Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

It takes something like this . . .


. . . to bring me out of my semi-blog-retirement. Yeah - a once-in-30-year event like a major snowstorm in LAS VEGAS will do it! You may have already seen it on the news, because this is most-definitely a newsworthy event, but if you haven't, I have to show you what's been going on around here today. I have been almost giddy all afternoon & evening. About 11:00 this morning my mom called and told me to look outside to see the tiniest of snow flurries. I thought to myself, "oh that's nice, I guess we've now got our "snow" that the weather folk were forecasting." Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected those little flurries to amount to 8 inches of snow! By about 1:00 pm the snow started falling and sticking and continued to snow all afternoon and evening. Brad and I took a walk in the snow and I felt like I was at a ski resort. It's not an everyday occurrence around here to find kids snowboarding at the park at 9 pm, but that's what we found. Everything around us was covered with a serious blanket of whiteness, and the sidewalk was littered with broken tree limbs because they were so heavy-laden with snow. If you live somewhere that always gets snow in the winter, a snowstorm is not all that exciting or out of the ordinary, but here, it truly is remarkable. And we even get a snow day tomorrow. A snow day in Las Vegas - whoever heard of such a thing?!

A few pictures from when we left the school at about 3:30 pm today. The roads were covered in snow by this time of day and we had to drive rather cautiously. Remember - Las Vegas has no equipment for handling major snowstorms.

Lacey' chucking a snowball

Katie and her buddy Meredith

Madi & her buddy Lexi

At home with our friends & neighbors, the Gallaghers. Everyone was "in and out" all evening. The snow was so beautiful and so peaceful, we just didn't want to go inside. The last stragglers finally went in for the night by 10:30. Are we crazy, or what?

The Gallaghers were the genius behind our awesome neighborhood snowman.

Katie and the neighborhood snowman.

All the girls with Mr. Snowman

This is my next door neighbor's front door. I thought it looked so pretty and so Christmasy that I just had to take a picture. I tried to get Ben to stand in the little walkway, but he flat refused. Gotta love those rebellious 2-year-olds!

I was so happy to get to experience first hand a line from one of my favorite Christmas songs - "a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland." Can anyone tell me what you're supposed to do on a snow day :)

14 comments:

Steph Brackett said...

Haven't you ever seen the movie "Snow Day"? According to them "Anything can happen on a snow day!" It looks beautiful there......not so much here. It's been snowing here since last friday pretty much non stop. We got a break yesterday afternoon til this morning, but there is another big storm on its way, and is supposed to dump a bunch more for the next 3 days. Yeah :(. At least we will have a white Christmas. Wonder if yours will stick around til then? Have fun!

Marianne said...

You guys are soo lucky! A snow day! Wow!!! It has been cold and rainy here but SNOW would be soo much fun to have! Rain is a big deal for us. Looks like everyone is enjoying it. Have fun in the snow!

Katie said...

Can you believe it? It was total craziness!It looks like you guys got way more than we did. Though what we got suited me just fine. I don't much care for snow. I heard school got canceled today? The girls must be loving it!

Melanie said...

I'm glad you're back LaRae! The pictures are wonderful. What a great memory for your kids. They'll be talking about this forever!

Kristy said...

A big snow storm in Vegas..that is historic. We are deep into the snow here in Utah! We love to ski, snow shoe, sled, ice-skate, build snowmen, and the kids even love to shovel the snow! Hooray for winter and cool crisp air. I love it.

Linda said...

We sure had fun with the snow! What a great day!

Kristy said...

Wow snow in Vegas!!! We talked about the snow today while I was at Janae's house! We are getting pounded here too!

Play with your kids in the snow that is what you do on snow days!! Have fun with the snow!

Merry Christmas~

Jenny said...

How wonderful! I still remember when it snowed in Southern CA when I was a kid. We had so much fun sledding!

Micalanne said...

Oh! What great pictures! It's so good to hear from you. I have been thinking of you since your Cancer Walk. I am curious about your experience and if you will do it again? Hopefully, you will let us know?!

dawnae said...

your house looks so pretty, I do love looking at the outside lights with snow covering them! Funnny how life stands still in vegas when it snows. Wish I could say the same thing here, but then we would do nothing all winter long! Great pics. got your Christmas card today, loved the picture...you are finally taller than Brad!

Amy Brindley said...

When I was growing up in SLC, on snow days we shoveled snow off the roof... all day! I didn't like snow days.

Janet Patrice said...

The snow was fun....on your side of town. We had a bit, but it melted quickly.

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Anonymous said...

I heard about this on the news! The pictures of the kids after school are beautiful! It sounds like you guys made the most of it. Was the snow still there in the morning?

Maine Mom said...

Snow in Vegas...that is awesome! Enjoy it while it lasts. I love the neighborhood snowman. It looks like everyone had a great time in the snow.

What to do on a snow day? Play in the snow, drink hot chocolate, watch a Christmas movie...did you do any of those things? I hope it was a fun day! It looks like we'll be having our own snow day tomorrow. I'm hoping for a day of cleaning, but really I'm kidding myself. Watching "It's a Wonderful Life" is more realistic.