Summerlake, but where is the lake?

For several days we've been driving by Summerlake looking at the progression of snow, to more snow, to ice and to snow again - it has been very pretty. Every time we've driven by it has been to dark to get a good picture so today I made sure to get over there while it was still light out, so here it is.

Our snow fort

This is the entrance to the fort.

In the back ground of this picture I am carrying a piece of ice with snow piled on it that I broke off the picnic tables, these pieces were great for topping off the fort or making the look outs.

Here is a look out at the back of the fort.

For several hours today the kids, Kerry and I built a snow fort. Katie was very diligent in finding chunks of ice to use as filler and support in our snow blocks. Snow block were made by everyone except Kara who didn't have any dry gloves at the time. We were amazed at the amount of snow we used yet the ground all around it was still covered in snow.

a little of the damage

Key bank suffered sign damage from the snow that slide down the roof. We also saw trees down across the road but I didn't get a picture of that.

More snow!!

Well, yet again this morning brought tons more snow. Today we had to put our chains on. It wasn't really slick and our van has done very well in the snow and ice but there are very deep ruts on some of the roads because of the amount of snow on them. Today (before we put the chains) on we tried changing lanes so we could turn but our back wheels stayed in their rut and the front wheels didn't so we went side ways down Scholls Ferry for a few feet. The kids thought it was fun until they found out Daddy didn't do it on purpose. After that we found an out door car wash to chain up.

This isn't the most beautiful picture but I thought it would give you an Idea of how much snow has accumulated.

This is a picture of Kelsie standing on the playground at Church. The snow is almost up to her knees. It is hard to measure the amount of snow fall because of the layer of ice that formed over the already 8". For those who know the church playground well, I was walking through it and stepped down on something hard, not remembering what was there I cleared the snow away and it was the balance beam buried in 2-3" of snow.

OOH LA LA that's pretty (My scenic pictures)

This is looking down our side walk, it's starting to get difficult to see were the side walk ends and the road begins.

I can't get over how beautiful everything looks. The snow, the ice, it really is breath taking.

Our walk in the snow

Daddy had to help and carry Katie on the way home, I love this picture!

Kara points out the ice cycles at McDonald's.

I really liked this picture of Kelsie that Kerry took. If you click on this picture for a close up you can see the ice that has formed on the branches.

It was very slow going. Katie had some trouble walking in spots not already broken through, while Kelsie had fun pretending to fall every few steps.

Jared stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa Jaquith's (in case your wondering were he is.)

Day 8 of cold and snow

Last night we had freezing rain fall leaving 1/2" of ice on top of our 8" of snow from yesterday which resulted in church being cancelled for the 2nd Sunday in a row. Here are some pictures of Kerry scraping the ice off of the car. We now need new wipers.

Notice, no gloves.

Kara and Jared had fun breaking the pieces of ice off of the top of the snow. Look at how well Jared can balance ice on his head.

That piece is almost as big as Kelsie!

My favorite picture of the night!

Jared was in charge of picking up all the wrapping papper.

"Mixer" Christmas

We spent the evening at my Mom and Dads last night exchanging gifts for Christmas. The kids had alot of fun with their cousins. Katie stuck to Stephanie like glue, it was very sweet. We ate, exchanged gifts, and played a game. It was a great evening.

My Sisters and ME

My sisters (Karen, me and Elaina) and I have a fun time just being goofy.

Kerry puts up the Christmas lights- brr-brr cold!

The kids have been begging us to put up the Christmas lights but because Kerry and I both have been getting over colds we thought we might skip it this year. After much persuasion though, Kerry decided to put them up today while it was snowing. He was cold. He didn't put them all up but it was enough to make the kids happy. It does look really pretty in the snow!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

This morning when I woke up I expected to see tons of snow, well not really, but it was in the forecast. Well when I woke up it wasn't snowing (no surprise)but about 1/2 an hour later it started to snow and before we knew it the roads were white. We then proceeded to church, I have to be there at 8:45am for choir. Well it was then, that we found out services were cancelled for the day.. The kids had lots of fun and stayed out for several hours. Katie even had fun, I wasn't sure about her at first but once she woke up she enjoyed it (although she didn't stay out as long as the other kids.) It ended up snowing steadily until late afternoon.

Decorating our Christmas tree

The kids have lots of fun decorating the tree every year. It was Kelsie's turn to put the angel on top of the tree. They get to see the ornaments they've made in years past and special ornaments that were bought especifically for them. Every year we've bought one for each of them although this year I think we need to start buy just a family ornament because we now have so many . I should have taken a picture of the finished product, it really looks beautiful. I'll probably dress them up and get a picture of them in front of the tree, all in their Sunday best and you can see it then.

Katie gets mud on her shoe

As you can see from these pictures Katie was not happy at all about getting mud on her shoes during our Christmas tree outing, the weather was very nice but we did get a few inches of mud stuck to the bottom of our shoes. Katie did eventually get over the initial shock of dirty feet and had a good time anyway.

Getting our Christmas tree (Grandma and grandpa's too)

Today we also went and cut down our Christmas tree. We picked out a Grand and Kara pick a Douglas fir for Grandma and Grandpa Jaquith. Every year we go out and cut a tree for us and one for the grandparents. It's lots of fun. The weather was very nice this year.

Katie - don't let the costume fool you! Hee Hee

This morning the kids had their rehearsal for the Christmas Program. I never get tired of seeing the kids all dressed up in their cute little costumes. Katie surprised me and did very well during the rehearsal so hopefully tomorrow during the real thing she will be in good spirits. As you can see Katie in an angel and she is very excited about it, all my little girls love dressing up like angels.

Kerry's new office

Kerry recently moved his office out of the home and into a office building. It is still a work in progress but were getting there. The space has two rooms. One of the rooms is a smaller reception area (pictures 1 and 2) and the other room is much larger (pictures 3 and 4) in which Kerry has his desk, files, refrigerator, shelves and other such office furniture. The larger space is still needing a conference table, were he can met with the clients. I personally have had fun picking out paint color, pictures, furniture and the plant (of course Kerry helped.) This has also created more space in our home so that has been great too.