the Hobbit

One day while I was driving to work I heard the radio announcer say, "Tickets for the Hobbit go on sale this morning at 10:00 AM." Then around 9:56 AM I received a phone call from Mike asking if he purchased tickets to the midnight show on Thursday evening, if I would go with him. I said I would, so he purchased the tickets. 

We live in Orem and he wanted to see it in the best theater around. So we were driving about 30 minutes north, to Sandy, to see the show. Because that is where the best theater is he informed me. He purchased tickets for the IMAX/3-D/48FPS showing. Whatever all of that means for someone like me... All I know is that he was pretty dang excited and that made me more excited than I normally would have been :-)

I am not one for midnight movies. I fall asleep too easily. So while we were awaiting December 13 to arrive I kept suggesting that Mike take someone else or that he find a friend to go with. He didn't even entertain the idea. I was the only one he wanted to join him. So on Thursday night, I got ready for bed, and I went to sleep. I had been asleep for about an hour when Mike came in and woke me up. He said that it was time to go. So here I am - cold and tired and make-up-less but on my way to the first showing of the Hobbit with Mike.

 Inside the theater - I was more awake thanks to theater soda and treats. Every time I got tired, I took swig of soda or took a bite of a Three Musketeer.

It was pretty fun actually going to the midnight showing. Practically everyone (except us) was dressed up. I thought, "Wow. I need to get out more." I feel like all I do is go from the office to home and back again. It was fun to people watch and to see just how many different types of people there are in this world!

I drove home so that Mike could try to sleep since he had to work the next morning and I didn't.

I snapped a picture at 3:45 AM because this is what time I wake up each day (even though my alarm clock doesn't go off until 4). In fact, that morning I had woken up at 3:45 and thought, "Seriously? This is what time I woke up!? Tomorrow at this time I will be going to sleep." But instead - I was still driving home. However, if I hadn't taken that hour long nap before the movie, I would have been awake for 24 hours straight. This is a HUGE accomplishment for me because the last time I did that was 10 years ago when I graduated high school and we stayed out all night and then hiked the SV to watch the sunrise. I like my sleep, what more can I say?

Anyway, after hashing out the movie the whole drive home, Mike finally drifted off to sleep for about five minutes. <3 That made me happy since I know he needed to be sane for work the next day.

I am not really a good person to talk about the Hobbit because I have never read the book or seen any of the Lord of the Ring movies. But I really liked the Hobbit. I thought that it had a good story line and I loved the way all of the characters looked. I just wanted to keep watching them; the trolls, the goblins, the orcs - they were awesome! In fact, I told Mike as we walked out of the theater that I could turn right back around and watch it all over again. We didn't of course, but I liked it that much! I can't wait for the next one and I hate that they make us wait!

Draper Park

I was seeing lots of hash tags for Draper Park this Christmas season. I decided to look up the address and go check out what everyone was talking about. 

There were some beautifully lit trees...

But then there was "the tree"...

It made all of the other trees look small and dull.

 It was pretty massive and I loved that they lit even the smallest of branches.

Lots of people have referred to it as "the tree of life." That is a fun comparison if you are familiar with Lehi's vision and the tree of life and the rod of iron leading to the tree.

Me & Mike

Amy & I

It was freezing and we didn't stay too long at all. But it definitely was very worthwhile and super fun to finally see it. <3

Christmas Street

Unless you are from Salt Lake, you may not know that this street exists. We learned about it for the first time this year and of course - we needed to visit. It's a little cul-de-sac (Mike knows the exact streets) and you enter it by going under the large sign reading, "Christmas Street." We knew we found it when we saw the bright lights shining from about a block away. It looked fabulous and it was so fun!

 I always hate picking favorites but I LOVED this one. There was like a million lights on it alone! It was so crazy and awesome to see!

What a fun neighborhood right!? Way to go Christmas Street!

Thanksgiving Point Reindeer and Mater

After seeing the lights as part of the birthday celebration, we went to visit the two reindeer that were visiting Thanksgiving Point for the Christmas Season. They left on the 22nd, just in time to get back to the North Pole and take Santa out for the Christmas festivities.

Everyone had lots of fun watching the reindeer. There wasn't a roof on their pen so who knows - maybe each night they flew away and then came back to visit more kiddos the next day.

 I like watching her face in these photos - they tell the whole story!

Very interesting Reindeer Factoids that Thanksgiving Point shared with us visitors:

Alli & Mom wanted in on the "what does a reindeer antler feel like" action too:

 Afterwards we looked at some of the lights around the main area of Thanksgiving Point and then we took off to eat some dinner and watch Nika open her gifts!

(Don't judge the way I look - I had a migraine and was in bed ALL DAY before this little outing.)

Skip ahead to the next weekend. I convinced Alisha to let the girls come have a sleepover at my house. I had told them about Mater from Cars being in the area and they were really excited to see him. As soon as they got to my house they said they wanted to see Mater so in an effort to get them there before it was dark, I loaded them right back into my car.

Mater was visiting only 4 blocks from where Mike & I live. Unfortunately I was talking to Alisha on the phone and ended up driving a couple of miles out of the way. I realized this when I saw the Krispy Kreme doughnut sign/building. So I asked them if they wanted to get a doughnut and they said, "No! We want to go see Mater! We need to go to Radiator Spings!" They were that excited. So I made a U-turn and headed back to Mater and/or Radiator Springs. After proclaiming that we needed to go to Radiator Springs Annika did ask, "Are we going to Thanksgiving Point?" I said, "No." and she said, "Oh, because mostly everything that we want to see is always at Thanksgiving Point." ;0) I thought that was pretty clever. We made it back to Radiator Springs and I was so happy that Mater was still there!

 I don't know who brought Mater out for a visit, but I love that they did! He was exactly what we would have imagined. Annika & I toyed with the idea of leaving my car with Mater over night so that he would have someone to talk to when the people weren't around, but we decided it was too cold and we should drive home to be warmer.

Stopping for one last photo after running around Mater for a while. Definitely a super fun meet-n-greet!

the Grand America Hotel

One of the things that I love about living in Orem is that I am only 30 minutes away from Salt Lake City. Growing up, we lived an hour and a half away from Salt Lake so although we would take trips, they were few and far between. There is some awesome happenings in Salt Lake City, if you know when and where. Thanks to Instagram I was able to see that a few friends and family (cousins) were visiting the Grand America Hotel for the Grand America Holiday Attractions. Mike & I decided to go see what it was all about :)

The Grand America Gingerbread Display

Their website said: "Admire the intricately crafted gingerbread creation made by Executive Pastry Chef Jeffrey de Leon and his team displayed in the ballroom corridor throughout the holiday season."

It was very awesome. I called it "life-size" and Mike quickly corrected me. If it were life-size, it would be the size our our apartment at least and we could walk in it. Yes, yes. Not life-size, but pretty big all the same. ;-)

The Grand America Window Display & Holiday Stroll
Again, their site said: "Peruse the whimsical displays in our retail windows for a special surprise awaiting children once they complete their journey. This year’s theme, Celebrating the Language of the Holidays Around the World, honors the cultural diversity of holidays and festive celebrations around the globe."

So apparently they create different windows each year? I think that this is going to become a family tradition for us! They were so beautiful and so fun!

France & Kenya

Each window display held the name of a country, and the way that they say, "Merry Christmas." At the beginning of the stroll they had an employee there to greet you and to give you a passport. In the passport you would match the country with their form of holiday greeting. Then at the end they would stamp your passport at the toy shop (another adventure in and of itself) and then you could take it to their bakery and get a cookie. Very awesome. All of this? Free! So nobody can complain. :0)

Scotland & Austria

China & Germany

Italy & Greece

Norway & Spain

Switzerland & Mexico

America & Russia

I totally just named all of those countries by finding their names in the photos - you should try it too! But definitely take the trip to the Grand America in Salt Lake City because they are so much more fun and more detailed in person.

Plus you will get one of these:

We loved it there and we didn't want to leave after our holiday window stroll so we walked around a little bit more and checked the place out. Mike decided that it's a must to spend on of our anniversaries here. 

The countless Christmas Trees around the hotel were beautiful. We were going to take a picture and say, "We finally got our Christmas tree decorated." and pretend it was ours. Would you have believed us?

Mike browsed the books and the games in the Toy Shop "JouJou" while I checked out the Candy Organ - I think if I were a kid, I wouldn't want to leave this place! They had some awesome interactive activities and a little mystical forest type area where you could sit on mushrooms. :0) So fun to walk around and browse. 

We also decided we couldn't leave without seeing the courtyard. The lights were so pretty from indoors that we had to step outdoors to get the full effect.

I have no idea who took this next photo. It was on their website, but it shows how incredible the courtyard was. Kind of magical. Mike & I loved our first (of many to come) visit to the Grand America and I am very excited to go back!