Snowshoe adventures with the Waites

This past Friday, we headed up to Layton to visit the Waites. It had been WAY too long since we'd seen them (since before Christmas!) and I was feelin it. We got there in the middle of the kids' Friday night movie, and they all got up and said "Aunt Bri! Uncle Mason!" with huge smiles and hugs. I love it.

The kids went to bed soon after and then we stayed up with Shell and Nate and played a game called Code Names that I really liked. Emmie has been sick so they were super tired and we let them go to bed after that ;)

The next day was snowshoe day! We went up to cut some fresh pow up by The Castle, a ginormous mansion up on the mountain. It was a blast.

Those are my pictures, and here are Mason's:

It was so fun and so pretty and the snow was VERY deep for most of it. Also, let the record reflect that Shell fell like 600 times (probably because I had one of her hiking poles,) and one time she even did a full on split! It was incredible. 

We hiked on the trail for about 3 minutes before we decided we wanted to blaze one of our own. We went up a hill and kept going straight up or straight down for a long time after that. We had to do some serious bushwacking through the little trees, and sometimes slide on our fannies. Also I got whipped in the face with a branch that someone who shall remain unnamed unknowingly let go of while I was right behind them. It was okay though, my glasses took the brunt of it. 

After we finally made it back to the trail some guy was on top of a giant hill overlooking us and shouting things like, "Hey dummies! This way!" Over and over and over and over again. Finally when we got out of the trees, Nate shouted back to him, "Are you talking to ME?" He wasn't. He was looking for a group of kids. Good grief. 

Then after we went to a couple of bridges, we hiked on the trail home. When I took off my snowshoes I felt light as a feather. Then we went to the gas station and got hot chocolate and drank it at home. It was soooo much fun, and it was so good to see Shell and Nate and their kiddos. 

Various thoughts about the future (unfiltered)

Sometimes the future is a little daunting.

There are so many unknowns. We don't know where we will live next year at this time, we don't know exactly when we want to start our family (or if it will happen when we want it to), we don't know what we want to do for careers, I don't know if I want to be a stay at home mom. We don't know if Mason is going to be accepted to grad school, or where we will go if he is. Heck, I don't even know what to eat for supper tonight.

Sometimes it seems like time has passed too quickly.

I don't know how I am already 24. I'll be 25 in like 5 months. I feel like I should know more about the world. More about "adulting," as they say. More about how to talk to the doctor. More about how to make friends. More about how to manage my (mostly) seasonal depression. How to be patient and control the tone of my voice. More about how I should eat. More about how to manage money. More about how to have a symbiotic, happy relationship with my husband.

Sometimes the future seems really far away.

"Next year...", "Five years from now...", "When I graduate...", they all seem like they'll never actually get here. I think that makes it harder for me to stick to my goals I have set for myself. Also, it is completely impossible for me to imagine being a mother--will that day ever come? It also makes it harder to get through the winter, because it seems never ending, although it hasn't even officially started yet.

Yeah, the future is pretty scary. I guess we will have to figure it out as we go!

Mason turns 25

Mason had a birthday yesterday! He was on campus from 8 am until about 5 pm, and part of that was taking his Quantum Mechanics test. Needless to say, it wasn't the craziest birthday. However, we did celebrate hardcore that night by getting some Domino's pizza and eating cake. It was fun giving him presents and all that too. :)

I asked him what he's learned over this past year of his life. He said he's learned how to do a lot of different things, like take the GRE and do computer programming stuff.

He is cute, and I'm glad he's my husband. I have seen him grow and change over this past year and now he's even more out of my league than he was when we got married. I love him so much and I am so grateful to be his wife.