Snowmaggedon 2016!!

The days following the great blizzard were very laid back, mainly because we were snowed in and couldn't go anywhere. The plows didn't even get to our neighborhood until Tuesday! The kids ended up having the entire following week off of school so we tried to come up with fun things to do. Noah and I spent one afternoon outside sledding. Well, he did the sledding; I just took pictures!

It was a little rough going at first until we got a better run dug out for him...

then he just flew!

Wipe out!

I'm okay, mom!

It was certainly easy to hang out in the tree!

He loved the snow cave.

And he wanted to show how high the shoveled snow in front of our house was!

The kids spent a lot of their time outside playing in the snow! Not only did they do some sledding, they built snow caves and snow forts and had huge neighborhood snowball fights!

I caught Savannah's snowball mid-air in this picture!

Noah was smart and got some protection.

Even the missionaries got involved in the fun!

Elder Shumway was getting transferred and had come to say goodbye; he had no idea what he was walking into!

There were also plenty of inside activities, including dress up and nerf gun battles;

a movie - Kung Fu Panda 3 - with our friends Akua and Nana;

and lunch at Noodles.

The kids also enjoyed a Harry Potter movie marathon which of course inspired some major wizard duels around the house!

We definitely took advantage of the snow days!

The Blizzard of 2016

All winter long we would get forecasts of snow and then just a little dusting would occur....or sometimes nothing at all. So when we first heard reports that a huge blizzard was coming our way I think we were all a little skeptical. But the forecast lasted all week so I made sure that a few days before it was supposed to hit I stocked up on food, water, video games, and movies. A lot of people waited until the day of and by that time the shelves were bare. Good thing we were prepared because this storm ended up being no joke. They said it would hit around 5:00 Friday evening and, sure enough, the flakes started to fall right around that time. By the time we woke up Saturday morning there was quite an accumulation!

Although it was still snowing the boys were eager to go outside and play in the first real snow we got all season.

Reveling in the snowy goodness!

After about 45 minutes the boys were done. It was super cold, especially as the wind started to pick up.

Definitely time for some hot cocoa to warm up those rosy red cheeks!

By 3:00 Saturday afternoon the wind was really blowing and we had a full on blizzard on our hands! I was impressed with this little bird who, despite the strong winds and our cats, spent the afternoon hanging out on our deck.

Blizzard conditions all Saturday afternoon...

and into the night!

Sunday morning we woke up to bright sunshine, huge snow drifts, and a total accumulation of 30 inches of snow! My car wasn't too bad but because of the wind, David's car got buried!  All that was visible were the windshield wipers!

The sidewalks and road were gone!

The deck was covered! Good thing our kitties have their cat house!

Noah was eager to help uncover David's car.

Poor David - time to dig us out!

Of course the kids loved every second of it!

My three cuties!

They thought it was hilarious that they didn't even need to climb the tree - they just walked right into the branches!

And the fun begins - snow caves...

and snow ball fights!

Wow! What a storm!