Snow Tires or No Snow Tires?....that is the question

It seems as though everyone in Calgary buys snow tires and puts them on their cars for the winter.  At first, I was thinking, I don't need snow tires, I've lived in PA, I have driven in the snow, I'll be fine.  BUT, after now having been through several snow falls this year, I am realizing that I may have to buy them.  Apparently, the snow removal in Calgary is almost non-existent, so when it snows, the roads stay snowy, and as people drive on them, the snow gets patted down tightly and so the roads just stay snow-covered.  And then a few days later, it snows again and adds to the snow already there.  This makes driving very tricky!  My poor little Jetta slides very well on the snow!  Matt and I ventured out the other day after a snowy night that left us about 5 or 6 inches of snow and it was more of an adventure than we planned!  The roads were scary and the parking lots not plowed.  So, we actually got stuck in a parking lot for about 5 minutes.  I think that I will start shopping for winter tires...

Another fun thing that comes with the snow is shoveling!  Matt has really started to take a liking to shoveling our roof-top deck.  You can see his enthusiasm in these pictures...

Last weekend we went to a neighborhood block party to get to know our neighbors!  Everyone was to bring a dessert or an appetizer.  So, I brought these Oreo Truffles (thanks for the recipe, mom!)!

It was really nice because we were able to meet a lot of our neighbors, who were all really friendly!  One guy that we met actually went to college at UT.  Another lady who lives a few houses down has a yoga studio in her garage so I might give that a try.  It's pretty amazing that I can just walk over there.  Also thanks to our landlord, I have a blind friend-date next Thursday for lunch!

This weekend, we have a trip up to the mountains planned!!  I am soooo excited for this.  We will be heading up Friday afternoon.  It will hopefully take about and hour and half to get there.  We booked a package deal that is called "Ski and Soak" which means that we get two nights in the hotel, two one-day lift tickets, and two passes to the hot springs.  This is our hotel and we are going to ski at Sunshine Village.  You can also check out the hot springs.  We are going to attempt snowboarding.  I have snowboarded before but only a few times about 10 years ago and Matt has never gone skiing or snowboarding before, so it should be fun!  Hopefully, we come back in one piece!

Penny isn't heading to the mountains with us this time but a lot of the places up there at Banff are dog friendly so maybe sometime we will take her up with us.