tail end.

the rest of our trip flew by. jon took an extra two days of leave so that we could get more done and see more of our loved ones. unfortunately, we still didn't get to see everyone we wanted to. it is difficult to balance our two families, help my dad around the house (which i do love to do), and see all of our friends. we are grateful for the friends that made sporadic time for us even though it was early in the morning, late at night, or for a short half hour visit-especially during the holidays!

 on the 2nd, we went downtown to go out to lunch with spencer. we ate at....you guessed it! city creek! i bet i have been there more than some people who live in salt lake have. that's okay though, there is always something new to see. this time it was a real life wolf! i was so jealous that richard got a picture with him, but even more jealous that the wolf licked his face. 

lunch was really fun. i couldn't wrap my mind around how legit spencer is! he works downtown in the walker center building. it was really cool to be in that nice building surrounded by other nice buildings. that man!

the next morning, mike and kim picked us up and took us to breakfast at ruth's diner! (see what I mean by making time for us, even early in the morning?)  none of us had ever been there in the winter; it was fun and cozy inside! i will spare kim's feelings and not post the first picture i took of her and mike. they were holding their glasses up close to the camera so the hot chocolate looked HUGE and their heads were tiny! that's probably why they are laughing in the photo i posted, it was way funny. the hot chocolate was necessary since it was 9 degrees outside. mike is also a legit utah citizen. he works for governor leavitt and works downtown at the wells fargo building. i never would have guessed it, but i swear that man will be famous one day. 

the rest of my afternoon was spent cooing over this adorable child and chatting with his mother. it is always so good to see lyndsi. it is sometimes draining to be so far away from her, i couldn't ask for a better friend. 

 more adorable baby photos! my nephew is really ticklish and is literally the happiest baby i've ever met. he is always smiling. more so when you hold him, play with him and don't leave him alone for a second, but still...

i couldn't choose between these two photos because his face is perfect in both. that ear.
(i was blowing raspberries on his cheek)

some day i will live in the same state as this woman!
(a note about that large wreath: it is a christmas wreath. "Having this up all year around makes taking christmas decorations down really easy!" -My Dad. also, it didn't come with a little bear on it. he put it on there because it matched and "looked cute." that dad of mine...)

we drove to st. george friday night (after visiting addie and aftynn for a short minute!). we should have been spending the night in st. george all these years. we left at 5:30am and got back to SD at 10:30. it was really great because we had the whole day to unpack, clean the house up and just lay around and be lazy. too bad this was probably the last time we will make the SLC-->SD trip.