boring, but good

 Hello family and friends - Im doing well - better than Ive probably been in awhile, but with that being said I really don't have much to write home about. The last two years have been blogs complaining about school with a sprinkle of fun things here and there, but right now I have nothing to complain about and nothing super fun to talk about either. Ive just been in a good, boring, new year routine. 

I will say - the highlight of the new year so far has been surprising dad for his 50th birthday! I like a good surprise and we actually pulled it off. Even though we thought we gave ourselves away multiple times - we still did it and dad was very surprised to see us. I will say I apologize in advance, Ive been slacking in the picture department and I didn't really get any solid pictures of the birthday weekend. (I honestly haven't been in the mood to take pictures at all recently). But we'll work with what we got. SO drew, Emma and I drove down on Friday the 9th. Drew and I had our phones on airplane mode so that our locations wouldn't show us traveling down the state. We then set up timing with mom so that mom could get dad out of the house for a good amount of time for us to get home, set up some decorations and pull off the surprise. Luckily it was a Friday night which is always date night so that wasnt too out of the blue. Once dad and and mom walked in the garage door we started playing "go, go, go shawty. it's yo birthday" on the speakers. After saying "what the heck" he came into the kitchen and saw the decorations plus all us kiddos behind the counter. It was a fun little surprise. Im glad we could all make the time to come down for the weekend because it was a fun one. That night we hot tubbed and I hit the hay pretty quick since I hadn't slept all night or day (thanks to working Thursday night and traveling all day Friday). Saturday morning dad's request was to start with the Murph. Dad hit 46 minutes completing the workout which is a 12 minute PR. Not too bad for an old man. Next was an endowment session at the temple!

I love being able to be in the temple with family and I think everyone can agree with that. 

Opened some presents - lots of cologne, fancy cheese, an apron and tickets to the Avett brothers this summer! That afternoon we ran some errands and visited huggy-ama. 

Then ended the night at Nonna Inna's Italian restaurant. I could go for those ravioli and another cannoli right about now. A quick, but super fun weekend to St. George to celebrate the best dad ever. 

Seth and I on a walk around the neighborhood. We would've gone earlier in the day, but he was wearing a 45 pound vest and it made it look super bulky which then made him feel insecure so we waited till it was dark so no one could see him haha. 

some random photos...

Also Madi's birthday! the first week of the year we completed this SpongeBob puzzle - it was a nice way to get off technology and shut off the brain. 

27 years old! We met 7 years ago only a couple days after she turned 20... crazy how time flies. 

Self care with some micro needling. Ive been trying to focus on health since graduating. Trying to eat less crap, I got a membership to a sauna/cold plunge place, micro needling, getting back into shape - all the good stuff. 

Since Im on night shift schedule - this was on a random night off where I wasnt tired enough to go to bed yet so instead I got out and ran 4 miles at like 10pm. It was 30 degrees, but a good little run. There is only so much you can do when your schedule is the complete opposite of everyone else. 

Last but not least - a little walk this Sunday afternoon. Ive also been trying to crack down on board prep. Studying everyday getting ready for February 9th. Wish me luck. Im not stressing yet - but I'm sure it'll hit me in a couple weeks or so. Life is good. Boring, but can't complain.