spring break?

Ryan had his test day on Thursday last week, and so his official "Spring Break" started on Friday (and will continue through this week as well). However, it seems that he was the only person who understood the message! He came home after his test and surprised me with beautiful tulips!! Why I was the one who got the surprise gift after he had been working so dang hard is beyond me, but I definitely love it! In my mind, tulips are the ultimate 'spring' flower - and just looking at them makes me excited to see the sun again!

Here's the catch. All day Thursday we kept hearing about a major storm warning that would come in Friday and leave Saturday night. Here in Columbus, we have heard probably a dozen or so times of a major storm coming in - and the end result is maybe two-three inches. There is nothing major about it! But this one was different. On Friday it started to snow in the evening, and this is what we woke up to outside our apartment:
CRAZY!! And even for all of those not-so-major-storm-warnings we get, everything shuts down. So when this storm hit, it's as if the world as we know it ends! Everything is closed, and the news is on all day long updating us on the fact that they've hired more independent snow-plows; and while we still won't be able to see the pavement, they'll be able to clear at least a couple inches off the roads (as if that helps!). Honestly - it's the packed snow/ice mixture that's left on the roads that ends up creating all the scary situations! It definitely makes us miss and appreciate the efficiency in Utah. Oh to live with people who knew how to survive again.

And here's another little Columbus-weather-tidbit: the wind blows like crazy! For the past few months I have felt like I've been living in the story of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day - remember how they all get blown all over the place - especially Piglet? Yep, that's what life has been like out here. I feel like if it weren't for this belly that weighs me down, I would literally be blown away!

So needless to say, the wind was worse with this storm! It's really cool to watch if you're inside - but painful to experience! There are some areas where the drift made the snow waist deep, and I'm not even kidding!! Ryan and I decided to have fun in the snow yesterday - and we had a blast! We mostly just played in our parking lot, and then ventured beyond our little back roads to see if life really was standing still for the whole city. And it definitely was! The major road that we live close to looked horrible still - and it was 4 in the afternoon! Ryan helped some people push their car into a gas station because they got stuck; and we had to keep an eye on anything driving somewhat close to where we were because no one had control. Luckily there weren't many cars out!

Here's a couple more pictures of our snow fun. Oh - and Jeep has never looked so pretty. She's in her element, and we can't seem to find the courage to clean her off yet. She enjoys it too much. :)