Valentine's Day on Red Square

Living in a different country always has its advantages. The night before Valentine's day my husband said he had a surprise for me in the morning. We woke up early, dressed warm and headed to downtown Moscow. When we got off at the Teatralnya metro stop, I knew it probably had something to do with Red Square. The walk is so lovely, and we had perfect weather. I love the cobblestone streets and all the old buildings. Many are even older than the country of America. As we came around the corner past Gum Mall onto Red Square, I realized we were headed to a temporary ice skating rink. I was so thrilled!! This is one of my favorite things to do together! Gum mall is celebrating 120 years, so they have set up this beautiful skating rink as part of that celebration.

So here we are ice skating on Valentine's Day on Red Square! Seriously, I've lived here two years now and it still gets me that I'm looking at some of the world's most incredible history. It was beyond amazing skating around the rink surrounded by St. Basil's Cathedral, Gum, The Kremlin and other beautiful buildings!! They even had Russian classical music playing in the background. It was a perfectly romantic setting! What can I say? It's just another blessed day as a missionary in Moscow!

I just have to add how incredibly thankful and blessed I am for the man that the Lord gave me! I love him so much!!

Sock Snowmen Craft

Hello! Today I wanted to share a craft with you that we did at a ladies' meeting this winter. 

I found this craft on pinterest of course. How did we ever live without this fantastic tool? 

The ladies did an incredible job, and each one was unique!

Some even had eyelashes!

If you'd like to give sock snowmen at try, here's a quick how to.

What you need:

White sock

Colored sock

Rice

Glue gun 

Toothpick

Orange marker or paint

Accessories such as yarn, ribbon, buttons, brads etc.

First you cut the top off your white sock. Fill the bottom with rice and tie it off.

I used black brads for my eyes. Some of the ladies use googly eyes. You can use what you want, but if you use brads, they are easier to get in before adding the rice to the top part.

haha...so I got camera cord in that picture...again I'm no photographer!

I cut apart the sock like this. The heel and toe are missing here because I took these pictures after I threw away the scraps. I hope you can understand by the picture.

The smaller "ankle" part of the sock goes around the middle as a shirt. I added some brads, but buttons would be adorable. 

I colored a toothpick with an orange marker. Orange paint would be fine too. I just poked it into the sock. If you really want it stay in place you might glue it, but I didn't find it necessary. 

The larger "foot" part of the sock goes on top for the hat. This is the part you will really want to glue. It doesn't stay in place well at all. 

Here is the finished product. I used some really cute knitting yarn to tie off the hat and make a scarf. The possibilities are really endless! :) This is a very simple and fun craft. Let me know if you try this!