Romantic Getaway

Don't worry, I'll leave out the romantic parts!  Jerel's mom agreed to watch the kids so we could spend some time together.  Jerel found the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City.  It was gorgeous!  The only other time I stayed in a 5-star hotel was when I was in Egypt as a student, and I have to say they must have smaller stars there or something because this was MUCH nicer!  We were greeted by three people (all of whom had foreign accents)--one who drove our car away to park it, one who carried our bags, and a third to open the door.  Then two people to check us in.  Then Brantley showed up to escort us to our room.  I'm pretty sure he had a British accent and will make a fine butler someday.  Actually he didn't, but he seemed like he should.

The room was great with a hot tub and a jetted tub.  AND a bathroom scale that weighed me four pounds lighter than I actually am!  Definitely a highlight of the trip for me!

For dinner we went to Talisker on Main.  Jerel pretty much won't blow his nose until he's done research on the best brand of tissue, so you can imagine a fair amount of thought and work went into selecting our dinner choice.  The restaurant was really good.  I had rabbit and Jerel had, um, something.  Ski season hasn't really started yet so there were only a couple of other people in the restaurant and the waiters would stand around just waiting for you to need something so they could have something to do.  They even brought us a complimentary dessert, which I think was due solely to their boredom.  It was super good--a carmel flan, a chocolatey fudgy moussey thing, and then carmel ice cream with carmel popcorn (which sounds weird but was fabulous).  One of Jerel's favorite parts was that the cold I had made me lose my voice for the whole day so he had to do all the talking, which is a little bit opposite of how it usually is.  Although I do want to mention that earlier that morning when he needed to return a thermometer to WalMart, he made me do it even though I could only whisper.  He's a wimp about returning things.

For breakfast we went to The Eating Establishment.  I had taken the day before off my diet but decided to take that morning off too once I saw that they had biscuits and gravy.  Nothing ever measures up to my grandma's, but I still like to try it everywhere I go.  It was a good casual restaurant.  After that we went to the outlet stores up there.  Jerel was less than thrilled, but I really wanted to.  We found lots of pants for Eliza (she's coming to the end of her baby shower gifts, so once she grows out of what she's in now we'll have to start buying.  So I plan ahead and buy them when they're on sale).  We looked for pants for Zay but didn't find any.  Jerel also picked out a few outfits for Eliza so she has a few more cold-weather things to wear.  Then of course Jerel wanted to go to the Levi's store.  Ugh.  He should know better than to buy things for himself when Christmas is less than a month away.  I've already had to return two things this year! 

After that we headed home.  It was fun to see Eliza get so excited and kick her legs and laugh when she saw us.  Grandma said they behaved well for her and Zay only cried once when he missed us, so that's good.  Maybe we'll make a yearly tradition of it.  Jerel says next time he wants to try a bed and breakfast instead, he wasn't all that impressed with the five-star lodge.

Chef Zay

Here he is with his latest creation:  Mac n Crispix.  He said he wanted Mac n Cheese for lunch and Crispix.  Then he explained he wanted them in the same bowl.  Yuck.  But he ate it...

Kitty's Birthday

Zay Zay loves to show his sister how to do things.  "Do like this Lizey" he says all the time.  (He has been calling her Lize-y lately.  For a while it was E-yi-za, now it's Lize-y).  He was really excited to show her how to open her birthday presents.  He was also disappointed that it wasn't his birthday.  She mostly wasn't interested in ripping the paper off, which was good, because we couldn't keep him away from it.  She had fun watching and trying to eat the wrapping paper after it came off.

Here's Zay on his way to find another present to "show Lizey how open."  Eliza's playing with her new puzzle while Grandma Atkinson looks on.  (yes, all of her presents were wrapped in Christmas paper--it was all I had).  Kitty also got four new sippy cups, some forks, and two books:  The Lion and the Mouse, which was the Caldecott award winner for the year she was born, and Are You My Mother, which is one of my favorites.

Here she is in her new outfit from G&GA.  I love her in striped pants; it's a style you can only wear for a few short years of your life so I am taking advantage of it as much as I can.  She'll thank me later I'm sure.

Here's a cute one of Eliza with daddy glowing in the background.

We'd just had cupcakes a few days ago for another cousin's birthday, so we decided to do cheesecake (for the grownups, the kids still got cupcakes).  It was fun to have the whole extended family there.

Grandpa tried to get Kitty to eat some of her cupcake. Then mom tried.  Then dad.  None of us had much success.  Which I'm not disappointed about.  My side of the family doesn't have great genes, so it's just as well they don't develop a taste for sweets too early.

What Liza lacks in cupcake enthusiasm, Zay makes up for--and then some. 

Zay has started this thing lately where he likes to eat with just his face--no silverware, no hands, just face.  This morning he dropped part of a cheese stick on the floor and when Jerel asked him to pick it up, he leaned all the way over and picked it up with his mouth.  It reminds me of my brother, who used to pick up everything with his feet.  You'd say "Can you hand me the remote?" and he'd pick it up with his toes and give it to you.  (Of course then you didn't want it anymore).  Anyway, I think it's safe to say that Zay enjoyed Liza's birthday more than she did, but that's okay.  First birthdays are not for the birthday kid anyway.

Up in the sky, ever so high...

When I was a kid I played a piano song that was about swinging and that's how it started.  Not the most creative blog title ever, but I feel like it would be boring if they were all called "the kids playing."  Anyway, we spent the afternoon over at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Nicole's house.  Both of our kids LOVE to swing!  Isaiah likes to slide too.  It was pretty cold so Eliza didn't last long (notice her neglectful parents didn't even put socks on her) but Zay had plenty of fun.  I think he only ended up coming inside because the dog was outside and Zay is super scared of dogs.  The best part about Jeff's play structure is that their neighbor GAVE it to them, Jeff just had to haul it over to his yard.  So I'm just putting it out there that if anyone has a play structure they want to give me, I'm willing to haul it away!

Isn't this a darling photo of Eliza?  I'm not skilled photographer, but once in a while I get a little bit of luck.

A little bit of the Beehive State

This year is the Atkinson side for Thanksgiving.  We came down a bit early so our kids could have more time with their cousins.

While we were here, Eliza (finally) got her first tooth!  We were at Ryan & Amy's house on the 23rd talking about how our almost one-year-old is pretty much like a 6-month-old:  no walking, no talking, no teeth, etc.  Just a few minutes later Aunt Amy came over and showed us the tooth!  Her bottom right.  Of course you can't see it in the picture, but it seemed like a photo-worthy moment anyway.  Eliza's starting to look like a big baby.  She's getting taller, wearing 12-month size, her hair's getting thicker, and she stands up really well now when she's holding on to things.

Aunt Nicole made gingerbread girls & boys for the kids to decorate.  Most of the kids had a fun time decorating.  Isaiah had a fun time eating "m's" (what he calls m&m's).  

Jerel and I met up with an old friend at Temple Square.  I thought it would be so fun for Isaiah to see the lights.  There were a few flaws in my planning.  First, the night I picked was the night of the official Lights-On ceremony so it was super crowded.  Second, it was super windy.  And third, it was not so fun for Isaiah to see the lights.  He's only smiling in the photo because we promised we were about to go home.  I get so frustrated when I plan things that I think will be so fun for the kids and then they end up hating it.  Oh well.

This is me with our old friend Stephanie.  Jerel and I both knew her and her roommate Kim really well.  A few years ago they both moved to Salt Lake so I planned a reunion.  Kim was out of town, so it was Stephanie and her husband, uh, Jake I think and twin 9-month-olds Caleb and Zachary.  It was fun to see her as a mom and to see her so happy with her husband!  By the end of our little excursion her boys were crying as much as Isaiah, so we shouted our goodbyes over the screams and headed for home.