O Tannenbaum

We weren't going to decorate for Christmas this year because we just got back in town on the 17th from Utah, but it turns out that Christmastime without decorations is pretty lame. Even our Jewish neighbor next door has a tree! So last night, after Eastern Time bedtime but before Mountain Time bedtime, we headed over to a tree lot and poked around...until we found this little beauty and decided to give her a home:

Today we're expected to have a foot and a half of snow and darling Eric is on a 30-hour shift at the hospital, so the kids and I are going to have a cozy book-reading and cookie-making day. And won't it be especially wonderful with the tree and stockings up?

Utah

We arrived in Utah just before Thanksgiving Day, when we held an unconventional celebration on a houseboat at Lake Powell:

Then we went water-skiing. On Thanksgiving! Now I'm a very traditional girl, and I have to say that I felt like I was breaking the Sabbath when I was doing these untraditional things on Thanksgiving Day. But I soon got over my inhibitions, and we enjoyed a fun few days there.

We did other normal Lake Powell things, like playing in the sand,

relaxing on the beach,
and jet skiing.We came back to Salt Lake the Saturday after Thanksgiving, where Eric spent some weeks training at his dad's ophthalmology practice. We also had a chance to catch up with family and friends and visit our favorite places.

We started Salt Lake off right by spending the first evening there with two of my sisters (Sandra was visiting from CO):

Although you won't be able to tell on this post (spotty picture-taking!), visiting friends was a huge highlight of the trip. What great friends we have in Salt Lake! Maybe I was just too excited to take pictures, because I was savoring every minute visiting with our old neighbors, ward members, and college buddies. (Unfortunately, I didn't plan well enough to visit everyone I had intended to...good thing that we'll probably be visiting Salt Lake frequently in the coming years!) Jacob was ecstatic to see some of his old buddies,

and we all loved cousins days,

plus more time with Aunt Kim.

I can't quite explain how relieving it was to be in such a familiar place, doing familiar things. We cozied ourselves at Midway one night
and then soaked in the Midway hot pots.

We attended the Utah Symphony's annual Messiah sing-in and ate at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Kyoto.

Eric and Jacob went skiing at Alta, our fave resort (because there's a free lift after three o'clock!).

And of course we played for hours in the snow, thinking that we would never get the chance to do it in Maryland. (The joke was on us...it snowed almost two feet right after we came home!)

So long for now, Utah. Sure love ya.

Road trip

Eric had a chance to take an elective rotation at his dad's practice this month, so we all headed out to Utah with him. In case you're counting, this is the fourth time that our entire family has driven between Utah and Maryland in the past year--and we'll do it again in two weeks! This time we took the southern route, which followed "The Mother Road" for a good portion of our trip. Here are some of our adventures on our journey, but especially on fascinating Route 66.