Obessed Much?!

It is no secret that Mason has some obsessive tendencies. Every once in a while something catches his interest and becomes the center of his life. Need I mention our fleet of garbage trucks? Lately, Mason's garbage trucks have had a little bit of competition for his love and attention. I just wanted to share about Mason's new loves.

• The Red Helicopter.

I'm not positive when or where his love for helicopters began. It could stem from watching the Life Flight helicopter fly over our house several times a day since our house seems to be along its route between hospitals. Or it could be from the Balloon Fest on the 4th of July when we looked at the Life Flight helicopter across the street the whole time instead of the balloons. Regardless of how it started, Mason has a fascination with helicopters, particularly "The Red Helicopter" (Life Flight). Last month I took him up to Discovery Gateway Children's Museum where they have a real Life Flight helicopter for kids to play in. We spent nearly the entire time playing in the helicopter. Mason was just overflowing with excitement and still talks about it. We now go on field trips down to the hospital to look at the helicopter as a reward for Mason. All he wants for Christmas is a "Big Red Helicopter". They happen to have some really cool big BLUE helicopters at Costco so we told him Santa is only making blue Helicopters this year. Now if you ask him what he wants Santa to bring him he will tell you a "Big Blue Helicopter". I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning. We framed this picture for Mason after he carried it around with him for several days and got upset when it was bent. He keeps it on his dresser next to his bed so he can see it when he's going to sleep. We occassionally find it in bed with him when he's sleeping. So sweet. Mason is really a good little artist for a 2-year-old. He constantly asks us to draw helicopters for him and then he tries to draw one himself. A couple weeks ago he drew this helicopter 100% by himself. When scott got home he thought I had drawn it. That not only tells you what a good job Mason did, but also what a horrible artist I am :)

• Trains

Last Christmas, Mason liked "choo choos" a lot. We kind of did a train themed Christmas for him including a train table and train sheets for his new big boy bed. He has continued to enjoy trains since then, but in September when he was introduced to the new show Dinosaur Train, he became obsessed. For those unfamiliar with Dinosaur Train it's a new show on PBS that is actually pretty cute. Mason likes the dinosaurs, but it's the train that truely captivates him. He has to have his trains in hand while watching the show so he can pull it around whenever they are riding on the train. We can often hear him singing "Dinosaur Train, Dinosaur Train, We all ride ride ride.....the Dinosaur Train" which is part of the theme song. He also likes to find tunnels for his train to go through so he can announce "time tunnel approaching!" like the conducter does. It is so stinkin' cute. Although he doesn't really know who Thomas the Tank Engine is, he has one Thomas train (thanks Stacie) that is his favorite. He calls it his "front blue face train".

I love how passionate Mason is about things. I hope this passion carries over to all areas of his life as he gets older.

A Season to Remember

Tonight Scott officially retired his golf clubs for the 2009 season, and what a season it was. This year Scott played some of the best golf he's ever played. He broke 80 three times (77, 78,79) and averaged in the low 80's the rest of the time. It's a good thing, too, because he had to prove to me it was worth the money he spent on new irons, wedges, and a putter earlier this year. :) In the past Scott has mostly played golf with his Dad and brothers, but this year he had a group of friends at work that he really enjoyed going out with. He also had a lot of fun going out quite a bit with my Dad and was able to keep up with him better than he ever has before. I'm glad Scott has a hobby that lets him have fun and relax and even more glad he's had so many opportunites to do it for free this year. Here's to Scott's 2009 golf season...it'll be one to remember. Here's a little trip down memory lane. These are pictures of us golfing at Wolf Creek in St. George when we were engaged. We look so YOUNG.

Guinea Pig

This picture makes me look like a horrible mother who donated my child to science when really I just had Brynn participate in a simple infant development study at BYU this week. They are studying an infant's ability to interpret audio and visual stimulation at different ages. It looks pretty intense from this picture (sorry it's so crappy, their printer was almost out of ink) but in reality she didn't mind wearing this helmet for 5 minutes while sitting on my lap in a dark room and watching a 3 minute video of short and long yellow caterpillars with corresponding beeps. No big deal. When they called and asked if we would participate I said yes because I am always interested in the results of this type of study and thought it would be fun to be a part of one. The funniest part was when Mason became best friends with the lab assistent who played with him while we did the study and invited her to come play at our house after his nap. Such a social child.

Speaking of infant development, Brynn had a big week of milestones last week when she started sitting on her own and eating rice cereal. Pretty big stuff for my little girl.

We Did It!!!!

He's Potty Trained!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the advice a while back. I put away the undies and decided to wait until he was older, then low and behold a month later he woke up one morning and asked to wear underwear and did a pretty good job of keeping it dry. It made all the difference once he wanted to do it. I'm so happy I could do a little dance.

A little piece of Heaven

Do you ever wonder what Heaven will be like? Will everyone be dressed in white? What will we do for fun? Most importantly, will there be food? Sometimes I find myself thinking about this. I remember when I was younger and thought Heaven would be the same as it is depicted in the movie Saturday's Warrior ... fog machine going, girls dancing and singing in pretty dresses (oh how I hoped mine would be pink), people being teleported to and from earth. And while I'm certain it will be nothing like that, I still don't know exactly what it will be like. All I know is that a month ago I was spending the morning playing on my bed with Mason and Brynn. The sun was shining through the window and reflecting so perfectly off the white comforter that laid underneath their bare bellies. Brynn was giggling at Mason as he lay beside her playing peek-a-boo. I was in Heaven. I knew then that it doesn't matter to me what's in Heaven, only who's there with me. I am so grateful to be sealed to my family for all eternity so that even after we're gone from this earth we can laugh together in the clouds. And we all know it wouldn't be Heaven to Mason unless a garbage can was there :).

Happy Halloween

Well, here they are, the costumes of 2009. Scott and I dressed up as Swine Flu. These costumes won us the best couples costume at the Bell Halloween Party as well as 3rd place at the Nu Skin Costume Contest. It was also kind of ironic because I spent my Halloween at work taking care of patients with Swine Flu (and no I didn't wear my costume to work). We have offically hit the point where Mason wants to pick out his own costume. I had a costume in mind for Mason, but he informed me he only wanted to be a Dinosaur. He was introduced to a new show, Dinosaur Train, by our neighbor and loves it. Now Dinosaurs and Trains are his favorite thing in the world. So here is Mason our fierce T-rex. If Brynn would have had a say I'm sure she would have opted out of dressing up, but we dressed her up as a pumpkin anyway. Pretty darn cute if you ask me. The costume did have some perks for her, like a nice place to rest.. Our Halloween festivities started off early in the week at a darling Halloween party my mom did for the grandkids. It had everything from witches brew at dinner to spider webs (yarn) all over the house for the kids to follow to their Halloween prizes. Here's Grandma with all the Utah grandkids, unfortunately Rachel Faye had to join the party via skype from Arizona.We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. Scott of course was the artist and carver. Mason was really into it this year and turned to us while cleaning out his pumpkin and said, "this sure is fun, Mom." Here are Scott and Mason showing off Mason's T-rex pumpkin.

Here are Brynn and mom showing off Brynn's baby pumpkin. Brynn apparently loved it, too. Here are all the pumpkins we did this year. Scott's says Go Phillies for obvious reasons. Scott took Mason trick-or-treating and besides a couple episodes of stage fright, he really got the whole concept.I told Scott only to go around one neighborhood because Mason doesn't know any better yet and I really didn't want tons of candy around our house. So this was Mason's loot and look how happy he was with it. Hope everyone else had a great Halloween, too.

Our Little One

Scott and I are both tall and come from relatively tall families, but within each of our families there is a short gene that likes to express itself from time to time. Each family tends to have one child who is significantly shorter than everyone else in the family. Well, we think Brynn might be the little one in our family. In reality she isn't tiny, just average sized, but after having Mason who was always at least in the 95% in height and weight as a baby, she seems so little to us. Today we had her 4 month check up (a couple weeks late) and here are the numbers.
Weight: 13 lbs 10 oz -- 40%(still nearly a pound less than Mason was at 2 months)
Height: 24.5 in -- 49%
I love Brynn more every day and am so glad she is my little girl!! Here are some of her 4 month pictures for you to enjoy.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

It's that time of year again. When we dress up and make fools of ourselves, but who cares, it's Halloween! As Scott and I were deciding what to be this year, we took a look back at our past 4 years of costumes and wow, were we proud. I thought you might enjoy a good laugh at our expense so here you go.

2004

Ahhh... the happily engaged couple. We were dressed up like 2 people in love, can't you tell.

2005

Scott sporting his authentic little league uniform. If you can't read the hat it says Orem City Champs 9-10. Oh yeah baby, that's why I married him. The happy couple once again. I had to work that night so my work scrubs doubled as my costume. Lame, I know. While I was at work that night Scott attended a couples Halloween party with Tyson Camp. Yes, my husband is the sexy blonde on the right. I had no idea this costume took place until I received the photo evidence weeks later.

2006

This costume won us the best costume award at the annual Bell Halloween Bash. I'm the troop leader and Scott's the boy scout. Nice legs, Scotty.

2007

Our darling little pumpkin, Mason. I find it unfair that this 6 month old Mason looked like a girl with his very long, dark hair and now my 4 month old Brynn looks like a boy with her very little, light hair. What's up with that?

Boring parents that didn't dress up. Don't worry, that won't happen again.

2008

Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. One of my proudest moments in life.

Scott dressed up as Mickey Mouse at my request so all the spandex would take some of the attention off all my yellow. What a fun Halloween.

2009

You'll have to wait until Halloween to see, but I will tell you that our costume was awesome enough to win the best Couple Costume at the Bell Halloween Bash.

So tell me, what was your greatest Halloween costume?

Bof Kids

Shortly after we brought Brynn home from the hospital, I was holding her and Mason came up to me and asked, "Mommy, you hold bof (both) kids?" How could I refuse with a request as sweet as that. I scooped him up in my other arm and held Bof Kids. Since then Mason often refers to himself and Brynn as "bof kids". I know it's been a while since I wrote anything about my kids, haha....just kidding, but here is a little update on "bof kids".
3-month-old Brynn I can't believe it's been 3 months since Brynn joined our family. The time has gone by so fast. That could be because I was in complete survival mode for the first month or two. I feel like we now have a good routine down and everyday life with 2 kids isn't bad at all. Here's what Brynn is up to these days

• She's a rolling machine. She started rolling from her back to tummy a month ago, but only in her sleep. As of a week ago she rolls both ways when she plays.
  
• She gives out smiles freely, but saves her giggles just for daddy.


• She has discovered her hands and if there isn't something else in front of her she will just study her hands.
• Her favorite thing to do is lay under her toys and play. She used to just bat at them and loved the noise when she made contact. Now she is really good at grabbing the toys and pulling them off.
• She actually doesn't mind her car seat very much anymore as long as she has toys hanging in front of her.


• She is still a very routine baby. She goes to sleep at 8 pm like clockwork, wakes once during the night at 2am, wakes up at 7am for the day, and takes 3 naps during the day. Yes, she's finally sleeping during the day like a normal baby, thank goodness.


• At the end of August, when she began sleeping quietly and waking only once at night, we moved her into the crib in Mason's room. They have been great roommates so far!


• She has finally started eating more and is getting some chunky rolls to show for it.


• Purple is her color. Mommy loves the way she looks in it.


• She likes to sit in her Bumbo chair, but watch out if she poops. The Bumbo makes it go up to her ears and down to her ankles. It's happened enough times that when we get out the Bumbo, Mason says, "Oh no, Brynn pooped on the Bumbo!"

Mimicking Mason
Like all little kids, Mason loves to mimick everything we do. Lately, he has really been making us laugh with the things he has noticed we are doing. Here are a few of our favorites.

• Often times in the evening either Scott or I go running. When either one of us gets our running clothes and shoes on Mason asks, "Where you goin', mom? You not go running." After several weeks of watching us run down the street, one day he came out of his room with a pair of sneakers on and said, "I have my running shoes on. I go running" and walked out the front door. Curious to see what he was going to do, I followed at a distance. I stood on the porch and watched him take off running down the sidewalk, full speed, until he got three houses down, then turn around and run back. He did this several times until he was breathing hard and sweating. He then walked back up to the house and said, "I all done running. I thirsty". Since then Mason will occassionally get out his running shoes and go for a run, always going three houses down and back until he's tired. Does anyone know of a kid's fun run coming up anytime soon? I would love to let him run in a race sometime.


• Another time Mason asks his most frequently asked question of "Where you goin'?" is when Scott gets ready to go to a meeting for his church calling. He always tells Mason he is going to a meeting but will be back really soon. So every once in a while Mason gets his black Sunday shoes on and tells me, "I go to a meeting, I'll be riiight back" and walks out the front door. Unfortunately he tends to do this while I'm feeding Brynn so I can't follow him. We really are working on not walking out of the house without permission, but anytime he gets in trouble for it he yells, "I goin' to a meeeeeting!"


• Everyone told me before I had Brynn to let Mason be involved in her care so he wouldn't resent the time I spent with her. Mason's favorite way to be involved is to take care of his baby Goofy while I take care of Brynn. The other night I was getting Brynn ready for bed and Mason wanted to get Goofy ready for bed too. I changed Brynn's diaper and Mason put one of her diapers on Goofy stating, "Oh yuck! Goofy has a poopy diaper." I put on Brynn's jammies and Mason went and found an old pair of his jammies for Goofy to wear. The real kicker was when I sat down on the couch to nurse Brynn and Mason climbed up next to me and said, "I feed goofy too." He then lifted his shirt and held goofy up to his stomach. Then, he just sat there. Not talking, not moving, just sitting there calmly feeding Goofy the whole time I fed Brynn. When Brynn and Goofy were done eating we burped them together singing the "top, top, bottom, bottom, middle, middle, middle" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "Goofy Baby" episode, for those of you familiar with it. Scott was cracking up the whole time and taking pictures.
• Here is Mason "feeding Goofy". Mason and I with our babies who were all ready for bed. It really is great having Bof kids around.

HELP!!

We started potty training this week. It has been been a horrific failure so far. I am feeling very frustrated because I know Mason is capable (he has peed and pooped in the toilet many times before, just not consistantly) but for some reason he is resisting. I thought it would be easy so I didn't really go into this with a very good plan. I feel like it's time to stop, take a deep breath, and approach it from a different direction. Mason will be 2 1/2 at the end of October. I've heard before to wait until boys are 3, but I really really don't want to wait 7 more months. Suggestions please!!!!!

Sad

Some of our favorite people moved to Utah for the summer and lived right down the street from us.

We got to see them almost every day.

They helped me endlessly after Brynn was born.

This adorable announcement was all their work. One of them showed me the kind of mother, wife, and person I want to be. One entertained us all summer long. And the last one put a smile on our face every time we saw her. Now they have left us and moved to Arizona. We are left here wondering how we ever lived without them and what we will do now they are gone. That, my friends, is sad.

We had a great time spending the summer with Brandon, Whitney, and Rachel and definitely miss them, but we are happy and excited for them to start this new phase in their life. Good luck down in Arizona guys. We miss you!!