Winter in the South

 This winter has been very mild so far here in Tennessee. In makes me crazy that most days, my boys come to breakfast in shorts that they have dug out of the carefully packed away drawer of summer clothes:)  I am sure people wonder what kind of Mother they have but sometimes I don't want the battle and think 'love and logic-ly' ( have you read that parenting book? It's a good one!) about it and hope they will be so cold they will go back to wearing pants! With such a mild winter though the natural consequences aren't really having an impact!
Last Sunday was one of those lovely days that you should be outside and we were feeling a bit antsy after church so we all went for a walk on the "greenbelt" a beautiful walking path not far from home.

We of course got stuck playing at this particular spot on the trail for a LONG time. The boys never seem to tire of skipping rocks and watching twigs get carried away in the currents.

My older boys didn't want to photographed, but I was a little sneaky on this shot:)

 Brad is in Niagra Falls on a business trip so the boys wanted me to text him a picture of our mighty falls and see how it compared to the falls outside his hotel!

Moments like this melt my heart...

We have REALLY been enjoying this winter. 

We even had a "snow day" last week where the kids didn't have to go to school due to the worry of icy roads.  It ended up being the best day of the week--blue skies and sunshine! 

They spent it...

sledding, in shorts no less!

Only in the South!!

Gotta love this crazy place:)

Life in the South...

It's hard to believe that on Sunday it was beautiful and sunny, but it was!

After church Cannon was determined to learn to ride his bike without training wheels.

Which he mastered in a matter of minutes.  I had a twinge of guilt, realizing he could have done this months ago, if I would have worked with him sooner.  He has asked us to take those training wheels off for ages!

 

Then Bridger wanted to showcase some of his bike riding skills too:

 

 

On Monday it was freezing cold, but that didn't stop Connor and his friends from playing 9 holes after school.  This came up on his Instagram feed:

"Don't go for a ball out on the ice or you'll be golfing in high waters like me. #highwaters #PGAtour

 

Brrr---Crazy boy!

On Tuesday morning I was cleaning my room and opened the blinds to let in some sunshine and was shocked to see softly falling snow!

This was a huge surprise!  No one was expecting snow.  I knew it would just be a matter of time before the school called !  Soon enough, I was off to get the boys...

 

We LOVE snow days!

All the boys were excited, but this was a first for Cannon (that he could remember) and he was thrilled!

 

They wasted no time getting out and playing in the snow, fearing it would be gone all too soon!

 

We made hot cocoa, baked cookies, played games and cuddled up in warm blankets to watch movies. 

 It was such a wonderful day!!

 

And the following 2 days school has been cancelled due to COLD temps and lots of ice.  No new snow, but the couple inches we got has stuck around!

 

TJ "snowboarding" down his friend's driveway:

 

While the boys have LOVED every minute of this inclement weather...it really has caused lots of problems here in the deep south, where snow is rare.

  Brad was trying to get home from the Atlanta airport yesterday and what should have been a 2 hour drive home turned into a 13 hour nightmare!

 

The interstate was as a standstill and some people were forced to spend the night in their cars!  He said the National Guard was out to help!

 

The roads were completely iced over and cars were sliding off the road everywhere.  Lots of accidents!  He spent hours tying to call and find a hotel, but they were all FULL. 

He was put on waiting lists and finally got a call that there was an available room about half way home. I was glad he could get out of the mess, poor guy!!

He said he had a good night sleep, and he went straight to work this morning. 

 

I am telling you this white stuff, literally shuts down the South!

Today I woke up to this:

 

 Which makes me wonder if we will have yet another snow day tomorrow!

**Ha I just the call --School cancelled again tomorrow. This boys are running around cheering through the house:)

 

At least it is projected to be much warmer this weekend!

Life in the South!

 

 

 

Enchanted Forest

 A couple of weeks ago we spent our day at Fall Creek Falls again (remember last time) with our dear friends, the Fallons, and it was INCREDIBLE!

I think this is one of my favorite places here in Tennessee!  

It truly is enchanting!

The hiking and the swimming holes are fantastic!

 Climbing the rocks behind this amazing waterfall!

Awesome!  I think my boys were in heaven!

This drop off here, is a little frightening!  Don't worry we were very careful!! 

 It was such a gentle flow, but look at the drop!!

YIkes!  Connor---he and I were taking a few pictures, and honestly at the time we were not in danger but that is not how the pictures look!  It  scares me every time I look at these!  I think we will skip this spot next time...it is not good for my heart:)

This was a favorite spot!  Much safer to play on:)

Brad rescued a football that was stuck in the falls:)  What a Dad!

Cannon ventured out with me onto the rock slide and even smiled for a picture, but in the end refused to do this:

or this:

Maybe next year!

I know we will be back for sure!!

Come visit us and we will take you here!

Yes, this post is an official plug or should I say plea to get more visitors in our neck of the woods:)

Come on, y'all will love it here--promise!

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

No School yipee!

Although my boys miss their friends and all our family in Utah, they really LOVE that the South has so many days off each year due to "dangerous" weather conditions.

Like today!

Icy conditions= No School in the South (woo hoo)

I have to admit--I love it too!

Another cozy day at home--yeah!

Sometimes we make fun of it, but this morning  when I looked out back, I was glad we weren't slipping and sliding our way to school.  Yikes!

Well I am off to clean up our blueberry pancake breakfast!

Happy Friday everyone!

What are you up to this weekend?

Me? I will be hanging out at home:)

Tornado Relief Efforts

We spent last weekend doing what we could to help with all the Tornado Relief Efforts. It was a great experience for our family to be a part of. On Saturday the boys and I helped with a food and clothing drive sponsored by our church. We were in charge of our neighborhood and there was a HUGE response. We loaded up the van several times!

At the church all the donations were sorted. It was actually really fun to all work together with so many people for such a good cause.

Please excuse my blurry Iphone shots:)

We had lots of helpers in all sizes:)



After the donations were all neatly sorted and boxed, they filled a large trailer to the TOP for the Samaritan center to be given to the people in our communtiy that are in need right now. I was so amazed with the generousity of so many good people!

Brad and Connor have gone out EVERYDAY to help with the clean up. Every evening Brad comes home from work eats a quick dinner, throws on his yellow 'Mormon Helping Hands' shirt, grabs a chain saw and is out the door. As Elders Quorumn President (his church calling or assignment) he has been in charge of organizing some of the clean up efforts according to the needs in our area. There are A LOT OF NEEDS right now. He says that the mess is overwhelmingly HUGE and will take a long time and many hands to get it all done.

Brad has been very touched by the heart wrenching stories and the gratitude of the people he has been able to meet. And I have been touched to see my husband and boys so willing to serve where needed. They come home exhausted, sweaty, dirty and all scratched up from trying to haul off all the fallen trees and debris ....and my heart swells with love for these stinky boys of mine:) Sometimes I have such a hard time getting them to do their 'chores' and even make their beds, but I am happy to see that when it really matters, they can be counted on to step up and work hard! Phew!

All cleaned up for church.

Because of the great needs in our area--as soon as church was over the men and older boys went back out to work. I told them not to worry about Mothers Day....but they still showered me with some sweet handmade cards and coupons for foot massages! yeah!
And Brad keeps saying next weekend we will celebrate--but honestly the work they are doing so willingly is the best gift they could ever give me:)