Christmas Time

We has a wonderful Christmas this year.  I'm sad that it is over, but definitely looking forward to all that the new year has to offer.  Here are some of the highlights from our Christmas.

Charlie and I spent a lot of time making cracker toffee (i.e. Christmas Crack) for neighbors, friends, and Matt's co-workers.  But let's be real...Charlie was just in it to lick the spoon.

 Of course we had the annual N family Christmas pajama party, complete with dinner, gingerbread decorating, pajamas, pictures, musical performances, and the reading of the nativity.

The Saturday before Christmas my parents and my brother Matthew came to our house for a pre-christmas dinner, present opening, and carol singing.  It was such a lovely evening.

We are always so happy when Uncle Matt comes to town!  My kids adore him, we adore him, and it doesn't hurt that he spoils us rotten.:)

 Uncle Matt bought Aubrey a helium balloon kit for Christmas...and it was a huge hit!  She loves balloons so much.

On Christmas eve we had a yummy festive dinner at Matt's sister Joy's home, but I don't have any pictures of that.

 Christmas day was so great.  The kiddos were super excited to see all that Santa had brought.  Aubrey loves her new indoor swing, Charlie is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear, Matt surprised me with the record player I've always wanted, Matt got lots of running gear, and to top it all off...it finally snowed!  We ate a yummy breakfast of sweet rolls and breakfast casserole, stayed in jammies for most of the day, and spent a good portion of the afternoon playing in the fresh snow.  It really could not have been more perfect.

Later that evening we headed to my parents house to have Christmas dinner with them, and both my brothers Matthew, and Jake+family.  I also managed not to get any pictures that night, but I know my brother got some epic photos...so maybe I'll share those later.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Matt+Me+Mexico

Well we just got back from our anniversary trip to Mexico a few days ago, and I thought I should probably get blogging about it before I start forgetting all the awesomeness.  We arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday evening, right around dinner time.  We stayed at a great all-inclusive resort.  Right when we arrived we headed to the buffet for a quick bite to eat, then went straight down to the beach to play in the ocean and watch the sun set.

The view from our room

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of our room before we messed it all up, so I snagged this one from google.

 

 

 

That night we spent most of the evening at the beach, then got cleaned up and did some exploring around the resort.  The whole next day we were exclusively at the resort.  We slept in as long as we could, which didn't actually end up being that late.  It's hard to sleep in when you're body is so accustomed to being woken up by little people when the sun comes up everyday!  But we took advantage of the quiet morning and went for a long walk on the beach before breakfast.  I'm pretty sure all we did was hang out at the beach, eat, go back to the beach, eat again...take a nap...play some cards...swim in the ocean...read and fall asleep at the beach...do some boogie boarding...and eat again.  Oh, and somewhere in there Matt played a couple games of beach volleyball.  It was divine. 

 

 

Even though the resort had two really nice pools, including a pool that was exclusively for adults...we didn't set foot in either of them during the whole trip.  We both love swimming in the ocean so much...and we figured we could swim in a pool any old time.

 

The next day we went on a zip lining excursion, which lasted for about 6 hours.  It was so fun!  First they load a big group of us on a speed boat, and take us on about a 15-20 minute ride to this little fishing village.

 

From there we got on these huge trucks, and were driven through these remote villages high up into the mountains.

 

Then we got all geared up, and rode some mules even higher up into the mountains.  This part was hilarious.  My mule's name was Peperoni, and Matt's mule was named Macaroni.  The guides were these really fun, and they made the mule ride quite entertaining.  Then we reached the start off point for the zip lining.  They gave up instructions, and off we went...flying through the jungle, repelling down waterfalls, and even riding some water slides.  It was a great adventure, and I'm so glad we did it!   I won't post all of those pictures because there are so many.  If you want to see them all, I posted them on Facebook.  Here are a few highlights.

 

 Yes...we actually did one of the zip lines hanging completely upside down!  It was so freeing once I got over the initial terror :-)

 

When we were done, there was a cute little grandma at the bottom making fresh quesadillas, and we had ourselves a well earned snack.  Then we rode the truck back down to the fishing village, and rode the boat back to our starting place. 

 

The next couple of days were more lazy days at the beach.  We should have taken more pictures, but we were too busy enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing.  I read a book and a half, we both got a lot of sun, took a lot of walks, and ate way too much delicious food.  I think my favorite part was watching the sun set everyday while we either walked along the beach, or sat in beach chairs.

 

 

On our last full day, we took a taxi into town...and walked along the Malecon...which is this beautiful boardwalk along the coast in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a beautiful, happening place to spend our Saturday night.  There were tons of restaurants and shops, and a big beautiful old church.  We wanted to go inside and see the church, but there was a wedding taking place.  There were a lot of cultural activities happening that night, including a dance festival.  Then we took a very terrifying taxi ride back to our resort, in which I was sure we were either going to be kidnapped or die in an accident.  It was quite handy in the moment to be with Matt, who speaks fluent Spanish...and was ale to calm the situation.  I don't know why, but it seems like every time Matt and I visit a different country, we have at least one death defying cab ride!:-)

 

 

Overall, we could not have asked for a better vacation.  The resort was wonderful, we did exactly as much as we wanted to (although Matt was a little bummed about not getting to surf), and most importantly we were able to remember that we are people...and we have a relationship that is outside of our responsibilities as parents or anything else.  We were able to have space and time to reconnect in a way that I'm not sure we even knew we needed to.  And we came home refreshed and ready to get back to life as usual.  I wish we could do this every year!:-)

 

P.S.  A huge thanks to both of our parents who stepped in and took care of the kids for 6 days!  We couldn't have done it without you!  Muchas Gracias!!!







Goblin Valley

When it looked like the government shutdown wasn't going to end in time for the annual Grand Canyon hike, Matt decided (with his dad and brother) that the trip must go on, only in a different place.  So they decided to hike Little Wild Horse canyon, down near Goblin Valley State Park.

Since it was a lot closer, I decided at the last minute that we would all go along.  Matt said he would carry Charlie on the hike with him, and I figured Aubs and I would stay at the hotel (in Green River) and swim/hang out while they hiked and we would catch up with them at Goblin Valley when they finished.  That's not quite how things went down, but it ended up great.

Matt felt bad about leaving Aubrey and I behind at the hotel, and once we started driving towards the beginning of the hike, I started feeling like I didn't want to miss out on the gorgeous scenery!  So instead of dropping them off, we decided to just start the hike and see how it went with Aubrey.  Matt's mom volunteered to take her out if things got too rough for her, so I could finish the hike with Matt and everyone else.

Well, somehow...we ALL made it through the whole (8 mile) hike!  It took a group effort (thank goodness for big, strong families) and 6 hours.  Matt's dad and brother both took turns carrying Charlie in the pack, and Aubrey on their shoulders.  But I would say that Matt carried Aubrey (On his back, shoulders, or in his arms) for at least 90 percent of the time.  And he never complained.  Not once.  Ok, except for all the drool that Aubrey left on his shoulder.  He didn't really care for that :-)

The hike turned out to be a bit harder than any of us expected.  There had been a big storm the night before, so even though the weather was perfect for us, all the slot canyons were full of water.  Which made things a bit trickier, especially for the people who were carrying my children.

Oh, but it was BEAUTIFUL.  Gosh I love Utah sometimes.  I mean it was just so incredibly gorgeous.  I swear the view around every corner just took my breath away.  It was so worth the trouble.

There were a few times along the hike when tears would come to my eyes as I watched my whole family work together to get us all through...especially Aubrey.  I'm so glad she got to be a part of something so special.  I'm thankful for family members who will shoulder (literally in this case) some of the burden of her challenges in order to help us be unified and never left out.  We are so blessed!

So it was a great weekend!  The kids had some meltdowns at Goblin Valley the next day, just out of sheer exhaustion.  After two nights of hotel sleep, and a really long day of hiking...they were pooped.  I think we lasted about 15 minutes at Goblin Valley before we decided to put them out of their misery and head home.  They were both asleep within 5 minutes in the car.

 I swear, I offered to carry Charlie on several occasions...but the men felt it was their duty or something :)

Aubrey was entertained all weekend by "the little girls" as they are called in the family.  They're the little girl cousins.

 

 Matt's dad is 68.  He is a stud, and I'm not afraid to say it.  It's no surprise where Matt gets his endurance.

 My gorgeous mother in law, Jan.  None of this could have happened without her either!  She was a great cheerleader.  Every time we got through something tough she would say "Look!  We can do hard things!"  Love her.

 Gosh, I love these people.  Could they be any cuter?

 Charlie was an absolute pleasure the entire hike.  He was just thrilled to be there.  Didn't whine or complain at all.  And when he got tired, he just zonked.  Here he is sleeping while Grandpa carries him.

Here he is sleeping while Uncle Jeff carries him.  (He didn't even wake up during the transition from grandpa to Jeff)

Our niece Sofia showing us how to navigate through these water filled slot canyons.  The older nieces and nephews eventually started going way ahead of us to talk us through each one, telling us the best rocks to step on, and where the water was deep or shallow.  They're the coolest kids around.

It was tight in a few places, but Charlie loved reaching out and touching the rock as we walked along.

  This is my favorite picture in the history of ever.  Excuse me while I go jump my husband.

 And this in the only picture I took at Goblin Valley the next day.  I swear, there are some places in Utah that look like a different planet.  We're so lucky to be so close to all this natural beauty.

The End

Summer According To My iPhone

 A family photo from our day of boating up at Jordanelle.  This was taken about 2 minutes before a thunderstorm rolled in.

 Charlie had great fun being on the boat and in the water.

 It's not summer without some corn on the cob and baked beans.  (It turns out that Charlie is a vegetarian.  Which is fine by me:)

 Aubs rocking the fedora.  She likes to be on flag duty while on the boat.

 On the fourth we went to a super fun pool party at Matt's brother's house.

 Hanging with the Henricksen's a few days before Jill had her baby!

 Charlie's first ride on the tube with Matt and cousin Ayva.  He LOVED it.  I see many fun boating adventures in his future.

Oh, and we got a new doggy.  His name is Cooper, and he is a 6 month old Hungarian Vizsla/Lab mix.  And we love him a whole big bunch.  More on him later.