Mason's Birthday!
Mason turned 10 years old yesterday! It seems hard to believe that my sweet little boy is already that old.
I was induced with him on December 22 because I didn't want to have him on Christmas Day which was my due date. Christmas that year ten years ago was one of the best having a sweet little spirit so fresh from heaven. Mason has and still is a sweet spirited boy. Jon and I often say that it's good that we only have one because he is such a good boy. He is the best son I could ask for! For his birthday he had breakfast in bed which included his favorite breakfast food, bacon. He then played all day while his sisters and I did all the Saturday chores. (Morgan was not too happy about that!) That evening we ate homemade calazones, drank his favorite pop and watched the BYU Cougs win their bowl game in a nail biting finish! Way to go Cougars!!!
We then took the family to ColdStone for their choice is Ice Cream. Mason had a great day and will also get his friend birthday party on January 4th! Mason is very responsible. He always does his homework and is very proud of the fact that he has never missed an assignment. His favorite subject in school is math and he does pretty well in this area. He loves basketball and is currently on a team with some of his bball friends. One day I was looking at my DVR recordings and saw that Mason had recorded a NBA game. When I asked him about this he said that he wanted to watch all the games. I then informed him that there were way too many games to watch and there will always be a game to watch so he doesn't need to record them. Right now he doesn't have a favorite team but he's excited to goto a Blazer game this spring! Santa gave him an early present. He loves to play guitar hero with Morgan, have nerf gun wars with Brooklyn and is constantly taking care of Brinley & Maddie. Both of the little girls just adore him! Brinley constantly asks if its a school night because if it's not she gets to sleep with him. And one of Maddie's first words was "Honey" which is what she calls Mason. Mason still wants me to always be the last one to tuck him in at night and sing him his favorite song "Here comes the Sandman(we call it the baby song)" Mason also loves to play games. He's always trying to play any board game with anyone and he also loves his video games. Mason is a typical 10 year old. Loves to play with his friends, play games, ride bikes, and tease his siblings. We love him dearly and are so glad that we have such a great son!
I was induced with him on December 22 because I didn't want to have him on Christmas Day which was my due date. Christmas that year ten years ago was one of the best having a sweet little spirit so fresh from heaven. Mason has and still is a sweet spirited boy. Jon and I often say that it's good that we only have one because he is such a good boy. He is the best son I could ask for! For his birthday he had breakfast in bed which included his favorite breakfast food, bacon. He then played all day while his sisters and I did all the Saturday chores. (Morgan was not too happy about that!) That evening we ate homemade calazones, drank his favorite pop and watched the BYU Cougs win their bowl game in a nail biting finish! Way to go Cougars!!! We then took the family to ColdStone for their choice is Ice Cream. Mason had a great day and will also get his friend birthday party on January 4th! Mason is very responsible. He always does his homework and is very proud of the fact that he has never missed an assignment. His favorite subject in school is math and he does pretty well in this area. He loves basketball and is currently on a team with some of his bball friends. One day I was looking at my DVR recordings and saw that Mason had recorded a NBA game. When I asked him about this he said that he wanted to watch all the games. I then informed him that there were way too many games to watch and there will always be a game to watch so he doesn't need to record them. Right now he doesn't have a favorite team but he's excited to goto a Blazer game this spring! Santa gave him an early present. He loves to play guitar hero with Morgan, have nerf gun wars with Brooklyn and is constantly taking care of Brinley & Maddie. Both of the little girls just adore him! Brinley constantly asks if its a school night because if it's not she gets to sleep with him. And one of Maddie's first words was "Honey" which is what she calls Mason. Mason still wants me to always be the last one to tuck him in at night and sing him his favorite song "Here comes the Sandman(we call it the baby song)" Mason also loves to play games. He's always trying to play any board game with anyone and he also loves his video games. Mason is a typical 10 year old. Loves to play with his friends, play games, ride bikes, and tease his siblings. We love him dearly and are so glad that we have such a great son!
We went to Dairy Queen as a family to get Blizzards. Saturday was devoted to making and delivering our neighbor gifts. All afternoon was spent making yummy carmel corn. I finished the neighbor, VT, and teacher gifts! The kids then delivered most of our gifts in these cute containers!
That evening we took Mason out to dinner and shopping for his birthday. He was very excited for his new nerf gun and bike! Sunday was very busy. With Jon's new calling he seems to rarely be home on Sunday's. We had church, dinner at a friends, choir, our Stake Christmas Devotional, and then cousins over for hot chocolate! We both stayed up late to watch the Survivor Season Finale and we finally crashed at midnight! I'm just glad to get a few more things checked off my to do list.
That evening I went to our ward xmas party by myself because Jon is still out of town. We had a great dinner and program! I then went to a friend's cookie exchange. Saturday was spent teaching, cleaning, babysitting cousins, and scrapbooking with friends until 1:30am. Last night I stayed up late working on my Christmas puzzle. Stephen gave us a Christmas Carol Puzzle a few years ago. 
This puzzle is a family tradition that we grew up with. Every year we would put this puzzle together before Christmas. Last week Mason reminded me about the puzzle. I was anxious all weekend to get it going. So last night was another late nighter working on the puzzle. I will eventually finish all my Christmas shopping and projects! Happy Holidays!
These are some new ornaments that Morgan picked out to match her new room. We found them at Target. Love them!
My last picture will be of my biggest purchase this year. We finally broke down and bought a fake tree! I have been thinking about getting one for a few years. I couldn't resist the great deal I got on it on my "After Thanksgiving " shopping trip.
The movie started at midnight! We were so excited to see the movie along with thousands of teenagers in Littleton, CO. It's sad to say but I don't have many pictures of us together. We were able to live in the same state for one short year! It was one of the best year's of my life! It was great to get together almost monthly! Our kids became great buddies also. I was so sad when they moved from the Seattle area! The other day Jon asked me "If you could choose anywhere to live where would that be?" I replied, "anywhere near my sister!" Happy Birthday Sis! I love you and miss you tons!
It was so much fun. We bought our tickets with Temple, Paige, Mckenna, and some others friends (Kim and Micaela Grahm, Kim is Morgan's ballet teacher) The dancing was incredible and the show was fantastic! We all had so much fun we just wanted to dance right out of there! It made it for a late night though.
The show was 2 and a half hours long so we didn't get home until 11:30 pm! A big thanks to my friend Joni for watching the other kids since Jon is still out of town. I went to bed at 1 am after I watched "Dancing with the Stars" (I just couldn't get enough dancing for one night!) At 2 am Maddie woke up and kept me up until 430am! I felt like I had a newborn again. I'm dragging today but it was all worth it for a great evening!
We ended our fun holiday weekend with the Dustins Annual Pie Night. Some of our great friends invite families over to enjoy several holiday pies. It is always very filling, and fun evening. It is now back to regular bed times, our crazy schedule, and more holidays to come!
Morgan counted all the Ravioli's and the grand total was 154! It's a good thing we didn't double the recipe! The great thing is that I can freeze some and have them now for Christmas.
She packed that thing around for days before and after Halloween. It got so worn out and used that the wire that was giving its shape kept coming out. She would put everything and anything in that bucket. For example: books, stuffed animals, her favorite DVD's, play phones, socks, and of course candy. She filled that bucket up fast with candy on Halloween! She then proceeded to carry it around until all the candy was gone! I finally had to take it away because I kept on finding wrappers everywhere and candy stuck to my brand new carpet! Last week at the Gymboree sale I got these PJ's for her. I thought they were appropriate!
We then went to another store for a return, and that was it! I stopped at See's Candy to pick up Jon's favorite treat, Rum Nougot, and I was going to get a sucker for the girls. Well, they were both whining for this expensive Thanksgiving candy! I ended up just getting Jon's candy and our free samples. I left with both girls in tears and the employee's starring at me! When we got home I immediately fed them and put them both to bed. About 30 minutes later I heard them upstairs talking and playing around so I decided to see what they were up to. They had taken every book and puzzle out of their hutch and were playing with them on the floor.
Brinley said it was all Maddie, Yeah right! I then separated them and decided that this is definitely going to be a Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry Day!
I took pictures of both sides of the room: Jon's side
It's very similar to my old den. Although, I do have much more storage and shelving in the closet. Sometimes Jon and I will both be in here together (on our own sides of course) in the evenings working on projects. Jon often gets tired before me and will lay on the carpet and immediately fall asleep. Yesterday, I was working on some thanksgiving invitations.(inmy scrapbook room) I think they turned out really cute!
For FHE last night we delivered them to our family members that will be invited for the feast. I also made them a gratitude jar. Each day every family member must put something they are thankful for in the gratitude jar. I told everyone to bring their jar to my house on Thanksgiving day and we will share with each other what we are grateful for. Both Temple and Becky loved the idea. Thanks to Monique for the great idea. It will make us appreciate everything we are blessed with!
glasses down, so I had to take a picture! We were enjoying our Christmas music in the back ground as we carved. I have been itching to put it on the past week. This is very late for me this year! I usually break out the Christmas tunes in September. It has taken us awhile to get all the electronics set up in the new house. We're needing to get our new surround system set up, maybe Santa will bring that for us this year for Christmas!
"Wizard of Oz". Luckily, she let me borrow everything for the evening. It was a little uncomfortable with her heels and tight fitting dress. It was fun to dress up for one night since I will not be dressing up for Halloween, it will just be the kiddos!
It was Morgan's last and Brinley's first. Morgan's birthday is only a week away so she was not too excited about doing the program. Everyone in her class has already moved into the YM/YW program except her and one other boy. She had a small part and did great. Mason and Brooklyn also had a small part and Brinley's Sunbeam class recited a part all together. Although we could not see Brinley at all! Her class was behind the Sacrament table. She was standing up but we could only see her little forehead and occasionally her eyes! 
urgent care and was in and out of there in 30 Minutes! Shocker! Took Morgan to swim team. Kidnapped two new beehives (one of them being 
Morgan 2wks early) and then came back to my house for a sleepover. Watched High School Musical 2 with all the beehives! Went to bed at 1am I'm tired! 
bedding when he got home. We were both so excited to have sheets! We have been sleeping with just one flat sheet on top of the mattress and then our duvet cover over us. The joke between us was that we felt like we were camping because it reminded us of our sleeping bags! We both love our bed and are excited for all the room a king size bed has to offer!!!
When we were driving to their cabin it reminded me of my trip to the NE three years ago. Now that trip had some amazing fall colors. I know that this sadden's Monique since she is still suffering through the heat! I did ask her last week " Do the cactus change color?" HEE, HEE. Here are just a couple pictures taken on Saturday 
by the lake. All the other kids were off exploring. 
