Father's and Sons Campout

Fathers and Sons has become such a fun tradition.  Mason and I (Josh) started the tradition when he was two and we haven't missed a year yet.  This year we went up to Heber, Utah and brought along some Grandpa's.  Unfortunately we took our picture late after one Grandpa had already gone home.

Normally when it is time to sleep we throw up the tent and roll out the sleeping bags.  This year we still had the sleeping bags but we rolled them out in cabins.  A little too spoiled.

 In the morning we jumped in a canoe and spent some good quality time together.

 

I love the time I get up in the mountains with Mason as it gives me some extra time to talk, hike, and give him some quality one on one time.  I cherish these days and can't wait until next year to keep up our tradition.

Children's Museum

 We went to the new Children's Museum at Thanksgiving Point twice this last week.  The kids loved it and we thought it was so fun too!

This play table was so cute!   

Babies and small children could sit in seats connected to the table and just play in the water.
So cute!

Mason and Ella loved the airplane! We all climbed the nets until we came to a smaller net connected to this airplane where the kids could pretend to be the pilot and they could have stayed up there and played all day long!  

Our little spider man!

Oh how kids love water! There is just something so fun about getting wet, especially where there is cool ship involved.

This was such a great fun place for Ella.  She loves new scenery and having lots of options for play so this was perfect.

Mason loved exploring everything! He is so creative and always invents new ways of playing and having fun!

Mason had this idea of building a house around him.  Ella wanted in at the end, so against Mason's wishes I lifted her in and she of course broke out of this little house by running straight into the wall.  Mason was surprisingly okay with it as he began bashing in the other three walls.  So much fun!

The Aquarium

  We went to check out the new aquarium on Saturday.  It was really quite exciting! We love sea animals and the new shark tank reminded us a lot of Sea World where you walk through a tunnel of sharks swimming around you.  I was very impressed! 

 Mason loves Sea World and especially Sharks so it's pretty fun to the aquarium so close.  Too bad there are no whales.  The penguins were really entertaining! Mason sound out he and this penguin were about the same size. :o)

Ella is most fascinated by all the beautiful fish! There are so many different colors and sizes.  She was just in awe as she sat and watched these creatures swim around.  So fun!

We love getting out and doing fun things as a family! It feels like we're out of town for a few hours. :o) Such a nice break from everyday life.

This net was a hit! The kids thought it was pretty cool to be so high up above with water below.  We love a place that has learning opportunities and fun. :o)

Isn't he cute?! And he's all mine. :o) 

Sure love you babe!

Kindergarten Graduation

Mason graduated from kindergarten today! 

He was so cute! The whole kindergarten sang some cute songs to demonstrate what they've learned.  It was so well put together! 

Our little Mason is so full of personality and he definitely doesn't try to hide it.  We love the little faces he pulls.  His Teacher told him to stand there so we could take his picture, but he was a little embarrassed being the first one called up with all those people watching.  So glad we were able to catch his cute little reaction. :o)

We got a few other pictures also, but this was our favorite!

Mason and is teacher.  She has been so great and Mason has learned so much! We are so grateful for dedicated teachers and the amazing patience they have with so many kindergarteners.

Happy 12th Annniversary!

 

   May 2002

Yay! Happy Anniversary to my one and only.  I love you babe! I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband who loves me no matter what.  I wouldn't want to spend eternity with anyone else.  I know it's so cheesy, but I just don't care... "you complete me"! :o)

Happy Mother's Day!

 Nothing like chocolate to kick off Mother's Day! Ella's Birthparents, Madi and AJ, came over Friday and we decided we wanted to do something special and fun since it was almost Mother's Day.  Special and Fun to us means steaks and chocolate (or something similar). :o) I think Mason and Ella enjoyed it more than anyone.  They were in chocolate heaven! Mason actually ate everything he dipped, while Ella just really wanted to dip everything and feed it to everyone else.  Then she discovered the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.  We had to tear her away from them so she wouldn't have a major break down later from too much sugar.  Mason is better at sneaking his without us knowing.  He is the chocolate king!! Mason is the only child I know that doesn't really like any other candy besides chocolate.  He won't even try anything else... What child the age of 5 hasn't tried a starburst or skittle?  Not that I'm complaining. :o)

After we ate way too much we decided to go for a little walk and ended up at the park.  Ella and Mason love all the extra attention they get when Madi and AJ are around.

This is a pic of Madi (Ella's Birthmom, Ella, and Me).

Ella and Madi........... Such a cute picture! 

Madi is so beautiful and so is our precious Ella!

 

It was so fun to have them here to celebrate Mother's Day with us.  We will be eternally grateful to Madi and AJ for giving us the opportunity to be Ella's parents.  We  are also so glad we have such a great friendship.  Thank you both!  We love you!

This is a picture of Ella and AJ.  Ella decided she would like to slide down the pole and is obviously not quite advanced enough to do it herself.  :o)  AJ came to the rescue and helped her down.  This girl has no fear and she loves her parks!

So many of my friends are having babies lately! I have made a few car seat covers for gifts in the last couple weeks and I don't do it often enough so it takes me a long time! The sad part is that I spend a lot of the time at the fabric store trying to make a decision on the fabrics.  It's hard when I know kind of what they want, but still have to choose.  Okay, so if I am being totally honest.  I have a hard time making certain decisions quite often.  I always want everything to be just right.

We have been trying to find time to get some yard work done, and finally we got a day with no schedule and no rain! Wahoo! Ella loved the yard work.  She got her shovel and princess gloves and worked right along side us.  Mason on the other hand couldn't wait to get out on his bike with his best buddy next door.

 Today we had a small window of time between Mason getting out of school and his T-ball game so we decided to go to the Tulip Festival.  It was so beautiful!! Ella and Mason loved looking at the flowers and watching the geese in the water.  We had to keep telling Ella to keep her hands away from the bees.  She wanted to touch the flowers and for some reason she went right for the flowers with bees.  This girl has no fear!