Snowed In...

Anyone want to guess where our yard ends and the street begins?

As in we really are.  Snowed in, that is.  Yesterday we found ourselves under a severe storm warning, and today it's a blizzard warning.  Who knew a blizzard was worse than a severe storm?  The things you learn.  Anyway, the city is shut down, schools canceled, the roads are closed and if you do venture out, good luck if you slide off the road, because no one's going to come get you.  By the end of it all there should be close to a foot of snow on my lawn, and the 30-50 mile an hour wind is drifting the snow, so it's even deeper in some spots, and you can't drive because visibility is zero.  To top it off, the high tomorrow:  4.  That is not a typo.  FOUR.  4.  FOR.  The low? NEGATIVE 11.  Balmy.  This is where I live.

All I keep thinking is, it's November.   If this is fall, what happens in the winter here?  Yesterday we ventured out in our "severe storm" to stock up on supplies like bread, milk, nacho cheese and Coke.  I thought we should buy things like water and batteries but, apparently, that is over-reacting and, besides, water seemed a little redundant.   I prefer the term cautious.  This weather doesn't seem to affect anyone here.  In SoCal, when it rained more than inch it became a county-wide state of emergency.  We'd watch Storm Watch 2010 on every channel for hours as we wait anxiously to see if that one dog is rescued from the roaring rapids of the L.A. "river".  An hour ago my sister called to ask if I wanted to have a girl's night tonight and I said, "There's a blizzard warning in effect until 11 pm." and she said, "And...?"  And?  AND?!?  And I intend my death to be from old age, not death by freezing in the TGI Friday's parking lot.

It has been 12 years since I've lived through a snowy winter and there are lots of things I've forgotten, like snow is only fun until you're old enough to pick up a snow shovel.  That's a lesson my two young sons are rapidly learning.  Also, it takes 3 times longer than the rest of your body for your butt to warm up.  This is because there is more fat in your rear end, which means less blood, which means less heat.  My tush is still warming up from yesterday around 2:45.   Also, there is a magical quality about snow pants that immediately makes every child have to pee.  It's a fact, look it up.

So I just wanted all of you to know we're fine.  We've hunkered down, waiting out the storm, doing things like making popcorn on the stove and playing Settlers of Catan with the boys.  We'll probably watch a Christmas movie tonight, under quilts, and drink hot cocoa until the kids start to bicker and fight because they've been trapped inside all day and someone is breathing someone else's air and then we'll all end up in separate rooms with a sentence of never-ending grounding hanging above everyone's heads if they dare speak to each other while Ben and I discuss how we're going to afford snow tires and Christmas at the same time.   It's gonna be a long, four five seven months.

Happy Winter everyone.  If no one hears from us by next week, please send help to dig us out!

In case you were wondering...

I'm sure some of you are struggling with what to get Mrs. Snowy Flip-flops for Christmas.  Well, to help you out there, may I present...

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/61959?from=SR&feat=sr

In green, please.

Little Miss Sassy-Pants

Scene:  Evie is taking a bath, I come in to check on her...
Me:  Evie, did you put that towel in the tub?
Evie: Yes.
Me:  Evie, you are not supposed to put towels in the tub!
Evie: Well, it's a little late now.

Scene:  Evie crawls into my bed about 2 am. into the empty space Ben usually occupies.  I let her f or a few minuted and then I say...
Me:  Ev it's time to go back to your bed.
Evie: I don't want to, I'm scared.
Me:  You can turn on the bathroom light.
Evie:  YOU can turn on the bathroom light, but I'M pretty much gonna sleep right here.

Scene:  Evie is looking through the Toys R Us catalog
Evie:  I think I'm going to have Santa bring me this WHOLE page.
Me:  I don't think Santa is going to bring you the whole page.
Evie: She looks at me for a minute, smirks and then says: That's what you think.

Snow

So.  It has begun. 

I don't generally watch the news here.  Prime time starts at 7 here and that means the news is at 10 and since I don't usually settle down to watch TV until 9 or so, I tend to watch the recorded stuff and head to bed.  Sunday, for some reason I was able to catch the weather and so was witness to the announcement that snow showers were possible on Monday.  Just a skiff on the lawns, he said.  A few inches in the mountains, he said.

Stupid, incompetent Idaho weatherman.

There is five inches of snow on my lawn right now.

I shouldn't complain, this is the good kind of snow.  Did you know there is a difference?  This is the wet, heavy snow, perfect for snow forts and snowball fights.  The kind that sticks to your lawn and leaves the streets out of it.  The kids were thrilled and spent the whole afternoon out running through the white stuff, setting up forts and carrying out wars with the neighbors.  They returned to the homestead at dusk with red, runny noses and numb toes and grins that split their faces. 

I, on the other hand, suspect I might be suffering from PTSD.  Can you have snow related post traumatic stress?   Cause I swear I'm having childhood flashbacks involving cold feet and runny noses and walking to school in below freezing temps, because if your mom grows up on a farm in Idaho anything above 0 degrees is manageable.  Anyhow, after the kids came in and warmed up we decided to hit a movie for Family Night.  Later that night, when we left the theater, it was dark and another inch or so had fallen.  I took one look and I climbed into the van and told the boys to sweep off the windows.  Yes, I am that kind of mom.  So I'm in the car and my teeth start to chatter.  Not the little shiver kind, but the break your teeth, sore jaw kind of chatter.  Then, and only if you have experienced places like this in the winter will you understand this phenomenon , but the muscles in my thighs and lower back start to seize up.  Now this little ailment can only be solved by concentrated breathing and and finding a meditative zen, which is super hard to do while your swallowing bits of your own teeth, but I'm managing.  (How is it, as mankind, we have managed to build a super collider that can create a black hole and destroy the earth and still do not have a way to produce instant heat in a car?)  Of course, then the boys finish up sweeping the windows and get back in the car, which lets another blast of cold air into the van, so I'm back to square one with the zen. 

So anyway, now I'm driving on the snow swept streets of Idaho Falls, doing Lamaze breathing, and I'm trying to figure out how to not have to leave my house again until May.  Then I take a look around, and...It.  Is.  GORGEOUS.   Like something out of a Christmas card.  Sound also gets muffled in the snow, so even on the busiest streets there is a calm that is hard to describe.  It really is just another world.  We drive up to our house and the porch lights are reflecting off the untouched snow in the front yard and shining on the bare branches of the birch trees.  I want to race inside and and set up my Christmas tree and bake gingerbread.  It helps me remember how much I love this and how happy I am to be here.  I guess that's a good thing.

Two things I learned during our first snowstorm:

1.  My 12 lb., three legged, poodle mutt is, apparently, part husky.  He loves the snow.  LOVES it.

2.  When your husband is out of town and the snow has knocked out your Dish signal, your 5'11" son, armed with a broom, a lawn chair and a squirt bottle filled with hot water makes a pretty entertaining substitute.

It Is the Week/Holiday/Post That Never Ends...

Bellatrix and Dobby, aka: Evie and Eliza

So about 11 years ago I was preggo with a little boy who I begged to not be born on Halloween. You see at this point I only had Cooper and he was only 2 1/2 at the time and Halloween consisted of trick or treating at 6 neighbors and a hand-me-down costume. Still I knew people that had holiday birthdays and I always felt sorry for them because they always seemed to get gypped. So I begged little Zac to come before or after Halloween so that we would always be able to have a special day just for him. Wasn't I such a cute new mommy? Awww...the naivete.

Draco and Voldemort

Let's begin...it all started two weeks ago with the going away party for my sister Lora. Lora was moving to St. George and since she loved Harry Potter so much and it was just before Halloween, why not have a Harry Potter themed party? It was a few days later that my niece shows up as an owl delivering our scroll inviting us to Hogwarts for a party, costumes required. Ben takes one look at the scroll and shakes his head claiming that my sister and I share the same disease. I assume he means gift because, HELLO, a red-headed OWL, just showed up at my door with a PARCHMENT SCROLL, inviting me to a party at HOGWARTS!! That is not a disease, that is party planning at its finest. But anyway, now the work begins. This is two weeks before Halloween and I have to convince my kids that what they really want to be for Halloween is Harry Potter characters. This flies with Isaac, because he knows it's all about the candy and Draco Malfoy is just another conduit to sugar. Evie, on the other hand has been talking about Princess Tiana for months and no matter how hard I try, Bellatrix is not an equally acceptable option. But whatever, I hold the purse strings and Bellatrix it is. We round out the family with Fred Weasley (Cooper), Professor Umbridge (Me) and of course the bald guy went as Voldemort.

Food

So the party was great. I brought pumpkin pasties and licorice wands, Holli had the butter beer, cauldron cakes and jelly beans and others brought cockroach clusters, baked brie, acid pops and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. We also had pigs in a blanket, because what party is complete without those? We played games, were sorted into houses, had a tri-wizard tournament. Okay, maybe it is a disease. Plus, I want to mention that I never said we weren't the dorkiest family on earth. Don’t judge us.

Ron Weasley

So now we come to the week of Halloween. First on the agenda are school parties. These happen on Thursday because school is out for end of term on Friday. These are relatively painless, as all I have to do is send costumes to school and treats for Isaac's birthday. That night we decide to go to the trick or treating/Halloween Carnival at the assisted living center down the street. I figured this was a very sneaky way of hiding a service project: my kids get candy; we make old people happy; everybody wins. It actually was pretty fun, my kids loved the seniors and, with the exception of the one lady who had her teeth out, covered in candy, and was hitting the kids hands as they came anywhere near her bowl of stuff, the seniors seemed to enjoy my kids.



We follow that up the next night with my parents Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook-off. I was was robbed, I tell you. My chili was that is. I suppose that's what happens when you have two 19 year old boys from the Midwest judge. The winner’s tasted a lot like baked beans. I will not be bitter, but I will refine Idaho’s palate, even if it’s one mouth at a time. Anyway the kids garnered even more of the sweet stuff and we enjoyed the company of my parents and a few of my siblings. Let just put it out there that SoCal has it ALL over I.F. in the trunk or treat department. Can we say BORING? (Sorry, Mom and Dad) My kids were looking around like, "This is it? Where are the handfuls of candy? Where are the awesomely decorated cars?” The flip side was it was a gorgeous night with perfect weather.



So next. (See it really is the week that never ends). Ben was leaving for L.A. on Saturday, so instead of a birthday dinner, Isaac opted for a birthday breakfast. He wanted McDonalds, so we had McDonalds. Nothing like a week’s worth of saturated fat to start out your 11th year. Ben headed out the door shortly after and we started getting stuff ready for the rest of the day. Our ward had an afternoon party, which I wisely decided to skip, because one really can have too much fun. Later that night, the rest of my family here in town came over for pizza to celebrate Zac's birthday. The kids did their best to eat, but most of them were too hyped for trick or treating that most of them just played with their food. So, since we live in a predominately Christian area, everyone trick or treats on Saturday. I hoped, perhaps, we would only have to go to part of church and get released early to enjoy the festivities of the day like we do at Christmas, but…no go. Apparently, there are some fundamental differences in the two holidays. So…trick or treating…home for cake and presents…everyone in the shower(not together, that would be weird)…off to bed.



Good grief, are you tired just reading this, or have you all just given up, due to the novel like nature to this post?



Sadly, we are not done.

Sunday, real Halloween, we head over to my parents house for hot chocolate and my Dad's famous cinnamon rolls, and Christmas music. Just like most families on Halloween, right?

Yeah, its over. So, yep, Isaac being born the day before Halloween really helped us out. Silly young mommy.

I'm Not Sure What I Was Thinking

Every year I make a resolution to start journaling.  I always do.  Start, that is.  Then I peter out when life gets inevitably more hectic.  I'm not sure why I thought blogging would be so much different.  But alas, here I am after 6 weeks of not blogging.  I should vow it will never happen again, but lets be honest here, friends...it will.  So enjoy this while you can.

So fall is in full swing here.  Real fall.  Not SoCal fall, where the leaves just give up the will to live in the unatural heat, turn brown and fall off the trees.  The streets here are on fire in reds and yellows and oranges. (Santa Clarita friends:  my street is not actually on fire.  I know that out there that statement might ring too true.)  The weather is gorgeous, jackets and sweaters have been donned and kids are downing hot chocolate by the vat.  I forgot how much I love Autumn.  We are starting to see peeks of the coming months, with frost covered lawns and nights that dip into the twenties.  We turned the heat on a couple weeks ago, but really only use it in the mornings.  I'm not sure how long this will last, but while it does I am enjoying it.

So to cover a couple of the events over the last few weeks:

The Cooper family 5K.  So members of my family decided that they wanted to run a 5K.  Some members.  Not me.  I only run when I'm am being chased by a murderer or a bear.  And then I'm just as likely to lay in the ground and play dead as I am to actually run.  I have prayed for a love of running, I really have, but to no avail.  So anyway, they all wanted to run a 5K and I guess there wasn't one happening at a time that everyone could make it, so we made are own.  I thought we should make t-shirts, but no one jumped on te idea of crafting and running, so it was a no go.  I was the water girl and I have to say a pretty fine one.  I also sang the Chariots of Fire theme song as they ran past.  I think it really helped.  Isaac had a football game that morning  so he and Ben headed there for warm ups while Evie, Cooper and I stayed behind. Cooper actually ran the thing. He came in third, right behind my brother, who is training for the FBI and my baby sister, who is training to get herself a man! (sorry Joy!) Evie ran half of it, keeping up with my sister, and when you consider how short her little legs are, I consider that the whole thing. I was really proud of Cooper and he was super proud of himself. Up to that point he'd never run more than a mile at a time. I guess football conditioning is paying off

Speaking of football.  It is over. 

On the second weekend of November, we had our firstever sisters weekend.  The original plan was for everyone to come out to California and spend the weekend.  Well, I kind of messed up the plan when I moved.  So then the plan was Vegas, which I vetoed because Vegas is a cess pool.  (Sorry people who love Vegas, but it is).  Anyway somehow we went from weekend in SoCal to weekend at my house in Ammon.  We live the high life, I tell ya.  It was still really fun.  Everyone was there except for one sis-in-law (missed you Tamra) and we ate good food, saw a movie, made hair bows, ate more good food did some other stuff and just enjoyed each other's company.  These are the times when I quit feeling sorry for myself and actually enjoy living here.  I never would have been able to do this last year, especially in the middle of October.  I have great sisters and it was nice to have that reminder.

So let's see what else...honestly, not anything exciting.  The last few weeks have been a crazy mixture of football (5 days a week), school carnivals, scouts, homework, church and family.  The days last forever but the weeks, and as far as October goes, months, fly by.  We are alive, thriving and trying to find our place here.  It works better some days then others, but today we are happy.

Stay tuned for the Halloween week that never seemed to end.