Winter Love

I love winter.  I didn't love winter when I lived in Utah, in fact it was probably my least favorite season.  I was really nervous about having a winter again after living in Texas, the land of the 70 degree winters, for 3 years.  But now, in Colorado, I really love winter.  It's wonderful.  It surprised me, seeing as I don't ski, I'm just terrible at it, and I really don't like being really cold.  But in spite of those things, Colorado winters and me, we get along great.  I'm actually kind of sad that it's warming up and I'm going to have to start the hunt for long shorts and capris that are cute on me once again.  Do they even exist?  

I LOVE winter clothes.  Warm pea coats.  Matching scarves.  Cute fuzzy gloves.  Cozy sweaters.  Gorgeous boots.  Wool skirts and fun tights.  And ya know what, I look better when I'm wearing long sleeves and long pants.  I feel prettier when I'm a bit more covered up.  I do not have great legs and I'm not anxious for the weather to demand that they be sticking out all the time.  

I love winter snow storms.  Waking up to my yard dusted or covered with snow and everything looks so clean (until the afternoon when the bunnies cover my yard with tracks and droppings).  

I love the way the snow sticks to branches and pillars and makes everything it touches look a little lovelier than before.

 I love watching the snow fall outside our windows.  

 So does little Finny.  He's completely entranced by it.  He stands by the windows and babbles away as if he's giving the little flakes a critique on their flight.

 There's something that feels so cozy about a big blizzard swirling around me when I'm all snuggled up inside, usually sitting next to this:

But hands down my favorite things about Colorado in the winter is that when it gets cold, when the snow dumps and the air bites and coats, gloves, and scarves are necessary to even walk outside, I know it won't last for weeks.  The freezing cold weather only lasts a week at the longest here and then we get a nice warm spell that melts everything.  The sunshine comes out, we hit a park in light jackets and even though the big dump of snow is still melting off the ground, it's 55 degrees or warmer and we get to play!  We go to the zoo or parks, and the boys get to be outside in the winter!  Tate has really warmed up to the snow this year.  Last year when we moved he saw it for the first time and we could barely get him to stick his finger in it.  It was a complete mystery.  This year it's been fun to watch him enjoy and discover it and remember how amazing it was as a kid.  The way it feels when it crunches under your feet.  The crackly sound the thin ice on the edge of puddles makes when you step on it.  The way your feet sink down in the new, soft stuff.   Tate can't walk past a pile of snow without stepping in it and then kicking it.  Seriously, everywhere we go he has to stomp in every pile we pass.

 The way it shatters when you throw it on the side walk and it spreads out like an icy firework.  That's pretty cool too.

 Finn likes our winter days at the park too.  He stays in the stroller for about 5 minutes before hollering to get out and play with us.  He spends most of his time walking over the packed snow and hollering for my hand because, while that's the only place he really wants to be, it's pretty slippery and unstable for a new walker.  I, of course, go along with it because Finny rarely wants to hold my hand when walking.  He usually frantically waves his hands when I offer, letting me know he's more than competent to do this on his own, MOM!

 We have a lot of fun.

 And this Colorado sun...tell me that doesn't just make you smile.  I love that this beautiful, bright sun shows its' face nearly every day.  When it gets gloomy I almost enjoy it because I know it won't last long.

I'm sad that winter is on its' way out.  I'll miss it.  This has definitely been my favorite winter of all of my winters.  Playing with my boys in the snow.  Watching Tate enjoy it and absolutely soak his pants and tennis shoes every time we go out in the snow.  Thanks Colorado for bringing winter and I together.  I think we're going to be friends for a long, long time.

Baby and Kids Expo

The boys and I are on our own on Saturday mornings lately as the lacrosse team that Glenn is helping to coach has at least one, and sometimes up to three games.  If the games were outside maybe we'd venture out to more of them, but this is indoor lacrosse and the thought of several hours of wrangling boys in bleachers sounds awful so we're on our own.  We usually like to get out to do something fun on Saturday mornings without him.  We could stay home and clean the house...but we'd rather play so that's what we do.  A couple of weeks ago we got cheap tickets to the Baby and Kids Expo downtown.  It looked like they had some fun things for the kids to do and I thought it might be a good opportunity to check out some vendors for our boutique.  It was kind of a bust on both accounts, but still glad we went and got out of the house.  

We invited some friends from our ward who have two little boys too and they had fun running around and playing together.  We got to the expo and had to pay way too much for parking, then most of the activities inside cost extra too.  Bummer.  We forked out for the petting zoo because we'd told the kids about it and they were excited.  All of the boys were in heaven petting all the rare little creatures.  

Finn just couldn't stand to be held.  Every time he was about to be trampled by a rambunctious kid or a camel, he'd immediately dive out of my arms again.  He thinks he's way too big.

Tate and Carson are good little buddies.

We took full advantage of the few free kiddo activities.  There was a little train which they rode a few times and a bounce house too.  All in all, not a bad Saturday morning outing.