We are READY!

We are SO ready for spring/summer! We had a BEAUTIFUL day on Saturday and Mason and I hit the canyon for a stroll -- as you can tell by the picture, he LOVED it!

Yesterday and today it has snowed.

I say, enough already! Bring on the sunshine and warmth!

Glamour shots

Mason had a photo shoot with Debbie Haggard at my parent's house. She has been taking photography classes - you can check out her blog at makeitbakeit.blogspot.com.

I think they turned out pretty stinkin' cute!

Judge for yourself:

Country living: our TN trip!

Mason and I had a GREAT time in Tennessee this last week! As noted in the previous post, traveling went great - thanks to strangers and the fact that he is SO good on the plane! You know everyone is silently muttering when they see you and see the baby when they board -- and it is always nice to have so many people happy to have sat by you when you land.

We spent lots of time with family and friends while we were home! Below are some pictures. I was telling Matt how my enjoyment at home has changed - how I love being there now because I LOVE seeing the family with Mason. He brings such joy to me and I love seeing him bring joy to others! Love overflows - it's an amazing feeling.

We also spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the country! The weather was beautiful and we spent time outside just soaking it up. Mason got his first encounters with dogs, horses, and chickens. He was in love with Kadie, my Dad's horse. He was feeling her soft nose and let out a loud giggle! Taking after his Mom :)

Thursday we celebrated my Mom's birthday -- I made her a boston cream pie cake -- and let her revert back a few years! I mean, uh, she is 32! (and had me when she was...7....yikes). Love you Mom!

I was so excited - I got to go horseback riding twice! Thanks again for babysitting, Dad! Mom and I went riding with the trainer who has Kadie right now (Kadie is in 'college'. See her picture below). We were both on these big, white quarter horses... and Mom's decided he was ready to be home. Not too far from the barn (thank goodness), in a sandy spot (thank goodness), her horse laid down and rolled her off of him!! Luckily she got her foot out of the stirrup in time and didn't have any serious injuries - but wow! Who would have imagined?

Our trip went so well that we're already planning another... probably for the end of May! haha We are traveling fools.

And here is a picture of an old tobacco barn... because I like barns.

Re: Flying by yourself with a baby

A BIG

THANK YOU...

To the nice lady who held Mason on the plane so I could get his diapers/wipes out of the overhead bin...
To the young boy who offered his tray on the plane for my drink...
To the woman who helped pick up the contents of my purse when it spilled in Chicago...
To the grandma who held him so I could get dressed again after security...
To the woman who offered her husband in case I needed any assistance...
To the TSA worker who looked for his sock...
To another man who helped gather the contents of my purse at the baggage claim (note to self: need a purse that closes completely)...
To the man who carried my bag down the narrow airplane walkway so I didn't have to struggle with it...


And many others! I am grateful that people are so kind and considerate. I hope one day I can look out for the mother traveling alone and lend a helping hand!

Coming Soon: posts about the trip!

Thanks TSA

I was looking around the internet at things about traveling with a baby -- seeing as Mase and I are heading to TN tomorrow (fun!). I found this on the TSA website:

"NEVER leave babies in an infant carrier while it goes through the X-ray machine."

Boy, I am glad they let me know! That is one disaster avoided.

CEREAL!

Friday afternoon Mason was laying on his tummy and Matt issued a challenge: roll over and you can have cereal.

(his reaction to the challenge)

To our astonishment, he rolled! (this is the third time he has rolled off his stomach in a month -- since learning to roll off his back he has completely given up rolling the other direction). So, we followed through on our promise and he got his cereal! He is still learning the art of eating off a spoon, but he definitely liked it! His mouth opened like a little bird every time!

Oldie but goodie

The story: Matt had a big paper due about redesigning the palace of Versailles one semester and we went on trip to Tennessee. He ended up writing the paper on the airplane at night - really quickly and perhaps haphazardly (you know how it goes). He turned it in the next day and got it back from the professor later that week. There was only one comment on the paper ---

I hope you can read it (I had a hard time getting it to be bigger!) ...

Erotic, exotic - potato, potatoh -- what is the difference? hahahahaa

He still got a good grade.