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.