Ice skating and Christmas lights

Another winter thing we wanted to do in Utah was ice skating. We went to a great indoor rink in Bountiful. I didn't do it myself, because I have a hard enough time with balance on solid ground, but I enjoyed taking pictures of everyone having fun out there.

All the Abbotts and Smalleys went too, except Daniel, who was home sick with Strep throat.

I was amazed at how quickly my boys picked it up. It was their first time, and before I knew it they were racing around, playing tag.

So apparently it's a lot like rollerblading, and Spencer even wrote a compare/contrast essay about them this week for school. The muscles and balance are the same, but he liked ice skating better. He even skated like a hockey player. Too bad we don't have an ice rink anywhere near us.

But Brennan had to hold on the whole time. We need to get him on roller blades.

Brennan and Caleb were done before everyone else, so they hung out with me and Levi and ate popcorn and climbed on the bleachers the rest of the time. These two seem a lot alike to me. Too bad they live so far away from each other. They're both small, allergic to nuts, born around Thanksgiving, very blond, and super wiggly and wobbly on ice skates.

I don't know what Marrisse was saying in this picture, but I sure love Emily's reaction!

Spencer recently taught Dave how to rollerblade backwards, and apparently that's the same on ice skates too.


You can't see Maggie's face, but what a cute pose!

At least Sabrina was feeling better. And I'm so glad no one else got sick.


Can you believe how tall Hannah is getting?


Dallin wasn't even sure if he wanted to go, but he LOVED it.

After the skating session ended we hung around and watched the beginning of a peewee hockey game. It looked just like our roller hockey games, but the puck just glided so much smoother across the ice. Now Spencer's ready to move to Utah so he can play ice hockey.

That night we went to temple square to see the Christmas lights. Apparently they had just turned them on the night before, and it was quite crowded. In fact it took us forever to find a parking spot. But it's something I've always wanted to do, and it was all very beautiful. And cold. However, Emily said she's been there when it was even more crowded and cold.

I love multicultural nativity sets. There were a bunch of them.



Such a gorgeous reflecting pool. There were little balls of light floating in the water and a white nativity in the center. So, so pretty.

I'm amazed I managed to get this picture of the Christus without crowds of people in front of it, since there were SO many people in the visitor center. This concludes our trip to Utah. We had such a fun time. Thank-you to my family for hosting and playing with us!