Just a Random Day

Sometimes I think that we are only supposed to put funny, weird or meaningful videos on the blog. This time, I would like to present a snapshot of a regular day. It is just Mason doing Mason things. It is a random day in the life, so to speak. After editing this, and seeing him exploring his world, I appreciate him so much for who he is. I can't imagine my life without him. He is so very dear to me.

A Time For Joy And For Laughter

Well, it is time again for a video post. This is where I say, "here, have a video", and quickly excuse myself so I don't have to type anything of substance. You know, blogaphobia and all that.

This is Mason mowing the lawn and playing with dad and something special at the end...

Livin' in the Wild Wild West

We celebrated our 4th anniversary earlier this month and in keeping with our tradition of going someplace in Idaho for our weekend getaway, we chose lovely Coeur d' alene (I feel sorry for anyone who has to spell that on a regular basis, I have to look it up every single time). Anywho, we flew into Spokane and visited the site of the 1976 World's Fair, which is now a lovely park. Interestingly enough, this is also where my parents honeymooned. We headed over to Idaho and spent a lovely and relaxing weekend by the lake. Four years we have vacationed in our own state and every year we have been amazed at the beauty of where we live. It also helps that it's October, when the leaves are changing and it's not super hot.

Special thanks to Jen and the gang for keeping "May May" for the weekend. It's so nice to not worry a second about our baby because he is with his second family.

Speaking of baby, Mason is making serious strides every week. I made the mistake of letting him stand on a chair while I made cheesecake the other day. This gave him the idea that if he pulls a chair over to the counters he can get on them and make his own special messes. Jake has now tied all the chairs to the kitchen table. He is saying lots of words and now says please when he wants something. He even strung some words together this weekend in Park City when he was scared by a Halloween decoration. He said "no more pease!" So cute.

Blog Block

For some reason I have had a real aversion to blogging lately. Not just blogging, the computer in general. It's not that nothing is happening, a lot is going on at the Bennett house right now. Mason is getting more mischievous by the day. What used to be an accidental opening of a door is now very deliberate. His independence has also been declared so it takes a very long time to get things done, like dressing or eating a meal. It is so fun to watch him discover things though and we are enjoying every second of our time together. Since it's been snowing and in the thirties here we decided to post some summer fun, which was actually filmed about 3 weeks ago.

To market, to market

Mason and I have been going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings and it is fast becoming a favorite activity for both of us. Mason is very content in his stroller, except for when we pass a booth that is playing music. Then he simply must get out and dance. When he is done he climbs back into his stroller and we continue. We go early in the morning, before breakfast, and fill up on samples. Last week the two things Mason just could not get enough of was the elk meat and tiny sweet tomatoes. I ended up having to buy a bag of those as he would not leave the sample lady alone. He has been eating fresh tomatoes and cheese curds all weekend.

In other news, we got our absentee ballots in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Jake says he could vote right now and be done with it. I think it is crazy to vote a month before the election but I also have no idea who to vote for.

That's all for now.

A Wonderful Weekend

We were in Phoenix this past weekend to see Kyle and Sarah get married. I had been worrying about the plane ride all week and was advised to give Mason some Benadryl for the ride. I could not, in good conscience, give my child medicine for no reason other than to make him sleep so I said "If he actually had some symptoms I wouldn't hesitate to give him something, but as long as he's healthy we'll just have to deal with him". Somebody was listening as Wednesday morning he woke up congested. Now I would never openly delight in my child being ill, but I have to say I said a little thank you under my breath. Strangely enough I still didn't want to give him any medicine so we just gave him a half dose. Big mistake. It kept him right at that "I'm so tired but I am going to fight sleep" stage the entire trip. When we went to sit down and the man in our row saw we had a baby, who was screaming already, he jumped up and said "I'll find somewhere else to sit so you guys can have the whole row". That was nice as he just went between both of us and really didn't scream much at all. He did have everyone within earshot laughing though when he said "Mommy?" at least fifty times in a row. He sounded like a broken record, albeit a darling one.

Friday was the rehearsal and we got a first glimpse of just how hot it would be on the rooftop. Mason was very happy to have the flower girl pull him down the aisle so we figured that was how it would go on Saturday. Not so much. He was having a rough teething day and was only not crying when someone was holding him, preferably Jake or I. He also did not want to wear his tux jacket. As we were waiting in the wings I tried to put it on him and he stepped back and tripped over a ladder and hit his head. We managed to get him to stop crying and got most of the dirt off of him but there was no way he was going to walk down the aisle. We convinced him to walk in between us while holding our hands. We were told our little family was darling and I will post some pics as soon as we have access to some.

The wedding was very beautiful, despite it being over 100 degrees. Kyle and Sarah read letters they had written to each other and took time out of the ceremony to thank their parents, which I thought was a nice touch. We had a very nice dinner afterwards and then we danced. We even managed to get my parents out on the dance floor! Special thanks to Cam and his friend Josie who came to the hotel and watched Mason for a couple of hours while we were at the reception. We put Mason's bed in the bathroom and when we came to pick him up Cam said "We heard some knocking noises and realized he was hitting his head on the bathtub, so we moved his bed". Sure enough, he has a nice bump on his forehead in a red honeycomb pattern because of his bed.

We came home yesterday and since Mason had a very runny nose and coughed in the night I felt ok giving him Benadryl once again. Only this time I gave him the full dose. He screamed twice, grabbed his blanket and then proceeded to sleep the entire flight! So...I may have to rethink the whole "must have symptoms before medicating" theory. As a side bonus, it also cleared up that runny nose and cough. How great is that?

All in all it was a very hectic but fun weekend and now Kyle and Sarah are in Cancun enjoying their honeymoon. If I were them I seriously would have wanted a nice cruise through the polar ice cap or a trip to Antartica, but whatever.

I will post many pictures as soon as I get them, stay tuned.

Hot fun in the Summertime

Alright, I know it has been an extremely long time since we have posted anything of real substance, though we have enjoyed the politics of the previous post immensely. This really has been a crazy summer for us and won't slow down until we return from Phoenix this coming weekend where we will be attending, and participating in, Kyle and Sarah's wedding. We spent Labor Day weekend in Bear Lake where they had an open house in my parent's beautiful back yard. We spent Friday at the lake in 90 degree weather and Monday morning in the snow. Sarah loved the snow, as she had never seen it actually fall out of the sky. Mason? Not so much. I, of course, had only packed him summer outfits and it was in the 30's and snowing so my dear mother broke out a Christmas outfit with bears and red and green trees on it so he wouldn't freeze.

Jake started another semester and it's always hectic around here at the beginning and end of every semester. We juggle around babysitters and schedules until we have the perfectly planned week, and then we hope nothing comes up to screw it all up. This semester my job has allowed me to go to a 4 day work week, giving me Mondays off. I was super excited to spend the whole day with Mason and we had so much fun. We went to the park, the gym, swimming, and over to Jen's house to hang with the kids. I was so tired at the end of the day I seriously asked myself how stay at home moms do it. The last time I stayed home with him was when he was 0-6 months. He's a little different now. But I can't wait to have those days for just me and my boy.

Speaking of the boy, and of speaking, Mason literally started to talk overnight. Last night, actually. He's always said a few words but I was getting worried because he really only said about 10 words (which I guess is normal, but I compare him to his friend Jack, who talks like a 5 year old). Anyway, this morning he woke up and asked for a banana, which he does every morning, incessantly, and then he said "cracker". Throughout the day he said socks, shoes, pooh (as in Winnie the), book, please, bottle, car and several others that I don't recall. Apparently he's been storing these away and decided today was the day to break them out. So, needless to say, he's progressing nicely and still the cutest thing we have ever seen.

Since we have so many photos from the summer, we decided a slide show was in order. Enjoy!