The Sledding Hill

We've been lacking in snow around here, so the local sledding hill that the kids so enjoyed at Christmas was unusable.....then we had the forecast this past week for snow.  We waited, and the days passed with an inch or two falling, but finally on Friday the big storm came!  We woke up Saturday morning to 6+ new inches.  I was surprised the kids weren't suited up and ready to go by 7 AM, but they held out until after lunch.  Nana and Poppa came out so Ron could help set up Poppa's new cell phone.  Then we had lunch and finally headed over to the sledding hill.  Pure joy!

 

Apparently Poppa makes a good sled too!

 

And so it begins......

**9:30 PM update: The lawn is no longer green with flecks of snow. It's covered with a good inch and more falling.**

The view out the front & back of our house a couple of hours ago. Sigh. I haven't even cleaned out the flower beds. Not that I didn't know this was coming, I just haven't felt the need desire to do yard work recently this year. Perhaps we should have carved those pumpkins last night. They are going to be frozen now! Yes, I see that the hummingbird feeder is still hanging up. I can safely say that there will be no more hummingbirds this year. Not that they didn't figure out a long time ago that I was done filling the feeder.... ;) Ron is about to catch a plane for San Diego/Los Angeles. I'm serious. He comes back Friday, when it will finally warm back up into the 50's. How convenient. ;) I made sure the furnace worked this morning though before I let him leave us here in the frozen tundra.

I told the kids they should be Eskimos for Halloween. They'll find out on Saturday that they should always listen to their mother.

Unbelievable.

Believe it. Seven and a half inches. I don't think we'll be getting our lawn aerated today. At least we have blue sky this morning......please stay blue sky and sunshine! Please!

Suggestion Box?

Dear Mother Nature,

Please excuse me for this intrusion into your very busy life, but I have just a bit of a complaint I'd like to file. Just a small one really.

I think perhaps, sweet Mother Nature, that you are a bit confused this year about the date or season, and what the appropriate weather may be for said date/season. You see, it is April 15th.

Mid April.

Almost a month after the first day of SPRING.

You remember Spring.....warmer weather, flowers blooming, snow melting, trees leafing out, warmer weather, sunnier days, some rain storms, no more snow....warmer weather.

It's Spring Break for my kids this week. Monday was sunny and somewhat warm. They were able to play outside happily. It was dry. They wore shorts and t-shirts. We were looking forward to a fun week outside playing. All those plans were abandoned Tuesday when it got cold and really rainy. Now today.....THIS:


I had to turn THIS on in the Family Room:

And my kids are not wearing shorts and t-shirts. Instead, they are in the jeans, long sleeves, and fleece attire from January.


So really Mother Nature.....would you want to be cooped up in the house for Spring Break because of snow and cold?! Neither do I! It stinks that I put the snowpants away, the mittens have been lost, and the coats are all on the small side, because tomorrow would be a perfect day to take the kids for their first skiing lesson.

Maybe next year we'll give you a little "heads up" so we can actually celebrate Spring during our time off from school. Now.....where can I find the suggestion box to stick this letter into?!

Sincerely-

Crazy and Cooped-up in Utah.

PS....Do you like Ellie's toothbrush and stickers?! We ALL went to the dentist today for a check-up. The only cavity in the bunch? ME.

nice. :)

PPS....I hope Mother Nature doesn't strike me with lightning for registering this complaint. For you own safety, you may not want to stand too close to me for a few months....

Goodbye Autumn

This is almost pretty enough to not mind that this is what it looked like around here today...almost.

**photo stolen from my husbands iPhone!**

Speechless...

Happy Monday.

What a great weekend! I love General Conference, even if my kids don't! Jared would cry every time a new session would come on. I still can't figure out why, since it wasn't like we made him sit there and watch it. I'm not doing that to my four year old! We had activities for all of them, options to go play in their rooms or playroom, but he'd still cry, and say, "Not again!" Maybe it was because he knew our attention would be on the speakers, and not on him? But he survived, and now it's over for six months!

I loved many of the talks, but my absolute favorite was Elder Ballard. I came away from that talk feeling like I'm doing okay as a mother, and with a new resolve to continue to do better. Thank you Elder Ballard! He really has become one of my favorites and this last talk really solidified that!

A better feeling than I had last October after another certain (un-named) talk was given and I came away feeling like a failure as a mother, and with a "why even try" attitude. Wrong, I know, but that is what happened. But after yesterday, I feel better about life!

To another subject....it's beginning to look less like Spring today..that tends to happen when two inches of snow falls and covers everything...grrr....good thing it's Spring Break next week and we are heading SOUTH! First to Moab, then further south down to ARIZONA!!!! Hooray! I'm gonna be WARM...HOT even!

Lots of Luv, and WTH was with last night?!

First, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Second....here's a recap of last night....it has to do with weather...

There was a little storm in the forecast. No one was concerned, just a little wind and 2-4" of snow expected. What happened was not was what anyone expected. Blizzard of '08, and we lived through it. Here's highlights:

• Ron's commute home: normal time 50 minutes...last night 4 1/2 HOURS!
• State Road 92, which Ron typically drives home on, closed....with people out there stranded! Accidents, people running out of gas, slide-offs, dead batteries, cars abandoned in the middle of the road causing a literal parking lot. Search and Rescue showed up late last night with snowmobiles to get the people to a church where family members could come get them.
  
• Neighbor, also one of Ron's home teaching families, is stuck out on SR92 with a dead battery and her 6 year old son. Husband out of town. Ron got past the Highway patrol barricade to go try and save her, but thankfully he found out before he got stuck out there that she flagged a ride with a stranger....whom she spent the next 3 1/2 hours with trying to get out of the mess. Luckily she picked a nice person and not a mass murderer....also a good thing that we don't have many of those in Utah...mass murderers that is!
• School buses full of little kids were stuck in the mess for 5-6 hours. Can you imagine...little kids, stuck on a school bus in a blizzard, no potty, no dinner? The buses finally made it back to the school, and about 200 kids SPENT THE NIGHT AT SCHOOL!!! The parents couldn't get there to get them. That elementary was closed today!
• Our school started two hours late, and AM kindergarten was canceled. Nicole was heartbroken about no Valentines party today, but I assured her she'd do it tomorrow. So sad!
  

All in all, it was INSANE last night! We won't forget this for a while. Right now though...snow melting, sun shining, a beautiful day. Utah winters are nuts!