Snowmageddon

Updates on Clifton -
Has played out in the snow for at least a couple hours every day.

Updates on McKay -
Is such a home body so she has loved having the whole week off of school and at home.

Updates on Stanley -
Also has played in the snow every single day and won't stop eating it.

Updates on Hazen -
His first tooth has popped through!

It snowed all night Sunday and into Monday.  We got dumped on!

About 22 inches.  That is the most snow I have ever seen here. The last time they had this much snow was 50 years ago!  So school, work, everything was shut down!  We were forced to stay home and play in the snow.  It was amazing!

 The kids and I made an igloo, kind of.  Clifton lasted the longest.

We found the cutest bear in it later.

 SO MUCH SNOW!

Alex took a turn building.

It is all so beautiful!

I was super nervous about losing power.  And we did but only for a few hours!

We made the best of it while it lasted.

Tuesday we started to shovel our way out.

We still stayed home that day but we could get out if needed.

Since we didn't want to try to get to the driving range to sled we made our own track.  We call it the snowercoaster.

Wednesday we had another day at home, but we did get out to the store and back just fine.  Main roads are clear.  Since I wasn't sure if there would be school or not we put together our Valentines.

And after we finsihed we got a call that school was canceled.  My kids were sad to miss school on valentines day.  So I called a couple friends and said lets get together at our church.

I must love my kids cause I spent the night making 26 graham cracker houses for building love shacks.

Thursday we started Valentines day out right. Since we were stuck in our house we hadn't been able to do some of our Valentines kindness count down.  Having no school we were able to get to the assisted living center and hadn't out flowers/valentines cards.

Such a good morning.

Then we headed to our church with friends.

Pretty sure my kids were happy with their Valentines day.
And we all wore our shirts we made!

I love these crazies and that they all still love wearing matching shirts.

Friday school got canceled again.  So we spent more time in the snow.

That night we had planned a Valentines Stake Dance and decided to still go through with it.

We danced through the ages and dressed up as our favorite decade... the 90's Wayne and Garth.  Party on!

Sunday after church we got to meet cute little piglets.

Oh my goodness they were so cute!  Thanks to Dallin for showing us around the barn.

And if the pigs were not cute enough... Hazen and piglets puts the cherry on top.

That night we all said our goodbyes to Daddy as he heads to Florida/Georgia for the next two weeks.

Grandpa Hazen's Funeral

Updates on Clifton. -
I am now his den leader and I love that he is happy with that.  I am sure one day he won't want me around so I will enjoy it while he still thinks I am pretty cool.

Updates on McKay -
A couple times this week I witnessed McKay reaching out to someone who was feeling left out.  It made my heart burst.  She is so sensitive to being left out herself, so I am very grateful she recognizes others who might be feeling left out.  I hope she keeps that quality!

Updates on Stanley -
Insists on being only in underwear.

Updates on Hazen -
6 months old!  Seriously how???  Please oh please slow down.

We spent the night in a hotel and everyone was happy about that.

 I didn't have to make breakfast and they had lots to choose from.

Hazen especially enjoyed the strawberries.

It was a beautiful service.  I got to share my Grandpas WW2 memories that he had shared with me.  I hate speaking in front of people but it was such a healing experience.  He was such a great man!

It was so nice to visit with cousins I hadn't seen in forever, meet an Uncle, and talk with old friends.

I was so sad that it was snowing in Port Orchard and that school got canceled for the day and we missed all the fun.  But as soon as we got to the grave site it started to snow.  I am positive it was Grandpa's last I love you to me.  It was such a beautiful ceremony!

It was a nice time celebrating his life and being with friends and family.

As soon as we got home we played in the snow.

Luckily they had late start the next day so we got to go sledding before it all melted.

 Always fun and we got the whole place to ourselves.

My favorite place to go when it snows... our pond.

We jumped right back into our 14 days of Love count down...

 Making Valentines for Grandparents.

 Thank you notes for our teachers.

Cookies for our neighbors.

The news was saying we were going to get hit by a huge snowstorm.  So these guys and the rest of the South Sound hit up Costco to prepare.  I was 100% sure the storm wasn't going to hit as hard as they expected because we are all prepared.

But it started to snow Friday.  Then kept snowing Saturday...

We made sure to get out and enjoy it all.  Oh how I LOVE the snow in the PNW we freak out and stop everything and stay home.  Yay that might sound silly to others but I enjoy a forced day at home in "snowed in".  Except it is all fun and games till I lose my phone in 10 inches of snow at the golfing range while sledding.  We had a huge group looking for it and it seriously just disappeared into the snow and died so we couldn't call it.

We made it to church, the roads were not great but we made it slowly.  Then the boys and I went for a hike to the big pond.  And it just kept snowing Sunday!

So much beauty!
Then this happened!

I have tried to feed the deer many times since moving in here and it hasn't happened.  But they must have been hungry enough and there was 7 of them.  It was magical.  It was snowing and beautiful outside and I was feeding deer in my backyard.  Yep my dreams do come true!

Other fun from the week...

 While it snowed we crafted and made our Valetine's shirts.