Emmy's first snow...

It snowed on us Friday night. Not too much, not even enough to be taller than Emily. Maybe even half an inch, which makes for very short snowmen.

So there was only one thing to do ...

Dress Emily up in her penguin suit and take her outside.

Mom teaching Emmy about snowballs

You know were that one went ...

The cutest little penguin

Someone else had made a snowman.

Mommy played too...

The finishing touch on a beautiful snowwoman.

Thoughts on moving ...

Some lessons that we have learned while moving to Washington.

Have someone else do it! It is really nice to have the movers do the packing and the moving. All we packed were our suitcases and 1 box of things we did not want the movers handling.

Even better than having someone else do it is to have someone else pay for it.

Get rid of stuff. Even though someone else is moving it and paying for it, we cannot fit in small apartments as we just have too much junk. We got spoiled in our last apartment with large rooms, there is not a place in Richland with large rooms. At least not without spending a fortune.

Try something new and get lost. We are surrounded by lots of stores and restaurants that we have never heard of before. Now when we go out we pass the chains we have heard of and go to something new.

Take a baby along, everyone loves them. We talk to more people because of Emily. In fact we are still getting random offers to buy her and or hold her.

You may not believe this, but you simply cannot find mittens for an infant. When we go out we see mothers with younger babies than ours with bare hands, those babies must freeze their little hands off. So we have invented gloves (ie socks on her hands) to help Emmy in the cold.

Try a corporate housing outfit or something, because staying in a furnished apartment is much better than staying in a hotel room while you look for a place.

And last but not least, if you move and can get part of your stuff before the main delivery, pack clothes. We got our cars last week while all other belongings went into storage with the movers. We were smart enough to pack Emily's clothes, but packing extra clothes for us, well that required just a little too much from us.

Introduction

Hello family, friends, and other friends ...

We promised that we would not drop off the end of the earth, so we are starting a blog.

Here is the new home of Jonathan, Laura, and little Emily Hanks. We are up in the frozen northern tundra (Richland Washington) enjoying the beauties of central heating and trying to settle in.

Emily has decided that she does not like the cold, so we bundle her up all the time. In fact here she is right now.

We have to go, so check back later and we will actually put something up here.