Happy 4th of July

Avery got to spend all week with Grandma and Grandpa so he could go to swim lessons at Downata.  He actually skipped one day to go camping and fishing with Grandpa- but that's ok.  He still had a lot of fun.  

We decided since we had to go get him anyway, that we would make another weekend out of it and go camping for the 4th of July.  We went up to Amanda's parent's property up Lava Ranch in Idaho.  Someday they hope to build a cabin, but for now it is just a place to camp and there is a shed with beds in it (that needs to be cleaned so we didn't stay in it).  We had some good friends (each of our roommates from college who also got married) and their kids come with us as well as Brian's siblings Mike and Taunya.  Some more friends from college came up later. It was quite the relaxing trip.  There was a little bike riding and dirtbike riding, playing games and just hanging out.  Our friends brought the idea of roasting strawberries covered in marshmallow fluff- AMAZING!   Mason loved getting to crawl around in the dirt and Avery and Lily were intent climbing the "mountain" cliff next to our campsite.  Needless to say we were all sooooooo dirty when we were done.  We went swimming on our way home at Downata and had to make sure to shower off before getting in the pool!

We drove down to Lava for the fireworks.  It was a fairly good show, but we kinda missed our local West Point show.  It was still fun though.  Lily fell asleep by the end, but Mason was awake the whole time.  Mason was really scared at first but then became interested in the fireworks.  

hanging in the pack-n-play in the shade

waiting for daddy to get back so we could go home!

On the way home (after visiting Amanda's parents at Downata) we had to stop on the freeway just outside of Malad to console a crying Mason.  It was at this time we noticed the van smelled liked something burning.  There was new oil splattered all over our trailer (which we noticed on the way down but thought it was from construction).  SO we got off the exit and call Kia since our van is still under warrenty.  THere was no oil left in the van and we didn't want to drive it anywhere.  SO they sent out a tow truck (free with the warrenty) to take it all the way to Ogden.  Since the tow truck didn't have enough seats for all of us, Amanda's mom were nice enough to drive us and our trailer home that night.  She didn't get home till after 1 in the morning- but we are so grateful for her!  While waiting for the tow truck we unloaded some of our stuff we had to take home- it looked like we were homeless for a little bit all sitting on the side of the road waiting.  We also had to leave most of our stuff in the van- which was packed full of stuff.  Oh-well!  Luckily our van is getting fixed!

It was a really great weekend and we just love spending time in the outdoors!  Thanks to everyone who came and helped with all the yummy food!

A Visit to Great-Grandma Owen

We were able to go visit one of Amanda's Grandma Owen (our kids' great-grandma).  It is always a pleasure to visit grandma!  The kids loved exploring throughout the house and outside (where second cousins played).  They also know exactly where the cookie jars are- they managed to get into them less than 5 minutes after getting there.  But Grandma doesn't mind- she said Grandpa always told her to keep the cookie jar full just for grandkids- and she has always done that!  

It was nice to visit with Grandma and hear about all the things she is making (she is amazing at making pillows and handtowels- something I (Amanda) wished I could do).  She also shared with us some more family history things she has been doing.  Amanda had a sharing lesson to prepare the next Sunday on family history and it helped her get started into her lesson (and more excited about family search!).  Grandma Owen has spent alot of time compiling family history stories and biographies that are such a great asset to our family.  I love reading the stories about my ancestors! 

We love our Grandma- she is never misses a birthday and we love getting her cards in the mail.  She has alot of grandkids and alot of great-grandkids but she makes sure she sends them all something.  We love you Grandma!

love this one of Grandma and Mason

all of us and Grandma

I Want to Be a Missionary Now!

...I don't want to wait until I'm grown...
A couple of weeks ago we did a couple of FHE lessons on missionary work to get our kids excited about it.  Avery thinks going on a mission would be scary, but we really want him to know that it won't be!  We've been better about writing Brian's sister Alycen on her mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and encouraging our kids that they all can go on missions when they get older.
For one of our family home evenings, we talked about a typical missionary's day, such as getting up early, getting ready, studying, going out to serve and preach, etc.  It was fun to learn about and then we had a fun relay race where the kids had to "do" all the missionary things.
They had to race and look up a scripture (for scripture study), race to put on clothes (a dress and high heels for lily and a shirt/tie and Brian's shoes for Avery), brush hair and get make-up on if applicable, put name tag on and then carrying scriptures run down the hallway and knock on the closet door.  We all had a fun time with this game.  And we had some pretty cute little missionaries as well.

Birthday Boy! Mason Turns One!

After our camping trip, we came down from the mountain and celebrated Mason's first birthday!  We cannot believe that it has been a whole year since this cute little boy joined our family:

He weighed 8 pounds then, and now he weighs just under 20 pounds!  (he probably would have weighed more but he got the stomach flu the week before and lost a bunch of weight we think)

We had a very fun celebration with him at Downata where we went swimming with some of Amanda and Brian's family.  After swimming we had pizza and cake and ice cream!  Mason did really well eating his cake and didn't even get too messy (it could have been because he was a little tired by the time we had it).  Avery and Lily picked out the tractors and trucks that went on top of his dirt cake and they also chose the blue cake since he was a boy.

with Aunt Chelsea

with Aunt Candace

loves the water

cousins!

with Grandma Downs

Birthday Cake

figuring it out

maybe if I shake it?

found a hole!

yes, we only had christmas wrapping paper

cute boy!

 Enjoying the CAKE:

He got a car road mat and a couple of cars.  He LOVES playing with cars. Or anything that he can push like a car for that matter.  

Here a few things about our Mason man!

*LOVES cars.  see note above.  Not only does he love pushing cars around he already has the mouth motor sounds going.  

*has stood up on own a few times, but other than that he is quite content and fast at crawling wherever he goes.

*loves to pull all the vents out of the house and eat what is in there (yum...)

*loves going outside.  He gets so upset when he sees Avery and Lily go outside and shut the door before he manages to escape.  Its pretty cute to see him get mad.

*When he does get mad he throws things including his binky.  He has a good arm for that purpose.

*Likes his binky and has it upside down most of the time.

*still hates getting his clothes or diaper changed.  He has been like this since day one at the hospital.  He just doesn't like to be "handle" like that.

*says "Mama"and "Dada" but not always to the right person.

*loves playing with Avery and Lily

*loves food in general.  Often he will eat Avery and Lily's leftovers.

*is quite wiggly in church!

*has four teeth- two on top and two on bottom with some more starting to come in.

*has been sleeping all the way through the night since weaning him to whole milk.  It did take a couple of sleepless nights but now is really good at going to bed!

*loves climbing up and down the stairs (we never got around to getting a real baby gate)

*loves the bath and water.  Hates when he has to get out and Avery and Lily get to stay in.

*loves getting into the toilet...need I say more

*gives up the best hugs and open mouth kisses in the world!  He only like to hug you on your right shouler looking out, but it sure is a great hug!  Lately he likes to crawl up to Brian right when he comes home to give him a hug for a few minutes. 

We sure do love our Mason!  We can't imagine life without him now!

Camping round #1 for the summer

So summer is all about camping in our family.  Avery cannot get enough of camping!  He would sleep outside every night in his tent (which he bought last year with his birthday money) if we let him (but now we don't because it makes us too nervous).

We had to go up to Idaho for Brian's nephew's mission homecoming, so we decided to make a fun full weekend out of it.  We went camping up to Cherry Creek by Amanda's parents house and it was so much fun!   The campground is no longer kept up (so no bathrooms) but there are still firepits and tables up there to use.  Amanda's sister Chelsea joined us as well as Grandma and Grandpa Downs who came up just for s'mores.

All sitting around the campfire for some hotdogs!  It was actually a stormy like weekend and got alot colder than we were used to so a fire was nice!

loving it!

Aunt Chelsea was such a great help in watching the kids.  This was Mason's first real camping trip other than when he was really little.  He wanted to be down and crawling all the time.

who is that handsome dude?

perfect smiles!

all messy from some sort of food

uh-oh they found me out!

our little camper

She can never get enough strawberries

We slept alright through the night except it was chilly and I (Amanda) was nervous the whole time since Avery & Lily wanted to sleep in their own tent.  They went to bed fine and we didn't hear a peep out of them the entire night.  Mason only woke up once and Amanda was so paranoid about him being cold that he got sleep in with mommy and daddy the rest of the night.  

The next day it started to sprinkle and rain so we rushed to get everything loaded up.  Aunt Chelsea hung out with the kids in the car (hence the Mason driver photo above).  by the time we got everything loaded (wet) the rain ofcourse stopped.  Oh well!

We brought the four-wheeler and dirtbike so Brian, Amanda and Avery went on a ride up the mountain towards Oxford Peak.  Lily and Mason went with Chelsea because they were cold.  The ride was a blast!  And it got Amanda out of her comfort zone because it makes her nervous to ride up and down steep hills.

We got up on a ridge line before turned around that had the most beautiful view of the valleys.  We could see Swan Lake and almost all the way to Preston.  We will have to go back and try to hike it all the way to the top when we have time and the weather is more cooperating.

Birthday Man!

Brian turned 31 in June!  It seems like we have a pretty chill birthday celebration for him because we are usually doing something fun for our anniversary (the day before).  However, this year we didn't do our anniversary stuff then but it still ended up being just us as a family at home.  Brian didn't want to do anything big.  

We had the traditional Red Waldrof Cake that Brian loves!  I cheat and make the actual cake from a cake mix but then I make the yummy frosting homemade.  It uses flour and regular sugar and you cook it up all funny.  Interesting process, but very good for this cake.  I also managed to do the best job I have in a while in frosting it (i frosted it a little before hand, stuck it in the freezer for a little while, then frosted the rest of it so it would go on smoother).

always such a happy guy

Brian got a mountain bike a couple of months earlier, so we didn't get much for him on his actual birthday.  We just got him some flip flops since his broke a really long time ago.

has lots of helpers to blow out the candles!

I'm pretty sure those are not the pajamas Lily has worn all day.  She probably finally got clothes on for the day, got dirty or wet and then decided to put pajamas back on.  She loves wearing her pajamas (it doesn't matter which ones).  

We sure do love our Daddy!  He is the best dad and husband in the whole world!