The Big Bad Wolf...

...tried to blow my house down this morning. We had a line of thunderstorms come through this morning that was pretty ridiculous. I'm sure we lost some shingles as bad as the wind was blowing. Only now, after getting up and checking the weather, did I discover that we were under a tornado watch. It just shows to go that living in Tornado Alley means the potential for tornadoes is always present, even at the end of December. Lucky for us there were no tornadoes--if there had been one we would have been woefully unprepared--caught with my proverbial pants down.

My parents left yesterday and drove part way home. They stopped for the night in Amarillo before heading on to Santa Fe where my sister lives. Then my dad will take the new commuter train, (the RailRunner) down to the airport in Albuquerque to pick up his truck while my mom continues on. I hope they make it ok. It's been snowing off and on for the past two weeks in their part of the state. Some road conditions simply read, "Three feet of snow in the area, travel at own risk."

I think it was a good visit. My mom had come down early to help out with the baby like she did when the 2 y/o was born. This time around we needed much less help though. Last time I was still in school and gone 13 hrs every day, so my mom was a life-saver. This time I've been a bum around the house, so there wasn't much for her to do. She did help us by watching the girls while we took the baby to get the PKU newborn screen done at the hospital. That would have been even more of a whip if we'd had the girls with us. Anyway, I hope she thinks it was worth the effort to get here early.

I hope to get by Barnes & Noble today to actually pick up my Running for Mortals book--my parents got me a gift card. I was lucky enough to have read through the book previously so I was able to get a jump start on the program once I felt the urge. Speaking of that, I plan on another walk tonight. After I get into the running portion I'm thinking of adding this program. Looks interesting, and a blog friend or two is doing it. I think it might be a good way to ease into weight training. After I complete that program then I'll hit the weights at the gym. This way I won't look quite as wimpy on the free weights. Because Lord knows getting to the gym is more about how you look than getting healthy, right?

My wandering soul has been yearning to get out of town again. Before Christmas I had been tentatively planning a trip up the Yellowstone to shoot some pictures. I've never been there, and I've heard great things about seeing winter wildlife. But that's a full two days driving just to get there. So that's 4 days travel, and with spending a couple days at the park, that's almost a week gone--too much for my wife to handle with all the kids. So I'm thinking somewhere closer. I had thought about Canyon De Chelly in Arizona, it's about a 13 hr drive, so totally doable in one day when I'm by myself. Any other suggestions 900 miles or less from Dallas-Fort Worth TX? The general idea is to go somewhere relatively photogenic... Looking forward to your suggestions.