A Day at the Park

It has always amazed me how every October when the temperature drops into the 60s, pants and sweaters are retrieved from the back of the closet and everyone bundles up for the cold winter ahead. After several months of temperatures hovering around freezing March comes and the temperature once again rises into the 60s and this time shorts and tee shirts are fetched and everyone treats the same temperature we had in October like a heat wave. Has anyone else noticed this silly behavior except me? Silly though it may be, I am personally guilty of doing this very thing. Today I called time and temp (373-9120 for all of you who may have forgotten Central Bank's time and temp phone # since being a kid) and it was currently 62 degrees. Surely this was good enough weather to take Mason on his first picnic to the park. So we made some PB&Js and headed out to the park down the street from our house. I realized I may have jumped the gun a little bit when we arrived and there were still patches of snow on the grass, but that didn't stop us from having a great time. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
Mason was playing with the stroller while Scott and I were eating our sandwiches and the next thing I knew he was climbing up into it. (Pictures below) He got up there all by himself. He has been really into climbing lately, apparently just standing isn't challenging enough anymore.

Mason was pretty proud of himself for successfully climbing

Scott enjoying a fruit leather.

Mason liked the swings. If you look closely you can see his front teeth that have come in.

Mason going down the slide with Dad's help.

Once Mason discovered the tunnel we couldn't get him out of it. He would crawl back and forth between Scott and I laughing so hard. His laugh would echo in the tunnel and make it really loud. Soon there were other little kids who started coming over to see what was so fun in the tunnel.

This pictures definitely makes the top five list of funny face pictures we have of Mason. It looks like he was angry but really he was laughing.

Mason liked playing peek-a-boo through the holes in the tunnel.

One of Scott's goals as a parent is to teach our children how to stay clean while they play. Today he taught Mason how to avoid getting his pants dirty while crawling around on the muddy playground. Just kidding!! While Scott does in fact appreciate the cleanliness of this new crawl/walk Mason has started, it is Mason's attempt to get off his knees and start walking. If he doesn't have something to pull himself up on he does this crawl on his hands and feet with his knees locked.

When it was time to go Mason made this sad face and started crying. I guess if this "summer weather" continues we will have to visit the park more often.

Kayla Dianne

Mason is excited to have a new cousin, Kayla Dianne, who was born February 26. We are all sad she's so far away in Las Vegas and can't wait until we get to meet her in person.

The Reese Family

Janessa, Jeremy, and Kayla

Pictures speak a thousand words.

This is going to be really random, but I just downloaded some pictures from the past couple weeks of our life and wanted to post some.

Mason helping Scott blow out the candle (we only had one candle in the cupboard) on his birthday banana cream pie. Don't I have the most handsome boys in my life?I worked the night before Valentine's Day. This is what I came home to early the next morning. This is not the first time Scott has had a sweet surprise set up for me when I get home from work. It is probably my favorite way Scott surprises me (he is always surprising me in sweet and creative ways.) I am so lucky to me married to such a romantic guy.
Scott made this card using the sides of Mason's hands. How cute is that?! I will keep this forever!

Mason and Scott were both sick last weekend so they stayed home from church. I came home to find them taking a nap on the couch. It was so precious. When I turned on the camera it woke up Mason so his eyes are open. You can tell how much Mason loves his daddy.
Mason is walking all over the place now as long as he can have a hand on something. This walking toy is one of his favorites right now. Looking at this picture kills me because I'm looking at a little boy not my baby!!

Rachel's Salon

Bumbo Chair: $40

Baby Einstein Video: $10

Gerber Puff Treats: $2.50

Sippy Cup: $3

Wahl "Peanut" clipper: $60

Laptop Computer: $1200

Haircut with no tears: Priceless

Yes, I just did a cheesy Mastercard commercial to introduce my blog. I gave Mason his 4th haircut last week. Now I am more than willing to pay a professional to cut his hair and make it look good, but when I tried that at six months it was more tramatic than getting shots at the Dr. So ever since then I have been attempting to do it myself (YIKES!). I went to a haircuting demo put on by our Relief Society and I'm proud to say.... it didn't help very much. But I did find that my little salon set up gave me about 20 minutes of a cooperative Mason and I was able to produce a decent haircut (Caitlyn and Natalie don't look too closely, you'll have nightmares). Here's a picture of the finished result. Isn't he a handsome guy!!

Mr. Congeniality!!

A year ago I couldn't imagine sitting at home all day with a baby who can't talk and not getting bored out of my mind. That was before I met Mason. My little boy is more entertainment I could ask for with all of his expressions, noises, and games he loves to play. Some of my favorite expressions are the crinkled nose with snorting noises when he gets mad at me for taking dangerous thing away from him, when I play peek-a-boo and he laughs and bashfully buries his face into the ground, when I let him play with my work badge and he pulls out the string and watches it snap back and laughs so hard his whole face is laughing (see first two pictures). My favorite noise by far is his growling (which he is doing to me right now), but I also like his totally fake cry he does when he wants something he can't have (it is funny because it is SO fake!). His favorite game involves me stacking his blocks as tall as I can and he crawls with his head tucked down as fast as he can into them knocking them over. He also likes to do obstical courses in our living room crawling through the bottom of our coffee and end tables, over any pillows or bags on the floor, and on top of any person who might be lying on the floor. The most precious time for me is when he wants to read books and he grabs one and crawls over to my lap and just wants to sit on my lap and read books. He is so busy these days that this is the closest I get to cuddling him when he's awake. Anyway, now that you are all probably bored stiff with my mother moments I'll post some pictures from a week or so ago when Mason was in his high chair and was showing off his many expressions. One things for sure....this kid's got personality!!

Happy Birthday Scottie!!

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Scottiepoo. He has been on this earth for 25 long years. (Wow he's really getting old!) Mason and I want to wish Scott a very Happy Birthday!! Now I'm going to do a birthday spotlight on Scott, like the kind they used to do in Primary and Kindergarten.

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Snack: Chips
Favorite sport: It's basketball season right now so I'd have to say basketball.
Things he is good at: Geometry (you should see him pack a suitcase, there is not an inch of wasted space.), basketball, baseball, changing diapers, kissing, (believe me, I would know.), driving in the snow, being a supportive husband, the list could go on and on.
Something unique about Scott: One ear is higher than the other.

okay, so that wasn't really a very great spotlight. It's 4 am, I am just finishing up my third night shift in a row, so my mind isn't sharp enough to think of any interesting questions. And I must say I answered all these questions without consulting Scott so if he says any aren't true than take his word for it.

Let It Snow!!

Today we took advantage of all this wonderful snow we've been getting here in Utah by going snowshoeing with my parents. They took us up to Southfork where we went on a nice 3 mile hike. My favorite part by far was when we decided to try and cross the creek and my dad almost fell in and then later when my dad decided we should blaze our own trail along a ridge which eventually led us to a pretty steep slop which we just ended up sledding down on our butts. My mom was getting worried and kept reminding my dad, "They have a child they have to raise!" Not only was it beautiful and slightly adventurous, but it was a great workout for our legs. Thanks to mom and dad for a great outting and thanks to Chris and Kacie for watching Mason for us.