Aspen's ABC's

Sorry about the blurriness in these photos! Before Christmas we went to Rexburg to see James (Sasha's husband) graduate from BYU Idaho. Rexburg is my old stomping ground, so I'm very familiar with how cold it gets! Hence the jeans under my dress. Whatever.

We had a great time! My dad and stepmom Lisa met us there, and it was a short trip, but the graduation was great, and the company was even better. Congrats, James!

We spent Christmas in Utah, and one evening drove to temple square. This is us in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I love coming in here during the holidays with the huge tree that's always decorated so beautifully. It's so Christmasy.

Later we walked around and looked at all the lights on temple square. It was bu_t cold but so worth it! I'm always amazed at how colorful and majestic the lights are. They are such a tribute to our Savior! Aspen's been learning a lot about temples lately in church, and loves to point them out (she calls churches temples too). Her favorite part about the trip was not the lights, but the Salt Lake Temple. "Big temple!" She said.

This weekend was great! The pipes in our church building blew out last week, so church was cancelled on Sunday (oops, that came out wrong). Luckily, Sasha and James were in town, so we managed to stay busy. Eric's sister Annie and her husband Rusty (who live down the street) joined us for a while as well, so we had a full party.
We decided to take advantage of the snow and build ourselves a snowman. Aspen thinks they're scary, so we thought we'd dispel her fears by having her make one herself!
We actually ended up making two snowmen, and Aspen decided that eating snow was much better than making a snowman out of it.
Aspen going in for the kill!
After a while we went inside and made some peppermint hot chocolate, which took about 20 minutes because the recipe was so complicated. Who ever heard of a complicated hot chocolate recipe? But it was worth the wait, I have to say.
I didn't realize until it was too late that I didn't have any photos of Sash and James. Their little Eli didn't make it out in the snow with us. Doh! Sorry these last two photos are a little blurry; this one of Aspen and her Aunt Annie on the counter was just too cute to leave out.

Dear Santa....

for Christmas I'd like something that will clean up my kitchen messes for me. That way I can cook and bake all I want, and then relax without having to face the horror that would be my countertops. Thanks,

Chelsi

Snowy Day

The weather surprised us here in the Boise area and decided to snow yesterday and last night.
I had just said to Eric on saturday that I was hoping soon for some snow. So, I was very excited about it. Today Aspen and I spent some time in it making tracks, snow angels, and doing some tasting.
When I was younger (in high school) I didn't like it when my brother and sisters walked in the yard after it snowed because I thought it disrupted the pure whiteness that lay over the grass.
I still like the way things look after a snow, but I'm not afraid to make tracks in it. What's snow for, anyway? To play in!