Reasons To Love Mason On His Birthday

This is Mason's first grade picture. How could you not love this little boy?? It’s Mason’s birthday today and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to share some bizarre and heartwarming things about him that I love:

He gives me a big hug and kiss and tells me he loves me before he leaves anywhere

He makes me yummy breakfasts

He eats my leftovers

He empties out his pockets on the kitchen table and leaves a clutter pile of his wallet, spare change, cell phone and receipts

He makes wonderful BLTs

He ALWAYS helps me do the dishes after cooking

He still opens the car door for me

He loses everything - which makes me feel important because I usually know where things are

He will give his life for any bug, small creature, or animal on any given day

He sings about 75% of the time we are together

He is extremely intelligent

He is very patient with me

He makes me feel like I have the capacity to do anything and be good at it

He is good at everything – even if it’s something he’s never done before

He has an extreme sense of smell

He’s got the rhythm of a soul singing black man from the 60s

His hair curls

He can’t stand anyone touching his feet

He’s my own personal tutor in the gospel and is so devoted to it

He is strong

He loves cookies

He compliments my cooking even when it’s down right disgusting

He is wonderful with children and I have no doubt that he will be a good father

He is honest

He has high expectations of me – which is a good thing because sometimes I tend to lose sight of the important things

He carries around those flossing plastic things all the time

He likes to play games

He talks to plants

He thinks if he were an animal he would be a bear – I agree.

He makes me laugh

Basically I could go on and on but I thought it would be fun to share just a few things that make Mason unique to me. He’s a wonderful example to me and I am so thankful that I have him in my life. Happy Birthday hun!

Obama vs. McCain

This is very interesting!
ABC has a test at the below address to see who's campaign statements, McCain's or Obama's, you agree with most. They don't tell you who made the statements, of course, but a statement made by each candidate on the same topic (economy, immigration, judiciary, etc.) will be side by side. You just pick which statement you agree with and, after selecting all 13, you'll find out which candidate's philosophy you support.
Try it at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

Mine turned out as I thought it would. I knew I would be kinda split down the middle. I had 8 for Obama and 5 for McCain. I must say that I find Obama a bit more convincing and sincere than McCain. Hopefully no one stones me for that comment.

Cow Herding

I married into a wonderful family. Mason's parents and his extended family are amazing people. I am always impressed by them in so many ways. Mason's grandmother, Elizabeth lives up in Woodland which is a little town east of Park City. She owns all this property and occasionally we will go up there and do work to help her out with the gardens and building fences and stuff. Basically she lives in the place where the whole family will go when the economy crashes and there is no food and the world is falling to pieces. Everything she eats is home grown and home made - which brings me to the writings of this blog. We went up there this morning to help my Aunt Jan who lives with Elizabeth, herd their cattle into a cattle truck. They raise cattle all summer and then slaughter them in the fall so they have a year supply of beef in the freezer all winter long. This is nice for Mason and I because we often get all the leftovers so we are stalked for a while too. Anyway... I had always had the dream of being a country girl and I always love going up to her house because I get to see Mason being a country boy. He's such a hard worker. Well I went up there today partially to help out and partially for the entertainment. Plus I wanted to be able to add 'Herding Cows' onto my list of things that I have done in my life. So we did. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I thought I was going to have to stand there with my arms out and corral them in - and perhaps be ran over - but the driver of the truck worked it so that all we had to do was block the sides of the fence next to the truck so they couldn't run past us. I got a kick out of the whole ordeal. I did feel bad for the poor little cows though who were completely clueless as to what was coming.


This is the truck they went into. It was just a small trailor. They only have about 12 cows.


This is my AMAZING Aunt Jan who is tougher than most men I know.


Here they go!!

Mason's version...

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Carless - not careless

Mason's car decided to die the other day. Luckily he wasn't in it and it happened over night. So now we are down to one car. Here I sit at the school waiting until he gets off work and stops by to pick me up. That should be around 5:45 or 6:00. Kinda lame. But my intentions are good. I plan on getting caught up with my class and really being on top of things. But it's not exactly how I would like to spend my afternoons. I have been looking on Craigslist and such, but I just don't trust anyone. I don't trust independant sellers because I am afraid they are lying to me and the car really is a piece. And I don't trust the used car dealerships because I feel like they only want to get as much money out of me as they can. Boo... Anyone know anyone selling a car? All I want is to find some little old lady who only drove her car to the grocery store and back to sell me her car for dirt cheap. Is that so unreasonable? I suppose so.

Fainting Goats

This has made me laugh harder than anything has in a long time.



I want one just so I can concoct different ways to scare it.

The simple things...

These are just a few of the simple things in my life that are making me happy right now. I thought I might share them.

We were SO EXTREMELY lucky to get this piano for completely free!! Mason was at church the other day and someone in his class was moving and asked if anyone wanted a piano. He was the only one who raised his hand. I was so excited!! And the coolest thing is that when we got it three of the keys were broken. Mason and I took the whole thing apart and fixed all three keys. We were so impressed with ourselves. Really we were... we weren't expecting to be able to fix it... we are just that amazing. Haha. I love it though. It was covered in cobwebs and dust but I shined that baby up and he is so happy now in his new home. It was hilarious watching the 8 men it took to bring this thing into our home. I guess while they were bringing it down the street (because the house it came from is only 2 doors down) one of the guys was playing "We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet" as the 3 guys on each side of the piano were trying not to drop the thing. It weighs a ton. We are so lucky to have it and I LOVE playing it. I haven't had a piano to play since I left home in Arizona what was it, 8 years ago!!

I love flowers. They have such little personalities. These sunflowers started growing in front of our door the other day. I love how their little heads turn in the direction of the sun. When I leave the house in the morning they are looking for me and when I come home they are looking for me too. I'm a nerd - I know... but I feel like they are my friends. Haha! Also, I was given this gerber daisy at the end of the school year last year and I have kept it alive and it even survived me replanting it. Mason laughs at me because I struggle with the green thumb at times - which is why I am so proud that this guy has sprouted another little flower head. He should open up here in the next day or so. This is the first flower bud that has come up since I replanted him back in June. So I am a proud parent. They are so pretty when the open up.

Lastly there is this little kitty that has been coming to our house and he is just the sweetest thing ever. We have been wanting to get a cat but much to our dismay our landlords won't let us have pets. I even tried to say that I wanted to surprise Mason with a kitten for his birthday which is coming up... but that didn't work. So it looks like this little guy is the closest thing we will come to a pet. But he is pretty dang cute especially when he looks through our blinds at me and meows. I feed him chicken from a can in hopes that he will come around daily and if the landlords ask... he's not ours... and he doesn't come in... I will miss him in the winter unless he trudges through the snow to get his chicken.