So Much Snow

At the beginning of this year, I may have said something like, "I hope this year we get ten feet of snow in one storm so we have to dig our way out of the front door!"

We may not have gotten quite that much snow, but last I heard we were up to 54 inches (total this year), and we're supposed to get some more in the next couple of days.

It's been awesome. For once, the reservoirs are full, and it looks like we'll have plenty of water for the next year. It's also been fun to play in. We've been sledding a few times, but this whole winter, Kevin has been wanting to make a snowman. However, even after all the snow, it wasn't until last week that we were able to do so.

On Saturday, we went out and shoveled and played in the snow for a while. The snow was finally the right consistency.

We built a snowman together. Grig made the base, I made the middle, and Kevin made the head. It turned out pretty cute.

We had rocks for eyes, a carrot nose, and sticks for the mouth and arms. Then, we stuck pieces of evergreen in the snowman for buttons. It's pretty cute and still out there, though it has about a foot more of snow on top of it now.

Then, Grig wanted to make something else, so he rolled a huge snowball. Kevin wanted to roll his own huge snowball too. I think Grig had something in mind, like building a fort, but Kevin insisted he wanted his snowball on top of Grig's. So, they ended up with this:

Meanwhile, I built a snow dog for our snow man. I think the dog turned out pretty cute too.

Not as cute as the real ones, though.

Loki has been staying with us for a little while. His owners have had some problems with their heating, so until their home has heat again, Loki is staying with us. They've been having a great time together. Siff likes having someone around with a longer coat. Loki likes going outside to play more than Arkhon does.

After we finished crafting our snow sculptures, Kevin made himself a snow angel. He really likes doing that. You have to wait for the right kind of snow for snowmen, but almost any kind of snow is good for snow angels.

So, we're staring to get tired of shoveling, but overall, we've still had some good times with the snow. When we can, Kevin, the dogs, and I still go walking. The sidewalks are missing, but the road is pretty decent most days, so we walk on the road.

For those of you who want an update on foster care, I e-mailed them the other day to see how things were progressing. I guess they mailed us a form so they can get our background checks done in Idaho too (since we've lived there within the last 5 years). Other than that, he said that everything is in.

Now, we're just waiting for that piece of mail to arrive while we keep fixing things up around the house in preparation for our home inspection. We're getting pretty close. I attached the bookshelves to the walls today, and we made a baby gate upstairs. I think it turned out pretty awesome.

I love it.

Tubing

Yesterday, for Family Home Evening, we had a ward (congregation) ski night.

I guess it was more of a stake (combined combinations from the area) ski night, but it was pretty awesome, because they also had tubing available for children three and up.

Kevin is three now, and so we paid for use of the tubes and over-dressed ourselves to go tubing.

The first time we went down the 600 foot slope, Grig dragged Kevin behind him, and at the end he got pretty freaked out. However, a couple people suggested to us that we should let him go by himself. They told us that he would travel more slowly with his own weight than being pulled by ours.

Kevin and Grig going together. (We put the camera away afterward because it was getting too dark)

We decided to take their advice. Aren't we glad we did! Kevin loved it!

I went first, and as his small body on his small tube came hurtling around the curve at the end, I shouted, "Hold on, Kevin! Don't let go!"

As he came to a stop, I helped him up and he said, "Mom! I did it by myself!"

He was so excited. I think I had been more freaked out that time than he was. He proceeded to go for a couple more times, and just got more excited every time.

Grig and I also had a great time. The first time, I was tense and I kind of hurt my neck, but after that I relaxed and really enjoyed myself. I would go so fast around the bend that I almost flipped over a couple of snow banks, and when I went tearing around the end curve I rode so high that I nearly hit the fence at the top!

It was great.

After a few runs, we went inside to eat. They had chicken soup and chili available, as well as a lot of desserts. Kevin mostly ate chips and pretzels. We tried to feed him other things, but he was more interested in those.

After eating, we went back out and tubed until 8:45 or so.

They had a little jump at the very end, and most people kind of went up the side of it, but for some reason, I was nearly always going off the top and getting some air. One of the workers told me, "Now you're just showing off. We're going to have to slow it down. You're having too much fun." I laughed and told him he shouldn't slow it down. It was awesome.

We had to go to bed early, so decided we needed to leave. At about 8:30, we were talking about leaving and Kevin held up one finger and said, "No, one more time," in a very bossy and commanding voice.

So, we went one more time.

We're really glad we went. We had a lot of fun.

Family picture taken after the first run. Kevin still wasn't sure how he felt about it at this point.