Buried in Snow and Broken Ankles

Minnesota received some record snow and low temperatures the winter I was engaged to Ethan. The kids had four or five snow days due to wind chill and snow. It was unbelievable. You'll see some traces of that in the photos that follow.  I spent 3 weeks in Minnesota for the holidays.  We enjoyed a lot of family time. We attended "A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie, did a lot of cooking and baking, watched Tanner swim, took engagement photos, celebrated Christmas and New Years, played games, and watched some movies.  I managed to do all of this with a broken ankle!  Yes, I broke just days before I was to fly out to Minnesota.  Crazy stairs.  Ethan and the kids were very helpful and patient with my disability.  And the Kirchmann's have the perfect set up for my injury--a chair lift and accessible bathroom.  What a blessing that was to my casted ankle.

Tanner's swimmeet

We had a great time cheering him on as a family.

Gingerbread house fun!

Baking lots and lots of cookies.

Out to eat at a Japenese Steakhouse. Tanner's birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Wood. Yum!

Christmas Eve tradition:  bowling and breakfast with the Butts family and clan

Christmas morning

And more

Can you see all of the snow we had for snowshoeing to use Lindsey's Christmas present?  Unreal.  Tanner and Lindsey could jump off our deck, into the snow.  That much, no lying.

Playing a new family favorite game: Wits and Wagers

Need I say more?

Lindsey and her friend Katie swimming at Tanner's FHS swim marathon

More games

More cooking--shrimp scampi

Engagement photo

Giving Thanks

Each time I visited Ethan and the kids I would stay with Lauri and Larry Kirchmann who live just 3 houses up from us.  They were generous to invite me every time I came into town. It made courting ideal because I could be with Ethan and the kids the entire day/evening and sleep at the Kirchmann's home.  Thanks, Lauri and Larry!  Thanksgiving week was filled with various activities.  We went to the St. Paul Temple, again.  Shopped for rings.  Attended dinner and a piano concerto SPCO concert with the Williams. (Thanks, Cheryl and Eric!)  Enjoyed Thanksgiving day with the Korths.  We even decorated for Christmas before I left.  I think I even slept through my first movie with Ethan. That is something he is very used to now.  Just note that Lindsey managed to get a lot of my photo attention. Tanner will appear in the next blog.  Lindsey is good at getting attention.

Lisa cut Lindsey's hair--so cute!

Lindsey and Michelle go on a cool field trip to a Science/Engineering place I don't remember

She really caught on to fuses fast!

Hmm...Lindsey being Lindsey.

Bella (Larry and Lauri's granddaughter visiting from Texas) and Lindsey playing games at our house 

First peek of the Twin Cities and Wood family

I was prepared for anything weather wise, but managed to be greeted with a beautiful autumn weekend.  I think Ethan ordered it for me so that I would leave more smitten than planned.  Right, counselor?  Ethan made sure I saw and did it all:  the kids, dinner with the Butts, seeing popular sights, dinner with the Korths, and more time with the kids. I think we bought the ginny pig cage that weekend, right?  Little did we know what we were entering into that day.  Oh my!  I greeted the Farmington Ward that would become "our first ward."  I flew home to Utah with a tentative wedding date under my hat.  It was a packed weekend to say the least.

Minnehaha Falls

La Crosse, Wisconsin--we visited there again the first year we were married.

Lindsey's swim school lessons

Girl scout excursion to the amazing Science Museum

Not sure whose birthday we celebrated with this yummy cake, but the cake was a hit!

The final remains for Lindsey's 2013 garden--cucumbers and tomatoes!

Let's start at the beginning, or not...

Those of you who will read and follow this blog are completely aware of how Ethan and I met.  That happened in July of 2013, due to some conniving on the part of his family, specifically his sister-in-law, Jenny.  Today marks our 2nd wedding anniversary.  What an ideal time to begin the blog of our family that we've tried to knit together over the past two years.  Lots has happened in two years. I plan to share a "monthly" look at how that family has emerged since my first visit to the Twin Cities in October 2013.  (Which isn't the true beginning, but it is when I started taking photos of this romance that was developing rather quickly.)  Ethan's blog was more script than photos. Mine is likely to be the opposite.  We'll see.  And challenge accepted, counselor.  Let's see whose blog gets the most hits, shall we?