Spring Fever

It's amazing how much more I care about the weather, now that I'm not cooped up working inside a building all day and I have a child old enough to play outside.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, around 65 degrees and partly cloudy with a light breeze. I took Miriam outside in the morning, and for an hour she played and played and played. Stan took her out later in the day for another hour and she did the same.

Had we been inside like we normally are, she would have played for a few minutes, come to me and whined about something, and then maybe gone off and played for a few more minutes.

An hour of straight play time was glorious. I brought something with me to read, but it was so much fun just to watch her explore the outside world. It's fun to see what seems ordinary to us be fascinating to a 1-year old.

Here is some of what I got to enjoy:
Filling the "gas tank" with rocks. She had a lot of fun with rocks that day.









Spring isn't quite here yet since we've got cooler weather headed our way, though I'm thankful for the little preview.

I can tell Miriam and I will be spending a lot more time outside this year.

Let it Snow and Snow and Snow...

We got another snow storm last week.

This one dropped a LOT of snow.
The totals in our town was 15".
30 minutes away where my family lives got 20".
In case you haven't figured it out by now, this is very unusual for our area.





Stan shoveled even more snow from the driveway this time.

We decided this much snow warranted a bigger hill for sledding. Our neighborhood has a water retention area with a little bigger hill. We were not the first ones in the neighborhood to pay a visit that day.


Some video of Stan attempting to sled off of someone else's ramp.

Miriam wasn't too anxious to explore this strange place. I did manage to catch some video of her latest "trick."

Thank goodness the temperatures started warming up a few days later and the melting began.
This week it has been in the 50-60s, so most of the snow has melted.
Hopefully that was the last of the snow this year!

More Snow

As a massive snowstorm swept across 2/3 of the country, Arkansas was on the outer edge of this lovely storm, and got above average snowfall amounts (somewhere around 6-8") and freezing cold temperatures to go with it.

The only bright spot in the first day was the sun trying to peek through the clouds.


High winds during Tuesday's storm made for some very cool snow drifts.


It was so cold and the roads so covered in snow that we didn't get out of the house much for a few days. Miriam and I had to take a quick walk down the street to meet the new neighbors who were moving in. I'm sure glad I wasn't moving on such a cold day!

Then by Friday, it snowed again, covering up the back porch and driveway Stan had shoveled. I now have much more sympathy for my Utah relatives who do this all winter long.

Friday afternoon my sister Jody came by to visit after she got off work, so we decided to finally go play in the snow, since the temperatures were a little bit warmer (but still snowing).

Miriam actually had more fun this time than any of our previous outings adventures in the snow.



Everyone watched intently as Stan plowed a path down the hill.

Even Miriam tried a few solo trips down the hill. I'm still not sure if she liked it, but at least she didn't cry.




This day brought back memories of growing up in Missouri and going out into our field to sled down the huge hill. We would spend hours out there, making ramps to catch more air and while trying not to run into ditches or fences (or each other) at the bottom of the run. It's been a long time since I was able to do that. Our small hill in our suburban home is by no means comparable to the one we would ride growing up, but it was the perfect size for Miriam. And convenient too. Just out the back door.

I've had enough snow though. It's pretty and fun to sled in, but I'm done being cold and ready to spend more time outdoors. Unfortunately the weather man is reporting 2-4" of snow this week. This has definitely been an unusually cold and snowy winter for Arkansas.

First Haircut

The time has come. Miriam's hair has gotten out of control.
It is so uneven from her bald spots growing out.

It's not that I'm attached to her hair, I would have gotten it cut awhile ago, I was just afraid to do it. I cut Stan's hair all the time (don't look too closely), but he holds still for me. I was terrified (and still am) to go at Miriam with a pair of scissors.

Then a sister in our ward said she'd do it. She is a hairdresser, and said it would be no problem.

So we trekked through the ice and snow this morning over to her house for a very quick hair cut. I had to hold Miriam while she was getting it cut, so no pictures of the actual job. But here's how she looks now.

She had to do it very quickly because Miriam would NOT hold still for more than a few seconds at a time.


It's still not completely even, but we're getting closer. And I'm trying to hold strong and grow her bangs out, so we're still in that obnoxious stage.

I think the new do makes her face look very round.