The Igloo

It's been snowing a lot here the last week so yesterday on Mickey and John's day off they decided to go outside and have a snowball fight. About 20 minutes after they went out I looked outside and noticed there were no snowballs flying, there was just some huge mound of snow being built up in our front lawn. (Obviously I was not out there with them, I'm 9 months pregnant) Then about 15 minutes later Mickey comes in and tells me to get the camera and come outside. This is what I came out to:

Yes, that's Mickey laying in an igloo they made. He was apparently trying to scrape more snow out of the inside. The best was when I told him to turn around so I could get his face...he couldn't get out so this had to happen:

I went back inside and they continued working on it. About an hour later I was asked to come out with the camera again.

At this point the thing was pretty roomy inside. Both guys are inside. Then...mass destruction!

Apparently they were nervous a small child or dog would be trapped in the thing and we would be responsible so they decided to smash it.

Frozen Lake

Is anyone still reading this? Sorry I have not posted in forever! We had a wonderful Christmas in Pinedale with just the two of us. We figured we will never have one of those again! We also had Christmas dinner with a group of couples from church, which was a great time filled with so much good food. Mickey took the week off from Christmas until New Years so we had lots of time to spend together, which was so fun. It was definitely a shock when he had to go back to work--I loved having him home with me that whole time.

On New Years Eve we heard stories of the lake "freezing clear" and were hoping it would happen again this year so we could see it. Apparently it's only happened twice in the last 10 years so our expectations weren't too high. BUT, since its been just cold with not much snow, it happened! Freezing clear means you can (for the most part) see through the ice and it doesn't get all cloudy and white like some frozen lakes do.

We headed out to the lake yesterday afternoon to see if the rumors were true. Driving up we thought they weren't because it looked like water. Then we saw people ice skating in the middle of the lake and figured it probably really was frozen. My favorite was this person ice skating and towing their dog around on a sled.

Here's Mickey venturing out onto the ice. He went farther out than John or I were willing to go. 

Did I mention the whole time we could hear it cracking?!?! It was so scary. John wanted to get our picture together but as I started walking out to where Mickey was there was a huge crack and I freaked out. Thankfully JD got an action shot of me saying NO WAY!

Mickey moved closer and we got a good pic! 

Here's looking down into a really shallow part...you can see the bottom of the lake. (It looks cloudy here but then further you go out, the clearer it gets. I just wasn't going to go out any farther...I'm pregnant people!)

And here's some pictures of the big creepy cracks!

And, I couldn't leave you with out the obligatory neighborhood wildlife picture. We saw this guy in town on the way to the lake. 

O Christmas Tree!

Last weekend we went to cut our tree down! It was very exciting mostly because we had no clue what we were doing. On the way there we took our Christmas card photo AND got John's truck stuck in the snow. It was not a dull trip! How did we get the truck out you may ask? Well, obviously you have one person steer, one person push and one pregnant woman sit in the back of the truck for extra weight. Anyways, crisis adverted and we moved to the tree phase.

Here's Mickey off to cut the tree down.

And here they are hauling it back! I realize I don't have pictures of them sawing the trees but I left the camera in the car and going back to get it involved another trek through deep snow so I passed.

The trees in the truck. (Notice the truck is not stuck in the snow...kudos to us!)

And here I am standing in the snow! It's pretty deep! Winter coats + pregnancy really do nothing good for a woman.

Driving back in we stopped to see some wildlife. We only spotted this guy because another truck was stopped and looking at him.

And here are the local deer that hang around Lake Street in town. The male was resting while his flock of women surrounded him.

Then we brought the tree inside, and that was the end of our escapade! Until we set it up and decorated it, but maybe I will show that in another post!

PS I feel its important to note that everytime I say "we" in regards to something involving the tree, I mean Mickey and John. Because I did nothing but stand there!

Winter

Here's a picture of the morning temperature in Bondurant, a town about a hour from us. -20!!!!!!!! I'll be staying inside today :)

p.s. For all who may be concerned and rethinking their planned trip (Michelle), it was only -8 in Pinedale this AM and the high today is 25.

Nature Calls

Last night as we came home we noticed there was a deer on our porch! That was pretty neat. Then this morning we saw she left us a little present.....

Here's the tracks she made through our yard after fleeing the scene.

We now own a Christmas tree permit! Stay tuned because we (and by we I mean Mickey) are going to cut down our own tree this weekend. This sucker only cost 10 dollars. Cheapest Christmas tree ever! 

Wildlife

We had one early snow at the beginning of October which drove all the geese down from the mountain (or Canada, who knows) and into our front yard. Okay, not literally our front yard, but we live across from the golf course and they made the golf course their new home. Let me tell you, those things honk ALOT!! Here's two of the pictures I got of them.

Those pictures don't even begin to capture how many of them there really are. You can tell in both pictures that they are walking away from me...geese are pretty skittish (and did I mention loud!!)

Recently, we have had more snow and I think the geese finally realized Pinedale is not south enough for them because they have left. Maybe they are heading to Texas?!

More snow and colder temperatures means more animals are coming down out of the mountains and into our town! Last week I was leaving the house around 5pm to go to the library and was startled to see 16 deer staring at me from across the street. Of course I had to run and get the camera.

I love the little one playing peek a boo on the left side of this picture.

I thought they were all does but on the way back from the library I spotted this guy!

Beautiful Views

Check out the views we get to wake up to every morning! These are taken from our kitchen window.