Winter Has Arrived and Other Such Things

Over the last two weeks, temps have plummeted and several inches of snow have fallen.  While I'm happy that winter has taken a little longer to arrive than last year, when it literally started snowing in October and didn't stop until April, it was still a bit of a rough adjustment for me.  Despite growing up in one of the coldest places in the US (Minnesota), winter and me do not get along so well and I struggle with my mental health during the winter months.

  The biggest of the snowstorms dropped about 6ish inches on us,

but the snow was so dense and heavy, it took us nearly an hour for two of us to clear a strip just wide enough to back one car out. 

We will definitely be looking into more powerful snow shoveling/snow blowing options should we stay in Northern Utah long-term, but for now we continue to shovel the old-fashioned way...with shovels. 

Because of the aforementioned weight and density of that particular snowstorm, it took even Utah natives off guard, and roads (especially side roads) were terrible for a couple days.  They canceled the 2nd hour of church that Sunday for the EQ and YM to go dig people out.   Thankfully we live on a road that gets plowed early and often, so it's not an issue of us getting out, it's when we get off the main roads and into neighborhood roads/ parking lots, that we started slipping around.

 

 

In the meantime, I am getting tired of treadmill workouts  and the gray, cloudy skies that seem to hanging over us of late.  

Here are a few other tidbits from the last week or two...

I not only made some more sourdough and talked Cami through making her first batch with some starter I brought to her on my last trip out there...

but I made enough for Glen to take an unbaked load with him to Saint George...a fact which made him very happy....

 

 

 

We also sent a loaf on same-day delivery to one of my Thailand boys in the MTC.  He was a HUGE fan of my bread at a couple of Thailand reunion events (and he is mildly obsessed with energy drinks), so we figured we'd send him off with some fun travel food before he embarked on an early morning travel day to Florida....

Ellie said goodbye to our Alabama peeps...

and arrived home in the middle of some newly falling snow which pretty much froze to ice by the morning time. 

I also greatly enjoyed getting pics of Lucie wearing a couple new dresses I got for her.  I had noticed a little girl in our ward who always wears the cutest clothes.  I finally asked her Mom where she got them from and she told me she was the marketing director for this cute local boutique, for which she now gives me the scoop on when clearance sales are about to kick in! The clothes are so classy; I may be a little obsessed (though not obsessed enough to pay full price...haha!)

I finally planned a menu again!   We eat so much better when I menu plan, but it is one of the things that tends to slide when life gets out of routine or crazy (like the holidays).  

Also, I got called up for jury selection.   It was my first time that I could actually go, because homeschooling and breastfeeding, had excused me every other time.   I didn't end up getting selected, but I was happy to do my civic duty and have the experience. 

While we were getting snowed on here, there was a huge swath of wintry air pretty much blanketing the whole country.  It snowed in DC, Philly, Alabama, Texas, and other places that don't get hit very often.   But Portland got hit almost worse than any other place, because they got snow AND ice.  Adam was without power for a couple days and they were stuck inside for almost an entire week.   After talking to him on his p-day, I got the impression they were all a little stir-crazy, so I decided to Doordash them some lunch.  (A joy of having a stateside missionary!)  I tipped the driver well for driving in that weather and I think brought them a little smile on that icy day!   

And, last but not least, we just sent our Ellie girl off on a grand adventure.  She's off-track at BYU-Idaho this semester and, for multiple reasons that we supported,  decided that spending it at  home is not what she wanted to do. 

So...off she goes...starting in the Phoenix area with a roommate who's also off-track...