Christmas Morning

We started off our Christmas morning like any other day..., Mason wakes up.., gets his bottle....., snuggles with his mom and dad and watches the Disney channel. Later, Mason walked down the hallway to find his beloved chair he's been dreaming about waiting for him. Thanks Auntie Michele and Uncle Dave! He went right to it and climbed in. Mason then opened his drill and really could care less about the other toys and treats that waited for him under the tree. He has his drill and his chair.., what more could a boy want?!?!?!

He did try and drill a few presents open.
And by slight coaxing, we were able to get him off his chair for a few minutes.
The best part of Christmas morning was when we found Mason in his chair unwrapping a twix candy bar. We have no idea where it came from but, he found it, opened it on his own and shoveled it in his mouth faster than fast!

We had our traditional big Christmas breakfast and then enjoyed the day. It was it was a good day!
We hope your holidays were just as wonderful as ours!

Christmas Eve

We had a fabulous Christmas Eve. The Wilkinson crew came over for a a dinner and festivities. We started with appetizers: bacon wrapped jalapenos, bacon wrapped water chestnuts (can you sense the theme.., I'm into bacon lately), spinach dip and other yummy treats.
After dinner, we opened gifts from each other. Mason got a killer Craftsman tool set. I think it's just as good as Dan's.

I got these super cool pottery, mushroom garden stakes. They make them at my brother in-laws work, the Sugar Post. I can't wait to put them in my garden.We made window catchers. I loved these things as a kid.., and thought they'd be a fun activity for teh kids. I sure didn't remember them being as hard as they were to do! Perhaps it's because I didn't care as kid if my colors mixed in together.Then for the pictures of the cousins. Is it it possible to snap a shot with out the 17 month old or the 9 year old moving?????
After a few hundred shots..., this is the best picture of the 4 kids.

All I want for Christmas is.....,

It was a bit obvious what Mason wanted for Christmas when I caught him doing this....., He pushed his high chair down the hallway, placed it in front of the TV and then crawled in to watch his favorite shows.
Do you think the kid wants a chair his size for Christmas????

Snowy Days

Lobsters

We had some visitors come to our house last weekend. I thought for Mason would be scared of the lobsters.., but.., nope.., not our son. Mason had no problem reaching his tiny hand in the cooler, pulling out a spinney creature and throwing it in the pot. He completely cracked us up. He would take them from the pot, place them on the floor and then put his face close to them and talk to them in his gibberish. I'm sure he was saying some thing along the lines of, 'Mmmmm.., you're gonna taste Soooo good!' I'm not sure, but that's what it sounded like.

Food Storage

I went last night with our Stake to the local cannery for the first time. Dan and I have a 72 hour kit for our family and we're pretty good with our 3 month supply of food that we rotate through..., but have nothing for long term food storage. In all honestly, I've been avoiding the start of it because it seems some over whelming. I mean.., come on..., Do we, a family of 4, really need 1200 pounds of grains in storage to sustain us for 1 year? And 480 pounds of legumes? Where would I store all of the 480 size-10 cans in our tiny house? And then the cost of it all! How could anyone afford that? I still remember a roommate from my freshman year of college actually took out a loan for 5,000 to purchase a 2 year supply of long term food storage. She kept it stacked in her bed room.., under her bed in the closet, etc. I equate long-term food storage to crazys like her and I really shouldn't. So.., despite me dreading and avoiding it..., I went with my friend, Melissa, to the cannery. She had been one other time and her, some what knowing the ropes, was able to help me, the first timer. Let me just say.., it was SO easy! And cheap! And fast! There's no reason to dread starting your long term food storage! I am here to say that you don't need a lot of time, of money or even smarts to start. You just need to have a game plan of what is going to work for your family. I'm not sure if our little family will ever have enough to feed us for a year.., or even 6 months for that matter. I do know that I will start making a dent in our long term food storage goal and that each month we will have a little more added to our collection. Also.., In case of a natural disaster, you're all welcome to our house to share in our white rice, potatoes flakes and dried apples. Please just bring some water. I'm still working on how and where to store that!

Pool Time

For our anniversary this year, my cute husband got me a camera I've having wanting for months. It's an Olympus SW 850 and I love it! You can throw it in the water, freeze it, drop it..., it's pretty much indestructible. Dan calls it "Linda-Proof'. Saturday we tried it out in the pool for the first time and it rocked! We took tons of pictures. I'll spare you all of them and just post a few of the highlights. Mason is our little fish. He loves the water and especially this pool that has the gradual 'beach-like' entry way in to the pool.
In parts of the pool there are pipes, buckets, etc with which the kids could play. Mason couldn't get enough of this one pipe that shot out water. He loved putting his head in and out of the water spray.
Auntie Renee and Mason

Rachel and Mason

This picture is for you Michele. Here's the belly in full form. It's HUGE!

RachelHannah

Thanksgiving

This picture says it all about our Thanksgiving. Actually.., this was the sole picture of the day. It did quite capture our son's mood for the day though.

We spent part of Thanksgiving with my sister and her family and part with dan's sister in the evening. Despite completely forgetting to put any sugar in my pumpkin pies, the holiday was great.

Mason's First Play Date

We loved having the girls to our house! I'm pretty sure the moms had a better time catching up then the kids did playing though. At this age, all kids do is pretty much play by them selves and occasionally try and steal a toy from some one else. It also did make me realize that I need to plan more of these type of things for me.., I mean.., for Mason.

I love Costco!!!!

Sunday, I was cooking dinner, talking on the phone and trying to deal with a rug rat at my feet. I had not noticed that the water in my steamer on the stove was had dried up. I get off the phone, pull the steamer off the stove only to smell this nasty smell. As I look down I see molten lava pouring out of the bottom of my pot on to my stove! It took me a few seconds to figure out that it was the bottom of my pot that had actually melted! Have you ever seen that one before???? I sure haven't. Dan grabbed Mason and strapped him in his high chair to keep him out of the kitchen. With Mason hollering in the back ground because he wanted to be part of the commotion, Dan proceeded to pull the molten lava off the stove. Most came off.., along with the stove's enamel as well. Not realizing my crock pot lid was in the sink.., I moved the pot from the stove to the sink thinking it would cool it down quickly with water. Sure enough, it cracked my crock pot lid. Have you ever tried to just replace the a crock pot lid? Well.., you pretty can't! I was so ticked because not only have I loved this pot and pan set.., but I loved my crock pot. Now this freaky, crazy story does have a happy ending. With my friend who works at Costco's encouragement, I took the pot and pan set back to Costco only for them to replace the entire set with a brand new one. Well., that's not all my friends. In chatting with the return lady at Costco about how the whole pot experience. She was first shocked and had to show every one the pot. Then she said some thing that completely shocked me. She wanted me to bring back my crock pot as well because she wanted to replace that bad boy too. How's that for customer service? I love Costco!

Progress!!!

FRIDAY MORNINGFRIDAY EVENING
Dan and his 3 brothers framed in the entire addition as well as added plywood to the outside in less than 7 hours. We are THRILLED to have this much progress happen in one day and are incredibly grateful for the help!!!

Dan and his brothers (L to R - Ben, Dan, Dave and Robert)

How did we get such a beautiful boy????

peek a boo photos did a fabulous job with capturing Mason's personality.., even with him being cranky and napless. Mason even made their blog.

GO UTES!!!!!

UTES 13 TCU 10