I think I am ready for it to be spring now.

Story of this winter:

I was pinching myself because we made it halfway through December without a big snowfall. It had been in the 50s and 60s! I knew the fact that we had such a mild fall was just a cruel trick, because then when winter officially arrived, it was a BEAST.

The night Mark and I went to see The Hobbit, (Dec. 18th) it had started to snow. By the time we got out of the movie:

 ...hello 6-8 inches. The roads were completely un-plowed and it took us 30 minutes (instead of 5-10)  of us sliding all over the roads to get back to our friend's house to pick up the kids. Their house is at the top of a steep cul-de-sac and our car wouldn't even make it up there--Mark had to hike up to the house and bring the kids down on foot.

By the way, they haven't closed schools in Cedar because of snow, like, ever. I asked a friend of mine who has been around here for 50 years and she says they never have. That makes things interesting. (Although they do normally have things plowed.)

Not surprisingly, our Christmas lights have a short lifespan. We had to throw away a ton of new lights that stopped working.

The following morning:

 

Of course, the kids were excited to go sledding after school. Madelyn's friends came and (hauling Luke) went down to play all afternoon.

Yay....wet snow clothes everywhere....my favorite....

And then, what happened next was just hideous.

For the next six weeks, Cedar City went into deep freeze. The day after the storm, the nighttime low got down to -5° F. From then until the month of February, it was below freezing (as in 32° or below) 25 out of the 44 days. (8 of the remaining days were still in the 30s, 11 days broke 40°.)

We got below ZERO 15 of those days. Here are the nighttime lows:

-5°, -10°, -9°, -5°, -10°, -9°, -8°, -9°, -13°, -16°, -11°, -5°, -3°, -1°, -3°.

The historical average for Cedar City during that time is a high of 42° and a low of 17°F, just to put that in perspective. (Btw, see the official records here and here that I pulled these stats from.) I heard that the last time it was this cold for this long was back in 1992 (I was 11). It got to be where we'd have a day around 35° and it felt positively balmy.

We went a whole week this January driving Madelyn to school because we didn't feel comfortable sending her out to the bus stop when it was still -8°, -12°. I mean, seriously!! What, are we in the Yukon??!

 I am not a fan of the cold or the snow, and all I can say is thank heavens it wasn't windy on top of all that, because we tend to have a lot of wind around here. I remember one particularly cold, dark, windy winter here back 8-9 years ago. It was MISERABLE and never ending. It was so hard to leave the house to do anything.

Anyway, on the random days that it did start to thaw out during the day (only to freeze again at night), we'd start getting these gnarly icicles:

 

(Taken on Madelyn's birthday, Dec. 21st)

~I am rather fond of that formation~it looks like an alien claw.

 

 And melting roof snow would spill over and create the Icy Walkway of Death on our front porch. Some of the water would drip into a bucket, but they kept breaking. That patch of ice was at least 3-4 inches thick.

Our gutters were solid ice and weren't allowing the water to go down the drain pipes.

Finally, we had one day where it got up to 48° a couple of weeks ago, and Mark went up there with buckets of hot water to melt everything and flush the gutters out.

We already had some heating coil on the roof, but then he ran a doubled up length of it all the way through the gutter/drain system. It has really helped! Our poor shingles were getting so soggy and beat up, and of course our concrete is a mess, too.

February so far has been a lot more tolerable. Temperatures are back to normal. I can handle the 40s, and even the occasional snow storm if it warms up in between. The snow had (had--notice the past tense) finally started to melt and our grass became visible again. Ahhhh! 

My niece Ava and nephew Nathan from St. George (which has perfect winter weather) had been dying to play in some snow and we had a huge storm forecast for last weekend, so they came on up.

So naturally, since we actually wanted it to snow, it didn't! They had to content themselves with the remaining little bit that was in the back yard instead of getting to go sledding.
 

 

But they still had a blast.  And wouldn't you know it--it started snowing as soon as they left.

By the next morning:

 

10 more inches!

 Here we go again...

PS. This is my 700th post!

[Freezer meal] Chicken Potpies

This chicken potpie recipe is from a Taste of Home cookbook my mom gave me. I've made it several times and have adapted things here and there to liven up the flavor a bit. It is meant to make more than one dish so that you can freeze the extra to pull out and bake at a later date. It is filling, homey food that I've given to new mothers and sick friends to either keep in their freezer or bake fresh for dinner.

 Chicken Potpies

 adapted from Taste of Home Freezer Pleasers Cookbook

4 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 pkg. (32 oz.) frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes, thawed

1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 can condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted

1 cup milk

1 cup sour cream

1/2 diced onion, sauteed

2 Tbl. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 cup medium or sharp shredded cheddar cheese

1 pkg. (15 oz.) refrigerated pie pastry, brought to room temp.

1 Tbl. oil, more if needed

In a frying pan, sautee diced onion in 1 Tbl. oil over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove onions and set aside, leaving remaining oil in the pan (add more if needed for the chicken). Season chicken with salt and pepper and pan fry until fully cooked; shred and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, potatoes, vegetables, soups, milk, sour cream, sauteed onion, flour and seasonings. Fold in shredded cheese and stir until well combined. Divide between two 9-inch deep-dish pie plates.* Roll out pastry to fit the top of each pie. Cut slits in pastry. Place over filling; trim, seal and flute edges.

Cover and freeze one potpie for up to 3 months. Place the second potpie on a cookie sheet** and bake at 400° F for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

To use frozen potpie: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking. Cover edges loosely with foil; place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425° F for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F; remove foil and bake 50-55 minutes longer or until golden brown. Serves 6.

*I don't have deep-dish pie plates, so this actually fills up three normal sized pie plates instead of two. You'll need an extra pie crust if that's what you plan on doing. Or you can bake in a larger casserole dish.

**When I made these a couple of days ago, I forgot to place the potpie on a cookie sheet before baking, and it bubbled over and my house still smells like the smoke that resulted. So use the cookie sheet!

My little valentines

I was not very happy with the pictures I tried to take of Madelyn on her baptism day--things were just too hectic and I didn't have the time to do it properly. So a couple of weeks ago, she put her dress back on and posed for me in my bedroom. I would have loved to have been able to take them outside....but not so much when it was only 12°F.

 She chose to wear the flower crown I made her a long time ago. It's what she wears when she's pretending to be Alice in Wonderland.
 

 It wasn't long before Luke found out what we were doing and decided to barge in.
 

 I said, "Let me see how handsome!" and this is what he did. Haha.

 Without her cardigan on, you can see how puffed the sleeves were (this dress was from 2001, remember...my little sister wore it at my wedding)

"Puffed sleeves are so fashionable now. It would give me such a thrill, Marilla, just to wear a dress with puffed sleeves."

 "...Anne felt that life was really not worth living without puffed sleeves."
 -Anne of Green Gables

 I love this one. ♥

I love those two kids!!