~ New Years Eve ~

New Years Eve was a BLAST!!
We went to Salt Lake City. First we went and visited a good friend Bob Lindley that was in the University Hospital, Burn Unit from an Electrical accident that nearly took his life a few months ago. He looks great and is doing well. Bob and Kristen are so strong and Bob will not let this accident hold him down or set him back. Then we went to dinner and then took the kids to SLC Live, Fire & Ice New Years Eve Party. Jared and Lane were hired to do an auction in the Salt Palace that night, which was part of the party so Lane, Sue, Trisha, Sarah, Jessie (good friend) & Nate (Sarah's Boyfriend) also came down for the night (Jenny Sue we missed you). It was so much fun spending time with them. They help me so much with the kids and helped make the evening nicer and less stressful for me. At the party they had all sorts of things for the kids to do:

~Bouncy Toys to jump on and slide on(tons of them)
~Ice Sculptures to take pictures in and on.
~Snowboarders on a snow jump, doing tricks.
~Live Bands
~A really cool Ball Room where there were balls of all different sizes, blowing around in the dark with spot lights.
~ A live Auction of a few cool items.

We rented a room at the Radisson, that has a back door to the Salt Palace, so we didn't have to walk in the cold to far. We went swimming in the pool till about 8:00 pm, then took the kids to the party. Then at 10:30 pm, we were back in the pool. Then back in our room at 11:45 pm, to watch the ball drop and the FIREWORKS from our motel window, that were shot off from the Salt Palace, just a few steps away. It was way cool. A very fun, family friendly way to spend New Years Eve.

Virgil, Shadie and Trisha in the Ball Room.



JP and I in the Ball Room



Virgil in an Ice Sculpture




Waylon in an Ice Sculpture



Shadie in an Ice Sculpture



JP & I on the Strip where the Live Bands and the Snowboarding Ramp was.



The kids in the Swimming Pool



Kids in the Motel.



Virgil, Waylon, Shadie on the slide.



Aunt Sarah and Nate were good sports and helped Shadie and Maggie go down the slide the first time.



Kindof a dark picture, but this is Ty, ringing for the Auction.




We spent the next day at Temple Square. We drove by it a lot in the dark and saw all the beautiful Christmas lights, but choose to take the kids to see it in the day light. The Temple, Visitor Centers, Tabernacle, Assemble Hall were all so beautiful on this wonderful, clear New Years Day. It was the most excellent way to welcome 2011.

A view of the Temple from the street.



Us in front of the Conference Center.



I know the picture is not very bright and you can't see the family very well, but I love the way the Temple looks in this picture.



Over all an excellent weekend. We usually stay home and have our own little New Years Eve Party with a few family members, but we choose to do this in stead and we are so glad that we did. Hope you all had a great New Years also.