Melissa & Jason in Idaho: Heather's visit and Christmas decorating

Heather got here last Saturday. It had already snowed about 5in when she arrived which was good because she wanted to see snow. I thought we would have a great week of sight seeing; however we only made it to Jackson because of all the snow and very cold weather. We went to Jackson, WY on Sunday. Since the roads are closed in most of the national parks around the area due to the snow we wanted to cross country ski; however no one was renting skis yet :-( so we decided to go for a hike through the snow to see the Grand Tetons. We saw a little bit of them but it started to snow again and it was very foggy, but we enjoyed our time in the snow. We had a snow picnic and then drove around a little bit more to see Jackson lake and the Grand Teton visitors center. On our drive around we saw some buffalo wondering around and some elk. After driving around went into Jackson to sight see. The snow was coming down pretty hard and it was only about 18 degrees outside. We walked around the square and had dinner at a pizza place in town before we started back to Idaho Falls. It took us 3 hours to get back because we soon realized that in Idaho they really don't plow the roads. All the roads were completely snow covered and it was snowing the whole way back. It was pretty but we took our time.
Monday Jason had to work so Heather and I had a movie and puzzle day. It continued to snow and started getting colder. Tuesday the lab was closed because of a blizzard warning. It was snowing and blowing all day. Jason came home and we all went out to lunch. Wednesday we were hoping to go see the hot springs; but the high was 5 degrees with a windchill of -10 and the roads were not that great. Plus we probably wouldn't have been able to get to the hot springs :-( We did venture out and go sledding. We made it an hour before we felt like we were getting frostbite. It was fun. We spent the afternoon/evening enjoying hot chocolate and playing games. We bought Monopoly for Jason since he said it was his favorite game. Heather won though...poor Jason. Jason also had a final conversation with Dr. Hawari and submitted his final copy of his dissertation!!!
Thursday was of course Thanksgiving! Jason got up around 7 to put in our 20lb turkey! Everything came out wonderful. We didn't have any mishaps or any burnt/not done food so Jason and I consider our first thanksgiving fending for ourselves a true success :-) We also had help from Heather who brought some great recipes to share. We made enough food for about 15 people haha. Turkey, stuffing, corn casserole, spinach souffle, mashed potatoes, gravy, giblet gravy (jason's only. He enjoyed it I thought it looked grooosss hehe)apple pie and pumpkin pie. We have continued to eat thanksgiving food everyday. Jason said next year he wants to make more sides so he can eat them longer....I'm not sure about that because I'm pretty much thanksgivinged out. :-p We finished our Thanksgiving day watching football.... Go Aggies!!
Friday morning Heather went with us to get our Christmas tree. After the tree outing we had to take her to the airport to head back to Raleigh :-( She had a safe flight back!
Friday night we decorated the Christmas tree, now the apartment is all Christmas looking. We decided to get our tree early because we will have to take it down before we head to NY for Christmas day! The kitties are enjoying the tree. I am hoping it doesn't get knocked down during their chasing fits haha.
I did some Christmas shopping today. It feels good to have most of my shopping done already. We will try to keep you up to date each week. Work for both of us has been going well. No complaints from either of us :-)