Turning EIGHT is GREAT!

I think every birthday is a special reason to celebrate, but there are definitely some birthdays that change your life more than others. Tyler had one of those momentous birthdays this year when he turned eight years old. First, and most importantly, this is the age where we believe a child is ready to make the choice to be baptized. We have spent the last year talking with him a lot about what this decision means, and have been touched by his desire to follow the example of our Savior. He chose to be baptized when we went to Maryland, and we were grateful to share this experience with many family members and friends. As a mother, it is hard to describe the feelings of watching your child grow and make these kinds of decisions in their life. To use Tyler's words, "I felt warm and happy inside." It was a special day for our family.

Another change this birthday has brought to our entire family has been the introduction of CUB SCOUTS. What a world we have entered into! Wow. I must admit that although I am a huge fan of setting goals and working towards something and of the philosophy of Scouting in general, it would be very easy for me to become overwhelmed and eliminate at least some of the time commitment Scouting requires if it weren't for this face...

Tyler's first day of Scouts~on his way to Den Meeting.

Right after his first day of Cub Scout Camp. He couldn't have been more thrilled.

Our first family Pack Meeting (the Raingutter Regatta for those of you who are also entrenched in this world). Poor Robby just doesn't know how he's going to wait two years to join in the fun. When Pack Meeting was over, Tyler said, "See, Robby, why I love Scouts so much? It's SO much fun!" (Not that Robby needed any persuasion about Scouts being fun. He and Annie are practically in tears any time Tyler gets to go to Scouts and they need to stay behind.)

We love Tyler so much and are so excited for all the new experiences he is having. But it is still shocking to me that eight years have flown by this quickly.

I'm sorry...were we supposed to keep blogging during the summer?!

I'm not going to start in on all the reasons that blogging has completely stopped for our family. Nor make any promises about how long it will continue. (Not that anyone would believe me anyway with my track record.) But I will post a few of our latest family pictures and just let you know that right now we are all healthy, happy, and here. (We just returned from a month long visit with our families.) (And I do apologize to any of you who do not use google reader, and have possibly come here only to see the same post over and over and over again. Sorry!) These pictures were taken by our very talented friend Amber (see previous post). We have had many things happen over the last few months, most of them very good things, and we will attempt to make a few more updates in the very near future. Hope that all of you are happy & healthy as well!

Mothers With Style

If ever a woman had style, this one does. I first met Amber back in our early married days in our BYU ward. Of course one of the first things I noticed about her was how gorgeous she is. Just look at her fabulous hair. And she always looks so stylish! (So do her girls. And although they are beautiful all on their own, I'm pretty sure their perfect hairstyles and coordinating outfits are courtesy of their mother.) When I first visited her apartment, I realized that she is also an awesome interior decorator. And that is not something that is easy to do in an apartment on a limited budget! I also found out that she has real style with creating scrapbooks. You should see the things she comes up with! (My scrapbooking attempts are rather pitiful in comparison.) But those are not the reasons that I like Amber so much. She is just such a nice, fun, easy going person. It is a real joy to be around not only her, but her family. Her husband and daughters are just as great as she is, and we feel so lucky to know them!

Well, Amber has another amazing talent. She is a phenomenal photographer. She just recently started a photography business, and if you live in Arizona, you are very lucky. If not, see if you can plan a trip to Utah when she might be in town. We lucked out with not only having the chance to have Amber take some family pictures for us while she was here, but also to have her fun family stay with us for a day. It was so much fun to visit and catch up. Just look at these cute kids!

Amber & Josh make taking family pictures easy and even fun. It was really one of the best experiences we've had, and believe me when I say that our family has had a LOT of family picture taking experiences! You can check out some of the other fabulous pictures Amber has taken at her photography site or her photography blog.

Thanks again Amber & Josh for coming to stay. We're so happy to call you friends!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

We have an 8 year old!

I still remember so well the night he was born and made me a mother. How has it possibly been eight years since then?

We like to have cake twice a day for birthdays around here. Coffee cake for breakfast and birthday cake for dessert.

Tyler had a special treat this year. His grandpa was able to be in town for two days, and one of those days happened to be his birthday! These kids adore their grandparents, and getting to go birding, swimming, and to the store to pick out a present (or two) with Papa was almost more fun than he could handle on his big day!

The fun didn't end there...even though it was already more fun than should be allowed to fit into one day! Tyler invited a few of his friends to go bowling with our family. We all had a blast. Andrew and I had a little competition, which boosted both of our usual scores a bit (he won); Tyler & Robby made some awesome shots (is that even correct bowling terminology?) and showed us their cool moves; and Annie outscored every person there (except her dad)!

And just so you can laugh a little at our expense, Andrew decided to take a few action shots of our bowling skills.

Check out the concentration!

How can such feminine delicateness outscore everyone else?!

We're so lucky Andrew makes so much effort to be there for the kids' birthdays for as much time as possible. His presence is really what makes the day so great!

And in going along with our 'theme' of not having any theme and just throwing in as many different things as Tyler loves into one day, here is the BYU cake he asked for!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty, I love you so much bear. I'll always be so thankful that Heavenly Father sent you to me. You made me a mother, which is the greatest thing I could ever hope to be. Now I'll keep working to be the best mother I can possibly be, because you deserve all the best. I am so proud of your pure and tender heart, your desire to learn new things, and the way you loyally protect those you love. I love you so much!

Love always, Mom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is AP, signing off for now

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

Okay, this is the last time you'll have to hear from me for a while... was that sigh of relief from me or you? ;-)

Becca works so hard, and this past week has been so crazy busy, that I told her I'd post some pictures to catch up the blog. Done and done. Now you can go back to the cutesy clever posts you're accustomed to :-)

Hopefully you'll enjoy the pictures and remember that we're grateful for our friendship with all of you.

Over and out.

Annie's 3rd Birthday

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

Time sure flies way too fast for me when I spend time with this little girl -- I can't believe she's 3!

The day she was born...


First birthday...


Second birthday...


Big girl now -- 3 years old!

Waking up to PINK balloons


Painting her nails with Mom


Opening some cards over breakfast


After lunch, a quick "date" with dad to play games at Chuck E Cheese






Birthday party at cousins' house


Excited about birthday gifts

Climate Change -- Please change!

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

So, Al Gore swung by Utah to plead his case for climate change recently... I just wish he would have left some of his global warming with us!

I woke up today to over a FOOT of snow. I'm done shoveling the driveway for the year. It's April 16th for crying out loud! I opened the garage and hit the gas to plow right over the snow. Fortunately the roads weren't too bad and by the end of the day all the roads, drives, and sidewalks were completely clear (Good thing, or somebody would have gotten hurt. I don't know who, but somebody...)

So here are a few pics from the crazy day!

Easter Sunday

[Disclaimer: Post by Andrew]

We had a great Easter Sunday. All our siblings in the area (each of us have two in Utah) came over right after church for a nice dinner and Easter festivities. It's so nice for us all to be able to spend holidays together. Here are a few pictures...

Kids ready for church...


Anna Mason and Tyler


Gwen Mason and Robby


Annie found some eggs in the back yard


Uncle Rob does a lesson for the kids about Easter


Family... isn't it about... TIME? :-) Nothing like a walk on a beautiful day after a family dinner. We all look pretty darn happy here!