Tough Times

Today I was seeking some comfort in all that we have been through in trying to get pregnant. I spent lots of time on lds.org, and just praying. I was able to read many things that helped me to work through some of my feelings. I really liked this quote:
"Though our knowledge of the plan of salvation does not explain why miscarriages and stillbirths take place, nor what the eternal result will be, we can know with confidence that God, who is the father of all spirits, is merciful and just. We can know also that there is hope. Worthy parents can trust in him and know that they and all his spirit children will—one way or another—receive a just reward for their efforts and sacrifice, perhaps in ways that we do not presently comprehend."

The Living Christ

Our ward has given us a challenge to memorize The Living Christ in our families. Josh and I have started to read it little by little with Mason every night before our family Book of Mormon study. We seriously doubted that with the way Mason wiggles around during our scripture study that he would really get anything out of memorizing The Living Christ, but we have kept it going. When he will actually cooperate we are very surprised at how much he can repeat with us.

It is so amazing to me how he is now using some of those words from The Living Christ during other parts of our day. For example, he has begun to thank Heavenly Father for our "testimonies" during our prayers.

I now, more than ever before, have such a testimony of teaching our children what they need to know at a young age. Even three years old is not too young. They soak up more than we ever know and I am so grateful for all of the wonderful materials we have at our fingertips to teach our young children the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray every day that he will gain his own testimony which will help him to make right choices throughout his life.

Trip to Tucson!

Josh had a work conference in Tucson and Mason and I decided to tag along for the week. Mason absolutely loved Tucson!

I think he just loved being off schedule and sleeping in the same room as mommy and daddy. He was able to keep his eye on us at all times and knew for certain that we were not doing anything fun without him. We did a lot of swimming because it was SO HOT! We also took a day to meet up with Shel and Corey because they were in Phoenix. We could just not pass up an opportunity to see them since they were so close. Mason was extremely excited to see Asher and Beckett! He has seen all of his cousins this summer and he has had so much

fun with them. He really loves to be with his family. We all went to the Diamondbacks Baseball Game and the boys all had a blast running around together. Unfortunately we never really managed to get a picture of the three of them at the same time in the same place. It really was so much fun though and we always have a blast when we hang out with Shel and Corey.

On the way to see Michelle and Corey we decided to make a stop at the Mesa Temple. It is so amazing how much peace I feel just being near the temple. I really am so grateful for the blessings we are able to receive through the temple and the work that is done there. I know that Mason was able to feel something special there as well. When we walked into the visitors center he walked straight to the statue of Christ. He continued to point out different details on the statue and listened carefully as I explained to

him the nail marks in His hands and feet. Every time I see this statue I am brought to a deep state of humility for what our Savior has done for us. It truly is amazing that His love for us is so perfectly unconditional. I truly hope that Josh and I will be able to teach Mason of this amazing love so that he too will be lead to gain His own testimony of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for these small moments we are able to have as a family to remember what is truly important in life.

I love the quote by Henry B. Eyring that says "Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child's life to put feet firmly on the path home."

Happy Actual Birthday!!! June 14th

Every year Mason's birthday falls on flag day. It was supposed to be on the 4th of July, but he came three weeks early. He was meant to be with the flag! So... every year we are sure to take his picture with the flag. Mason thinks its pretty cool!

I took Mason to the zoo on his birthday because we heard they had some dinosaurs roaming the park. Mason had a blast, but I have to say we didn't really spend much time looking at the animals. Instead we spent most of our time doing the random little things like sitting on the pretend wooden horse and waving to the train. Waving to the train as it went by was probably the highlight for Mason. I let him do it like five times before I finally begged him to let us move on to something else. Now before anybody asks "why didn't you take him on it", let me mention that Mason likes to "watch" and not do. He is not sure the train is safe yet, but he really enjoys watching the people and waving as they go by. This child is very careful about "dangerous things". I am actually really shocked that he wanted to get on the horse. That is something we usually beg him to do for a picture. Now I just have to beg him to smile and look at me for pictures. Little cutie!

They are doing a lot of construction at our zoo right now so right in front of the construction site they have these little tractors so the kids can pretend to help with the building. Mason loved picking up and dumping the dirt. So cool!

Then of course we had to go inside the big gift shop where he gave a hug to every stuffed animal he saw. Quite the tender little child.

Mason loves the elephants and he found some just right for us to play with. I took the picture right as he was handing me the elephant I was to play with. "Mommy.... play me."

So the dinosaurs were so amazing! They really were awesome! Their heads move when you walk by and their eyes follow you too! Then suddenly they let out a huge roar! At first Mason wasn't sure if he should be afraid or not, so he just watched all the other kids. Then he got a little braver and stood there to watch on his own. He stared at the dinosaurs for a very long time. He thought they were much more interesting than the animals. Unfortunately the dinosaurs go away in August.

This is Mason after he got really close to the dinosaur, heard it roar, and turned to run away! I was so thrilled that he was actually having fun with them. When I asked him his favorite dinosaur he said "the one that shoots water". There were two dinosaurs that spit water when you walk by. He didn't quite stand in the line of fire, but he did get pretty close.

When we saw the sand to uncover the dinosaur bones, Mason got really excited. It was funny when he went right into the sand found a dinosaur pamphlet and opened it to read. He is very into pretending to read these days. I love listening by his door at night when he is supposed to be going to sleep, but instead he is holding a book and making up a story about a pirate ship going down a waterfall. He is such a smart boy and we are so proud of him. I just can't even express how much fun I have with him every day! I just want to bottle him up and keep him forever!!!

Last of all we went to the Mayan because Mason actually remembered that place from last year. He loves watching the divers jump off the rocks and into the water. This is a great place to go to keep your kids entertained during dinner. He seriously stared at the rocks even when there were no divers. What a fun day! Mason was so spoiled, but he deserved it! We are so thankful Heavenly Father has blessed us with such a sweet, special, sensitive, loving child!

Happy Birthday Mason!

I can't believe Mason is 3 years old! He is growing up so fast and every time I think of it I turn to tears! He is seriously my best little pal and I don't even remember how life could have been even the least bit exciting without him around. Don't worry.... Josh agrees!

Mason loves the story from the Book of Mormon where Nephi builds a ship. Ever since March when his cousin Troy had his birthday party with a Buzz cake, Mason had been telling me he wants a cake with "Nephi and his hip". I thought for sure he would change his mind by the time his birthday came around, but the idea stuck and that is what I attempted to do.

Mason could not wait to dive into the cake. Those kit kats were just calling to him. He does not like to get his hands dirty so he dove right in with his mouth. Oh does my boy love chocolate!!

After cake and presents Troy, Mason, and Grandma and Grandpa painted and built some little wooden boats so that we could head over to the park for a little boat race.

Grandma and Grandpa painted their boat mostly blue to make sure we all knew where their loyalty was (BYU), but they did add a little red so that they could support their rebel children who prefer red. Mason's favorite color is blue so he chose all blue, even though it killed his daddy to see it. Troys boat was all red to support the "U" of course. Ha ha! It's funny.... our little guys have no idea yet, but it's all about the sports.

The boat race was so much fun! Mason had a blast and was so glad some of his favorite people could be there to help celebrate!

Jazz vs. Knicks

Last night was my (Josh) first Jazz game ever in my 9 years living in Utah and it was a great one! Some friends of ours offered us their tickets to last nights game. We went back and forth on whether or not we should hassle with finding a last minute baby sitter, but decided to see what we could do. Thanks to Jen's mom we were able to make it happen! ....And boy am I glad we did!

First of all let me say that I had no idea what kind of seats we had until I picked up the tickets. They gave us 4 so we invited Kayla and Jake , but once I picked up the tickets the entire night changed for us. We were on the 8th row, Center court. It was AWESOME!


What a great game. Price of the entire date was 5 dollars for parking! This rocked! Here are some other pictures...thank you Barney's!

Pretty sure the screamer is my brother-in-law. He is a great person to watch sports with.

Oh yeah... Jen and Kayla made a new friend that night.

(Thanks for letting me steal the blog babe!)

Peanut Butter and Ketchup?

Mason doesn't usually put in his request for meals, so today when he said he wanted ketchup I decided to pull out a hotdog as well. When I had everything on his plate he stared as if something were missing. Next, he pointed to the bread. I thought "oh, he actually wants to put his hotdog on bread this time... this is great!". Then he asked me to put peanut butter on the bread. I figured he changed his mind about the ketchup. I handed him the sandwich, put the peanut butter away, and when I turned around he had wasted no time. He was taking a big bite a his peanut butter sandwich dipped in ketchup! Yuck! I was laughing so hard! Sure. Why not put all of your favorite things together in one bite? Mmmmmm!