Happy 2nd Birthday Mason!

Wow! I can't believe another year has gone by. Our precious little boy is growing up so fast! It just so happened that his birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so that was perfect for a party! We decided that since we'd probably be at the beach anyway that we would have his party there. Bowen was such a sweetheart. He got up super early and took the tent and tables down to save our place on the sand. Mase and I followed a couple hours later with all the food and decorations. We got all set up and soon enough people started to trickle in. I'd watched the forecast and it said that it was supposed to be sunny with a few clouds, but it was June Gloom overcast the whole day. That didn't stop us though! All the kids were busy playing in the sand & the adults busy visiting. Actually, Bowen and Jayson kept the kids busy for quite a while by burying their feet in the sand. They thought that was the greatest! Oh the small things that keep 2 & 3 year olds busy! We fired up the grill around noon and BBQ'd up some savory burgers and hotdogs. There was some more playing in the sand, football, & Frisbee throwing. The kids were starting to get pretty worn out so we wrapped up the party with the Happy Birthday song and cake. Mason's expression was so cute as we sang to him. He was grinning from ear to ear! He definitely knew this party was all about him! I guess it's a given that kids like cake...or at least the frosting, so I set the cake down, handed them all a fork and let go at it! At first they were all a bit hesitant looking at the cake, then us, then the cake, at the fork, back at us, wondering "Is this okay? Do you really just want us to dig in and eat this whole cake?" That only lasted a few seconds before they realized it really was ok. Sunburns, full tummies, & a few tired kids later we wrapped up the party and headed home. Mason had sand in every possible crevice so a nice bath was much needed! By then he was so tired he was pretty much begging to have a nap. I'd say it was a successful party for sure! Happy Birthday Mason!!! We love you!!!

San Diego County Fair 2010!

It's fair time again! This was our 2nd year going to the San Diego Fair, so I guess it's a tradition now. We invited our friends, the Mitchells, to come along with us and we all had a blast! The evening started with Swifty the Swine races. Basically, it's cute,little piglets that run around a short track and whoever wins gets a prized Oreo cookie. Mase was a little unsure about the Swifty Snouts. He would NOT let us put one on him! The cute Mitchell Family Now the theme for the fair this year is Taste the Fun. It is widely known that when you go to the SD fair that pretty much everything you eat there will be fried and not so good for you. The newest additions to this years menu...fried butter and chocolate covered bacon. Ya, I know right??? Between the 6 of us we shared: *Smoked turkey legs-yum! *Fried zucchini-yum! *Corn on the cob-yum! *Icecream cones-yum! *And...chocolate covered bacon-not so great. But at least we can say we tried it! Bowen and Jayson holding up their prized chocolate covered bacon...ugh! Icecream was main choice for Mason and Avery. This is what happened when I "tasted" his icecream. Little did he know that I was just doing it so that it wouldn't drip all over his hands. Of course no fair would be complete without carnival rides!!! The kids running across the bridge to get to the rides. Mason was never one of those babies that liked to be thrown up in the air and even now he does not like to swing at the park. So I thought he wasn't going to like the rides. Boy was I wrong! The first ride he and Avery went on were the swings. I'll never forget the excitement that was on that boys face! Priceless! He had an absolute BLAST! I'm still in awe at how big our boy is getting. He did most of the rides by himself where as last year he was barely walking at this time! The swings were followed by... ...a whale ride ...a canoe ride ...carousel, hot air balloon ride, & and to top it off, the Ferris Wheel. We sent the Dads with the kids on that one partly because we didn't have enough tickets for all of us and they wouldn't let me on the ride because of this giant belly. We all left that night feeling sick and exhausted, but it was completely worth it! I can definitely say there will be no more chocolate covered bacon sampling in this family!

Ladies Man

Mason decided that he was brave enough to ask his friend Avery out on a date. To where you ask? To see Toy Story 3 of course! Don't worry, he was a complete gentleman. They only held hands, shared a popcorn, and ended the date with a hug. I couldn't get a very good picture due to the fact that their eyes were glued on the screen, but it was so cute to see the excitement on their faces!

Golfing!

Lately, Mason has been completely intrigued by golf. All he wants to do is "hit the golf ball". I'm just fine with that except he was trying to golf with Bowens clubs...which are a little too big for him. So, Bowen decided that we needed to take a trip to Sport Chalet to find Mason a suitable club; and we did, along with practice wiffle golf balls! Now our sweet little boy has become even more obsessed. He will stay out in the back yard for hours just hitting the golf balls around. He likes when anyone will play with him, but he absolutely loves when Bowen does. Mase is definitely turning into a daddy's boy and I don't hear any complaints from Bowen! As soon as he walks through the door Mason runs to him and asks, "hit dolf (that's how he says it) ball"? Then he'll run and grab Bowen a club and tell him to go outside on the grass. What a little bossy boy! He is actually really good! We took him to the driving range for the first time and he was hitting the ball more accurate than some of the other men out there. Bowen and I were getting such a kick out of watching him!

Keeping a 2 year old busy...

I decided that my house needed some much needed TLC from being neglected this week. But how do I keep a little Mason from trying to help me bleach the bathroom??? Let him get paint all over himself of course! It's always a treat when he gets to paint and today was no exception!

Hard at work

He was mad that I took his picture, but too bad. Look at that face!

These are his masterpieces. Ta Da!

Maybe we'll mail some out for the grandparents to hang on their refrigerators.

Sea Trials

This is the ship that Bowen has been working on, The USNS Charles Drew. He had to head out for Sea Trials for the second time this week. The first time they ran into some problems and had to come back in for repairs. Today they headed back out to sea until tomorrow afternoon *hopefully not longer*. My friend Amanda (a fellow NASSCO wife) and her kids met us on Harbor Island so that we could wave goodbye to our husbands and the kids their daddys.

Mason and Avery

I was able to see Bowen (barely) and he us, but try getting a rambunctious 2 year old to "look reeeeally hard" ya, Mase just knew that was daddys BIG BOAT and he was completely content with that  :)

Watching him sail out today made me so grateful that he doesn't have a sailing job. It's hard enough having him gone for one night. I know I couldn't do it for weeks/months at a time.

The home stretch...almost.

It seems up until now that this pregnancy has gone by fairly fast. I think chasing a two year old, maintaining a home + yard (ya, I rock at mowing the lawn), and having a reeeealy part time job (it's only 2 hours a week) has kept me busy and distracted. But now I feel like I'm starting to slow down. Fatigue shows it's face more and more often as each week passes. And now I have to pee every 20 minutes, so that keeps me up at night...along with heartburn and baby hiccups. Don't get me wrong, I love those little movements! But the vicious cycle continues; up all night, up all day.

The good news is that there is only 8 1/2 more weeks *I'm crossing my fingers* until our little Malachi gets here. I know there will be little rest then, but it'll be completely worth it when I'm holding that little baby in my arms.

On a recent trip home to Utah Mason discovered the book The Little Engine That Could. We read that at least once a day. In it the valuable lesson reminds me, every time, loud and clear

I think I can

                           I think I can

                                                      I think I can

Kai will be here sooner than we know it and until then....I think I can.

FHE in La Jolla

Yesterday afternoon Bowen decided to run down to the beach. Mase and I met him there then we headed over to Windnsea to watch the surfers. Afterwards we surprised our friend, Dave, with a little visit. Mason ate a bowl of cereal with Dave then we headed home. I guess you could count that as FHE? We did!

Mason is obsessed with his new "Flippy Floppys" he loves them and wants to wear them everywhere.

Last plane ride of the year

Every year I take an annual 2 week trip in the summertime to Utah. Well, due to the circumstances of having another baby in August I had to schedule the trip a little earlier this year. It actually turned out great because C.J. was graduating high school. Ya, I know. My littlest brother just graduated! That really makes me feel old! I don't if I'll be able to take it when Chellese graduates. Anyway, Mason and I got in late Saturday evening. Mom and Dad picked us up then we headed to Evelynns house and picked up Chellese. She'd spent the day with all of her favorite cousins while Mom & Dad ran errands.

Funny Story...well, I guess to all who were there it's funny

So on our drive back to Delta, C.J. sent a text message to my mom asking her to get dog food and yellow cheese. Ok? No big deal. Well, she somehow hit a button that made the phone read the text message aloud. So in a robotic...British voice we all heard, "DOG FOOD AND YELLOW CHEESE." I don't know if it was because it was so late, or because it just sounded so funny, or both, but we all started laughing & playing it over and over. All of a sudden we heard from the back seat "YELLOW CHEESE! Ha ha ha ha!!!" Mason caught on to the joke, or at least he thought he had and he believed he was the funniest thing ever...which all made us laugh even harder.

From then on there was never a quite moment because it was fill with the sound of Mason saying, "Dog food yellow cheese! Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Minus Mason screaming for 45 minutes in the car and Dad narrowly avoiding a speeding ticket (just scraped by with a warning) my first day back in the Beehive state was very enjoyable!

Sunday evening C.J. had Seminary graduation. Oh man was I proud (and a little surprised) that he was graduating. I think he was a little surprised he'd graduated too! During all of the talks Mason started getting anxious so we went to do a few loops around the church. We ended up running into one of Bowens mission companions, Clint Nelson, and I chatted with him for a while. It's still so funny to me that Bowen had ties to Delta Utah before he even met me.

When we all got back to the house C.J. made sure I took a picture of him with his Seminary Diploma so that he could send it to Shaun out in the mission field. He must have been proud to actually ask for his picture taken!

That is not his normal smile! He was being such a dork and wouldn't take a normal one.

Mom had made cookies to send Shaun and his companion and there were a few left overs. Mason sure enjoyed his late night snack of milk and cookies before he went to bed that night.

Tuesday was graduation. A lot of family had driven down to see him. As soon as he came walking into the gym we all cheered pretty loud. It was enough to put a big smile on his face and wave to us.

There you have it, the whole Delta High School graduating class of 2010!

Mason absolutely loves his Uncle C.J. (who doesn't?)

He came home for a quick minute that night & I was able to get in my goodbyes, but soon left to go to Grad Night with all his buddies. He had landed a job with the BLM to fight wildfires this season and had to be in Vernon early that next morning to start training and would be there all week.

The rest of the week was filled with hanging out with the family. Blowing bubbles with Pa Pa Kurt and watching Chopper dog try to eat them was sure fun!

So was playing in my old playhouse. I got that for Christmas when I was just 4 years old. Mason loved it too! He made me cookies in the little kitchen that 's in there.

On the last day of school the Res is usually full of kids. The weather was bad enough that day that when we drove by the beach there was nobody there.  We wanted to just put our toes in so that's what we did! Mason had fun finding "big rocks" to throw in the water.

Grandma Jill had organized a "Quilting Bee" for all the women that Friday and Saturday at Evelynns house. She taught us all how to make Log Cabin quilts. It was so much fun to be with all the women and kids! That's one thing that I definitely miss is being around family like that. It was an intense 2 day event, but between Mom and I we got Chelleses quilt top done. I don't have a picture, but trust me, it's super cute!

Evelynn and Mandy

Heather, Chellese, & Mom

Grandma Jill, and Kara

Evelynn and Jerolynn

Jer, if your looking at this your lucky I didn't put up those other pictures :)

Our quilting bee came to an end Saturday evening and we headed back to Delta. I wanted to make it in time to take Mason the the Rabbit Rumble Demolition Derby, but we were a little too late. Instead we ended up going to the movies to see The Prince of Persia. Dad, Mom, Chellese, Mason and I loaded up the car and headed to the T&T Twin Theaters of Delta! The movie was great but Mason didn't watch even so much as a second. The movie didn't get out until after 11pm and he was delirious! As we were walking out to the car he exclaimed in an excited voice, "I liked the moooovie!" This had the same effect as the Yellow Cheese incident. We burst out laughing!

This is what he was wearing and so I think it made it funnier than it should've been. He looked like some crazy cat lady in pajamas accented with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and stuffed dog.

My child is Nuts!

For Family Home Evening the family decided that since they weren't going to be at Mason's birthday party that they would throw a mini one for him. Chellese made, frosted, and decorated a cake with Sesame Street characters, and made a 2 shape out of candles.

Opening presents!

Mase couldn't wait to see what was in the box...

Ta Da! A coaster car! He goes so fast on that little car! We didn't have enough space to take it back with us, but Pa Pa Kurt is going to ship it out soon :)

After playing with that oh-so-fun car all came in for some cake and icecream...aaand then bed.

The last day we were there was so nice. Dad met me, Mase, Mom, and Chellese at the city park for a picnic.  Mason had fun running around and playing in the waterfall.

This is his picture taking face about 3/4 of the time.

Bama Stef!

 I wanted to make this a good long trip because I knew we weren't going to be out there again until Christmas. Also, this was Masons last "free" airplane ride and the last time out there as the only grandchild to Pa Pa Kurt and Bama Stef. Trust me, he got more than his share of loves from them!

It was such a fun trip and I can't wait to visit again. Although, coming home to my husband and San Diego aren't so bad...ya, it's pretty much the best thing ever!