2009 in Review

Wow, I cannot believe 2009 is already over. It seems like the days go by sooo slow but then before I know it another year has gone by.
Here are a few highlights from the past year with the Mason's:

• For Keely this was a year of "firsts". Between, crawling, walking, talking and turning a year old, she's had quite the busy year (and so have I). She definitely has a mind of her own and has developed quite the stubborn streak. Currently her favorite thing to do is climb. Up, down and around absolutely everything. If there is something she wants she can figure out a way to get it. Even if it means standing up on the kitchen table or pushing a chair halfway across the house.
• Jacey took swim lessons again this year and continues to be quite the little fishy, just like her Daddy. She cannot stand the fact that it is too cold right now to go out in the pool. She started pre-school in September and loves it. I can't believe I'm saying it but I actually miss her when she's gone. She has finally learned her colors and is now working on reading/writing the alphabet. She absolutely adores her dad and LOVES when she gets to go to work with him. She often comes home looking like a plumber. Crack and all :-)
• Thad joined the Master's swim program and has started swimming again. It's been great to see him not only do something he loves but to also be able to get some exercise :-) He is still self employed and we have been extremely blessed that in this economy he has been able to stay quite busy. He continues to learn new ways to grow his business and always manages to find new "toys" to buy for the business.
• I went to girls camp this year with the Young Women and that was quite the experience!! I found out in October that we are expecting again and pretty much spent the rest of the year in bed :-(
• We had to say goodbye to Sassy :-( I promised Jacey she could get a new doggy when Daddy buys Mommy a bigger house. Hee, Hee!!!!

Next Year promises to bring many new changes to our family, hopefully most of which will be good ones.

Happy New Year!!!!!

So hard to say goodbye

I had been waiting to do this post because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be crying the entire time I was typing. Then morning sickness got in the way :-(
On Oct. 10th our sweet bull dog Sassy passed away.
I freely admit that I am not a huge dog lover. Not that I have anything against dogs and I don't dislike them, I'm just not the type of person that gives their dog kisses, takes them to the park daily, spoils them rotten, etc... I can say however with 100% certainty though that I would NEVER want anything bad to happen to any animal and Sassy was loved and will be missed dearly.
And so the story goes....
Thad and I hadn't even been married two months when he came home with the cutest puppy I'd ever seen. As cute as she was, I was still STEAMING mad at my husband for buying a dog. A month before he had taken in a dog our neighbor no longer wanted (1/2 lab, 1/2 dalmatian) and she had reeked so much dang havoc on my yard and life that I definitely didn't want another one. Not only that but he had paid some major $$$$ for the dog without telling me about it :-(
I was such a sucker though for her beautiful blue eyes and adorable scrunched up face. She was pure bred and all her lineage had royal sounding names so we put quite a bit of thought into what we were going to name her. I decided her name would be "Her Royal Sassiness" and we'd call her Sassy for short. It fit her perfectly!!!! When she was a puppy I let her stay in the house but once she got bigger she was sent packing (too the backyard) :-) If she was really good I'd let her come in and sit on a bean bag so she could be with the family. I have a STRONG aversion to dog hair all over my furniture and house.

A few months after getting Sassy, our other dog ran away so we were left with just one big ball of energy. And boy did she ever have energy. Thad's brother Jeff came over one day while we were both at work to put chlorine in the pool for us. While he was there Sassy chased him around the pool and made him drop his phone in the pool, which is his excuse for leaving our back door wide open. I didn't hear this story until months after it happened. Thad said that when he got home from work and walked in the door he thought we had been robbed. The entire house had been torn apart with drawers pulled out, cupboards opened, paper torn up everywhere. Then he saw Sassy coming out of our room and put two and two together. He said that I called him shortly after that to tell him I was on my way home and he went into panic mode. He was deathly afraid of what would happen if I came home and saw the house in that condition. He's never cleaned so fast in his entire life. I did notice that the knobs on my coffee table looked as if they had been chewed. Thad quickly dismissed that idea and told me I was imagining things. If Thad's dad hadn't spilled the beans one day I probably would have never been told what happened :-)
From the moment Jacey was born she just couldn't get enough of that "doggy". Sassy was her best friend. Thad was even worse. For the first several years he took her with him everywhere. She just kept getting bigger and fatter. I told him on hundreds of occasions "You treat that dang dog better than you treat your wife." It's me or the dog, choose!!!! Unfortunately he'd always say "Okay, I choose the dog". I know, not very nice, but that's Thad for you :-)

About 8 or 9 months ago I noticed that Sassy wasn't so fat anymore. She was losing weight rapidly. After much coercion Thad finally agreed to take her to the vet. Unfortunately he's the type of person that doesn't ever think anything is wrong. Sadly for us, he was mistaken. We found out Sassy was in the worst possible stages of valley fever. I never realized how much I would miss her until I thought we were going to lose her. Thankfully she hadn't yet developed seizures which is the fatal symptom of valley fever. We immediately put her on medication and within a few weeks she was gaining her weight back and seemed to be back to her old self. That is until a few weeks ago when I noticed she was loosing weight again and would just lie around all day rather than running around the yard barking. Our fears were confirmed when we took her back to the vet and were told the valley fever had come back with full force and that she was also starting to have mild seizures. The rest is history :-(

The day before we put her "to sleep" Jacey went out back to hug her and pet her and tell her goodbye. She still doesn't quite understand and she still says something about it on a daily basis. I know it will take time and it will eventually begin to hurt a little less but for now as Jacey would say "I miss my Sassy dog!!!"

Baby Sassy

If only they could stay that small

Halloween 2005

Sassy & Jacey "cleaning" the pool

Sassy LOVED going for rides with Thad

Jacey saying goodbye :-(

Christmas 2009

I love Christmas time but I have to say I sure am glad it's all over!!!!
Christmas this year was different for many reasons, both good and bad.
Usually I get the house all decked out (including the tree), make tons of goodies to distribute to friends and neighbors, do LOTS of shopping (usually going overboard) and eating everything in sight.
This year: We were lucky to get the tree up, let alone do any decorating. My tree had a measly 5 ornaments on it. The only reason it had lights was because it was pre-lit. Thank goodness!!!!
I did attempt to do some baking this year. I spent one afternoon and made goodies like crazy. My intent was to make fudge the next day to add to the goody plates but that did not happen. Oh well. At least a few people got treats :-) I have to say that it is absolutely no fun being sick and pregnant during Christmas.
Jacey is finally at the age where she is beginning to understand what "Christmas" is and it was soooo fun watching her get so excited over everything. I can't count the number of times she would come to me and say "Mommy, Keely's on the naughty list again." According to Jacey, Keely was always on the naughty list for either, crying, climbing on the table, making a mess, etc... Jacey of course was a perfect angel, right???????
Jacey also made lists daily of what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas. Too bad she doesn't know how to write yet. Only she could read the list :-)
I only went shopping twice this year so Thad definitely didn't have to worry about me going overboard. I just didn't have the energy to spend any money :-(
It has been a tradition in my family to go over to my parents house for Breakfast Jacks on Christmas morning. My Sister and her husband where in town this year so I wanted to be sure and make it for breakfast. The only problem? Breakfast was scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
For any of you that know our family. We are NEVER up before 8:30. Usually not even by 9:00. So, 7:30 was going to kill me :-)
I got up at 7, woke the kids up. Yep, you read that right. I had to wake the kids up to go open their presents. Jacey was cranky until I told her Santa had come. It was so fun watching her get so excited over opening her gifts. Keely's favorite was going through the stockings and trying to shove all of the candy in her mouth, wrappers and all. She spent most of the day with some sort of mini candy (still wrapped) hanging from her teeth :-)
I learned a very valuable lesson this year. I need to either buy the girls the same gifts or give Jacey's gifts to Keely and vice versa. I swear they spent all day trying to take away the other's toy :-)
I had a really hard time trying to figure out what to get Thad this year. Usually I have no problem spending money on him but as stated earlier, I did not want to be out shopping.
Needless to say, due to poor communication between us, we both ended up with the same gift. You can imagine my surprise when I opened up his present to me and found that he had gotten me a Wii. "Hmm, Thad, you'd better open up your present now". At least we both got a good laugh out of it.
Jacey's favorite gifts where: The V-tech camera from Santa, Keely's giraffe bike and the barbie scooter from grandma and grandpa Skousen.
Keely's favorite gifts where: Her V-tech giraffe and Jacey's scooter :-)

We finally made it to my parents around 8am, ate, exchanged gifts, ran home and attempted to get everyone ready so we could be over to Thad's parents by 11:00. Thad's parents bought a trampoline this year and the kids (big and little) had so much fun bouncing all afternoon. We were able to go home, squeeze in a little nap and then head back to my parents house for dinner at 5pm. Needless to say, the next day I was sick in bed ALL day :-(
We have decided that next year we will only be going out 1 time. No more running all over town.

I was so intent on video taping the girls opening their gifts that I realized too late that I had not gotten one single picture of the event :-( So, the pictures this year are very limited.

I did manage to take a picture of the aftermath. This wasn't even the worst of it.
Once we opened up Jacey's play kitchen and attempted to put it together the house was literally destroyed. Holy cow, who knew putting together one toy could make such a mess and be so time consuming. It literally took Thad an entire day to put the dang thing together.

Thad had to prove that he could still do a flip or two at his old age :-)

Then David had to out do Thad

And then Jacey took a turn :-)

The Mason family in all their glory :-)

Christmas Eve

As per tradition, we had our annual Skousen family Christmas Eve party. It was at Gina & Jackson's house again which is a good thing since we had a full house!!!

You can't tell from this picture but we had a special "visitor" from the North Pole and Keely is staring quite intently at him. Too bad her expression is about to change soon:-)

I think this shirt says it all!!!!

Jacey was not at all interested in sitting on Santa's lap again. Hence the lovely expression.
At least she didn't do what Keely did :0

You'd think Santa's "voice" would have calmed her down, especially
since he didn't disguise it. No such luck.

Santa's just a tad bit tired. He had some big boys and girls on his lap this year :-)

After the party we went home and the girls opened one present early. Of course it was
new PJ's. Heck if Santa could find matching jammies in both their sizes. Oh well.
Keely loved the bow from her present.

After they got all snuggly, the girls and I sat down and talked about the true
meaning of CHRISTmas and then I red them "Twas the night before Christmas".
They loved it and insisted I read it again...and again...you get the picture :-)

My cute little snuggle buddies

Hmm, they look quite tired and ready for bed, don't they???

Ward Christmas party

We had a special visitor at this year's ward Christmas party.
This was the first year that Jacey has sat on Santa's lap and not cried. Woo Hoo!!!!

When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said a baseball.
What????
Santa said "Hmm, with your pink pants and cute hair, you seem like more of a girly girl to me. Maybe Santa will get you something girly?" She just looked at him in wonder :-)

Keely, who will go to any stranger she meets, took one look at Santa and was in tears.
I have to say I was actually shocked by this one. She seriously will go to anyone.
She must have been scared by the long beard :-)

Thanksgiving

I'm slowly but surely catching up :-) Hopefully I'll be caught up in time for Christmas pictures :-)

All I have to do is read a story like this to give myself a good swift kick in the butt to remind me that I have soooo much to be thankful for. My 9 months of grief are nothing compared to the alternatives. So I thought I'd make a short list of the things I am the most thankful for this year (not in any particular order):

*My Mother (and Father for letting me take her away). I honestly don't know what on earth I would have done the past few months if it hadn't been for my Mother. I will be eternally grateful for everything she has done and continues to do for me!!!!
*My husband. Thad can be a royal pain in the butt and sure needs help in the organizational department but I am sure lucky to have him. He has been so great about picking up the slack for me, taking care of the kids, cooking dinner, doing the shopping, and making a living for our family on top of that. I am sooo thankful that he works so hard so that I can stay at home and take care of our kids.
*For great friends and family who volunteer to cook, clean, or watch the kids for me when they have their own families to take care of.
*For the gospel of Jesus Christ that enables me to get through my daily trials and to know that with Faith we can get through anything.
*For my two beautiful girls and baby # 3 that's on the way. I am so blessed that I am able to have children and I thank the Lord for that blessing every day.

Thad and I are also very blessed to have both of our families here in town. I do not like to part from my family so rather than switch off every year, we go to both families houses :-)

This year started out at my Mom's. The entire week of Thanksgiving I had been very, very sick and hadn't been keeping any food down. I know it sounds petty but I prayed all Wednesday night that I could feel good on Thanksgiving so that I could at least eat something that week. My wishes were granted and I felt much better on Thanksgiving. I was able to eat dinner at both my parents and in-laws and had enough room for two servings of my Mom's famous pecan pie :-)

Dinner at the Skousen's

My favorite pie in the whole world

Chilling with my Mom

Why is it that even in sleep Thad looks like he's talking on the phone?

Jacey and Skyler having a hey day on the trampoline

Fun times at the Mason's
(This motorized scooter was the hit of the party)

Halloween

Right after I got back from Disneyland I started feeling sick. That's when I realized I was pregnant. So, unfortunately do to being sick we haven't done much since October :-(
I attempted to do something fun with the kids by carving a pumpkin. That was the extent of my energy. When Halloween day came I pretty much slept all day until it was time to take the kids trick or treating.


Jacey had a blast cleaning out the pumpkin :-)

Not the most creative but it will do!!!

Jacey was a witch this year. She wanted to be tinker bell but I just wasn't that crafty and I wasn't going to spend the money on a cheesy ugly one. So, I made her a tutu and added a few touches. It worked and she looked cute, which is all that matters :-)

My intentions were to have Keely be a fairy princess and wear one of Jacey's old costumes.
Unfortunately Thad packed my Halloween stuff away so good that we can't find it :-(
He ended up going to target at the last minute and getting her this Little Red Riding Hood outfit.
I thought she looked adorable.

All ready to go

First stop: Grandma and Grandpa Huffaker's

Next stop: Trick or treating in the neighborhood. I had no desire to drive all over town this year so we just stayed home. Jacey & Keely loved collecting all the candy :-)

Disneyland-October 2009

Several months ago, Mara won 3day hopper passes and a 2 night hotel stay for 4 at the Disneyland Grand Californian hotel. I heard them announce her name and immediately called her, hence; I got to go with!!!!!!
The last time I was at Disneyland was in High School (I'm not going to say how many years ago that was). A good friend of mine wanted to do something fun before going on his mission so he flew me there and back in a day. Talk about crazy.
The hotel was awesome and it was sooo nice to be able to walk right out the hotel and onto downtown Disneyland or go out another door and walk right into California Adventures.
Since we went at the end of October they had all their Halloween decor up. It was awesome and so was the weather. The parks were crazy busy but I think the longest we waited in line was 30 or 40 min. My favorite day was when we got up at 7:00 and got into the park before they opened. We ran straight to Space Mountain and got right on. To say it was AWESOME would be an understatement. They had changed it up for Halloween and it was soooo cool. We wanted to go on again immediately but dang is it a long walk back to the front only to run through all the winding ropes. So, Mara snuck us down some random hallway which just happened to lead us right back to the very front of the line. Woo Hoo!!!!! We then ran over to the Indian Jones ride. I have to say that was my favorite ride. It was totally like going off roading in the mountains.


(Mara and I in front of Disneyland)

(Monica, me, Mara & Danielle)
The worlds cutest candy corn

Inside the Haunted Mansion

Some random ride in California Adventures

I'm usually up for anything at least once. This ride was crazy. Don't know that I'd do it again.

The Ferris Wheel looked cute but holy cow, the swinging carriages was NOT for me.
I would never go on this again.

We all just barely fit inside this tea cup :-)

Holy Cow. Talk about being dropped who knows how many feet then up and down all over again.
Loved it though!!!!

Had to get the cute Halloween backdrop

You can't tell be we all bought matching Disney sweat pants

Overall it was a fun trip. I was very disappointed by California Adventure park. I thought it would have more "Six Flag" type of rides. Nope. Disneyland was cute but I definitely would rather go their with my kids and watch their reactions to everything.
Thanks for the trip Mara!!!!