Some hilarity (is that even a word??) for your day...

Mason's been providing quite a bit of humor lately, so I thought it was time I shared. I'm not sure if "sassy" is a word that can be used to describe a little boy - I usually hear it to describe girls - but Mason's downright SASSY! No matter what we ask him, his response is "NO WAY!!" When we give him instructions like, "Mason, sit down please," he responds with "Mama sit down!" If he doesn't want someone around, he doesn't hesitate to tell them to "go way" (go away) - he learned that one where I used to nanny.

Yesterday he slapped me in the face while I was putting him in his car seat cuz he didn't wanna be there. It actually hurt pretty badly because he hit my eyeball with his fingernail, so my eye started to water and I pretended I was crying. He looked at me and started to rub my face and said "wub wub, okay?" It was so cute. Then he said "Mama kiss?" SO I let him kiss it better. He still had his pouty lip out - he felt pretty awful that he hurt me, but it was nice to see that he understood that hitting hurts people. Jeff and I have to try so hard not to laugh when he does crazy things that we really shouldn't be okay with, but honestly he's hilarious and we struggle to stay strict sometimes..

Which brings me to another story. Yesterday he kept saying "play, play, play" so I decided to take him to the park. Keep in mind, THIS IS NORTHERN UTAH AND THERE'S SNOW EVERYWHERE! I just bundled him up and let him get cold and wet having a blast in the snow at the park. Finally he decided his hands were freezing and he was ready to go. At home after we play in the snow, he gets to put his hands under warm running water (he thinks he's washing his hands). So yesterday he was like, "Doll-done mom mom. wash hands?". Well, there's no warm water at the park so I just turned the car on and blasted the heat, sat him in the front passenger seat and put his little hands up to the vents. I shut the door and walked around to my side when all of a sudden I hear the sound of the doors locking. Mason found the lock button. THE KEYS WERE IN THE CAR and the car was on so I had no way of getting in. I wish you could have seen me outside my car yelling "PUSH THE BUTTON, MASON!!". The lady getting back in the car next to me must have thought I was the most awful mom. haha!! Finally I was able to convince him to push it and he let me back in. Whew!! Quite the moment! Glad I don't have a heart condition.

And finally, today. This morning Mason went to his first ever dentist appointment and it was so fun! The place I took him is called The Dental Barn. It's all red like a barn inside and the dentist chairs are just like beds with a tv screen on the ceiling. They gave him headphones with handles that he could play with and put in and out of his ears to distract him while the dentist did his thing. Mason was so good!! He just laid there while the dentist did an exam and a cleaning. Mason loved it, and he was SO excited when he got his very own Power Rangers spin brush toothbrush afterward. I'm so glad it went so well. I was really worried.

Now one last note: I'm so grateful for holidays. Why, you ask? Well during Valentine's there's SweetTart hearts and every variety of Hershey's Kisses. So good! During Easter, there's SweetTart animal shapes and Reese's Eggs. I'm starting to wonder why 4th of July is my favorite holiday? There's NO SPECIAL CANDY! I also decided that I'm not one of those people who goes to the gym every day so I can be skinny - I go every day so that I can eat what I want and not gain weight. :) So bring on the SweetTarts!!

Vivaaaa Las Vegas!

This past weekend I went on a girl trip to Las Vegas with a lot of my friends. It was so much fun!! I met most of them back in 2000, and we've been friends ever since. We stayed at the fabulous Tahiti Village - I highly recommend it if you're looking for a really affordable, posh, family-friendly place to stay. It's on the strip, but it's far enough from all the huge hotels that there are no traffic issues and none of the nasty things Vegas tends to be known for.

A car of girls went down on Thursday, then the rest of us got in town on Friday and we stayed until Sunday. Enjoy the pictures!

Life sure has a way

...of helping to remind you where your priorities lie (or should lie). We've had a lot of small changes here and there lately in our family, and I'm finally in a place where I'm happy and not stressed out. It's nice!

I was working as a nanny for about two and a half months. It was the ideal job because I was able to bring Mason with me each day, I got 40 hours a week, and the pay was pretty good. That family is moving to Florida though, so I don't have a full-time job anymore. Financially things will be challenging, but it will be a huge blessing for me to be able to devote more time to Mason. It was so interesting to watch him change from happy-go-lucky Mason to almost-depressed, always cranky, super whiny and sad Mason while I was nannying. I mean, going from being an only child to having to share his mommy's attention with 3 other children must have been incredibly confusing and hard for him. He's getting back to normal though since we've been home together this week, and I'm loving having my Mason back!

I was so blessed in that I found another job almost immediately. I've been hired as a seller's assistant for an antique dealer on eBay. I go to their home to take pictures, then I list things from home. It's pretty time consuming, but it's perfect because I only work out of the home about 5 hours a week (just 2 evenings) and then do the rest from home. It leaves me time to study for my Medical Transcription course still, and have plenty of time with Mason.

Speaking of Mason, here are some recent fun pictures from our last big snow storm. Mason LOVES the snow, and LOVES wearing Jeff's ski goggles even more. Oh, about the ice scraper - Mason thought he was helping Jeff shovel the driveway. He called it sweeping. So cute!