Snow!

This weekend has been filled with fun snow events. Up until last week we had no snow. Now we've got a couple feet and it's still coming down. We probably got about 18 inches just this weekend. Craziness! But fun too. I love good snowstorms. We didn't make it to church because they never plow our circle and I got stuck. I guess there were only like 10 families who managed to dig out and make it to church. Snow day!

On Friday Jake and I went skiing at Sundance. We decided the winters are so long in Midway that we need to start having more fun in the snow, so we got season passes. Good thing because it's going to take me all season to figure out how to ski. Friday was pretty sad on my part. Poor Jake is probably wondering why he married someone who is so untalented in snow sports. Oh well, at least I try:)

On Saturday we took the kids to watch a ski race at Soldier Hollow. It was the olympic qualifier for the event (not sure what the event was called). Super cool though. There were people competing from all over the world. It was fun to hear all the different languages. Those guys are crazy good on skis. Fun.

Poor Jake started shoveling snow today at 7:45 and didn't finish until 10:00. Poor guy. I don't feel too bad for him though. He refuses to buy a snow blower because he just wants to get a 4-wheeler one day. Although even the snow blowers had a hard time because the snow is so heavey. I can only lift like half a shovel at a time. We had to play in the snow because how can you pass up snow like this. The piles are so high from our driveway that the kids have their own sledding hill in our front yard. Very fun. Jake is currently using a 4-wheeler to plow the street in front of our driveway. The city came and did two passes in the circle and then left, leaving a huge pile of snow still in front of our driveway. Got to love what our taxes pay for. So yes, winters are long in Midway, but at least we have fun.

One Last Push

Every mountain climb has its challenges, but the hardest part is usually the push to the summit. It's usually the steepest, but its also hard because you're already tired from the rest of the climb.

My family and I have been climbing one of our biggest mountains yet, and I believe we're now starting our push to the summit. The cancer is taking over in my mom. The pain is becoming greater and we scramble to find the right drugs to keep her out of pain.

As we begin this last push we all gather together, for we won't make it alone. We climb, one foot in front of the other. When we become too weary, "the handcart pushes us", as angels help us to the top. For my mom this is her last summit, at least in this life. The rest of us will have more mountains to climb, but for now, this is our Everest. I know we will make it because that is what our mom taught us to do. When we reach the summit with the beautiful view below will it have been worth it? I say yes. Yes if we can climb with courage and grace, able to say that we came closer to God in the process.

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, and on, on to the victory!" D&C 128:22

The Attack

I don't know about the rest of you, but I could definitely use some more humor in my life. For this reason, I'll share my unfortunate incident with you.

Our back yard neighbors have a horse and chickens. They've had some bad health, so we've been feeding their animals for them. Most of you know that I am not an animal person. I feed the animals with the smallest amount of interaction possible.

Well, the chickens have been out of food for a couple of days. Don't worry all you animal lovers, they'll have more food tonight. This morning when I got to the chicken coop I noticed that they all seemed bunched up around the door more than usual. Oh well, I thought, they're just chickens. What can they do? Big mistake. Obviously I don't have a lot of chicken experience. So I opened the door to get the water buckets to fill them up. When I reached in the big black, scary looking rooster attacked me. He flew up at me and pecked at me. Luckily I was wearing my big puffy coat and leather work gloves, so the damage was minimal. I screamed of course, and having not dealt with chickens before my first instinct was to kick it and teach it that I cannot be pecked at. That works for dogs so why would chickens be any different (not that I've ever kicked a dog:). Well, just an FYI, don't kick chickens. Or maybe you can kick chickens, but definitely not roosters. It started attacking me. More flapping wings, more pecking. I kicked back a couple of times and then I realized that I was at a definite disadvantage and started retreating. The rooster chased me all the way to the end of the barn before it decided I was no longer a threat and left. I finally calmed down and stopped screaming just in time to look over and see the rest of the chickens escaping the coop. Blasted chickens. Do you think they had this planned? The great chicken escape. Needless to say, I wasn't about to get them back in the coop. So they will enjoy a day of freedom until Jake gets to them (supposedly they'll re-enter the coop at night).

Moral of the story: keep chickens well fed and if one attacks you DO NOT fight back. Play dead.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was good. Not as relaxing as in years past, but good all the same. I got to make thanksgiving dinner with my Aunt Barbra. Good thing she was there or I probably would have had a panic attack. I was in the kitchen all of Weds. afternoon and Thursday morning. Jake kept watching me go crazy and shaking his head as to why I would put myself through all of that. Right now I'm not sure it was worth it. That food I spent hours slaving over sure disappeared quickly. But I'll probably be ready to do it again by next year. I am proud of myself for pulling it off. The only minor problem was that the turkey had to cook 30 minutes longer than we planned, but other than that everything was perfect. My mom was there in the background giving much needed advice and saving the gravy.

On Friday we headed to Boise for my grandma's 80th birthday party. 80 years is a long time. I hope I look like she does if I live to be 80. My cousin Jen was super nice and let us all ride her horse. The kids even got on and seemed to enjoy it. They know what they're doing on a horse more than I do.

All in all, a good weekend. I'm grateful for all of the good memories I can get right now. They keep you going when times get tough.