Snow on Snow on Snow!

There is something so peaceful about the snow...and I could just sit and stare at those flakes falling for hours! We got a full 24 hours of snowfall from Friday night (December 18) to Saturday night (December 19). I do not remember EVER getting this much snow in December! It definitely makes Patric feel more at home too...and for that we can be thankful! It is hard, I am sure, for him to be so far away from his family...especially at this time of year.

We had a lot of fun in the snow though, even though it is WAY too deep to do any REAL sledding right now. We attempted to get some good sledding in at my mom's house, but the snow wasn't packed enough. When I was a kid (and granted...I still felt like one today) we would have been out on the hills the moment there was enough snow on the ground! Those hills would have had ramps on them and many different trails to take to go down the hill...but instead today, there were only three trails and the walk path was barely walked on! Tells you what this generation of kids are doing with their spare time...(ie...playing video games!)

Here are some pictures of our snow storm!

This was around noon time (I think...it could have been earlier.) Still so much more snow that came from that time on.Josh LOVES to eat snow...it was hard to get a picture of him NOT eating the snow...in fact, I dont think I have one!
Carlie enjoying the snow...or rather...tolerating the snow! At least we shoveled a little path so she didnt get lost!
Once again...eating the snow...he is a true swede too because the snow didnt bother him at all!
Patric actually woke up early on Sunday to shovel the rest of the snow. He took some pictures before the sun came up.
One of my favorite shots that Patric took. You can see how much it snowed with this shot!
This is the other shot I like a lot.
Our roof!

Success!

By the amount of food consumed, and the amount NOT left over, I believe I had a good Christmas party. Patric had been talking about having a party since before Thanksgiving, but I am not as big of a party thrower or giver (if you can believe that)...but since I love my husband and want to make him happy, I agreed to have a party.

It was a lot of fun! We had a lot of friends and family come and enjoy the Christmas spirit of friendship and fellowship. Some friends I havent seen in a long time, and others I see on a weekly basis.

Also---

My mom brought me more correspondence from IBM. Back story--they overpaid me in benefits back in 2004 and were asking for the overpaid benefits to be paid back. This was no small sum of money, and the money is all gone now...I called to talk to someone there, they couldnt do anything...told me to write to the IBM Plan Administrator. I did. Got the letter back stating there was nothing they could do, it was their fiduciary responsibility. Little did they know I was already talking to my brother's friend, who also happens to be a lawyer. He drew up a letter with fancy codes and words and sent it off to IBM. Our hope was that it would scare them enough to go away....since it was coming from a lawyer.

Its amazing that one little letter can take away that problem! I tried not to freak out about it too much really. They had given me 60 days to appeal their decision, so I was going to get through the holidays without dealing with it (which if you know me, items like this stress me out a lot and I do not like them looming over my head). I did talk to my brother's fancy lawyer friend and asked him to write up the letter (but resolved to the fact that it probably wouldnt do anything and that we would have yet another bill to pay monthly for the next 5 years....even though it was IBM's fault!)

My favorite line of the letter is "Ms. Andersson does not have to repay this amount." They sent fancy lawyer friend, Jeff Wigodsky from Karp Frosh, the letter and cc'd me...which went to my mom's house because they are morons and do not know how to update an address (I told them my address and wrote it on the letter...they STILL sent it to my mom 's house).

I went back in forth in my head as to whether I should open the letter or not...it could put me in a foul mood right before my christmas party would get started...but I opened it and it was the great news.

Simply a Christmas miracle.

in other news--

Josh has taken to waking up around 715, coming into our bedroom and cuddling/falling asleep. It is nice to have my little man just relaxing every morning with us for a little bit.

We really do love our little boy!!

Snow!!

Our first snow of the season happened today! Thankfully, I went searching for a Christmas outfit with my mom and Josh yesterday and found a snowsuit at Old Navy on sale for $15. The lady at the checkout asked if I was buying it for the big snow tomorrow, and I just laughed and said, no...its just a good sale. Well...he already got to use them!! And Josh had SO MUCH fun playing in the snow. The first thing he did was throw snowballs...thats all he wanted to do! We built a snowman and took a walk around the block. Josh got to sit in the sled while we walked....he had a really fun time. We probably will get about 3-4 inches total. It is still snowing now. We were going to go up to the Swedish Embassy for a Swedish festival today, but with the snow I didn't want to go with all the stupid drivers...so maybe next year.

Patric made crepes for breakfast and hot dogs and mac and cheese for lunch. We had hot chocolate and watched The Polar Express and have a home made apple pie baking in the oven. Not a bad day if you ask me!!

Here are some pictures!
Patric dragging Josh in the sled.
Attempting a snow angel.
Daddy and son snow angels.
Throwing snowballs at mommy...
Good thing his aim is off!
Patric took a decent shot of Josh and I.
Love this shot!!
Frosty the Snowman.
If this isn't an awkward family photo I dont know what is!
I did my hair all nice for our Christmas photo and then played in the snow....so no family photo shoot today!

Also--a side note...a very fine man died today, Robert Brown. He was a great man and a close family friend. I pray that their family will come together this Christmas season and have fond memories of the great man he is. And I know that he and my dad are chumming it up in Heaven now! They were great friends.

Sasha

My big oops!

Well...Im just going to spill it. I went red last month because I didnt get pregnant and we really wanted to get pregnant. But red is SO difficult to keep red...especially on blond hair! So...this month, when we didnt get pregnant again (ugh!) I decided to change it back to blond. Easier said than done!! I dyed it three times...it only lightened the red to a more brassy reddish orange and made my roots blond.

This morning, thankfully (the one time I am grateful Josh was sick) Josh had a sour stomach, so I had to stay home from going into DC for some work. I ran out and got a box of hightlighting (which never fails me) and worked on my hair. So, now I have blond/orange hair. Oh well...its gonna have to do for now. My hair needs a rest from these past two weeks.

Note to self...STOP DYING YOUR HAIR WHEN YOU DONT GET PREGNANT!! Paint your toenails...clean the house...scream! Just leave the hair alone.

In other news...the Friday after Thanksgiving, Ian, David, Megan, Teri, Charlie, my mom, Gregg, Patric and I went to the temple to do work for my dad and his family as well as family on my mom's side. What a great experience to be in the temple with my family! There is something special about going with my brothers and sister...I hope that we can do it again soon!

oh...and today is the first day we get to open our advent calendar!! Patric and I worked on an advent calendar that will hopefully last a long time with our little family. I need to take a picture of it! I can't wait until Patric gets home so we can open the envelope, learn about Jesus, and eat some chocolate!!

Playing catch up....again...

Life has been crazy lately. We had a fun halloween night. Josh dressed up as DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba. This year we walked around the neighborhood instead of the townhouses. It was fun but Josh got tired at the end. He got a lot of candy! And, unfortunately, that means Patric and I have had an abundance of candy to eat.

We also went to New Jersey and New York last weekend for my cousin Helen's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and a fun reception. Even though our GPS had a mind of its own, we had fun catching up with family. We went up to New York after the wedding and saw the church where my Aunt Anna and Uncle Tony got married in....even saw the actual records from their wedding day. I also got to spend time with my friend Sarah. I have missed that girl! I wish that we lived closer!!

Here are some pictures to update!

This was just cocktail hour...we loaded up on so much food, I literally gained 5 pounds from that night!! This is my cousin Julia and her favorite lobster server and my nephew John.
Patric took a lot of candid shots. Sitting around the table is, my aunt Anna, brother David, me, Aunt Laila, Uncle Lenny and cousin Mike.

The beautiful bride, my cousin Helen, and her new husband Andrew.
Helen and her dad, my uncle, Peter.

My great uncle John and me. Thanks to Patric for asking me to go get a picture with him. He is 90 years old. His son is behind him, Rostislaw. He shares the same name as my dad and is his cousin, but we grew up calling him uncle Russ or uncle Lou.
On the way up to NJ, Josh fell asleep with his ball like this...perfect photo op.

Most of the time, the kids were downstairs playing games and watching tv...but we pulled Josh out for a little bit of dancing. He loves to dance and was all over the dance floor....
literally all over the dance floor. That is my cute niece, and his partner in crime, Eliza.

Family shot...with Josh longing to go dance again.

NEW YORK PICTURES!
We walked around Times Square...of course I had to get a shot of this!
The inside of the old church my aunt and uncle got married in.

Congratulations NY Yankees!

The Motley Crue.
There was a store JUST for M&Ms, Im talking everything you can think of to buy, with M&M plastered all over it. It was a nightmare to be in...but my cousin Sonya wanted to buy something for all the kids. Josh got the m&m that is on the ground...it is a Green M&M dressed as the statue of liberty....it seemed fitting.

Halloween pictures
Before we went out trick or treating. My little boy wont stop growing up!


That's all for now!

Sasha

What have I done?

So---generally in life, when things don't go my way....I dye my hair....this was no exception, EXCEPT, I have never chosen this color before.

It is a bit darker and more red now than in this picture...since I messed up in the back and left some blond spots. Patric doesn't love it...but he knows it is only a matter of time until I change it to another color.

Hopefully I don't scare away any potential clients with my hair color choice.

Was this a mistake?

Happy Sunday!

On the way to church today, my heart was POUNDING! I mean, POUNDING! And tears started to form.....so I absolutely knew I could not say no to sharing my testimony with my church. Every first Sunday (with the exception of two out of the year because of special conferences) are set aside for the church members to fast and give thanks to their Heavenly Father. We also have the opportunity, if we would like, to go share our testimonies with the rest of the congregation.

I have felt impressed for quite sometime to share my testimony...but never felt as much of an urge to get up there as today. And of course, I bawled my eyes out...but every word I spoke up there I felt inspired to share....even if it was very personal to me.

What a spiritual high today! I have felt great all day! After the meeting, a lot of people gave me hugs and told me how important it was to share what I did...especially since there were people investigating the church there that day. I only hope I did not scare them away with my words! (and my blubbering tears!!)

Afterward, I went to ward choir and then went to a meeting for my Young Women's presidency. Came home, cooked some dinner, watched some football...and then an old friend from high school comes knocking on my door! It was so fun to catch up with him! His mom and dad still live in Montclair and just three houses down from me...so back in May when we were working on the fence, his dad walked by and Patric talked with him and then told him that I knew his son....anyways...for some reason today his dad asked him at dinner (and granted Aaron, his name, does not live with his parents...he is a successful broker who lives on the MD/DC state line...but he does see his parents quite often, or talks with them on the phone) if he remembers a Sasha...and Aaron said he did...and then decided to come say hi! It was so fun catching up with him! It is good to know that some of my friends are doing well! But, he also walked away with about 20 business cards of mine, a lead for my mom and told me that he was going to be sending me leads since he knows of at least 5 people that need a bookkeeper.

Now...I will not hold my breath...but I absolutely know that bigger things are in store for me, when it comes to my business...they just are. And I do not think it is just coincidence that he dad asked him about me TODAY...when we first met him back in May.

I think the angels in heaven recorded my testimony and that Heavenly Father blessed me for finally listening to the pounding in my chest. Too bad I didn't go up earlier! Even if I do not get any business from talking with an old friend...it was SO nice to catch up with him! And I mean, we talked about relationships, religion, politics...you name it! He is a great guy and it makes me happy to know he is doing well.

Now if you will excuse me...Im gonna go heat up some apple pie and eat it a la mode!