Wonderful Weekend!

The "huge snowstorm" finally caught up with us on Thursday & Friday last week! I am actually getting used to the snow. I will never, ever get used to the cold, but I do love how pretty a snowstorm is, and the results can be downright beautiful. Now I know how the expression, "blanket of snow" came about: This pic doesn't do justice, but it was so pretty! It literally looked as if someone laid a blanket of white over my front driveway and onto the lawn.

and on the front steps

We got a lot of snow

just barely under 7 inches in 2 days!

The Caddi was almost completely lost in the snow

Friday morning was when the kids and I were driving to St. George for some more bday celebrations. Benji, my dad, and Grandma V all called me and told me how worried they were for us to drive in these conditions. I told them not to worry. Well, here's what we drove through for a good 20 minutes. Bear Valley, a route through a mountain range to the freeway was snow-covered. The plows only managed a light plow for a while, and look! See how NICE it was of them to put sand down on the OPPOSITE SIDE ONLY! I was driving on slick snow with ice underneath. Lovely.

Fortunately, once I came to the first of the junction's 2 nasty turns, the roads were completely clear of snow, and all I had to do was drive on wet roads. The freeways were also completely clear, so I called everyone to calm their fears. The only hangup we had was over a part of the freeway called the "Black Ridge", between Cedar City and St. George. There was slush and icy patches on the roads, and I slid a few times but nothing serious. Once we made it to St.George's elevation, the snow turned to rain and we felt better when we saw the beautiful red rock hills. :)

After arriving at St. George, I got the kids some pizza, dropped them off at my parents' house, and ran to my hair appt at E'lan at 1:30. After only 2 months, my roots were downright nasty! Time to fry my hair again. Jordyn went with me and decided it IS boring to watch your mom get her hair done for 2 1/2 hours. Lol. Afterward, we ran to pick up the kids, drop them off at my grandparents' house, run Jordyn over to her BFF Chauntel's house to spend the night, then meet my parents at Applebees at 5:30pm for dinner!

My mom and dad took Benji and I out for dinner for my birthday! I had a delicious chinese chicken rice bowl while Benji took advantage of a free dinner, lol, and ordered some type of shrimp alfredo steak meal. The mozzerella sticks were also heavenly!

After dinner, we went to check in at the Hampton Inn. My parents also got us a room for my birthday present. It was SO much more comfortable here than at the Travel Lodge!

My mom also threw in a "Celebration Cake" from the Olive Garden. So heavenly!

Benji trying out the cake

Benji even shaved for my birthday! (Well, shaved what he could live without, lol!) I sure love this guy. :) THANKS, Mom & Dad for taking the kids and letting Benji & I have a night to OURSELVES! :)Benji had to work at Entrada in the morning, so I dropped him off to pick up his truck, and then went to pick Jordyn up from Chauntel's house. On the way back to Santa Clara, we saw this and had to stop!

Gorgeous! These are of the Snow Canyon mountains, where the Biggest Loser facility is, and Tuachan. I just love when the clouds hover low on the mountains.

Jordyn taking some pics with her camera

We picked up the kids and went back in town to pick up Chauntel who had gotten home from Baptisms for the Dead, then raced to Stadium 10 to get tickets for a matinee! We met Brittany's BFF, Amy, my mom, and my sister, Ashlee, there just in time. We had an awesome huge group! In fact, such a large group, that the only spot where we could all fit was down in the front seats on the floor. Benji ended up joining us a little ways into the movie. I wish I would've had someone take a group picture! The movie was pretty cute, as far as kids' movies go. Ryan was such a hoot- he kept commenting (loudly) on everything and laughed out loud (again- LOUDLY) whenever he thought something was funny. It was so fun to see my kids having fun. :) After the movie, Chauney's and Amy's parents came to pick them up, and Benji and I left for Panguitch. I really miss St. George, and it's so fun whenever we get the opportunity to drive on down for the weekend. :)

Last night was Jordyn's Young Women in Excellence program! I'm so out of the loop with YW, that I forgot what this was about. My friend (YW President) just told us to bring some type of talent of Jordyn's and type it up on a piece of paper to display there. Well, I totally dropped the ball. I couldn't think of anything *specific* that Jordyn was "into", so we just brought a couple of things she worked on in school that she enjoyed. Once there, I forgot I had to write it down, so I quickly grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote something. I felt bad once we saw everyone else bringing in whole closets full of items, trophies, ribbons, pictures- that they were good at. Poor Jordyn. She took it like a champ, though. We enjoyed the program and took some pics. Next year I'll try harder to remember!

An example of the table centerpieces

The theme this year for the program was from Joshua 1:9- "Be strong and of a good courage", so each girl was able to take one of these pretty tiles home:
I promised Jordyn I'd try harder to remember and help her accomplish the things she needs to do to complete her value projects. I love Jordyn and want her to really enjoy Young Womens!