Winter Carnival

It's cold outside and there is snow on the ground, what should we do? We should have a carnival of course! 

Cody and I attended the Winter Carnival in St. Paul this past week. It was quite the extravaganza with lots of activities. Our first stop was to see the carved ice sculptures in Rice Park. 

Totem Pole

Lion

A Bowling Polar Bear- instead of pins, there are penguins that he is trying to knock over

'Das Wintermakingmachine'

My personal favorite- the throne

Does this remind anyone else of the Princes dance with Neil and Danny from So You Think You Can Dance?

I do have a soft spot for Neil :)

Our next stop was the Saintly City Cat Show which may sound silly but was pretty fun. This was basically a dog show where owners bring their dogs and judges give awards to the best, but for cats. 

Cody's favorite part was when one of the cats got angry while the judge was holding it. It started hissing and the owner had to come take it away.

Negative 33 Below

This week we got our first taste of winter. With wind chill the temperature reached 33 degrees below zero. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that cold- I guess we are turning into true Minnesotans :) One nice thing about the cold winters here is that people just don't sit around inside and wait for spring to come, they plan festivals and outdoor activities. Fun but cold! We attended two of these outdoor activities in the past two weeks and are still alive to tell the tale. 

Our first adventure was Red Bull Crashed Ice in St. Paul. The website describes it as ice hockey, downhill skating and boardercross; to me it looked like men on ice skates racing down a bobsled track. Check it out for yourself. 

The course began at St. Paul's cathedral and wound around and down a hill to the location where we were standing. There were also small hills throughout the course that made the run more of a challenge. This is definitely something we will check out again next year!

You can check out the website to see more races at

 http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Red-Bull-Crashed-Ice/001242785030624

Our second winter adventure took place yesterday at Lake Nokomis at the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships. The entire lake froze over and they created several mini ice rinks on the lake. Cody and I bundled up with our omni heat pants, coats, gloves, hats, and boots and we were still freezing. We were so glad that there were warming tents with heaters to help us thaw. We stayed for a total of an hour and visited the warming tent three times! We saw a grand total of one half of a hockey game before the cold wind forced us to leave. 

"The way hockey was meant to be played" (out in the elements)

Apparently we are not tough enough...

One of the games we watched

These outdoor activities helped me to appreciate our hot chocolate/ apple cider maker!

Christmas Break- Christmas

My Christmas break this year was short but sweet. I worked up until Dec. 23 and was back to work on Jan. 2 so we were only able to spend a week in Utah, but what a week it was! We flew out on Dec. 24 and landed in Utah just in time for the annual Christmas Eve festivities at my aunt Jackie's house. We had a yummy dinner and then we all congregated downstairs for family talents, a reenactment of the Nativity, and the White Elephant. The Lambs sang a short rendition of Alvin and the Chipmunks 'Christmas Don't Be Late'- which I hope was quickly forgotten :) I then helped the younger kids in the family to find costumes for the Nativity. Cody was chosen as Joseph and Mary was not happy about this decision and scowled at him during the whole reading of the Nativity. My favorite part of our Christmas traditions, the White Elephant, was saved for last and it did not disappoint.

We woke up early Christmas morning and exchanged presents.

 Our Traditional Christmas morning picture on the stairs. Dad is filling in for Melanie.

Christmas Tree in the Living Room

 My favorite present to give- an authentic Ryan Michael Painter as a pirate bobblehead

Close up of the bobblehead

Cody and his loot including a new golf club- it wouldn't be Christmas without Cody getting something golf related :)

My new laptop! Now I don't have to steal Cody's or get angry at my old one :)

We were then able to drive to Spanish Fork to have breakfast with my Grandma Lamb. After breakfast we hurried back to Sandy for church. I loved the Christmas program, especially the music, it brought a wonderful spirit to the day.

Melly sent us a Christmas package that included a scrapbook of pictures from her mission, a version of Green Eggs and Ham that was all about the Book of Mormon, and a puzzle that we had to put together to reveal a message she wrote to us. 

 Putting the puzzle together

The finished product! We were then able to talk to Melly via Skype for 40 minutes. It was wonderful to be able to see and talk with her; our family was finally together for Christmas :)

Christmas Break- Anniversary

December 26 was our 4th anniversary. Cody made me eggs benedict for breakfast (my favorite) and gave me these beautiful flowers.

I had a little bit of a cold and couldn't smell, but I could smell these flowers and they made the whole house smell wonderful :) 

We then stopped by some of the after Christmas sales, made some pottery at Color Me Mine, and went to Christophers Steak House for dinner. 

 Syrup dish and trivet from Color Me Mine

These past four years have been the happiest of my life and I am so grateful to have Cody as a husband. I am so glad that we have eternity to spend together!

December 26, 2007