Thanksgiving in Utah 2014

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Utah with Nathan's family. It was a fun time away full of food, snow, and shopping. We flew out Monday night and left Saturday morning. Hudson did pretty well on the flight. He was so excited about seeing the planes at the airport and each time one rolled around he would name it by color. On board, he watch Curious George and was pretty occupied until the last half hour of the flight. The next morning we went and got lunch/breakfast at Black Bear Diner. It was cold and foggy, so we wanted to eat somewhere that matched the mood, and Black Bear Diner was the perfect choice. I had pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage and Nathan got the pot roast. We both enjoyed some hot chocolate and Hudson got pizza, which he did not eat (of course). That night Nathan and I were able to go out to dinner, just the two of us to Squatters in Salt Lake City. Squatters had a cool vibe. It is a pub ad felt hipster-ish and the food was good too. We got three dishes and shared all of them. We got the prosciutto arugula pizza, fish and chips and the mac n' cheese (the mac' and cheese was just ok).

 On Wednesday, we drove up to Park City. I've always wanted to check it out because in all the pictures I'd seen of it, it looked so quaint. It is a about a 40 minute drive from Nathan's mom's house. We ended up loving it there and will probably make it a tradition to go to Park City when we visit his mom.

 We hit up the outlets first and had a successful time shopping because the stores were already having their Black Friday deals and it was far less crowded. 

 Hudson saw snow for the first time in Park City and was so intrigued by it. He was surprised to find out that it is cold to the touch, it makes a cool crunching sound when you step on it, and it makes you wet after it dries. He ran from pile of snow to pile of snow crunching it to his heart's desire.

 We chose to eat lunch at Bandits' Grill. It had a cool mountain vibe and fit the atmosphere and good food, so we liked it (aside from the amount of time it took to get our food).

 The view from Nathan's mom's house. The South Jordan temple it to the right, but you can't see it here.

 Thursday was Thanksgiving, so we spent the day at home helping with the cooking and spending time with family. Hudson and I had a photo shoot out in the backyard with all the fall leaves. Hudson had fun jumping in the piles; he'd never done that before.

 We went to the park around the corner for a little while too. It was cold, but it didn't seem to bother the kids.

 Then it was time for the feast and boy was it good. Nathan's mom cooks up the best Thanksgiving dinner. Yes I had seconds.

 And then I ended up in bed because I was so full and uncomfortable and felt so tired. Later that night we went shopping but didn't get much.

 We didn't do much shopping on Black Friday. We went to another outlet mall, but it was crowded and a lot of things were sold out already. Instead, we left the mall and drove up into the mountains and found a perfect piece of nature complete with snow and a river. Hudson was having a blast throwing rocks into the river. He could have done it all day. After that, we went home for left overs and naps.

We ended the trip by visiting Temple Square to see the Christmas lights, but it was so crowded it was stupid and hard to enjoy the experience. I mean shoulder to shoulder and shuffle like steps crowded. 

We left bright and early Saturday morning. Hudson's face pretty much captures how tired we all were. We had spent the night before in an airport hotel, but since Hudson wouldn't sleep in the pac-n-play he slept with Nathan and me. Well, Hudson slept, but Nathan and I barely got a wink.

 It was a great trip. Hudson loved playing with his cousins, talking with his Nana (grandma) and playing in the snow. Nathan and I just love getting away from the everyday and Utah is a great place to do so.