Snow, wind, cold, snow, wind cold ect.

January has been a very cold, windy month.  We made it to the Temple for our shift on the 3rd and the snow has begun.  The 4th brought snow and wind.  It was a white out and very dangerous to drive so we didn't even try to make it to the Temple today. We have begun a cycle that has lasted all month:  snow, wind and drifting, freezing rain, a day of sunshine and then the snow begins again.  The temperatures have been in the single digits, even as low as -5 and warms up to the high 20's.  The kids have had at least 5 snow days due to the drifting in the first two weeks.  They were able to get in a couple of half days before they had to close school to get the kids home before they couldn't get through north/south roads.   With the freezing rain, the roads are now solid ice beneath the snow. The Temple closed on the 9th for our two week break to clean and we decided it was a good year to just stay home.

 

Connie brought her car into our place so that she could ride into town with Josh and then take her car to Hazelton to work as they were being drifted in at their house.  Her car hasn't moved for the entire month.  Of course our snow blower isn't working and is now in the shop when we need it the most.

Dad used the shovel all morning

We are in town with a lot of protection.  You can only imagine how big the drifts are in the country.

The first big snow fall and more to come all month.  We have at least a foot in the back yard.

This storm was so wide spread that church was cancelled on a regional basis for the 8th of January.  That is the first time in my life time that this has happened. 

The Buhlers', Connie and Brent, were supposed to return from California but due to the snow and closed roads they were trapped in California an extra two weeks.  Lon worked at BZ 6 out of 10 days to help Angela so she could be home with her kids when there was no school.  She also lives north of town and it was impossible for her to get to town some days.

We happened to hit the sunshine days of our cycle just right.  We had dentist appointments in Boise with Scottie on the 16th.  The freeway was mostly clear and the next storm was coming in on Tuesday night so we headed to Boise on Monday and went straight to Nampa to see Val Dille and turn in our tax papers for him to do our taxes. We were at Scotties office from 1-4:30 and then went to spend the night with Deb and Doug in Star. 

Deb and Doug fixed dinner for us and Shayla and her family that evening.  It was great to get to visit with family after being pretty much snowed in for 2 weeks.  Boise has even more snow than we do this year.  Don't know where they will put the snow from the next storm that is coming tomorrow. 

Ryanne, Shayla, Gideon, Debbie, Nancy, Justin, Lon and Doug

We had a great visit and then about 9:30 Haylee came by to visit after her shift at the hospital.

Tuesday morning we headed to the Temple with Deb and Doug.  It felt so good to be back in the temple.  We are starting to go through withdrawal symptoms.  It has been 13 days since we were in the temple!

The Boise Temple was remodeled while we were on our missions.  We had served here for 4 years before the Twin Falls Temple was opened but we didn't recognize the temple anymore.  It has really been changed since we served there.  We had a wonderful time with Deb and Doug.  So thankful to have them living closer now. 

Time for some lunch!

We met up with Craig and Robbie for lunch.  We visited for a couple of hours and saw the clouds start to form so it was time to head for home before the storm came in.  It was a wonderful two days and we were able to visit with nieces, nephews, grandchildren, children and brothers and sisters.

On Saturday the 21st, Chandler had a basketball game.

Chandler has his back to us with the white jersey on.  He is playing rec ball so we will try to get to a few games during his short season.  His team won the game and Chandler had a good game.

On Monday the 23rd, school was closed at 1:00 due to the blowing snow.  Connie called to say that she was coming to our house from work so that Josh had time to get their driveway cleared and her car wouldn't be in the way.  When he called and told her to come home, she couldn't get Mom's car out of our driveway.  It is a sheet of ice.

The car just would go sideways in the drive.  I had to call George and Lon home from fishing to help her.  It took the tractor to move her.  We have at least another 6 inches of snow today.

Connie's car is snowed in here also.

George finally got her up the driveway and on her way home.  The roads are sheer ice so traction is next to impossible.

Sidewalk needs to be shoveled out again!

The Temple reopened on the 24th.  Yeah!!  We were asked to sub on Friday and Saturday evenings so we spent 4 days in the temple this week and then Lon had a Sealers meeting on Sunday evening so he was there 5 days.  What a wonderful way to finish up a cold, miserable month.

We finally got the snow blower back on the 31st so Lon is trying to get a path from the front of the house to the sheds so that we can get our Christmas decorations put away.  They have been in the piano room since New Year's because the truck couldn't get back to the sheds.

Connie's car is still snowed in

Lon started today and has about the first foot removed but will have to finish tomorrow.  Hopefully by Ground Hogs Day we can put our Christmas decorations away!

We are excited that it is to warm up into the 40's this week, however rain is also predicted so we are concerned that there could be a lot of flooding around this area.  So thankful that we do not have a basement to worry about. 

Everyone is counting down the days till spring will come.  It is going to be quite a while before all of this snow will melt and be gone.  Our water outlook for the spring is great.  We are thankful to have the moisture that we need to grow our crops, if it would just stick to the fields and mountains instead of the roads we would be even happier.  Life is good.  We have each other and I look forward to spending 2017 with my best friend and eternal companion.  We have survived the bitter cold and look forward to temperatures in the 30's and 40's.  Good-bye January