Sunny Snow

My parents have started a new tradition of third sunday night dinners.  We've only done it a few times so far but it is a nice way to make sure we are able to see one another at least once a month.  Jason was out with the flu this month so Ashton and I decided to make an over nighter of it.  Which felt like a mini vacation to me.  It was so nice having so many people around to entertain and play with him, and there is always such yummy food and treats at my parents lately.  

My Dad had Monday off for MLK so he took Ashton and I up to Snowbasin to watch the snowboarders and play in the snow.  It was so much fun and so beautiful.  We rode the gondola up to the top and walked around and then rode the gondola up and down a few more times.  Ash thought it was awesome.  I thought it was incredibly relaxing.  Snowboarding did look really fun and I did get a little jealous of the non-pregnant people getting to do all the fun stuff.  Being with just my Dad and Ashton though was the best part of the day.  I just love watching Ashton's face light up over things.  I especially loved seeing him love on his Grandpa and getting to spend some quality one on one time with him.  

The incredible beauty of Utah mountains is something I am definitely going to miss these next few years. 

2010: the year of the SWITCH

Start off the year in Michigan... 

Switch, we are now in Utah

 Jason started the year as the VP of Marketing in Michigan... Switch, he is now a full time student

I started my year off at my favorite job ever, Goldfish... 

Switch to my "dream job" as the Event Coordinator for  Blue Lemon

Start off the year with great friends... 

Switch, new great friends in South Jordan

Start off the year planning trips to the beach and rain forest... 

Switch, we now look forward to getaways in the snow

We got hooked on LOST... Switch, we can't stand how much time we wasted watching LOST

We started off the year eating a lot of junk food... 

Switch, who am I kidding we still eat A LOT of junk food.

We went from our own Michigan apartment... Switch, living with the Parents... Switch to my favorite apartment ever

Started off the year with 2 new Mazda's... 

Switch, we now own "used" vehicles again.

We went from teaching obedient adorable 5 year olds in Primary... Switch, 11 year olds? Seriously?

Talked about buying bikes... Switch, we finally bought the bikes we so long talked about

Lost a brother (Eric left for Korea)... Switch, gained a brother (Jayden came home from his mission) oh and Eric came back eventually too. 

Went through heartache and despair... 

Switch, we witnessed MIRACLES!

Started out with Jason not wanting anything to do with Harry Potter... Switch, after a Harry Potter Marathon he now loves it (or at least tolerates it with me)

We started off with the hopes and plans for an amazing year in Michigan... Switch, we created new hopes and plans for an even more amazing year in Utah.  

It has definitely been a year of change and it has definitely had its ups and downs. But we have learned patience and trust in the Lord.  Their was a reason we needed to quit our jobs and move back to Utah.  School, Family, New Work Opportunities, Friends, Skyler, the list goes on and on.  

2010, it's been a good year and 

it's good to be home.

Our Christmas Vacation...

When I found out that my vacations days expired at the end of the year, I said "alright see you next year!" and Jason and I decided to make the best of our 12 days with no school and no work.

We did lots of last minute Christmas Shopping and stayed up past 9:30!

We got to spend some time up at the hospital with this little dude.

And had a great second "married Christmas" together.  Since last years Christmas was spent in another Country (Canada counts) and that's not a very realistic tradition we tried to start some of our own little family Christmas traditions.  

We spent Christmas Eve looking at Christmas lights, getting take out, watching movies, reading Luke 2, and cuddling on the couch.  Jason's Mom always gives everyone Christmas Eve pajamas.  This year ALL of us got "Super Skyler Jammies"

Christmas morning we woke up, opened presents together and headed off to Bountiful to spend the afternoon with Jason's Family.  We opened more presents, ate tons of yummy food, and played with Todd and Brittany's new Kinect, (what ever happened to the good ole easy Atari games!?) 

That night we headed off to the Airport to meet up with my Family and pick up my brother.  Calvin Klein (AKA Eric) had been in Korea teaching English and breaking little Korean girls' hearts for the past 4 months.

Eric coming home was a pretty big deal for our family.  Jayden and Eric overlapped on their missions/adventures and this was the first time we had all been together for Christmas in 4 years!

We went to church the next Sunday with my family in Morgan.  It was so neat to look down the row and see all of us sitting their together.  I loved it.  Santa came to my families house on Sunday so we had more presents and more yummy food and fun games.  

Jase and I got very spoiled by both of our families this year.  Thank you so much for making this Christmas such a fun and memorable one.  We love you all!

We had a Beckstrand Family party on Monday at Flips.  Where I found out that my husband was apparently a gymnast in a past life.  His first time every using one of these things and he was doing all sorts of flips and fancy tricks.

We also got to play in the snow (thanks again Dad and Mom!).  It had been a couple years since I've boarded and Jason, as always, is amazing.  

This was also the first time in 6 years that my brothers and I snowboarded together.  We were all dead the next day but had a blast.

Thanks to my Uncle Randy, and the snow storm preventing him from coming to Utah to use his timeshare, Jason and I also got to spend a night up at the Wolf Creek Resort.  Love little getaways.

Topped our vacation off with a fun New Years Eve, with more Chinese food, games, movies, and friends.  

Wow, I'm really not looking forward to going by to work on Monday and entering into another Semester of school and never seeing Jason.
Here we go 2011...

It's Snow!

This is what I woke up to this morning!

Snow in the mountains, snow in the grass, snow on my car... 

I'm such a little kid still when it comes to the "first snow" (blame it on growing up with very very little snow days).   

Come January, I won't be so thrilled about this, but for today I am loving it!

This means I get to wear my sweaters and boots.  I love sweaters and boots. Unfortunately they are usually to expensive for me, but I still love to go and just look at them. So many pretty pretty boots. 

Oh but I did just win a gift card to Nordstrom, as part of my Rockstar award at the "Lemmys" 

Apparently I'm actually pretty good at marketing. Go figure....

Thanks Blue Lemon, great party.

In other Happy News!  Skyler is doing a bit better!  He is still in the PICU but he actually opened his eyes and watched Scooby Doo the other day.  So much love for this little superhero!

Keep the Miracles Coming!

crystalandskyler.blogspot.com

Still Snowing

Yep, it's April 28th and it is still snowing.

Jason and I feel like Utah knew we didn't get much of a winter in Michigan so it is just trying to make it up to us now. We would always laugh at how everyone in Michigan feels like their winters are horrible and that we would never be able to survive them. Are you kidding me?! I remember driving to work one day, in a "blizzard", the guy in front of me going a ridiculous 8 mph and thinking "Are you kidding me?! Bring it on Michigan! Bring it on!" Which it never did. One of my favorite quotes while we were there was "We have snow for Christmas! You'll love it!" my reply "Wow! Utah has snow for Halloween." Not to mention St. Patricks Day, Easter, and hey why not Mothers Day right? I'm not complaining, really. I have actually come to enjoy winter. I think it is all the years spent in Logan and Park City. Now they know how to do winter!

We didn't get a chance to enjoy any Utah snowboarding this season but we were able to join my family for some good ole fashion snowmobiling. It snowed almost the entire time we were there, leaving over four feet of fresh snow. Which we actually found to be quite annoying as Jason and I got stuck within the first half hour of our first ride.

We stayed the night in an awesome cabin, went hot tubbing, watched basketball, and ate, and ate, and ate. My family loves their junk food that's for sure!

The next day we headed out early and rode for hours. We were trying to get to Muir Lake but only made it half way (about 9 miles) until the snow got too deep and we could not possibly go any further, believe me my dad tried.

The entire trip was so much fun and it was a much needed break from Jason and I's current life of unemployment and homelessness. We came home rejuvenated and excited and I actually got a job the next day (more posts to follow). See what a little fresh air and snow will do for you? Thank you Snyder Family for an incredible mini-vacation!

Snowfest 2010

The weekend before Jason left we ventured up to Frankenmuth with friends to experience Snowfest. Snowfest is an annual event where people come from all over to compete in ice and snow sculpting contests.

It's not often that the words "freezing" and "fun" go in the same sentence for me but I really did love Snowfest.

And for those of you who were oh so concerned about me while Jason was gone... Yes I did survive, and yes I did enjoy having the bed all to my self... does that make me a bad wife?