Can you believe it's been a year since James Kim died in the Oregon mountains? We're very sorry to pass along the news that another Northern California family is missing in what we're hoping is not going to be another family holiday tragedy story.

The Dominguez family went out last Sunday to cut down Christmas trees in the Sierra mountains: the father, Frederick, and his three children, Christopher (18), Alexis (15), and Joshua (12). That's Christopher and Alexis to your right. Frederick had recently moved up to Butte County to spend more time with his children, and since the weather was nice, they were all wearing t-shirts and jeans, with light jackets on.

The family didn't expect a huge snowstorm to blow in that night. It snowed for 48 hours in the Sierras and there's now between one and seven feet of snow on the ground. Searchers have been looking since Monday (when the kids didn't show up to school and the dad didn't make it in to work), but have found nothing so far.

Everyone is hopeful that the family might have found shelter (there are cabins in the area), and they have found Mr. Dominguez's truck, so they know the rough area where to look -- but more snow is expected tonight. We're very much hoping this story ends happily.

Update!: Good news! Rescuers found the Domiguezes. They'd stamped out the message HELP in the snow, and appeared mildly hypothermic but otherwise okay. They were spotted by a CHP helicopter, who saw the HELP. Turns out the kids had on heavier jackets than folks had originally thought. We're so glad to hear it!