"Unseasonably Warm"

(This is our friend's backyard. Can you see the swing set in the left corner?)

(This was taken at the beginning of our drive)

This fall in Buffalo has been B-E-A-utiful! The weather was clear and crisp most of the time, the colors of the trees was gorgeous, and it was what everyone was calling "unseasonably warm." I thought that this was all a precursor to a mild winter. But then the lake effect happened yesterday, and it's all gone down hill since then. Yesterday the south towns got 3-7 feet of snow! We have friends that live down there who sent us pictures of their car that was so covered in snow that you could only see the top of it. There was a driving ban, the highways were shut down, and every business and school was closed. Unlucky people who were driving that morning were stuck in their cars for hours, and many still are. There are a couple places that haven't been reached yet by emergency vehicles, and the stuck cars have been stuck there, buried under snow, since Monday night. 

Luckily we live on the northern edge of Buffalo. We got some snow yesterday, but overall it wasn't bad. We still went to work and carried on as usual. Then last night it started to snow pretty hard. We were told that the storm was moving north, so we decided that we should probably get prepared for bad weather, just in case. We went to Walmart and stocked up on groceries, and we bought emergency supplies for our cars. Now if I get stuck on a road for a couple days I'll have blankets, water, snacks, hand warmers, etc. 

This morning I woke up to check the weather. At 7:15 I looked out my window and saw clear roads and light snow falling. At 7:45 I checked again and saw 2 feet of snow on the ground and low visibility. How in the world does it escalate like that?! I car pool to work with my friend Cass, and luckily she has a 4WD Pathfinder. We took her car and started to drive to work. The roads were really  bad, like driving 20 mph and sliding all over the place. About 15 minutes into our drive we could no longer see the cars in front of or behind us. It was a complete white out, and it was scary. We didn't even know where we were anymore. So we pulled over, debated on if we should keep driving, and then called into work to call off. We turned around and crawled back home. 

Here's the kicker: the minute we pulled into my parking lot, it stopped snowing and the sun came out. Just like that. We debated again if we should go to work, and then decided that since the storm is moving north to Niagara Falls (where we work) we would wait an hour, call the office and see how the weather is up there, and then if it's clear both down here and up there we would go in for the rest of the day. So now I'm at home, listening to the weather station, doing a load of laundry, and waiting. I think the worst is over. I thought Provo had bipolar weather, but now I think Buffalo takes the cake.

(Random picture of Clayton dressed for church. I think he looked particularly handsome :))

Other than the recent bad weather, we have been loving Buffalo! We miss our family in Utah, but we've made so many awesome friends out here. Work is going well for both of us, and we are keeping busy with new hobbies. I joined a book club, and Clayton plays church basketball twice a week. A new family in our ward moved into a house a couple blocks away from us, so we hang out with them pretty often. Overall, we are doing great!