Living in a Winter Wonderland!

I have always loved winter. Well, I love fall too, and spring, but really, I love winter. I love when the snow covers everything and makes everything beautiful! And it is probably a good thing I love snow, because there is a lot of it here! Our back yard has over 3 feet of snow in some areas, and there is a pile in front of our house that grows every time they plow our driveway. It is now taller than Andrew in some spots!

Jessica is now starting to like the snow too. She learned how to say the word "snow" and the first few weeks here she was saying it all the time because she was always surrounded by snow. But, she actually was a little worried by the snow, especially if she had to walk in it for more than one minute, or if she slid and fell down, or if she got any snow on her pants. I wanted her to enjoy it, so something had to change. One day, we decided to have some fun in our back yard! Andrew had already dug out one path to our shed, but I dug out another path to our tree. Then, I built a snow chair for her. And then, we went sledding. Well, she went sledding. Basically, sledding consists of putting her on a mound of snow in our yard, counting to three, and pulling her down. She loves it! Andrew dug out a few more paths, and I carved out a sledding hill for her, so she can really sled now. I love that we can now all go outside and enjoy the snow.

Oh yeah...the other great thing about this winter wonderland? You can use your snow shoes to explore your back yard!

Not only is it a lot of fun (although really, we have no idea what we are doing yet)...it is much better than attempting to walk around the yard...although that was fun too!

Andrew can dance...

This is Brianna writing and I will let you know now that I can't dance. I do dance a lot with Jessica. At home. When nobody except Jessica and Andrew can see me. I probably look like a dork because most of my dancing consists of going crazy and pointing with my fingers. And I actually feel pretty bad for Jessica because well, she just might learn how to dance like me.

But there is hope...Andrew can dance. His mom taught ballet, and he even went to some of those ballet classes she taught in their basement (although he says he ran upstairs when he was about 5 and realized there were girls down there). He actually went to dances as a teenager, and enjoyed them, and he was even in West Side Story in high school and danced in that (although he wasn't too thrilled about that either, but that is another story).

Anyway, after moving into our place, and figuring out which ward we were in, we had an activity for church-a dance! We were actually pretty excited to go. We danced, met a lot of people, and had a lot of fun. 

And then, they started those one dances, you know, where you have to know the dance, and the steps, like the "Macarena". But don't worry, they didn't do the "Macarena", they did the chicken dance one. I didn't even know it. Andrew did. And then, they played "Cotton-Eyed Joe," but nobody really knew how to dance to it. Somebody tried doing something, and then Andrew joined them, and guess what? He knew it...perfectly! Within the next minute, everyone who was dancing was behind him as he led the ward in "Cotton-Eyed Joe." It was impressive. My husband is amazing. I'm just glad he didn't make me try it with him.

Alaska...

We are no longer residents of Nebraska...we've moved to Alaska and what a move! Actually, we have only been here in the state for 6 days, and what a cold 6 days! We are still looking for a place to live, and we were told that it would take 3-5 weeks to get our things shipped here, so for now, we are living at one of the BSA's council camps. It is beautiful out there, but it is a camp, so I am excited to have all of our own things and be in our own place. And actually, that will probably be sooner than later, because we were just told our shipment came in record time, and it arrived here yesterday, after a 6 day journey. Now, we just need a place to put it!

But, besides that, Alaska has been good. We've cleaned and cleaned our little place so it looks a little better, and I even made bread yesterday and today. I love bread...although I do miss my kitchen aid. We are grateful to be here (although the airlines did get a little messed up with our reservation and thought we were stopping in Seattle for good) and to be in a nice, warm place. We have to do laundry in a separate building at camp, and unfortunately, we have had to do laundry every day the last three days. The last few days have been around zero or 2 below when Jessica and  went out to do the laundry, and I actually felt like I was getting used to it. I mean, really, the buildings are only 200 steps away from each other, but still, I could handle that little bit pretty well and I didn't mind. But, today, it is 11 below, and man, that is cold. It makes me walk a little faster just to get inside and warm up. 

Anyway, that is it! I thought originally I would get caught up on all our blog posts and post all about our summer trip to Seaside, Oregon...but I can't access our pictures, and actually, I've been staying busier than I planned up here, so we will see. For now, just know that we are now Alaskans...and need some warm thoughts!

October

So, obviously, we are a little slow at posting. I really want to just back date this so it looks like I was more on top of things, but I won't. But, I am also not going to write a novel on this one. Basically, October happened. Jessica loved pumpkins and learned how to say pumpkin, although it sounds like puppy. She was a little worried about carving one and touching the guts on the inside, but she did it! And then, she ate a bit, and realized pumpkins might look good, but they are better baked in a pie.

We had a quick trip to Utah because Andrew's brother Grant got married to Jennifer! We are so excited for them and loved seeing the family! Jessica's favorite parts of the weekend were dancing at the reception (seriously, she wouldn't stop! We even tried to dance with her and pick her up, and she wouldn't let us!), seeing the neighbor's chickens, and driving the toy car.

She spent her Halloween as the cutest Dorothy ever...in the airport! Our flight was delayed, so she only went trick or treating at the airport ticket cuonters. She fell asleep on the way home and slept for 13 hours after a busy, long weekend. Oh, and by the way, I made that costume! I am so proud of myself!

An Artist in the Family

Last Wednesday, I pulled out the crayons for Jessica to try coloring. I figured she was probably too young to really get it, and she'd probably try to eat the crayons, but hey, that is part of growing up right? And coloring is so fun! I'm excited for when she really likes it, because I actually love coloring. People would probably think I was a little weird if I went and bought a bunch of crayons and coloring books for myself, but now, I have someone to color with! But, anyway, back to the story.

Earlier in the week, at church, she had grabbed my notebook and opened it up, and was holding a pen in her hand, and I noticed it looked just like she was writing. So, I figured, hey, maybe she is a little ready. First I gave her the bag of crayons, and she was pretty impressed, as you can tell.

Then, I pulled out a few crayons, and showed her what to do. She only put them in her mouth twice, and as soon as I told her they were icky, she decided she agreed with me and took them out. At first, she was only slightly impressed, but she got into it a little more. Want to see the masterpieces?

This is the first one we did together...Jessica drew the lighter lines.

But this one, she did on her own.

Beautiful isn't it? I think we've got an artist in the family! Oh, and she's also a climber. She has mastered climbing onto the rocking chair and it is her favorite spot in the house to stand sit.