Spring Break Hates Us

While in southern California for spring break in 2010, we felt an earthquake. It was the worst earthquake in San Diego in the previous 18 years. Two years later, while house hunting in Dallas during spring break we were under a tornado warning. We were evacuated to the stairwells of our hotel. There was a tornado, it just didn't touch down in our area.

This spring break, just as we were ready to leave for the Mexican Riviera, a freak winter storm hit North Texas crippling the entire area. DFW became the airport with the most cancelled flights in the world. One of those flights happened to be ours. The area woke up to record breaking snow fall amounts. 

While this doesn't look like much, we received about 4 inches of snow.

Vanessa posed the question, "Why does Spring Break hate us?" We have experienced earthquakes, tornadoes, and now blizzards all during spring break. At that moment we vowed not to visit any place with volcanoes until the trend is broken.

In all seriousness, I pointed out to our family that there was a fatal car accident the night of the storm and that is something that is truly sad. At least we still get to be together whether at home or on the beach.

It's not all bad though. We were able to reschedule our flight for 4 days later. We had to change reservations where we were staying but I think we are better off at the new hotel after all. Aaron had some matters come up at work that he needed to be here to take care of immediately. The kids will actually miss less school.

I will say, if you ever really need a break, just plan on going out of town and then change your mind at the very last second. I have been able to do what ever I want because I had absolutely nothing scheduled. My agenda was completely clear. It has been rather nice.

Sometimes in life, when a blizzard blows you down, you just simply need to step back and decide to make ice cream. Literally.

A friend from Canada shared this recipe. 12-15 cups freshly fallen snow (Do not use yellow snow!) 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in fruit or other toppings if available. It really is yummy!!

It Finally Came

I think I have been in denial for some time. We have enjoyed unseasonably warm weather for the past few weeks. (Unseasonably warm for Utah, let me clarify.) Last week, I was driving down the road listening to Christmas music with no jacket on while looking out at the big blue sky. I had a flashback to South Texas. I used to love Christmas shopping in shorts and T-shirt.

Not anymore. Reality hit this morning with the first snowfall. The snow finally came. The kids were all excited. I noticed there were lots of snowmen built on the school playground today. Vanessa built her own snowman.

What's wrong with this picture? She's in my LIVING ROOM. I tried to explain to her that snowmen melt inside the house. She didn't listen. She is already at the "I-know-more-than-Mom" stage. (I thought that didn't come until kids were 14. Guess not.)

Yesterday, was an eventful day in life with Vanessa. She informed us she was not going to church. Aaron's persuasion and threat of time-out helped her decide to go after all. I dressed her in a maroon shirt, pink boots, and a striped sweater that tied all the colors together. I even put a new little hair clip in her hair. I was so happy as we left the house because she didn't look like an orphan.

It didn't last long, as we were walking into the chapel she threw a fit because wanted her church shoes instead of boots. Isn't it interesting that she didn't care about the boots when we were at home? I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but when Vanessa gets really mad, she strips. I guess her form of punishment is making us look at her naked body. Anyway, she was in one of those fits as we stood in the foyer with people coming into church. Luckily, she stopped after pulling out the hair clip, throwing her sweater on the ground, and kicking off her boots. I finally convinced her to settle down and we went in the chapel to enjoy Sacrament Meeting together as a family. During which she announced, loud enough for the people in front of us and behind us to hear, "Dad has hair in his nose!" I wonder if, at that moment, he wished we had just let her stay home.

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday, we woke up to 2 inches of new snow. Aaron had a horrible commute to the airport (he is in Dallas this week). It was downright depressing. I decided to forget the negative and focus on the positive. Here are some pictures I took a couple of months ago.


It takes at least 15 minutes to get the girls ready to go outside here. They need boots, snow pants (For those of you who don't know, they are like a waterproof coat for your legs that are made to be worn as pants.), coat, hat, and gloves. Vanessa likes to take her gloves off so she can touch the snow with her hands. She loves to eat snow. I even caught her one day licking the snow off the bottom of her boot. Yummy!It is fun to sled down the hill but, getting back up can be a challenge. This is how AJ helped Vanessa back up the hill.AJ crashed his sled at one point. It was then that he decided he had enough. He went in the warm house.

My favorite part of sledding is drinking hot chocolate in the house when you are all done. I recently discovered French Vanilla hot chocolate. I like chocolate, but I love vanilla.
Hopefully we will soon be finished with the snow. I'm ready to move on to bigger, better, and sunnier things.

Let It Snow

I've had several people tell me it hasn't snowed this much for years.

This is a picture of our barn. That is a door and a window that is covered by the snow. This pile of snow was created from snow sliding off the metal roof of the barn and by us shoveling our driveway. There are lots of kids that sled down piles of snow such as this all over town.

This is our Suburban that hasn't been moved for weeks. It is now buried in snow. It might not move again until spring.

We bought the Suburban in Texas 5 years ago. We knew it wasn't 4 wheel-drive but, who needs that it Texas? Well, in a Utah winter, it is a different story. The Suburban is a rear wheel-drive (translation for those of you who do not speak winter language - it's a big piece of junk when driving on slick and slushy roads). The day I got the Suburban stuck in our driveway sideways (that was a bad day that I try not to remember), we decided we needed a new vehicle.

We found on 2004 Honda Odysessy for a good price. Being a mother of four-n-more, you would think my favorite feature would be the built-in DVD player but no, it is the traction-control-system (translation-I can usually get out fo my driveway without any problems-always a nice thing).What does all this snow mean? We have had to shovel our driveway more times than we can count. We have a really long driveway that gets longer with every shovel full of snow. AJ has difficulty shoveling because the piles are now over his head. Esteban has been really good about helping, even if I don't always agree with his choice of winter clothing.

The snow maybe a lot of work, but still makes for great pictures.

First Snow

Today marked the first significant snowfall of the year.

Aaron is in San Antonio. I banned him from telling me how green, warm, and humid it is down there. It's just better not to know at this point.

The girls were excited to play outside in the snow. I dressed them in their boots, coats, hats, and gloves. After they were outside for a few minutes, I looked out the back window only to see Vanessa out there with her pants down around her ankles. (Aren't you glad my camera is broken?) Upon seeing her bare little bottom out among the snowflakes, I asked her what she was doing. She said, "I'm making a snowball." I asked her why she didn't have her pants on. She replied, "I peed my pants." You would think she would notice it was a little breezy in certain areas. She obviously didn't mind. I just hope the neighbors were gone for the afternoon.

The Christmas of '04

Here are some vintage pictures that I promised.

Where we lived in Texas it was warm year round. The summers were hot and the winters were awesome! It got cold only a handful of days all winter. My kids had two pairs of pants for school. Everything else was shorts. Anyway, most people in the valley had never even seen snow. They had no concept of the cold stuff. Then, on Christmas Eve of 2004, the elements were just right and for the first time in 100 years the Rio Grande Valley awoke to a White Christmas.

Aaron's family was visiting us that year. They found it interesting when we watched the news and the reporters were telling people not to drive on the roads. Few knew how to master driving on bad roads. They demonstrated how to scrape a windshield for the poor souls who did have to leave home. We knew several families who did not live in adequate housing for such cold temperatures so, we delivered blankets and food the night before.

For those of us who grew up in the north, it really wasn't much snow. For everybody else it was more than sufficient. Almost every house in the neighborhood had a snowman. They just weren't regular snowmen, most had clothes and accessories. My mother-in-law noted the fancy snowmen. I reminded her that it was a chance of a lifetime for most people and they wanted to make the most of playing in the snow.

I had a friend who was living in Iowa at the time. Her family sent her pictures of their cars with snow on them. Her family was so excited! When Elena showed her friends in Iowa the pictures, they were unimpressed. Their cars had snow on them everyday. So, here are some pictures you wouldn't see in Iowa. Palm trees with snow on them. While our neighbors were out shoveling the snow off their sidewalks just because they could, we were inside opening presents. Here is Savanah and a very pregnant Colette enjoying Christmas morning. (Vanessa was born a few weeks later.)First of all, we knew the snow would be melted by afternoon. Secondly, I sent all of our gloves, hats, and coats with friends who were visiting Colorado for the holidays. Incidentally, there wasn't any snow in Colorado that year.

The snow melted by afternoon and life returned to normal. We were able to keep with our Christmas traditions in Texas. The next day, we visited a nearby orange grove so we could pick fresh citrus.Lauren posed by a friendly longhorn and calf.We also visited the beach. The water in the Gulf is cold in the winter, but no colder than Oregon in the summer. The kids didn't seem to mind.Even little Savanah had fun playing in the sand.We had it all that year, the snow and the sun! What a nice way to spend the holidays!

The Road Not Taken

When the sidewalk gets buried by a winter storm, it is hard to clear the snow because I can't tell where it sidewalk turns and where it doesn't. It doesn't really matter if the walk is cleared or not for Vanessa. She prefers to walk in the snow next to the sidewalk. Everywhere we go she refuses to walk on the sidewalk. She'll even walk in the snow as we go to church. She doesn't seem to mind her wet shoes and cold tights. She always has been the type to choose the road not taken.

Hot Texas Oven

This is what we woke up to this morning.In Texas, when I heard the song "Let it Snow" I would giggle. Now, I just cringe.

The boys are happy they are able to drink hot chocolate for breakfast. Hot Chocolate just didn't serve the same purpose in Texas.

I heard that in the South Texas this week the highs are in the 80's. Today in SLC it will warm up to the mid 20's. Sometimes I ask myself, "What are we doing here?"

The day we moved from Texas, it was over 100 degrees and the humidity was near 98%. Ethan was complaining that it felt like a hot Texas oven. A few days ago, he told me it was too cold here and he wanted to go back to the Hot Texas Oven. After driving the boys to school this morning on snow packed roads for the first time in 11 years, I have to agree.