Snowpocalypse

Snowpocalypse

More snow than you would ever need, or could imagine. (via Urban Dictionary)

They predicted earlier last week that we would have a big winter storm, dumping 12-24 inches of snow in Rapid City. They predicted blizzard like conditions. 

They were right! 

Thursday night the winds and rain began. By Friday morning the blowing snow started and didn't stop. There was also a strange phenomenon that happened called "Thunder Snow". While it was snowing, there was thunder. It was really strange!

By Saturday morning we woke up to this:  

And it continued to blow and snow the rest of the day.  

On Friday, the power went in and out during the day. We entertained the kids with every possible activity, toy, game, you name it, we did it! 

Friday afternoon I decided to make dinner a little early, I was afraid we were going to lose power, so we ate a big dinner and not long after the power went out for good. Thankfully, we had a lot of candles and were prepping for possible extended power outrage during the day. 3 years ago Justin bought a generator that we've only used to power bounce houses during block parties, but were we ever glad we had it! 

The kids were so enamored by the candles and the power being out. Paul thought the whole day was just great!  

We slept huddled close under a lot of blankets, and woke up to a cold house. Our candles were our heat source as we tried to ration the fuel for the generator. I realized how addicted and reliant we are to everything and anything that plugs into an electrical outlet! How blessed we are to live in a country that has power and running water. 

We ran the generator 3 times that day during meal times to cook a warm meal using the hot plate I bought for the canner, and plugging in our space heaters to the generator to warm the upstairs. We were able to keep the house bearable doing this. I wore my long john's, ugg boots, and gloves, but I'm super cold natured. Paul wore shorts with his jacket, crazy kid, he must not have felt the cold!

We kept the snow in bowls in the fridge to keep it cold and never opened the freezers.  

 At lunch we boiled water to make hot tea for everyone. The kids enjoyed it very much!

 I made the biggest mug/bowl of tea ever!  

The boys were restless a lot. We sent them downstairs to the basement to wrestle many times.  

Finally the sun started coming out and the wind died down while Josiah was drawing a picture of his family and our house.

 Saturday evening the Lord gave us a beautiful sunset after the storm.

 The snow drifts were so tall everywhere!

Saturday night we were getting ready for another night without power. I was keeping up with our electric company's updates on their Facebook page. We thought by their update it wouldn't be until Sunday that we'd have power back. There were major problems all over the area, many people were without power.

We charged the computers while running the generator the last time for the day so the kids could watch a video when it got dark.

 

Once the kids went to sleep it was silent in our house. No sound machines, so music, no tv... just us and the candles. I did my bible study by candlelight that evening. 

Then at 9:30pm Saturday night, at the very moment Justin and I kissed goodnight, the power came back on! It was a magical kiss! ha! I've never been more excited to feel the heat come back on! 

Sunday we headed outside! After 4 hours (it seemed) we got all of the children into their snow gear and had our cardio exercise for the day. ha!

Justin and I shoveled off and on during the storm and Sunday morning. We shoveled to the road. Yep, that's 2-3 feet of snow in the road.

Our neighbor a few houses down had friends staying with them during the storm whose home was in Box Elder and they had animals they had to get to... so they started digging a path through the road. None of us were sure the plow would ever come. Between the mass amounts of neighborhood people shoveling the road and someone with a backhoe digging a path through as well, they were able to get out! It was impressive seeing everyone come together. It was the first time we've seen most of our neighbors outside! 

 I helped the kids dig a tunnel. I also got sunburned. 

 The garden is on the other side of the 4 foot drift.

 Temperatures warmed up nicely, we hardly need a jacket!

 Leah was not afraid of the snow and was bravely climbing up the piles.

 Our lone backyard tree lost some large limbs.

I took the next 2 photos from the news station's Facebook page. Rapid City got 31 inches of snow! Can you imagine 58 inches! Unbelievable! 

 Isn't this just beautiful!

 This street is just down the road from our house. Wow! A friend of mine took this picture.

 Monday, a truck finally came down our street to plow some snow!

Monday and Tuesday there was no school. Some schools still didn't have power or there's  infrastructure damage. Many people are still without power, trees are down everywhere, roads are still not plowed. The storm did some major damage to our area! Justin is working on organizing a chainsaw crew to help with downed trees and limbs.

And chocolate is always necessary when one is cooped up in the house, so I made brownies from scratch and they were delicious. Josiah licked the entire bowl. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree... I have a mini-me chocolate/dessert addict. 

I went to work on Tuesday and it was crazy driving around town seeing all of the trees damaged. It looked similar to the aftermath of a hurricane. My boss and his family live in the hills and they still do not have power. Many poles are down and a lot of people probably won't get power back until next week. There is a lot of cleanup to be done. They're saying this winter is going to be a doozey. Did you read The Long Winter book in the Little House on the Praire series? I did and that's what I think of when people say it's going to be a bad winter. There hasn't been a bad winter here in a long time. My friend who grew up here says when she was a kid, snow was on the ground from October - April. And then about 10 years ago it stopped and that's when the perpetual drought began. We'll see what happens! 

By the next storm, we will be much better prepared with more gas for the generator and other essential supplies we might need! We will have canned green beans and spaghetti sauce until 2015... I canned like a manic this summer so we are good with food! :)