Adventures with Chris and Karen

We were happy that we were able to spend some time with William's brother and sister-in-law Karen while we were in Utah. The central theme surrounding both our visits ended up being Christmas lights- first at Temple Square and then down in Utah valley. Chris and Karen showed us these unbelievable light displays down in the Riverbottoms. This one street just had TONS of lights everywhere!

This one house just had lights nearly on every tree- and they even created one

I was quite impressed by the complex lighted nativity scene

But, this house was ruled them all because it had moving lights- you can't see it from the photo, but the driver is leading on the horses and it would flick in time to the rhythm.

But, there was this one house that had quite the interesting lighting scheme- to me, it seems something more appropriate for Halloween as it gives kind of an eerie, ephemeral feel to it

Then, it was off to dinner at BRICK OVEN. Mmm- one of our favorite places to eat in Provo. I introduced William to it last year and he was hooked. And Chris also "hooked" Karen by taking her there on their first date. I truly love their garlic cheese bread- yummy. And I do also enjoy their giant M&M cookie.

Next, it was off to play a little mini-golf at Trafalgar. There were several groups of people so we jumped around the course doing random holes so that we wouldn't have to wait. Here's Chris willing his shot to go in the hole . . .

William puttering around

And Karen just post-swing.

All in all, it was a fun game- with some miraculous holes-in-one and some 5 stroke limits but quite a competitive game. William just barely beat Chris and I came in 3rd while Karen took the game easy- she didn't want to overexert herself with the baby :-)

Then, came the small fiasco of the evening. William and I had read in the paper about this house that won the most decorated in Utah and it was in Pleasant Grove. William copied down the directions from Google maps (of course!) and we headed off. The only problem is that the area where the house is at is very complicated because it is near where 3 cities meet up and so all of the streets change names and numbering systems. We drove around trying to find this choreographed light house for over an hour- but we finally found it!!!! Unfortunately, they had already turned off the lights! Hey, it was only 11:30- you would think that if they had a famous house they would at least keep them on until 12- but maybe the neighbors complained. So, that was kind of a bust, but we did get to see the Timpanogous Temple at night and some other Christmas lights. And we have figured somewhat figured out the crazy street system- nah, not really. At least we were in good company.

It was so fun to spend time with Chris and Karen and most likely, the next time we see them, they will be 3 of them!