slacker

Dear Friends and Family Who Sent Us Such Wonderful Christmas Cards,

We have genuinely and thoroghly enjoyed each card we have received. We love seeing the pictures of your cute families and hearing the updates from this past year. Please do not be offended if you didn't receive a card from us this year. We didn't send any. I was a slacker. I sincerely hope that his lack of correspondence doesn't exclude us from your card sending list next year. I will do better. I promise. Thanks you and many warm and special greetings to you.

Love,

The Pierson "Slacker" Family

Random Thoughts for a Friday

Random thought #1: We have this huge clock on the wall in our kitchen. I like it. It broke somehow. I fixed it. McGyver style. 3 earplugs and it works.

Random thought #2: For the past several months Mason has been very opposed to sitting in any kind of booster device. This hasn't been too much of a problem because he is tall enough to just sit in a normal chair and eat. Unfortunately the last month or so dinner has become a big shinanagan. He is in and out of his seat. Trying to crawl on my lap, chasing the dog with his food while laughing, the dog chasing him with his food while he cries, wiping his dirty hands on my grandma's white antique chair in the living room. Disaster. So Nic demanded that we re-impliment the booster. Another disaster. But after much screaming, many tears, and alot of frustration I have come up with a solution.

Yes. That is pepperoni. It is the only bribe that works. I need to find something else though because I don't think a little boy should eat 21 + of pepperoni a week.

Random thought #3: Mason has been wielding this golf club yelling "stupiddiiii". I have no idea what "stupidiii" means because stupid happens to be a word we try not to use. It is kind of funny though.

p.s. My child does wear clothes. The pepperoni picture and the golf club picture just happened to be taken right after each other.

Random thought #4: Here is a list of things we found outside in Nell's frozen vomit: 4 baby socks, 3 baby wipes, 2 hair ties, a sucker stick, candy wrappers and other trash. I should say that this "binge episode" happened while we had a house full of people and my attention was distracted. She is a garbage disposal. Good thing I learned how to make her vomit when I worry that she's eaten something bad. Pleasant.

Random thought #5: Last night Nic made himself a sandwhich and sat it on our kitchen island. Mason walked right up the little steps we have that go up to the island, grabbed the sandwhich, said, "tanks" (thanks) and walked away with it. He ate almost the entire thing before Nic finally got a bite. At least he was polite about it right?

Touched.

I had a bad day today. No real big reason, just a bunch of little ones. I was feeling overwhelmed, tired, and down. Such a mood is not very conducive with having the "Christmas spirit". I was out this morning trying to figure out what to buy the parents' for Christmas when I came upon this book called "Reflections of Christ". This may be a fairly famous book, but I hadn't heard of it or seen it until today. Its a collection of photos taken by a photographer named Mark Mabry. The photos depict the life of Christ. I thought the pictures were pretty so I decided that I was going to get a book for each set of our parents (and I am currently hoping that none of them look at this blogpost until after Christmas). I really didn't think much about it other than, "Oh that will make a good gift." So tonight, after putting Mason to bed and sending Nic off to some residency meeting, I found myself alone with a million things to do. Instead of checking said million things off my list I thought I'd look through this book, just to make sure it will indeed be a good present. Before the photographs are shown the photographer talks about how he came to start this project. His story is very inspirational and I encourage anyone to read about it on their website (www.reflectionsofchrist.org). Then I looked at each picture with the corresponding scripture. I was mesmorized with all the details. The looks on the people's faces, tears on their cheeks. It was an touching experience for me. After the photographs, Mark Mabry has a little blib on each shoot and talks about the experiences that enabled him to take such stunning pictures. By the time I was finished looking at the book I found that I had an entirely different attitude than I had previously today. Now I know this isn't something I usually post on my blog. These are my private thoughts and I tend to keep them to myself. Maybe more often than I should. But I just have to express my gratitude for my Savior and what he has done and continues to do for me. Although Christmas seems to be a time when everyone gets these warm fuzzies, I want my friends and family to know that this is something I have believed my entire life. Jesus Christ is our Savior and he loves us. He knows us each intimately and loves us just the same. I have always found comfort in knowing that he fully understands any crisis I face, and to say more, he cares about it. He lives and this is something I know to the depths of my soul. So although this may seem out of character for my blog to post something so personal, I just wanted to share it. I hope that everyone reading this will find a way to have similar feelings and not just because its Christmas, but because its true.

I checked on YouTube and found that there is in fact a video with the pictures from Reflections of Christ. In fact, I may be the only person on the planet who hasn't seen it until today. But here it is. (It was a little finicky for me. You may have to start it and then drag it back to the beginning so it loads ahead of you. You probably could have figured that out though.)

drum roll please...

So I had my 17 week appointment today. It was at this appointment that I was to schedule the big ultrasound, and I did. However, due to multiple reasons, I was unable to make said appointment until Jan. 6th. I was feeling a little bummed because I wanted to know the baby's sex before Christmas. No particular reason behind this other than I just did. Lucky for me I happen to be very close and personal with a dashing radiologist. So after the appoinment Nic took me back to the ultrasound room and a tech did a very quick scan of the baby. Everything looks good and although the little one had its legs squeezed together, both Nic and the tech are 80-90% sure that we are having a.....girl! We will keep you posted on how the Jan. 6th ultrasound goes, but in the meantime (and of course thereafter) we are thrilled!

Whats in a Name?

Mason has been able to recognize himself for months. We ask him "Where is Mason?" and he points to his face. The last few days, however, he has made an attempt to say his name. The conversation goes like this:

Me: Mason who is that? (pointing to Nic)
Mase: Dada
Me: Who is this? (pointing to me)
Mase: Mama
Me: And who is this? (pointing to Nell)
Mase: Nell Nell
Me: Well then who is this? (pointing to Mason)
Mason: (in his characteristic deep voice) Moose.

He now frequently refers to himself as Moose (emphasis on the "oo"). I see a new nickname in his future.

Cat Whisperer

Tonight Nic took Mason and Nell for a walk. At one point he stopped to tie his shoe. When he stood up he found Mason, in his stroller, with a kitten on his lap. Mason was stroking it like it was no big deal that there was suddenly a kitten in his lap. Nic wasn't sure it came from, but apparently it was a very friendly cat. For some reason I find things that involve cats to be very funny, so I thought I'd share.

Boo.

Disclaimer: I have been waiting to make this post because I hadn't uploaded the pictures off of my camera yet. We left for Arizona, camera in tow and I had plans to upload all the pictures and finally make this post. But alas, our camera was left on a little train in some small park in the middle of Scottsdale, Arizona. I will not name the guilty party, but I will say that it was not me. So unfortunatly the pictures from Mason's second Halloween (along with many other cute pictures from the beginning of our vacation) are forever lost. sigh.

We are on the activities comittee in our ward (church) again and so our first task was to plan the annual Halloween party. I think it turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself. For dinner we had chili, hot chocolate and homemade rootbeer (for the dry ice effect). Then we did a craft table, guessing games, a fishing booth, donuts on a string, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and a pre-carved pumpkin contest. Thanks to a guy in our ward we had some awesome decorations, including a smoke machine. It turned out really cool. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I was busy hot glueing googley eyes and filling up crock pots. We had fun. Mason just took care of himself since Nic and I were so busy. I'm worried that some of the costumes gave him nightmares though since he woke up screaming for the next few nights.



Due to the theory that Mason was having nightmares, we decided not to take him out to trick or treat on Halloween night. (I also knew that most of the candy he would get would be consumed by us.) However, after a few groups of trick or treaters came to our house Mason started to say, "Tri-Treat. Mo' pees". (Translation: Trick or Treat. More Please.) He would walk up to our candy bowl and try to repeat what he saw at the door. So I decided to take him out, and much to our surprise he totally got it. He grabbed his pumpkin and ran from door to door. He learned how to knock on the door and when someone opened it he would say "Tri-Treat. Mo' pees." At one point, while waiting with other treat or treaters for someone to answer their door, he looked inside of his pumpkin and his eyes got huge as he said, "ooooooooo". It was pretty humorous. He did the same thing when a guy pulled out a huge bowl of candy and told him to go crazy. The funny thing is though is that when people would tell him to take a whole bunch he would politely take one piece, but it in his pumpkin and walk away. Obviously not my child. I wanted to go back and take full advantage of the generosity of people, but alas I did not.



Overall we had a really fun night. Oh- and I wanted to mention something about his costume. I really wanted him to pick out his own costume. The problem is that he likes cars, trucks, airplanes and trains. All of which are difficult to find in costume form appropriate for a 20 month old. We did find this Thomas the Train apron thing. I didn't love it. It was kind of cheesy and boring. But everytime we looked at costumes this was the only one he got excited about. So how could I make him dress up as anything else? Regardless of its cheesiness, I think he looked pretty cute.

ahem...the last 3 months of our lives.

Well, since I haven't blogged in months, here is a condensed (yet still pretty lengthy) run down of our lives since- oh- July. (I am going to save our move across the country that happened 4 MONTHS ago for another post.) If you can endure through it there is a little surprise nugget at the end. If you can't endure through it all, yet you can't resist a nugget, then just scroll to the bottom. You won't hurt my feelings. Much.

July: We finally got to spend the 4th in Idaho Falls for the first time in 5 years. We saw the parade, had "Pinks" hot dogs, went golfing (well...Nic did. I rode around in the cart with Mason), and went to the firework show. 4th of July is kind of a big deal in good ol' IF.

The middle of July my sister came up from Arizona to visit. We went up to my dad's cabin in Island Park. We played around the cabin, relaxed, went out on the boat and went into West Yellowstone. Then Shay and my mom came down to SLC to help me decorate my house. Good times.

The rest of July and most of August we hung out at home and got use to our new surroundings.

Then over labor day weekend we decided to go the Hall Family cabin (also in Island park). We jet skiied, went into West Yellowstone (again), rode motorcyles, and relaxed. I have such fond childhood memories of that place.

(Nic decided he wanted to try his hand at fishing. In the middle of the night. With marshmellows for bait. He failed.)

(S'mores)

(I love this picture below. It is so quintessentially Mason.)

Later in September my dad came to visit for a few days. We went to Hogle Zoo to see the new baby elephant. I that I am always awed by baby animals. I don't know. There is just something awesome about them. Very cute.

September was kind of a busy month I guess. After my dad left we headed down to the south rim of the Grand Canyon to meet up with my dear friend Deb and her husband Dave. Nic and I decided that we wanted to camp while we were there so we squeezed 2 adults, 1 toddler and a puppy into our 3 man tent. It wasn't as bad as you might think. Despite the lunatic ravens and the coyotes the nights were pretty quiet. Oh- except Nic ended up sleeping on the ground with Nell in his armpit and I spent the whole night either trying to keep Mason from rolling off the blow up matress or keep him from climbing on top of me all night. It was fun though. Really.

This was Mason's outfit in the early morning. Very stripe-ed.

Group shot on our hike.

Nell kind of wimped out of our hike. She was still kind of young. She would kill that hike now.

Mason also got a little sleepy.

Ranger Mason

We roasted marshmellows at our camp site. Deb had a good thing going. Then she burned them.

Mason thoroughly enjoyed getting filthy dirty all weekend.

Nic would only eat a s'more if we could find a way to melt the chocolate. We did and it was messy.

Sunset

Finally, October has been another fun month. Nic finally convinced me to cut Mason's hair. So it is now much shorter, but much to his mother glee it is still red.

Before:

During:

After:

Okay, you made it through the marathon post. I apologize for its length and boring-ness. Now for your tasty nugget of surprise.

FYI: Read his shirt.

EDD: May 25, 2010.