Kayla Helps Cook Dinner

The Snow Arrives

The predicted snow storm finally arrived and it has been snowing for the last week and a half, (with a few breaks). Usually when it snows here, it melts pretty quickly, so when the snow sticks around for a while, the whole area is utterly unprepared. There are not very many snowplows, so the ONLY streets that get plowed are the highways and the main roads. No residential streets, no grocery store parking lots, nothing. I grew up with snow, so the way things shut down with a little storm shocked me. But if the roads don't get plowed, it's a totally different situation. Almost every one we know has been working from home, including Seth. I talked to a friend of mine yesterday who hasn't left her house in over a week because they live on a hill and literally cannot get out. We, luckily, live right off a fairly main road, so once we brave our way out of the parking lot we are okay. We have a Fred Meyer about a block up the street from us and Tuesday night we went out to buy a few things. They were running short on some important things, like fresh produce and eggs, because they had not had a shipment in 3 days. Last night we saw the shipment truck...stuck in the road, blocking up traffic, trying to get into the parking lot. There were police cars with flashing lights redirecting the traffic flow. We saw a fedex truck stuck at the corner just a few blocks away. The 3 closest airports to us, Seattle, Spokane, and Portland have all been closed for days at a time. The area literally just shuts down with the snow.

For our family, however, the snow has been really fun! It has been great to have Seth working from home right at the holiday. Kayla loves the snow and loves to watch it falling.

And at least Santa's sleigh has something to land on!

Kayla's reaction to the snow.

Our pond and the nature walk.

Kayla watching the snow fall.

Seattle Paralyzed by Chance of Snow

This is a local headline. You can read the article here:
Seattle Paralyzed by Chance of Snow

After living in Utah, Idaho and Alaska this is a very different attitude about snow!

First Snowfall

Saturday night we had our first snowfall. We had a solid inch on the ground, but the roads were clear. Sunday they canceled church.
Because it is so humid here they worry about the roads getting too slick. We are happy the snow came in time for a White Christmas, and the weather forecast shows we will probably get a little more in the next week.

Kayla's 1st Birthday and Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we headed south to Seth's parent's house. Summer and Brian and their kids also came. Kayla's birthday came just a few days before Thanksgiving.

First we opened presents.

After blowing out the candle, we let Kayla dive into a brownie with whipped cream. She did not like the way the whipped cream stuck to her hands.

But she did like the brownie.
Overall she decided that it was a pretty fun first birthday.
For more of Kayla's 1st birthday, Seth is working on a video that covers Kayla's first year of life. We will post that when it is finished. So...more to come.

On Thanksgiving we had two turkeys, one traditional, one BBQ. Incidentally, one of the turkeys weighed 22 lbs. The other weighed 12 lbs. Strangely close to the weight of the two babies.
Kayla with the 22 lbs turkey
Brynn with the 12 lbs. turkey.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. And the people we spent it with were wonderful.

The rest of the week we spent just enjoying each other.
Grandma with Brynn and Kayla
Kayla enjoying playing in the grass on a warm fall afternoon.
Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Hutchings who housed us and fed us and gave us such a fun vacation.