An Exciting Trip.....

........to the snow!!
Saturday morning, our family made an exciting and last minute trip to Idyllwild!! Daddy looked up the webcam images where he saw all the snow they had received from the recent rain. It was then decided that we would grab what we had and head out there for the day!

Mama drove while Daddy manned the GPS. We drove for about 2 hours with a few stops to pick up needed supplies. The scenery up to Idyllwild was very lovely and made the time to pass quickly.Our destination....

There was alot of snow in the mountains! This was the first time most of the younger ones had gone to the snow and they were really excited.
We drove up the mountain until we came to the perfect spot. Daddy picked it, he's really good at those kind of things.:)
our view
the "parking lot"

Once we got there, the excitement was spilling over and it was hard to keep track of everyone. Each one had some activity in mind to do but, we finally found a good sized hill and began sledding.

Daniel literally flying through the snow:)

Joey really liked playing in the snow. However he was quite disturbed at how cold it was!
Daddy attempts to take a picture after his ride down the hillMama and Timothy preparing to go down
The speed those sleds were going at was amazing!
Mama figured the best course of action was to lay back till they got to the bottom!

posing for a picture

"Uh, Daddy, here's your glove."
Isaiah arriving:)

I think it's safe to say she enjoyed that...

While we were sledding, it started snowing!! It was one of the neatest experiences I have ever had, the snowflakes dancing and whirling all about.

Daddy was our faithful video man

I love Ryan's face here! He made some of the best moments of the day! (You never quite knew how the ride would go. Sometimes it was bumpy other times you prepared yourself to fly down, closed your eyes, and opened them to find you had gone about two feet from where you had started!! It was great, though!!) It snowed for a good while...

Mama braving the hill;)

Mama and I love to have our picture taken together. She's like the older sister I always wanted.:)

Dad's hat looked soo cute topped with snow!

It was definitely a neat experience to be completely surrounded by snow:)

Family picture

Once the snow started coming down fast and heavy, Daddy decided we should drive down and see if the snow would let up.

It did.:)

We found another perfect spot and spent the rest of the afternoon sledding and having a good old fashioned snowball fight! "Ready!"

Not the best picture of me but if you look in the back you can see Daniel enjoying my reaction to a surprise snowball from behind....

After that it was war......
Joey going California style....;) After we finished sledding, he took off most of his layers to get warm in the van. However, when we got out again he didn't want to miss out on the fun and so out he came, shorts, boots with no socks, and all.:)
"Go, Natey!"
Warning: Mama has a pretty good aim and if you hope to defend yourself, you'll have to be fast at making snowballs!:) I'm speaking from experience, folks!
Isaiah and Natey attempting a steeper hill...
Daddy and Daniel really got serious here...
Dad's shot...
Daniel's comeback...
It was getting late, so we made peace, ended the battle, collected our sleds and jumped into the van to go home. We all agreed it was one of the funnest times we have ever had together as a family!! Praise the Lord for special times and the snow that He created for us to enjoy!

"Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail,
Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?"

Job 38:22-23