This gives you an idea of the Palouse's idea of snow removal! I have to laugh because there is still snow on the road, which turns to ice quickly - making driving very intense! I never had a fear of driving in the snow until I moved to Pullman. Utah, Iowa and Idaho all have better snow removal plans. This is a picture of the road on the way to work!

This is a "plowed" intersection in Pullman. You can see the rock that has been thrown down as to help with driving. We got our kitchen table!!! We didn't realize we would have to put it together, but this is a picture of the process. Shortly after we started, we realized one of the chair pieces was not shipped with the table. We put the table together as much as we could and waited for the additional piece to be delivered.

This is a picture of the table in the nook while it is still missing the leg piece. It is pretty hard to tell that anything is missing at all, and fortunately we got the piece delivered before our Christmas party.

Because I have been a student the past few years, this is the first year I had the time to set Christmas decorations out in four years - and believe me, I took full advantage of it. The tree was up the weekend before Thanksgiving and the lights were turned on almost everyday after Thanksgiving. Normally, I would finish finals and we would fly to Iowa or Utah the next day to spend Christmas with our family, and we wouldn't return until the weekend before school starts back up.

This year proved to be a blessing that we stayed in Pullman for Christmas because Christmas morning we woke up to water coming through the ceiling! If we would have been out of town like normal, we probably would have returned to a collapsed ceiling! We believe all the snow created an ice damn, which caused the water to come internally. Here is a picture of the ceiling after I cut holes in it to stop the water from running all the way across the sheetrock seem.

Here is a picture of the water that came through on Christmas day. I believe this trash can was 1/2 full within a couple days after it started.

We were fortunate to be able to still have our Christmas party! This year Sol's mom and step-dad came to Pullman on Christmas day. Shortly after we picked them up the Harper's and Rushton's came over for a Christmas dinner! It was fun to be able to share the day with family and friends!

While Becky and Mark were visiting, Mark told us about a roof rake! Wow, it has been so helpful because since we bought one we have been able to get the snow off the roof, and haven't had any more problems with the ceiling! Phew!!! Here is a picture of Sol "raking" the roof. Here is a picture to give you an idea of how much snow we got in the short period of time. I don't know if you can tell, but we have to shovel approximately 1 1/2 times more than our original driveway because we live in a cul-de-sac and the plow only comes down the middle. So in order for us to get out of the driveway, we have to shovel to where the road was cleared! Fortunately we have a wonderful neighbor that has a little tractor. He helped us clear parts of the road portion a handful of times.
We have such an awesome view! There were some days we weren't sure whether or not we could get out of our neighborhood due to drifting, so we would bundle up, and walk down the road to see what it looked like. Here are a few picture of the area on some of our walks!

There are so many times I catch myself in awe with how beautiful the Palouse can be!

And... after much anticipation, our furniture was delivered!!! Little did we know at the time, but we kindof ordered more then we needed. We will figure something out! Here is a picture of the front room. I am still trying to figure out the best way to arrange the room, and what I can do to make it look more cozy. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!!!

And last, but not least, this is our favorite set. As difficult as Mor Furniture was to work with, Sol and I both did not find anything comparable to this set. We were willing to get a different leather set, but we weren't as willing to let this one go. We are so excited, and feel more comfortable with inviting people over since it won't be a standing room only!!!

Other tid-bits... Becky & Mark stayed with us until New Year's day. We had a very uneventful New Year's. I think all of us had fallen asleep at least once before 9:00pm. Consequently, we called it a night early and didn't welcome the New Year in with style. We took Becky & Mark to the Pullman airport New Year's day and ended up taking them to Lewiston to fly out because of the weather. Fortunately they made it home safely.

We have not got large amounts of snow since New Year's, but a dense fog has settled in the area making it interesting to drive in. I don't know what is more fun, ice packed roads or fog so thick that you can not see the roads ;)

My commute, while not ideal, has not been too bad, and the people I am working with are awesome! It definitely makes the situation much more manageable. AND, I have already learned a lot of new information to make me a future tax pro!

Lastly, I just took the audit section of the CPA... before the tax season gets into full swing. I am crossing my fingers that I passed it, but there were so many questions that I don't remember reviewing!!! Yikes, I am praying that I had good reasoning skills to help choose the right answer! :)