Snowmageddon 2015

As Sarah had mentioned in a previous post, Lubbock, Texas is a location of the "not so much snow" variety.  A fact that brings me no end of joy.  I HATE snow.  With a raging passion that dwarfs the fire of 10,000 suns.  Now, even in Lubbock, we get SOME snow.  Usually, what this means is that the ground is covered in a quarter- to a half-inch of "white stuff", then the temperature goes up to something like 60 degrees Farenheit, and it is all melted by 12:00 PM that same day.  I can't tell you how gratifying that is to me.

Now you might ask what happened during my childhood that scarred me for life and made me hate winter so much?  The answer: absolutely nothing.  As a kid, I loved snow.  The problem came when I grew older and, well, bigger.  My circulation got worse, and it became ridiculously easy for my fingers and toes to get cold regardless of how many layers or the kind of protection I put over them.  Once cold, it takes an inordinate amount of time for them to warm up again, so I tend to avoid them getting cold in the first place.  That means, when winter comes, I figuratively get out the wooden stakes, crosses, and garlic and hide behind a rushing river.

This past winter we had planned to take a vacation to a slightly different climate over the break between Christmas and New Year.  For the first time since we have been in Lubbock, I did not need to be physically present during year-end inventory at work, so some friends of ours invited us to head north to visit a resort property they had a time-share at in Oklahoma.  We had planned to leave yesterday.  As usual, the best-laid plans of mice and men...

We were greeted with this:

This morning, the sight that welcomed me as I opened my front door was an extremely ominous one:

The views down either direction of our street.  And yes, that IS our van parked next to that snow bank.

Yes, that snow bank gets up to half the height of our front window...

...and the one in the back is every bit as big.

If you're looking for sizes for reference, we parked our kids in the highest part of the drift and told them to find the ground.

Then there's poor Shadow's house...

But like most kids, Meagan and Jacob were excited at the prospect of playing in the snow, and got their gear on to head outside.

Jacob can be seen making the obligatory snow angel.

The kids had a great time playing outside and I was glad for them from inside my warm house.  As for me and my body, however, we will dread the clearing of the snow from the driveway because we still need to get on the road to the afore-mentioned vacation - two days late.

- Josh                  

Breakin' the law! (With permission, of course)

The last 18 months have been torture for Sarah.  Ever since our trek through life has led us to Texas, she has been missing her family.  They live so far away...except for her youngest sister, Elizabeth, who is currently serving a mission in Dallas, TX for our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).  This is something that I did as well, though I served in California with the hispanic migrant workers.  For the time that we serve, however, as a general rule, there is no contact outside of letters and packages with family and friends (with exceptions for calls to parents on Mother's Day and Christmas) in order to allow the missionary to focus their entire effort on the work of the Lord.

Once in a while, however, the person who directs the work in that area (the Mission President) will make an exception.  A missionary has one day in a week, called preparation day, where they do mundane work (such as laundry, house cleaning, shopping, etc...) in order to allow them to focus on their primary work of preaching the gospel the other 6.  Today, was Elizabeth's last P-day (preparation day) in her mission prior to going home.  With her Mission President's permission, we made the trek down to Dallas to visit her for a few hours.

For those of you not familiar with Texas geography, Texas might as well be a country in itself it is so big, geographically.  The trip was a 6-hour drive, one-way from Lubbock to Dallas, and that's not even close to a "cross-state" drive.  The trek started at 5:45 in the morning.  We arrived at about 12:15 and as it was lunch time, we took Elizabeth and her companion to a Japanese Restaurant that they had wanted to go to but were unable to the time that they tried (it was closed).

Liz, adventurous soul that she is, opted to try all kinds of different varieties of Sushi... which my daughter promptly offered to help her with.  Yes, Meagan likes raw fish.  Thank you, Caprock Ward Young Men and Young Women.   You've corrupted my daughter... 

I on the other hand, am not so adventurous, though it's not from lack of trying, as I did, many years ago with a good friend who is also a sushi-lover.  No, it was not Sarah.  She still hates fish even when it's cooked.  I WILL break her of that one day, however...  I have an eternity to work at it.  Muah ha ha...

 So glad that Sarah was able to see her sister again before she flew home. 

One last picture before the trek home.  I was good...Liz only got a handshake from me even though there were hugs from everyone else.  Another long drive back put us back at home right about midnight, with the next day being a work day.  Needless to say, I was kinda tired, but it was definitely worth it.

- Josh                            

More Camping Fun

Just a few more pictures from our AWESOME camping adventure!

Josh really loves his "Camping Hat". I keep wanting to say "G'day mate"

 This was Meagans first time swimming in something other than a swimming pool. She commented that it was a lot harder because of the wind and movement of the water. I thought she did very well.

 Jacob didn't want to risk it and played it safe and kept his life jacket on.

 I love watching little kids and seeing the excitement they have when the can explore and learn on their own.

 I am not sure why but I always thought that buffalo came out looking how they look at adults.....I was wrong :D

 If you haven't figured out by now I have some silly, crazy, fun loving kids.

 Jacob is so funny. He really have some character in him. Always a joy to listen to and watch.

 Sibling......Love?

 

Another great view of where we were.

   - Sarah     

Camping in Caprock Canyon

So for our first "big" vacation (actual getting away) in a couple of years, we decided on camping and went to Caprock Canyons State Park.  Once again, we opted to take some "family" along for company, and what a great time we had.  The entire area is covered in red rock and we saw trees.  Yes, ACTUAL TREES...IN TEXAS.  No, we are not hallucinating.  See?

We arrived around 9 AM and spent the next couple of hours setting up camp.  One of the first things we discovered was that apparently, Caprock Canyons State Park, apart from being the home of the last free-roaming bison herd, it is also a wildlife refuge for the common housefly.  Who knew?  They seem to be doing well, as about 1,000,000 of them joined us for the whole duration of the camping trip.  The weather, in typical Texas form, was mildly warm (about 100 degrees both days).  Fortunately there was a lake nearby where the kids could cool down.  Below, you will find a picture of the lake's fishing dock.  As you can see, there is a "slight" difference between the water level and the dock level.  We might be in a drought that has lasted for several years or so...

So as they ventured into the lake they discovered several things.  Jacob discovered that there are all kinds of rocks everywhere and most of the ones under the water are smooth.  Meagan discovered that there is a BIG difference between swimming in a pool and swimming in a lake - one is fairly calm, the other has current.  She really had to work at it to maintain her location.

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without the opportunity to swim with her buddy, Cheyenne.  She wouldn't go out into the water with anyone but Meagan.

Jacob, on the other hand, was perfectly content to stay in the shallows looking for cool rocks...and occasionally trying to skip them.

And because it can't be called camping otherwise, we had Hobo Dinners for our first evening's meal.  They were great.

If you zoom in REALLY close, you can probably count at least 1000 flies in this picture...  It didn't seem to matter whether they could get to any actual food or not.  They KNEW we had it, and the second we slipped up, they were going to take it.  Somehow, though, we managed to keep our good humor even with all the annoying buzzing going on.

The second day, we decided to drive the "scenic" route through the canyon.  You know, for being in the "desert" of Texas, there were some incredibly scenic vistas.  We stopped at one and took family pictures.

Looking out at actual greenery and skyline that was not "flat" (changes in the horizon like there are actual mountains)

Well lookie here!  An actual mountain.

A closer shot of that same mountain...

And did we mention actual Tatonka (buffalo)?  Kevin Costner would feel right at home.

A shot of (most of) the campsite.  Our friends' tent is off to the left of the camera.  Lots of people in one "small" space, but somehow we managed to get along and even like each other still after the experience.

2 and a half days of camping leaves one tired, dirty, and with a LOT of laundry.  But as fun and peaceful as being out in nature for extended periods is, the shower that you take after you return home in a REAL bathroom is a gift from the Almighty.

- Josh & Sarah       

...Wherein the in-laws venture South...

There are many stories told to couples in the midst of courtship about the dreaded "in-laws".  They talk about how EVIL they are and how much they dislike you for "stealing" their beloved son/daughter away and chaining them to you in the bonds of matrimony.

If these stories are actually true, then I may just be the luckiest guy on the whole planet.  Like, won the lottery without buying a ticket, lucky, because I have AWESOME in-laws.  And they took time and flew down to visit us after having returned home from their mission to South Africa, late last year.

For one of our adventures while we were here, we took them to the Lubbock Ranching Heritage Museum.  Dad tends to dig on history a bit and there's a fair bit about how ranchers and frontiersmen used to live to be learned there.  Old cars, old wagons, old houses, roughing it...  What's not to like, right?

Here's Jacob on one of the old freight cars that they used to transfer cattle and feed from location to location once they finally got track laid down.

Another day, we went to see a museum that I've wanted to see for quite a while, but whose hours are almost always when I am at work or otherwise occupied.  It was the Silent Wings museum.  Apparently, during WWII, Lubbock was the largest training ground for American glider regiments in the country.   I knew that glider-borne infantry was used quite a bit in landing troops behind enemy lines during initial campaign assaults (such as capturing Pegasus Bridge on the Caen canal at Benouville on D-Day).  What I didn't know was that such training began in America, having thought that it started during the preparation for the invasion of Europe in England.

The museum had all kinds of glider parts and even a few actual gliders one could look in.  Below, you can see the kids in front of an engine built around that time.  What kind of engine, you ask?  Why, Jacobs Radial Engine of course... :) 

Below, Dad and the kids are standing in front of a Douglas C-47 Skytrain located out in front of the museum. The propellers of the engine on either wing are bigger than both of the kids.

 Additionally, they were here over Easter Sunday, for which there is apparently a requirement that there are eggs decorated.  Naturally, with Mom & Dad here, the kids wanted them to participate.

Mom, however, is just too cool to do eggs, unless it involves the greatest potato salad in the world.  THEN she'll do eggs.  Come to think of it, I should have had her make some.  :(  Next time, I guess.  But for now, she's chillin' in the dining room while Grandpa does the hard work of posing for egg photos with the kids.

It was great to see them again.  We look forward to doing so in the future as well.  We love having them around and wish they were closer, but the distance makes it all the more special when we do see them.

- Josh