Winter Wonderland

This week it snowed here in Utah. That might not seem like a big deal, but it's been a few years since we have had some good snow in the valley. The last few years there was a light dusting in the morning that had melted by the early afternoon. The snow this week softly fell while we slept on Monday morning, then continued throughout the day. Seeing the snow blanketing the yard and surrounding areas makes it look so peaceful and fresh. With the sunshine sparkling on the snow it is a winter wonderland.

When it is cold outside, I prefer to curl up with a good book and enjoy the snow from the window. This week though I decided to venture out and enjoy the beauty of the snow.

This is a picture of our house on Monday when the snow was coming down. The flakes were so large and easy to catch on your tongue as they fell. When I dropped my girls off at their school, as they walked to the doors to go inside they caught snowflakes and it made me think of how carefree and happy snow makes my family.

We live in a valley between mountains on the East and West. I generally just look at the east mountains (the top ones) because they are the ones we are closest too. While I was driving out on the roads through farmland, I noticed how pretty the west mountains (the bottom picture) are also.

I took the opportunity to stop at a few places and hike through the snow to take some pictures of the natural beauty. 

The evergreen tree was about 15 feet high. I loved looking at it from a new perspective. Doesn't it look majestic from the lower angle? I thought the simplicity of the snow on the small section of the tree was nice too.

We live in an interesting area - a small city with restaurants, shopping choices, and a small movie theater. If you drive 5 minutes from the downtown area, you are surrounded by farmland. You can see horses, cows like the ones shown in the snowy field in the picture above, chickens roaming the dirt roads, and even llamas.

The icicles hanging from the tree are actually from my front yard. This one section of branch was covered with beautiful icicles that sparkled when the sun hit them.

I drove to Payson, Utah on Tuesday and took some pictures of the LDS Temple there. While I was there it began to snow softly again. My toes were frozen by the time I hiked back to my car, but it was worth it because I love how the pictures turned out.

 

We did have a bit of fun together as a family outside too. Here are my girls all bundled up to play in the snow, where our cute little schnauzer Oakley joined them. She had fun chasing my girls. The girls tried to make a snow fort, but ended up just throwing snowballs at each other and making snow angels. It was nice to have snow that they could play in. Our next snow adventure is sledding!

I look forward to more snow this winter and hope that we have a white Christmas. There is a waterfall nearby that freezes and I look forward to visiting that and seeing how beautiful it is. There are also nearby roads that you can drive up to the foothills of the mountains and I imagine there would be amazing views. So, you can probably look forward to another picture filled post in the next few months that share other winter sites that I think you would like.