Day 15: Walking in a Winter Wonderland

A few months ago I received a notice in my email about Southwest Airlines' super sale on airfare. Shortly after I also received an email from my mother. "Did you see this? How about a trip to SLC as part of your Christmas gift?" The next thing I knew it was all planned out, the family was going on a weekend trip to Utah for our big Christmas event. It was the closest thing to a White Christmas that our family had experienced in ages, and the trip was just long enough that we left enjoying the snow instead of loathing it.

During the trip I had the chance to share with Nate a few of the things I loved when we lived in Utah. We drove down my old street and pointed out all the old houses we used to know then we drove by our old house, which looked pretty good for being as old as I am. Then we made our way to Lostwood Drive, where we stayed with Grandpa and Ellen. Ironically Ellen's house is two doors up from the house my Grandpa and Grandma lived in from the time I was about 7 or 8 up until after Grandma passed away. It felt strange to drive up the street and see an unfamiliar car pull into the drive way. Here we were on the same street, but not the same house, where many memories were made. Several days later I'm still trying to get my brain to compute this odd twist.

Saturday morning Ellen made us breakfast. A never ending breakfast. Apparently the cook at Hotel Jackson takes tips from the rodizio style of service, only there's no stopping. The plates refill faster than you can say no, or even when you do say no it doesn't matter, more food ends up on your plate. "Just one more piece," is Ellen's mantra. We found the only way to get the flow of food to stop was to quickly take our plates off the table, rinse them and put them in the dishwasher. Hmmm, maybe this is really all a ploy to get the dishes done.

After breakfast, Nate and I took a walk, after all we needed to work off the loaf of french toast we had just consumed and Ellen had a ham dinner planned for later in the afternoon. We walked down the hill to Dimple Dell recreation area where I had spent many an afternoon walking with my aunts and cousins when I was younger. Surrounded by mountains, the snow covered trails were quiet except for the sounds of a few birds and the barren trees creaking in the wind. I think we could have stayed out there for hours more though we got back to the house just in time to stop the search party (my mom and Tyler) from heading out.

Another fond memory of my visits to my grandparents' house was playing Foosball with my cousins. Whatever my grandparents paid for this table they definitely got their money's worth as it has provided hours of entertainment for...oh... probably 20 years. When I caught a glimpse of the table in the basement during our tour of the house I knew some serious game time would be involved. After a good amount of research the rankings are thus...

Nate v Jenny=fairly even match up. I think Nate came out on top overall but by a very narrow margin.

Matthews v Jacksons=Here the Matthews' teamwork comes out just too hard to beat. Tyler would tell you that Dad was more of a handicap.

Matthews v Tyler=Tough battle but Matthews edges out a win once again.

Tyler v Any Single Person= Tyler all the way as the ball speeds into the goal faster than one person can react. He puts all he has into the game and has the blister on his thumb to prove it.

Hours of family fun for everyone.