Loving the Minnesota snow!

...but I'm not sure I am loving how unbelievably COLD it is here! I am NOT used to this, I know I complain all the time that LA is WAY too warm, especially in the winter, but it is SO cold here, even inside! (Except the master bathroom in my parent's house has heated tile floors, which is pretty great!) Yesterday it snowed hard all day and this morning dad and I worked to unearth the driveway and walkway, slipping and sliding in all the ice. Here are some pre-Christmas fun pictures :)

Frosty our Snowguage is getting burried...the snow that had blown up against the back door, luckily i managed not to get it all inside!our cat Hannah doesn't seem all that worried about the snow outside. the birds on the other hand were fighting the squirrels for food at my parent's feedersMom was still determined to bbq the chicken for dinner, so she had dad shovel a path to the BBQ so she could get to it. I kind of think the fact that one needs a snowshovel to cook dinner means one should NOT be cooking dinner outside, but I'm from California, what do I know?

Alaska Part II

I know, it's been awhile, and it's not like I have been exceptionally busy in the last couple days, so I should have had plenty of time to post the rest of these photos, but I didn't. And I'm on vacation, so I'm not feeling horribly guilty about that either :) Here are the rest of the photos from my time in Alaska.

Chillin at home, practicing standing and taking a few steps

Jean and I at her parent's house one afternoonThe trees all over Alaska look like this, they are so beautiful!Playing at a friend's birthday party one day--the balloons were quite a hit!A sunset

On Sunday before I flew out we went to Red Robin, a place both Jean and I love from our years in Seattle. We thought it was time to introduce a new generation to the wonderfulness :) I'd say she looks like she's enjoying it!And the real test was whether Red's famous fries were a hit...they definitely were!

The rest of these photos I took from the airplane as we took off at sunset, it was absolutely breathtaking!

Alaska--Part 1

I have received several requests for pictures from Alaska, so rather than wait until I am back in LA to post those I thought I'd put a few up from the last 2 days. When I was here in the summer two years ago (or was it 3? I can't remember...) I fell in love with this state, the super long days, the hills and mountains EVERYWHERE, the crisp clean air, and the wild life that literally wanders in front of your car while driving down the road. Since then I have always wanted to see Alaska in the winter, and I think this is hands down the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. Pictures won't do it justice, but the snow covered peaks that tower above the rest of civilization, the sides of hills covered in trees--it's amazing. Cold, but amazing. It was 19 degrees this afternoon while we were out and about, and that was a little chilly! (Well especially since I wasn't wearing gloves...that was my own fault...) So here are a few photos from the last few days--mostly the mountains which I am now in love with, and Bethie, who I am also quite in love with :) She turned 1 last week, is standing by herself, but isn't so sure about this walking thing--crawling is much more efficient as far as she is concerned. I'm working on teaching her how to give kisses right now, and while she can kind of blow kisses, the actual kissing thing isn't going so well--she's still at the stage of trying to eat my nose but I have 3 more days :)

The view from their house

Yeah, this would be their view as they look out the living room and across the street. Talk about a rough sight to wake up to each day!

Looking out another window, they are surrounded by mountains, the whole neighborhood was just built in this little valley in the middle of all them.

Good morning Aunt Sarah! I am eating Crispix! They are very good...

See, I'll even share! You will like them, I promise!

And now it is time for me to get all clean!

This morning after her morning nap we went to a local nature preserve to see if we could get some cute pictures of Bethie in the snow for their Christmas card. Yeah it lasted about 2 minutes, she HATED it! But this was before we took her out in the cold, so she was semi happy--although so bundled up she couldn't really move.

So we didn't get smiling baby pictures but I did get to see more mountains! Today was a lot more grey, it's snowing again right now, and the sun hasn't fully come out yet today, but it is supposed to be clear this weekend.

There was a very cool tree with red berries on it that looked awesome in the white snow, but I'm not sure this picture is the best representation of that!

This is the look we got as soon as we took her out of the car. She was really thinking we were nuts asking her to smile when it was 19 degrees out. This is before Jean set her in the snow to see what would happen, then we got the shrieking wail in response.

So we warmed up in the car before trying (unsuccessfully) one more time. She thought playing in the front seat of the car was pretty cool though.

Happy to be home again :)

Let the Holidays Begin!

Finals are OVER, and it is offically Christmas vacation, which is just a wonderful thing :) This past weekend it seemed like everyone decided to throw a Christmas party to celebrate, and while it wasn't possible to attend all of them, I did manage to hit 4 different parties and a Christmas show at Chuck's church. (That's the other thing I realized--when you are dating someone, your social calendar doubles because you now get invited to all of his friend's events as well...not a bad problem to have!) So here are some photos from the last 3 evenings:

Friday evening started with a happy hour celebration at Bodega, a wonderful wine bar nearby, for Alethia who as of Friday is offically a Fuller grad! Ryan put together about 25 of her friends from school and church who were there to surprise her, she had NO idea anything was being planned! Here are Alethia and Pocket toasting the end of the quarter and Alethia's graduation.

Sophie and I in front of the big tree in the Paseo mall on our way home from Bodega
Then, Saturday night, Pocket and her roommate threw an "Elf" party, centered around the theme of the movie Elf. (Pocket is dressed here as a Christmas tree--i think...). So we watched the movie Elf, made snowflakes, and got a moment to celebrate Christina. Her birthday was over Thanksgiving, but she was home with her mom who passed away a few weeks ago. She's from Houston and we had a huge Texas-themed party planned for her but cancelled it when she flew home. So Sophie had found a cake pan in the shape of texas to make her a cake...so she did...and then frosted it upside down, so now Texas is backwards. And Sophie got an awful lot of grief about that all evening seeing as how she has been to Texas a LOT these last few years!Pocket, Sophie, me, Christina, Chuck, and Steve (Christina's boyfriend)

Then, as soon as Elf was over, Chuck and I drove to Hollywood to a party that one of the guys in his small group was throwing.

Then, on Sunday night, Becca and her roommates threw a VERY cool party. One of her roommates heard this guy, Jon Troast, perform on a Prairie Home Companion one day, and she thought he was great, so she signed up for his email newsletter. In one news letter he mentioned he wanted to do a tour all across the US performing in people's living rooms, smaller crowds, no cover charge, just hanging out with folks, performing his music, getting his name out there. So they signed up to have him come to South Pasadena. Last night they cooked dinner for about 25 of their friends, and then Jon came and performed for an hour, and he was wonderful! It was a great, low key party with a delicious meal, dessert, and fabulous music.

Becca was in charge of decorating their mantle, she did a beautiful job :)Dave and I were asked to hold drinks for people....we promise, they aren't all ours!Becca, Jenn and Dave enjoying dinnerJon Troast performing -- check out www.jontroast.com for more on his musicfolks watching the showAnd what would be a party without a photo of the foursome?

So the weekend of Christmas parties is over and the traveling is about to begin! I leave tomorrow to go visit Jean in Anchorage for several days, come back to LA for about a day, then take off for Minneapolis to spend Christmas with my parents, sister and brother in law. Then on the 29th I fly to Charleston to spend New Year's with Chuck and his friends/family before heading back to LA to begin winter quarter--talk about traversing the country! Although I'm having trouble packing--I need to pack for Minnesota and Florida in one suitcase (Chuck and I are driving down to Jacksonville to spend New Year's with his community there). I'm sure photos and stories will be posted here over the next couple weeks. Merry Christmas everyone!