Random Thoughts

I wanted to share some things that we have done since we've been here, but I'm having a hard time getting my mind to process things in order  Here are some thoughts...in random order.
~The sunrise is around 9:30.  The sun begins setting around 3:30.  It is completely dark by 5:00.  That hasn't been TOO bad, except for trying to fit what we want to do into daylight hours.
~It was -2 degrees on Christmas Day, but unlike you folks in SC, we saw no snowfall!  What's funny about that is the fact that we were joking about that before we came.  I'm a little bit glad because we have been able to do some sightseeing that we would not have been able to do had it been snowing.
~My sister took us up into the mountains to see an old gold mining "town" on Friday.  It was a beautiful ride.  We saw a huge frozen river, several frozen waterfalls, and the tiny houses that the miners would have lived in.
~Jeff, Ben, Reagan, Chrissie, Ryan, and Ansley went snow skiing yesterday afternoon.  Jeff was completely on his back by the time he FINALLY got to the bottom of the mountain.  He says that he will NEVER do that again!  Ben, I'm told, is a natural born skier.  He absolutely LOVED it and wants to go back.  Reagan enjoyed it too, once she got used to it.  Joshua is "waiting to go snow tubing".
~We had a great time on Christmas Eve having dinner at the home of Lisa and Tony (one of Chrissie's friends).  Tony works in "the slopes", WAY up North.  He works on the BP gas lines, in -70 degree weather, 12 hours a day, 7 days per week, for 3 weeks at a time.  Then he comes home for 3 weeks before he goes back again.  He showed the boys the special clothes and boots that he wears to keep warm.  They were a very sweet family.  We went to look at Christmas lights after dinner.  It was a fun night.
~We had a good Christmas.  Santa was able to find us here and managed to get in, even without a chim-in-ey (Andrew was concerned about that).  We were able to spend some of the day with my Aunt and Nanny.  Jeff's Great Uncle passed away on Christmas morning.  Please pray for the McCoy family as they prepare for his funeral.
~I have posted a few picture on Facebook...hope that you have seen them.  It's very pretty here.  Hope that you all are enjoying your snow.  Be sure to post picture so that we can see what it looks like at home.  We will post again soon.