Snow, School closures, & Sledding

The last Sunday in January, all the wards in the area were asked by our Stake President to pray and fast for snow. We had only received a little bit in November and December, and none in January. The ground was bare and brown, and locals were beginning to feel very worried about this upcoming year's growing season and potential fires again.

 

So, our family started praying for snow. Before the end of that week, we received so much snow that school had an early closure on Wednesday, and no school on Thursday.

 

Because our elementary school and middle school are so old, the roofs have serious problems. They leak and have structural problems, so the state determined them unsafe to carry a heavy snow load. The community voted down a bond 9 times to build new schools, so the state has stepped in and will be putting on a new roof this upcoming summer, but until then, every time the snow accumulates over 3", the school has to be closed. 

 

Since the last week of January, when the snow began coming down in large amounts, we have had one early-out day, two delayed starts, and two cancelled days. We've really been blessed with a lot of snow in the past 3 weeks! It's the most snow that we've received in any winter in Salmon in the past decade!  

 

The boys have taken advantage of this snow, and have done a huge amount of sledding on the small hill right behind our house!

Micah.
He likes wearing the masks, but I don't know how he can see!



Jonah.
He has the funniest facial expressions!

Kanyon.
He's been very brave and has done more sledding this year
 than his whole life combined!



Ammon.
The new coveralls he got for his birthday are getting some good use!
 

I took a little video of them sledding on the first day we received a ton of snow, and school was closed early: SLEDDING YOUTUBE VIDEO

Even though it's frustrating to have school cancelled so many times already, and to know that we have to make up these hours that we've lost, it's wonderful to see our prayers being answered so fruitfully. It has become a huge concern now in the community that we have schools that aren't safe, and even though Josh and I have known this fact all along, the recent closures have really opened up the eyes to those who were ignorant to this fact before. We continue to hope and pray that this community that we live in will support our children and the schools. It would be wonderful if our prayers regarding the safety of our children in the current school buildings would be answered just as our prayers to receive snowfall were!