Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

As many of you probably know, we have had a ton of snow. I heard on the radio that we have gotten "2 1/2 odd feet in the past week." Easily the most snow in 10 to 15 years. I want to go in the back yard and make an igloo, but we will have to get someone to watch Austin for a little while or do it in pieces while he naps. We might be able to finish it during one nap if we work hard and fast, and he has one of his long naps. Anyway, I thought I would put up some pictures of the snow, to show those that aren't here just how much we have. Keep in mind, much of it melted the other day and we have snow in the forecast for several more days at least. (We have had a snow warning from 10pm last night until 10am tomorrow morning. 36 hours of storm warning!)Just a note: Zach's car was completely clear last night.

Even deep snow doesn't stop Dakota from her favorite game of fetch. She was smart enough to follow the trails whenever she could to avoid breaking trail through the chest high snow. It was only a couple inches from the top of her back.

Austin's Big Day

Austin turned six months old on Friday the 25th. Since he's our first kid, we decided to be goofy and celebrate his "half birthday." We stopped at the store and bought cupcakes and went to Zach's parents house. Austin had his first cupcake. (Picture is coming, I forgot my camera.)

The next day, we went to Spokane for his six month pictures. He did really well and didn't get fussy until the very end. Here are a couple that we liked.

After his pictures were all done, we did a little bit of shopping. We got him a walker, which he loves. While we were dinking around in Spokane, he got really, really fussy for about ten minutes. That isn't like him when he's in the car, and when we got home and were watching the Cougar game, I found out he had cut his first tooth. We think that it was probably breaking through during that fussy period.

So, withing a 24 hour period, he had his first cupcake, got his pictures taken, got a new toy, and a new tooth! Big day for our little man.

Christmas and New Years

We spent Christmas at home this year. It would have been the Adams' turn anyway, and since we live here.... But we stayed at home for Christmas Eve and woke up to our first Christmas morning at home. Zach's family tradition is to wait until 7am and everyone goes in together, while mine is the kids wake up, see if Santa's been here, then go wake the other kid and together rouse Mom and Dad. Luckily for Zach, Austin sleeps until 7 anyway, but watch out for when he gets older Dad!! Austin was by far the favorite to give gifts to, and his favorite was a funny ball that he can hang on to.

Opening all those presents really wore him out and he was down for an early nap. (We didn't mind at all.)

After he woke up from his nap, we headed over to Zach's parents house, who got a Wii for Christmas. So Wii made Mii's and spent a large portion of the rest of the holidays over there playing Rayman, Zelda, and the family favorite; bowling.

For New Years, the entire Adams family rented a cabin in McCall, Idaho where we planned to go skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, snow tubing, and more. The trip there was a little hairy. The road from Pullman to Lewiston was closed due to high winds and snow drifting over the roadway. We had to go through Moscow, then down. The wind was still blowing on those roads and watching the snow cross the roadway as we drove was surreal. There were drifts that we would bump over occassionaly as well. My mother would not have done well on the trip. We made it safe and sound and were able to spend the next few days in a beautiful cabin, in a beautiful area.

We got to go skiing and snowboarding New Year's Eve. I went snowboarding for the first time, and I had an amazing instructor who told me I did very well for my first time. (It helps when you're married to them!) Jake, Zach's younger brother, was really looking forward to his first time snowboarding since getting home from his mission in October. Unfortunately, on his second run, he crashed and dislocated his shoulder. So much for fun in McCall. Since I had fallen all morning, I had a headache and decided to call a 1/2 day good enough for the first day. Well, our ride ended up not making it, so Jake and I sat in the lodge all afternoon. I was bummed that I had turned in my gear, or I would have gone a few more times, but I kept Jake company, so hopefully that was beneficial in some way. We didn't get to go again, and we were bummed about that. We did go ice skating the next day though, and even Austin go to participate. Zach was drifting him around corners. Dad's dream come true, his five month old son drifting! After skating, we tried to go tubing, but the lines were long and it wouldn't have been worth the money. Hannah, Zach and I tromped around through the snow around our cabin. It was deep!! Zach and I were dreaming of snowshoes and we heaved through the snow, but it was fun. They even jumped off the deck into the snow. (I was inside at that time unfortunately.)

We headed home on the second and Zach started school the next day, so although our holiday was rather short, it was filled with fun and family, and lots of good memories.

A Work In Progress

I've been wanting to start one of these pages for awhile now. After seeing several of our friend's pages, I decided there was no better time than the present. I'm excited that our friends and family who live so far away will be able to find out what we are up to without having to join or deal with sites like MySpace. Hopefully we will be able to maintain this site in a timely manner with interesting things, so it will keep you coming back. Please be patient as I get this page pieced together during Austin's naps.