Tonight the University of Tulsa College of Law Alumni Association held its 17th Annual TU Law Chilifest Cookoff. The event featured 32 teams, made up of TU law students, alumni, and staff, local law firms, and the Tulsa County Bar Association, competing in a variety of categories which were judged by local state and federal judges.

Our theme this year was Outlaw Biker Chili. Some creative types in the firm brilliantly transformed the Hells Angels logo of skull and wings into a blindfolded lady justice with chili hair.

The theme was a huge hit as everyone was decked out in their biker shirts, do-rags, fake piercings, slip-on sleeve tattoos, tacky wigs and the most unflattering makeup. Below you can see my do-rag...which may have been the first time in my life I actually wore one. We are one touch looking trio!

Our chili, made by Ben in the blue apron in the background, won the People's Choice award proudly displayed by Will and Drew.

Back on February 10, 2011, Nowata, Oklahoma, set the all time Oklahoma record for the coldest temperature ever. At 7:40 a.m., the Oklahoma Mesonet weather station in Nowata reached 31 degrees below zero...minus 31! Bear in mind, mercury freezes at -38 degrees. It was so cold in Nowata that the thermometers were just 7 degrees away from freezing solid! This broke the previous Oklahoma all-time record low temperature of minus 27 degrees, set at in Vinita on February 13, 1905, and also in Watts on January 18, 1930.

But, that's not the only amazing thing that happened weather wise in Nowata. As Will Rogers once quipped, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it'll change." Today, just 7 days after its record cold, Nowata was a pleasant 75 degrees, a 106 degree change in just a week!

(Alternatively, the low a week ago was -27 and the high today was 82 for a 109 degree change. There appears to be some discrepancy between the National Weather Service and the Oklahoma Mesonet.)

Besides exchanging cards and small gifts, Mary made the most delicious brownie pie for dessert tonight. I didn't think too much of it as it simply tasted like a really great out-of-the-box brownie mix, but then Mary informed me that she made it completely from scratch! Needless to say it was a huge it with her four boys.

Today, Drew and Will built a snowman...with a little help from Mama.

A hat, a scarf, two button eyes and a carrot nose finish off a pretty darn good looking snowman!

An icicle which formed today on our front porch. I thought it was rather beautiful against the pitch black night.

All Tulsa area schools were closed again for the fourth day in a row today. After three days off, my work, however, decided to make a go of it. With a few people having to get picked up by others with four-wheel drive vehicles, our morning meeting actually had the best attendance ever, since anywhere anyone might have otherwise gone was canceled. This is the view looking west and maybe just a little south from our offices around noon.

Part of our parking lot, usually packed with cars and also taken around noon. The snow started back up and the roads, which were just tolerable to get to work, were getting worse again so the office closed up and everyone headed home after a half day.

At home, the snow was coming down pretty heavy...at least for Tulsa.

A zoomier view of the afternoon snowfall.

Will and Drew enjoyed their second day off from school today. They stopped playing in the snow long enough for Mama to get a picture of them peeking out over a snowbank.

Afterward, it was time for some serious work shoveling the driveway. Will and Drew used the same shovels Daddy and Aunt Donelda used when we were kids growing up near Chicago. The two little guys were a big help.

Landon was content to watch the activities from the inside.

After all the hard work shoveling snow, it was time to take a break and enjoy Mama's hot chocolate...in rocket cups!

Unfortunately, we still weren't done and Drew and Daddy had to go back out to finish the shoveling. Drew was an amazingly enthusiastic shoveler. I hope it carries over to his teen years.

Finally, we were done. The shoveled snow was almost as high as Drew is tall!

With all of us snowed in, Mary made snow ice cream as a treat tonight for her boys.

All it takes is a bowl of fresh snow, a little sugar, milk, vanilla and some love and you have snow ice cream.

Mama also made Daddy's favorite, pumpkin pie. This being snowed in isn't so bad!

This is the view out our front door as Tulsa has been hit by its worst snow storm ever. Fourteen inches fell overnight breaking the prior record of 12.9 inches from 1994. Keep in mind that Tulsa only averages 9.1 inches of snow each winter season, so 14 inches is quite a storm for us. Not to mention that it looks like it will be sticking around unlike other Tulsa snow storms in which the snow can all but disappear in as little as a day or two.

Snow drifts on our front porch. No one will be coming up to our front door for a while. The entire city of Tulsa is shut down. Everything is closed. No school for Drew and Will, no work for Daddy, everyone is advised to stay home and we are more than happy to oblige.

The view out our back door of our backyard which had drifts of three and four feet.

And this is the lovely sight that greeted me when I got our garage door unstuck, a snow drift up to the trunk of our cars. I can't wait to start shoveling ourselves out...after a nap.