Our Weekend

It has been a CRAZY week.  I had parent/teacher conferences and my coworker/team member had to resign due to health issues.  I worked over time everyday and caught a cold all at the same time.  Jeff has been working overtime too with multiple projects and high maintenance clients.  We were so happy when the weekend came.  We needed to let loose a little.

Every Friday we have a date night.  We take turns planning what we will do (most of the time it is just going out for dinner and then watching a movie at home).  I decided that I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary.  I went to the store and found some Nerf type bow and arrow sets so we could have an in home target practice.  We were not very good, but we had a lot of fun anyway.  

The targets!

On Saturday we wanted to get outside and enjoy nature.  The weather around here this year has been unseasonably warm (which I have LOVED!).  We decided to keep it simple and just walked along the Provo Canyon Trail from Canyon View Park up to Bridal Veil Falls.  It was just over a 5 1/2 mile walk round trip.  It felt so good to be outside and in the sunshine.  I know we need more rain and snow but since we don't have it I am going to enjoy the warmth while I've got it for now.

I wonder what Jeff has planned for next weekend?

Snowshoeing

As you probably know, Robyn and I have been making an effort to be more healthy and more active.  During this process, we've taken up hiking, biking, scuba diving and various other activities.  However, we've discovered that all of the aforementioned activities are primarily summer activities.  This doesn't mean you can't do any of them in January, it's just more difficult.  (But next week there is supposed to be a low that is above freezing for a few days.  I'm totally biking to work.)  Because of this, we have ventured on a quest to expand our horizons to include more winter activities.

Our first winter activity that we decided to embrace was snowshoeing.  We called up my BFF Jared W and invited ourselves on a snowshoeing adventure with him.  Jared probably thought to himself that he wanted to do something more hardcore, but since he's awesome he planned a trip that would not kill his fat friends.

We went up Guardsman Pass in Big Cottonwood canyon.  Jared supplied the snowshoes, and he took us on an adventure.

Look how cute we are.

It turns out show shoeing is hard.  Have you ever hiked in sand?  You know how you kind of take one step forward and sink a half step backward?  Ya, that happens.  Only, it's like if you were hiking on sand with 25 pound weights strapped to your feet.

The people we were with were hardcore.  Bryce, in particular, likes to get a good workout so he intentionally strays from the trail to make it more difficult.  I told him he could get a way better workout by just being fat.

You're not hardcore unless you live hardcore.

My fatness definitely made it so that my heart rate stayed up as I was climbing that mountain.  I was sure glad I wore shorts.  I was dripping sweat like a maniac.  (I'm not really sure if maniacs sweat more than the average person, but let's just say I was sweating a lot.)

It was hard work, but the scenery was beautiful.  There's nothing like an untouched blanket of snow in the middle of a forest.

Hiking beyond the horizon.

It was hard work climbing up that mountain, but it was almost as hard coming down.  Jared just rolled down.

It looks like he's falling to his death, and he is, but it was on purpose.

I wasn't quite that adventurous. I did my best to walk.  But as I was walking down the mountain in 4 feet of powder, my feet would slowly slide and my mind was too blown to be able to keep me balanced.  I fell down several times, and when you fall you sink.  You don't realize how deep the snow is until you're trying to stand up and everything you put your weight on sinks 4 feet below you.  It was an adventure but I totally got out alive.

All in all, I'd say it was a success.  We had a good time in nature with some great people.

The peeps

I'm pretty sure we need to get in better shape before we attempt it again.  But it was fun, and Robyn sure was cute.

A New Nephew for a New Year!

New Year's Eve was a big day for my family.  My mom finally became a Grandma.

I should note that she's been pressuring me to have children since the day I got home from my mission.  At the time I tried to explain to her that there were some behaviors involved with having children that I probably shouldn't do when I'm a single person fresh home from a mission, but my mom would have none of it.  She wanted grandchildren and that was the end of the discussion.  (In her defense, she hasn't nagged us about having grandchildren since we announced we were trying to adopt.)

Despite not nagging Robyn and I for grandchildren, Mom's desire to have them hasn't been any less.  So I was very happy when I got up on the morning of New Year's Eve to see that my sister-in-law had given birth and Ethan had entered the world around 3 AM.   My Mom finally got to be a cute little granny and hold her new grandson.

Isn't she the cutest Grandma?

I was sleeping when Ethan entered the world, and after that I was working.  So I didn't get to see Ethan until the later afternoon, but I did get to come meet him and wish him a happy birthday.

Look at that preciousness.

The picture looks kind of like he's a redhead, but he's actually super bright blond.  He's a pretty well mannered baby.  He only cried when is parents did cruel things like move him or change his diaper.

Zack was a super cute little Daddy.  He was just enamored with Ethan and only ran in terror once when he had a poopy diaper.

And Robyn was a super cute little aunt.

We're excited to welcome the newest member of our extended family.  Ethan is probably the second cutest Stockett behind Robyn.

Christmas Festivities

We had a fabulous Christmas.  Lots of things happened in just a few short days, so I've put together a list of the highlights.  Sorry this post is ridiculously long.  If the longness offends you, you are free to close your browser and flee from your computer.

Stollen
Robyn made Stollen this week.  Stollen is a traditional German bread that is filled with deliciousness.  Robyn's grandmother is from Germany, and when we were visiting her last Christmas, Robyn made sure to get Stollen lessons so that she could learn the art.  She did it this year without any assistance, and I was very impressed due to the deliciousness of the final product.

Looking cute while she works.

Forming the dough.

Selfie with the final product.

Breakfast with Megan and Graham and Grahams
On Christmas Eve we went over to Megan and Graham's (Robyn's sister and her husband) place to have breakfast.  We did the traditional (for the Wrights) crepe breakfast and it was really good.  Robyn's other sister was there with her 1 year old twins.  Here are a few pictures from that morning.

Will was getting sick, so Megan let him entertain himself with the ipad.  He kept sneezing on it.  It was simultaneously adorable and disgusting.

Robyn likes babies.

He kept trying to crawl over the box.  Around it would have been way easier.

Doing a little dance number.

Snapchat
Last year we started a tradition of sending Snapchat pictures of each other (and especially of Graham).  I promised my niece we would continue the tradition, even though she was in California and we were not.

The first snapchat is away!

However, I quickly realized that Robyn's sister and her husband have the last name of Graham, so we could also snapchat pictures of them.

Teance didn't disappoint.  She may not have had any Grahams to snapchat, but she shared the love with plenty of selfies.

My brother Justin even got in on it.

Robyn made sure to send snapchats mocking me.

Christmas Morning
Christmas morning I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep.  Normally, Robyn is an early riser on Christmas.  It's the one day of the year that she doesn't want to sleep in, but I had to wake her up.  We exchanged presents at our house and then went outside to shovel the white Christmas off of our driveway before heading to my parent's house to have even more Christmas there.

I put a tiara in Robyn's stocking.  I thought she'd think it was fun and cute.  She was so excited, and screamed, "I get to be a PRINCESS!"  I wasn't expecting that much excitement.

I was surprised to see how big Christmas was at my parent's house.

Zack got lots of ties. 

Justin really liked the beanie he got.  It was made even better by combining it with Robyn's tiara.

All the boys got dinosaur hats.  I think I need to work on my dinosaur impression.

Olive wanted to be a dinosaur as well.  

Near the end of the day, Robyn revealed her secret identity as Elsa.

It was a great Christmas!  I'm just sad it's over.  Maybe we should do it again this week.

My little helper!

Here is how Jeff helps me clean the house before we have company come over.  We had a tower of boxes that needed to be broken down before we put them in the recycling because we have ordered way too much stuff on Amazon recently.  He is such a good helper!

Muppets and Temple Square

This past weekend we had the opportunity to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  We try to attend every year, but we don't always pull it off.  There are so many people that want to attend that they do a random drawing type system, so some years we're able to get tickets and some years we aren't.  This year I really wanted to go because they had the Sesame Street Muppets as special guests.  How cool is that?

We decided to go up early and eat dinner at City Creek followed by walking around Temple Square to enjoy the Christmas lights.

Temple Square was beautiful as always.  We made sure to take some pictures.

Selfies are always important.

I'm pretty sure we take this exact same picture every year.

After Temple square we headed over to the Conference Center where we met Megan and Graham.  There were more selfies to be had while we waited for the show to start.

I'm pretty sure Graham looks exactly like a Muppet. I'm just a Muppet of a man.

Robyn and Megan wanted a discreet picture of the photobomber.

I really enjoyed the concert.  The Muppets were super fun.  But I have bad news.  The puppeteers came out with Muppets on their arms.  It turns out the Muppets are puppets.   I know, I'm as disappointed as you.  My entire childhood was a sham.  But the good news is that Big Bird is real.  He was walking around without any sort of hand inside him.  He's an actual bird.  So you can take solace in knowing that at least he is real.

Also, they had a sing-along with the audience.  I actually sang with the Muppets.  So you might say I'm kind of a big deal.

Afterward, naturally we took more selfies.

This is our selfie with the choir.  They're all walking away, because they hate to pose for pictures.

This was in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  Don't we just look festive?

We wandered around afterward in search of someplace that would give us hot chocolate.  The Nauvoo Cafe was open, but the lines were thousands of miles long.  We went to the food court at City Creek but everyone there hates money, so they were all closed.

Ultimately, we failed at obtaining hot chocolate, but we succeeded at singing with the Muppets so I would say the night was a success.

Turning 33 on the 3rd!

Well it happened again.  I had a birthday.  I love my birthday.  My family has always tried to make me feel so special on my birthday.  This year was no different.

It all started on the Sunday before my birthday,  We flew in from Washington that afternoon and then drove straight to Jeff's parent's house for family dinner.  Jeff's mom always makes a special birthday dinner for each person's birthday.  She made me chicken and potatoes and had an apple pie for dessert.  Then his generous family gave me a bunch of presents.  Jeff's family is so sweet.

Next, was my actual birthday on Wednesday December 3rd.  My Nike Fuel Band was the first one to wish me a happy birthday.  The first time I tapped it to see what time it was it said happy birthday! How cool is that?

At work my principal put a sign and a balloon on my door.  The kids and teachers wished me a happy birthday all day long.  My sister also brought me lunch and I got to hang out with her and her two cute little boys.

After work I came home and face timed with most of my family.  My mom sent me a beautiful and really warm sweater.  I then gave myself a manicure and treated myself to relaxation before Jeff got home.

Jeff ordered in Chinese food and brought me flowers and ice cream sandwiches.  How sweet is he?!  The rest of the night was quiet and relaxing.  Just what I wanted for my birthday.

The great news is that it isn't even over yet!  Tomorrow I will be going over to my brother's house to celebrate again!  My sister-in-law has a brother (who is a good friend of mine too) and his birthday is exactly a week after mine so we will be celebrating both birthdays.

I think that families make birthdays the best!  Here is to another year full of adventure!