When the Weather Outside is Frightful Blizzard of 09

This past week we celebrated my 25th Birthday and it just so happened that the worst blizzard the Cedar Valley has seen in over 20 years rolls in the same day. When Dan and I moved here, the one constant thing that comes up in conversation when meeting people are the winters here and how dreadful they are. Everyone around here has been talking about how fortunate we have been because we had not received a snow yet. They say there is usually a good snow in November. Well the snow held off for a BIG one. For a whole week before the storm came people were talking about it. The days leading up to Tuesday, the weather channel was flashing blizzard warning alerts. This of course got Dan and I excited but also a little nervous. We went and purchased a week worth of groceries and rented some movies. They were telling people it was safer to stay inside by Tuesday afternoon. Well when the snow started...it kept coming and coming and coming for hours and hours and even days. The winds reached up to 45 mph and the temperature down to -20 wind chill factor. The snow fall accumulation topped out at 18 inches and plus in some places. There were snow drifts 8 feet high. What a way to have our first Iowa winter snow. We were stuck inside on Wednesday, my birthday. But it was a wonderful, beautiful day spent at home with my two favorite people. Our street was plowed by late Wednesday night and we were able to get out Thursday morning. If this would have happened in Georgia, I think everything would have been shut down for a week or even more. Wow it is way different and something to get used to to drive in the snow. It was a beautiful storm.

Here is a picture of our street late Tuesday afternoon.

One of our awesome friends Jeff surprised us with pizza on Wednesday when everyone else was stuck inside. We were blown away at how kind and thoughtful he was to think of us Georgians.
Halle decide it was too cold for her to attempt to walk out the door.
This is our back yard on Wednesday.
This is the same shot as above of our street just the next day.
Yep, that snow is really up to my knees.
Here is our driveway after being snow blown. Look how deep that snow is.
This is our front yard.
And we finally got out in it, Halle actually loves it. She helps us find all her snow gear in the house when we are headed out. We have to hold her back from falling out the door she is sooo excited to go out.
Dan had built a ramp or slide for our new sled in the front yard. It is REALLY pretty cool. Halle likes it.
Daddy does too!
Here is a short video of the flight down the ramp, slide, or trail thingy.

It has really been a beautiful winter wonderland. I'm pretty sure we are going to be getting tired of the snow soon. But as for right now, we are just giddy over going outside to play in it.