Thanksgiving Weekend

We had the opportunity of spending this Thanksgiving with Rob’s family down in Salt Lake. We arrived about 9am. Rob spent the day hanging out with his little bro Adam; Mason got to play with the girls, and I helped do some cooking. I only sliced my finger once! About 3:50 the guests started to arrive. Rob’s step-brother Nate, and his family were the first to come. Grandpa Matheson followed; then Rob’s uncle Frank and fam, some of Brian’s cousins, and then the Iraqi/Pakistan crew. (These are refugees which have moved close to the neighborhood Rob’s family has befriended; very interesting to hear about their experiences in the Middle East!) Frank’s wife is from India, so both sides of the globe were very well represented. Everyone brought a traditional food or two which made an awesome meal!

That night we went to see Clayton and Jean for some DELICIOUS pumpkin pie, and then off to Roy again.

Friday we went shopping for a Christmas tree and a few “stocking stuffers”. It’s fun living in a place where you can hit a lot of different stores…and having a toddler so you can shop in front of him w/o him really catching on…and having a toddler who appreciates toys and so will appreciate Christmas—not that that’s all Christmas is about…. I don’t know what I’m going to do next year when he’s old enough to understand.

Saturday we put up our Christmas tree. Mason was very helpful as shown in the video below:

It was so funny to see him get so excited about the lights and the red and silver balls! Because of his excitement (and his need to play with the shiny, round things) we decided not to decorate the bottom half of the tree. (Yes he can still reach that little red one. I need to move it).

All in all I think it’s a very pretty tree, and we keep it lit all the time! (Because like Mason, I am a sucker for little lights—and please notice the Dt coke can on top. This is the same can which has adorned our Christmas trees ever since we got married).

After the Christmas tree we got the nativity scene put up. Mason has a BLAST moving the little figures around, and he knows the shepherd is the one with the stick. (For some reason, he does not allow one of the cows or the camel to be in the cave/stable with everyone else).

And this is the part where disaster strikes. I was trying to decide what to do with a beautiful Christmas candy house I have, when all the sudden I heard running and then tripping over garland. I heard Mason start crying and turned around to see him sprawled on the floor. Now, in my defense, he falls and cries all the time so my reaction time was not very superb. Rob got to him before I did, and when he lifted him up there was blood all over his face! I started swearing, and Rob did the more practical thing of taking him to the sink to wash him off. He starts yelling at me to call his brother Paul to see what we should do. I said, “He’s not going to know anything we don’t know”, but…I did it anyway. He didn’t answer and I came back in the room and got a bag of ice. We stuck it on his forehead and off to his doctor,s/the insta-care we went. Now, I’ve always known this day was going to come, but I had hoped it would be later rather than sooner. I am MOST GRATEFUL this year, though, that it happened when Rob was around. Mason was screaming bloody murder, but I think it was more from the cold of the ice than anything. Once we got in the nurse cleaned it up and the doctor concluded that super glue was the best solution. Once there was no more ice on his head and his wound was glued shut he calmed back to his normal self.

I think Rob and I were more traumatized than Mason, so to calm ourselves we went to Wingers. haha! When we got home there was a lot of blood to clean up off of people and carpets and cabinets. I can’t believe how much facial injuries bleed! Later that day Rob and Mason went down to Salt Lake for a couple hours to spend time with Adam on his birthday, and I took care of a few Christmas things. It was a big day for father and son, and by 8pm I found them both like this in front of the movie Cars:

It was a VERY exciting/unusual/adrenaline rush weekend!

Halloween-&- The “Feminine” Side of Mason :)

Halloween was super fun! Since Mason loves dogs so much, that was his costume this year. Our ward had a chili cook-off and trunk-or-treat. The chili was AMAZING and the company was a lot of fun. Mason may not know how to say “trick-or-treat” but he can hold out a beggars hand and grab candy like the best of them. HE LOVED IT! Here he is with his basket of goodies and a couple of fellow doggy friends who came to the party.

On Sunday Rob had to fly out to Chicago for work. This meant a trip to Fillmore for Mason and I. We had so much fun! We did the usual such as go for walks, drive trucks, and talk to the great Grandparents’ cow, but Mason also did some fun things which may be classified as more on the “feminine” side…

He did dishes,

some tumbling,

some dancing,

ignored the man of the house (at the beginning of this video my dad his telling him to stop),

talked on the phone,

and did some delegating. My parents had a bunch of balloons left over from Halloween. Many were tied up in a bunch, and he kept giving them to my mom or dad to shake. At one point he saw that there were two loose balloons. He picked up one, looked at it, and then handed it to my dad (my mom had the balloon bunch). He then picked up the other one, looked at it, and then handed it to me. Next he pointed and grunted at each of us as if to say “get to work shaking those balloons and entertaining me”.

What can I say? We had fun!

Cousins!!!

Last Friday (holy cow, I can’t believe it’s already been a week ago!), Rob’s brother and family drove down all the way from Washington for a fun visit! So much to say and so much to do that I’d better just tell the story in pictures with one or two line captions.

Friday Night

Aaron, Brit, June (2.8) and Logan (15 months) came to our house in Roy. The night was spent watching Mulan and eating delicious popsicles.

 

Saturday

Saturday morning we met Grandpa Clayton and his friend Jean for breakfast at Marie Calendar’s. They gave each of the grandkids some fun books.

 

Next the guys went shooting while the women-folk and kids went to the zoo with Grandma Strong and Aunt Nicole and Julia. The best part was the carousel!

 

That night we all attended an extended family party in Salt Lake, then home again, home again to baths and bedtime.

Sunday

Sunday we had a leisurely morning and went to church in the afternoon. (Mary Ann and Clayton, you owe me big bucks for this pic).

  (no, I am not in any of these pictures; my way cute sister-in-law is though!) Afterwards we drove to the cabin near Oakley.

Monday

Monday we spent at the cabin, and woke up to four inches of snow!!! This meant a morning of pulling kids behind the suburban in a sled. So much fun!

Since we hadn’t really planned on snow, the kids were soon wet and we didn’t have TONS of clothes for back-up, so we were off again by the early afternoon. That night Brit and Aaron went to SL to celebrate their anniversary (Happy Anniversary last month!) while we watched the kids. It was SUCH A BLAST to have them down, and we MISS having them closer. To get a much better write-up of the weekend and more cute, cute pics, (and because honestly, her blog is much cuter than mine) please visit Brit’s blog at: http://stevens1007.blogspot.com/ . YEA!

The Cabin—&—My Two Boys

The Cabin

This past weekend we had the opportunity to hang out with Rob’s family at their cabin near Oakley, Ut. The bright yellow aspens contrasted beautifully with the dark green pines! One of the families has horses, and Mason had fun poking his finger into the nose of a very patient horse. The inlaws and outlaws went for a ride in the mountains in the back of our old truck. We also drove to the picturesque Smith & Moorehouse reservoir. Rob took me on the four wheeler into the mountains which were gorgeous. We rode back late in the day, with the sun lying low on the horizon; making our surroundings appear to be pillowy soft with gilded edges. It was exceptionally relaxing to know Mason was safe with the grandparents back at the cabin while Rob and I had some time to ourselves. The good Lord really blesses us. Thanks so much to Rob’s family for the fun visit (and for drinking all of Mason's whole milk necessitating another trip to the store).

Baby Boy #2

Today I had my ‘target ultrasound’ to make sure baby is growing properly. It was amazing to see his little hands and feet and face! I also got to see his heart and the four chambers. This was most cool to me, because although I’ve seen many pictures and movies about the heart; and I’ve seen pigs and other animals’ hearts; this was my baby’s and I just thought it was awesome (plus this heart was in full function and when you dissect an animal that is usually not the case). The ultrasound tech said everything looked perfect and he’s in a great position. His length is 6 days ahead of schedule and his weight (1 lb 6 oz) is 5 days over, but that that was ok. She also said he has a cute little nose and a very round little forehead; haha! Sounds like Mason all over again already… Here is a picture of his little foot and his onery little face (I apologize if ultrasound pictures gross anyone out).

My Mason

Yesterday Mason turned 18 months and also had his first real day of nursery! We only had to rescue him twice for being sad and missing us, so I count it as a success. Today he had his 18 month check-up and his last shot until kindergarten!!!! YEA! Here are his stats: * 25.13 lbs, 50th percentile * 32.5 inches, 50th percentile. He grew TWO full inches since his last appointment; and he’s right there in the middle! The PA said he looks very healthy, wealthy and wise (ok, maybe not the wealthy part). He is where he should be developmentally except for his speech. We were told just to keep working with him on it. The nurse and dr were VERY impressed because he stayed quite calm during the entire visit. The dr kept saying over and over again “most 18 months old just scream and scream”, but not my Mason- as the nurse said, “he’s the perfect specimen of a little boy”!!! And now, for my memory’s sake, some of his daily doings and likes and dislikes.

LIKES:

• cars, trucks, and diesels especially
• the Disney movie “Cars”
• Airplanes
• the great outdoors
• any furry, four-legged creature
• rocks
• water (as in rivers, lakes, etc)!!!
• bath time and brushing his teeth
• his slide and ladder
• the park
• swings
• BOOKS!
• milk, marshmallows, peaches, tomatoes, bread, pasta, juice, kidney beans, and carrots
• WHEELS!

DISLIKES:

• the vacuum
• bedtime/naptime
• being indoors
• the shower
• baths at other people’s houses
• getting his diaper on

DAILY DOINGS

Every day we go for a walk outside, and every day he stops at the rock piles and throws rocks around. He especially has fun when the gutter has water in it and he can throw rocks into the water. He waves at every car/truck/etc which drives by. He loves watching dirt fall from his hands/shovel to the ground. We read several books several times a day. He climbs up his treehouse and slides down the slide; makes me roll his truck up the slide to him; and then makes me push him in the swing. He takes a bath each morning and LOVES IT! Each afternoon we go for a little drive to put him down for his nap. Every night he runs to his daddy when he walks in the door from work, and immediately becomes his best friend and most advent follower. I love my little Mason and cannot imagine life without him :)

Those Su-ummer Ni-IIGGHHTS!!!

Well I’m afraid it’s official; those hot summer days and wonderful summer nights are at an end. How do I know?- three reasons:

1) The fall leaves have come (and are mostly gone) in the mountains. The last Saturday in September we went for a four-wheeler ride with Clayton and his friend Jean in Fillmore. 

2). There is no longer water running at the splash pad in the park; we can no longer stay past 7:30pm because it is dark; and we have to wear jackets now.

3). A little propane fire goes a long way when the sun goes down. By the time we got done with dinner and cleaning and resting a moment this evening, it was already too late to go to the park. We thought we’d be creative and do some homemade finger painting, but as luck would have it we found the ingredients to s’mores before we found the food coloring for finger painting.

Well summer, you have been a friend as always. Fall we welcome you! And…the past couple of cool nights have been a very vivid reminder that winter is peeking his head around the corner. As always I’ll miss you summer! Please come more quickly this next time around than you have in the past.Until we meet again…