Family Pictures

My family had these pictures taken right after Christmas by our friend Rogan Taylor. It was nice because he has this wonderful studio in his basement so it was a comfortable setting and his wife and daughter were there to entertain the kids. I am a little late posting them and it's amazing how fast pictures become outdated with little kids. My Mom and Dad are in the middle holding the grandkids (Mason, Cannon, and Kennedy), Scott and Rachel on the left, Whitney and Brandon in the back (Rachel Faye is right behind my dad's head, you can't see her very well yet in these pictures) and Chris and Kacie on the right. That's my family!

Tag You're It!

I was tagged a while ago, but have been slow getting around to doing it. For those of you unfamiliar with what being "tagged" is (as I was when it first happened to me), it is a list of questions you answer on your blog and then at the end you "tag" people who then are supposed to answer the questions on their blog. So here I go:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
In March of 1998 I was a 7th grader roaming the halls of CVJH. My life pretty much revolved around sports. At the time I was participating in volleyball, basketball (this would have been right about the time my Jr. Jazz team won the city championship), swimming with OTAC (orem timpanogas aquatic club), and running track (I was named 7th grade MVP). I'm sure there was a lot of friendship drama going on (Ashely O. you know what I'm talking about :). But overall I think it was a pretty great time.

2. 5 thing on my to-do list today

• Sleep (I work tonight)
• Play with Mason
• Fold laundry
• Do the dishes
• Go to work

3. 5 snack I enjoy

• Grahm Crackers and milk
• Fruit Snacks
• Quesadillas
• Nachos
• Cookies

4. 3 bad habits

• Leaving wrapers on couch after I eat a treat.
• Going to bed WAY too late.
• Getting mad at Scott when he eats chips, crackers.... or pretty much anything noisy. (and it's not just Scott that bugs me, it's everyone, but it would just be weird if I asked my co-workers to eat more quietly)

5. What would you do if you were instantly a billionaire?

• By Scott his FJ Cruiser or whatever other car he wants at that time.
• I would not buy a house because you couldn't pay be a billion dollars to move again right now, I'm finally getting settled. But I would put money aside to buy a new house when the time comes.
• Buy a houseboat down at Lake Powell.
• I guess I would just save most of it so I could buy things when I wanted to.

6. 5 places I have lived

• Orem, UT (My house growing up)
• Provo, UT (The dorms)
• Orem, UT (Back to my parent's house)
• Orem, UT (Our basement apartment aka "The Dungeon")
• Orem, UT (Our house)

Wow, that was an exciting question!

7. 5 things people don't know about me.

• I secretly would love to sing on broadway (although it's not so secret when I belt out the songs in the shower.) And Scott told me that I was good enough to make it on broadway.......as a stagehand :(
• I am pretty sure I am allergic to doing the dishes. I clean up poopy adult bums all night at work and really don't care, but knowing I have to do the dishes makes me want to vomit.
• I have the same allergy to doing the laundry.
• I HATE shopping. I hate buying clothes. I think shoes cost way too much. I think all the fashion trends are really ugly right now and have no desire to participate in them (especially all the high-waisted pants I saw on American Idol this week....can you say UGLY... sorry to anyone wearing them as they read this.) And now you all know why I am happy and comfortable wearing jeans (normal waistline) and a t-shirt every day, and why I chose a profession which I can wear scrubs to work.
• I am really good at taking naps. I can go to sleep anytime anywhere. It can be light or dark, soft or hard, quiet or loud and I can sleep. It's not like I have narcolepsy and can't stay awake, but anytime I want to sleep I just have to lie down and hold still for about 2 minutes and I'm gone. My mom tells me it is a sign of sleep deprivation.....which looking at the facts (I work nights and have a 10 month old) is probably the case.

Now is when I'm supposed to "tag" some people, but as I was looking on other blogs it seems to me a lot of people have already been tagged. So consider this an open-ended tag. Anyone who has not been tagged and is feeling left out you have now been tagged.

I Passed!!

It's official, I passed the NCLEX-RN!

NCLEX

This morning was the first time in a while I have had to set my alarm clock. These days I usually just wake up when my rooster crows (Mason). But this morning I had to wake up bright and early to take the NCLEX-RN in Salt Lake. For those of you unfamiliar with this acronym (Scott tells me I use too many nursing acronyms and expect people to follow what I'm saying) it stands for National Council Licensure Exam-Registered Nurse aka my nursing boards. I have done approximately 3,000-4,000 practice questions since August preparing for this test as well as reviewing specific medications and disease processes. (Just for the record I didn't really use the NCLEX for dummies book I just thought it made a nice image) The NCLEX is a Computerized Adaptive Test which means it asks you a question, if you get it right the next one is harder if you get it wrong the next one is easier and it keeps going until you achieve an average level consitantly and then it determines if that level is higher than the set standard or not. It will give you the most opportunity it can to get above the standard. You get a minimum of 75 questions and a maximum of 265 with 6 hours to take it. I felt pretty good about how I was doing and then my test turned off after the 75th question. This means either I did really well and was far enough above the passing level after 75 questions it could determine I was competent or I totally bombed it and was so far below the passing level there was no way I could pass. I am definitely hoping for the prior. If I did pass my license should be posted on DOPL (Department of Professional Licensing) within a week. I'll let you know.

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!!