new year's eve

We had our one year anniversary yesterday of living here in Utah.  I can't believe it's been an entire year - how does time not only go fast, but seem to move faster as we get older?!

Last year, we flew into Salt Lake on December 30th, and we decided to go downtown on New Year's Eve so that we could enjoy the lights before they came down.  We weren't sure how busy it would be with the First Eve celebrations, so we decided to head down early to enjoy the lights and some concerts on Temple Square.  It was so enjoyable, and we didn't feel that there were any crowds at the time we went (maybe we were still coming off living in NY crowds?!) - so we decided to repeat it again this year, and we hadn't been out as a family since Emilia's birth.

The weather this year was FREEZING!  I don't remember last year being so cold - we had coats, but were warm enough with just those.  This year, we put the boys in snowsuits and Bryson Sr. wore one as well, thanks to my sister Brooke's recommendation from when they had visited a week before.  Madeleine absolutely did not want to wear a snowsuit so she had leggings under her jeans.  We bundled up Emilia and I wore her in a sling on my front and put blankets around her.  I couldn't button my coat because she was up front, but my torso was super warm...almost hot with her riding there - it was my legs that were freezing cold because I had made sure everyone else was dressed warm and then forgot to follow my own advice.  That should be a rookie mistake - and I can't believe I didn't think that through better!  There was hardly a crowd at all - it could be that it was so bitter cold!, but also we try to get there earlier in the evening before the big crowds come in for the New Year celebrations.  Either way....we love our New Year's Eve at this beautiful place.

We still enjoyed walking around and seeing the incredible light display - I'm always awed by how many they put up each year and how it transforms Temple Square into this twinkling winter wonderland.  It's always a beautiful spot, but the lights really give it an extra amount of "special'ness" to enjoy.

After we walked around half the square, I couldn't feel my legs and we stopped in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for the kiddos to do the activities at the Family History Center.  They put together a fun scavenger hunt around the room for the children to research things, and answer questions and as part of the hunt you are to get your picture taken at a photo backdrop that looks like Ellis Island.  It's to represent all the immigrants that came to the United States, and especially to reflect on our own family members that immigrated here to join with other new members of the church.

It's really a fun area for everyone with these activities, and it was perfect timing to not only warm up, but I thought Emilia was ready to eat.  I wandered over to the big lobby of the building where they were having groups perform, and nestled into a corner and tried to wake this little cutie up...

She must have been really warm and toasty in the sling, because she did not want to wake up and eat!

After the children finished their activities at the Family History site, they came over to join me and we watched part of the Polynesian dance group.  It was like being at a mini-Polynesian Center performance!  They had different people from the valley dancing from the various islands and the crowds went from moderate to swelling in the lobby....everyone loves the spirit of these dances!  We packed up and went back out into the cold to finish our walk around the square and stopped for pictures at this traditional spot....

  

A very nice stranger saw me taking pictures of the others, and offered to take a family photo of us - which being all bundled up you can't see everyone clearly but at least we are all in one picture :)

We love the nativity sets that they have from around the world - Madeleine found the set from Japan and we all thought of our fantastic friends that we met in NY from Japan.  Madeleine misses Aoi and keeps in touch with her via gmail - I've told her that when the girls are older we should try to have Aoi come over as a foreign exchange student.  I don't know if that will work, but Aoi has said that she'd like to come out for a summer....hopefully these girls will be able to get together again in the future!    

We had a wonderful evening - in spite of the cold we still enjoyed walking around, the boys loved picking up ice chunks and being boys (!), and we loved the lights and also the candy windows that they have started up again at Macy's.  It reminded us of the wonderful windows of NYC - not quite as many, but definitely beautiful and amazing!  We hope to make this a tradition to go down and enjoy each New Year's Eve - perhaps when the children get older we'll stay longer, but for now it's nice to tuck home and get into warm and comfy clothes to ring in the New Year....if we last that long.  This year, all the kiddos looked like this sleeping beauty by midnight, and Bryson and I weren't far behind!  Happy New Year - we look forward to another wonderful and exciting year in 2013!