Happy Valentines Day!

Winter 2016-2017

For the past couple days we have enjoyed warmer temperatures and serious snow melt.  We can finally see our lawn which has been covered since the first part of December.  However, as I write this, snow is falling heavily with the prediction of 1-2".  The good news is that it will probably warm to rain by this afternoon and melt everything that is falling this morning.  Nonetheless, for those who are used to a "normal" Boise winter (20" of snow with no more than 5" on the ground at any given time), the snowfall this morning is disheartening.  Although the winter we experienced in Boise this season may be pretty normal for those in Iowa or Michigan, it has been termed the Snowpocalypse of 2017 in Boise.  Here is why:

A Boise mom designed these badges for a fun fundraiser for the Boise homeless shelter.

1.  This winter has broken a few weather records and has come near to breaking others.

• Most snow on the ground at Christmas since 1983 
• After a January storm we had the most snow on the ground at one time since they began keeping records in 1940 (>15")
• 6th coldest winter since 1875
• 8th snowiest December since 1898
• Over 35" of snow this winter so far

2.  All the snow, combined with some rain has created a nasty recipe for roofing disasters.  Walmart closed all their stores in the area one day to remove snow from their roofs.  Roofers have told people whose roofs are leaking (mostly due to ice dams), "If your roof hasn't collapsed, don't plan on us much before spring."  Cloverdale URC is in the "leaky roof, wait until spring" category.

3.  The Ada County Highway Department typically does not budget to clear residential roads.  Usually snowfall is 1-3" in warmer weather so it melts before they can get to the them.  This winter, however, this did not occur.  The highways and main roads were kept pretty clear, but ADHA realized they had a problem when no one could drive on those clear roads because people couldn't get out of their subdivision!

Just to give a little bit of an idea of what we had to drive through to get out of our neighborhood.

4.  Related to #3...Russ and the boys pushed neighbors out of snow on the neighborhood streets more times than they can count.  We had a couple days when we were a one vehicle family--nothing but the 4-wheel drive Expedition was leaving the driveway.

5.  Some avid skiers who enjoy going up into the mountains to find snow have found that it has lost its appeal this winter.  Coming back into the valley where there has been over a foot of snow on the ground all winter has made the mountain snow anticlimactic.  As one skiing family in our church put it, "We are so over it."   I am sure there are still many avid skiers who have loved this winter, however. 

6.  The Boise schools have had six snow days (these are the first we have had since moving here)--some related to the actual snow and road conditions and some due to facility issues because of the snow.  Our kids have had three at CVCS.  (The six snowflakes on the above badge are for each snow day in the Boise school district:)

7.  Our evening women's BSF class had never cancelled class before (as long as most of them could remember, anyway).  Always confusing on what lessons to cover when you return to class...

Needless to say we are looking forward to spring and track season!!

Christmas Break

Some of these activities occurred before we were officially finished with school for Christmas break, but since they involve Christmas I threw them in this blog post.

Caroling to the shut-ins and seniors with the youth group

Youth group Christmas party.  This year besides the boisterous gift exchange we also had an ugly sweater contest and a Spoons tournament.

 Anna was runner-up in the ugly Christmas sweater contest.

Nicolas was one of the Spoons tournament winners.  I thought the little red ruffle on the neck of his sweater was a nice touch.

Women's Bible study Christmas tea.  

Lydia with the little guy she babysat on Tuesday mornings so her mom could attend the Bible study.

Seth was a wise man for the Christmas Sunday school program.  Caleb and Nicolas also put their talents to use playing the violin/viola and cello for the church services.

Russ had the opportunity to go to the FCA prayer breakfast which is always the morning before the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.  Last year Nicolas and Russ went together, but this year unfortunately Nicolas had a Dr. appt that he needed to keep for the Air Force Academy, so he missed out.  Tom Osborne was the keynote speaker.  Wonder if Russ enjoyed that?  He was also given four tickets to the bowl game so the boys had a football night out to watch the Idaho Vandals take on Colorado State.   It was FREEZING so they only made it to half time before coming back home to get warm.  Russ looks like he had a little too much tailgating?

We had lots of snow so enjoyed snowman making, sledding, and just playing around in the white stuff.

I thought Anna made a darling Olaf.

Puzzles.  There is a gentleman in the church who enjoys fixing puzzles as much as Anna.  He (or his wife) often give Anna some of their most challenging puzzles to fix.  This time it was the 3D United States Capitol building and a very difficult Christmas tree.  Caleb and Anna spent several hours one day on the 3D puzzle but finished it the same day they started.  The Christmas tree puzzle took about four days, however, even with everyone periodically helping Anna out.

Playmobil.  I'm glad they still enjoy playing with their Playmobil sets.  I even caught Caleb helping Seth set up some of the stores and houses.

Dot and Dash.  We borrowed these cute little guys from the library and Seth spent many hours programming these robots to say and do cute things.  Zoe was not thrilled, however.

And finally...Tamarack Resort.  A dear couple gifted the family with a couple night stay at a resort near McCall, ID which is a couple hours north of us.  We enjoyed the beauty of the drive, tried snowshoes for the first time, and just enjoyed getting away and having fun family time.

These first three pictures were taken from a scenic lift ride.   Lake Cascade is frozen now but you can still see how picturesque this must be in the summer as well.

The Payette River on the way up to Tamarack.  Aren't those trees just gorgeous?

Our supra comfortable home for a few nights.

Waiting in the lobby to get our snowshoes.

I was here too, but, hey, someone had to take the picture!

When we started out it was snowing quite heavily.  By the time we returned it had cleared up.  You can kind of tell on the clearness of the pictures where we were on our trek.  Snowshoeing did not give us much of a cardiovascular workout as along as we stayed on the trails (my hip and quad muscles sure felt it the next day, though!).  We were given permission to trail blaze, so of course the boys had to get off the beaten path and give us all more of a workout.

When we returned we grabbed something to eat and enjoyed a nice soak in the hot tub!

Look at the depth of that snow on the roof and pillars!