Very Merry Indeed

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We sure did in the Mason household. We had a busy 2 days filled of laughter, love and fun! Christmas Eve started off with the kids opening their PJ's and their presents for each other. We knew we would get home late so we wanted to do this early so the kids could go to bed when we got home. Aspen was so excited to give Danny his new cars! This year she picked out his present all by herself. Danny gave Aspen a my little pony and if you can't tell from the picture Aspen was very excited!

Than we went up to the Masons for the rest of the night. We started off opening presents. The first present was a slideshow of our San Francisco trip that we gave to Tyler's parents. I love being able to give a gift that I have spent extra time and thought into and this was the perfect gift this year. It was so much fun to watch. Saying that the everyone got spoiled is an understatement, especially the kids! They open present after present! A personal favorite was when Aspen opened her new clothes for her bitty baby (named Curious George) she ran into the other room and said, "Curious George guess what you got new clothes!" She was so excited to put them on her. Danny also got a really cool new trike. This is not anything I have ever seen before but is fully decked out. Both kids enjoy that present. In fact that is the great thing about having my kids close together they love whatever they both get and play with it often! This year Nick brought a friend named Zoe. She is so cute and we love her. It was fun to have her part of our day. After presents the kids took a very short nap and than we ate a delicious dinner. Than it was time to head to Aunt Sandis for spiritual time. We sang lots of Christmas songs and than they told the McLaughlin story. This has always been Tyler's favorite part of Christmas eve and I'm glad we could be there for it. Its nice to have time that is remembering what Christmas is really about instead of just presents!

Christmas morning was very special. Both kids knew exactly which stuff was there's and they were so excited to play with what Santa had brought them! The big present Aspen got was dress up clothes and a new princess bin to put everything in. Santa had all the dresses laid out so Aspen could see them, but she was so excited about her bins the first thing she did was put them all away! But throughout the day she did try most of them on! Danny's big present was a big tool bench. He needed something he didn't get in trouble for pounding!

With Christmas being on a Sunday things were a little different than normal. It was our year to be with the Mason's so they came down to see what the kids got from Santa, but they needed to get back to open their presents. So I made a yummy Christmas brunch of baked french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, and Tyler made a yummy orange banana smoothie. It was fun to have some family time on Christmas. The kids looked so cute in their new Christmas outfits. I remember being so excited to wear my new Christmas dress when I was little. After our breakfast Tyler's parents, Nick, Sarah, my parents, my Grandma Sperry and Mikes family all came to our ward to hear Tyler sing a duet in our Christmas program. I loved having Christmas on a Sunday and being able to celebrate Christ by listening to music was a very sacred experience. Tyler sang beautifully and I felt special to hear him sing.

The rest of the day was spent at my parents house. Rob and J were in AZ with her family, but everyone else was there. I can't believe we all got even more presents. It is so much fun for me to watch everyone open their presents. The number 1 thing Aspen had asked for this Christmas was a castle. Aspen eyes light up and she was thrilled with her huge castle. I love how excited the kids get to open everything and than show their cousins. I was most excited to give my parents a picture frame with an 8x10 picture of them with all their grand-kids surrounded by all 7 of their hand prints. There were very surprised and delighted. I was also super excited to get a stunning picture in an amazing frame of Jesus looking over Jerusalem. This is just what we needed for our family room. After presents we ate yet another yummy meal and than the kids played while the adults rested and talked.

I can honestly say this was on of the most relaxing and enjoyable Christmas. I didn't felt rushed to get anywhere and it was a perfect 2 days. I am especially thankful to my Savior who without his death there would be no reason to celebrate his birth. I am everything because of Him and I feel so honored to have someone who loves me so perfectly. This is one of my new favorite pictures of Christmas time.

Halloween Day

We woke up Halloween morning and I made Tyler some yummy pumpkin pancakes for his birthday. This was while he went running to try out his new shoes he got from my parents. He loves them. Than we gave him his presents! It was a great morning. Since it was Tyler's birthday he didn't really work a lot. For lunch we went to Tucanos, which has been a tradition ever since we were married. Than for dinner Tylers parents took us out to Magelbys Fresh! Its so much fun to have Tyler's birthday on a holiday because its a non stop party all day!

Aspen has known for a long time that she wanted to be Jessie for Halloween. And she also decided that Danny would be Woody with her! So we had the cutest toy story kids I know. We first went around our neighborhood with Kathy and Allen. Than we met up with all the Sperrys at my parents house and did a little more trick or treating there. It was fun to stop at my Grandma's house and let her see the kids. Danny got really into trick or treating and especially loved getting so much candy. He has a sweet tooth for sure.

In memory of Grandpa Mason

Herbert Keith Mason 9/27/1932 ~ 10/25/2011 Herbert Keith Mason, Our loving father and grandfather, 79 passed away October 25, 2011. He was born on September 27th 1932 in Blackfoot Idaho to Florence Hinkley Hoops and Herbert Spencer Mason. He married Marcia Allen on August 27th 1958 in the Idaho Falls temple. He was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He served two missions, one in Uruguay and later with his sweetheart in the Cochabamba Bolivian Temple. He served in the United States Air Force where he was a champion boxer and a contender for the 1952 Olympics, but retired instead, to serve his LDS mission. He is survived by his son, Allen (Kathy; daughters, Shelly Mason and Jolynn Winn (John); sister, Yerda Payne; 10 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Parents, sister, Pat Lee and brother, Jay Mason. Funeral services will be held on Saturday October 29th 11:00 am at the Granite 6th ward chapel 9245 S. Quail Run (2300 east). Viewing will be held Friday October 28th 6"00-8:00 pm and Saturday morning 9:30-10:45 am at the same location. Interment will be at Provo City Cemetery at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Danny is 18 months

Danny was 18 months back in October. Where has the time gone. Here is his stats:

• 31 inches long (30%)
• 20lbs 15 oz (10%)
• Head Circ: 48.5 cm (50%)

This was by far Danny's biggest growth spurt for weight. He has pretty much always been less that 3% so it was great to see him grow. He is as healthy as ever. Here are some things Danny is doing:

• He is a much better eater. He will try everything at least once. Loves spicy food just like his daddy. If he doesn't like something he will spit it out! Has a sweet tooth. Loves anything sweet including candy, but especially fruit.
• He is talking like crazy. He mimics everything we say even if others don't understand him we usually do. I am amazed how well he can already communicate.
• He is so polite, always saying excuse me, thank you, and please.
• He loves climbing even more than Aspen
• Starting to finally love the water and swimming
• He loves pointing and kissing my tummy and saying baby
• Shares and plays with Aspen! They are best buds.
• Loves cars and anything to do with cars.

Danny I love being your mom. You have so much personality and are so crazy. You have more energy than you know what to do with! You hate to take naps and you cry every time I put you down. You give me a look like I have ruined your whole life. Thankfully you still eventually fall asleep and take a 1-2 hour nap. You make me laugh every single day. You really are a sweet boy and love to give hugs. Although at times you are quite shy you still love to say hi to anyone that passes us. I love your cheesy smile and the funny faces you always give us! I love how you can get down the stairs on your tummy faster than both Tyler and I can walking. I love you so much and I am so proud to be your mom!

A pirates life for us

Thankfully to Rob we got to go to pirates cove again last August. Yeah yeah I know I am months behind on posting! Between tennis, being pregnant and my day to day blog I just got behind. But onto this post. This place is behind words. I wish I could describe how amazing it is, but you really just need to experience it yourself. This time we got to go a little longer, 3 days! The only problem was the first day was a Sunday. Tyler and I have made a personally decision, vacation or not, that we wont go swimming on Sunday. So we took our time getting down there. Tyler had never seen the hoover dam so since we were so close we made a quick stop. It was so beautiful. We even took a little hike up to the new bridge. Afterwards we met up with everyone at pirates cove. It was so hot and although it was tempting to get in the pool we stayed strong. The kids didn't complain about not getting because we had told them before we got there about our decision not to swim. The rest of trip was spent in the water! This was a little different trip for me as previous years because I was pregnant and couldn't quite do all the fun stuff. But I still had a great time swimming and playing with the kids! Of course Tyler jumped off the highest mast and Aspen jumped off the waterfall again as well as the first pirates mast. She also quickly learned how to walk up to the slide by herself and go down it. The kids had so much fun playing with all their cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Sperry. During naps and at night the adults would party. Tyler even got to play a fun game of tooth picks. If you can't tell from all the pictures we had a blast!

Camping

I am learning to really enjoy camping. And Tyler absolutely loves it so we took a quick trip up to Wasatch State Park in Midway for a 2 night camp out! Well we borrowed Kathy and Allen's tent not knowing that they didn't put the poles back in and as we went to set up the tent found out this little problem! So the kids slept in the car, which worked out perfect, and Tyler and I slept in a pole-less tent. We were just going to sleep under the stars, but the mosquitoes were out like crazy so the tent at least worked as a bug net! But it was so beautiful up there and I we will for sure camp there again. Its nice because its so close, but when you get there you feel so far away from everything! We got up there just in time to set up the tent and start a fire for roasting up some smores. The kids loved camping and Aspen keeps asking when we are going again!

Saturday morning we ate a yummy dutch oven breakfast and than went on a little hike close to our camp site. The kids loved Tyler's camel back and we are thinking of telling Santa to get them their own for Christmas! On the hike we came to this great spot on the river and the kids enjoyed throwing rocks into it. Aspen even got to use Daddy's binoculars! Than Tyler's parents came up for to spend some time with us. We ate lunch and than went down to feed the ducks. At the visitor center of the camping grounds they had a great pond and playground. While we were at the pond Danny learned to say the work "duckie" and even tried to go in the pond to chase them! After that we went on a hike through cascade springs and than came back and had some dinner! When the kids went to bed we even stayed up and played some games. It was so much fun to have Tyler's parents with us for the day.

All and it all it was a great camping trip! The first night in the tent was a little rough. I ended up so cold and couldn't sleep so Tyler got up with me in the middle of the night and built me a fire. Than I bundled up even more and went to bed. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. Than the second night Tyler's parents brought up the poles for the tent and I put on even more layers. Thankfully I stayed warm and was able to sleep much better the second night! But other than sleeping I loved every second of spending time with my little family! I love being outdoors and enjoy the slow life of camping and don't even mind getting dirty. Danny and Aspen slept perfect in the car and even took a little nap on Saturday. They were perfect on the trip. I think they like being busy just as much as their parents!

My tough kids

Aspen and Danny both had their check-ups at the same time, Aspen's 3 year and Danny's 15 months. It was great to be able to take them at the same time. They both happily played in the doctors office while we waited. I prepped Aspen that when she got her shots they might hurt a bit, but if she was a good girl I would get her a sucker! Well I guess the prepping worked because she didn't cry at all! I thought she would still at least whine because lets be honest shots hurt. But no she was my tough girl and definitely deserved a sucker. Danny was pretty tough to. He cried for about 10 seconds, but than was brave just like Aspen. He calmed right down! Both kids are ahead developmental which is always great to hear as a parent. Aspen even had her biggest growth spurt and is now officially on the charts for both weight and height. Whoaaa. I asked about Danny's eating habits because he usually only eats 1-2 good meals a day, but the doctor said that is great. Most kids this age only eat 1-2 good meals a week so Danny is eating tons compared to the average. Here are their stats:

Aspen:

• 27.2lbs (15%)
• 35 in(15%)

Danny:

• 18lbs (less than 3%)
• 30 3/4 in (45%)
• 46 1/2cm head cir (25%)

Danny has 5 teeth before his appt, 3 on top and 2 on bottom. Well the doctor showed me that his molars are already starting to come in! Silly kid. So now he has an odd number of teeth in the front, but he will be able to chew better with his molars coming in. As I've said before Danny is 100% boy and always on the move. Seriously the kid wont sit still for more than 2 seconds. He is extremely smart and what the doctor calls a problem solver. If he wants something he will find a way to get it. As am I am writing this Danny pushed a chair over to the light switch, climbed up the chair and is grinning as he turns the lights on and off! Danny has such great balance and always runs to everything, that is when he is not climbing. He is also our little comedian. He is constantly making funny faces or noises are doing anything he can to make us laugh. And it sure works Danny makes us laugh multiple times a day. He is hard to discipline because when he does something it is just so funny. Hes not trying to be bad he is just so curious!

Aspen and Danny you are both so unique and different in your personalities. You both are great sharers and you love to play together! You are best buds. Stay close to each other because family is what matters most. I love you both more than you may ever know!

Aspen is 3!

There are times when I can't believe Aspen is already 3, than at other times she seems so much older. Aspen seems really mature for her age to me. She communicates better than some 4-year-olds and she has really good control of her emotions. Yes she still can be whiny at times but she is a pretty mellow child. She isn't a roller coaster of emotions with lots of lows and highs. Another funny thing about Aspen is that she is not nostalgic at all. She will make a project at story time or nursery and as soon as she has shown both mommy and daddy what she has made she will throw it away! Its really funny. She is proud of what she made, but I guess she thinks what do I do with it now?

In the morning Aspen got to eat her yummy pancake breakfast on the your are special plate! Than she opened her present from Daddy, Mommy and Danny! If you can't tell she gets really excited about everything! We had already set up her pool outside since we needed it for her party and she even more excited to see that it was already up.

When I asked Aspen what kind of party she wanted she quickly said a barbie party. We had already wanted to do something outside with water since that is Aspen favorite thing in the world so we decided to do a mermaid barbie theme! Wow it couldn't have worked out better. The party started off with letting the girls color some barbie mermaids coloring pages. Than I read Aspen's new book about Merliah who is a barbie mermaid. In the book Merliah has to complete some tasks so she can save Oceana and get her mermaid tail. So I told the girls they were going to do the same thing. Outside we had lots of task for them and when they completed them they would get their very own mermaid tails! For the obstacle course we did: Ring around the girls legs as they hopped across the driveway, running through a slip n slide, saving the fish (we had a bunch of toy fish that we outside of this blow up pool and the girls had to find them and throw them back in, of course Tyler kept throwing them back out so the girls could keep doing it), finding a pearl under seashells on the water table, running through the pool sliding down the slide and putting a ring on a fish, and the grand finale; throwing water balloons at the pirate (Tyler)! Once the girls completed all their tasks they were given a special mermaid necklace and than their earned their real mermaid tails! My mom (and I helped a little) made these incredible mermaid towels as party favors. One of the girls even asked if she got to keep it! Thanks mom for the towels they turned out perfect and I know the girls loved them!

The obstacle course was just about the right amount of time and after we let the girls have free time in the pools! Than we let them dry off while eating otter pops. Than it was time for lunch, cake and presents. For lunch we kept the mermaid theme and had yummy flower pb&j's, gold fish and fruit flower bouquets. For the cake we had a mermaid barbie cake that my mom helped me with! It turned out perfect and I hope I can always make special cakes for my kids birthdays. Aspen was super excited for presents. My mom and Kathy were a huge help at the party. I was so thankful they were able to make it. Aspen was so happy to have both her Grandma's at her special party! Sarah even took a break at work to stop by and wish Aspen a happy birthday. Thanks to all her little friends that came to. We had Kaia Sperry, Kylee Sperry, Summer Sperry, Lola Fenn, Abby Southam, and Ella Pack!

Aspen really got spoiled this year and after her friends party we took her to Mcdonalds for dinner. Than we started a new tradition this year and let Aspen pick out a book from the bookstore for her birthday. She picked my name is not Isabella. And it is such a cute book.

Than it was time for more partying! The Mason's all came over to celebrate some more! We ate cupcakes and ice-cream. Than we let Aspen open her presents! Nick started a tradition of giving the kids sweet shoes and Aspen loved them. Sarah got Aspen some great pre-school books that

Aspen uses everyday. The grand finale of the night was when Aspen got her new bike! For about the last 2 months all she has asked for is a bike for her birthday. Well she got her wish and boy was she excited!

While we were busy helping Aspen learn to ride a bike my sweet tooth Danny man found his way into the house, climbed up a chair and helped himself to another cupcake! Man he is sure one you have to watch all the time :) Is that not a face of someone who has been caught. Gotta love the buddy man! Aspen I hope you know how much you are loved by so many people around you. Here are a few things about my sweet princess:

• She is the best sharer!
• She is quite the social butterfly and is always asking to go play with her friends. The great thing about this is everyone is her friend!
• Everyday she ask me when she gets to go to preschool.
• She runs to nursery and doesn't even look back to say goodbye to me.
• She is constantly thinking of things for Danny and doesn't like to leave him behind.
• She talks in complete full sentences and everyone can understand every word she says. Maybe that is because she is a parrot and always repeats everything!
• She is tough and when she falls down she rarely cries. Instead she gets back up and keeps doing whatever she was doing.
• She loves to be girly and dress-up, but she also loves to play with cars and balls!
• She can swim all by herself and swimming is still her favorite thing in the world to do.
• She still loves her 2-3 hour nap everyday!
• She loves to be active doing whatever everyone else is doing. She loves hiking, camping, playing at park or anything that is outdoor! She is sure her daddies little girl that way.