This is how Mr Joshua is spending the afternoon. Our new power sleeper. He still has some front teeth coming in but is doing much better with his sleeping!

Well, it's a lovely March day here in Western Michigan. The clouds are hanging heavy overhead. The snow is blowing, visibility is down to 1/4 mile at times, and I have sent my wife out to shovel snow. She is quite the work horse out there, as she had the whole thing done in about an hour. Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, she did have a little help at the end of the driveway from our neighbor and his snow blower, otherwise I would have had to go out to relieve her after several hours of digging!

So the driveway was this deep ALL THE WAY DOWN! Fortunately I made Sheila take care of it. It was punishment for her trip to California in February! :) Seriously though, she says she digs shoveling snow (get it?...HA I kill me!) as long as she can move it. Problem today was the snow was deeper than the snow shovel!

Front of our house all drifted over. You can see poor Joshua in the window looking at his momma out in the snow. Poor Poor Momma!

Okay, granted we started with about 8 inches or so of snow on either side of the driveway, but this is just silly! Our next door neighbor said he has lived in Michigan all his life and never seen a stretch of continued snow like we are in now.

Not much swinging going on out back right now!!!

So much snow we even had to enlist the help of Joshua!

sooooooo, we got a weee bit of snow last night. Hmmmm, Michigan. There was so much Sheila had a hard time throwing it over the top of the mountains of snow on either side of the driveway!

And now, we are back home! The vacation is over and the snow just keeps coming! We went from shorts and dresses to snow suits and boots! The snow is beautiful, but oh so cold! Everyone here keeps asking me why I came back and although I joked about staying, I just couldn't bear to be apart from Donald any longer. I have reflected a lot about the journey that has brought us to this point and I have realized a lot of things. It may have been obvious to everyone else, but I guess I took it for granted; I am just crazy in love with Donald! I also know that all of the sacrifices we have made will pay off and that with out this time away from family and living in the cold weather, I would never have appreciated my extended family and the mild climate I was raised in.

So, I really am "California Dreaming" but also trying to appreciate the snow and the cold and know that some day we will look back at these days fondly and maybe, just maybe, we will wish for them back! --Sheila

Sarah and I had a nice walk collecting sea shells. She just loved everything about the beach from digging in the sand to splashing in the waves!

Sarah buried in the sand! She just loved it!

The day before we came home, we went to the beach. It was a sunny, warm day and we all had a great time. Donald buried the kids in the sand and they all made sand castles.

And now, we are back home! The vacation is over and the snow just keeps coming! We went from shorts and dresses to snow suits and boots! The snow is beautiful, but oh so cold!
Everyone here keeps asking me why I came back and although I joked about staying, I just couldn't bear to be apart from Donald any longer. I have reflected a lot about the journey that has brought us to this point and I have realized a lot of things. It may have been obvious to everyone else, but I guess I took it for granted; I am just crazy in love with Donald! I also know that all of the sacrifices we have made will pay off and that with out this time away from family and living in the cold weather, I would never have appreciated my extended family and the mild climate I was raised in. Being back in my parents neighborhood also made me realize what wonderful neighbors we grew up with and how important neighbors are in a child's life. So, I am definitely "California Dreaming", but I am also appreciating the snow and the cold and knowing that someday we will look back fondly on these days! --Sheila

Sarah and I had a great walk along the shore collecting shells. She just loved splashing in the water and running from the waves.

The day before we went home, we went to the beach one last time. The weather was warm and sunny, you could even see the Channel Islands clearly! Everyone had a great time. Donald buried the kids in the sand and they loved it.