Who's idea was this anyway...on Christmas Eve

I thought it would be fun to go to the botanical gardens on Christmas Eve and see the gardens all lit with the pretty lights. All day Christmas Eve it was clear, just real cold and windy. So I expected it to be cold. After we had dinner, we dressed the kids in their snow suits and boots and drove in blizzard like conditions to the gardens. The closer we got to downtown Boise the thicker the snow and harder the wind was blowing. The pictures don't quite capture how cold it was and how hard the snow was blowing from the wind. If you are wondering where Emmett is, he is the baby strapped on the front of me wearing the pink snow suit. I had given away all of my baby boy snow things before we had Emmett. The only thing I had left was Paige's snow suit that was 24 months, so I dressed Emmett in it to keep him warm while we walked the gardens. When we first started out, everyone was complaining, "Who's idea was this anyway?" Guess what, it was my idea and I didn't care how cold and snowy it was because the gardens were beautiful.















As we walked through the gardens, the kids started to make snowballs and throw them at grandma and their cousins. Grandma started to get into the fun and began wrestling with Garhett until she took Garhett down to the ground. At this point, we all were having so much fun that we forgot that it was so cold. In our group was Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Brian, Aunt Kathy, Robyn and Randi, Scott and Cindi, Garhett, Trent, Paige, and Emmett.













After the gardens, I convinced Scott to drive to Meridian (about 30 min West of where we currently were)to see this house that has the most incredible lights on it. This family has put over 26,000 lights on their home and have timed the blinking to 10 different Christmas songs. As we were driving through the blizzard to get to this home, the kids were complaining and asking to just turn around and go home. Scott was a trooper and kept on trucking through the snow to get us there. The wait was well worth it. We rounded the corner and saw quite a few parked cars, I tuned the car radio to the radio station that this family has their lights timed to and then the incredible light show started. I don't even have the words to explain how magnificent this light show was, with every drum and guitar strum the lights blinked on and off. Scott was actually impressed and wanted to stay and watch the 28 min light show (that's how long it is before the songs start to repeat). Here's a picture of the house with all the lights on.