The Year of Snow

We were looking forward to a good winter with cold and snow when we moved back, and Idaho did not disappoint this year. It has been the snowiest winter on record!! For reals. It was also SUPER cold. We officially beat the record with over 90 inches of snow this year...and we are supposed to get more. January was the worst. We got so much snow. From Nov. 28-Jan. 4 we got 41 inches. I can't find right now how much snow we got in January, but it was a lot. Along our driveway and out into the road were snow piles much taller than me. And it was so cold that the snow never melted, it just kept piling up. It was beautiful and magical. I love the snow! The only thing that got a little old was having to shovel the driveway everyday, or sometimes multiple times a day. I would sneak out every time Lincoln was sleeping and I got a chance which made it hard to get anything else accomplished when all my baby free moments were spent shoveling. But snow makes everything beautiful and calm. I haven't minded it one bit. Next winter will probably feel like such a disappointment after this year.
The snow hasn't stopped coming yet either. It finally all melted away and we had rain for a couple of days and then on Friday we got 18 inches again!! I think it is supposed to snow again this week too.

 Matthew has a bad habit of chewing on his clothes. He had chewed on his sweater all day at school so it was all wet, and it was so cold outside that it froze solid when he walked home from school. You couldn't bend it or move it at all. Not funny, but it was kind of funny. I think they had like 4 snow days in January this year! We never get snow days in Idaho.

 Landon loves going out to play in the snow but he doesn't last long because he gets frustrated that the snow is so deep he can't walk. And it was super cold...like 4 degrees.

 So much snow. Always so much snow.

 We built an ice cave for the boys!

 I don't love all the pine trees in my yard, but I will say that they are very beautiful all covered in snow.

This was from our last snowstorm in February, just the other day.

And speaking of snow, we went on a winter retreat with the residency in January to Harriman State Park up my Island Park. All the snow made it a true winter retreat. But the cold weather was a little extreme. In the mornings when we would walk from our cabin to the main lodge for breakfast it was -30 degrees!! I'm not making that up. It was SOOO cold. A 500 yard walk never felt so long. I would try and keep the baby warm while my own eyes were watering and freezing and my toes and fingers felt like they wanted to fall off in that short time. But by the afternoons the sun would come out and warm things up to like 23 degrees and it was beautiful for sledding, snow shoeing, and just playing in the snow. We found the perfect sledding hill the first day and the kids played on it for hours. It was perfect because it was long and not too steep so the ride lasted a while and even Landon could walk back up on his own. The next day our sled broke because it was too cold and bitter-that was a bummer. We decided to get our own cabin instead of staying in the bunk house and that was the best decision ever. We slept great, baby stayed warm, we had a quiet place to let kids nap, and didn't have to worry about our stuff getting scattered everywhere. Can't wait until next year. I didn't take very many pictures but it was BEAUTIFUL up there. On the way home our car vents got stuck in the closed position because it was too cold and so we had to ride all the way from Harriman State Park to Mandi's house in Rexburg with no heat. It was -23 degrees when we left I believe. All the kids were crying because they were so cold and even Justin and I were bouncing around and trying to stay warm cause we were pretty sure we weren't going to make it before we froze. It made me think of the Pioneers.
 One afternoon I walked back the cabin with Landon and Lincoln in the sled and they both fell asleep. Perfect way to start a nap!
They had rented fat bikes and one day the women went out for a snow bike ride. They were really fun actually! Pictured from left to right: Leah Barrus, Annalee Hirschi, Carissa Conover I think, Lindsey Clyde, me, Holly Jensen