Christmas in Utah – Part III {Post-Christmas}

We spent a day in Salt Lake – I picked up a new temple dress and as we drove by East High (the location where High School Musical was filmed) we had to stop for a photo opp.

I thought it would be fun to take the family to lunch at The Pie – it’s an iconic downtown SLC hangout near the U of U.  I hadn’t been probably since college.  It’s in the basement of an old building and the graffiti all over the walls just adds to the ambiance.  The pizza is also delicious.  We went all out and ordered a massive pizza – the first pizza our family hasn’t been able to finish.

When we were downtown on Christmas Day the Joseph Smith Building was closed so we couldn’t get to the Giving Machines inside so we went another day.  The kids had fun picking out what to donate.  I thought we’d set some clear parameters, but Justin was apparently feeling pretty generous and let Drew donate a $150 cow.  We also donated some chickens, socks, blankets and I couldn’t resist donating some pacifiers because I’d have been lost without them with my babies.

We brought all of our snow gear to Utah in hopes that the kids could have some winter fun; however, it only snowed an inch or two while we were there.  That was enough for Jason, Katie and Drew.  They spent well over an hour outside in my Mom’s backyard making a little fort.

Now that we have Chick-fil-A and Café Rio in Washington there aren’t as many places we have to eat at when we visit Utah.  Waffle Love is still up there for me though and I hit it twice – one with the family and once without treating the kids.

On our final day we decided to drive down to Provo so Justin and I could attend an endowment session in the Provo City Temple (we dropped the kids off to see a movie).  It was beautiful and gave me an opportunity to wear the new temple dress I purchased that week. 

As we neared the freeway homeward bound I realized that even after spending an entire week in Utah I didn’t take a single picture of the kids with their cousins or grandparents.  I was so, so disappointed.  Preserving my family memories is so important to me so that was an epic failure for me.  It was a long drive home and every so often Drew would mention something he already misses about Utah.  Grandma.  Val.  Utah.  We were all so glad that we were able to make it down – next time we hope to have time to catch up with some friends as well.