A whirlwind week!

The kids had a week off of school for a winter break and it has turned out to be even longer off of school for weather reasons. We took the first weekend and headed to Baton Rouge for our last hurrah with Daphne! 

We got to Baton Rouge and Daphne had these cute Mardi Gras decorations for us to celebrate with. Mardi Gras was cancelled, but we got to celebrate one more time in our own way. Cavin loved the beads and we still have all the beads from when we went to the parade. We also got beignets one more time which we love. 

She always has fun random things to discover ;)

We watched a movie on the wall with a projector and sat in lawn chairs since most everything is packed. It was fun. We watched The Princess and the Frog because Louisiana connections all around ;)

We went to the temple several times to take Cortex for a walk. 

We also made paper airplanes to try out there. Ragnar and Cavin's were the best. 

The younger two love to go on morning walks with Daphne and Cortex. 

We went to LSU one more time and saw Mike the Tiger.

We also went to church and took one last family picture at the Baton Rouge temple. 

We played lots of games which we love. 

The last morning we went to the park and had a nice fresh morning together. We really had a nice time being with Daphne and were so glad we got to go there one more time. We will really miss having her close and driving there for fun weekends. She really has been the best aunt for the kids and they have adored spending the last 5 years with her. 

The rest of the week we played and went to my parents and then went to the Rockets game. 

Friday Ragnar and Daphne headed to Utah. They squished in the UHAUL and off they went. 

Valentines we just hung out together and prepared for the winter snow storm which was very weird to say in Texas. 

Ragnar and Daphne thankfully made it to Utah without a problem and met up with their sister Sandra. 

Meanwhile here, in Texas, we were colder than in Utah!!

We actually got snow and it reminded me how much I really don't like being cold!! So many are without power and I am so grateful that we still have it for now. 

It was 16 degrees and the kids were so excited to go out but only lasted 10 minutes at a time. It was so cold!!

Channing made a tiny snowman and so did Ella. 

The kids had no school Monday and a "snow" day tomorrow which I never thought would happen here. haha

I love how excited they were. It was fun the first day when we knew we had power and heat. After that, the next 3 days were hard. Ragnar wasn't able to get home and had a nightmare of cancelled flights. We didn't have power for long stretches. I had great men in the ward and a ministering brother, Ben who helped me. Finally on Wednesday afternoon when Ragnar knew he wouldn't be able to get home for another day, I turned off the water to my home, prayed that the pipes wouldn't freeze and made a long, slow drive to my parents who had power and heat the whole time. Ragnar finally got home late Thursday night and all was well in the end. A lot of stress, and staying up all night hoping I had turned the water on enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and some night sleeping by the fire with no heat! We made it though, and it was a week we won't forget!