Wintriness

If that's a word.
For FHE on Monday, we went with a bunch of Joel's cousins to This Is The Place Heritage Park. It was really cool, and I wish we had had more time to spend there to really experience all they had to offer. I think we might go back before they close for the year.
They have both authentic houses and replicas of old pioneer houses, complete with no electricity. This will explain the poor quality of my pictures. That and the fact that I was really paranoid about Dane freezing. Nevertheless, here is what we got:
Dane met Father Christmas. And although his beard was not real, he was a lot friendlier than the mall Santa.

Here are Daddy and Dane playing as we wait for others to talk to Father Christmas

Here we are aboard the Candlelight Express

Then we stopped at the Anderson House to have hot chocolate and sing Christmas Carols (none of my pictures there turned out at all--no lights). Then the train took us to the live Nativity, complete with real sheep, cows, Joseph, and Mary (no real baby. Except Dane, who did not understand the "no crying he makes" concept in the cold). I had never really thought about how the stable in which Christ was born would have stunk. It really brought home just how humble His beginnings were. Then, we went to Brigham Young's house, where we heard him tell the tale of the first pioneer Christmas in the West. At that point, things were closing down so there wasn't another train coming by. We walked about a quarter mile in the cold. People kept asking me if they should hold Dane for me, and I refused. I wanted to experience a tiny little part of what it would have been like as a pioneer to trek across the plains in the winter. It would have been miserable. I would not have made it. Which is probably why I wasn't born then.
Again, it was a great time, and I want to go back.
In other news, the ice storms across the midwest hit Oklahoma hard. Both of my sisters have been without power since Sunday night. Luckily, Kenta and Kendall's apartment has power, so Rika, Brady, and Mika have been hanging out there a lot. Here are some pictures of around Norman (where OU is) that Kenta sent me:


Apparently, people with nowhere else to go are sleeping on OU campus because it is one of the few places with power. A tree fell over in my parents' yard, too, but they never lost power. I guess it's the worst in Norman. It's pretty crazy. Hopefully they will have power again soon.