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.

happy 2013!

when we got back from lava on sunday, we all passed out for a few hours. that was until jon got a mystery text from mike bird. after we had been texting back for a few minutes, we put it together that richard's number was saved under mike's name! not sure how or why that happened, but it was a happy mistake. richard and i got to hang out that night while jon played halo with my two brothers in law (alex and sam.)

we went to kalie's and hung out with her and spencer and their family. it was really fun, i have missed her so!

the next day was NYE! we celebrated bright and early by going to breakfast at the park cafe with emma, amanda, and malorie. the park cafe is almost as cute in a winter wonderland as it is in the summer.  i love hanging out with those girls and am so happy they have welcomed me into their fun little group:)

 amanda invited us to go up to Midway to Brecken's cabin for a party. it was quite the drive, but it was worth it!

 we didn't leave murray until 9:30...drinking that energy drink reminded me of lyndsi and my highschool/college days....ahh the memories.

 it was so much fun being up there! jon and i mingled for like three hours before we started to get tired. i was pretty proud of my usually introverted spouse, he chatted it up with a lot of people and made friends with no complaints! my favorite joke of the night was after i'd talk to a guy, turn to amanda or jon and say "SAD, he doesn't know i'm married." because if he did, he would not be wasting his charm on me! i loved meeting new people and hanging out with these cute girls. it was a really fun night.

on our way home from midway, we stopped at the heber cemetery. it was 2am at this time and FREEZING! we had to uncover quite a few headstones before finding my grandma's. we took a few minutes to write and leave a card. it was a nice way to end 2012/start 2013. it was a rough year losing my gran, but i'm ready to keep moving forward with her memory. i know she is proud of us for the difficult decision we have made to move, and she's probably happy she doesn't have to be in utah missing us while we are gone! 

i've been thinking a lot about her when deciding on goals for 2013. she was such a giving and genuine person, and she had quite a few traits i can strive for myself.

1. GIVE. and say YES.: i don't say yes and do things for other people enough. starting now, i'm going to help people out when they need it, and hopefully be able to tell they need it even if they might not. even doing little things like getting jon's phone from upstairs, getting him water, or running inside to grab his coat when he's forgotten it and we're already in the car. jon is really good at doing little things like this for me, i'm going to do better. 

2. doing things right when i think about them: this is one of katie's goals that i thought was really good. it's so convenient to procrastinate, but it makes life easier to just do things when you think about them. i'm already getting started on this one, i scheduled a dentist appointment, and i vacuumed the front room and got it all put back together now that the christmas stuff is put away! it took 15 minutes and now it doesn't have to weigh on me.

3. fitness: this is always a good resolution. jon and i have both started using my fitness pal and have been focussed on eating healthy food instead of snacking on chips and candy. we've had a rough start, but i'm ready for a lifestyle change.
(we are also seriously considering buying a juicer!)

4. graduate! seriously, this year my goal is to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in Art History! and along those same lines, dare i say it...apply at UTSA for their Master's program in Art History! which also means i need to be fluent or at least halfway fluent in spanish, another goal of mine. 

5. continue to progress in my horseback riding lessons: come april, i will have been riding for a whole year. i want to be proud of how far i have come. i want to start jumping larger jumps and not letting my fear get in the way. one main goal is to be in a show by march with gerry
(and hopefully place, though i will be happy to be there no matter what happens)!

lava hot springs, idaho.

on thursday night, jon and i decided to get a group together to go to lava hot springs. he's been going there since he was young and knew that was one thing he wanted to fit into our trip. it was such short notice but katie and sam found people to watch their kids and kim got work off! we drove up saturday morning and stayed until sunday. it was a blast!

we stayed at the Lava Hot Springs Inn and they give you tiny towels to use. it used to be a hospital. the inn is really old fashioned, but that only adds to the experience. gary and mei and katie and sam each got their own rooms. there were about two rooms to every bathroom! so interesting. there wasn't enough room for the rest of us, so we stayed in an apartment-type thing across the street with three queen beds in one room and our own bathroom. it was such a fun slumber party! 

(HAIR!)

the dining experience up there could have been a lot better. our party of 9 overwhelmed every restaurant we went into! it makes for some good stories though. we all had a great time, the group we went with was so fun! kim wrote about it here!

katie and sam drove us up in their family car. the drive up included hot topics like the election, government aid, and mormons/anti-mormons. the drive back was a little bit more laid back with some PITCH PERFECT! if you haven't seen it, i feel bad for you. but when you see it, call me so we can quote it together. 

downtown.

the theme for the days following christmas was city creek and plaid. 

  we went downtown with my family on the 26th to get dinner and see the lights.

lizzie left that night. :(

 

 on the 27th we went downtown again with kim and alex and saw the nativity. i'm sure if i kept up with going to city creek every day i'd get sick of it, but probably not for a few months of it.

plaid on plaid on plaid on plaid.