Time to Recycle

Sometimes people do stupid things for stupid reasons. For the last two months my co-workers and I have been playing pranks on each other using these nasty laughy taffy candies that were left over from Halloween. We started out with 20 and the numbers have dwindled down to 4.

It all started with someone being out of the office for a day or two (me). I came back to a desk full of laughy taffy. Some were hidden in the tape dispenser, in my plant, in my phone, and even in my keyboard. So like any normal person, I collected them and planned my revenge. After I got my co-worker for getting me, we teamed up and played the same joke on the other two.

Since then we have been looking for a new way to retaliate, and today we found it. As we were all chatting after lunch our attention turned to a co-worker who was out of the office for training. We then focused on the overflowing recycling bins and a plan was hatched. Operation "Time to Recycle" was in full force. See below for the result of some of our damage:

Have I mentioned I love the snow?

On Christmas Eve in Utah, we (Dad, Ryan, Dave, Tyson, me, McKenna and Josh) all went sledding on the hill by the Jr. High. Although the hill wasn't super big we still had a great time racing each other, going over the small snow jumps, and trying to sled past the snow balls in the middle of the field. Check out all the pictures below (it just so happens that I took them all and didn't get in any of them):

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Who would have guessed that when I drove home from work on Wednesday, that our wild rain storm would turn into snow! This is only the second time on Southern California that I have seen snow in my valley and the first time did not involve any snow that lasted longer than a few minutes. It was fun to see all the neighbor children running around and trying to make 4-foot snowmen!

So, here is a picture of the snow as it was coming down Wednesday night (I know you Utah people are just laughing right now, but this was Southern California!):

Here is how my back yard looked the next morning (from my bedroom window) will all the snow covered ground and surrounding hills. So beautiful!Unfortunately for me, the snow is all gone now, but it was very awesome!The only bad thing to come out of it all, was all the ice covered cars the next morning! Thank goodness I was parked in the garage!

South American Adventures

Here are some of Bergit's latest adventures in South America:

1 - Argentina - I got locked in a hotel bathroom and couldn't get out. When the maintenance man finally came he had to use his wrench to break the handle and get me out. Now I know why they all have phones in the restrooms.

2 - Argentina - We got a flat tire on the way to a meeting but were fortunate to have some people around who were able to help us put on the spare and drive to a place where they could patch the tire. Unfortunately, the next day as we were on the highway, it went flat again. So we had to change the tire again on the side of the road...thank goodness the spare tire still worked!

3 - We were lucky to find a GPS with maps of Argentina, Paraguay, and other South American countries. Unfortunately, Eva (as we fondly call it) has not led us to our exact location on a few occasions. Two of these times, we were looking for our hotel and she either has us on the wrong side of a one way street, or on the wrong street all together. Luckily we were still able to figure things out in the end.

4 - Paraguay - We ended up taking a 12:30 am bus from Argentina to Paraguay. This was not our desire, but it is how it happened. Once we crossed the border at 4 in the morning, we arrived at our hotel at 5:30 and requested our room. Well since early check in wasn't until 9:00, we had to pay for an additional night or stay on the couch for a few hours. Thank goodness we took the room. Big fluffy beds and lots and lots of pillows. I was out very quickly!

5 - Paraguay - We went to an open air market in Paraguay where there was a lot of things for sale. We found food (pineapple, every other kind of fruit, beef, etc.), shoes galore, sunglasses, watches, backpacks and lots of clothing.

6 - Argentina - In the streets we have seen a lot of fun things including protests, spray painters who make amazing art, a man laying on glass and having people step on him and even some tango. See the video for a taste of what was seen here:

More fun to come as Bergit continues on to Brazil and Iguazu Falls!