fun in the snow

The air is cold! The snow is falling! Winter is here! What to do? Have FUN outside!

As our dog Paisan needed to get out for a walk, we decided to get everyone dressed up and go out and enjoy the snow. Usually, when we walk, we let the kids ride in their sleds as we pull them along...

...and sometimes Paisan pulls a sled! :-)

Daddy and Ivy made the first snowman of the season (while Mommy and Owen went inside where it was nice and warm)!

On a separate day, a couple of families from our church had planned a snowshoe/cross country ski outing in Lovell, Maine. We decided it would be a great family outing for us, and we enjoyed spending the day with a part of our church family.

***group photo to be posted later

To add to the fun, Nathan recently met a guy who works at the local police department, is new to the area, and who we have been trying to connect with to get to know a little better SO we asked him if he wanted to join us. He agreed, and we discovered that this would be his first time snowshoeing. (He didn't know he was going to get more of a workout than just snowshoeing!)

This was Ivy's first time snowshoeing as well! She did great and had a blast with it!

Her little legs did get tired though so she would take a break and get to ride in the sled.

Our "new" friend John blessed us (especially me) with pulling the sled! I very much appreciated his willingness to get an added workout as I would have probably been the one to pull the sled, and it turned out that snowshoeing at 6 months pregnant and being waaaaay out of shape was exhausting enough for me! Thank you, John, for being such a blessing to me and for all of your help with the sled!

All in all, our day of snowshoeing was a lot of fun, but we didn't expect it to be as cooooold as what it was (almost a little too cold for Owen since he wasn't moving around). Of course, the day can't go off without a hitch! That hitch would be a dead car battery! As I was inside helping warm up the kids in a cold van, this was the scene out the front windshield...

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped get our van up and running again!

After our snowshoeing adventure and getting our van working, we went to the Bedell family's beautiful log home where we enjoyed great food (chili, hot dogs, and hot cocoa), great live entertainment by Nathan B., and great fellowship! Thank you to the Bedell family and the Roy family for planning and preparing for this fun-filled day!