2013

Recap of 2013

This is hands down one of my favorite pictures from this past year. 

Live: Alpine, Utah
Drive: BMW, and a Mazda6 (yes we got a new car AGAIN, it was an early anniversary present... more to come on that later). 
Work: Blue Lemon for Jen and then not Blue Lemon for Jen. Spring mobile for Jason and IHC working as an EMT up at Snowbird.

School: BYU for Jase half the year, then GRADUATION!
Church Callings: Jason got called to the Elders Qurom Presidency and is now serving as secretary.  Jen is still on the RS Activity Committee and also taught the 7 turning 8 year olds.
Pets: One goldfish.  Ash also thinks he is either a dog or a cat 50% of the time. 
Traveled to: Hawaii for Mom and Dad, Park City trip for all of us, plus another Park City trip just for grown ups.  As well as a big family trip to Florida.
Highlights/Big Events: Traveling firsts, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the beach! Playdates with friends.  Graduation, completing and passing the MCAT, Med School acceptance(s).  Lots of biking.  Moving on to new adventures and being able to stay at home with Ashton all day every day.

Sent Stephanie off on her Mission.  Aunt Stephy was easily Ashton's favorite, she will be missed but Georgia is lucky to have her.

Lost Grandpa Joseph Beckstrand, who is now reunited with his love in the eternities.  He was not only a war hero and POW captured at Battle of the Bulge, but from everything I have heard he was a real world hero of a man that we are honored to be related to.  It was one of the most memorable and inspiring funerals I have ever attended.

Last Years Goals: "Play harder, laugh more, make it to the Temple, find time for each other even with our busy school/work schedules, try and drive the same cars all year long, take the MCAT, graduation, hug Ashton till he just can't take it anymore."

Well we definitely played harder, having a mobile child the whole year sure makes that more possible and fun! Ashton makes us laugh daily, sometimes I cry I laugh so hard with him.  He has the greatest laugh and cracks up any time I think somethings funny, which just makes me laugh harder.  We were able to attend the temple more, but not as often as we should/need to.  Going through the Temple with Stephanie this past year was a great experience as well as attending Alex's sealing for her wedding.  We almost made it with the same cars the whole year... so close! We can definitely cross off the MCAT and graduation and hugging Ashton.

Goals for 2014: Attend the temple more will probably always be a goal, I guess it is never wrong to want to go more.  Seek the spirit more often, church often turns into a blur with Ash, but now that he is in Nursery I'm finding more peace and light through even the littlest moments in primary.  I want to stay caught up on this blog and write more personally.  Not because I think anyone out there cares, but because I want to remember my thoughts and feelings and be able to look back on the moments that created our family.  Live in the moment.  I'm a planner, and tend to plan far in advance and forget about the now.  I want to remember the NOW, and live in the moment and cherish the days, hours, minutes, and seconds, with Ashton. 

2014 is a big year for us.  We are headed to Texas for the start of Med School.  A new chapter in our lives.  We are also welcoming baby number 2. 

 Little Brother is due April 26th!  

Park City take 2

I had so much fun in Park City earlier this summer that all I wanted for my birthday was to go back.  It wasn't quite the same relaxing trip, but it was an adventure for sure.  Stephanie and Dallin came up on my b-day to watch Ashton and Jason and I headed to PC.  Since my birthday was on a Sunday things were pretty quite.  Jase got us a ton of snacks and treats and we spent the evening being lazy and relaxing at the hotel. 

This picture about sums up the rest of the trip.  

We woke up the next morning and headed for Park City Mountain Resort where we rode our bikes up (no lifts for us) before heading down, which is always the best part.  I about died, as usual.  But loved the scenery and the ride back down (as usual).  Next we headed for Jordanelle where we picked up some paddle boards and spent a few hours out on the lake.  My parents had gotten Jason and I gift certificates for our birthdays and we were excited to try our hand at it.

Looking back we should have done it opposite, adventure day then relaxing night... Rookie mistake. 

Mission Accomplished

After finals and graduation Jason's next big task was the MCAT.  He'd been preparing for this for a couple years now.  It was kind of a big deal, ya know.  I was so proud of how hard he studied and he did so amazing on all of his practice tests.  Even scoring perfect scores on some of them!  He was taking an MCAT prep course which told him to have something to look forward to at the end of the test.  Something that you could put on your radar as your reward at the end of the finish line.  

So I surprised him with a getaway to Park City.  (It was also Mother's Day so I was kind of treating myself a little too). 

He took the test Saturday and we left after church the next day.  This was our real first "trip" with Ashton, other than the family reunion/camping or sleeping at grandparents houses which so far hadn't gone over well.  I was a little hesitant to see how Ashton would do away from home.  He was a blast though.  The trip alone was a lot of fun but having Ashton along made it that much more exciting.  

We stayed at the Sundial Lodge in Park City with great views making us really feel like we were away from it all.  Checking into our room Ashton thought it was so cool, all the new things to check out, he probably could have stayed and played in the room that whole first day. Instead we took him swimming in the pool which he of course loved until he got frustrated that he couldn't do it on his own.  Then we went and explored.  We went to a park that has a bunch of art and cool instruments made out of recycled materials.  We played and walked along the river/stream and really just enjoyed being together with out any thought of what we needed to do or accomplish the next day.  

That night we ate yummy treats in bed, cuddled and watched movies together.  The next morning we woke up and had breakfast in bed, AKA bagels. I taught Ashton the cool way to eat bagels (finger through the middle, like a ring) and he is now obsessed with them.  We went to the Olympic Park and hit up the outlets before finishing the day off with yummy food at Loco Lizard.  We scored a spot outside and I was in heaven with my boys just enjoying all this time and attention we were getting from Jason.  We didn't work or study or look at our phones and it was a much much needed break and re-boost for all of us. 

Chapters

Having moved a lot through out my whole life, I never really felt like I got attached to a certain house.  I got attached to my friends and my surroundings, but never the house it self.

Back in 2006 I started Nannying for a family in Park City, which turned into moving to California, and then back to Park City.  Ever since that time I've always had a "home" in PC.  I lived there for 3 summers and was back and forth between Sugar House and Park City up until I got married.  It was my home during that time.  My stability.  I knew I always had my room there.  My escape and getaway.

Last week, I went up to Park City, to pick up some things that I still had in the basement of my old home there.  Since the family spends most of their time in California they have decided to sell it.  I got their a little before they did and walked through the house, sat in my room, and I was surprised at all the emotions that came.  I went through a lot while living there. A lot of growing up.  I miss all the movie nights by the fire place.  The scooter rides.   The perfect summer weather.  The pools.  I miss the nights when I had the whole house to myself and I could play the piano and mess up as much as I wanted to and it didn't matter.  I haven't played at all since moving away.  I miss the cuddles from my girls when they would fall asleep with me or come wake me up in the mornings.  I miss all the laughs from the boys cracking me up at all times.  The giddiness of the surprise visits and flowers that Jason would always leave for me.  I miss the views.  Waking up to fresh snow in Park City is something else.  It's breath taking.

Blame it on being crazy pregnant or for the first time really being sad about leaving a house.  Even though I haven't slept in "my room" for years it was still hard walking away.
We were all crying.
It's the closing of a Chapter in all of our lives.

Thank you for being so good to me Park City.  I am a lucky girl to say I have lived there.