The Year in a Nutshell

It's that magical time of year when you receive letters from people giving a short, concise recap of the past year or so of their lives… If you don't care to read what the Stocksdale's have been up to well good news, we'll never know! You can just skip to the bottom to where we say Merry Christmas and enjoy the picture. But if you actually want to find out what we have been doing, well here we go…

We made it! Our family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin back in June and it's been a huge change for all of us. It's hard to believe it's already been 6 months since we left California. We are having fun with what Wisconsin has to offer, but we do miss sunny Palm Desert and having so many friends and family nearby.

Now to the person you're most interested in, Miss Adelaide. Addi is a very busy little 2 year-old learning lots of things like her letters, numbers and colors. She also started a dance class this year and loves every minute of it. Addi experienced her first real snowfall a few weeks ago and likes the idea of snowball fights, just not freezing her little hands. (PS It’s true what they say about the Terrible Twos.)

Amber has been working with Pilot Publishing for more than three years now and has been very involved in publishing the company's Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot's Guide. Since starting with the company, she has learned to do a lot of new things including graphic design and cartography. It's been a great opportunity for her to work with this company and is now working remotely from home part time for them. Amber has been enjoying the opportunity to stay at home with Addi. Amber has also been enjoying much of what Milwaukee has to offer, most of all the delicious cheese.

Adam got a job as a Producer for Today's TMJ4, which is why our family moved all the way to Milwaukee. He works all night because his newscast starts at 6AM and the news doesn’t write itself. Adam also received a very big honor this year, winning his first Emmy for a newscast he produced in Palm Springs. 

That about sums up our lives for the past year on one page. If you want to keep track of our fun-filled adventures throughout the rest of the year check out our Facebook pages. Amber also promises to start updating our blog again, "The Many Adventures of the Stocksdale Family" on blogspot.com.

We hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Much love,

Adam, Amber & Adelaide Stocksdale

Cheesecake and Chick Flicks

As everyone knows, Valentines day is a day of expressing ones love for another. When I was single, I decided I would express my love for myself. Some people might read that and say, "wow, how vain..." Never. How can you love another if you can't love yourself? I, at times, had a hard time loving myself for being me. I'm sure many women (and people in general) can relate. So, in honor of Valentines Day, I would gather as many girl friends as I could and would go to the movies and see the newly released chick flick and then treat us to cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. We always had a blast! It was fantastic. We enjoyed each others company in celebrating being us, alone, and being happy with who we were at the time.

Now that I'm married and have a little one, it's nice to look back and be able to say that I was happy on my own, being just me. I think it's important to have some time being you, by yourself and finding who you are, alone. It's important to be able to love yourself for who you are. It makes such a difference in how you love others. That respect for yourself gives you the opportunity to love others more fully.

This Valentines Day, Adam took me out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and cheesecake, then took me to see Safe Haven. It was a wonderful evening! It reminded me of who I was, and who I've become. I look forward to many more Valentines Days, especially the ones involving cheesecake and chick flicks.

To all ya'll girls who are single and may be lonely this year, take yourself out once in a while and remember who YOU are and who YOU want to be. You can be happy without being attached to someone else. Your happiness should not be determined by another. Be happy with you.

Fitting In

As I'm microwaving my lunch, I noticed the most wonderful thing... I fit perfectly in my trousers again!!! I bought some expensive and very nice Banana Republic trousers when I was probably eight weeks pregnant. Since having the baby, I hadn't worn them much, due to not fitting and I had a good pair of blue jeans that works fine. Once my blue jeans gave out (huge hole in my left knee... Always the left knee since I was little), I had to wear the trousers. I had to squeeze my fat thighs and muffin top into them, but they stayed on.

Well today, after about 4 weeks of being aware of what I eat (not really changing what I eat) and doing some yoga and toning most evenings, I've lost 8 pounds and fit fantastically in my trousers! So excited!! I still have about 13 pounds to lose, but I'm feeling great and look forward to fitting in to more clothes.

Clean Up the House!

I'm excited to have a weekend devoted to nothing but cleaning the apartment! Call me domesticated, but I enjoy putting my headphones on and getting into my cleaning groove. Honestly, cleaning is like therapy for me, and after a long, rough week like this one, it's time for some good ol' cleaning time.

Addi is a good helper when it comes to cleaning. She loves to use a towel and clean spills! She enjoys sweeping and dancing while cleaning (of course we dance while cleaning... We dance while doing everything!) It'll be some good mommy-daughter time.

Adam has a long weekend ahead of him. He's already worked the overnights Monday through Friday and will continue through the weekend. He'll be taking the time to finally get some good sleep... Hopefully.

Anyways, good times ahead for a nice clean home :-)

Palm Springs Family Date: The Tram

Saturday Adelaide and I went to the Tram with our friend Rose. We went to lunch at Chipoltle where Addi fell in love with guacamole and chips. We then drove out to Palm Springs to the Tram and waited an hour for our tram up to the top of San Jacinto.

Once we got to the top of the mountain, at the Mountain Station, Addi enjoyed playing in the snow for the first time. As we went on a short trail, we kept adding more and more layers to Addi. She looked hilarious by the send of the time we got to the lookout! Once at the look out, we asked a couple if they would take a picture of us. Mind yo, Palm Springs has a huge gay community, and whenever Rose and I, or Davis and Adam do something together without our spouses, and especially if with the baby, we wonder what people are thinking! That's why we call it our Palm Springs Family date.

About the time we finished getting our picture taken and returning the favor, Addi was cold and absolutely finished! She cried the whole way back to the tram station, which, of course, is all the back up this windy, steep path. Rose, who is in way better shape than I am, ran up this steep windy path carrying all 35 lbs of Addi AND her own back pack. I was amazed and so jealous that she is in such great shape!

Once we were in the warm lodge waiting for our tram, Addi was happy again and ready for a good nap. She was all smiles and playful. The best part of the tram ride back was when Addi found this Mexican guy next to us and kept trying to grab his mexi-stache. SO FUNNY! He was super nice about it, laughed and would say 'precious baby'. So glad he was nice about it.

We got to the car and drove through downtown Palm Springs. We stopped at a candy shop, looking for a certain item for Valentines Day they didn't sell anymore... We were disappointed, but got some other yummy treats instead! We met up with our hubbies after their Priesthood meeting and that was the end to a wonderful Palm Springs Family date! Thanks Rose for playing with us!

After dropping Rose off, Adam and I dropped Addi at the sitters and we had a fun evening at the mall. We got Adam a beautiful suit that looked AMAZING. It fit perfectly and was a fantastic color! It's a little on the dressy side, but he's going to wear it for interviews and look FABULOUS. We then went to the Gap and got some new jeans for me, on clearance, they fit amazingly AND they were an additional 40% off! Also, so proud to say, I dropped a jean size!!! Woot woot!

To finish the evening off, we stopped by the new candy shop in the mall that Adam had just run a story about that morning. This place is AMAZING! They have all these candy bars that haven't been around in years, any type of taffy you can imagine and TONS of glass bottled sodas... Including random weird stuff like Bacon flavored and Buffalo Wings, but also I'd say up to a hundred different root beers! I'll definitely be going again to try some new ones! Last night I got the Death Valley root beer, but I wasn't feeling so great, so I'll Ber tasting it today. Review to come!

All in all, super fun day! Everyone got a great nights sleep last night too! Always a plus :-)

Life As We Know It

As I was driving home from work yesterday, I realized that my life as I know it is going to COMPLETELY change in less than 5 months...

First, I won't live in California anymore!!! What is it like to be a Californian without California necessities... The beach... Relatively warm temps all year round (I like to call it "normal weather")... The occasional rainy day... June Gloom... Sandals and shorts all year round... Big changes to come.

Second, I'll be working from home and get to spend all day with my baby cakes!

Third, prego again? Addi will be two... Still thinking about it all! Don't want to push the envelope and have the next one before Addi is ready.

Life... Isn't it about time? I've never had this much of an extreme change in my life... Other than getting married, having a baby and working full time... It's going to be fun year! Lots of change. Lots of new experience. Lots of joy. Here we go 2013! Let's do this!

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Adelaide and I went to the mall tonight to return some clothes and get Addi some shoes! Addi found some cute, sparkly pink Disney Princess ballet flats. She immediately ran over, pulled them off the shelf and tried to put them on. I laughed, mainly because I love that she is such a girly girl! Sadly, they didn't have any in her size, so we went with the plain sparkly silver ballet flats.

After we settled on shoes to purchase, I brought her over to try some tap shoes. I've wanted to get her in tap shoes since she was born, but the smallest size I've been able to find is a 7. Makes sense though, seeing as most dance classes don't start until 18 months. Anyways, I put them on her feet and we walked to the tile. It was hilarious to watch her figure out SHE was making the sound as she walked! As she took steps she first listened hard, then looked around, then looked at her feet and figured it was her all in about 5 seconds. She then did her "happy dance" where she runs in place, says 'yaaaaay' and claps. She LOVED them! She was then ready to bolt out the door until I spoiled her plans by quickly grabbing her wrist.

We didn't by tap shoes today, but soon the day will come when Miss Little Dancer can freely express herself through tap, along with her other miscellaneous dance genres.

Adelaide Knows Her Letters!

How smart is Adelaide? Extremely. Last night, as she was winding down for bed and getting her jams on, I turned one of her favorite videos on 'Let's Go to School' by Leap Frog. She watches this video often. Anyways, she was getting dressed and the songs sings "A says ahh like ahh ahh ant..." and continues with the rest of the letters. SHE MADE THE CORRECT SOUNDS FOR EVERY LETTER SHE SAID!!! Before the song sang the sounds!!!!! It was AMAZING!!! So proud of my 18 month old baby girl :)