Uh...Mason...

Oh my little Mason. Anyone who has held Mason as he is falling asleep or is already asleep has been, how do I say this, touched by his sweetness...literally. This kid is so
funny. When he wants to be cuddled he always sticks his hand in your shirt...anyone's shirt. I was going to put a picture of him with all his different ladies, but he does it with his Dad too, so... I think it is sweet, but kind of weird and he may get too old and still do it and then...yikes. He loves the material of shirts and he grabs it and puts it in his eyes. I've tried to give him soft blankets to put in his face and he pushes them away and grabs for my shirt. He even does this in his sleep...if you pick him up when he is already asleep as soon as you have him he is grabbing and reaching for your shirt to shove in his eye. Don't you think that's funny? He is always doing that to me at church and I swear everyone at church has seen down my shirt, which, luckily there's not much to look at anymore after two kids, but still. After Mason woke up, Doug showed him what's up and to lay off his lady. Mean Uncle Doug...come on...he's just a baby...

All Aboard...

I am so behind with pictures. Now that we have this blog, I guess I feel like we have to post everything we ever do...and in the order they happen. My obsessive compulsiveness
continues to show itself in more areas than I thought possible. Anyway, when we went to Utah for graduation we took a trip on the Heber Creeper. It was a fun little ride and the boys
really loved it...even the big boys had some fun as you can see...I admit, due to my OCD tendencies, I was a little...hmmm, how do I say this...not wanting to touch anything for fear that it would fall off due to rust and then I would get rust all over me and not be able to touch my clothes or my kids or anything, not to mention the train falling apart and crashing off the track. I know, I have problems. It was really fun though. I do enjoy trains... the
rocky ride makes me want to go right to sleep, and I love to sleep. I love airplanes best...and the more turbulence, the better, just rock me to unconsciousness. One thing that was kind of ironic, if that's the right word...is that you weren't supposed
to bring any food on the train and yet it's kind of a kid thing to do and kids have to eat all the time and they will only eat certain things and never anything that you could buy on the train because that would just make things too easy.
Besides after seeing the delapidated state that they train was in, why would I want to eat any food that was kept on it. So we packed all these snacks for the kids and as soon as we got on the train they were bombarding Whit and I for their treats. So here are the kids with their mouths full of licorice and fishy crackers, none of which were sold on the train. Oh well. They did sell train shaped lollipops for like $20 a piece, which seemed reasonable...right. Even though I complain a bit now, it really was a great day and we all had a super time!

Aaahhh...Graduation

Here's to the true graduates! Way to go Ben and Doug!! I have the most awesome and smartest brothers ever. Ben just finished his Masters in Acoustics (a physics degree) and Doug just finished a Bachelors degree in Exercise Physiology and then is off to dental school. Oh how I love these guys!
Here is Ben's awesome family who has suffered with him through these last two years. It has been hard work and very time consuming, but they all pulled through fabulously! What troupers!
Here is Doug and his amazing wife Jackie. So cute together aren't they? Jackie has been Doug's sugar-mama...okay Doug works part-time, so I guess she's a half sugar-mama. Way to go with all your hard work too!
Ben and Doug were kind enough to let me tag along. I never walked when I graduated forever ago and so it was super fun to do it with them. I admit, I felt a little dumb, and still kind of do, but it really was so great to do that with them. It wouldn't have been nearly the same to have done it by myself. They are the best!
Here are mom and dad and their graduates. All of their kids have graduated with college degrees...and they even have a Master now!
I had to throw in a picture of my cute boys...Joel, Carter, and Mason! Do all those boys look alike or what?!
Joel's parents so kindly came down for graduation. That was so nice and it's always fun to get together with them. Joel has awesome parents!
And here is the whole brood. Seriously, what a group! It was a wonderful time together and I am seriously so proud of Ben and Doug and all their hard work and accomplishments. I really have the best brothers ever. They truly are amazing.

And the winner for boater of the year goes to...

MASON THOMPSON!!! Uncle Connor said that Mason was boater of the year after our outing with them at East Canyon. I think it's so funny. Mason loves to be on boats...but he doesn't really show any emotion.

He just takes it all in and sleeps. It doesn't matter what the boat is doing either...it could be going slow or fast or just sitting there, Mason just chills. He doesn't even complain about wearing the life jacket...just takes it all in stride. What a sweetie. (please stay that way...) When I look at these pictures it makes me want to pick him up and cuddle him in my arms. There's something about sleeping babies...doesn't everyone just love them?

This is on the Thompson's water-ski boat. We were driving fast and whipping around while pulling water skiers on choppy water and this is what Mason looked like, his little head cocked to the side. Amazing. The above pictures are from earlier this summer on the Shafer's party barge. We've had so much fun this summer with all our little boat trips...many thanks to the Grandparents and their boats!

So this is a tribute to my little boater...my sweet, chill, Mason.

Thompson Family Fun!

We had such a great time on our trip to Utah! First off was our visit with the Thompson's. We stayed in Morgan, UT and had so much fun swimming and skiing/wakeboarding at East Canyon. Here is Carter with his buddy Dylan in the, not so, hot tub. Joel was playing with the thermometer sailboat. Nice.
Due to Dylan being such a fish, Carter learned to jump in the water! We were so proud of him. At first he was a little scared to put his face under, but after a little bit of time he would just run right off the edge into the pool, no cares!(as long as he had that float on)
Are these the cutest boys you've ever seen! Seriously, they kill me. Mason is in this serious stage...he's happy and still smiles all the time, but not so much for the camera anymore. I love their little bellies in this picture...why is that only cute on babies? Hmmm...

More fun in the sun. Here is, hmmm, let's see, in the back we have me and Mason, Nate Johnson, Joel, Alex and Kelly Eggersten, There's another baby back there and I don't remember who it is, sorry...in front there is Carter, Michal and Ashlyn Thompson, and Whitney Corbett, and then Luke Johnson. The baby in the back must be Andrew Corbett...that's my guess.
Mason had a lot of fun in the pool as well. Especially when Aunt Kelly let us borrow their floaty. We just stuck him in there and let him go...okay, we checked on him periodically...
We had Thompson family pictures taken during this trip as well. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Here are the boys and I waiting for pictures do be done. We love the Thompson family. They are getting so big. There are 24 grandchildren from ages 13 on down. We have so much fun with them and can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas.

Shafer Family Fun!

I'm way behind with trips and family fun, so here are some pictures from our July get-together with the Shafer family. We had such a fun time. Here are the boys doing what they love...reading books at Borders. Carter doesn't know what a library is...when he wants to go read books he says he wants to go to Borders. Sad, but true.
Here is Mom and Dad's most recent purchase...the party barge...and let me tell you, it is definitely a party on the barge. It doesn't go super fast, but it's a fun ride and we can all be on it together. This picture is from May when it was a little colder, but I wanted to put a picture of the boat on here so you can picture it better.
We did try a little tubing behind it and as you can see it is a slow ride, but you can do silly things...perfect for Doug! He cracks me up...can you see his foot sticking up? Seriously, what a nut!
Ben and Doug are getting a little crazy! We also tried some wakeboarding behind the barge and it was fun. You could get up, but not do any real tricks. I even did it, but decided against posting the picture.
Doug and Jackie taught us how to play extreme croquet and it got a little "extreme". They had fun though. I understand that team "Dad and Joel" won! Yeah for them. We also played a lot of "London Bridge", a card game we all enjoy.
The boys got a little swim time as well...though the water was a little cold for Mason...whoops. Joel Shafer was in the pool too, but I couldn't get him to look at the camera. He was having too much fun to stop for pictures.
At the end of our trip Uncle Doug gave all my boys haircuts. This was Mason's first official cut. He was a good boy and is so cute. Incase you are all concerned about how red I look in this picture, no worries, I wasn't really sunburned, but for some reason the developed picture pulled out all the reds and pinks...so I look very red. We had so much fun throughout the week. I already miss them so much. I'm glad that we have such a fun family and that we have such fun together!

Shafer family pics

We just had a Shafer family gathering the last week of July and it was so much fun! I love being with my family and we always have a such a wonderful time together. We took this picture last week and it is so fun to see how the family is growing. I will post more pictures from last week later...
Seriously, I think these are just the cutest kids! You can tell what each kid is thinking...Kadin - "I dropped a smartie down here somewhere...I've gotta find it!", Joel - "Uncle Doug is so funny!", Carter - "Uncle Doug is so funny!", Mason - "Whatever...are we done yet?". I wish we had videoed as we were taking pictures of the kids. All the adults are jumping and yelling and trying to be funny and get all the kids to look and smile and the kids are just sitting there putting their hands on their face or staring at the sky or whatever. It was crazy. This was the best picture Joel got on his camera. They are darn cute though!