On the "Twelfth Date of Christmas"

We did it!!! We actually got in our 12 dates of Christmas just in time. We spent the night (Christmas Eve) with Danny's family. They usually have a big family party on Christmas eve, but their family from out of town couldn't make it until the day after Christmas so they postponed the big party until then. Unfortunately, Caydence and I were leaving for California the day after Christmas, so we still had a small outing with our immediate family on Christmas Eve.

We decided to do something different (and to give Danny's mom a break from cooking 2 Christmas dinners). We started the night with ice skating at the Galivan Center. I have lived in Utah for 15 years and NEVER been there! We had such a blast. It was pretty hard getting used to ice skating after a REALLY long break, but everyone did really well (especially Canyon, it was his first time!)
Caydence even got in on the fun!

Aren't her skates the cutest thing ever?!

She looked pretty cute all bundled up. It was probably -15 degrees! But it was so fun!

Then we went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill (another first for us.) We called probably a million restaurants in SLC to find one that was open late on Christmas eve (because Danny was supposed to work until 7) and this was the only one. Danny ended up getting of early, but we still went, and the food was AMAZING!

We ended the night at temple square looking at the lights, but I accidentally left the camera in the car, so no pictures.

On the "Eleventh Date of Christmas"

We joined a group of our friends from high school at the Olive Garden for dinner. Always a good time. (Don't judge me that we've been to the Olive Garden twice in the last week. It's Christmas!!!)

On the "Tenth Date of Christmas"

Last night my parents invited us to the Salt Lake City sing-along at Energy Solutions Arena. It was so much fun! It is free, you get a free hot dog and drink, sing lots of fun songs accompanied by a full orchestra, and you got a free ticket to a Jazz game on the way out! And the best part of the night was the performance by John Schmidt. He played this amazing song, which I am too dumb to post as a video, so here's the link. Watch it, it's really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxLKzuGhDR4

It turns out this is the 25th year they have done this sing-along, but we had never heard of it! We definitely want to go back again!

On the "Ninth Date of Christmas"

Every year, the Burger Stop in Layton has a hayride through the Layton Park Christmas Lights. I guess they've done it for 12 years, but this was the first I've ever heard about it. We went and it was really fun, but COLD, and we were not prepared!

I was pretty bummed because my camera died right as we got on the ride, so the only picture I got was this one of Caydence kicking blocks of ice around with some of the other kids in line. She thought she was pretty big :)

Then when we got home I replaced the batteries in the camera, and we made some delcious sugar cookies!
YUM!

On the "Eighth Date of Christmas"

My sister Nicki invited me last minute to the Peter Brienholt concert in Salt Lake, so I sped down there and we made it just in time. It was so fun! Her friend from France came too, and another girl that I didn't really get to meet because we were so late :) So Danny wasn't there, but Nicki said I had to put it as one of my dates. :)

On the "Seventh Date of Christmas"

Danny happened to get off work a few hours early, so we went to our favorite restaurant...

And to see new moon.
(How could you not convert to team Jacob after this? :)

I know it wasn't all that Christmas-y, but it was actually a DATE (no Caydence, thanks to my mom!)

Delema...

I like to believe that people are inherently good, but I just have had so many bad experiences with car accidents that I am beginning to think otherwise.

Occurrence #1: While living on a main road in Bountiful we had a car totaled by a (naked) drunk driver who tried to run, but luckily her car was so damaged she could only get as far as the neighbor's front yard. I was asleep when it happened, it was late and there were no witnesses. We got lucky on that one.

Occurrence #2: While driving home from work one day, another driver pulled right out in front of me causing an accident, and she lied her way into convincing me not to call the cops so she could get away. I called them after she left, and it turns out she gave me fake insurance, fake phone number, she didn't have a license, insurance, and it wasn't even her car. I got really lucky again because they tracked her down, ticketed her, and she paid my insurance deductible of $500 to get my car fixed.

Occurrence #3: Today I was sitting in my front room when I heard screeching tires and a loud crash. I ran outside to see what happened and saw an SUV had hit my across the street neighbor's car that was parked on the road. (We live right on a busy intersection.) He ran right into the back bumper, and then proceeded to back up and drive off. I have, no joke, always wanted to be the hero in one of these situations and get the plate# and save the day, but alas, I was at the wrong angle, had no shoes on, and there was a wall of snow in between us, so I got nothing. I was so frustrated!! The poor neighbor boy was home alone, so he called some family to come help and called the police. I went over to see if I could give a statement (even though I didn't see all that much). The cop said there is almost no chance of finding him. So frustrating!!! Someone said "I hope they have a change of heart, or it was a teen and their parents make them come back," and the cop just laughed like yeah right. He sees this all the time and it seems that it never ends well.

What am I supposed to think?!