2012, new traditions and new goals!

I have made a goal for myself for 2012...take more pictures! My parents gave us a really nice Nikon camera that I want to take advantage of. I think Jason and I live a fun, exciting, and adventurous life (I am biased, of course), but I rarely capture those moments. So, I am turning over a new leaf and trying to remember those fun details through pictures.
A blog, for me, has to do with writing down the funny memories and trying to capture all the good times throughout our marriage. I hope those that read it, enjoy it as well.

January has been fun thus far. It seems that our life is packed with school, internships, working out, church stuff, etc. during the week, just to give us a nice break for the weekend.

In my substance abuse class, I had to give up something that I eat often that I enjoy. The purpose of the assignment is to help us understand what it is like for addicts to give up their addiction. Because of my already existing stomach issue, I decided to give up all refined sugar, i.e. candy, sweets, and desserts. We cannot eat anything that we have given up until April 5th. So, before the assignment started I made a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies. YUM! The only drawback is that I only ate one, I was in a hurry to get to class the next day and forgot to grab a few to snack on.

We headed up to Island Park with the Bakers for Martin Luther King weekend. They do not plow the roads up by the cabin so we hiked in with our sled, skis, coolers, and all. It was fun! The first night when we got there it was 3 degrees!!! It was very peaceful to be up there when no one was around. There was a phantom snowmobile just sitting up there so, J started it up and that made our trek to and from the cabin a lot quicker. We headed up on Saturday to Big Sky, Montana to ski. It was awesome. There was not enough snow to ski in Utah so, we made our way north. It was fun to spend the day with family skiing.

Baker's cabin in Island Park

Beautiful scenery!

Tailgating and eating lunch!

We finally made our way to a BYU volleyball game. I have been wanting to do that for awhile now. We went to the BYU vs. USC game. It was awesome! The game was packed, over 5,000 people were there. BYU won! 

Last week Utah got dumped on with over 50 inches of snow!!! First huge storm of the season, FINALLY! Of course, we made our way up to Snowbird. We got up there right at 9am. The snow was super wet and heavy, we were drenched by noon! But, it was awesome to ski in powder, the first time this season. 

A Baker tradition that I love is the whole family gets together for each other's birthday and celebrates. Before Cindy, Ricky, Sven, and Tyson headed off to Hawaii we got together to celebrate Ricky's 57th birthday! Ricky is a great man that I have come to truly love and admire. He is quiet but has a huge heart for his family and friends. He understands the importance of service. I am grateful to have him as a father-in-law. Happy Birthday Shadow Man! We love you.