A Beautiful Winter Day! 1-3-2009

As I was doing dishes this morning I was admiring the view of this tree with the snow, and the sun. Pictures just don't do it justice. After getting rain and snow last night, it was a bright and beautiful, cold and clear day. Happy 2009!

View out my bedroom window, looking towards the Great Salt Lake.

Christmas

Wow, Christmas 2008, where has the time gone? It was a very cold, snowy day, but it was great to spend time with the family. My mom and a I went to Dan and Cassie's home Christmas morning to watch Andrew open his presents, and have breakfast. Andrew was excited to play with the gift he had just opened, so we had to encourage him to keep going. In the afternoon, we went to Sam and Heidi's, unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures. Heidi and Sam had a house full, and with everything going on, I forgot to take any pictures of the kids. Karlee made each of the women in her life a hot pad. Thanks Karlee, it's great. There is a picture on Cassie's blog, of all of us standing in front of the Christmas tree holding her creations. When we left Sam & Heidi's it was snowing again, so when we drove Dan and Cassie home it took a lot longer than normal, since the roads were very snowy. All is all, it was a great day.

Lauren's Wedding 12-20-2008

My cousin Lauren was married in the St. George temple today. It was a beautiful, clear (and cold) day for a wedding. The sealing was beautiful and very touching. It was fun to see flowers still blooming on the temple grounds.


The newly married couple.
Russ and Lauren with Lauren's family.
I helped set up at the reception, and forgot to take pictures. It looked magical with the white lights and evergreen. This is the only picture I took, and it is of one of the centerpieces, there were nuts around each of the vases, for the guests to eat, along with all the other great food Mitzi prepared.

Tuacahn (Festival of Lights) 12-19-08

My mom and I went to St. George for the weekend to attend Lauren Beard's wedding (my cousin). Friday night we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse (a favorite), and then to Tuacahn to see the Festival of Lights. It was nice, we rode the train for a $1 (not worth it), and then went to the Live Nativity, which was great, other than it was very cold. We seem to pick the extremes when we go to Tuacahn, it was 115 when we went in July of 2007, and colder than normal (St. George had snow) when we went this time.

A Winter Day 12-19-2008

Before leaving for St. George, I took a few pictures out our back windows. We've had a lot of snow. It's amazing to see how quickly the icicles grow. The kid in me loves it!