Merry Christmas!!!

Hey yall! I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Today we are making chocolate chip cookies (Santas favorite recipe), and hanging out until tonight when we will read the Christmas story in Luke, open up our new jammies, jump in the car with some hot chocolate, and head to Ardmore to the big Christmas light display. There may be some caroling in there too somewhere. Shawn took Liam golfing this morning and Addy took a nap, so I took the opportunity to put together the much requested Talking Diego Rescue Center. It looks like a TON of fun so it will be exciting to see Liams face when he sees what Santa brought. There is also a little girls dollhouse waiting for tomorrow morning...I dont know if I can wait that long! I think this more exciting for me than it is for them! There's about a bajillion presents under the tree (not all ours, the whole family's- we ourselves were modest in our present buying this year) and Liam and Addy's present opening mania is just barely being contained. I'm actually very surprised that I havent walked in on Addy ripping open some paper (at Liams discreet urging, no doubt).

I love this time of year for what it means to us as believers in Christ, and for the family time we get to have. Merry Christmas to you and yours- I cant wait to read all your Christmas Morning Reports!

portraits

so yall know those portraits that I blogged about a while ago? Well, here they are. You should probably check quick because I dont know how much longer they'll be on his site. (I kind of forgot to post this back when I should have. whoops.)


click here on his website, then the session i.d. is mason_portraits. dont miss the second page, and scroll all the way over so you dont miss any of them . k? check them out and tell me what you think!

7 Years!!!

This pic was really hard to take! I had to set the self timer, then run and jump in the tree and hurry and turn and smile! We fell off a couple times before we finally got this one! lol

Yum.

me on our date night.

on our way out.

On a walk by the lake. I thought about photo-shopping that beanie of his burnt orange, but then my next post would be informing ya'll of our divorce.

the sunset one night. the view from our deck.

On the 16th Shawn and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. He surprised me with a trip to a cabin on the lake and it was so beautiful. It was the first time we had been on vacation together since our 1st anniversary!! Horrible I know. We spent all day in the Temple one day and it was so nice to just take our time and do all the stuff we wanted to and not worry about getting home at a particular time. We were gone 4 days and even though we enjoyed our time together, by the end of it we were itching to be with our kids again! They were ready for us to be home too. I guess Liam was tired of making dinner and changing Addy's diapers. What? We left them a cell phone in case anything happened! Just kidding we left them with their Nana and Aunt Ila who took great care of them and said they behaved beautifully. They swear they're not lying about the "behaving beautifully" part even though I had barely been home 15 minutes and I was already breaking up tiffs and asking them to "speak in your big kid voice. No whining!". Why do kids always behave better for other people?

7 Things I Love About Shawn:

1. In the middle of an argument he'll make a joke and who can be mad after that?

2. He is an awesome father and always, *always* makes time to play with the kids, even when he is so exhausted he can barely stay awake through the game.

3. He's always looking for the best in people and tries to ignore their faults.

4. He's a great motivator, and is always helping me be better, do better.

5. He's very fair and humble. Always the first to apologize, no matter if he is wrong or not.

6. I love the fact that he came into my life at the absolute perfect time. Alot of people wonder why I got married so young, and I used to wonder that myself, but looking back on things, it could not have worked out better than if the Lord had had His hand in it. Oh wait, He did!! :)

7. He is a very hard worker and his first priority has always been providing for his family.

Mmmmmwah! Love ya babe!

New Dresses!!

Has anyone seen these adorable dresses at Down East Basics yet? So cute, and so cheap! And according to the email I got, the Plaza dress (above) will be available in black with green buttons and belt! Yall know that's got my name all over it! I'm also in love with the brown/cream art deco dress. I love getting a new dress!

Dare I....

or dare I not, wear these shoes to church?

Blogworthy

Now, being as I'm from Texas, you'd think I wouldn't have any trouble understanding an Oklahoma accent. In fact, thus far I've had no trouble, because they're basically the same. But the other day at the ward Thanksgiving dinner, I introduced myself to someone (who doesnt read this blog) who then told me his name, which to me sounded like Lian. Like, Lee-un. So, I think to myself, oh that's cool it's kind of like Liam but with an "n". So I say "How do you spell it? L-I-A-N?" He's like, "no, it's Leeyun. L-I-N." I said "oh, I thought you said Lian. My bad." He goes, and I quote "I did! Lin, it's short for Lindel, but I didnt like that name so I shortened it to Lin." Only, when he said Lin, it still sounded like Leeyun. So I just said "oh. ok. gotcha." and moved the converation to his wife, who I could understand alot better!

And now, for something completely different...

Has anyone noticed that the commercials for this stuff, which is a Restless Legs medication, tell you to be on the alert for "increased gambling, sexual, or other urges." ????? I laughed at first, but it's really not funny. Now I'm just amazed that a medication with those kinds of side effects is allowed on the market. What a way to get out of being caught in an affair, huh? "Honey, it didnt mean anything, it was the Mirapex and those darn increased sexual urges! I swear!!!" Hmmm.......

Today's Project:

Get Addy to take some halfway decent pictures with the photographer. This sounds easier said than done, because the following picture is what Addy tends to do when you turn the camera on her...




I dont really have alot of good pictures of her because she is SO busy, all the time. (hence her nickname Miss Bee). This girl never stops moving, I swear! Add to that her natural inclination to do exactly the opposite of what you've asked her to do, and I think you can see why I end up with pictures like the one above. So pray for me people!! There's no telling what I'll end up with when it's over!


House update- here is the link to the plan we are building. And here is picture of the foundation:

taken from the fronttaken from the corner of the garage.


So now we are just waiting for the lady in charge of processing our loan to stop eating bonbons at her desk all day and actually send us our papers. Yeah, frustrating. Because as soon as we get our papers it's all systems go. Shawn gave her till today to get them in our mailbox or he's getting our account transferred. We shall see.

p.s. shawn is at the grocery store right now doing our shopping, and he has called me 5 times to ask me where stuff is. I think this is hilarious.

Halloween 2007

just me and shawn, hanging out before we take the kids around.

The fam before we set out to voluntarily give our kids a shot at pancreatic failure. notice how Addy has already discovered some goodies put in there by Nana. Also notice how I am wrestling liams face *towards* the camera because he was itchin for a shot at the goodies too.


Halloween was good this year, namely because my kids got to wear their costumes like 4 separate times, so that was fun. It was the first time I had really gotten to meet people in our community and introduce myself, so that was nice. We met alot of nice people, and I got to peek inside a bunch of houses I had been curious about! haha. And it seems to be a slightly older community, so the kids ended up with a bunch of apples and bananas. Which I thought was great! We then came home, got the kids in bed, and I promptly threw away the sweetarts, bottlecaps, suckers, and bubble gum. And probably a bunch of other stuff that I cant remember now. Hey has anybody ever noticed how the inside of a Halloween bag full of candy smells? I HATE THAT SMELL! It is so disgusting to me. Just wondering if anyone else hated it too. Okay, well, I guess that's it for our Halloween 2007. Hope yours was great too!

Addy and Her Bee

waiting for bee to get washed

Lisa do you remember taking this pic?

feeding bee some breakfast.

taking bee on the road. shoes and purse both hijacked from my closet.


If you know my daughter very well, you know that she has a lovey named Bee that has been the love of her life since Day 1. Literally. I've had that little thing since Liam was born but he never took a shine to it, so it got saved for the next kiddo. Bee has gone missing at times but has always turned back up a short while later. Like the night before we moved, everything was pretty frantic and busy. It was really late but I kept putting off putting addy to bed because I couldnt find bee. Well, I couldnt put it off any longer but bee had still not turned up. Imagine your house totally looking like a tornado had gone through. Now imagine having to find something the size of your hand amidst the boxes and piles. Yeah, the phrase "finding a needle in a haystack" comes to mind. We started tearing that house apart, but still no bee after about an hour of hard looking. We were starting to get scared that she had gotten accidentally thrown in the moving truck. Finally Addy was so tired I just had to lay her down and hope for the best. Well, the best didnt happen. She screamed and cried, and we all had been saying a little prayer to ourselves before, but now Mom suggested saying one all together. So we did, and resumed the Search For Bee. Not one minute after we had all scattered to look again, I heard dad yell "I found it!!" I grabbed it and ran into Addy's room where she smiled, took Bee, and laid down and wasnt heard from the rest of the night. You can bet there was not a dry eye as we said a prayer of thanks that Heavenly Father is mindful of even the smallest of troubles, and I left that experience knowing that the Lord loves his little ones. Upon questioning my father ("WHERE did you find her????") he said he just walked by the overturned laundry hamper by the washing machine, felt like he should turn it over, and there she was. I swear to you that my mother and I both looked there.

So the purpose of this post today is to chronicle my daughters love for bee, but also to direct your attention to this ebay auction here. This morning I woke up and remembered that I had wanted to look up bee on ebay for a while to see if I could find another one in case the unthinkable happens. And whaddya know I found one! So it will be interesting to see if she accepts this new bee, or if she can tell the difference. I will let you know!

Sunday, Funky Sunday

Me and my SIL Ila.

My crazily goofy family members.

My crazily goofy self trying to hula hoop.

Two of the cutest girls in the world!

Sunday we went to Durant and got to have a giganto family birthday party because 5 family members had recently had birthdays. As you can see it's always a crazy fun time when the Masons get together!

Our Weekend In Pictures 2

Liam with his good buddies Lilo and Stitch. (plus a fireman hat he had just been handed by the Fire Dept. So now I guess he should be called Minja Fireman.)

My expert marksman making a bullseye on the velcro doodad. The teenage helper beside him is obviously stunned at his incredible skill.

Gratuitous picture of Hot Husband.

Our Weekend In Pictures 1

Miss Addy in her Queen Bee costume. What a cutie cakes!!!

Liam as a Dragon Minja. No that's not a typo.

Me and Addy at the park before the costume contest.

Liam with Mr. Slimy Animal Handler. Notice the finger placed ever so gingerly on the "Legless Lizard" when I told him to touch it.

Saturday at Leonard Park and Frank Buck Zoo was a big Halloween shindig called the Zoo Boo. Radio Disney was there in the park in the pavilion doing cool games and a costume contest (that Addison came close to winning, by the way. She got beat out by some brat in a turtle costume.) Then they opened up the zoo and had trick or treating at all the animal stations and a bunch of fun games, which you will be able to see in part 2 of this post. A fun time was had by all even though our legs froze off.

This House.....

and the process of building it, seems like about a million years ago. Isnt it funny how that happens? I mean, it almost feels like we never lived there. I guess because I feel like we finally made it to our "spot" ya know what I mean? So it's weird to think that I ever lived anywhere else. I dont know if you can relate to that feeling, that severance-of-ties type feeling, but it's a strange one that's for sure.



So, apologies for not having written in over a month. I've had some time to settle in now though, and to process some of my feelings concerning this move. My life is still totally unbalanced though, and things will not be back to normal until I have a house of my own. Everything has gotten thrown off- my workouts, my daily routine, MY BLOGGING, the kids routine, my sleep habits, my scripture reading, FHE, everything. Plus, where I live now is so secluded, I mean I am out in the sticks, people!! So that has been a humongo adjustment, and one that I didnt really see coming. So, there have been some trade offs for living here, again, that I didnt really foresee. Which is dumb. We just knew we needed to be here so we moved without alot of forethought. Which it's probably better that way anyway. Because if I had visited the ward before we moved, we wouldnt have moved. I wont blog about that but I will blab about it if you give me a call, lol.


Our new house is rockin along- I will post pics after I go down there and visit today. And I'll give you the link to the plan so you can see what it's going to look like in a few months. The foundation will get poured Monday which will be grrrreat!


So, I'm sorry again that I lost my blogging mojo. I will try to be better at it because I know how annoying it is to expect an update on someones blog and not get it!! :) I mean, I know yall arent waiting on the edge of your seat for a blog from me or anything, but you know what I mean. Ciao for now ladies! (and gents if you're reading.)

Addy and Her Boots

her cherry rainboots

her sherpa boots- so cute I had to get a matching pair!

Liams green cowboy boots that she loves to borrow

her pink cowboy boots- what girls wardrobe is complete without pink cowboy boots? :)


Addy's favorite shoes are definitely the boots! When she starts walking around the house saying "Boo, Boo..." you know she's looking for a pair of boots to wear!

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Like my friend Karie, I really dont have anything cool to tell you. I've been wanting to blog for a few days but honestly couldnt think of anything to tell you. Well, nothing that you would think was exciting anyway. Well, maybe I will tell you that Addy learned how funny it is to tickle people but instead of it feeling tickly, it feels like maybe it's a test run for a new interrogation tactic for the CIA. And the whole time she's "tickling" shes saying "teeka teeka" and laughing hysterically, bringing to mind the image of being in a torture chamber while the demented torturer laughs maniacally. In both instances you're begging for it to stop. I'll tell you too that Liams favorite phrase right now is "I swear!" and "oh for the love of pete!"

Oh I know what I can blog. For a while now I have wanted to blog about how grateful I am for wonderful friends. At almost every stage of my life I can name a friend who was sent to me to help me through whatever stage it was I was in. Not that it was a bad stage of life, but you know, like a big life change or something. I feel like I am the mother and wife etc I am because my girlfriends have been such good examples to me. I love you all so much and want you to know what a blessing I consider each of you, truly! Though I will admit that I tend to put my friends on pedestals and make them (in my mind) more perfect than they are. However I know they must yell at their kids sometimes and make mistakes but even with the flaws they see in themselves I think they are pretty great people. I know we're all the same and we all wake up every day and try to be better than we were the day before, and thats the most important thing.

With that being said, I wonder why it is that all my best friends live nowhere close to me? I have other friends who have wondered this same thing and the only thing I can come up with is that maybe if your best girlfriends all lived close, 1. your laundry and dishes would never be done and dinner every night would be stouffers lasagna or mcdonalds because you would always be hanging out with your friend talking and laughing. 2. maybe if your friends lived nearer to you they wouldnt like you (ha) 3. dang I had another reason but it left me as I was typing the others. shoot! If you have a theory post it in the comments. I'd like to hear your take on that.

Tomorrow is the neighborhood garage sale so I better get to bed early so that nothing can hinder the Garage Sale Mindset. Steph knows!

Yes I am still alive...

...although some days I feel pretty close to dead. Moving totally sucks!! Plus on top of General Moving Suckiness, I have All My Stuff Stuffed In A Garage Unpacked Suckiness. I have no clue where my dressy shoes are (which is killing me!!) and Liams church/nice clothes that were hanging in his closet are missing. All my workout, lounge, and pj clothes are MIA too. So I'm trying to convince Shawn that this just means I need to do some shopping! lol.

Man I have been going totally crazy without the internet at the house. I havent been able to blog or anything! And I'm still not really in the mood to do it, but since Karie is keeping a tally of the total number of days since I blogged (and reminds me of the number whenever I see/talk to her), I figured I would make her year and post something. (lol!!)


So we are visiting my fam and today we went to church. Have you ever had one of those days at church where you felt like if you had to corral your kids any longer or try to keep them quiet for one more minute, you would run out of church and jump on the next plane to the Bahamas? (without the kids. maybe the husband.) Well today, if you havent guessed, was one of those days. Sacrament was great, the YW gave a program that was phenomenal, but I dont think I heard more than about 10 minutes of it. Addy was doing her best to imitate an earthworm, albeit a very squawk-y one. Then in Relief Society I am sure everyone thought Addy was a spoiled tyrant baby. She was just not happy with anything today! And then, of course, fell asleep about 13.2 seconds into the car ride home. So I know we were both feeling a bit off, with the different time for church and being in a new building.

Speaking of Addison, her hair is finally long enough for piggy tails!! Awwwww! I am so excited! I put her hair in pigtails today for church and I have to say it was pretty darn cute! I actually really feel like the mother of girl now that I can fix up her hair and stuff. Pathetic I know.

Speaking of hair, (man today all my topics are just segueing so nicely into each other) I got my hair cut the other day by Paul at Tony and Guy in the Willowbrook mall and he was great. So if you're in the Tomball area and are looking for a new hair person, I would highly recommend him. He totally interpreted my mess of hair pictures and "maybe like this, but I like this too" into a really workable cut for me. It's not fancy or anything but I wanted to keep my hair long and he gave it some shape so it doesnt just look like it's hanging there. I barely have to do anything to it after I get out of the shower to make it look presentable. Love that!!


Oh I have to tell yall the reason I am so excited. I'm running another 5k October 13th! Its in the Wichita Mountains National Refuge, but what's really cool is that Shawn agreed to do it with me!! Yipee!! They've got a 10k, a half marathon, and a marathon/marathon relay, but since it's been a while since the last time I actually ran seriously, I figured I would do the 5k. But I would totally do the marathon relay if I could find 5 people! Wouldnt that be cool? If you're interested in doing the relay or know someone who would be let me know! The 5k is a run UP Mt. Scott- they say on the website that it's a 7% incline. That makes me a little nervous. If you want to check it out its www.spiritofsurvival.com

Alright, well, have a good Sunday. My son is begging me to go outside and say "on your mark get set go!" so he can race up and down the driveway. He wanted me to run with him but I used the old "sunday is a day of rest" excuse. hehe.

Last Post from Durant!!!

Whoa this weekend has been the most stressful and busiest of my life!!It all started with the garage sale, and I got rid of a bunch of stuff (though not nearly enough!) and made a nice chunk of change. About 12 Saturday afternoon I started getting stuff ready for my birthday party! It was so fun and so many people showed up! We had a watermelon eating contest...

a tiki bar set up under a canopy (thanks to carissa's way cute sign!)...

and some SERIOUSLY yummy hot dogs and hamburgers! (thanks to mom and Brandon, otherwise known as Grill Daddy.)

we even had a "beach" set up for the kids! They had a ton of fun!

And of course, what get together would be complete without a kid getting injured? Liam fell on the wet slippery concrete in the garage and banged his eyebrow into a bicycle. Thank goodness Dr. Jamie was there!

It was so much fun and really great to see all the people I love for one more time before we left Durant!

Then when everyone cleared out we continued packing stuff into the truck and realized that there was no way we were going to be done by monday morning if we went to church the next day. So sadly we had to miss our last sunday at Durant Ward, but I know I'll see them again sometime and am really grateful for the fantastic ladies I know there!

So, I dont know when I'll get to post again- at this very moment I am sitting on the floor because everything else is gone. The people that bought our house are here wrangling all their stuff into the house and they are very nice people. A very nice family which is what I prayed for to get the house. This house is very special to me because shawn and I didnt think we would be able to have a house of our own for a long time because we thought we would go to medical school. But for some reason med school didnt work out and we ended up back here in Durant. This is the first place as a married couple that we could really call "home". We brought Addison home as a newborn here, and this place just has a very special feeling and I am very sad to be leaving it! But I know that life will be really great where we will be now because I just have that feeling! For a while I wasnt really sure if we needed to move, should move, etc. but I had some very vivid answers to prayer and I'm thankful Heavenly Father is mindful of our trials and problems.

So I guess thats it.... signing off from Durant now....