Snow.

Finally, after a year off, I am heading back to the snow! 

I went to college at CU in Boulder, Colorado. As a result of my major choice (journalism), I was able to avoid ever having a class on a Friday. This meant from November to March I was free to ski at least once a week. Then, I graduated, got a real job, moved to California, got married and had a baby. All of these things put a serious damper on the number of turns I was making a season. But, this is what happens in this crazy game called life and I now relish in the opportunity to get in even 1 or 2 days a year. 

The last time I skied I was 6 weeks pregnant. I still skied pretty hard but could definitely tell any spare energy my body had was going to growing my little Noah (or "Yentil the Lentil" as he was known at that time).

Bliss. I wasn't going to bring this coat, but it is pretty cute, huh?!

Skiing is probably close to #1 on my list of favorite things to do (closely tied with "go to Napa and drink lots of wine") and I am so happy to be back on the sticks this year with 100% of my energy going to conquering the mountain (instead of growing a person)! 

Just for fun, a quick story about said ski trip from Christmas...note, my parents are coming too:

Mom: I won't ski every day. I need to soak up time with Noah. The snow can wait.
Scott: Same here. I can skip a day or two.
Dad: ::Crickets::
Steph: I'm skiing. Enjoy babysitting.
Dad: I'm with her.

We all know I love my boy, but we get a lot of quality time together. This week, the mountain gets my attention! Scott/Mom, enjoy him!

I am leaving my computer behind, but I'll return with a recap of our fun in the mountains late next week. Pray for snow!

Vacation is over.

**I wrote this post last week and was just waiting to put in some pictures. Still only one picture because the idea of leaving the little hole I have created myself on the couch to grab the cord to upload said pictures sounds horrible. So, here I sit, with a post that is out of date musing on my next one which, as always, is promised to be much more excited (and often a huge letdown!). 

When did he turn into a little boy?! Where is my baby?!

 
Holy holidays. I am 99% sure I just spent the last month eating, drinking, and repeating. It has seriously been a non stop marathon of holiday jubilation and a TON of dining out and drinking in excess. But, today, that all changes. It is back to Bar Method (level 2 tonight, pray for me), healthy eating, less drinking, and generally just getting back in charge of life.

In order to slap us back into reality, our kitchen apparently staged a coup against us. Our oven has been less than reliable for awhile now but somehow we kept putting off actually doing anything about it. Well, our oven decided we needed a kick in the pants and has officially quit baking (stove top and broiler still work). SO, we finally made half a decision and bought a new stainless steel stove. We decided we could make the decision on replacing bit by bit, or all at once within the next month. Well, no sooner did we walk in the door with our receipt from Home Dept than our microwave decided it was through too. If you have a toddler, you know how critical this appliance is. We will need bite the bullet and buy a new, stainless, built in one for above the stove, but fortunately Noah won't starve in the meantime due to a spare I have been hoarding keeping around since Scott and I combined our lives back in 2008! Now, do we buy the fridge and dishwasher now too?

Wow, talk about rambling...I am 99% sure no one cared that much about our appliance debacle. The moral is that we are back in real life where calories count and appliances break. We also have a few bad Noah habits to break as well. The first being letting him come out of his crib with his paci. We were doing really good until out jaunt to Grandma and Grandpa's and now we have about 10-15 minutes of wandering the house before he will give it up (usually with a bribe of a pretzel stick). Time to get tough.

So, that is what is going on around here. Cracking the whip on this thing called life. I have a new notebook filled with lists and notes and I am ready to tackle 2013.

New Year. Same Me.

Happy 2013! Apologies for my absence. I have been soaking up a lot of quality time with St. Louis family and friends and catching up on 14 months of lost sleep. I was feeling pretty caught up until Noah decided that 5am was the right time to start rising for the day. I even open the blinds to show him it is still dark...he doesn't care. ANYWAY....

I haven't really made any ground breaking resolutions this year. At least, nothing of interest for you, I'm sure. Mostly just the usual...get back on track on eating/working out after my holiday slump. The only other one is to take better care of our house. Things like, re-sanding between the flagstone, pulling out the big appliances and cleaning all the grit and grime. You know, really fun things to read about.

I am looking forward to 2013 and all that lies ahead. Weddings, vacations, exploring more of the Bay Area with Noah and Scott (maybe that's a resolution...get off our fannies and GO places). First up is a trip back to one of my favorite places on earth. Colorado. Sigh. We are meeting my parents for a family ski trip and I am extending a few days to visit my old stomping grounds in Boulder.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. How did we wrap up 2012? Well, with lots of eating, drinking, and being merry of course. Shall we take the lazy way and just wrap this up with pictures? I'll resume to some sort of regular blogging once we get settled back into real life in CA.

Grandma and Grandpa's tub is SO fun!

Noah is obsessed with his Grandpa. Computing is a daily affair.

The annual Smith Family bus trip. This year the surprise destination was the Scott Joplin house...complete with our own private evening at the Speakeasy next door. Of course, it culminated in a trip to Crown Candy.

Sharing a sundae.

Christmas in St. Louis holds a lot of annuals for us. Every 23rd, we get together with the Shattos. Love these girls.

Our little plaid family on Christmas Eve.

When Noah gets fussy, sometimes the answer is just to start taking his clothes off (hopefully we get a new solution by school age!). He loves his Grams' new robe.

Santa found us in St. Louis. Phew!

Our family Christmas morning.

Can we just take a moment to admire how cute those PJs are?!

The aftermath of present opening.

It wasn't a white Christmas, but the day after sure was fun!

Can't remember where we were going...but there was more plaid involved.

New Year's Eve was a blast. I took Scott on a surprise STL date to Steinberg skating rink and The Hill for dinner. Such a wonderful date night.

I made Scott buy a hat, but I showed up in tights for skating. Brilliant. I did have mittens though!

Last picture of 2012. It was a tremendous year.

Blurry back seat picture of me and my favorite. This was before a wild night of Just Dance 4.

It is cold in St. Louis so we spend a lot of time running around the mall. Noah thinks it is amazing...I am ready to get back to some airplane watching in California (much better on the wallet!).

I think that about does it. It has been quite a trip! A wonderful, busy, and perfect one.

Cheers to happy 2013!