Draper Tree of Life

Seth's work hosted a party on December 19th.  Beth and Philip were kind enough to babysit Phin while we attended.  We decided to meet them at the tree of life at Draper City Park for the trade off.  The tree did not disappoint...we just wish it wouldn't have been quite as cold.

Seth's work party was a blast.  They had a casino night and we were each given a certain amount of casino chips at the beginning of the night.  We played blackjack and roulette and tried one hand at craps...but didn't get that game at all.  We spent the most time at the roulette table and really had a great time on our date...with all of Seth's co-workers.

Echoes of Christmas

One of my friends had posted a picture on Instagram about their favorite holiday tradition which is Echoes of Christmas.  I looked it up online and found out that it was a 40-minute live nativity walk through and at each stop the actors sing songs and act out their parts.  I was very intrigued and ended up dragging Seth and Phin down to Liberty Park on a Tuesday evening for the event.  We arrived about ten minutes before the event started...which meant we were near the beginning of the line.  Seth followed our wandering Phin around while I stayed in line. 

My pictures aren't great...no flash allowed and I didn't have my good camera but I wanted to give you an idea of the event.  We were split up into groups of about twenty and were lead to each station by a shepherd.

I have to say this will definitely become a family tradition.  It was a nice way to invite the spirit and to ponder on the true meaning of Christmas.  Once we actually started walking with the group Phin loved the event as well.  He sat still and watched all the actors singing...he also loved all of the live animals...donkeys, sheep and a camel.

Children's Museum

Earlier this month we spent a morning at The Children's Museum with Amy, Zoey and Aaron.  I hadn't been to the museum since it moved to the gateway years ago.  The kids absolutely loved playing with all of the toys and exploring all of the play areas.  We loved having Aaron along he got so excited at several spots in the museum that he literally jumped up and down with screams of delight.

When we started playing at the water table I noticed that Aaron was took his boots off...the next thing I knew he had his socks on and was trying to climb right into the little pond.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture of Aaron climbing right in.

Phin loved that everthing was his size.

When I was little my favorite area was the grocery store...I think that may have held true for Phin as well.

He loved pushing the shopping cart around.

Aaron is definitely a country boy at heart.  I looked over and found him feeding the horse.

The boys also loved the construction area.  Aaron became a master at operating the crane.

We would have loved to stay longer but it was nap time and a huge school group came in...so we left while the going was good.

Emma in Oakley

I was delighted to get a text message from my friend that she would be visiting Utah in early December.  Jenn and I met our freshman year at BYU and were roommates our junior and senior years.  Jenn moved out to South Carolina just over a year ago.  She invited Phin and I up to her parent's new cabin in Oakley for a visit.  I loved catching up on all the events of the last year and meeting Jenn's daughter Emma.

Thank you for including us in your trip to Utah.

Festival of Trees

After meeting Santa at Seth's work we drove a little further South to attend the Festival of Trees.  Seth asked if this was going to become a yearly tradition...we both decided that it wouldn't after facing the massive crowds and a wiggly toddler.  

There were tons of superhero trees...as well as Frozen trees.

I liked this tree with the paper chain and garland.

There were also tons of trees with origami ornaments.

We also liked this game tree that had a deck of cards strung as a garland.

This is what Phin thought of the festival...

We thought this marble run tree was pretty cool.

The gingerbread displays were also pretty spectacular.  This one of the Salt Lake Temple was my favorite.

Meeting Santa

Seth's work had Santa come and visit their new design center the first Saturday in December.  We headed out to meet the Jolly Old Guy and to enjoy some hot chocolate.  We probably should have warmed Phin up to the idea of Santa first...but we just plopped him right down on Santa's lap.  I actually quite like the photo...a classic Christmas fail.  Phin recovered pretty quickly...pretty much as soon as he had a cookie in his hand.  Thank you for joining us Sarah, Joe, Kate, Papa, Beth and Eliza.

Lights on Temple Square

We have had some pretty spectacular weather in December and it has been fun to get out and enjoy it while it lasts.  Seth was headed with the Young Men to Temple Square to see the lights the first Wednesday evening of the month and Phin and I were tired of being cooped up from being sick so we tagged along.  

I always love the red and pink lights.

Seth's favorite lights were the blue ones.

Phin was just happy when we let him out of the backpack.

This is perhaps my favorite picture from the night...

We also walked through the new exhibit and the pictures were absolutely stunning.