Snowed In

We got about 2-3 inches of snow on Friday night and Saturday and that is a big deal around here. Before the snow everyone was freaking out. Church was cancelled on Saturday, school is canceled on Monday, and the roads have been close to dead all weekend. We used this weekend as a chance to be lazy, sleep, read, cruise the internet, etc.

I (Ryan) did get to venture out of the house to see what things were like yesterday. In my primary class last year I always used to tell the only boy we taught that if it ever snowed I would come over and throw snowballs at his house. I had to track him down. I went over to the Willis's, another family in our ward, and started a giant snowball fight with a bunch of kids, not just Aiden. Here is a minute slideshow.

The biggest concern right now is icy roads and people who don't know how to drive in them. But it should be up to 45 degrees tomorrow and everything should be OK after that.

SNOW day

We got about 5 inches of snow today. This may not be very spectacular to those that live in Utah, but Raleigh rarely gets snow much less has it stick. Unfortunately, Southern people don't know how to drive in the snow and I saw 6 vehicles in ditches on a 3 mile span on my way to work this morning. Most places were canceled but not our jobs. I guess psych patients and broken bones don't get snow days. Tomorrow will be the scarier trying to get to work...black ice. Still, it is pretty to see everything covered in white.

Our Night Out

Last night we tried to do something to remind ourselves that we are still as cool as when we were single and in our twenty somethings. We hit the nightlife of Raleigh. The night was pretty revealing.

A friend at work heard about a fun 1980's cover band playing at a club and so we headed downtown.

At the door I got carded to see I was old enough to drink. I'm still young right? Cheyney was bummed that she wasn't carded too.

The opening band was a 1990's cover band that would ask questions like "Who here watched television in the 1990's?" and "Who here loves to get drunk?"

The 80's cover band was a bit better than the 90's band. They were named The Breakfast Club and the members dressed up like Billy Idol, Boy George and a member of Poison, and the KarateKid. They played songs by the Police, the Outfield, and Huey Lewis and the News among others. We worked ourself down to right in front of the stage. Due to our lack of drinking again we couldn't raise our beer in our right hand and yell when the 80's band when they also repeatedly asked "Who here loves to get drunk?"

It was getting late and was close to midnight and we realized two and a half hours at this bar was was enough, so we headed back home. We discovered that we can try to be cool without the bar and the band.

Raleigh Blossoms

Here are a few pictures I took around the apartment and around where I work. I'm not sure what these trees are even called, but I am enjoying seeing them.

Holiday Visitors

We had the Hill Family up from Atlanta over the long weekend. Our quiet little two room apartment became party central with 4 kids and 4 adults. The kids were great and it was fun to be around family.

I'm starting to see that everyone has to do four things when they come to visit us in Raleigh:

1.Eat at Cookout
Cheap good food. Shakes, hushpuppies, and Cheerwhine for all. Name one other fast food restaurant where you can get a combo meal with a chicken sandwich, corn dog and chicken nuggets for sides, and a shake? One meal for five bucks with at least 1500 calories. I usually feel full/bloated after. All of us were fed for 31 bucks (Thanks Justin)!

2.Go to the Museum of Natural Sciences
A free science museum downtown with lots of live animals. Dinosaur statues, whale skeletons, and a butterfly room (with a sloth) are highlights. There was a kid's discovery zone that even had "guess which animal poops like this" games (plastic replicas). I think we all were entertained.

3. Walk around the Lake near our Apartment.
A must is a walk on the trail around the lake where you can feed the ducks. We also figured out that feeding the seagulls can be fun (except for Emilie). We ended up going there 3 times!

4.Play games with us.
Wendy and Justin introduced "Ticket to Ride" game to us which we recommend. It's a bit like Risk. Really fun. We also played cards. The games were fun, though they got a little heated last night. As far as I know, Wendy is still married to her husband and identifies us as family (we hope). I think she's moved on from yesterday's game night emotions.


Two other fun thing we did were:
1. visited our friends Tom and Carmen and showed the kids their pet Rabbit:

2. A science experiment with Mentos and diet cola. A group of us tried this at Church back in LA and it only got four feet high. With the right equipment and strategy, Alexander got it 20 feet high:


We love our visitors.

We Seperate/New Apartment in Raleigh

I got a job and moved down to Raleigh this past week. Cheyney and I are separating for about seven weeks . Cheyn has to stay in F'burg, VA (3.5 hours away) and finish her contract. We'll only be able to see each other on weekends. Is that sad or what?
This is the inside of our new apartment. It's so nice. High ceilings. A deck and two bedrooms. No gunshots or SWAT helicopters at two a.m. And cheaper than LA too!

This is our front yard. It feels like it's in a forest. I saw a rabbit in the yard after I took this picture.
This is the lake that our apartment complex is next to. There is a 2.25 mile walking/running trail around it. It's chock full of turtles and ducks and such. Everything is perfect about our new place except for Cheyn not being there all the time yet. Also notice the two bedrooms. We're working on getting a guest bed (and a bed for that matter) ASAP.