Once There Was a Snowman

Early in the morning, around the hour of three when I was walking the floor with Hudson, I was excited to see that it was snowing (all of our other snow had melted when it rained). And seeing as how it was the perfect snow for building snowmen—only people who have spent a time in the snow understand this. One can’t build a snowman with just any snow. It has to be the sticky kind. Not the fluffy powder kind—I decided to help Elle build her first snowman. As Elle and I were making snowballs and then rolling them around our backyard, I couldn’t help but reminisce about times of making snowmen during my childhood. I remember one incident in particular:

It was during the time that my family lived across the street from the football field. It had snowed quite a bit, and I remember that I wanted to roll a snowball clear across the football field into my yard. Why? I have no idea. But since I got the idea in my head, I just had to do it. So, I started out with a small snowball, and by the time I got halfway across the football field, the snowball was rather large. I was having quite a difficult time pushing it. My friend, Cody, who lived down the street, was trying to help me. We slowly inched the snowball farther and farther, until at last, we couldn’t move it anymore. It was too large. I was quite upset that I could not get this snowball into my yard. Again, why? I have no idea. In my mind, I just could not leave this snowball in the middle of the football field. So, I went and asked my dad if he could at all possibly finish pushing this snowball to our house. My dad complied—thinking who knows what—and finished pushing this snowball into our yard. By the time he got it across the street and into our yard, the snowball was huge—taller than me. It was at that moment that I knew my dad was the strongest man in the world.

Though this is just one of many instances of me building snowman throughout my childhood, it brought a smile to my face to think of how I will now be building new snowman memories with my children. Well, Elle and I were doing just that, when I noticed Johnny watching us from the window and laughing. All I could think was that those California boys don’t know what fun is. However, by the time I got all three snowballs rolled, I knew he had every reason to laugh. I had made each part of the snowman really big, and it never once crossed my mind that I might not be able to lift each ball on top of the other. I’m sure Johnny had a hay day watching me try to lift the too heavy snowballs. In the end, I had to give in and have Johnny come out and lift the body and head onto our snowman. I think it was at that moment, that Elle knew her dad was the strongest man in the world, too.




And hours later this is how I found our mamma snowman (everything with Elle right now is a mamma and a baby). I just had to take a picture.