Wallet-sized.

It has been snowing like crazy here. I mean, okay, I know Colorado has probably seen worse snow than this (aka last winter), but I was not here and therefore it does not exist in my brain. All I know is that in my 5 years of going to school in Utah, I somehow managed to avoid driving in the snow almost completely. Everywhere I needed to be (school, work, church) was within walking distance. And really, school and work were acceptable casualties if the weather was bad enough. As far as I was concerned, the only truly mandatory activity on a snow day was lying in the Big Bag in my pajamas with a blanket, watching Seinfeld reruns.

Sadly, that is not the case here. I actually have to go to work, even if the roads are covered in snow. And what's worse, I have to drive to work. As if that's not enough, on Saturday night I had to drive up to Westminster (about 45 minutes on a good day) to play for one song in the Colorado Mormon Chorale's Christmas concert. Of course that was the night that the skies first decided to start dumping snow on us. It had snowed here and there prior to this (see: my car accident), but nothing of this caliber. Anywho, the roads were awful, a nice layer of ice covered by inches and inches of snow. I was terrified the whole way there, my knuckles white on the steering wheel. I didn't dare turn on the CD player for fear that any sound would compromise my concentration. Luckily, traffic was bad enough that my slow driving didn't signal the fact that I was a total n00b. Two hours later I made it to the concert (luckily I had left ridiculously early), with a new-found hatred of snow festering deep in my soul.

However, this hatred was short-lived, as yesterday I returned home from work to see Ainsleigh and Dono frolicking in yet more fresh snow with one of the neighbor kids. Naturally, I decided to join in.


The day before, Sarah took the kids to see Santa at the mall, and came back with the obligatory photos in various sizes that can be handed out to friends and family. She said that when they got the photos and asked who they should give them to, Ainsleigh replied, "We should give one to Laura so she doesn't forget us." Which is both completely adorable and also the saddest thing I have ever heard. So Sarah explained that actually, your family isn't something you really forget about. Like, ever.

And even when I'm living in New York and having fabulous adventures (obviously), I have a feeling I'll still be able to remember pinching little buns as they run up the stairs, or hearing "Baba, you home?" every day when I get home from work, or Ainsleigh's head resting against my shoulder while I read bedtime stories, or Dono collapsing into giggles for no reason while I try to put on his pajamas. Because those aren't really things you forget about very easily, with or without a wallet-sized picture to remind you.