Starting Off Right

Today was the last day of school before the Christmas break. Because it was only a 1/2 day we used it to start our Christmas holiday. I wish I had my camera, I charged it up & left it in the truck. We met the Steve Ballard Family in the parking structure at Gateway. The daddy's went off to check out the new pups at Scott Doxey's, fix a furnace and return a roof top storage container to REI. The mommies took all of the kids to the Discovery Gateway. It was really warm in there and smelled like winter boot-feet, other than that it was fun. We made it there about 4 and it was really crowded but as it got closer to closing people started clearing out. I am not sure what Jake did, because I really never saw him. Actually I saw him and Lucy once, sticking their heads out of the nest in the little kids area. Emily told me they got kicked out of there later. I had a lot of fun playing with Gretchen in the grocery store. She would stand at the checkout and holler orders at me. She constantly pushed the buttons that said things like "Clean up on isle 3" and "Price check at register 2". She would ring up peoples groceries and then call me over and I would have to put them away. She kept a close eye on me. Once, because I knew she wasn't watching me, I slipped out into another area and watched her. When she noticed I was gone she had an intense look on her face. She was determined to find me and when she did, she put me right to work. At one point she came up to me and slapped my hand. She said "Here is your $50 and you can have tomorrow off!" It was so fun playing with her. She is a little bossy.

After that we headed over to Thiafoon for dinner. We love that place (me & Steve's family, my family, not so much).

Our last stop was at Temple Square to see the lights. It was packed and the kids all had to go to the bathroom. We found one in the Family History Library and let the kids do some of the activities there. My kids favorite part was in the bottom of the North Visitors Center. They really liked the life sized exhibits in the basement. I want to take them back when we have more time. I think that it would be a little more spiritual if the kids could see the Christus without being stepped on or feeling like they were at a parade.