It's a Winter Wonderland!

For all of you who didn't get any snow this year, or perhaps for those of you who just like to see fluffy white flakes, this will be fun! Take a look-see! This was the storm before last before last before last, or something like that...

Great trip!

From the night before Valentine's Day to President's Day evening, we went on a road trip with our three little ones. The first stretch of our trip, from home to pick up Daddy to drive to Mesquite, took over 12 hours (it's supposed to take about 5 and a half hours). Why? Not because of the kids. NOooooo... because of a freak blizzard and all the Utah drivers freaking out. Actually, it was pretty treacherous driving, so we were lucky to have made it safe and sound to our hotel in Mesquite at 3:30 a.m. (2:30 local Nevada time). The kids actually were great travelers. I would have some photos of the storm for you if I were not holding on the "omigosh" bar so tightly. Paul, you are a snow driving master.

Well, I might have more trip stuff later... I don't have a whole lot of time to post today.

Enough, Already!

This winter season, we have received (quite literally, it feels like) tons of snow. At first, through the months of November and December, snow removal was nonexistent at our house. You see, Paul left it undone as a matter of principle: we spent thousands to put a snow melt in, only to have it work a couple of storms and then quit on us. So to spite the dysfunctional boiler, Paul refused to shovel, and we didn't buy a snow blower because we owned a snow melt. It is frustrating, and I understand where he's coming from, however...!

In essence, we were inaccessible. Visitors would park down at the bottom of the steep driveway and risk their lives to walk up, or tromp through the snow to get to our front steps. When we had temperatures in the low 40s early in January and the ice started to melt, I took it upon myself to scrape off the remaining ice and slush so we could start fresh. It was a big job, and took a long time, but it felt good to see the cement again. The problem was, a big snow storm was expected the very next day, and it has snowed every few days since then. So I've been out on the driveway, shovel and scraper in hand, trying to get back down to the cement.

You can see my most recent efforts (yesterday morning's!) to the right. As you can see, the sun only ever hits the bottom during the winter, because it's on the north side of our house. *Sigh*

And, of course, we expect another big one tonight into tomorrow. It makes you want to curse the heavens, but then you don't because you realize that we will be grateful for the snow come summer, when that's where we get our water. And really, it's beautiful to look at. Maybe I should just go buy a snowblower...

Our little one

Cute photos of our newest little one! She's two months old, and she's a happy, smiling baby. What more could we ask for?