going home

MONDAY, JANUARY 5th - 2009

As much as we had been enjoying the cabin, and all of the snow, It was important that we get home today.  Brian had to call in at work, and today was Xander's first day back at school - oops.  Also, we have kitties at home who we only left out 3 days worth of food and water, and today is day 4.  I was stressing about that.  So, Brian called Brother Crane (again) to rescue us.  He totally came through for us.  He plowed the road from the cabin all the way out to the main road (yeah, it's a LONG way).  Not only did he do that huge favor for us, but he got up early and did it while it was still snowing.  He is now officially one of my favorite people on the planet.  When we thanked him over and over again, he just shrugged it off and said "That's what neighbors are for".  Which made me feel like a bad neighbor, because I have NEVER done anything that nice for any of my neighbors.  Anyway, he gave us a way out: 

Brian quickly packed up the car.  I think Jack was ready to leave:
Ooh, look, icicles:

Just as we were getting ready to leave, the sun came out.  It made the snow sparkle:

Have any of you seen The Tigger Movie?  Doesn't this tree look like Tigger's family tree?
The sunlight only lasted about 45 minutes, and then it was back to clouds and snow.  Xander found a way to keep warm though:
Because of all of the snow, we thought it would be smarter to go home through Globe instead of Payson.  You know what that means?  That's right - we got to go through the tunnel.  Everyone knows that you have to hold your breath over a bridge, but when you go through a tunnel, you roll your windows down, honk the horn, and scream loudly and just make as much noise as possible.  Woo hoo!
After I banned any girl talk for at least 30 minutes, the boys found other ways to keep themselves entertained on the way home:

Who knew a little red pillow could be so much fun?