Welcome 2012

For many reasons 2011 was a tough year for our family. At the same time we were blessed in many ways. We are grateful for the blessings but we are also super excited to see what 2012 brings. 

My resolutions for 2011 were a total bust. I think they were too similar to what I had resolved in the two previous year. They were stale. This year I am totally mixing it up and doing the whole "one little word" thing. At first I wasn't too keen on the idea but I've grown to love the idea. 

My word for 2012 is persistence. My first goal is to learn how to spell it LOL! (Thanks spell check!) Through persistence I can complete all my goals wether they are spiritual, health, budget or weight related. I need to learn to follow through and stick with things. If I do that everything will be better. Persistence. It's a great word right?!?

We decided to go to Salt Lake for New Year's Eve again. We had a free night at Marriott that we needed to use or lose and we had gift certificates for Ruth's Chris so it seemed like a good plan. We dropped of the kids with my parents and checked into our room. We hadn't decided if we were going to buy tickets for the EVE party. The events this year didn't sound as fun but while we were checking in we found out that the hotel was selling wristbands at a discount so we bought them. 

We were on the sixth floor with a great view of the events. 

After checking in we had some time to kill before dinner. We learned over the last couple of years that if you wanted to see one of the planetarium shows you had to get tickets WAY in advance. We went in and reserved seats for the U2 laser light show.

 

After securing tickets at the planetarium we went back to the hotel, put on nicer clothes and headed to dinner. 

We had never been to Ruth's Chris before so we were really excited. We both got the surf and turf special. It was so good. We enjoyed the lobster but the steak was my favorite. It was perfectly cooked and so tender. We also got garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli au gratin. Normally I don't even like cooked broccoli but this was delicious.

We were really full but didn't want to skip dessert. We ordered the chocolate duo. 

It was amazingly delicious, incredibly rich and really beautiful! 

We felt so spoiled with the excellent service and delicious food. It was the perfect way to ring in the new year.  

We slowly walked back to the hotel so we could get on comfy, warm and casual clothes for the rest of the night. We drove back to the Gateway for the laser light show. I'm glad we went, because now I know, the show did nothing for me. I went to a laser show back in high school that I thought was way better. This one didn't impress but it was a nice activity in a warm building. 

We dropped the car off for good this time and walked over to the Off Broadway Theatre to watch the improv comedy show. This is one of our favorite things to do on NYE. These guys never disappoint. 

This year there were more performers and they mixed things up a bit. In this scene the guy on the left is trying to figure out the personalities of all the other guys. We had two of Charlie's Angels, Pee Wee Herman, Joseph with the coat of many colors and Napoleon. Hilarious! 

Thanks guys for another funny show. 

At this point we only had an hour left until the new year. We decided to head to the heart of the party. They replaced the snowboarders/skiers this year with the temple of boom. It was not a good swap as far as we were concerned. We missed watching the guys do tricks but with the warmer weather I guess it would have been really hard for them to keep the jump covered in snow.

We listened to the music for a while, went into the Salt Palace to check out the "ball"room, bounce house room and the other bands. It was going to be midnight very soon so we went and found a place to watch the fireworks. We knew were they were shooting off and it wasn't from the temple of boom. It was like no one else knew where they were shooting from. We were in a little area all by ourselves. It was so nice to not be in the middle of a crowd for the fireworks this year. It felt like a private show.

Happy 2012!!!

Our kiss at midnight, the first of the year.

Our hotel and the reflection of the fireworks in a building behind it. 

We went back up to the room to toast in the new year with some sparkling cider.

I had noise makers so I decided to blow one out the window to the people on the street. It was broken or something. It made THE MOST HORRIBLE SOUND EVER! It was like someone was torturing a goose. I got some of the craziest looks. I couldn't help but bust a gut laughing. 

And just because it was so awful and funny sounding I had to blow it again. 

Then Paul wanted to try.

To 2012!