Snowy Shenanigans and other Christmas Stuff

One night in December we got home around midnight from hanging out with some friends who were in town for the holidays. It started snowing while we were there, and by the time we arrived at our own apartment there was an awesome blanket of untouched snow on our front yard, at least 7 inches deep. We had kind of gotten our "second wind" on the way home so seeing that just made us want to play in it...right that very instant. So, we went inside, changed into some clothes more suitable to playing in the snow, and went back outside. Of course we wanted to make a snow man so we set about making the large round balls of snow. However, I am weak and the bottom one was quite large so I couldn't really help get the middle one up, and Chris couldn't do it on his own. But, a Christmas miracle occurred and we see our neighbor pull into his driveway right then! So we hailed him over to come assist, and he ended up helping us finish make our snow man for the next hour ish. He turned out quite good :)


The hair is a branch that happened to have wilted leaves on it, and all the black are rocks. I made the bug eyes that project out so far :)

A few days later we were driving home and as we pulled onto our street we saw some other neighbors building snowmen. It had snowed about 2 feet this week, and they hadn't touched their yard yet so there was a ton of snow! Chris went running but I changed and went over to their place to help. Knowing these people I should have guessed what they were building, a Nativity Scene. Their Mary and Jesus were already done and were HUGE! I have no idea how they got the top one up there. In the end I decided to make a camel, which ended up being really funny, and I went with the other girls to get a crown from Burger King down the street for a wise man's crown. We had a few people pull over and take pictures of it, I was really proud to be a part of it! Take a look.

The whole Scene (on University Avenue)
Shepherd and a sheep
The camel I made. Woot.
Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in a manger.
Wise man!! Like the crown? :)

One of our friends happened to have all this awesome dress up stuff in her car so we were able to add those finishing touches, which definitely made it more obvious what the whole group was, haha!!

We were in California for the Christmas weekend and though it was raining down there a lot during the break it was sunny and warm Christmas day (just the way I like my Christmas's for those of you snow lovers). My youngest sister asked for Christmas for us all to make sack lunches and hand them out to homeless in downtown LA, and that was a highlight for me for sure. Making them was really fun and she and I were the ones to go and actually give them to people. The worst part is when you run out and more people are still asking for food. I am glad my sister suggested this (and again, that the weather was so awesome!).

We were then in Alaska for that 2nd week of the break and it was warmer there than in Provo! It got up to 40 degrees while were there. We mostly hung out and played a lot of games that they got for Christmas, and we were able to see some of our good friends who originate from up there as well (who are having a baby!!).

Chris turned 26. He is an old man. :)

My last story telling of December was the drive back to Utah from California. I am posting some pictures, guess which ones are CA and which ones are UT.



Obviously my even asking the question in the first place kind of gives it away, but the snowy one is going through Baker CA and the other is St. George UT, but that is what it looked like the entire UT route into Provo. Apparently the night before we left I-15 was completely closed down around that part of California to plow it, so I am glad we were not stuck on the free way during that! And it was just crazy how many cars were pulled, or crashed, on the side of the road every few hundred yards for quite a few miles. We had driven in worse so it wasn't bad, but Californian's don't know what to do, I am suprised they found snow plows somewhere :)