The Hiatt's Aren't Hibernating

Sure, there is that big important holiday, but December, for us, was FULL of other fun activities!

First, Ben and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. It honestly could not have come at a more needed time, and we really appreciated being able to get away. Thanks so much to Josh and Annie for watching Beck while Ben and I spent a night in Salt Lake City. We used Ben's free hotels.com room to stay at the downtown Marriott overlooking the Gallivan Plaza ice-skating rink. We used a gift certificate I'd earned doing surveys for dinner and ate at a fun little place called Vienna Bistro. It was Austrian/German food and DELICIOUS! We had a raclette plate for appetizer. The entrees were pretty much all hearty meat dishes (which is definitely not my normal style) and my order did not disappoint. I actually ended up ordering an entire pork leg on a plate. It was humongous, but it came with homemade spaetzle and I almost ate it ALL! (Ben had ordered a pretty light meal so I gave him the few pity bites I thought I could spare). Together we shared a raspberry cake dessert and then headed off for a much-needed walk around the city.

Just in the knick of time Ben has found himself a winter outdoor pal. I have absolutely no problem sending the two of them out the door to freeze their bums and limbs. Beck is turning into a pretty good snow-sweeper.

The two of them haven't, however, mastered a snowman. They tried to repair this one for the neighbor, but it just was not happening.

Ben still isn't sure if he should believe it, but I did venture out into the cold for a day of sledding at Duane and Sharon's.

Can you see how much these two LOVE playing together!

Having to stay in Utah for Christmas this year hit me pretty hard, but we tried to make the best of it. Using the rest of Ben's free hotel nights, we took a little "stay-cation" to Salt Lake the week between Christmas and New Year's. At our hotel in Sandy, Ben learned how to swim without any help from Mom or Dad. We used our Starving Student cards for free admission to the Children's Discovery Museum and mini golfing and spent an evening at Temple Square. It was a great little get-away!

Settled back in at home, we had a special ending to the month with Duane and Sharon joining us for Family Home Evening. Beck learned about the ancestors he shares his name with, we all shared a DELICIOUS peach cobbler, and then Grandma and Grandpa stuck around to play! It was a perfect ending to our packed-full month of December.