December in Utah 2018

We spent half the month in Utah- celebrating Christmas with family, and taking advantage of what Utah has to offer in the winter! Here are some of the fun things we did while in Utah during December...

We took Owen Ice Skating! This was one thing he was so excited to do! Last year, Owen was really scared to go Ice Skating, so we were glad he didn't really remember that experience, and had fun this time around! We went to the new outdoor rink in Herriman.

We took family pictures with the McCleary family. We did take family photos at a studio, but the picture we stopped and took at Costco is the photo that made the Christmas card.

We caught up with friends and family we hadn't seen in a while...

Grandma and Grandpa Cook at my mom's house:

My girl friends at Bahama Buck's:

Gavin's friends (and the Miles baby who is the same age as J) at Cubby's:

I dressed up for our annual Mocktail Party at Brent Devey's house. My "fun" goal for the year was to dye my hair pink, so I had to make that happen before the year ended!

We took Owen sledding at a little hill in Riverton. We really had to coax/talk/force him into it at first. He's a nervous kid! but he ended up loving it and got braver and braver as time went on. I think sledding ended up being his favorite part of being in Utah!

We went sledding again a few days later with my siblings at the hill in Sandy where we grew up sledding. It was a blast! Owen got really brave and he played hard!

We did a lot of relaxing, playing, and hanging out.

 And of course we celebrated Christmas! That deserved it's own post!

Austin for Thanksgiving

We miss spending Thanksgiving with our families, but it really is fun to celebrate with friends! Our first Thanksgiving here in Texas, Troy and Jazmin Owen came up to Dallas from Houston to feast with us and our friends Kalie & Spencer Knaras. This year, we decided to meet in the middle. We booked a VRBO in Austin, TX. The Owen's brought some of their friends from Houston, then last minute, the Knaras's couldn't make it. So, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Austin with the Owens (Troy, Jazmin, and 1 yr old Jaxon), and the Hansens (Rob, Gentri, and their 1 yr old Caleb.) I'm glad we made it happen!

Stopping at Buc-cee's on the drive down, of course!

The place & the people...

Owen pretty much refused to be in any picture. While we were taking this picture, Owen fell down the stairs and scratched up his face! Only Owen would fall down a spiral staircase!

I love being in new places and finding fun things to do and see! So of course I took advantage of that opportunity.

We visited Hamilton Pool, which was worth the hype!

We also rode the Zilker train. We could have spent all day at this park. Hopefully we come back to Austin soon and can do more here!

Austin's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." Unique food places are a big part of what makes Austin Austin! For the sake of experiencing it, we went to Loro and Gourdough's for our girls night. Loro is the product of "the best bbq" and "the best Asian" restaurant in Austin... so yah... a mix of smokey barbeque and fresh Asian... it's unique! Gourdoughs deep fried donuts topped with any mixture of fruit and frosting. I wish I would have taken pictures of the food!

Also worth noting from our Austin trip is that Owen bonded with the VRBO neighbor's cat.

We have so much to be thankful for, and had so much fun celebrating Thanksgiving this year!