Ummm.....

Happy Halloween?

So I'm a little late posting this (I had a few more important things on my mind this last month, as you can imagine), but Mason was so cute that I couldn't not post this.

Scott's parents had this super cute cougar costume and we thought - how fun would it be to go as Cosmo, a football player, and a cheerleader? Unfortunately, when we tried the costume on it was just a teeny bit too small. But did I let that stop me? Heck no! In a moment of pure insanity I got it in my head that I could just make him one. Bear in mind that I have NEVER sewn anything beyond a pillow case and a blanket before, ie. nothing but straight lines!!! But in the end, with only half a pattern and half just making things up as I went along, I think it turned out quite nicely. I even had a woman at Provo High School offer to pay me if I would make her one. I was pretty proud of myself :)

Isn't he adorable? Do you see now why I had to post this, even if it is December?


Here he is again. Oh he's so cute!


Our cute little Cougar lovin' family :)


Mama and Mason


My boys!


I sure do like him!


Look at that big cheesy grin - Aren't dad's fun?

Update

It looks like Scott will in fact be home for Christmas. Horray!

We've been told (although you really never know with the Army) that he will leave for Missouri the 17th, and come home from Dec 20th to the Jan 6th, then head back to Missouri for 2 months before he ships out to where ever he's going.

Just wanted to spread the good news :)

It's finally here...

Scott at a 9-11 memorial 2008

... The day I've been dreading. Scott came home from drills yesterday and announced that he is being deployed on December 17th. He and 6 other guys from his unit were picked up by another unit for a mission in some sort of prison or something? (The Army is so vague about everything and it could turn out to be something to totally different) He will be leaving for Missouri on the 17th and stay for about a week before he is shipped out. We don't know where he's going exactly, but they think it is Afghanistan. He will most likely be gone about a year.

We are hoping he will be able to come home for Christmas in between his training in Missouri and leaving for the mission, but we don't know for sure.

We will be renting out our house in Springville and Mason and I will be moving in with my parents in Ogden for the year.

I will keep everyone updated on what we find out.

The Festivities

So here are some fun pictures like I promised. On Mason's actual birthday (August 26th) we went swimming before Scott left for work.

Mason hanging out in the toddler pool

Daddy & Mason checkin' out the big kids' pool

Diggin' the big pool

Drying off


On Sunday (the 30th) we had a small party for Mason at my in-laws house:


As you can see, Mason was not shy about diving right into his cake!

He did not disappoint! He was nice and dirty. We all got a pretty good laugh.

He was so dirty we decided to hose him off before taking him in for a bath.

I can't believe I have a one year old, but now it's official. We love our funny little Mason.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Today (at 7:17 pm exactly) our little man turned one! Wow, this year has past by sooooo fast. But I also can't remember life without him so it seems like he's been a part of our family forever. He is such a good baby and he absolutely just fills our days with joy (not always our nights though)!

I'm really not good with words so I'm not going to try to describe the way he lights up our life or try to explain just what a huge blessing he has been in our family. Instead I'm going to steal an idea from Kate Bailey (hi!) and list all the little things that we love about him. Well, all the ones I can think of right now:

I love...
- the airplane noises he makes with his lips
- how he empties drawers and then cleans everything up when he's done
- when we're in a group of adults and everyone is laughing and he breaks in with his ridiculous fake laugh.. like he's part of the conversation too
- that he can play by himself for reeeeealy long stretches of time
- how he reacts when Daddy comes home from work - he hears the garage door open and immediately zooms to the gate and waits for Daddy with a HUGE grin
- that he will go to anyone and everyone without any reservations and without any tears
...but still gets giddy over Mom & Dad in a way that he doesn't do for anyone else
- that he loves to hug Mom & Dad & jump all over us when he gets excited
- when he chases the cat all over the house, laughs hysterically at everything the cat does, & is constantly trying to kiss & snuggle him... even though the cat hates him :)
- that he still takes two 2-3 hour naps a day!!!
- how he loves swimming & going on walks, hikes, bike rides, & all things outdoors
- that he loves water & is always stealing our cups, water bottles, camelbaks, etc.
- how he says very little real words, but is constantly jabbering in his own little language
- how strong he has always been - I've never felt like I was going to break him & he's so much fun to play with
- when he gets so excited that he flaps his arms so fast and so hard that he looks like he's trying to fly
- how ticklish he is - especially when Daddy is doing the tickling
- his big toothy grin
- how excited he gets when we let him open the garage door
- giving him baths and watching him giggle as he drenches the bathroom with splashes
- his big grin and even bigger shriek (the happy kind) when we open his bedroom door in the morning
- how excited he gets when we let him play on the stairs
- "hiding" in the closet while he opens and shuts the door on me and giggles like crazy when he sees me
- watching him walk by himself - he looks so drunk :)
- watching him learn new things
- that he still sleeps in the car
- the pouty face he makes right before he's about the cry
- folding laundry with him, aka. folding laundry then watching him dive in head first like it's a pile of leaves and play like he's never had so much fun in his life
- holding his hand
- his pacifier, aka. "the off button"- great for: calming nightmares, church, the car, or any other time you want your kid to shut up!
- what a great eater he is
- the sound of his voice when he says "mama"
- the cute little face he makes when he says "no no no"
- when he's crying at night and I pick him up and he melts into my body and falls right back to sleep
- when he's been hurt he crawls right to me (or Scott) and knows that we'll make it better

... I could probably list a bazillion more things, but you're probably getting bored reading this (if you've even made it this far). Long story short - we love our little boy and he has completed our lives in a way we never knew possible. Happy birthday Mason!

PS. We're having a small party for him after church on Sunday - I'll post messy cake pictures then.

Yellowstone

Every year my family goes on a week+ camping trip. This year we went to Yellowstone. Some of you may know that I worked in Yellowstone one summer during college. It's been almost 10 years and it was really fun going to back again. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

The whole Saunders clan at Old Faithful. This is the only picture in existance of my entire family (too bad Mason is looking at the river).


At the Old Faithful lookout. Although you can't actually see Old Faithful in this picture, but that's what you get im self-portraits.

NOT my idea... but it was pretty cute :)

Swimming in the Fire Hole River - Mason LOVES the water!

Hanging out at the campground

Cutest 2-headed monster I've ever seen!

Lower Falls - This is a completely different pack than the one I carried here 10 years ago!

Lower Falls - The family... well, some of them

Lower Falls - Different Spot, different day

Cousin Ryker & Mason on a bike ride - aka. Grandapa-san's taxi :)

Mason's spot at the table - he could barely see over the edge!

Mystic Falls

Mystic Falls with my Dad

And of course... a bear (there were other animals of course, but once you've seen a billion buffalo they get a little old)

California

Here's a little story from Mason Mickiewicz!

Mommy & Daddy needed a little break
so we hopped in our new car...

...Buckled me into my new car seat
(our big boy has already outgrown his infant seat!)...

...And headed to California to visit Daddy's family!

First we stopped off in Vegas where we stayed with Jenae & Andy (thanks again guys!), and I had tons of fun playing with Will, Sienna, and potty training Elmo :)

Then we went on to Apple Valley California to Grandma Pat's house, where we spent the week...

...Playing with cousin Jaymie and Aunt Missy...

...Had some fun with Uncle Kevin (and Uncle Bill, Grandma 'Nessa, and Great-Grandma Pat - who we didn't get any pictures of)...

...Ate a delicious Lobster dinner...

...And just hung out with the fam.
Mommy & Daddy also got addicted to a new video game called Peggle (Mommy actually has dreams about it at night)

On our way back we stopped in Mesquite and...

...Hung out by the pool...

...Went swimming & hot tubbing for the 1st time (and loved it!)...

...Which led to my new do...

The End!
I guess our story was a little anti-climatic :)

It was a much needed break and we had a great time with Scott's family. We wish we lived closer so we could see them all the time. Thanks for a great week!

Finally... Balance!

I never realized what a struggle it would be to keep the house clean, cook dinner, exercise, read scriptures, run errands, visit with friends/family/neighbors, work, teach primary, do any projects or creative things I like to do, relax, etc... all while taking care of the baby and making sure we're home in time for naps (he doesn't sleep well when we're out). But lately I have really been feeling like a finally have balance in my life since the baby came!

This is how I finally arrived in this glorious place:
1. Sometimes you just need to let go of things... like accepting the fact that my house will not always be clean. Which I now feel is ok, because I really don't want to look back and realize that I missed all the precious moments with Mason as a baby because I was too busy mopping the floor.
2. It's time to re-strategize. The old way of doing things just isn't going to work anymore, so I needed to come up with a new plan. I recently heard someone say "never leave a room empty-handed". This has revolutionized my busy life! By picking up at least one item every time I leave the room, the house stays tidy enough that I can enjoy playing with the baby until I get the time to really clean things up.
3. Organize and plan ahead! I looooove to organize and I have no doubt that this is what helps me keep my sanity!!! As fas as plannig, I like to "schedule" my day, making "appointments" for exercise, reading, when to start dinner, etc. You'd be surprised how well this works.
4. Weekly homework. In order to accomplish all the little projects and fun things I "keep meaning to do", I have started a list (which is always growing) and each week I work on one project. This has not only helped me feel productive, it's also fun!
5. Patience. 'Nuf said :)

I loved mommy-hood before, but now I love it even more!

And on that note, here's an update on our little giant:

• He's starting to use the pincer grasp (this just all-the-sudden happened one day)
• His weight gain is slowing down. This last month he only gained 1 lb instead of 2.
• He now has 2 teeth (and I have to admit that they're cuter than I thought they'd be)
• He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and yet, for some reason, will NOT put food in his mouth... go figure.
• There is still no sign of stranger anxiety, he'll go to anyone!
• Mommy and Daddy can make him laugh harder than anyone else can (we are pretty funny)
• He can almost pull himself up.
• AND... he's crawling. This just started and it's pretty slow-going but he's definately on his way! Check out the video below to see a super cute little clip (it's about 2 minutes long):

And here are some cute pictures, enjoy!

First time on the swings



First trip to the park



But Mom I HATE carrots!
(No, I'm not this crazy, we gave it to him
b/c he was teething and this made him feel better)
(And normally he loves this)



Off to church we go!



Easter outfit :)



Before he could figure out how to crawl,
he would just push up on his toes
and then yell because it wasn't working..
pretty cute (he still does this)



Trained assassin!


And... if you're in the mood to smile, check out this little video:

Werner's Syndrome?

Have you ever seen the movie Jack with Robin Williams? It's a story about a little boy with Werner's Syndrome who ages 4 times faster than normal. Well.. I'm pretty sure Mason has that! Okay.. maybe I'm overreacting just a BIT! But seriously - slow down kid!!!

Mason's growth charts go a little something like this:
9/2 - 6 days old - 8.13 lb (47.9%tile) - 20.5 in (64.82%tile)
9/11 - 15 days old - 8.38 lb (36.6%) - 21 in (59.88%)
10/22 - 1 month 26 days - 10.89 lb (34.26%) - 22.5 in (35.24%)
1/8 - 4 months 12 days - 16.09 lb (64.62%) - 25.9 in (75.18%)
3/5 - 6 months 9 days - 19.97 lb (84.3%) - 28.5 in (95.6 %)

He starts off on the big side, then starts shrinking, then BOOM - he's a giant! And he just got his first tooth, and I'm not happy about it!!! I love his adorable toothless grin! Someone stop this kid from growing PLEASE!

I pulled out Scott's baby book the other day and found out that Mason is just about the same size as Scott was at this age, so I guess it's official - I'll be raising a giant. My theory is that he was born to fit inside my body (although 8 lb is still pretty freakin' huge) and now he's just catching up to his daddy. One thing is for sure - I should thank my lucky stars that Mason didn't match daddy at birth (Scott was 10 lb)!

Here's some cute new pix:

We love bathtime!!!

A little taste of Mason's handywork -
we can't wait for him to outgrow this!


Yum :)


This kid's got spunk!


We love our little giant!