Some Things Never Get Old

Watching my kids grow up is often times bitter sweet. It is fun watching them learn and grow, but I find it sad when something about them I love so much changes and is lost forever with their progress. Like when my babies are learning how to talk and say certain words in an incorrect, yet adorable, way, and then one day they learn how to say it correctly and I wish they would go back to saying it the old way because it always put a smile on my face. There are some things that seem to stick around a little longer, and for that I am grateful. One thing that has stuck around our house for the last 3 years is Mason's love of mowing the lawn with Scott. He was given a little lawn mower for his first birthday and fell in love instantly. Since then there has rarely been a time that Scott has mowed the lawn without his little shadow just a few steps behind. It doesn't matter how many times I see it, (every week for 3 summers) it never gets old. I probably have more pictures and video footage of this site than any other thing in our lives. It's just something that makes my heart so happy. This year it got even better as Brynn joined in. A little boy who wants to be just like his dad and a little sister who wants to be just like her brother.I just love it!

Practice Run

Today my mom babysat her neighbor's 2 month old baby boy and we spent the afternoon at her house using it as a little practice run for when our baby brother arrives in just a few short months. It made me smile to watch the loving and tender way Mason held and talked to the baby. He was just glowing as he spent time with the baby. He is so excited for his baby brother to arrive and I can tell you right now he is going to be an amazing older brother. Brynn on the other hand still has some room for improvement. She was more excited about the baby's binky then the baby itself and expressed on multiple occasions, "I don't like the baby." I guess they got off on the wrong foot when she said hi to the baby and after a long stare and a silent pause she pouted, "The baby didn't talk to me!" After watching Mason shake a little rattle and sing songs for the baby she decided to join in and give the baby a teddy bear... by throwing it at his head. It was with good intentions, but I'm very glad it was a stuffed animal and not a hard toy. She does love her baby doll (actually my old doll) very much these days and takes it everywhere with her. She seemed to do better when we focused on her taking care of her baby rather than focusing on the real baby. So I guess that teaches me to include her in things by letting her take care of her baby as I take care of our baby brother. Today sent mixed emotions running through me. Of course I am excited, but mostly I just feel incredibly nervous about the arrival of baby #3. I am already so in love with this little guy kicking around inside of me and just pray I will be able to give each of my precious children all of the love and attention they need and deserve. Thank goodness for 12 more weeks of preparation...I need every minute of it.

And since no post is complete without a picture, here is a picture of the first time Mason saw Brynn through the nursery window. I have no doubt Mason was sent to our family first to fill a very important role as an older brother in the lives of his siblings. And I think Brynn will feel this same kind of love when she meets her little brother.

The Red Dragons

Mason participated in his first official team sport this fall as a member of the "Red Dragons" soccer team.

The beginning of the season felt a lot like Brian Regan's "Lousy in Little League". (If you've never heard it or just want a good laugh go here ). Mason was more concerned about what they were having for the half time snack than where the ball was on the field. His little legs would tire easily and after a few trips up and down the field he would sometimes find a nice patch of shade to watch from rather than try to keep up with the ball. But as the season progressed, his confidence grew, and we started to find him in the center of action more often. He told us before each game, "I'll try to score a goal for you today." Each game came and went without a goal but Mason would proudly tell everyone that he helped his team score lots of goals by kicking the ball to them. In the final game of the season Mason finally got his goal... sort of. After a goal scored by one of his teammates the ball came back out on the field and before the coach could pick it up Mason kicked it back into the goal. The whole team celebrated his first goal with him. It was a perfect excuse for him and his best friend, Tanner, to given each other a chest bump, which they had perfected throughout the season. Mason had a blast playing soccer and is very excited to play with his team again next spring. We are so proud of Mason's great attitude and the improvement he showed over the season. It sure is fun being a soccer mom.

My Marathon Man

Scott has definitely caught the running bug this year. He had such a great time running Ragnar, that he decided if he was ever going to run a marathon, now was the time to do it since he was already in great running shape. So this weekend we headed to Logan for him to run the Top of Utah Marathon. Running 26.2 miles is challenging enough itself. Add in downpouring rain and hail for most of it, and you've got Scott's first (and very possibly last) marathon experience. As I sat in my car at mile 14 to cheer on Scott as he came out of the canyon I could hardly see out the window through all the rain despite my windshield wipers going at top speed. I felt so bad watching all the runners pass by SOAKING wet. I breathed a sigh of relief when the rain appeared to be letting up a little, but then it was just replaced by hail. I took a picture from inside the car to try and capture the conditions. You can't see the hail that is pelting the runners, but you can see it all over the road. Shortly after that, Scott came running along and informed me his headphones had shorted out around mile 8 due to all the rain. I had an extra pair for him, but it wasn't long before they started shorting out, too. So he got to run the rest of the race with no music, but luckily he met some nice people along the way he was able to chat with. The weather began to let up a little and by mile 23 it was sprinkling on and off. Scott was still running strong, but said his shoes were so water logged they felt like they weighed 10 pounds each.

The sun emerged from behind the clouds for the first time right as Scott crossed the finish line, but I think the smile on his face shone brighter. He said it was the absolute best feeling crossing that line and knowing he was done. Despite the difficult conditions (we heard people's times were about 20 minutes slower because of the rain), Scott still managed to finish in the incredible time of 4:15:34. I am so proud of him! He says this was a one time thing, but I'm still going to try and talk him into another marathon with me, hopefully in better weather conditions. Great job to my amazing marathon man!!

Back to School

This week was the beginning of another year of Preschool for Mason. I think his prayer the morning of his first day pretty much sums up how he felts. "..thank you that I can go to morning preschool and see Mrs. Young again. Help that I can make lots of new friends. Help that I can do my work and not scribble..." Mason went to preschool in the afternoon last year and thinks moving to morning preschool is a promotion for the kids who are 4. Not only is Mason going at a different time, but his best friends from last year, Kennedy and Benson, both moved and are no longer in his class. I was curious to see how he would handle all the change, and have been glad to see how excited he is to meet new friends and after just two classes he has made several friends that are already inviting him over to play after preschool. It's going to be a good year.While we definitely miss Mason while he's gone, Brynn and I are enjoying our alone time together. It is something I've never had with Brynn since Mason stopped napping when she was born and she napped during Mason's preschool last year. I am absolutely loving the one on one time with her. I just can't believe it will be her starting preschool next year and I'll be left home alone with the baby. Where does the time go?

At a Glance

Today I took some pictures of Mason and Brynn playing outside completely unplanned and unprompted. I wanted to capture them just being themselves, and I think I succeeded. Mason is a serious hoarder. He always has bags full of his favorite stuff that he carries everywhere with him. Anything he finds along the way, even leaves, are worth collecting. He still loves imaginative play and this particular day he was a transformer busy saving the world from the decepticons, but not without his bags. Brynn is still attached to her binky and is always twirling her hair. Her favorite thing to do is pull her hair under her nose and wrap it around her binky making a hair mustache. Not very cute and causes serious tangles. You might recognize these boots from previous pictures. Brynn insists on wearing her oversized hand me down boots everywhere. It always puts a smile on my face.

Just a little bit about my kiddos at a glance.

The Peoples

It's no secret that Brynn has had some serious stranger anxiety throughout her life. While it has improved considerably, she is still initially hesistent in situations with more than about 5 people. The only difference is now she can verbalize how she feels rather than just freaking out. So when Brynn finds herself in an uncomfortable situation I usually find her wrapped around my legs saying, "There are lots of peoples" or "I scared of the peoples" in a tiny whisper like she's in a horror movie being chased by "the peoples". Silly girl. At least she does warm up to "the peoples" most of the time.

Pool Time

I couldn't possibly end the summer without a post about our time spent at the pool. As always our kids loved all of our pool outings this summer. Mason preferred it when Scott came along so he could be more adventurous. After two sessions of swimming lessons during the winter Mason knew how to swim, but his time at the pool this summer helped his confidence in his swimming ability to grow. By our last trip to the pool Mason would jump in the deep pool without either of us around and swim around taking breaths when he needs them and then back to the wall. I love how comfortable he is in the water. Brynn is quite the little swimmer with her floaties on. She loves to kick around on both her tummy and back in the deep water. Her absolute favorite thing to do is jump off the side of the pool over and over. She has no problem holding her breath and going under water, but water in her ears really seems to bother her, so she prefers just to stick her face in and blow bubbles. Here are some pictures from our last Scera Pool trip of the summer.

A Child's Prayer

One day while playing at Grandma Nancy's house, Mason was looking for a specific marble he had previously played with there.  The marble was not with all the other marbles and my mom had no idea where it might be.  Mason, with total and complete faith suggested, "Let's say and prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help us find the marble." My mom was pleased that Mason had thought to turn to Heavenly Father for help, but was extremely nervous because she was not confident she could find the marble for him.  So while he said a sweet little prayer to Heavenly Father, my mom was saying her own heartfelt prayer asking that she could find the marble so Mason would know that prayers are answered.  Once the prayer was finished they resumed their search for the marble. Just minutes later my mom had a very distinct thought to go check in a bowl in her sewing room.  There was absolutely no reason why the marble should be there and she normally wouldn't have thought to check there, but decided to go check it out anyway.  Upon looking in the bowl, what did they find? The marble. My mom was very emotional when sharing this story with me because she knew that Heavenly Father had been listening to a child who prayed in faith, even if it was for something as insignificant as finding a lost marble, and had answered his prayer.

It's a BOY!

We got to spend a half hour today watching this little BOY squirm and wiggle around inside of me. I couldn't have asked for more. I haven't been feeling him move nearly as much as I remember with my other pregnancies at this point and honestly I have been a little worried the past couple of weeks. So today I was surprised, and very much relieved, when he didn't stop moving and kicking his little arms and legs around the entire 30 minutes we were watching him. Turns out my placenta is anterior which makes it so you don't feel as much movement early on. Phew! He looked so precious as he stretched out his arms and crossed and uncrossed his legs. Most importantly his growth and development looked absolutely perfect.

There is something about seeing him that has already made this pregnancy seem more real to me. Scott is very excited to be having another boy, Mason is thrilled to be getting a brother, and Brynn is completely clueless as to how her whole world will be turned upside down in a few short months. We are so grateful for a Healthy Boy!

The End of an Era

For the last 4 years we have lived 10 houses down from my brother, Chris, and his family. Cannon and Kennedy were Mason's first friends and remain his best friends. Kacie has always been like the older sister I never had. Chris has always been just a phone call away, like when Scott was out of town and I was home alone with a two week old baby and a broken A/C in July and he came to fix it. Mason wants to name our baby, boy or girl, Chase after his little cousin. We have loved living close and sharing so many aspects of our lives together. So yesterday afternoon when I drove by their house and saw the For Sale sign in the yard (which I have known for a while was going up), I couldn't help but feel sad thinking how Mason and Kennedy won't be walking to Primary holding hands every week. We will no longer be taking turns watching each others babies out in the hall at church while the other teaches a lesson or does sharing time. Mason will not be riding his bike down the street to play with his cousins. We will not wave out our window to them almost every day as we drive past their house. Scott and Chris won't be going on campouts with the priests and leave most of the food in the car at home. I can't take Brynn down to swing in the shade of their backyard rather than the hot park. No more carpools to preschool. The list goes on and on. We are so glad they will only be 20 minutes away, but compared to 2 minutes we have now that seems so far. It definitely is the end of an era in our lives.

So if anyone wants to be our new neighbors...

I Do Myself!!

This seems to be Brynn's motto these days. We hear these words what feels like 100 times a day. It is usually accompanied by folded arms and a foot stomp to emphasize her point.

getting dressed -- "I do My-Self!"

combing hair -- "I do My-Self!"

stirring chocolate milk -- "I do My-Self!"

mom trying to hold hands in parking lot -- "I do My-Self!"

getting in and out of car -- "I do My-Self!"

buckling her car seat -- "I do My-Self!"

Potty Training -- "I do My-Self!

and that's just what she did.

For several months, Brynn has been taking her diaper off randomly throughout the day and going potty on the toilet by herself. Then several weeks ago it became nearly impossible to keep a diaper on her so we changed to pull-ups. She started going potty more and I began to notice that she would keep her pull up dry for a good part of the day without any prompting from me. I knew she was ready to potty train but was dragging my feet until one day Scott took the kids over to his parents' house in Orem that they are getting ready to sell. Scott was busy helping his mom with several projects that involved all the toilets being unhooked from the bathrooms and put in the living room while they worked. Mason came running in stating he needed to go potty. Scott told him he would have to go outside in the backyard because there were no toilets. Mason then informed Scott, "Well, Brynn is using the toilet." And sure enough, she had dropped her britches, climbed up on the toilet sitting in the middle of the living room, and gone potty. When Scott told me this I almost died, and then I decided it was probably time to bite the bullet and get her in underwear. We went to the store and she picked out Minnie underwear. When I put it on she acted like it was the greatest thing that ever happened to her. I didn't have any real game plan, just figured we'd see how she did. She did great. One accident the first day. Two the second (figuring out the pooping was a little bit of a hiccup). Now one short week later I dare say we are potty trained. We are still using pull ups at night, much to Brynn's dismay, but even then she wakes me up at least once a night to go potty (honestly I wish she'd just stay asleep and pee in the pull up). Everyone who said girls are easier than boys wasn't kidding!

Allred Reunion

Last month all of the Allred clan (my mom's family) gathered in Zion for the biannual Allred Reunion. We stayed at an awesome place called Clear Creek Ranch in a beautiful lodge that was actually big enough to house all of us and provide ample entertainment for everyone. We had so much fun for 4 straight days that I don't really know where to begin. I guess a thanks to my Grandma and Grandpa, aka Pooky and Papa, would be appropriate since it was all thanks to them.I love this picture of my Grandpa, because it wouldn't be an Allred Reunion without a horseshoe tournament.

Here are my Grandparents with all the great-grandkids who were there...and this isn't even all of them. The amazing thing is Pooky and Papa have a personal relationship with each and every one of them. They never miss a birthday, blessing, baptism, or anything else important that goes on in any one's lives. They are amazingly supportive.

Our days were spent canoeing, swimming in the pond, slip n' sliding, hiking in Zion, playing minute to win it and other games, talking, doing crafts, exploring, and most importantly spending time with all our cousins and friends. The most amazing thing was even with the kids outnumbering the adults, it still felt like a vacation for all of us. The kids were so entertained and had so much fun playing with one another that in 4 days I never heard anyone say they were bored or ask for something to do. There was also not a single minute of TV, movies, or video games the entire time. I didn't know that was possible anymore, and I absolutely LOVED it. Someone mentioned that one sign of a good extended family reunion is when you can't tell which family the kids are from because tehy are all running around together and will run up to any adult when they need something. That was definitely the case there.

Mason and his second cousin, Braden, who are just a couple month apart in age had fun together and thought it was pretty cool they had the same jammies.

I stole this collage from Whitney's blog because it generally sums up the reunion. Click on it to enlarge.

The the hundreds of pictures taken (thanks, Dad, for being the group photographer) there is not a single one of our family together. I'm not sure whose lap Brynn was sitting on for the wagon ride, but here are the rest of us.

We spent a lot of time rowing around in the "dingy" as Mason called it. It was definitely his favorite part of the trip. We could hardly get him of the pond long enough to eat.

Brynn did not share his love of the canoe.

But she did love the bouncy house Grandma Nancy brought. We hardly ever worried about where Brynn was because if the bouncy house was up, she was in it. And there was no shortage of friends for her to play with.

Mason gave the oversized slip n' slide a try and decided it was pretty fun.

Brynn was happy to give it a try but was quite upset when her swimming suit got wet. Apparently she didn't know that was part of the deal.

I mentioned how the adults had as much fun as the kids did. This was especially true for the big boys. Scott, Chris, Brandon, Anthony, and Jordan channeled their inner child and entertained us all with their stunts down the slip n' slide and canoe swamping.

Another collage of Whitney's that shows some of the boys' shenanigans.

It was a great reunion. Can't wait for the next one.

Siblings

I know I haven't been the best at documenting what we've been up to this summer, but trust me, we've been having a lot of fun. The highlight of my summer has definitely been watching these two kids become best friends. Brynn is Mason's little side kick and is always following his lead. I find myself turning to Mason for help when Brynn won't obey me because she'll do whatever he asks her to do. When she is hurt or sad she will often times turn first to Mason for comfort. A hug and kiss from Mason can fix anything.

Mason has become Brynn's protector. He is always looking out for her and trying to make her happy. If anything makes Brynn upset Mason instantly tries to remedy the situation. This can be helpful, like when Brynn is having a hard time going to sleep and Mason will go lay by her to help her settle down. It is not so helpful when he sneaks chips under the table to Brynn when we've told her she can't have any more until she eats the rest of her lunch, or when Brynn is crying for her binky and so Mason goes and gets it for her. It makes me so happy watching these two love each other and it makes me so excited to see them both love ANOTHER SIBLING just as much.

That's right, Mason and Brynn are going to have another sibling the beginning of next year. I am currently 16 weeks and this little one is due to arrive sometime around January 10th. We told Mason and Brynn a few weeks ago and Mason really wanted to keep it a secret. So we've been keeping it our little family secret that we whisper about when no one is around. My body is no longer keeping the secret very well, so we decided it was time to tell family and friends. My pregnancy has been just like Mason's in that it's been pretty easy and completely opposite of Brynn's when I was sick sick sick. Because of this I am 90% sure this little one is a boy. My biggest complaint has been my allergies which have been worse than ever this year and I was unable to take anything for them for the first 12 weeks. Now that I can pop a Zyrtec when I need one, I am much happier.

We are so grateful and excited for another addition to our family.