Easter

Easter was a lot of fun this year. It felt like our first real Easter because it was the first year Mason was old enough to really be excited about decorating eggs and egg hunts. Brynn fed off his excitement and loved shaking her eggs. One day I'll learn how to do a cute collage of my favorite pictures, but until then bare with me posting them all individually.

Murray Easter Egg Hunt: My mother-in-law had the great idea to put dimes in the eggs instead of candy. Each person got 10 eggs and after the hunt we loaded in the cars and went to the dollar store for everyone to cash in their dimes for a toy. Mason got a stuffed snake that he loves. Thanks Grandma Linda.

Nu Skin Egg Hunt: Bad weather forced the hunt inside. Limited spaced turned the usual free for all into standing in line picking eggs out of a basket. Mason didn't mind at all because he could pick exactly which eggs he wanted and he didn't have to compete with other kids.

Decorating Eggs: Mason was so excited to decorate eggs and was anticipating it for days. He wanted to make Monster eggs. He is at an age where once we start doing something he is more interested in the finished product than the process of making it. He wanted Scott to draw all the faces and then he would choose which color and help put it in the dye. He loved his eggs. Brynn sat in her seat and I gave her a couple eggs to shake and she couldn't have been happier. Easter morning: The Easter Bunny had visited and brought us a wagon. Mason enjoyed yet another egg hunt in our basement and Brynn got more eggs to shake. Wow, Egg hunt #3 and we still have one more to go.

Hale Easter Dinner: We had Easter dinner at my mom's house and it was delicious. I decided that I actually like Easter dinner food much better than Thanksgiving dinner food. The kids did yet another egg hunt, but we forgot our camera because honestly, how many pictures of them holding eggs do we need? But they had a lot of fun with their cousins.

Let the Fun Begin

Brynn is 9 months old and has entered what I consider the funnest phase of a baby's life. Every milestone is so exciting, it's like I'm watching her little personality unfold right before my eyes. I can't get enough of her big, scrunched nose smile showing off her oversized front teeth. She excitedly greets people she knows with waves and claps, but strangers, don't count on it, she'll probably just bury her face in mama's shoulder. Her hair is getting longer and thicker and spends most of it's time hanging in her eyes because she won't leave anything in her hair for more than 2 minutes. Brynn now enjoys all the fun things we go out and do and I don't feel like I'm just dragging her along anymore. This makes having 2 kids much easier because I can plan activities they both enjoy rather than having to decide if we're going to do something for Brynn or for Mason. I can't wait for her to start walking so she doesn't put holes in all her pants and scratch up her knees when we play outside (which is currently what happens). She has started standing on her own, so maybe in a another month or so. She loves following Mason around and wants to play with whatever he's playing with (much to his dismay) and is not easily distracted with anything else. She loves her big brother! She loves to babble and immitate our noises. My personal favorite is when I hear her making train and dinosaur noises right along-side Mason in the toy room. She is still my itty bitty girl weighing 16 lbs 8 oz (11%) but has had quite the growth spurt in length to 27.5 inches (46%). Her night time sleeping is still a bit of a problem, but she is getting a little more consistent at putting herself back to sleep and sleeping through the night. One day I'll remember what's it's like to get a full night's sleep, but not today. Brynn is a happy and sweet little girl when she is content, but is very vocal when things aren't going her way. She definitely has made us work a lot harder than Mason did as a baby,but the good times always outshine the hard ones. We sure love our little one.

Life

We have been watching the Life series on Discovery Channel. It's been a hit.

It's Gotta Be the Hair

I know I have alluded to the famous "baby sweep" at our house, but I don't think I've ever really explained how it came to be. Remember 2 years ago when we had this little problem? Well, Mason's love for my hair continued long after I made that post. Whenever Mason was tired, upset, or nervous he would instantly reach for my hair. He would take a handful of my hair and use the ends to tickle his face, arms, and hands with the ends. As soon as the hair made contact with his skin he would get this look in his eyes like he had just taken a drug. We tried to get him to use other soft textured things to tickle his face and arms but it just didn't have the same effect. I finally concluded that it wasn't actually the tickling or texture that he liked, but knowing that mommy was just a hair length away. It was January 2009 and we were longing for a solution to our problem more than ever because we had just transitioned Mason to a big boy bed and he still wanted to have my hair tickling him to fall asleep. It was the biggest challenge we faced getting Mason to stay in his bed at bedtime. Then one day the answer came in an unsuspecting package. I received a make-up sample in the mail from bareMinerals that included a sample "Buki Brush" that is made with very soft hairs. I left it on the table where Mason later came across it, picked it up, and began to tickle his face with it. I watched as he got the look in his eyes and he was nowhere near me or my hair. He looked at me and said, "It's a baby sweep" (at the time he called brooms sweeps and since it was so small it was a baby sweep). That night we put it to the test and it was a miracle, he was perfectly content laying in bed tickling his face and arms with his new "baby sweep". The transition to his big bed was a breeze after that. When the baby sweep was tragically lost while Mason was staying at my parents house my mom found the closest bareMinerals retail store and went and begged for another sample brush, she even offered to pay for it. They thought it was hilarious his security item was a make up brush and so they not only gave her one, but three so we would never be in a baby sweep crisis again. It's been over a year, but Mason still asks for his baby sweep each night at bedtime. This picture was taken just tonight right as he fell asleep tickling his face. So why do I bring up this story a year later? Well, I was experiencing a little bit of deja vu the past couple months when Brynn started grabbing my hair and rubbing it on her face whenever I was holding her. I was not exactly thrilled to be facing this situation again, and let's face it, we've still got a while before a baby sweep would be anything more than a choking hazard for her. Lucky for me, this time around I'm dealing with a girl. As her hair got longer she discovered it and fell in love. Now whenever she is mad, sad, or tired a little hand goes straight to her head like a magnet and starts to pull on those baby locks. It doesn't bode well for the styling of her hair, but hey, if she's happy, I'm happy. Sweet Dreams.

Laughter is the best medicine

Just last week I caught myself saying out loud that we have not had as much as a runny nose all winter long at our house. As soon as the words left my mouth I knew I had jinxed us and someone was bound to get sick. Sure enough, Saturday night I woke up to a dog barking, and then I remembered we don't have a dog. It was actually Brynn who was barking... yep, good old Mr. Croup has found us. I thought the steroid shot at the doctor would turn things around, but that doesn't seem to be the case. My Little Boo has been wollowing in misery for the last 5 days and nights. You know how misery loves company, last night Mason started in with the wheezing and barking, he showed up at my bedside and wheezed out, "I don't (wheeze, bark) feel well... (bark, bark) and I'm making (wheeze) funny noises (bark, bark)". I couldn't help but laugh at my funny little boy. I bundled him up in blankets and we went and sat out on the porch in the cold air until his airways loosened up a bit. I took him to the doctor first thing this morning and he was making everyone in the office laugh by telling them, "I'm not sick, I just make some funny noises" and "mommy, do you like my funny noises?". Mason is already back to his silly, active self so I guess it goes to show that laughter really is the best medicine. Poor Brynn is still a sick but very sweet little girl. We will continue to make her laugh so she, too, will soon be better.Brynn has been sporting the 'Snot's Hot' hair due this week. This is Mason's new camera smile. He thinks he is smiling when he squints his eyes.

To end on a positive note. Here are some pictures on the swings before sickness hit.

Date Night

Scott and I are always looking for opportunities to go out on a cheap date. Last night we went on a date that didn't cost us a penny, but there was nothing cheap about it. Scott's department got to use Nu Skin's courtside tickets to the Jazz vs Atlanta Hawks game. We were sitting with our feet on the hardwood floor. I could have stretched my legs out and tripped the ref after a bad call if I had wanted. It was awesome!! Not only were we right in the action for the game but we were treated to an amazing gourmet dinner before the game and refreshments at halftime. Based on the price tags on our tickets we went on a $1800 date for free. Can't complain about that... even if the Jazz did blow it and lose the game. Thanks Nu Skin!! Hideous picture that shows where we were sitting. Us and the Dastrups and I'm assuming the guy behind us is the one who yelled "it's the shoes Beebee" to Mike Bibby LITERALLY every time they came down the court. Can you say annoying?

Experiences

Like most people, I have enjoyed watching the Olympics this past week. The winter games mostly consist of sports and athletes I know nothing about, but tonight was different. Tonight I watched the skeleton competition and it brought back a lot of memories. Here is a little known fact about me, 10 years ago, when I was a Sophomore in high school, I spent the winter training for the 2 man bobsled and skeleton. It was the year 2000 and the Salt Lake City Olympics were just around the corner. They were trying to increase Utah's field of women bobsled and skeleton athletes. Most of these athletes have a background in track and field because of the importance of explosive sprint speed to start the race, so the coaches went around to local High Schools inviting some of the top track athletes to come train for the year completely free. When I was approached and invited to do this I thought, sure, why not. So every Wednesday for the entire winter my mom drove me up to Park City no matter what the weather conditions were and waited in the freezing cold while I had a 4-5 hour practice (I wasn't 16 yet so I couldn't drive myself). The things I remember most about my time at the Utah Olympic Park are how cold my feet would get no matter how many hand warmers I had stuffed in my socks, how many bruises I got on my shoulders from banging into the walls, how crazy it felt to be going so fast and only being able to see about a foot in front of me, how bad I was at being the bobsled driver (they only let me drive once, and after I almost flipped the sled they decided I was much more fit to be a pusher), and how at the time I never realized what a once-in-a-life-time experience I was having. I was never particularly good at either sport, but I sure had fun trying them. My point in posting this is that I never want to forget all the amazing experiences I had growing up and how every one of them was the result of sacrifices my parents made for me. I hope I can provide my kids with as many opportunities and experiences as I had growing up. Thanks Mom and Dad.