a utah christmas

we're back from a quick 5-day utah christmas trip! i think i'm still recovering because whenever i think about taking jack on an airplane [which, unfortunately, is happening again in less than 3 weeks] i start to feel nauseous. flying with a 12-month-and-under kid is WAY easier than flying with a 12-24-month kid and that is all i have to say about that.

but anyway! our christmas was awesome. i'll have more photos later -- our family gift this year was a new camera, but i don't really know how to use it and/or remove photos yet -- so stay tuned. in the meantime, here's how jack looked the majority of christmas morning:

jack is the most patient, grateful little gift-opener ever. he'd say "ooOOOHHhhh!" or "whooooa!" at each new present we pulled out for him, then would sit quietly waiting for us to open it before inspecting the new item closely. he's so cute and christmas is more fun every year with him around. 

other highlights of the trip included:
-- freezing my A off at zoo lights. i never want to do that again. the zoo is NOT fun when it's 21 degrees -- it literally took me 18 hours to warm up.
-- planning my day around food. my first full day in utah involved blue lemon for brunch, sweet tooth fairy for lunch and cafe rio for dinner and it was DIVINE. also that new city creek center in downtown SLC is fabulous.
-- talking to my brother [currently living in mexico for 2 years] for an hour on skype and planning all the movies we're going to watch when he comes home in april.
-- game night w/ all of b's family...those people know how to party.
-- church ON christmas day. i thought it might be a little weird to take a break from our christmas morning festivities to hit up church, but it was actually awesome -- such a nice way to focus on what the day is all about.
-- finally seeing my proactiv commercial! ha. it came on during a band of brothers marathon on spike.

more to come, especially about how we almost had to sell a kidney just to get our christmas presents home. stay tuned.