For only the second time since we moved to California, we took a Christmas trip. Uncle Ryan was entering the MTC on December 31st, so we decided to head up to see him and make a little vacation out of it. I spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about how cold it was going to be and how unprepared we are for snow, and we still ended up being a little unprepared for the brutal cold that greeted us in Utah.
Gordon's first time seeing lots of snow in the cold. The only other time he'd seen snow close up was in July of 2012, when we saw remnants of the winter's snow at Mt. Rainier National Park.
They were all thrilled to have snow to play in and didn't complain too much about being cold. We spent the first couple days of the trip staying at Great Grandma Green's house in Davis County. Grandma and Grandpa Chickens drove down from Idaho to hang out with us for a day and a half.
We took the Frontrunner train into Salt Lake City and visited the Clark Planetarium and ate lunch at Costa Vida. The kids were all excited about the train ride. Jilly's face here is funny.
Serious conversations with Grandma and Grandpa Chickens.
The Clark Planetarium was a lot of fun, and a great place to visit on a cold day. We watched an IMAX movie there as well. The kids liked playing in all the exhibits.
Waiting on the train platform to head back to Davis County. It was below freezing outside, windy and snowing, but Gordon and Jill were determined to finish their ice-cold drinks from lunch. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Grandma Green and staying warm. Soon the wind was blowing hard out of the canyon her house sits underneath and the temperature was dropping fast. We kept her walk shoveled for her and the kids spent small amounts of time out in the snow.
Later on we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Cows, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Tyler and the cousins for a day of sight-seeing on Temple Square. We stayed at the Salt Lake Plaza hotel just across from Temple Square. By this time it was only 5 degrees outside.
We did some very brisk walking in the morning, taking a tour of the Conference Center, the Visitor's Center, and getting a peek at the sound mixing studio underneath the Tabernacle. That was courtesy of Ben's friend, Jason Graham. He mixes sound for many of the performances that come from Temple Square.
We took everyone to the Clark planetarium again, and discovered the third floor exhibits, including a Mars and Moon landscape. It was a fun photo-op. After this, we ate lunch at Tucano's.
I really wanted to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square, and we did. We honestly couldn't spend a whole lot of time out there because it was so, so cold, somewhere around zero degrees and the wind was blowing. We all lasted about 30 minutes, and then went back to the hotel to thaw.
The next morning, we said bye to everyone, including Ryan, who will be nice and warm on his mission in Sydney, Australia for the next two years. We spent two more days visiting friends in South Salt Lake (the Wards) and Utah County (Lanengas, Wilsons, and McCullochs). I love seeing old friends and I love seeing our kids get along with their kids even better.
Pretty snowscape in Hobble Creek Canyon, Springville. It was a great trip, not too short or long, and we got to see and do a variety of things and visit lots of family and friends.
The craziest part of the whole trip for me was driving home, and how instantly warm it was. With no snow. And how the kids went out and built box forts on the grass the next day for hours, and we couldn't spend more than an hour outside on our trip without heading indoors somewhere. Winter is real! Just not in SoCal.
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