I tried a theme tree one year too--and I hated it! It looked good--but with no soul. Just kind of sterile. Part of the fun of a tree for me is repeating the stories attached to the ornaments--and my kids and grandkids missed seeing the ornaments they made.
Small world! My husband worked for a while as an OTR trucker at a company based out of Utah--he fell in love with the state. If we didn't live here, we'd live there!