January has been a nice laid back month. It has also been a month of snow, snow, and more snow topped with really cold temperatures. We started the month off by heading up Logan Canyon to see the Giant Logan Canyon Snowman!
This has become a fun tradition for our family. The snowman was huge this year. As you can see we don't even reach the top of the bottom layer! I don't know who builds this snowman every year but it sure makes for a fun adventure for a lot of people including us.
Someone also built a snow couch for people to sit on and admire the snowman. Charlotte had to give the giant snowman a warm hug so make him smile.
After visiting Mr. Snowman, we drove up the canyon to find a good place to go sledding. The Peter Sinks was clear full of people so we decided to go somewhere else. We found a parking area near Beaver Mountain and saw that the snow was perfect for playing. We didn't sled very much because the snow was so deep but that made it perfect for building a snow cave. Russell and the kids dug a big cave in the snow and even built a tunnel leading to another way out. Brooklyn loved crawling through the tunnel. After playing for a while, the clouds came in and it started snowing again. We decided we had better head back to town before the big storm started.
Because there has been so much snow in the mountains, we have had a lot of deer coming into the neighborhood. Every morning we find tracks all over the yard and down the streets. One night we even caught a picture of a few.
The kids have been making up games to play indoors like sumo wrestling. Here Brooklyn is showing off her Sumo outfit.
January has been a good month for Emily. After two and a half years, she was finally able to get her braces off!! She was so excited to be done with braces. Now however she has to wear what the dentist calls a "flapper." This is a retainer that has two fake teeth on it. She has to wear this flapper for about three years until she stops growing and can get implants. She was not too happy about this because the retainer makes it kind of hard to talk. I told her her mouth and tongue would get used to it after a while and she would be able to talk just fine. Anyway her teeth look really good! Here are the before and after shots.
Emily also learned how to decorate cookies at Young Womens. Her cookies turned out pretty good!
And back to the snow! On Saturday the 28th, Russell took the kids and a few neighbor kids sledding in the field. He also took the four wheeler to pull them around on their sleds. Everyone had a blast and it looks like Logan learned to fly!
The kids have no fear so they were so happy to be dragged around by the four wheeler. Russell said Jace Holmstead's sled pulled and whipped around just like a tube being pulled by a boat. All the kids hung on for dear life laughing the whole way. Ben DeMonja's sled whipped out from under him and he just kept holding onto the rope and got pulled without a sled before everyone yelled at him to let go. Let's just say its a good thing we have good friends that don't care if we get too crazy with their kids. Like I said before everyone had a blast.
That night, a big snow storm came in and dumped 18 inches overnight. We woke up to the whole town buried in snow.
Russell woke up and looked out the window and said, "Well I guess I'll go start the snowblower!" This is a picture of Colby next to the truck. You can barely see the truck because it is buried in snow.
After plowing for hours, the snow was barely out of the way of the driveway and sidewalks. It was cool to see everyone working together to get sidewalks and driveways cleared for each other. Because there was so much snow, they cancelled church! The bishop told everyone to go out and minister to your neighbors and dig everyone out.
Colby made the big decision to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained to a Deacon. He was supposed to get this done at church today but because of the snow and cancelled church, we were able to do this ordinance at our home. Bishop Sean Dennis came over to our house and Russell was able to confer the priesthood onto Colby. This was a good experience and it made it even more special to be able to do it in our home.
We were glad that Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth and Tyler and Ashley were able to come and be a part of this experience as well. Colby was happy to have his family involved.
The cool thing is that now we have two priesthood holders in our family. Now Colby can pass the sacrament when he is ready and attend the temple and do Baptisms for the Dead when he gets a recommend. What a cool thing. I can't believe he is old enough for all of that!
We had a house full but it was really fun. We also got to celebrate Logan's birthday a little early while everyone was in town.
The last few days of January have been super cold. This was the temperature on Monday the 30th:
At 9:45 am it was -23 degrees! Because of this and the massive snow fall on Sunday, school was delayed 2 hours so that the buses could get started and hopefully the temperatures would rise so the kids wouldn't have to be out in the cold very long. Well by 4:30 pm, the temperature had only risen to 1 degree! It was out of the negatives at least. Thankfully, our power never went out and our heater kept working so as long as we stayed inside, we were fine.
As you can see, we spent the day inside under a quilt. It was great!
The temperatures continued to hit all time lows over the next two days and school was delayed 2 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. The 31st was another -20 degree day. Brrr! I'm so grateful for a warm house and warm coats. Hopefully the groundhog will not see its shadow and spring will be here soon. Happy January!
