We are still getting snow in March!  It has been such a cold winter. 

But in spite of the cold weather, the flowers are still coming up and it is looking more like spring around here

 This is the strangest plant!  In November, it gets tiny little white buds that hang down.  Slowly as winter progresses, the buds start opening up to these gorgeous yellow flowers.  Not a leaf in sight, but all of these blooms.  I found out it is a type of daphne.  After the flowers are done, then the leaves start coming out.  It smells awesome!

So besides watching the snow fall and flowers bloom, I have spent a little time with the local grandkids.

 Joshua has his permit and I handed him my keys to drive us to our monthly after school snack time.  I was totally surprised to discover what a good driver he already is.  

 We missed Emily, who is in Costa Rica and sent her a selfie of the two of us hanging out in her room.

 When Emily and Joshua were little, I took them to a Children's Theater play a couple of times. They really enjoyed it, so I was anxious to try it again with the next group of grandkids.  The first show was The Little Mermaid Jr.  It was so fun and I can't wait to take them to the next two that I have tickets for.  We will be seeing Robin Hood and Pinkalicious in May.

 And then last weekend we were able to keep them overnight!  Always a blast!

 You never have to ask if Josiah will take out the trash.  He keeps his eyes on it the whole time.  

 The sun was out and we all got to play outside for a while.

 Arianna discovered my old skates in the closet and thought that was a riot.  Josiah does not remember he tried them a long time ago.  It is pretty weird to have them using the skates I had as a little girl.

 Lina was a good helper making some scones.

While we were outside enjoying the sun, I noticed the pots that I filled with tulips looked kind of funny.  

 A closer look showed that something, which I suspect to be a deer has nipped off every one of my tulips!!!

 Sometimes I wonder about the weather report of the 'snow line'.  The other morning, I had a perfect view of where the snow line was for that day.  Pretty cool.

 and now the sun is rising on the other side of the mountain.

We started out the month saying "Adios" to Emily as she headed out for 3 months mission work in Costa Rica.  She will be teaching English at a school and living with a host family.  It is pretty awesome to see her making her own choices now.  She graduated at the semester and decided to make the most of her time before graduation by working on her Spanish while she helps others learn English.

And just a couple days before we headed out for California for Gabe's birthday, we had a huge wind storm.  It broke a top out of a tree in the front yard, hanging up on a telephone line.  The next morning, when it was light out, they came out and cut it down.  Then it was up to John to clear up the mess so the grass would not get ruined while we were gone.  I can't believe how huge that treetop was!  It looks like we will have quite a few fires from it.

 We had a fun time with the birthday boy.  It was a Spy/Detective party. 

We got to see how strong the boys are getting.  They showed off their stuff by breaking a board with their fist.

 I thought this was the coolest climbing structure ever!  It is in a mall.

 Gabe loves reading and Daniele loves him to read to him.

 We were able to help Daniel skip school one day and had a fun time at the park.  Too bad that Gabe had to stay at school, but we all went together another day.

 Not only can Gabe break a board with his fist, he also is learning to play the violin.

It was only a quick trip to visit this time, we will be back again at the end of March for Daniel's birthday and stay longer for their spring break.

 All the way home, I was thinking about this great Indian food restaurant that is in Weed, where we try to get to on the first day's drive home.  We were starving when we arrived, but to my dismay, it had burned down!  So we tried looking in the downtown area, but there was nothing there that looked good, so we headed back to our #2 choice of Mexican, which isn't very good there, but it also had burned!  We ended up at Taco Bell.  So bummed!!!

 Shasta Mountain from Weed when we arrived.

 The view of the hills at sunrise the next morning.

We arrived home on Valentine's Day.  Josiah brought me a Valentine he made me at school.  

 Awwwhhhh!  That Mountain!!!

Well, not every day is that great of a view.  Some days, it looks like this.

 Another version of the sunrises I see from here.

This has been such a snowy month/year. It is still snowing by the end of the month. 

At the end of the month, Bonnie asked me to ride with her to the beach where she had spread Gary's ashes.  We had a nice day shooting along the way.

Bonnie said that the beach used to be up there with that grass!  There have been a few storms this winter and really took away a load of sand!

 There was a dead dolphin on the beach!

These little birds were cracking me up!  they would run out with the waves and find food, then race back in as the waves came back in.  They were so fast and all in unison.

 I don't think I have ever seen hail at the beach before.

That freezing cold water sure did have a tropical color to it.

 That orchid plant has bloomed for over 2 months!