Tehachapi

Once again I apologize because this post is way delayed. I keep writing my blogs but then it takes me like another week to get a chance to add the pictures. So anyway, two weeks ago my family had a get together to celebrate Evelyn's birthday, my nephew Joshua's birthday and of course watch the super bowl. It ended up snowing really bad and we got snowed in so our 1 day of fun unexpectedly turned into 3. Here's what transpired.

Day 1: Sunday
After church we packed the kids in the car and headed up the mountain to my parents home in Tehachapi. We knew it had snowed the day before so we were somewhat expecting the roads to be bad but as we were driving up it started snowing again which made the roads even worse. So much so that about half way up we knew that if we were going to go then getting snowed in over night was inevitable. Andy had to work the next day but I was really looking forward to spending time with my family so through the icy roads and flooded streets we went. Andy dropped me off at my parents and unfortunately had to turn right back around and go home while the roads were still drivable. We sure missed him! When we got there we snacked on some yummy munchies and pretty soon after dinner was ready. My mom made a delicious lasagna dinner with her specialty homemade rolls. Afterwards we pulled out the cakes. My awesomely domestic big sister made a special cake for each one of the birthday kids. For Evelyn, she made an Elmo cake and for Joshua she made a Larry (from VeggieTales). The cakes looked awesome. Making cakes has become one of my sisters new hobbies. She's really starting to get the knack for it and her cakes look better and better every time. After the kids very messily enjoyed their cake we cleaned them up and sat down to watch the rest of the game (halftime had just started). Not long after the power went completely out and ended up staying out until about midnight. That didn't stop us from having fun however. We lit candles, let the kids open their gifts and just enjoyed each others company for a few hours longer before going to bed.

Day 2: Monday
The next morning all the kids were up bright and early. My mom made everyone pancakes for breakfast. The good kind too with chocolate chips and topped with whipped cream. Mmmm! my mouth is watering just thinking about them. We hung out for a little while until my Grandma made it over at which time we started to get the kids ready to go out in the snow. I have been so excited to take Evelyn out in the snow for the first time so although we didn't have quite the right clothes we decided to take the kids outside to play in the snow. Luckily my mom still had all of our old snow gear so we did what we could to piece together enough to keep the kids warm outside. I think I may have gone a little overboard on clothes. All together Evelyn had 4 pairs of pants with a plastic bag over each leg between layers, 1 pair of her socks, one pair of my mom's socks, her shoes, 3 sweaters, gloves, a hat and a scarf. Let's just say she could barely move but at least she was warm. Evelyn was excited to see the snow. The first thing she did though was try to pick it up and fell forward before I could put her gloves on. She recovered pretty quick though and after watching my little niece and nephew playing she was ready to join in. My little brother, Kory, gave the kids a ride around the yard on the sled and they all really liked that. After that my Grandma got the idea to make snow angels and was the first one to do it. She's the coolest! Evelyn wouldn't lay in the snow so I made one for her. Then we took the kids sledding down this little hill by the side of my parents house. My sister got Evelyn's very first sled ride on video. She had a great time sledding down the hill. She had a little bit of a hard time every time we got to the bottom of the hill, she didn't understand why the ride couldn't just keep going and why we had to get off the sled and walk back up. We took quite a few rides until eventually the kids started to get cold. Evelyn managed to stay completely dry thanks to the trash bags under her clothes but I didn't think about putting one over her butt so that was the only part of her that got wet. My sister left pretty soon after that and the rest of the day we spent hanging out and visiting.

Day 3: Tuesday
Tuesday was a nice lazy day. It was great! Evelyn was sick so she just laid around watching movies. School was canceled so Kory got to stay home and the roads were too icy for the most part of the day for my mom to get to work. It was great just to hang out with everyone and not have to worry about house work or cooking. My dad, Kory and I played Settlers and Kory beat us. Afterwards my parents drove me back home just in time to go vote (for Mitt Romney). I'm still totally bummed that he didn't make it. I blame it on Huckabee. I think if he had dropped out Romney would have gotten a majority of his voters and he could have had a good chance at winning. Hopefully McCain is smart and will pick up Romney as his VP. Anyway, I digress, back to the trip. I had such a great time! It's always great to see my family and Evelyn and Preston got to spend some quality time with their Grandma and Grandpa Fitzgerald. For 3 days I didn't have to worry about cooking or cleaning my house. We were totally spoiled and I loved it!