These people are crazy!!

Not really crazy per say, but If I had imagined that we would be ice fishing, ice skating, skiing, roasting marshmallows on a bon fire on a frozen lake a year ago, well, I would have thought they were crazy too!
We have done all of this in the last three months, and the latest was yesterday when a member of our ward hosted a breakfast on the ice of one of the lakes, where there was ice fishing, he had also set up 9 holes of golf on the ice. We brought our ice skates, but didn't skate this time. It turned out to be a little too cold for the little ones and we ended up going bowling instead. It was kind of funny, we had to get some eggs, and eat them , then go back and get a pancake and eat it before it froze, and then go back and get hash browns, and eat them immediately, because almost from the second it left the grill, it was freezing.
I brought an all weather umbrella that provided a little bit of relief from the wind, so all the kids where huddled under it while they ate their breakfast.
Last week we had a slight melt down, where the temperature got all the way up to almost the 50's. It seemed there was a river of water down our sidewalk from all of the melting snow. Of course then at night it froze again, so by morning it was the river of ice. We actually got to see parts of our grass in the front yard where show had melted off. We began thinking of spring and getting excited for the time when we could fling our doors open, allow the kids to run in and out and swat the mosquito's that try to suck our blood.
But alas, as we speak, another winter storm has come through, and our whole world is once again being buried in a foot or two of snow that we have to plow and force our way through.
I am grateful for people who are willing to go out and brave the elements anyways. . . It is hard being locked up in your house for months at a time. . . So, I am grateful for those who host breakfast's on the ice and host dinner parties and invitations to lunch. . .
On a totally different note, Our kids have been doing so fabulous! This has been a really good move for most of the kids. I think it was hardest for Lanae who had a really good base of friends that she was leaving behind. But, Tyler's grades have improved dramatically. There are some great guys here his age that will help lead him on the path of truth and right.
All of the rest of our kids are finding friends and doing well in school. Alia loves her pre-school, and along with Josh will be in a spanish immersion school where they speak nothing but spanish. Josh is in kindergarten this year and learning so much! It is so fun to have him come home and ask, Do you know the Spanish word for _______. . . . It is something different everyday. My favorite was, do you know what the word Cho-co-la-tae means? We were like. . . . Chocolate? Yea, that one is universal! Yum!
I love our house, and I love our neighborhood! We have a fabulous ward that are so kind and loving. Brandon's cousin's Barb and Brig white just moved here a week ago, and their first day at church got three dinner invites. Good people! Really good people here.
A week ago as well, we went skiing as a family. There is this little hill, that I would scarcely call high that they use for skiing. The bunny hill is a slight down hill grade. When we first got there I walked past it wondering where the bunny hill is, thinking it has got to be steeper than that! This place we went to is Called Highland it is maybe 15 minutes from our home, so we came home for lunch and dinner, but were skiing the rest of the day.
It was so fun to see how timid they were at the beginning of the day, and how professional they were by the end of the night. Their fist time skiing, and by the end were going down the really steep hills, off the jumps and through the skate park where the professionals were perfecting their skills.
It was so classic, before we left to see Sasha come and ski sideways close to us, stopping right in front of us,"Hey Mom, . . Did you see me catch some air on that last jump?" Their first day of skiing. it was so wild. Josh was even very good. Although he wasn't as daring as the older ones. He still did a good job and was gunning it down some of the slopes ahead of me.
Tyler got to go skiing with his school for a PE field trip, and then again with the scouts to get his winter sports merit badge. Lanae got to go to a 3 day adventure on Long Lake about 3 hours north of us for her school field trip where she cross country skied, did science experiments on the lake to see the effects of humans on the water.. . Stuff like that. It is definitely an adventure here.