Snowed in

Its only 10am, and I already feel like its time for bed. The day began early for me - at 5am - when Burton's barking woke me up. Ben was up getting ready for work (yes, he works at 6am on Sunday mornings) and he woke the dog. So, I got up too. I knew it was supposed to have snowed during the night, as the forecast read:

A major winter storm is moving through Utah. Snow will accumulate along the Northern and Southern Wasatch Front, but because of the Oquirrh Mountain snow shadow, the Salt Lake Valley will not see heavy snow until around midday, when the cold front moves through Salt Lake City. Accumulations will be heaviest in the Ogden and Provo East Bench areas with 5 to 9 inches, while the valleys along the Wasatch Front will accumulate between 2 and 5 inches. Much heavier snow will fall in the Wasatch Mountain Valleys with 8 to 16 inches around Park City and Liberty. The mountains will accumulate from 18 to 36 inches. Even the central and southern valleys will see significant accumulations from this storm. Those planning to travel on Sunday should be very careful, and should have a winter travel survival kit with them; and they should advise someone of their plans in case there are problems while traveling throughout the state.

That forecast may sound scary to some, but it didn't even faze me. After all the snow we've seen this season, I didn't give it a second thought. Especially since we live in the aforementioned "snow shadow" of the Oquirrh Mountains. I was expecting an inch or two - nothing more. So, imagine my suprise when I opened the door for Burton and a wall of snow fell into the house. It appeared that about 18 inches of snow had drifted up to the doors. I told Ben to take my car, since I have 4 wheel drive. It would leave me stranded all day, but I figured we'd be ok. (instead of regular church, today is a conference - aka bye week) He left, and I snuggled myself back into bed, hoping for a couple more hours of sleep. I had just about drifted off when I realized in horror that I had let Ben take the car with the only diapers and wipes inside. And he wouldn't be back until mid afternoon. That is a long time to go without diapers and wipes. Bryn had Mexican food for dinner - lots and lots of taco salad. We're gonna need diapers.

Then I remembered that I had some old swim diapers from the summer. I found 3 of them, along with a few wipes, under the bathroom vanity. Baring any major catastrophe, we should be ok. I snuggled back into bed.

When the girls woke 2 hours later, we got up and made some breakfast. I tried to let Burton outside again, only he wouldn't go out. The snow was deeper than he is tall. So much snow had fallen. I watched as my neighbor across the street tried to take his super-sized truck out in the snow - but the snow was too deep. It was about as tall as the big tires on his truck, and he got stuck in the middle of the cul-de-sac.

I decided that I needed to go out and shovel, as it was still coming down. I didn't want it to get too deep to ever be able to shovel. We may be snowed in until March. And I'm not kidding. I set the girls up with some food and a movie, and stepped into my snow boots while still in my PJs. As I opened the garage, this was the scene that greated me:
It may be difficult to see, because its so dark. The snow in the foreground was about as deep as the snow shovel blade - roughly 12 inches. But it had drifted away from the house. You can see a ridge of snow in the background that is a full foot deeper. 2 feet of snow, and it was still coming down in snowball sized flakes.
I decided to shovel the porch first. It may not seem so deep - but look closely. There are 3 steps up to my porch and only one is visible.
After shoveling the front walk, it quickly became aparent that I would not be able to shovel the enitre driveway in a reasonable amount of time. The girls were inside alone, and I could only trust them for so long. So I decided to at least shovel the side Ben would need to get up, assuming he actually was able to make it home. The snow on the driveway was at least 2 feet deep. I had to shovel a path first - look how deep! It took me 45 minutes to shovel just enough of the driveway for Ben to hopefully get the car inside the driveway. I was actually having fun, and would have finished the job if the girls hadn't been inside alone. And all I could think was: when can I go skiing?

The girls are stir-crazy today. We're not homebodies. I'd love to go outside and play in the snow mounts, but the girls snow pants, gloves and coats are . . . guess where? . . . in my car. So, its 10am, and I'm letting the girls eat Hot Pockets and Mountain Dew for an early lunch because I just can't handle their whining.

Oh - and the satellite is out - full of snow I'm sure. We've got a fridge full of food and a Super Bowl party planned - assuming anyone can get here. And we can get the satellite going again (someone needs to climb on the roof and clean it up). Should be an interesting day . . . I'll have to update tomorrow.

Thanks too for the great cleaning tips. I've merged Anne Marie and Carrie's bathroom cleaning tip: this morning while the girls bathed, I wiped down the bathroom. Only took 5 minutes, and it looks one million times better. Great tips! Anyone wanna tell me how to keep on my laundry too?