Oh the weather outside is frightful

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. And it does. A lot. We are learning new things to keep ourselves entertained without freezing. I've been learning to crochet. I am nearly done with my first blanket. It's a little rough looking, but that's why it's just practice. Ben has fun building houses out of cards. That's Ammon and Abraham on either side of him. Those are the two boys that I babysit sometimes, along with their little sister. A couple of Saturdays ago we drove to Anchorage. We went to the temple, which was wonderful. We also went out to dinner at Red Robin and had a shopping spree at Sam's club. The drive there was long, but very beautiful. It was a nice day and there were even some ice climbers out.
We also went ice skating, it was my first time ever. I didn't fall down at all, but I didn't go very fast either. I've been trying other new things, like cooking new things. I got a craving for zuppa toscana, a soup they make at Olive Garden, and decided, since there is no Olive Garden in Alaska, to learn to make it myself, along with breadsticks. It turned out really well, it tasted just like Olive Garden's. The breadsticks weren't as fantastic, but Ben liked them anyways. He's a big fan of the soup. We also bought some dice and Yahtzee score cards and I taught Ben how to play Yahtzee. And we put together a 1000 piece puzzle that mom sent us. We've gotten several packages from our mothers, full scrubs and candy. We also enjoyed out Valentine's day. I woke up to beautiful flowers on the table and then was sent on a scavenger hunt throughout the house that was spread through the day. It ended with a pair of diamond heart shaped earrings! And a pizza hut pizza...yum! I also came up with a plot to get to Hawaii. See, it's cheaper to get a one-way ticket from here to Hawaii than from here to the Portland, or Idaho Falls. I'm pretty sure that the internship covers our flight home. So I think we can talk the doctor into sending us to Hawaii instead. And then we just have to buy one-way tickets from Hawaii to Portland, which are pretty cheap, because who wants to leave Hawaii??
I wanted to say that this plot surfaced after a month of being here; thus we see how quick we are to dream of warm places!

We love you all!