, about 4 and a half feet long, and looks nice. 
















This is the mirror that attaches to the right side of it.










So that, I believe, is about all I have to talk about today. I will visit my grandparents in Murray this weekend, get new tires Monday, and set off for Virginia in a week. I am beyond ready for a little rest and relaxation.

A couple Songs of the Day. First is my favorite version of "White Christmas", by the Drifters (Home Alone anyone?). Second is "I'm Gettin Nuttin for Christmas" sung by Billy Pressman.

Here's a bonus too. Since this was uploaded while I was writing this post, here is the latest from the Piano Guys. They are going all sorts of awesome places to film now! Enjoy!

Well, things are getting real very fast.

Work has become busier and busier and will peak over the next week and a half.

Plans for the drive home have come together and final preparations are being made over the next week.

My ward's Christmas Dinner, after several weeks of planning and altering and more planning, will be Monday. It will be awesome.

Most of my time is spent working on these things, so the time is going by quick. Today, I did have two opportunities to unwind a little before it all becomes true chaos.

This morning, I spent a couple hours out at the gun range shooting skeet. It was about 30 degrees with a strong, steady wind making it feel closer to 20. But a couple jackets, ear muffs and gloves helped a bit. It was a good day of shooting. We are used to throwing the clay pigeons from right next to us and these were being thrown from 15-20 yards in front, so we were shooting at them 30-50 yards out. It took a few shots to get used to them being further out, but at the end of the day, we hit plenty. I hit 2-3 out of every 5. Normally I would want to do better and usually I might be better, but, considering the strong wind, bitter cold, and sometimes having to wait a minute or longer between each single shot, which I learned really throws your groove off, I am happy with my shooting. I'm happy anytime I get to shoot off some shells. I went through 45 of my own 12 gauge shells and also shot a real small shotgun a bit for fun.

I went straight to work from shooting and had a fairly easy day in the kitchen. After 5 hours there, I ran home and changed and a group of friends and I went up to Idaho to the hot springs. We had a good time up there. As usually happens, when I get to a hot spring, I enjoy just unwinding and de-stressing and I do a lot of thinking while I soak. The people I go with generally enjoy being a bit louder and playful, so I always end up breaking off from them for a bit to clear my mind. It feels fantastic sitting in hot mineral water left alone to my thoughts for a bit. Good for my muscles, good for my mind, good for me. Tonight it was nice because a light snow was falling through the evening and that just made it really peaceful. It was also 20 degrees out, so getting out and walking around felt good before hopping back in and thawing out my frozen hair. All in all, it was a worthwhile trip.

In the morning we will bake off some cookies for the ward party, then after church put the cookies in small cellophane bags with some Christmas candy tied off with ribbon for each member of our ward that comes to the dinner. I cannot divulge all the things I have planned for this party, but I planned for weeks so that I could get the absolute most out our budget and make this the best dinner we have made for the ward. This time, everything will be made from scratch by my committee and I. I'll try to get pictures of it all and share how it all went when it's over.

It's been a busy day, so it's time to hit the sack and rest up while I can. Song of the Day is Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing their awesome version of "Carol of the Bells".

This evening, I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one my greatest musical inspirations. The man my dad called the German Leprechaun, John Biehl, passed peacefully in his sleep this afternoon.

I frequently and fondly remember his inspiring renditions of the hymns on piano, organ, and even accordion. Without even looking at a hymnal, he would sit down and play hymn after hymn, transitioning them all flawlessly as if they were one spiritual masterpiece. He is the very reason I own a piano. I loved the way he played and the way I felt when I heard him play so much that I began trying my own renditions of the hymns. At first, they were more centered on the technical aspect of the music. I took piano lessons from Brother Biehl for a short time. Those lessons taught me a lot about the basics of piano playing and now that I have a little better understanding of the different key signatures and how they relate and such, I do what I think he did. I sit down and I play what I feel deep down. That feeling, for me, is indescribable. That is what I mean when I have said in the past, such as my recent blog post on music, that playing calms me.

While he personally inspired me on piano and organ, his accordion playing will never be forgotten by anyone who saw and heard him play. At dances, ward parties and other activities, he would dress up in his German best and entertain us all with his accordion. Every Christmas too, he would make a huge gingerbread house and show it off to the ward. He always seemed like he was 90 years old when I knew him, but he had such a bounce in his step. He was a hilarious guy.

The choirs of heaven have gained a treasured soul today...

This evening, I cleared my dry erase calendar of November and filled it with the days of December. As I did, I paused for a moment in amazement that another year will soon draw to it's close.

 This year, I have immeasurable and innumerable things to be deeply grateful for, and, as usual, after Christmas, I will do my year in review, but this coming Sunday marks the first day of Advent, which is the season and time of preparation for the coming of Christ. When I reflect on this year and as I look around my room at everything I have, my heart fills with love and thankfulness, because I know that everything I have, from my job, house and clothing to things like my piano, car, and computer, are gifts I have been afforded in this life. Every day I try to live worthy of that, to use what I have to better myself and those around me, to not waste opportunities.

This Advent, I have a goal of truly preparing myself to always have Christ in my life. I will give service to others, share what I can with friends, and listen closely for promptings of someone in need. During this season of Christ, I want to share my testimony of the goodness of all that I know to be true so that I can partake of the sweet and true spirit of Christmas.

 I have experienced hustling, bustling, busy Christmases where I focus on working and getting extravagant gifts for family and friends, but this year, though I want more than anything to give the world to my family and friends, to deliver them boxes upon boxes of wonderful things to bless their lives, I cannot. But I can give them all of the love and care that I possess, I can give them my heart, I can give them my service. I will give all that I have in my soul.