Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Can you believe all this snow? This is incredible! I'm not sure there is much that is more beautiful than watching big flakes come down and cover tree branches and all. Gorgeous! Or anything as wonderful as hot chocolate to warm you up! I gotta say, snow was lots of fun back when we were kids, and now that we have kids we get to relive the magic! Here are some pictures of our week:

Turns out that this year, Jell LOVES sledding! In fact, since the first day it snowed was Sunday and all (church was canceled of course - Oregon doesn't invest in snow plows and won't injure the environment with nasty salt), we reverently walked to the temple and sled down the hilly streets there.

Our first efforts of building a snowman this year:

Nice nose:

Meri's not too sure about this. Then again, I'm not sure she can see what's going on:

When snow doesn't pack well (the first snow storm dropped about 3 inches of really cold, dry, powdery snow), you improvise and make snow castles instead:

However, after much determination on Jell's part, and much effort on Mama's part, we did make a rather lovely snow lady (all of about 1 foot tall. max).

And while I was searching through our grown-over garden for eyes, noses, and mouths, I pulled this monstrosity of a carrot out of the ground. We kinda forgot about it:

We may, however, have spent too much time out in the snow - especially after getting another storm today that dropped perfect packing snow. But we were still happy, and for once, managed to get a complete family photo with everybody smiling and looking at the camera:

In case we're too covered with snow for you to tell who's who, here some close-ups. Naturally, this pig-tailed girl is Jelly:

This one, of course, is Meri:

This goofy grin belongs to Mama (who is sporting some creepy different colored eyes):

And this sweet comb-over dude is our no. 1 Dad who looks to be doing jumping jacks while holding hands with mom (and by the way, Jell said with wide-eyed wonder about this guy, "That is the tallest snowman ever I see'd):

But at some point we do have to come in and shake off the snow. Meri has mastered the art of warming up with the discovery that warm air blows out of the vents. So whenever she's cold, she gathers all her valuables and hogs the airflow. I hear linoleum is rather comfortable these days.