Visit From Gran'pa

A fun filled week of fort building, sledding, the Bean museum (taxidermy museum at BYU)

hugs, going out to eat, and legos in the shape of the "Arc de triomphe"

The modest beginnings Fort Knox

Blissfully ruining lunch with a pretzel and soda.

(T-rex has nothing on my little monster-RRRRRrrrr)

Grandpa might need a vacation now.

The Scriptures

I heard a great quote on NPR yesterday by Karen Armstrong who wrote a book called 12 Steps to a Compassionate life:

"The scriptures are not a text, they are an activity"

It reminded me of another nugget by Elder Eyring from this past conference:

"Reading, studying, and pondering are not the same. We read words and we may get ideas. We study and we may discover patterns and connections in scripture. But when we ponder, we invite revelation by the Spirit. Pondering, to me , is thinking and the praying I do after reading and studying in the scriptures carefully."

Off to save the world

On Friday Zach wore one of his Christmas bow ties and I teased him about being dressed up to go save the world. On reflection though, I said, "You're not going off to save the world, thats what I do every day. And I don't even have to leave the comfort of my own home to do it." My attire is much more casual than Zach's however. Its a must in the event of the drips and mush that somehow land on my clothing. My super-suit consists of an apron and blue jeans.

Once there was a snow man...

Tall, Tall, Tall

I would say this one is about 10 feet tall judging from the house. Its arms are a rake and snow shovel, the buttons are pot lids.

And this monster is a good 12-footer. It looks more like a giant Winnie the Pooh honey pot to me than a snow man. WE did not make these things, I hardly think I would be capable of lifting that much snow and ice. The kidos are just in there to add some perspective. There's no cave entrance so its not an igloo, but it is about the size of one. I honestly don't know how our neighbors did it- or why. Perhaps it is part of a friendly competition. Maybe just a "Utah thing"

Took me till 27

As previously mentioned, I live in the magical world Boy-land. Its almost like Disneyland, only instead of princesses we have superheros. I have little use for things like bows and ribbons. When I was a little girl my mom always used to do my hair in the mornings. Since that ceased about 17 years ago, the standard has been a ponytail. I've experimented with a few other basics but never before have I attempted the FRENCH braid. Anything that is French must be fancy so here it is, my first French braid. I now feel completely ready to have to have little girls. (Ha, ha, ha) Only took me 27 years to learn how to do it.

Brrrrrrrr Chilly

Its officially winter. No white Christmas but we got some powdery white stuff like the rest of the country shortly thereafter. Last week the highs were in the teens. Not too cold for a little romp outside however to test out the boys new Christmas sled. (I was lamenting the electric boots Zach chose not to get me this year. You plug them in for 4 hours of battery-charged toasty toes. Neat hu? Only problem is they cost 300$ )

If you are from anywhere that gets a lot of snow you will recognize that there are all different types of frozen water. You have your traditional powder that is beautiful to watch swirl around, but not good for much else. You have your almost-melting snow that is very wet and good for snow balls, snow men, and shoveling hernias. And you have your crusty ice snow that is good for slipping and sliding down hills. Its almost impossible to shovel if you've left it to the last minute. We have the last of the three different types of snow right now because it has never gotten above freezing this past week. I made many a run down the slope on just my bum. Good to see it come, but I suspect it will also be good to see it go.

quadruple decker, I think David is squashed in there some where

(My fingers were in the process of getting frost bite as I took these pictures)

Racing Gabe

Gabe and I had a mother-son date shopping this afternoon ( I know, tons of fun) and I asked him if he wanted to race to the car.

Gabe: Yeah!

Mom: Ready, set, Go!

(as we run) Gabe: Mom, you can't win, you weigh too much.

Mom: Oh yeah, we'll see about that. ( I probably would have let him win if he hadn't said that)

Gabe: How come you won mom if you weigh so much?

Mom: Sometimes you have longer legs when you weigh a lot

Gabe: Ooooooooooooh, then dad can beat you hu?

Mom: Yep, he weighs a lot