Teaching him early...

Mason is such a big help around the house! He loves to learn all about the things that I do, and then he wants to do them himself!

Laundary is a never ending task, as I'm sure most of you will agree! It is much better when you have a little helper, though! As soon as I start filling the washing machine, Mason gets sooo excited, and just has to watch the water fill it up, and open and close the lid a few times. When it is time to fold the clothes, he is always there to help, as well. Often, I'll be bringing a pile of laundary upstairs, and I'll come down to see that he has started bringing a couple things up the stairs, too! :) These pictures were actually taken quite a few months ago, but they fit so well with this subject, so I put them in.

Mason does such a thorough job of making sure that we didn't miss anything, he always wants to get into the hamper to check!! (this picture is just a couple weeks ago).

Another way that Mason helps is to make sure that he doesn't get any cavities! This is very helpful, since new teeth have been appearing weekly lately...I think his total count is up to 15 now! :)

I would have to say that Mason's favorite task would be stirring things. Each and everytime that he sees me at the stove, he has to get up and watch. He's never happier than when I give him his own spoon and let him help stir. He enjoys this so much, that he practices this skill every chance that he gets, using clean pots and utensils, and toys or clothes that he has access to.

Here he is stirring around his magnetic cow...isn't he so smart to choose something that could actually be food if it were real?

Our little boy is very strong and never hesitates to help move boxes that don't belong in the kitchen. I see a future for him in helping the Elder's Quorum move people in and out! :)

Whenever I fill the sink to wash dishes, Mason loves to see the bubbles that result. I started skimming the bubbles off of the top and letting him play with them on the ground, while I actually cleaned the dishes. Soon, he decided to start cleaning other areas of the house, and toddled into the living room and started scrubbing the piano bench. :)

I have soon learned that it's best to keep Mason out of the kitchen while I'm trying to sweep and mop the floor. This is kind of hard, so I've resorted to just strapping him into his chair and letting him watch me. Of course, as soon as he sees what I'm doing, he wants to help. It's our tradition that when I'm done with the broom, he gets to use it to sweep to his heart's content. :)

Breakfast with Cat

A couple weeks ago, my friend from college, Cat, and I met for breakfast. Even though we live relatively close to each other, we live at opposite sides of the city, so we don't get together as often as we should. Life is busy for both of us, and it was so fun to catch up and chat about old times! My friends and life that I had when I lived at the Colony was such a big part of shaping who I am now, and I'm always grateful for any chance to reminisce!

Mason was pretty good and let us talk for awhile before trying to climb out. Then, we just let him play under our table. :)

The worth of a blog....

Today, as I was sitting at a table at my cousin's wedding reception, eating different kinds of cheeses and crackers and enjoying the delicious punch, the subject of blogs came up. I have to admit that when my sisters and mom and I get together, that topic comes up quite frequently, we are all professed addicts. Anyways, I can't remember why Diana and I started talking about them, but David was in between us and, of course, had to put in his two cents.



Now David is a very supportive husband of most of my endeavors. He looks at the pictures that I take; he doesn't complain when I practice the piano, even though it's in the same room as our tv; he happily watches Mason so I can persue my love of running; and he attends the many family gatherings that my family has and enjoys them!

But my recent hobby of blogging/facebook is not something that he has caught the vision of, yet. So, of course, when Diana and I started telling each other that it's been awhile since the other one had put up a post, and that we were getting tired of checking the blog every day with no update, David had to say something. He said something to the effect that I spend too much time on the computer and he always sees me looking at people's pages that I don't know.

Well, that is partly true, sometimes I do look at people's page with whom the only connection that I have is that their friend wrote a comment on my old roommate's cousin's page. I have been trying to make an effort recently to not surf so much, and just concentrate on people that I know directly. Somehow that has expanded to include a variety of people that are only "once removed" from me, whom I have come to know and enjoy reading about, even though I'm sure that they have no idea who I am.

Anyways, David's comments led me to return to the post that I have mentally been composing for the last couple weeks or so:

I've just been thinking about how grateful I am for technology, and the ability that it has given us to stay in touch. My mom often mentions that she is jealous that we have email and blogs to keep in touch with people that once were a big presence in our lives, but because of distance, we no longer get to see very often, if at all. I think about it, and I agree, if I had to rely on "real" letters and phone calls, I definitely would have lost touch with many people already. I haven't even sent out any Christmas cards yet!

Even with the ease of email, the correspondences have become less and less frequent. Then, I discovered blogging. Now, I feel much more in touch with so many more people who are so important to me.

Because of blogs, digital photography and email, I am not only able to hear about the antics of my old roommates' children, but I get to see the pictures of their mischieviousness. I get to read about the lives of friends that still live close, but not as close, and remember that it's time to arrange a get together. I am reminded about how much I enjoy old mission companions' and roommates' wit and outlook on life. I get to see pictures and get to read about the milestones of my cousin's baby, whom I would otherwise only get to see about once a year very briefly. I even get a front row seat in the adventures of my sister's first few months of marriage, and get to laugh about and marvel at the things that my nieces and nephews do that might not make it into my conversations with my other sister.

As I mentioned, besides peeking into my friends' lives, I am also slowly adding a list of perfect strangers to my list of blogs to check. I find encouragement through reading about other people's struggles and views, it validates some of my own struggles and thoughts as well.

Through the pictures and stories, I feel like I am once again apart of these people's lives who are so dear to me. I find myself thinking about them throughout the course of the day and wondering how things are going for them. This correspondence has made my life richer as I've remembered the great blessings of friendship and love that I have enjoyed in my life.

So...what is the conclusion of this long and rambling post? Despite what my wonderful husband thinks, there is value to blogging and I'm not about to quit!

Zoo Days, Round Two

A couple weeks ago, our friends Melody and Camden invited us to go to the zoo. They were meeting up with a group of people from their old ward, which so happens to be our old ward, as well. It was a lot of fun to spend time there. Once again, even though Mason had maybe a 20 minute nap in the car ride over, he was wide awake and happy the whole time. He loves looking at all of the animals. Because we had a bird's nest with baby birds outside of our door, I was teaching him the sign for bird. He would do that sign whenever he saw an animal. I love exposing Mason to new and different things!

He was so excited to see the elephant that we couldn't get him to turn away from it, even to pose for a picture. :)

It was fun to be with other moms who are at the same stage in raising kids. What would we do without strollers? I don't want to think about, I'm just grateful that someone invented them way back when...

Mason and Camden always seem to enjoy each other's company. Here they are catching each other up on the happenings of the day.

Mason doesn't look very happy on the train ride, but it's because he wanted to be jumping off the train and exploring all of the cool nature out side.

After a long day, these cute boys were ready for a much deserved nap!

Swimming Pool Nazi

Included in the HOA fees of the townhomes that we live in is a swimming pool. It is not very big, but it has sure been refreshing during the past hot hot days that we've been experiencing! The other day, after Mason's nap, we decided to go for a swim. As I'm sure those of you with small children can relate, it takes a bit of preparation to take a little one swimming. After putting on his Little Swimmers and swim suit, I made sure that he was covered in SPF 50 sunscreen. Then, I packed the towels, floaties, water and snacks that we would need in the pool. As you can imagine, my hands were pretty full walking up to the pool. Since it is a private pool, I also had to insert our key and swing open the heavy gate while carrying all of our stuff and, most imporantly, Mason.

Anyways, as soon as Mason saw the water, he got really excited because he knew that he was going to get to go into the pool. After spreading out our stuff, I carried him and his floatie into the pool. He was splashing around and smiling and laughing, I just knew that the 3-4 other people there thought that he was so cute! :) Well, we had been in the pool maybe two or three minutes when a man sunbathing by the side caught our eye. He asked me "is he wearing rubber diapers?"

I was a bit surprised by this question, but I figured that he was just getting information for himself, perhaps for his own children. I smiled, and in a very friendly way answered that no, he was wearing the Pampers Little Swimmers. After I told him this, he remained expressionless, so I continued to elaborate, explaining that they are specifically designed for little kids to wear in the water. After hearing this, with not a hint of congeniality, he stated "the pool rules say that they have to wear rubber diapers to get in".

I was completely taken aback by this, I had not imagined that this was the reason why he had struck up this specific conversation. I told him that I had never heard of rubber diapers, let alone seen any place where I could purchase them. I asked him where I would be able to get them, and explained that I had not realized that that was a pool rule. He told me he did not know and continued to stare at us.

Who could kick out such a cute boy as this? Here he is, at home before we went swimming.

In hindsight, I wish that I would have just stayed in the pool, but, he was making me feel very uncomfortable, and I knew that everyone in the area had heard. I said to Mason, loudly enough for our new 'friend' to hear, "we have to leave, we just got kicked out." Of course, Mason was not very happy about this, but what could he do?

As I was drying Mason off, a father that was there watching his kids play told me how ridiculous and rude he thought the other man was, and I had to agree. I noticed the list of pool rules and scanned through them. They were all very generic rules like no glass or running. I went over the man and asked him where the 'rubber diaper rule' was since it was not posted. He told me in a very arrogant tone, "oh, there are 5 pages of pool rules in the covenants. You can look it up there or on the internet".

Look how sad Mason gets when he has to get out of the pool!

So, Mason and I went home, I first tried to look up these rules on the internet, but I couldn't find them, so I decided to call the HOA directly. The person that I talked with seemed surprised at my question. After placing me on hold for a minute or two, he came back and told me that he had just spoken with the manager, and she said she had never heard of such a rule! He said that if anyone ever bothered us about it again, to say that we spoke with the manager, and that swim diapers are just fine.

Only about half an hour had passed, so we went back to the pool. I loudly told my ally, the other parent there, what had happened, and Mason and I got back into the pool. The man who had first questioned us came over to see what had happened. I told him that I called and spoke with the manager and she said that she had never heard of such a rule. He looked at me incredulously and was like "who did you speak to." When I told him the manager's name, he acted surprised and went back to his lawn chair.

To his credit, he later came over and apologized.

So that's our experience with the pool nazi. :)

One of Mason's oldest friends....

Some of our really good friends are the Mattinson's (Ryan, Penny and Madilyn). Ryan and I were friends in highschool, and even worked at Chick-fil-A together. We loosely kept in touch over the years, and when he and his wife, Penny, moved from Utah to Colorado; we started hanging out together as couples. All four of us became fast friends, and the fact that Penny and I were both expecting gave us lots to talk about and lots in common. We saw each other nearly every weekend while we were pregnant; so we know that Mason and Madi are really good friends, too!

Sadly, when they bought their house, it was way up North in Commerce City, which is between 45 minutes and and hour away. Although we still keep in touch, we don't see each other nearly as much as we used to.

A couple weeks ago, I was up in that area for another reason, and so Mason and I stopped by to say hello.




In this picture, I was a week away from going into labor. Penny delivered a little less than four months later.










Here are the four of us, almost exactly a year later. Can you tell which picture we are the most comforatable in? :)










Mason and Madi had such a fun time playing together. We always joke that if they ever end up getting married, we'll have some cute pictures to put in their wedding video!














Here they are, enjoying a nice meal together.

Learning Sign Language

I have heard from several different places that signing with your baby is really beneficial. I don't do it as much as I should, but I try to always sign "milk" for Mason when he is drinking it, and when he wants it, etc.

I was delighted when I saw him doing this:

Even though it is not the true sign for milk, he was trying, and he was communicating! I love the serious look on his face, he always gets this serious when asking for something, like his life depends on it. :)

Here he is, enjoying the result of asking for his milk. Mason loves milk so much! When I weaned him on his 1st birthday, he had no trouble at all, just as long as he had a nice cup of milk nearby!

Here's another cute picture that I took on the same day. He loves his spiderman chair, and usually brings all sorts of toys over to play with while he sits in the chair.