Thursday, May 29, 2014

Thankful Thursday 5/29

-Thankful for my cute little garden out back. Can't wait for the tomatoes to grow, and then to can some yummy salsa!

-Thankful for the day off on Monday. Also thankful for all those who have served and are currently serving in our military (including both my grandfathers).

-Thankful for teething babies. Just kidding... it sucks.

-Thankful for a healthy body. There are lots of people that are not able to do what I can, and I am extremely grateful for it. Also thankful for Sean's friends being willing to climb up Rock Canyon (again) so that we could bring Mason :)

-Thankful for free birthday meals at Tucanos! (Sign up on their website!)

-Thankful for priesthood blessings and the comfort they bring.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Thankful Thursday 5/15

- Thankful for the warmer weather and that it is more frequent than the cold weather.

- Also thankful for the rain because we definitely need it. If it comes around for a day or two every few weeks I'm okay with that haha.

- Thankful for modern-day prophets that give us counsel and direction. Right now, specifically for the direction to plant gardens. I always helped my dad when I was growing up and I've been prepping my in-laws' little garden for planting this weekend. We also already strawberries that are coming in :)

- Thankful for a sweet baby who really isn't afraid of anything. I know he is going to be just like his dad, and I'm going to have to work hard every day to keep him alive until he turns 5 and can be reasoned with (that is a direct quote from my mother-in-law haha!) but he is so sweet and loves everything around him with no reservations. He is brave and loves exploring all new situations (after a 10 minute warmup of course). He loves climbing and playing in dirt and water. He loves crawling away as fast as he can after something new that catches his eye to check it out. He loves other kids and loves watching their every move.

- Thankful for BYU for doing GRE prep courses to help Sean get a good score on it. He actually did pretty well (we compared his pretest scores to what is required for PA school, and he was right were he needs to be) so this course will only help his score go up!

- Thankful for an awesome supervisor who is really flexible with my schedule and when I can come in and work. I'm supposed to come in Friday's but with Sean's new schedule (and it being unpredictable) sometimes that just doesn't happen.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Mason: 10 months

10 months already?? I can't believe in 2 months my baby will be a year old. The first two months of his life went SO SLOW and Sean and I were the most exhausted people on the planet. But I have a feeling these last two months before his birthday are going to fly... Sigh. Every mom in the world feels this way but that doesn't make it any easier. At least I know I'm not alone in my misery...

Haha enough on that... here's what Mason has been up to (or getting into!) this last month.

Likes:
- LOVES his cousin Eve. Every time they are together he crawls around after her trying to play. The other day she would say "Race ya!" and run to the opposite end of the house and he would turbo crawl after her <3
- yelling into the dryer. It's a good 5-10 minutes of entertainment for him.
- showing you things. This is a new development! He'll be chewing on a cracker or a sock or pulling clothes out of the clean laundry (yup) and he will shout and show you, and won't put it down until you acknowledge what he is showing.
- watching videos of himself. Not in a conceited way obviously haha. He sits very still and will laugh at the videos or talk back to the baby on the screen... so cute!
- the swings at the park. But only for a few minutes. I think maybe we went too fast or too high or something and it upset his stomach.
- his favorite meal is ground-up chicken and mashed avocado. He has it at least once a day.
- loves apple/blueberry sauce from the jar
- screaming. Much to our dismay, this kid will scream to get our attention. Or if the family is having a discussion or just telling funny stories (especially at the dinner table) he will all of a sudden just scream to get our attention.
- going for walks/jogs in the stroller. He is such an observant baby. If we aren't moving, he is MAD.
- climbing onto the dishwasher. He can be in another room and hear the dishwasher being loaded/unloaded and he makes a beeline for it.
- tackling me. I will lay on the floor and Sean will come "eat" me and I say "Mason come help me!" and he comes crawling over and climbs up on me and keeps me down haha.
- being outside. There was a day last week when it was really warm when he spent most of his waking hours outside. And he was hardly fussy. It was great.

Dislikes:
- getting his boogers sucked (still). I understand this will probably never go away. And then one day he'll learn how to pick his nose and there will be boogers everywhere, so I'll take the two minutes of screaming while I suck his nose out every other day.
- his toys. Not really, but I think he is starting to get bored with some of them. I need to put half of them away and rotate them around.
- being thirsty. Go figure.
- wearing shoes. I bought these cute tennis shoes from Walmart a while ago and every time we put them on he screams. Maybe flip flops will go over better?
- pulling stuff out of bins, like laundry, toys, diapers, etc. Now that he is taller this is happening a lot more.

Other notables:
- he was standing on his own about 2 months ago, but then got an awful flu and stayed away from that daredevil move. Until about a week ago. Then he decided to be brave again in the bath and hasn't stopped standing since. He is SO close to walking, and will take a step before falling down.
- falls asleep with a burp cloth over his face most of the time. This has happened for months and we still find it hilarious.
- consistently sleeps 9-11 hours every night. Bedtime is between 830-930 depending on the day and how late his afternoon nap went. But even 930 is a HUGE step up from when he would sometimes refuse to go to be until 11. Or go to bed at 9 and wake up 45 minutes later. Yep. This is much better.

Lovin' some avocado

Watching Mommy make banana bread

A boy and his ball :)

Cousin Violet!

He got there all on his own...




Mason's version of an easter egg hunt

This is a little girl in our ward that Mason LOVES. This was right after she kissed him on the head.

Sean and the boys: James, Michael, and Mason

Just chillin'

Fort!

Love my little family <3

Water AND milk

Good morning!

Swingin'

Favorite place: the dryer. He likes the echo!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Thankful Thursday 5/8


- Thankful for modern medicine. For example, when I burn my finger I can take Advil to help with the pain.

- Thankful for my gym membership. It is so nice to get out almost every day and go to the gym. Have I mentioned my love for the cardio cinema room at Gold's? It's the best.

- Thankful for my hard working husband. He's got a million things on his list to do this summer so we can apply for PA school and he is working so hard to get it all done.

- Thankful for otter pops, and that Mason likes to eat them. I think it feels good on his teeth. Teething is miserable.

- Thankful for all the baby clothes my cousin Kelly has given me. I rarely have to go buy anything for Mason and it's fantastic. One day, Mason will catch up to Michael and I won't get clothes anymore haha. But for now I'm totally enjoying it :)

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Our "Anniversary" Getaway

So for our anniversary in February, Sean and I went to Costa Vida and then saw Thor 2: The Dark World. A few days before, we found a deal on KSL for a night's stay in the Armstrong Manor in Salt Lake (it is a cute bed and breakfast), and a gift certificate to The Roof restaurant. We finally had a free weekend… at the end of the semester of course. Better late than never right? Sean's mom took Mason for the night, and off we went!

We checked into the B&B around 4:15, and since we were the first ones to check in, the lady said we could explore the whole house! Basically it is an old home (built in the 1870's!) that has four floors. Each room is themed like a month. We stayed in December. We explored the whole house, which seriously took about 30 minutes, there was so much to see. It is a cool place! They do daily tours if anyone wants to go look. It's awesome :)


After we finished exploring, we drove over to Temple Square (only a few blocks away) and waited to be seated at the restaurant. We were seated right next to a window that overlooks the temple and Temple Square! So fun to look at the temple while you are eating. The Roof is a (very expensive) buffet with really delicious food. And, they have a live pianist! One of the songs she played was the main theme from the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice, and I about cried. It is so pretty in real life!

Our view from our table

Appetizers: delicious clam chowder, rolls, fruite, veggies, smoked salmon


Dinner: a bunch of different kinds of meat. So yum. And a sampling of the desserts.


After dinner we walked around Temple Square and took a few pictures.





Sean was taking a picture of me and then asked, "Are you sure that is the smile you want?"
This picture is what followed haha.




When we got back to our room, it was SO HOT in there, the heaters were on like crazy. So we decided to head to Jamba Juice to cool off. We got a fan from the landlord lady before we left, and propped it in front of an open window. By the time we got back it had cooled off significantly.

Oh, did I mention the room had a huge jetted tub? Awesome!!

The next morning we ate a delicious breakfast, relaxed, walked around the house, and then headed home around 10:30.

The door where our room let out. You can't use the door now but it was still cool.









This place was so cool; if there is ever another deal on KSL with them we might just have to jump on it. There are a couple rooms we want to try haha.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Museum of Natural Curiosity

A few weeks ago, Sean's dad got tickets through his work to go through Thanksgiving Point's new Museum of Natural Curiosity. It is SO. COOL. And it wasn't even half finished yet; they still had two areas to put together. They have a little town where we got to bike pedal to move trains around tracks, see a magic shop, a fake jail, bank, pet shop (where you can do X-rays of stuffed animals), a stage with costumes, a music store, library… oh man, it was so cool. I would have taken loads more pictures but I had to carry Mr. Fussy Pants (someone had fallen off the bed and hit his head that afternoon).


They have a little door for kids to go through! So naturally, Sean wanted to. Eve thought it was pretty magical!






And then, you go downstairs. This is probably the coolest part. Think the jungle gym area at McDonalds times 537.8. It has a HUGE climbing structure with platforms, rope bridges, the whole shebang. Then there are these little activities that you can to do test your 5 senses. They had a maze, touch and feel, and other little booths with things to do. They also had a little climbing wall, a DDR-type mat on the floor that lights up and you have to Panther pounce onto the lights, a rope where you can hang to compare your hanging time to a sloths, a scale where you can see how many grasshoppers or hippos you weigh, a "tree trunk" to see how many pounds of pressure you can squeeze compared to a boa constrictor, lots of fun stuff. Then there is a separate jungle gym type thing for older kids where you are actually harnessed in and you can pay an extra $5 to do a few ropes course type things. This place is awesome, and we will definitely be going back! $2 Tuesdays in August! And by then, Mason will be old enough to do a couple more things ;)









We wore this kid out! He loved watching everyone though, bonked head and all.