Fickle!

I am learning that during spring in Utah you can have a beautiful day like this one day . . .

And wake up the next morning to this!

This was conference weekend for those of you who are LDS, you may remember that the Saturday sessions of general conference we had weather like the top picture (that was April 2nd) and then Sunday morning they showed pictures of temple square looking like a winter wonderland (April 3rd). It was actually really pretty and didn't last long even considering how much snow fell, but still! That is quite a difference!

Our neighbor's beautiful tree.

Shoveling in shorts - must be spring snow!

We just got this baby all set up! The net got so weighed down we had to go shake it off. This snowstorm actually broke a lot of trees because the snow was so wet and heavy.

Spring Snow!

Doesn't it look like Twilight LOVES romping around in the snow? (O:

Right when I was getting the itch to pack away all our snow gear and really starting to get spring fever, we got a big snow storm. I should know better, it was still February and we are in Utah for heaven's sake. (o: The kids were thrilled to have another day to perfect their snowman building skills and played all afternoon in the snow.





No carrots in the fridge - so our snowmen had "fluffy" celery noses.

Sledding at Grandma's Hill

Just after Christmas, we got some pretty good snow. We heard grandma and grandpa had a good hill close to their house so we planned a spontaneous sledding party! Grandma and Grandpa and Lisa and Kelly and the kids came! It was the perfect hill and there was plenty of room. We had so much fun trying out the sleds Santa gave us. We had a blast and laughed our heads off - all the adults took turns, we tried making trains and we even did a few runs where grandpa counted and everyone came down at the same time! I love Anna's hot chocolate mustache in the picture above. What an awesome day! The girls loved this new winter activity! By the time we were done, we couldn't wait to warm up, but it was fun while it lasted. Sarah must have gone up and down at least 30 times. She was crazy! Cute Cameron! I love getting more time with my sweet nieces and nephews! Natalie was pooped by the end and just collapsed in the snow.

More Snow!

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We got a lot of this white stuff before Christmas! The girls made this cute guy all by themselves with a few supplies from mom! They are loving the big backyard of their own fluffy stuff.

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Where Does All the White Go When the Snow Melts?

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One of the tippy top things on the girls list of why they were excited to move to Utah. And boy did they get a lot of it in November!

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I cannot get Natalie to stop eating snow - she is CONSTANTLY looking for a good patch and eating snow! (Even now, in February.) It is her new favorite food. The other day she found a stick and molded some snow around it to look like a marshmallow and she pretended to roast and eat it! What a hilarious kid.

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See - there she is again!

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Cute enough for a Christmas card. (o:

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All covered with snow.

November . . .

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As the boxes got unpacked and we began learning where to find things, we started settling into our new life and felt very grateful for everything that brought us to this point. It really is miraculous. I think it was so appropriate that all the feelings, changes and events of the last few months come to an end during a season of gratitude.

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Now does this look like "home" to you or what? Nat got all "cozy" one Sunday morning as we watched a little MoTab.

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Our yard has 16 rose bushes. Our last house had about 12, which I thought was too many. We will probably be replacing some of them, but until I decided which ones, I had to do some major pruning for winter. I got extra motivated just before a big snowstorm hit - I was out pruning in 25 mph winds all bundled up. I was happy to get it done - I think it took a good 3-4 hours that day. Phew!

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Angela and our white backyard!

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I couldn't resist getting a shot of my Eskimos before heading to school one morning! I don't remember why Sarah is wearing pajamas. Must have been a party. This was before our real Lands End snow boots arrived, so my poor girls had a couple days of tromping in the snow in their galoshes! Poor things!

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Angela wore this pilgrim hat she made at school for several days, including Thanksgiving. Here she is eating a "crabby patty" treat. I don't think the pilgrims ever tried one of these.

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Hank got to dive right in to his church calling in Young Men by heading up the youth talent night. We came to watch and support. It was fun to get a glimpse at our new ward's youth. They are great kids and I was amazed at the talent! The boy above did the cutest song from a Broadway show about an older man looking through his yearbook and singing about how he never got picked first for any teams, but he got picked by his wife to be with her and that's all that mattered. Such a cute song and he really did a good job.

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This is a familiar sight. I have similar pictures of the girls doing this at one of my YW activities in Hillsboro. (o: Some things never change.

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Lots of musical talents were shared - what a fun group of kids!! We have tons of youth in our ward which will be so fun for the girls as they grow up here.

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A new job to get used to!

Let it Snow!!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

See all that snow on the handrail? We woke up to that after one night! It was quite a sight! We were so excited! I wonder how long snow will be a novelty to us Oregonians? This was our first now storm after moving into the house and it made us feel extra cozy. Just look at that big back yard, just waiting for three little girls to tromp through the fresh snow!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

I just love how beautiful everything looks covered in white.

Crazy Hair Day

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

The second to last day of a week of dress up days at school for Drug Awareness, was crazy hair day. The girls came up with their own styles. I liked Sarah's it was basically just leaving it the way she woke up. Crazy hair day is a time saver! (o:

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Natalie wanted a ponytail right on top of her head.

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Angela had the cute idea to put forks in her hair. It turned out so fun.

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Crazy hair day also happened to be the first day we got snow in Utah!! Hooray! The girls were elated when they looked out the window. Natalie could not stop eating it. It is seriously one of her favorite foods now. I cannot get her to stop eating the stuff.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

The ride to school was extra pretty with the fresh snow on the trees.

Whirlwind Trip

Just about 30 hours after I landed in Salt Lake, I was headed back to Oregon, on the road this time. But before we got on the road after the funeral, we needed some sustenance. I was thrilled to squeeze in Costa Vida AND Training Table in my short visit. After a long day, this turkey bacon sandwich, pink lemonade and cheese fries made me feel so happy and warm inside. I miss this place. Bob* and I frequented Training Table in our college days and I think I've always ordered the same thing. Why mess with a good thing?

Andy has this face a lot in my pictures.


Around 5 or so, we hit the road with full bellies and a full tank of gas. Our goal was to make it to Boise that night. But the roads were not looking good so we wondered how long this trek before us was going to take. It had snowed all day and the roads were terrible in the morning to begin with. Good thing we pressed through it anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to see the roads improve quite quickly in northern Utah and into Idaho. (Although mom was driving and said the wind was terrible - pulling on the car.) We made pretty good time. It was so fun to be on a road trip with mom and dad and Chrissy. Kind of like the olden days, only Chrissy is grown up now and Russ and Andy were missing. We had a lovely time talking about the funeral, hearing about mom's family growing up, memories of her grandma that I'd never heard before, listening to a book on tape "Where's My Jetpack?" and doing "Coke or Pepsi?" surveys from a book with that title. It was so fun hanging out together and getting to know each other even better. I am so glad I got to do that road trip and would love to do that more often! (Minus the funeral part.) Chris and I also stifled giggles when mom got mad at dad for this and that or when dad did something funny. Good times. Thanks for being my backseat buddy Chris!

We also got to be roommates as well. Mom and dad were sweet and got us our own room! Too bad we were so pooped from the emotional day and we got to the hotel so late. We talked up the partying we would do, but once we got ready for bed I don't remember anything but turning out the lights.

The next day, we got an early start because we heard another storm was coming through the Gorge that might close it down. We did NOT want to be stuck in the Gorge - we wanted to get back to Portland. So we headed out around 6 or 7 (pretty early for us considering we got to the hotel around 11). The roads were actually quite good all the way until the Gorge - where the storm was dumping snow like crazy. It wasn't very cold though, which was nice - sort of. So rather than dealing with ice, we were dealing with driving in a foot deep of slush. It's probably just as hard or worse than ice because it makes the car drive really wonky. Chris and I were white knuckled in the back sighing and squealing every once in a while - driving my parents crazy. Hey just like when we were little! This is how much snow there was in the Dalles when we stopped for a break . Pretty eh?

We took a nice picture, hopped in the car and realized we were stuck! Chris and I mustered all our superpowers and did a nice photo shoot below. What you can't see in the picture is a nice man who thought we were totally nuts - waiting for our photo op to be done so he could come over and help us really get the car out. Chris and I gave it a good effort, we loosened it for the guy.

Well, after a long day of driving on crazy roads we made it back and we had a wonderful welcome from Bob* and the girls. We were relieved to have made it through before the roads closed, which I think they were later that night. Happy New Year's Eve to us!!