Playing in the Snow

Last night when we were driving home from Autumn and Chad's house, it was snowing pretty heavily and the roads were snow packed. When I woke up this morning, I noticed how beautiful everything looked outside with a fresh layer of snow. I took the above picture from my parent's front porch ... growing up in Salt Lake, I certainly took the beautiful, CLOSE mountains for granted. They simply blended into my surroundings and I had no idea how rare and special it was to live right at the base of such a large mountain range. Whenever I come home to visit, I now notice their beauty and grandeur.

We kept telling Reagan she could play in the snow, so today was the day we finally made that happen. Benee brought Alyssa over to play with Reagan and they had a wonderful time!

One thing I've been meaning to write about is that I got a new camera for Christmas!! My amazing friend Christie just got the brand new professional Canon and no longer needed her back-up Canon Rebel. Before posting it for sale elsewhere, she offered to sell it to me at a great price. John agreed to buy it for me for Christmas, which couldn't have made me happier! I've got a really nice SLR Canon camera from back when I took a photography class in college, but of course, it takes film ... totally impractical. I've been dying for a digital SLR so I could play around with aperatures, shutter speeds and ISOs. As everyone knows, I love taking pictures of my girls, but with my little point-n-shoot, I always have to use a flash, or they come out blurry. I want to be able to take more pictures using natural lighting to avoid using a flash whenever possible, so I really need an SLR. Anyway, this new camera is perfect for me. I don't plan on becoming a professional photographer anytime soon, but I'm excited about learning more so I can take better pictures of my little beauties. Nothing would bring me more pleasure than to be gifted enough to capture their personalities and charm in some quality photos. Today was a fun day to try out the camera, since it was sunny and we were outside. But I must say, it was really COLD!!

(Yes, I was also lying on my belly, flat to the ground in order to take the above shot!)

My dad was so cute - he came outside and helped them build a snowman :)

Soon after we came outside, Alyssa thought it would be funny to put snow in my hood. Apparently, Reagan was watching and thought it would be funny to do the same to Alyssa.