Snow, Snow & More Snow

I know that everyone in the west has felt the brunt of this series of storms but when you didn't grow up with snow and you get over 3 feet in 5 days - that's a lot of snow!! Luckily Amelia loves the snow and Caleb has been putting up with it fairly well. The picture at left is our front yard. Keep in mind that we live in a mobile home and the deck is at least 3 feet off the ground. That being said we really can't complaint too much because the picture at right was taken from in front of our house. You don't get views like this in Southern California. We did take advantage of all the snow and Rod dug the kids out a snow cave. The only problem now is that we got at least 10-12 inches more snow the night after he dug it so it's a bit hard to get to.



Thankfully before all this snow hit last week we were able to celebrate Amelia's 4th birthday. We had some friends up from Bloomfield, balloons, pizza, cake, ice cream and presents - what more does a 4-year-old need? We left the streamers up in the living room for a few days after her birthday and she kept asking me why they were still up. I guess she understood the idea that her birthday was just that one day. Of course, the real answer to her question was Mommy and Daddy are just lazy and haven't taken them down yet. (Don't worry, they are down by now.)

In other news, Rod has started his new job as a corporate pilot for Foutz & Bursam Construction. This is the same businessman he has been flying the LearJet for since the spring. When the owner heard that Mesa was shutting down he offered Rod a full-time position. Now Rod is getting the same pay and only has to work about 3 days a week. He's home with the kids and I the rest of the time. What a blessing!

To finished off, I don't want you to think I forgot about Caleb so here's a cute pic of him. Yes, he's our little climber!

New House, New Snow

So we are finally moved in up in Durango and what a last two weeks it has been! We frantically packed the moving truck on Monday, November 30th and closed on our Bloomfield house. Tuesday afternoon we made the 45 minute drive to Durango, Colorado and unpacked into our "new" mobile home. On Wednesday, we made the drive to Bloomfield and back twice then finally got to settle down for a few days.

After closing on our new place that Friday, I guess the Lord really wanted us to stay put for a while because on Monday, December 7th it snowed for 24 hours straight and we got about 2 feet of snow. No going anywhere in the Saturn for several days! Then the next Sunday we got another 8 inches. Wow! Welcome to the mountains. Rod and I have been busy shoveling snow while still trying to unpack the house and remember that it's Christmas time. Caleb is trying to figure out why Mommy & Daddy are spending so much time outside.

Amelia loves the snow while Caleb is not so sure about it. He most just stands there and fusses while Amelia is rolling around like a penguin. You can see from this last picture why we wanted to move here. This is the view from our house!

Cold & Snow

So this year we had a very hot summer according to Farmington standards (coming from the High Desert it really wasn't so bad). Now we are having a cold & snowy winter. What opposites! I actually am not complaining about the weather because one thing about living in the Southwest is that a storm rolls through, dumps rain or snow for two or three days and then leaves sunshine in between storms. So the sunshine gets me through even though it has hardly reached the mid-40s for the last 6 weeks and there are still places in our backyard (in the shade) where there is 4 inches of snow. Back on January 17th was the coldest temperature I have personally ever seen, -2 degrees when we got up that morning.

We have taken this opportunity to bundle Amelia up a few times and tromp around in the snow. She doesn't seem to be as excited about it as the rest of us. Probably because she has trouble getting her thumbs in the mittens and then they keep falling off, so she can't do a whole lot except walk around the yard like the Pillsbury doughboy. So because of that we try to keep busy inside the house. We do "dance" at least twice a day which consists of putting on a CD and walk-running in circles around our living room (which is not very big). Half the time she is asking to "dince"(as it comes out) before we've even eaten breakfast. I quickly change the subject when that happens but it is a great way to get out energy later in the day.