Last Month, Emma and I stayed at the ranch house in Gardnerville. Steve was able to drive up a couple of times, and Alix came up for Thanksgiving. We had a really productive visit, which I’m super excited to share with you in some upcoming posts. However, the best part of our visit was the snow!

It snowed as we drove up and probably about 5 more times while we were there. It’s wonderful for a couple of reasons. First of all, I’ve never lived in a place where it snows. I’ve never actually been able to go out my front door and see my yard covered in snow.The second best part is the snow doesn’t really stay longer than a day. As winter gets colder it may last longer but for the month of November, the snow came down, looked beautiful, then melted away. The town we live in is on the Carson Valley floor and is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains. When our snow melts, the mountains around us stay covered and it makes for a gorgeous sight.

The kids had a blast throwing snow balls at each other, and it was so fun seeing them all running around in it. You could tell none of us are used to it. The craziest part was how much warmer I was up there than I am here in California. Our Nevada house stayed cozy and comfortable when it was 9 degrees outside. Plus, of course we dress better up there for the weather. Since I’ve gotten home to Orange County I’ve been much colder in the wet air, and my house has been chilly. We even had to buy a space heater for our bedroom. The silly thing is it’s only 45 degrees here. Anyway, as I was editing these photos, I just missed Nevada so much. I hope you enjoy seeing the beautiful snow.

House entrance.

The house and little kitchen nook.

My favorite tree on the property.

The front drive.

Emma loved making tracks on the driveway.

Emma was so excited, she didn’t even bother getting dressed. she just threw on her coat, hat, and scarf.

Emma didn’t remember ever being in the snow when she was tiny, so this felt like her first time.

Emma and her pet snowball

Looking out onto the property, and the horse barn.

One of the barns.

Looking over one of the corrals to the horse barn.

The fence never looked so good.

I could look at this all day.

Animal pens

Looking out over our neighborhood.

I’m not a fan of the little Christmas Junipers, but I have to admit the snow sure made them cute.

We have so many trees that change color with the season.

So beautiful seeing the colors of fall through the snow.

I could walk around all day and look at the snow laying in the plants and covering the leaves.

The road behind our house.

I realize people who live in the snow probably think I’m ridiculous, but seriously, how beautiful is this?

Don’t you just think snow makes everything look so beautiful?