Snow Day 2015

When we moved here over a year ago, we heard from every single person that we talked to, “It’s really not this cold here; this is very unusual. We usually only get a ‘dusting’ of snow maybe once a year.”   Well, This is our second winter here in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and we have had snow both years. School has been cancelled three times this month alone and delayed several times this year due to ice on the roads.  We were lied to! 

Now I know it isn’t as cold here as it is in Minot, North Dakota where my brother is located, but it is darn cold for this little family that has lived along the Gulf Coast.

As most of you know, it snowed in Alabama this past week.  And I mean really snowed. None of that little barely cover the ground stuff that we were used to happening every five or six years. It SNOWED! We had almost 4 inches in our back yard.

We did post a few pictures on Facebook, but didn’t want to overload everyone with all of our pictures, so we decided to do a post on our blog so that our family could see all of our pictures. (click on any photo to view it larger on Flickr)

Here is a time lapse of the snow that filled our back yard on February 25, 2015.  This is just about one hour’s worth of snow.


Here is the front of our house the next morning.  It was beautiful!


Back yard was full!  It looked so much prettier like this than with the dirt in the back part that still hasn’t filled in with grass.


Here is the church.


When Will took this measurement, we still had another hour’s worth of snowfall.


Our neighbor made about an 8 foot tall snowman, the kids really wanted to do that too, but us Florida folks aren’t as professional at snowman building.  Here is the snowman and snow puppy that Isabelle and Luke did.

Here is the smaller snowman that Anna and Olivia (our next door neighbor) made.
We tried snow cream for the first time. Luke said he it was yucky at first, but after he gave it a second try, he loved it!

Isabelle’s band has a competition this coming Tuesday and they have missed so much practice over the last two weeks due to school delays and closings.  Her band directors issued a challenge for the kids to post pictures of them practicing in the snow.
Violet, wasn’t sure about the snow at first. To begin with, she just barked at it, but then she decided that it was really fun. When the kids were trying to build their snowmen, she kept jumping up and trying to eat bite their snowmen.
We rode over to a friend's (Ryan & Lucy) house to go sledding and play in the big field.  The trees were so pretty that we had to take some pictures in front of them.

We are very thankful for Lucy & Ryan and the time that they spend with us!


They had a small go cart that we took turns driving in. The snow was falling so hard that we couldn’t see anything when we were driving and sledding but it was still fun.

Lucy and Anna were up first on the sleds.
Then it was Will and Isabelle’s turn.


Will made videos of everyone’s sled ride.
First up was Will and Isabelle.  This even gave Will a chance to use his selfie stick. 

Then it was Isabelle & Anna

and finally me and Luke.

We did get a family picture.  I think Anna may be getting too tall. I might have to change the way we do our family pictures.


We do joke about the cold with everyone up here, because they keep telling us it isn’t normally this cold and yet, it just keeps getting colder.  I will concede that the snow was beautiful and fun!  I just don’t need it to be so cold ALL the time! We had a great couple of snow days and we are good for a year or two.

Muscle Shoals Pictures July 2014

Last week when Will and Amy were here with their camera we took them to see some of the sights of Muscle Shoals and decided to take some pictures while we were at it. Here are the pictures that we took.

 

     

        

 

Catching Up!

As I was getting ready to do a new post, I realized that I hadn’t posted anything since November of 2013. So now I am going to try to catch everyone up on what has been going on since then. We have been busy!

 

In November Will began pastoring Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. We know that God called us here and have no doubt that we are where we are supposed to be.

 

That being said, it was extremely difficult to pack up and move six hours away from all of our friends and family. The girls in particular have had the toughest time leaving their friends behind.  I think though, that we are finished with the worst part and the girls have begun making new friends and are happy!

 

In the time since we moved, we have bought a house,

 

survived Christmas, Easter and the 4th of July,

 

nearly frozen to death,

 

traveled to Baltimore for the Southern Baptist Convention,

 

Washington DC,

 

Memphis and Atlanta.

 

We’ve been to not one, but, two Major League Baseball games.

 

We’ve unpacked boxes, decorated our house, refinished furniture, cleaned, and worked on a yard that actually belongs to us for the first time in our marriage.

 

We’ve celebrated one birthday so far this year, been to new doctor’s and started a new school.

 

We’ve traveled to see family three times already and had family come see us several times.

 

We are getting used to new things, places and people. We are happy and things are going well!