A Morales Minute

I think winter has decided it likes to be here. Snow has fallen again. Schools were on a 2 hour delay...again.  I can't get over how beautiful it is. I took this picture looking out from our garage out across the street  after I got back from taking Olivia and Emily to school. When school is delayed or canceled Jaime still has to go in to work at the regular time. I'd like Jaime to be able to have the days off when school is canceled but he's on a different contract than the teachers. I am grateful that his school is just a mile down the road now. I don't stress as much about him driving long on dangerous roads.  We got another couple inches. I think it's ironic that today, the last day of the month it snows again and tonight the school board is meeting to discuss what to do about the school schedule and graduation date because of all the school closures. And guess what, we still have more snow in our forecast for later this week. 😁

As if all this snow hasn't canceled enough school. We also got a nice bout of freezing rain. It really covered everything with a nice 1/4-1/2 inch of ice. There was no doubt that school would be canceled the next day.  I went to the church to play volleyball. Almost didn't make it walking to my car to get home. hahaha When I got home I took this picture of the shiny road and driveway.  Slick! Ice on top of ice on top of snow on top of the patio table I liked the frozen rain chain.  Those cups are frozen solid! It's been so cold. Going outside hurts the face when the air touches it. It reminds me of living in Rexburg. You had to cover your face when you went outside or you would feel your nose hairs freeze. It's been crazy cold like that here. 

One afternoon we went to Grandview to visit Aunt Mel and Grandpa while Mom and Dad were on their cruise. It's a winter wonderland in Grandview as well. The snow had slowly been melting, then freezing, then melting creating huge icicles all over houses and buildings.  Some icicles were so long hanging off the back of the porch that Tyler stood on a chair and licked one! I don't think any kid whose ever been around snow and icicles hasn't tried eating or licking them.  I showed this meme to the kids one day. It's how we all felt with the frigid temperatures. The snow stopped falling for a while and it was clear skies, bringing in single digit temps. Brrr!

January has brought lots and lots of snow to us this year. So much that the kids have had 8 school days canceled and even more days with 2 hour delays. Throw in the days already planned off like the end of Christmas break and Martin Luther King Jr. Day and end of trimester days and that makes even more days of no school.  The kids have had so much fun digging and playing in the snow.  They'd go sledding and be gone for hours! I couldn't believe how long they'd stay out in the cold. They'd come back inside still as happy as could be.  There were large piles of snow by all the driveways from shoveling. The kids liked to dig inside the piles and make caves and tunnels.  Lindsey's in there some where! They liked to sit inside and stay warm. As cold as it was I have no doubt that inside their snow caves it did feel warmer being able to have a barrier from the cold air on their faces.  When it was snowing and the sun was shinin

With so many snow days even Darin's work had canceled shifts. Darin is so busy with work and his own projects around his house so when he said that he'd help Aidan with his derby car I was so relieved. Jaime and I aren't DIYers and definitely don't have tools to build anything with wood. Darin has all we needed and then some.  Darin was so good to instruct Aidan how to do everything.  Darin was good to let Aidan have some hands on work while staying close by to help guide. It didn't take them long to cut the shape of the car.  Nest up was the sanding.  In less than an hour the car was cut and sanded. Another day Darin went shopping with Aidan and I to get the other things we need for the car like the weights, graphite, paint, and of course Aidan's fire decals. :) I really, really appreciate Darin's kindness and patient help in working with Aidan.

On one of the days school was canceled Darin and I and Aidan went to go shopping for some derby car items and make a stop at a vacuum/sewing shop so Darin could try and order a part for a steam mop.  While Darin was taking care of what he needed to Aidan and I walked around looking at the sewing stuff. He was in awe over this quilting machine. It was programmed to quilt a design and then the lady left. Aidan stood watching most of project. He said I needed to get one since it sews by itself because then I could make dinner while it's sewing. I just laughed and said probably not. He responded with, "Well when I'm grown up I'm going got get my wife one so she can still cook and clean while it sews." I laughed out loud!! Love this kid.  One day Tyler ran outside to see if Ren could play. I told him to put on a coat and shoes before he left. When he came back, Ren wasn't home, I said, "Why do you have socks and sandals on!?" He said, "It&

Sometimes unfortunate things will happen. I understand that. And you know what they say, when it rains it pours. I guess we haven't had a pour out of unfortunate events but a steady drizzle. In the last six months we've needed to replace all four tires on my van, replace a garage door opener, replace the battery in my van, replace the windshield in my van, replace our microwave, and our most recent repair was my dryer. The heating element broke. Brian was the last one to use the dryer when he was here and a couple days later I used it and there was no heat. hahaha I had to laugh that it's last run was on Brian's load. You'd think that it'd happen during a full laundry day where I had load after load going. So for a couple days I washed just a few things we needed and then let them hang to dry. Because it's so cold outside the furnace runs a bit more so I just hang the clothes over my drying rack standing on top of the vent in the laundry room. Clothes dry up

I swear we just celebrated Aidan's 8th birthday and he was baptized. Oh wait he did! Only three months ago! And then today we went to Great to be Eight for the kids who will be turning eight this year...and Tyler is one of them! December 23rd this year Tyler will be baptized. I really can hardly believe it.  The gift all the 'soon to be 8' kids received from the Primary presidency was a towel with CTR sewn on by our amazing and talented president, Sister Kellie Walters. She's my visiting teaching companion and I love to see her craftiness. She is so talented. She makes amazing quilts! Along with the towel was a CTR silicone ring (a blue ring! His favorite color) tied with a poem and ribbon. There are a total of 16 kids being baptized this year. That's not counting any new move ins that are always possible. I don't have toddlers anymore. Watching my kids grow up is fun but I do count the lasts that will happen still. Tyler will be the last of m

To end 2016 we hit the road and headed to higher ground. We were invited by Sarah and Brandon to stay at a cabin with them in Cle Elum. When we got there everything was covered in a couple feet of snow. It was so pretty.  The kids kept busy inside with play dough, stickers, coloring, video games, movies, and playing games.  Olivia put lots of detail work in her play dough animals. We got the kids all bundled up and they hit the snow. Brandon, Mason, Olivia, Aidan, and Lindsey The decks had so much snow on them it made the guard rails look useless. It was a very cozy cabin. We'd have the fire on and drank cocoa after coming in from the snow.  Tyler and Mason Jaime and Brandon carried all the kids to and from the hot tub so they wouldn't have to leave their boots sitting out in the falling snow or step into their boots after they were all wet.  Nice and Steamy Lindsey liked walking in the snow anyway. She