Post Christmas Snow!

We were so excited when it started snowing!  It snowed some on Christmas but we didn't expect it to actually accumulate.  I was so excited!  This was one of my dreams for the patio cover.  I went out, turned on the two heaters full blast and the fire table.  Then we all went out and sat.  It was still a little chilly but it was nice to sit out there as a family and enjoy the snow.  

Carson is always on the go and went out into it as soon as there was enough to enjoy.  He made his mini-snowman in no time at all. 

The trampoline is always a fun one in the snow.  We just have to shovel it off now and again to save the springs.  They've lasted a VERY long time considering it's the trampoline I grew up with. 

Kayda was enamored with the snow.  She kept going out with the camera to take pictures.  One of her main goals we to take a picture of the actual snowflakes.  This was her best shot, even with the big camera it wasn't much better.  We don't have a macro lens.  I'm sure there are about a million pictures on the camera that I'll go through and add sometime.  

She got to drive in the snow for the first time!  She went out for a drive with dad to the store.  They then went to the high school parking lot and she drove around for about 30 minutes getting a feel for the snow.  Later Eric took her up to a parking lot and had her driving around, getting a feel for how it will slide and learning how to respond in order to correct it.  She had a lot of fun.  Apparently once they started more and more people started coming around, though only one came anywhere near them.  This truck in particular managed to get itself stuck on the curb.  She had a great time intentionally sliding in the snow.  

Carson managed to convince Dillon to go out and play in the snow.  Kayda went to snap some pictures, as soon as they noticed her they attacked her with snowballs. 

The boys wanted some friends over to play in the snow with.  Carson and his friend Avry spent a long time out playing in it.  Even after it got dark.  They had their friends stay the night since I wasn't going to drive back in the hill on little used roads after dark in the snow. 

Carson found a HUGE icicle hanging on our hot tub. 

The boys spent a lot of time outside.  They decided that it would be fun to do a polar bear dip in the pool.  The pool was frozen solid with a couple of inches of ice.  They took the hoe out in order to break the ice so they could jump in. 

Of course.... our boys didn't jump.  Dillon, being the first to go, climbed in ever so slowly.  He sat about half way in debating if he'd go in the rest of the way for a solid two minutes.  He finally climbed in the rest of the way before dunking and hopping out.  

He stood there, soaking wet in the snow, trying to get his shoes and towel.  We just yelled at him to run to the hot tub and we'd bring him the stuff.  

Dillon's friend Leelan practically cannon balled in.  Then came Carson, who decided to climb in like his brother.  It was kind of embarrassing actually, lol.  It is definitely the hardest way to do it.

They all ended up in the hot tub, which actually was barely warm.  I guess it felt warm to them though because they stayed in there a bit.  

We were so excited when it kept snowing for a few days.  It was so nice to just enjoy it without having the potential for school the next day.  Not knowing if you'd be home to enjoy it or not. 

Carson and I took a walk by the river.  The river rock covered in snow was absolutely gorgeous.  

Kayda and I went back again later.  She pointed out that roots of the trees had icicles!

As we got warmer during the day it was cool to watch the snow sliding down the patio cover roof in one giant sheet. 

It was cold enough that the snow couldn't form a snowball.  It wasn't much for playing in, more looking at and walking in.  Then it started getting warmer, then it became the best building snow.  

Daddy and Carson made a tunnel. 

Dillon and Carson did a snowball toss. 

The snow ended up giving us three 2 hour delays when we were back in school.  It was actually a really nice transition for being back.  We had a full day Thursday.  Then Friday we ended up cancelled.  Between the melting snow and the rain we had flooding again.  We went to the store Friday morning and most of it had resolved.  They could have gotten away with a two hour delay Friday also.  Instead we lost our second (and last) snow make up day. 

It was so wonderful to be in the snow.  It went back to grey and rainy way too quickly. 

February Snow!

We got snow!  We actually got a considerable amount.  It was very convenient to be doing online school because we didn't have to cancel due to transportation issues.  The kids went to their meets and then played.  Since we don't have any hills in walking distance we got creative.  Kayda loved towing her brothers with the quad.  The grass actually didn't get as damaged as I'd anticipated.

We also went over by the school to the small sledding hill with Carter and Ty.  The kids built up a ramp and worked on jumping as high as possible.  They ended up with quite a few entertaining wipe outs.  Kayda learned quickly not to jump when she was on her stomach since you can't absorb the impact it hurts.

Snowmageddon!

This February we got a ton of snow!  It snowed and, just as that started melting, it snowed some more!  At our house we ended up with a total of 15.75 inches of snow.  I don't remember ever having that much snow in this area.  School ended up cancelled four days and two 2-hr delays in two weeks.  Of course, this landed right as I was starting my coverage for maternity leave.  It was incredibly frustrating because I really just wanted to work!  However, we had an AMAZING time!  Sledding with friends, snow ball fights, sled ramps, starting an igloo, Daddy being home for the day etc.  It was fantastic and we were definitely sad when the snow disappeared. 

 This crazy kid thought it'd be fun to go out barefoot!

 We went to a local hill, we really don't have many, to sled.  We had to work really hard to compress it to be able to sled otherwise it was too powdery.

The basketball hoop filled with snow!

   We also so chain link fences with each little square filled with snow!

 Carson and his friend Ty.

 Carson, Carter, Ty and Dillon.  There were a couple of giant snow balls already there that the kids hauled around and turned into a giant snowman!

 Taryn, Adrienne, Ghianna, Kayda, Carter, Dillon, Ethan, Carson and Ty.  The parents all ended up hanging out with hot cocoa while the kids played.

 Kayda, Ghianna, Taryn and Adrienne.

It was a fantastic couple of days off!  School will push farther into the summer now, fortunately we already have our trip all planned out so we'll be done the same day as before.

Grandma and Papa G visit!

Grandma and Papa G came to stay with us on the 28th and left the 2nd.  The kids were bursting with excitement!  We thoroughly enjoyed their visit.  We spent a lot of time playing Diablo with Papa and they snuggled with Grandma (mostly Carson).  We played board games, chatted and watched movies.  It was a very mellow, enjoyable few days.  

Grandma and Papa brought a new game for us to try "telestrations".  Apparently they played it at a ward Family home evening and thought it was great.  So we got to try it.  We LOVED it.  The kids wanted to play again and again and again.  There were several times Dillon got laughing so hard he literally couldn't sit still!     Someone was usually sitting aside to help Carson if he needed help spelling a word or didn't know what something was.  He mostly played on his own though.

Grandma snuggles include the ipad.  (Carson was irritated that I was taking their picture)

Tuesday we decided to head up to the snow.  The place where we had sledded before was completely bare!  We actually thought we weren't going to find any to play in at all!  After driving quite a ways further up the road we finally found a little side road, covered in compact snow to play on.  It ended up being great for sledding because it was smooth and slick and actually flattened out way down around the corner!  While we were up there we took a couple pictures of the kiddos.  

Grandma and Papa left this morning.  The kids were really bummed out.  Kayda had to go spend a few minutes alone to settle down.  They absolutely loved the time and look forward to when we see them again.