Snowed In...

Being "SNOWED IN"...

Heard of it...

Never really thought about experiencing it first hand...

BUT...

Thanks to the prayers of sweet little girls,

I can now add this one to my list of "DONE IT". 

Our family was lucky enough to spend a few days after Christmas in one of our favorite places on Earth...a special little cabin in Garden Valley.  How I love this place, what incredible memories it holds for us.  And now, we have another special memory to add...one I will never forget!

It was Tuesday night, and we announced to our kiddos that we'd be leaving the following day to head home...they were not looking forward to leaving our little Winter Wonderland in Garden Valley.  The time had gone by much too quickly for them -- I overheard them commiserating praying to be snowed in -- and I have to admit as I was heading to bed that night I may have been secretly wishing for the same thing.  I really wasn't done enjoying my little break, I don't think it had felt like much of a break yet.  The days had been so busy filled with all of the regular things I usually do...Yes, I had done a little extra reading, a little pondering, a little enjoying, a little playtime, but I certainly hadn't had my fill...so maybe, just maybe I also went to bed that night with a special little prayer in my heart.

As we woke Wednesday morning, we found ourselves without power or water but with about another foot of freshly fallen snow.  This on top of the foot or more we'd received the day before. 
Over 2 feet of snow in 3 days - unbelievable - the flakes fell continuously only changing in size, but never ceasing to fall.

As I listened to the giggles of sweet little girls, I again overheard them whispering, "looks like our wishes came true!" 

At first it was all fun and games, building the fire up to make sure we could stay toasty warm, snuggling up and giggling, reading stories together (YES, I can finally read out loud again!!!  Oh happy days!!!). 
But after a little time had passed
tummies became hungry,
everyone had to use the potties,
it got a little colder unless you were right smack dab in front of that wonderful little fire...

Hungry tummies were just a small problem ~ I had plenty of fruit, but they, of course, wanted something that needed to be cooked...hmmm, problem, no power...we did manage to BBQ some hamburgers, but by the time we got around to that, they were all ravenous!!!

Potties were a problem...no water means no flushing away the business...but, never fear, we were creative...we started melting ice in bowls in front of the fireplace to add to the back of the toilet so we could flush...You never know how much water it takes to flush a toilet until you do something like this!!!
Another cute comment I heard the kids say, "Wow, we're just like pioneers!" 
All I could think at that moment, is Heavenly Father sure knows me well, I would never have survived as a pioneer...this was enough for me...I think I'm a bit of a pansy!

Cold is a problem, unless you are willing to cuddle up in your sleeping bag and lay around.  Kids aren't super great at laying around...but they did pretty good.  And when they were laying around, they were running around and it has pretty much the same outcome...they were okay!

About 3 in the afternoon, we got word that Idaho Power had over 3,000 homes without power and had NO IDEA when power would be restored.  At this point, my hubby felt the most important thing to do was to find a way to get our kiddos out of the cold cabin, our problem was that we were officially snowed in...no way out because of all the snow leading to the main roads...Within a very short time, he was able to find someone to plow the snow from the roads to get out to the main road...he loaded up all the kids and I stayed behind to keep the fire going so the pipes would not freeze in the cabin... 

It is now a little after 4:00 in the afternoon,

in the mountains,

and how many of you know what that means? 

DARK is quickly approaching!

to be continued.....