The Snowy Week!

This week the crazy weather state of Texas was blessed with SNOW once again!!! :) I think this time the weather gave us more snow on the ground than I've ever seen here before! When I woke up this morning, this is the view Austin introduced me to...

Snow upon snow upon snow! :) It was so amazing and beautiful I had to snap a few pictures before too many excited children churned it up having fun! :)

I didn't think to measure how much snow we got from last night and this morning, but...I did do a google search on it today out of curiosity. Turns out that our city (according to a local newspaper) got 12.5 inches of snow! This was apparently a record snowfall, with the the next being a snowfall recorded in 1976 (or 78, I don't remember exactly). Wow! I don't think the area by us got THAT MUCH snow, but I would say maybe a little bit more than in the snow Momma got? I guess that would probably put us around the 6-7 or 8 inches of snow. How exciting!!!

Another shot of the snow accumulating on our bushes, and the cars in a different parking lot. Not that you can really tell from these pictures, but there is a valley-like terrain outside our apartment balcony outdoors (for runoff to drain when we get a lot of rain all at once). However, the snow makes it look like one perfectly flat carpet! :)

I was so excited, I told Austin, "Let's go to the park again and play in the snow this morning!" We decided to play at the nearby nature park because we both would feel bad churning up all the snow that children in the aparments I'm sure would want to play in (lacking a yard of their own "personal" snow). So, we both decided to bundle up fast. I decided to bundle up with tights, turtleneck, sweater, snow suit, socks, ear warmers, thick gloves, scarf, boots and my coat from Lands End. I knew Momma would smile, because she wants to make sure I get good use out of that coat when I get the chance! :)

So, without further ado we set out on our journey. Now, before today the roads were I-C-Y, and terrible to travel on because there was almost nothing for car tires to grip. Thanks to the handy-dandy snowfall, we now were able to travel without too much worry! :) Here is the field next to our apartment building...if you blow up the picture you can see a little family building a snowman. This is the very same field that we watched fireworks in this summer in the warm night air with Momma, Daddy, Kristie, and all her wonderful kiddos! :) I'd say it looked a little different today than it did back in July, don't you?

This is what our lovely roads looked like. Surprise! Luckily we knew where the road was (and where it was not), so even though everything looked the same, we didn't drive into any ditches. :) Needless to say, there wasn't any speed car race-driving today! :)

Like I said, we were driving safely and slowly. :) The buildings to the left are another apartment complex that also is in our church ward boundaries. If you look at Austin's speedometer, you will see the pace every car (at least all the smart ones) were driving at today.

We pulled into a parking spot at our nature park, and here is the tire track. I was surprised how deep our powdery snow was! We were one of two cars at the park. Wasn't that so nice of Heavenly Father to provide us our own special, private Winter Wonderland?

One of the first things I had to do in all that UNDISTURBED snow was to promptly throw myself into a bank of snow and make a snow angel. Brrr! I was glad for my snow suit so that no snow made my legs all wet and cold! I LOVED making a snow angel! :) After all, how often does a Texas girl get to experience THIS kind of snow in Texas???!!!

Austin was having a hayday too. There were TONS of little birds flitting to and from in the snow over here...and Austin's favorite pastime was to chase them! :) I'm glad I'm married to another person who's still a child at heart! :)

I think someone on a tractor came through earlier in the morning and left these tracks for us. Weren't they so nice to blaze us a trail? They cut out the hard work until we hit the real trails!

Speaking of which, here is OUR trail! :) There is a real trail underneath all that snow...and we were going to explore it once again! :)

Here is the trail again. As we walked into the trees, we felt like we were the Pevensie children stepping into the magical world of Narnia...a place of our very own! :)

Fortunately, I don't think any White Witches ruled our pretty little stretch of snow land. :)

"Look!" Austin said as he stepped off the trail! "Snow up to my knees!" How fun! It also looks like I caught a snowflake in the picture just as it was falling...I hope Austin likes his Frosty the Snowman nose! :)

There is a little "river" that winds through the trees that we like to look at. Here is Austin having a good time, looking at our frozen (well, partly frozen) river! Wow! We took turns throwing snowballs into the river to break up the thin sheet of ice over the running water.

And here am I as well, enjoying our frozen wonderland while staying toasty warm. What a treat!

I love it when Austin acts silly. Here he is smiling away on the big snowy tree log! :) Isn't he cute? I'm so lucky to be married to him!!! :)

And here am I, striking a pose on my great big snowy tree log! :) Austin and I had such a fun time! We loved our little "snow vacation" and the chance that we had to play in the snow together and enjoy nature. We even saw a beautiful cardinal on our walk, but my camera battery had died by that point, so I couldn't get a picture. :( However, this was a time I hope I won't forget! We even laughed and said this was the first snow our Baby Palmer gets to "experience" (through me of course). :) We're silly. But we always have fun. :) I'm glad that we got to spend the morning playing in the snow--life's just more fun when you're children at heart!