Christmas Trees in River Heights

We love our new home, our new neighborhood, and our new community! A few weeks ago, River Heights had their annual tree lighting in the park right across the street. So we bundled ourselves up nicely, and walked across the street to join in with the singing and lighting of the tree. There's something magical about singing Christmas carols in the freezing cold and looking at the beautiful lights. Afterwards, we wandered over the the city building for some doughnuts, hot chocolate, and SANTA!!

Now, Savana saw Santa one Saturday at Walmart and screamed like crazy when I tried to put her on hit lap. She kept telling me later about how Santa was a bad guy...so I've spent the last few weeks convincing her that Santa is a nice guy. She still took a bit of convincing that night to sit on Santa's lap, but once on she couldn't stop cheesing for the camera!! And she also loves the candy that comes from sitting on his lap!

Gingerbread Houses

We invited the other Stroman's over for some gingerbread house making. The girls enjoyed sticking their hands in every bowl of candy, then pouring the bowls of candy on the ground and watching all the little candy pieces roll under the furniture. Savy loved eating the frosting, and I could barely put it on before she would stick her little finger out and swipe off the frosting. (The next day, while I was showering, she even proceeded to take off the candy pieces, lick the frosting off of them and off of the house, and then try to put the candy pieces back on.) Sam and Andy enjoyed making the same jokes while building the houses, and we all enjoyed the gingerbread masterpieces after they were completed. It was a great night...and a great way to celebrate Christmas.



And here is our princess Beyonce. (She even has a ring on it). And right now, she is sitting in our front yard, slowly tipping towards the sidewalk. ( I think she had a bit too much eggnog!)

Snow

Winter is here. Snow is on the ground. And every second Savy gets, she runs right into the snow...and then proceeds to eat the snow off her shoes while I'm trying to strap her into her carseat! (What is it with kids and eating snow? It's something instinctive they do...no one has to show them how it's done...they just do it!) We haven't yet had a chance to go out and play in the snow, but last night's dumping provided some great, fluffy, beautiful snow to play in...so we may have to venture outside later today.

My Christmas tree finally came, so now I can decorate it...and then I'll have to snap some pictures of our house for everyone to see our comfy, cozy home. (Or you can all just come and visit us!) The joys of owning an actual home come with some great things, and some not so great things. One of those things (I can't decide yet if it's a great thing, or a not so great thing cause I'm still enjoying doing it) is shoveling the walks. This morning while I was out shoveling my walks, my neighbor's son-in-law came to shovel her walks...and I realized it was my philosophy professor I had years ago! So I reintroduced myself (he said he remembered my name), and we proceeded to shovel walks side by side! It was quite interesting doing such a mundane thing with someone who has such a brilliant mind and such intriguing thoughts! Oh, and my storytelling professor from years ago is also in our ward! It's great being in a college town!!

Anywho...I'm loving the snow...for the moment...we'll see how I feel in another four months when there's still snow on the ground!!