Rain + Dirt = Mud

It's been raining an awful lot over here. Normally I love the rain, but this year I'm almost sick of it. It's been so wet and so cold this winter for so long, that I can't wait until Spring.

On Saturday we all woke up tired and a little grumpy. Brian was still recovering from staying up all night Thursday to study for his Friday morning test. The kids had been cooped up for so long because of the rain, that they were literally bouncing all over the house. With wood floors, that can be pretty loud.

The second counselor in the bishopric called and left a message Friday night that we didn't listen to until Saturday morning. Apparently, their speakers for sacrament meeting had cancelled and they were looking for someone else. Sure, we said we'd do it, but by the time Ethan was not going down for his afternoon nap and Alyssa was singing "Angel of Music" at the top of her lungs, Brian decided he had had enough. He called Brother Spencer and told him we couldn't speak, and he sent the kids and me home for the weekend.

We packed our bags (We, meaning Alyssa and me; she had to bring all her essential, can't-live-without toys) and took off within half an hour. It's the first time I've driven the whole way home without Brian with me, and I've got to say I was pretty proud of myself. I navigated through Portland just fine. I stopped at the "Old McDonalds" in the Dalles, and got back on the freeway without any problems. I didn't miss the turn-off to go North into Washington. And to tell you the truth, with just one mom and two kids, we made pretty good time.

Every time we drive through the Columbia Gorge, I love looking at the cliffs and hills around us and watching them either turn brown or green, depending on which way we're travelling. It's so wet over here for most of the year, that everything is naturally green, and of course everything on the desert side of Washington and Oregon is brown. I've never noticed, though, how the rain smells differently.

Over here it smells wet. It makes a lot of sense: rain smells wet. The rain disappeared once we got to the Dalles and reappeared again around Arlington, with the distinct difference that it smelled like mud. You normally don't consider "mud" to be a good smell, but it smelled so much like the Tri-Cities that it smelled so good! Even though we were leaving one raining city and travelling to another raining city, it felt so much better to at least have a muddy rain instead of just wet, wet, wet.