Snow & Ice

Saturday we got the biggest snow storm we've had since moving here. We got an accumulation of about 5 inches of snow. For those of you who have lived in the midwest you will know what I'm talking about, when I say we got freezing rain. I'd never seen freezing rain, so this was my first experience and what an experience it was. Jon and I bundled up and ventured out to Olive Garden for dinner and when we came out, my side of the car was a sheet of frozen rain. I couldn't believe it! The next day driving home from church, we noticed that the trees were frozen. The white on these trees isn't snow, it's ice. Each branch and twig is completely covered in ice. The whole town looked so pretty while the sun was out. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures while the sun was out, this picture was taken as the sun was going down. Jon assures me that I'll have many more oppotunities to take pictures of the frozen trees. I guess this won't be our last experience with frozen rain. (You might want to click on the last picture, so you can view it full size, to see the ice on the branches.)

Christmas Card Pics

What a cheerful couple.

(I didn't know she was taking the picture)

Too bright and windy!

We went with our friends the day after Thanksgiving to take pictures for our Christmas cards, but it turned out to be too windy. It was a beautiful day, but it was freezing especially with the wind chill. The wind also made my hair look just great! We ended up going back to our friends, the Jeffrey's home to take pictures in front of their Christmas tree. We did get a winner for the Christmas card, but it's not this one. I really like this picture, but it's a little blury because the flash wasn't on. Oh well, I thought I'd still post it.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with friends from our ward. We had such a wonderful day. It was the first Thanksgiving I've had that I haven't been with family. Jon was proud of me, because I didn't get homesick. I would have loved to be with my family, since I couldn't be with them being with friends was the next best thing. I wanted to get a bunch of pictures, and I took a few when we first got the the McMillan's and then I forgot about it the rest of the day. I did get this one of Jon holding our friends 8 month old baby, Tanner.

Tanner is such a happy baby, I hope I have a baby just as good.

Dallin and Haydn are two of our cute little friends.

Snow flurries

I know this might be a little silly, but I was so excited Monday when we got our first snow since we've been in Mankato. It really didn't turn out to be much more than a snow flurry, but I was excited, because now I can listen to Christmas music. If I wait until after Thanksgiving, there's just not enough time to enjoy Christmas music (at least not for me). Jon told me I could start listening once Halloween was over, but it still felt like fall after Halloween. In Bozeman we'd have already had at least two snow storms by now, and I always wanted to listen to Christmas music before Halloween, but the weather is a little different here. The snow flurry only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was enough for me. I thought it would be fun to try and take a picture of the snow, as you can see it was a little difficult, and the snow is hard to see, but it gives me an excuse to put more pictures on our blog. I actually have to look for things to post. I'm really not looking forward to snow. I get up early in the morning to teach seminary and I'm not looking forward to driving in the snow. I hope some of you are also enjoying the chance to listen to Christmas music already; it would be a shame if I were the only one.

Fall colors

I was so excited to have fall colors this year. In Bozeman, you just don't get too many colors, because most of the trees are pine trees. I was a bit of a slacker though, I meant to take more pictures but by the time I started to, a lot of the leaves had already started falling. These two pictures are for all of you in Bozeman, who didn't get to see too many fall colors this year. I'll try and do better next year.

The big 30!

Jon turned 30 on October 5th. I wanted to throw a big party for him, but when we found out we weren't going to be moving to Utah, I figured we wouldn't know too many people in Mankato to have a big party. We have made friends much quicker than we thought we would, but I didn't know what to plan. My parents came to visit us for a week, and they were here for Jon's birthday. We had a very relaxing day. The best part of the day was getting dinner for free. We went to TGI Fridays, and Jon's meal was brought out about 10 minutes after our meals, so all of us got dinner free. It was great! We had our friends the Jeffrey's come over later that evening for cake and ice cream and to play games. I also surprised Jon by taking him balloons and a bucket of his favorite popcorn (Karmel Korn's cheese corn) to his 8:00 class. I meant to get there before class started, but I didn't quite make it, so I interrupted his class. He was surprised and I was embarassed. I never do things like that, and I wanted to do something for him, so he'd have something to remember about his 30th birthday. He told me it was a really good birthday.

Our house

This is our new house. We are really enjoying having our own place. The best part, is not sharing walls with anyone else. We have quite a bit of lawn to mow, so we are getting used to yard work.










Our living room. It's a little cozy, but we love it. It was at least 3 weeks before we had any furniture. We left all of our furniture in Bozeman. Until we got couches, we watched movies sitting on pillows and blankets on the floor.









My favorite part about the living room are the new couches. We've had old couches the whole time we've been married and Jon told me we could get new couches when we bought a house. Yeah!!










Our nice big kitchen. I love it! Those who know what size my kitchen was in Bozeman know this is much larger. There's actually room for more than two people at a time.










This is the guest bedroom, and we are anxiously waiting for guests. We would love to have any of you come stay with us, your room is ready!











This is our study. It's actually a nook right off the stairs, but I love it, because we don't use up one of the bedrooms for an office. We are hoping one of these days to turn the other bedroom into a nursery.