Candy Windows

On Tuesday evening we found ourselves with a little bit of time and an intense desire to get out of the house, so we decided to check out the decorations downtown. Each year, some of the businesses along center street create window displays made entirely from candy. We're not sure if Ainslie realized that they were all candy, but she seemed to think they were cool.

After seeing all the windows, we ventured a little further - waving at cars and enjoying the Christmas decorations.

Ainslie was excited to touch every tree that we passed . . .

And she insisted that she be the one to push the button for the cross walk.

By the time we got back to the car we were all pretty frozen. Ainslie wasn't very good at keeping her mittens on, and she loved walking in the crunchy snow (getting her feet wet).

But when we got home we warmed up quickly with some delicious hot cocoa.

It may have been really cold, but it was lots of fun.

Christmas Activities

On Monday, Josh took his last final of this semester. Janae still has more work to do, but the end is in sight. On Saturday, we decided to go do something "Christmas-y" for a little break from the studying, so we headed down to Spanish Fork for the Festival of Lights.
If you've never been, the Festival of Lights is a fun way see some good ol' fashioned Christmas scenes illuminated in thousands of small, twikinling lights (some of them are even animated!).









They've got everything. Even Santa's there, staring at cars as they drive by.
There were also a few unique displays as well. Not sure what Rams butting heads and cowboys mid-rodeo have to do with Christmas, but they did have a certain charm.









There were also a few reminders of what Christmas is really about.
Ainslie loves the lights.
But, you don't have to go all the way to Spanish Fork for great Christmas lights. Just like last year, we have been scouting out some of the impressive houses in Provo. On our way home Saturday we stopped by a house in the river bottoms that has the brightest trees we've ever seen.
The pictures can't quite do it justice. The trees look like they've been dusted with candy canes. They're incredible.
So, if you're looking for something fun to do or just a way to entertain your toddler, we recommend the lights.

Pea Candy

When Josh was little, his mom successfully convinced him that frozen peas were a special treat - pea candy. Even now, eating peas right out of the freezer is something Josh loves. These days Ainslie is getting to be a pretty picky eater, and "candy" is becoming a new favorite word. Inspired by Josh's mom, Janae has successfully convinced Ainslie that frozen peas are really just little, green popsicles. It's great. Ainslie loves to eat candy, and we love it when peas are candy.

Curlers . . .

On Friday, we were invited to the annual Christmas party at the firm where Josh will be working next year. While Janae was getting ready, Ainslie wanted to get in on the fun. As you can see, Josh isn't too experienced with putting curlers in, but Ainslie didn't seem to mind the haphazard placement. They definitely had the desired effect . . .
Curlers are fun!

November

And November's gone . . . What have we been doing to keep ourselves busy? Plenty, we've both been busy with lots and lots of school. Things started to get really busy for Josh with the Rex E. Lee Moot Court competition. And it continued with the Linda Anderson Trial Advocacy competition. The moot court competition went well (Josh and another student organized and oversaw it), and Josh and his teammate Dave won the trial advocacy competition. It was almost four weeks straight of nothing but long days, but he had fun.

With the weather getting cold, Janae has been looking for creative ways to keep Ainslie occupied in doors. One particularly popular activity is ripping up the junk mail. Try it, it's great.

When it's Josh and Ainslie, they like going for car rides. Josh usually takes a camera along, and the two of them have had fun taking pictures of the last few days of fall.

More recently, we had a great time spending Thanksgiving Day with our families. We started out the day in Layton with Janae's family. The food was delicious, and Ainslie had tons of fun dancing on stage during the "production." After that, we headed down to Lehi for more food and fun at the Davis' house. "Ains-o-wee" had lots of playing with Trey.
And she had fun playing on her own. There were lots of great toys, including some fun cars (Ainslie really like cars these days). And, she really enjoyed reading stories with Grandma Sue.
Life is busy, but we have lots to be thankful for. Wonderful family, great school opportunities, and this happy little girl.

Halloween

Despite Josh's persistent efforts to expose Halloween as a terrible excuse for a holiday, candy and costumes won in the end. Halloween wasn't half bad. In fact, it was pretty fun.

Ainslie dressed up like a ballerina. Actually, we dressed her up as a ballerina, but she didn't seem to mind. She was a huge fan of the frilly tu-tu, and even put on a few little dance shows for us. Unfortunately, the costume wasn't quite warm enough for trick-or-treating, so we had to throw a few extra layers on when we went out in the evening.

It didn't take Ainslie long to figure out what trick-or-treating is all about. The knocks gradually got more assertive, and by the end of the night she would just walk right into the house and look for candy on her own. We had a good time visiting some of the people in our ward, and Josh was more than willing to carry Ainslie's candy while she pushed the stroller from house to house. "Candy" has become a very common word around our house these days. Fortunately, Ainslie didn't catch on to just how much she was getting as the night went on. We tucked it away on top of the fridge, and we're hoping that she forgets it's up there.

So, maybe Halloween isn't that bad afterall. If nothing else, Ainslie learned some fun new things to say . . .

Pumpkins!

Josh hates Halloween. Janae remains undecided. But, Ainslie is loving it. For Ainslie, Halloween means three things: 1) dressing up like a ballerina, 2) more frequent discussions related to candy, and 3) pumpkins. The third is definitely the most important to her. Ever since the light up, inflatable pumpkins went up across the street, Ainslie has been in love. She can spot a pumpkin from a parking lot away, and demands that we take her outside to see them at least 5 times a day. Fortunately, some other neighbors put up a pumpkin that Ainslie can see from our window, so we can admire the pumpkin from the comfort of our own home . . .

Transcript:

A: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.

Janae: What does a pumpkin say?

A: Boo!

Josh: What's out the window? Do you see pumpkins?

A: Yeah. Yeah. Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin! PUMPKIN! Uh, uh, uh! (general excitement)

Happy Birthday Janae!

Just a little over a week ago Janae celebrated the big 27. If you think that's old, you're wrong. At least she'll always be younger than Josh . . .

We had lots of fun celebrating with our families (thanks everyone!), and Ainslie is getting pretty good with candles. It's too bad she has to wait until April to get some of her own.

Daddy-Daughter Date

This semester Josh is taking a beginning golf class at BYU, and he got a discount pass to Cascade. The pass comes with one free round of miniature golf, so Josh and Ainslie hit the "links" this Wednesday while Janae was in class.

The two of them had a great time. The rules of golf proved to be a little too much for Ainslie to follow (namely, hit the ball with the club), but she helped out on those rare occasions when the ball went in the hole.

But some holes didn't make much sense at all.

More than anything else, she had a lot of fun running all over that little mini-golf course. It was probably the biggest, greenest playground she's seen.

With all of the running from hole to hole, it was hard for Josh to keep up.

But even at Ainslie's quick pace, the two of them managed a minute or two to stop and appreciate the flowers.

In the end, Josh only hit the ball about four times, and Ainslie packed it around the rest of the time. But, the two of them had lots of fun enjoying a little bit of daddy-daughter time together.