Lights at Temple Square and The Nutcracker

We decided this year to go see The Nutcracker at Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. We also had a gift certificate to stay at The Anniversary Inn and we still hadn't seen the lights at Temple Square so we made a nice weekend trip out it. It was a wonderful weekend and reminded us again why we are encouraged to continue dating your spouse after you get married.

We got to Temple Square just in time to see the Nativity.

I love this Nativity scene on the reflecting pool by the temple. I only wish there would have been snow- there is just something so magical about snow and light with all of the Nativity scenes around Temple Square

These are just spectacular to look at. I love the sparkly lights and the magical feeling of Christmas. It is wonderful to see how each country depicts the same story in their nativity sculptures.

I didn't take any pictures of them this year (except for the two that are in the picture above) because our camera battery died but I love the luminaries that are around the plaza near the Church office building. I took a closer look this year and noticed that each luminary has a word associated with the holidays (Peace, Joy, Merry Christmas, etc) in a different language and at the bottom it has the language and what it means in English. I think I've missed it in the past because there has been snow and I can't wait to go back next year.

Our last stop at Temple Square was "Our Spot". We have come back to this spot every year in December. It is is the exact spot where we got engaged. We were there on the exact date this year, December 18. I can't wait to see how this picture changes over the years. This year definitely wins hands down as the coldest, so far.


After our stop at Temple Square, we drove to The Anniversary Inn and checked into the Presidential suite. We forgot to take pictures of the room but loved that it has its own deck that we could see the city lights from. It was a beautiful view. The inversion was terrible but I loved that we could still see the city lights. I think we will book that room again sometime. I loved reading through that comment book they have in the room. Everyone raves about the service, beauty of the room, etc but my favorite comment was from a couple that was there celebrating their 50th anniversary. They wrote "we loved the room but the shower was a little hard to get out of for us old folks." Hilarious!! I have to admit that I LOVE the waterfall shower- we decided we would love to have one in our home at some point.

The next day we spent the good portion of the day looking at houses in Layton and Kaysville. Yes, we are in the market for a home. We didn't find anything during our day but did have fun looking at homes and learning more of what we are looking for in a home and the things that we both like. We will mostly likely end up purchasing a home in Salt Lake county but we haven't found anything yet.


We enjoyed dinner at Biaggi's at the Gateway in Salt Lake City (our favorite) before going to The Nutcracker. Neither of us had ever seen it and we both loved it. We had fantastic seats but it was a little bit cramped for my 6' 4" husband so we scoped out where we would be more comfortable next time we go to a show there. While the show was fantastic and I loved being there with J.D. my favorite part of the night was watching all of the little girls in their beautiful dresses and seeing the smiles on their faces as they watched the magic on stage.

Witnessing an Adoption Placement

As we are nearing completion of our adoption paperwork and the reality of what is ahead starts to come more into focus I have become more emotional about the reality of adoption.  My heart is full and my mind is still trying to wrap around what I witnessed last night at work. I had the privilege of taking care of a birth mother and her baby and witness the placement of this tiny beautiful baby. Last night it became so crystal clear to me the bittersweet emotions that take place during a placement. I watched this young woman place this new baby in its parents arms and give it one last kiss before I wheeled her outside to go home. It was a tender moment and I am not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears as I watched it happen.