Family Night

I want you to picture yourself in this situation.

You walk in the door from church, starving. Just as you get everything out to make a sandwich you realize there is only the end piece of bread left...that simply won't work. Okay, plan B: Marshmallow Mateys. You get out the biggest bowl you can find and fill it to the brim with cereal and realize the milk carton only has two drops of milk left. Mac and Cheese...no milk; grilled cheese and soup....no bread; cheese and crackers....no cheese or crackers. Looks like it's going to be ramen again.

There is nothing worse than being stranded on a Sunday afternoon with empty cupboards. Well that's what Scott goes through every week. You see I have a hard time getting to the grocery store until there is simply no other option. Why is it so hard? I'll give you a hint.....Mason. It is so hard to go to the store alone with Mason because he will not sit in the cart, he starts yelling really loud when he gets sick of shopping (usually by the end of the 3rd isle), and he tries to jump out of the cart or my arms the whole time and he gets pretty close to succeeding. So tonight the three of us went grocery shopping together. Here are some pictures we took of our adventure with Scott's phone.

Mason decided he needed to be pushing the cart. So we had to hold him down in front of the cart and let him push. The trick was the cart had to be moving. If we stopped moving he would lose interest and try to get down.

Then Mason squirmed and arched his back to the point I couldn't physically hold him without dropping him on his head. So, yes, I let him get down and crawl up and down the isle. And even better, on the isle with all the harsh chemicals you are supposed to keep out of children's reach.

The final attempt was letting him ride on my shoulders,but that just created the potential for a longer fall when he tried to jump down. (Notice that all of this was just trying to get down a single isle)

I don't mean to make it sound like Mason is a bad boy, because he most definitely is not. He is just so curious and adventurous right now that the grocery store is torture for him because he just needs to explore all those brightly colored objects that surround him. So until he gets a little bit older and can ride in the little car hooked onto the cart, then we will be finding alternative arrangement for going grocery shopping. At the end of the day, I would never trade having Mason be so animated for an easy shopping trip.

Family Pictures

My family had these pictures taken right after Christmas by our friend Rogan Taylor. It was nice because he has this wonderful studio in his basement so it was a comfortable setting and his wife and daughter were there to entertain the kids. I am a little late posting them and it's amazing how fast pictures become outdated with little kids. My Mom and Dad are in the middle holding the grandkids (Mason, Cannon, and Kennedy), Scott and Rachel on the left, Whitney and Brandon in the back (Rachel Faye is right behind my dad's head, you can't see her very well yet in these pictures) and Chris and Kacie on the right. That's my family!

Tag You're It!

I was tagged a while ago, but have been slow getting around to doing it. For those of you unfamiliar with what being "tagged" is (as I was when it first happened to me), it is a list of questions you answer on your blog and then at the end you "tag" people who then are supposed to answer the questions on their blog. So here I go:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
In March of 1998 I was a 7th grader roaming the halls of CVJH. My life pretty much revolved around sports. At the time I was participating in volleyball, basketball (this would have been right about the time my Jr. Jazz team won the city championship), swimming with OTAC (orem timpanogas aquatic club), and running track (I was named 7th grade MVP). I'm sure there was a lot of friendship drama going on (Ashely O. you know what I'm talking about :). But overall I think it was a pretty great time.

2. 5 thing on my to-do list today

• Sleep (I work tonight)
• Play with Mason
• Fold laundry
• Do the dishes
• Go to work

3. 5 snack I enjoy

• Grahm Crackers and milk
• Fruit Snacks
• Quesadillas
• Nachos
• Cookies

4. 3 bad habits

• Leaving wrapers on couch after I eat a treat.
• Going to bed WAY too late.
• Getting mad at Scott when he eats chips, crackers.... or pretty much anything noisy. (and it's not just Scott that bugs me, it's everyone, but it would just be weird if I asked my co-workers to eat more quietly)

5. What would you do if you were instantly a billionaire?

• By Scott his FJ Cruiser or whatever other car he wants at that time.
• I would not buy a house because you couldn't pay be a billion dollars to move again right now, I'm finally getting settled. But I would put money aside to buy a new house when the time comes.
• Buy a houseboat down at Lake Powell.
• I guess I would just save most of it so I could buy things when I wanted to.

6. 5 places I have lived

• Orem, UT (My house growing up)
• Provo, UT (The dorms)
• Orem, UT (Back to my parent's house)
• Orem, UT (Our basement apartment aka "The Dungeon")
• Orem, UT (Our house)

Wow, that was an exciting question!

7. 5 things people don't know about me.

• I secretly would love to sing on broadway (although it's not so secret when I belt out the songs in the shower.) And Scott told me that I was good enough to make it on broadway.......as a stagehand :(
• I am pretty sure I am allergic to doing the dishes. I clean up poopy adult bums all night at work and really don't care, but knowing I have to do the dishes makes me want to vomit.
• I have the same allergy to doing the laundry.
• I HATE shopping. I hate buying clothes. I think shoes cost way too much. I think all the fashion trends are really ugly right now and have no desire to participate in them (especially all the high-waisted pants I saw on American Idol this week....can you say UGLY... sorry to anyone wearing them as they read this.) And now you all know why I am happy and comfortable wearing jeans (normal waistline) and a t-shirt every day, and why I chose a profession which I can wear scrubs to work.
• I am really good at taking naps. I can go to sleep anytime anywhere. It can be light or dark, soft or hard, quiet or loud and I can sleep. It's not like I have narcolepsy and can't stay awake, but anytime I want to sleep I just have to lie down and hold still for about 2 minutes and I'm gone. My mom tells me it is a sign of sleep deprivation.....which looking at the facts (I work nights and have a 10 month old) is probably the case.

Now is when I'm supposed to "tag" some people, but as I was looking on other blogs it seems to me a lot of people have already been tagged. So consider this an open-ended tag. Anyone who has not been tagged and is feeling left out you have now been tagged.

I Passed!!

It's official, I passed the NCLEX-RN!

NCLEX

This morning was the first time in a while I have had to set my alarm clock. These days I usually just wake up when my rooster crows (Mason). But this morning I had to wake up bright and early to take the NCLEX-RN in Salt Lake. For those of you unfamiliar with this acronym (Scott tells me I use too many nursing acronyms and expect people to follow what I'm saying) it stands for National Council Licensure Exam-Registered Nurse aka my nursing boards. I have done approximately 3,000-4,000 practice questions since August preparing for this test as well as reviewing specific medications and disease processes. (Just for the record I didn't really use the NCLEX for dummies book I just thought it made a nice image) The NCLEX is a Computerized Adaptive Test which means it asks you a question, if you get it right the next one is harder if you get it wrong the next one is easier and it keeps going until you achieve an average level consitantly and then it determines if that level is higher than the set standard or not. It will give you the most opportunity it can to get above the standard. You get a minimum of 75 questions and a maximum of 265 with 6 hours to take it. I felt pretty good about how I was doing and then my test turned off after the 75th question. This means either I did really well and was far enough above the passing level after 75 questions it could determine I was competent or I totally bombed it and was so far below the passing level there was no way I could pass. I am definitely hoping for the prior. If I did pass my license should be posted on DOPL (Department of Professional Licensing) within a week. I'll let you know.

A Day at the Park

It has always amazed me how every October when the temperature drops into the 60s, pants and sweaters are retrieved from the back of the closet and everyone bundles up for the cold winter ahead. After several months of temperatures hovering around freezing March comes and the temperature once again rises into the 60s and this time shorts and tee shirts are fetched and everyone treats the same temperature we had in October like a heat wave. Has anyone else noticed this silly behavior except me? Silly though it may be, I am personally guilty of doing this very thing. Today I called time and temp (373-9120 for all of you who may have forgotten Central Bank's time and temp phone # since being a kid) and it was currently 62 degrees. Surely this was good enough weather to take Mason on his first picnic to the park. So we made some PB&Js and headed out to the park down the street from our house. I realized I may have jumped the gun a little bit when we arrived and there were still patches of snow on the grass, but that didn't stop us from having a great time. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
Mason was playing with the stroller while Scott and I were eating our sandwiches and the next thing I knew he was climbing up into it. (Pictures below) He got up there all by himself. He has been really into climbing lately, apparently just standing isn't challenging enough anymore.

Mason was pretty proud of himself for successfully climbing

Scott enjoying a fruit leather.

Mason liked the swings. If you look closely you can see his front teeth that have come in.

Mason going down the slide with Dad's help.

Once Mason discovered the tunnel we couldn't get him out of it. He would crawl back and forth between Scott and I laughing so hard. His laugh would echo in the tunnel and make it really loud. Soon there were other little kids who started coming over to see what was so fun in the tunnel.

This pictures definitely makes the top five list of funny face pictures we have of Mason. It looks like he was angry but really he was laughing.

Mason liked playing peek-a-boo through the holes in the tunnel.

One of Scott's goals as a parent is to teach our children how to stay clean while they play. Today he taught Mason how to avoid getting his pants dirty while crawling around on the muddy playground. Just kidding!! While Scott does in fact appreciate the cleanliness of this new crawl/walk Mason has started, it is Mason's attempt to get off his knees and start walking. If he doesn't have something to pull himself up on he does this crawl on his hands and feet with his knees locked.

When it was time to go Mason made this sad face and started crying. I guess if this "summer weather" continues we will have to visit the park more often.

Kayla Dianne

Mason is excited to have a new cousin, Kayla Dianne, who was born February 26. We are all sad she's so far away in Las Vegas and can't wait until we get to meet her in person.

The Reese Family

Janessa, Jeremy, and Kayla

Pictures speak a thousand words.

This is going to be really random, but I just downloaded some pictures from the past couple weeks of our life and wanted to post some.

Mason helping Scott blow out the candle (we only had one candle in the cupboard) on his birthday banana cream pie. Don't I have the most handsome boys in my life?I worked the night before Valentine's Day. This is what I came home to early the next morning. This is not the first time Scott has had a sweet surprise set up for me when I get home from work. It is probably my favorite way Scott surprises me (he is always surprising me in sweet and creative ways.) I am so lucky to me married to such a romantic guy.
Scott made this card using the sides of Mason's hands. How cute is that?! I will keep this forever!

Mason and Scott were both sick last weekend so they stayed home from church. I came home to find them taking a nap on the couch. It was so precious. When I turned on the camera it woke up Mason so his eyes are open. You can tell how much Mason loves his daddy.
Mason is walking all over the place now as long as he can have a hand on something. This walking toy is one of his favorites right now. Looking at this picture kills me because I'm looking at a little boy not my baby!!

Rachel's Salon

Bumbo Chair: $40

Baby Einstein Video: $10

Gerber Puff Treats: $2.50

Sippy Cup: $3

Wahl "Peanut" clipper: $60

Laptop Computer: $1200

Haircut with no tears: Priceless

Yes, I just did a cheesy Mastercard commercial to introduce my blog. I gave Mason his 4th haircut last week. Now I am more than willing to pay a professional to cut his hair and make it look good, but when I tried that at six months it was more tramatic than getting shots at the Dr. So ever since then I have been attempting to do it myself (YIKES!). I went to a haircuting demo put on by our Relief Society and I'm proud to say.... it didn't help very much. But I did find that my little salon set up gave me about 20 minutes of a cooperative Mason and I was able to produce a decent haircut (Caitlyn and Natalie don't look too closely, you'll have nightmares). Here's a picture of the finished result. Isn't he a handsome guy!!

Mr. Congeniality!!

A year ago I couldn't imagine sitting at home all day with a baby who can't talk and not getting bored out of my mind. That was before I met Mason. My little boy is more entertainment I could ask for with all of his expressions, noises, and games he loves to play. Some of my favorite expressions are the crinkled nose with snorting noises when he gets mad at me for taking dangerous thing away from him, when I play peek-a-boo and he laughs and bashfully buries his face into the ground, when I let him play with my work badge and he pulls out the string and watches it snap back and laughs so hard his whole face is laughing (see first two pictures). My favorite noise by far is his growling (which he is doing to me right now), but I also like his totally fake cry he does when he wants something he can't have (it is funny because it is SO fake!). His favorite game involves me stacking his blocks as tall as I can and he crawls with his head tucked down as fast as he can into them knocking them over. He also likes to do obstical courses in our living room crawling through the bottom of our coffee and end tables, over any pillows or bags on the floor, and on top of any person who might be lying on the floor. The most precious time for me is when he wants to read books and he grabs one and crawls over to my lap and just wants to sit on my lap and read books. He is so busy these days that this is the closest I get to cuddling him when he's awake. Anyway, now that you are all probably bored stiff with my mother moments I'll post some pictures from a week or so ago when Mason was in his high chair and was showing off his many expressions. One things for sure....this kid's got personality!!

Happy Birthday Scottie!!

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Scottiepoo. He has been on this earth for 25 long years. (Wow he's really getting old!) Mason and I want to wish Scott a very Happy Birthday!! Now I'm going to do a birthday spotlight on Scott, like the kind they used to do in Primary and Kindergarten.

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Snack: Chips
Favorite sport: It's basketball season right now so I'd have to say basketball.
Things he is good at: Geometry (you should see him pack a suitcase, there is not an inch of wasted space.), basketball, baseball, changing diapers, kissing, (believe me, I would know.), driving in the snow, being a supportive husband, the list could go on and on.
Something unique about Scott: One ear is higher than the other.

okay, so that wasn't really a very great spotlight. It's 4 am, I am just finishing up my third night shift in a row, so my mind isn't sharp enough to think of any interesting questions. And I must say I answered all these questions without consulting Scott so if he says any aren't true than take his word for it.

Let It Snow!!

Today we took advantage of all this wonderful snow we've been getting here in Utah by going snowshoeing with my parents. They took us up to Southfork where we went on a nice 3 mile hike. My favorite part by far was when we decided to try and cross the creek and my dad almost fell in and then later when my dad decided we should blaze our own trail along a ridge which eventually led us to a pretty steep slop which we just ended up sledding down on our butts. My mom was getting worried and kept reminding my dad, "They have a child they have to raise!" Not only was it beautiful and slightly adventurous, but it was a great workout for our legs. Thanks to mom and dad for a great outting and thanks to Chris and Kacie for watching Mason for us.

Rachel Hale

As I previously mentioned, my brother and his wife are going to name their daughter Rachel Faye Hale. She will be the 9th generation of Rachel Hale. There has been a Rachel Hale on this earth in an unbroken string since 1767--241 years. Rachel Johnson married Eliphalet Hale in 1767 to start it all off. Their son, Solomon, named one of his daughters Rachel. Since then, a brother in each generation has named a daughter Rachel. There are currently 3 generations of Rachel Hale's alive: me, my aunt Rachel Hale Gonzalez, and my great aunt Rachel Hale Cunningham and when little Rachel Faye gets here there will be 4 generations alive. Here is a list my dad put together for us.

1. Rachel Johnson Hale (1744-1821)

2. Rachel Johnson Hale Savory (1798-1880)

3. Rachel Johnson Savory Hale Hoagland (1829-1854)

4. Rachel Susan Hale Clark (1857-1935)

5. Rachel Louisa Hale Tuttle (1891-1986)

6. Rachel Hale Christensen Cunningham (1927-present)

7. Rachel Kay Hale Gonzalez (1959-present)

8. Rachel Elizabeth Hale Murray (1985-present)

9. Rachel Faye Hale (2008)

I am very pround to be a part of this great legacy. I try to lead my life in a way that would make these women proud to have me carry their name. I am also so happy Brandon and Whitney have decided to carry on the name.

Happy Birthday!

We are long overdue for an update on our blog. Sorry about that. It appears that we are not the only ones who had a post holiday blog lull. This last week has been so action packed I've been dying to blog all about it. It all started last Friday, January 25 when I turned the big 23. I remember when I used to think how old 23 was and now I'm here, but I don't feel old. Scott of course made my whole day wonderful. He got work off and spent the entire day with Mason and me. That alone was enough to make the day perfect, but it didn't end there. He surprised me first thing in the morning with the soundtrack from Wicked, which I have been dying to have. We sang along to the whole thing while we ate a wonderful pancake and scrambled egg breakfast prepared by Scott.

Later in the morning we had Mason's 9 month doctor check-up.

Here are his latest Stats: 21 lbs 8 oz dropping down to the 65% for his age, 30.1 inches long still in the 92% for his age, and last a head circumference of 45.8 cm pulling him up to the 60% from the 24% at 6 months (there's no denying he's got his dad's little head).

After the appointment my dad took us all out to lunch at Rumbi, YUM. Then we hit the mall and did a little shopping until Mason needed a nap. My mom watched Mason while Scott took me to dinner that night at Olive Garden, YUM again. That evening is when the real party started. We had all of our family over for cake and icecream. I got such great gifts from everyone, but just to highlight a few Scott got me new crocs for work, my parents gave us blinds for our house, Chris and Kacie gave me a beautiful mirror for our house, and one of the best presents I got was the news that Brandon and Whitney are having a girl and will name her Rachel Faye Hale. I love all my nieces and nephews, but seriously, does anyone honestly expect me not to favor my namesake a little?

Mason helping me blow out the candles.

My favorite picture of Kennedy taken at my party.

My biggest birthday gift from Scott was a birthday makeover. On Saturday I got my hair cut by our friend Caitlyn Cox. If anyone is looking for an amazing haircut they need to go see her. I decided it was about time to do something drastic. So I chopped off a good 10 inches of hair, cut bangs, and got some highlights. I LOVE IT!! So far everyone's response has been really positive to my new look (not that anyone would tell me it was ugly even if they thought it) except Mason who didn't recognize me at first and now must reach further to play with my hair while he falls asleep. I think this was a much needed change for me.

My new look. This picture isn't the best, but it's the only one I have.

A lovely picture Scott took while I was on the phone.

With all of the snow we've had this last week we had to take advantage of it by going sledding on Saturday with some of our friends. We went to a park up by Hobble Creek golf course. This was Mason's first time out in the snow and he loved it. In his snow suit he looked like the kid on A Christmas Story, and he moved a little like him too.

Mason exploring in the snow

Taking a rest

Our family

Mom and Mason

Dad and Mason