Remembering the 2006 Snow

Every few years we get a little snow storm in Las Vegas and when it happens, it is always thrilling to look out the window & see everything covered in an apparently magical blanket of whiteness. One year ago today, we had such a storm. I got up about 7:00 am & looked outside to see the beautiful snow & just as I was getting the girls up to come and see, my dad called to make sure we had seen what had taken place during the night. If it snows in Las Vegas, you have to hurry outside to enjoy it, because it never lasts more than a few hours.

The trees in our front yard were so thick at the time that they ate up all the snow & didn't allow it to get on our grass, as you can see from the picture below.

Brad took this picture of the gate to my parents' neighborhood. I love the picture - especially the snow-covered wreaths on the gate - it looks so Christmasy!


Brad drove the girls up the street to my parents' house, where there is a vacant grassy area right next door, so they could build a snowman. We drove around the neighborhood after the girls made their snowman and saw many snowmen along the side of the road. I am convinced that many of those snowmen, built along major streets through the community, were by landscape maintenance crews who went to work but had nothing to do because of the snow.





And if you take a look at this picture, many years earlier . . . three young children eagerly built a snowman in a little backyard in Las Vegas, with their dad, who was just as thrilled to share the news of the snow with own children as he was with his grandchildren so many years later. The day we built the snowman in this picture was the first day it had snowed in Las Vegas in my lifetime. It was New Year's Day and I was eight years old (almost nine!). I can still remember my dad's voice, booming through the house, first thing in the morning as he proclaimed, "holy mackerel, it's snowing!" I awoke in disbelief, running to the sliding glass door in the kitchen to see for myself. My siblings & I could hardly contain our excitement and rushed outside to create our very first snowman. We knew snowmen existed because we had seen them in books, but we had never made one ourselves. I was always so fascinated with snow. One of my favorite books as a child was "The Snowy Day" - anyone heard it? It was about a little boy who went outside to play in the snow. I loved the illustrations and seeing his footprints in the snow - so intriguing to a little girl who knew very little of snow but always dreamed of playing in it.

I am still intrigued by snow. I love to visit the snow & especially love to watch it fall from the sky & accummulate gracefully on the ground. I remember one snowstorm in Provo, Utah when Brad & I were newly married & students at BYU. It was late in the evening & snow had fallen all over the Valley. It looked so beautiful outside, and I had this romantic notion that we should go out for a walk in the snow. It was all that I had imagined it to be - just like in the movies - a quiet & peaceful walk, with my sweetheart, while snow fell gently around us. Why is everything much more quiet when it has a soft blanket of freshly fallen snow?

I don't think I've had a romantic walk in the snow since that night at BYU, but I have had a few opportunities to enjoy a good snow storm. Several years ago we had a really wet winter at the cabin, and snow was in great abundance. We went up at least twice to play in the snow and had the greatest time. The snow was so high at the back of the cabin (up to the roof, in fact) that we were able to make a hill that the girls & I slid down all afternoon one day. Brad was even able to build a snow cave out of that same hill. The picture here shows my dad riding his 4-wheeler off the roof of the Harris' cabin in Mammoth Creek that same winter. If you can't tell, snow can excite my dad a bit, too.

Romantic notions aside, I am happy to visit the cabin or Woodland to play in the snow, and I can take a snow storm in Las Vegas every few years, but a steady diet of snow takes away the romance for me. After all, the snow becomes black slush on streets & day-to-day living in the snow & slush is not the dreamy, romantic evening walk. I am happy to enjoy the snow for a time & then come home to my green grass & trees, even in December.