Snow can be...fun?

I hate being cold. I don't like winter. After living in Tucson/Vegas for two years with NO winter whatsoever, I realized I could happily do without it.

But after living in the snow and ice of Utah for the past three weeks, I have to admit, it can be really fun.

At Andrew's parents' house, he took the kids out back to play. I thought they were going to build a snow man, but it ended up being a snow fort. It was the perfect packing snow, too.

Even Grandma got in on the action.

Take cover!

I took Brandon and Whit sledding while we were visiting my parents. Andrew decided to stay home with Caroline. (For his sake more than hers. Bad backs and fast descents don't mix!) As we left the house, I felt like I was making a sacrifice to go out in the bitter cold so that my kids could have some fun. But by the end, I wanted to stay as long or longer than they did. It was a blast!

And also a lot of WORK to bundle up
these munchkins! Thanks again to
Ang for loaning us the snow gear.

Brandon was too cool to SIT on the sled.
He wanted to "sledboard."

This is how he would end up:

down in the snow after a few feet.
Luckily, there were no major injuries sustained.

Whit was happy with the traditional sledding position...

even when she lost her sled.

But after watching big brother go down head first,

W wanted to give it a try.

We had to go down at least once with all three of us on the sled.

That did not go so well.
I'm not meant to be the anchor of a sledding team.
I kept making us sled sideways and crash.
But we always ended up laughing over it.

Whit's face captures the moment perfectly.

Much to my mother's chagrin, one fun day at the sledding park does NOT make me want to move to Utah. I will happily return to my 50 and 60 degree Carolina winters. I got my fill of snow-related fun for at least another year or so. :)