The Mason family christmas

This year christmas was really fun. All the kids got everything they wanted. Michaela got tons of clothes, Hannah a digital camera, Brandon got bakugan, Kate barbies (one Hannah Montana, the other Gabriella off of high school musical, Sara a princess scooter, and Lexie a baby doll. It was very exiting this too because this year the kids slept in till seven thirty. The thing that made us most happy is that we got three new games for our wii. Dance Dance Revaloution, lego starwars, and boom blocks.We hope too her soon from all of our friends and family and wish you a happy new year!

Maxy our puppy

This summer we have had a very exciting thing happen in our family. We got a cute little puppy named Max. He has been a big joy to our family ( also a disturbance to our every day lives).=) It has been lots of fun to have him. When we first got him Michaela said that he looked like a Max. Mark said that that was okay as long as 1. everyone agreed, and 2. His real name would be Claudius Maximus, wich means Claudius the great. So, Michaela and Hannah came up with a long chain of his names. Here's their list: Claudius Maximus, Max, Maxy, ( I do not know how this came in) Stinky Pete, and Stinky. Funny right? Right now Max is about 5 months old. He's about a little more than a foot long and is all black except for his paws and belly. Sometimes Max can be good, and other times max can be a little pain in the neck. But we still love him!

Conquering the "V"

What a weekend. Tricia had such a rough time this month. She contracted pneumonia and then had some dental problems that made the whole month miserable. Add to that everyone of us but Kate were sick. I had bronchitis, Kayla caught the same bacteria that clobbered Trish, and everyone else had a chest cold. It was downright miserable. So, this weekend was a "let's get out and celebrate 'cuz we're feeling better and the weather's great" kind of weekend. Trish was still feeling under the weather and so was little Lex-Lex so I took the kids on a hike.

The goal was the V, a local landmark, which appears prominently in the picture. We started at Cheese park where we ate a picnic lunch and began our hike. Sar was in the kiddie backpack I have. We walked for half and hour when she got sick of it and said, "I wanna walk!"

So, with a bit of apprehension I let the little tyke get out and start hiking with the rest of the family. An hour and a half later when we reached the summit she was doing the victory dance. It was amazing. I've heard stories a la Doug about Tricia when she was a little girl hiking and not allowing anyone to help her. It was uncanny the way Sara inherited her mother's determination, but these very words came from that sweet little girl's lips: "No! I do it myself." She wouldn't let me hold her hand but had to walk all by herself. And this was no light weight 2 year old hike. She was on hands and knees at times. There were a couple of times when she did stop and say, "I can't do it" and then reach her tiny hand to mine, but those were few moments. Most of the time Sara was spurring Katie on with encouraging words like, "Come on Katie, you can do it." And repeated statements of "No, do myself."

At one point in the hike we stopped to talk. We were in a particularly steep and beautiful gully. We stopped to catch our breath. We talked about accomplishments in life. "There are moments like this when getting what you want cannot be purchased with money or given to you. You can only have a view like this if you earn it, pay the price to see it. And no one can take if from you. It is such an accomplishment because you know you got yourself where you are and it is special." It was a precious moment.

After our lesson we hit the hardest part of the climb. It really was steep. All the children had thoughts of quiting. We pushed hard. I hoped it was our final moment and the summit was just over the crest of the hill we were traversing. Thank heaven it was. They all danced and shouted with excitement. Sara was singing and shouting, "I did it. Sara did it!" holding her arms up in a victory V in celebration.

For Brandon the hardest moment was yet to come. As we marched steadily along the ridge of the hill along a single track we came to the deepest ravine of the hike. The children were terrified and said we could not make the passage. I could see why they would feel afraid, yet there was no danger as long as they stayed on the path. But Brandon felt particularly vulnerable. In fact he began to run for the suburban (even though it was an hour and a half's hike away). This was another teaching moment. "You've climbed tougher hills than this," I said. "I have?" "Yes, you can do this Brand." He mustered his courage and followed his little sister Sara who passed him saying, "I not go back Bubbie; I climbing." Tears streaming down his face Brandon faced his fears and pressed forward. Soon grin replaced grimace as he raced ahead of the pack to our final destination. We made it! All hoofed their way up a tremendously challenging day hike to a splendid view of the valley from North to South. Wow, what an experience.

After celebrating and enjoying the view we hiked the last 75 feet up the hill to sit at the feet of the mighty V and smile the biggest smile I think I've ever seen those children express. They were thrilled. As we walked back to the suburban we sang and talked about our conquest. We thought of every word we could to describe the day...thrilling, adventurous, exciting, challenging, daring, dangerous, and victorious. While kneeling beside the V Hannah found a piece of the concrete that was broken free. We took it home with us. That piece of rock has become a family heirloom.

While walking to the Suburban we talked about what we could do to celebrate our victory. We finally made it back to our vehicle and went to Arctic Circle where we ate huge ice cream cones and giant Oreo cookie shakes. All today are still feeling the thrill of victory.

Easter

Well, it's Easter Sunday. What a great day. We had a great morning at church. There was a wonderful feeling during Lily's Sunday School lesson. We watched The Testaments. There was such a powerful spirit there. Sacrament meeting was filled with music about Christ and testimonies of His power.

After church we healed our Easter egg hunt. It was so much fun. I've included some pictures and a video. I am trying a shareware version of a video editing software package. Of course they load the banner in the middle of the file. It's annoying, but it's better than the full length file that would have taken for-ev-er, for-ev-er, for-ev-er....

Disney on Ice

Something really fun that happened recently...I heard that Disney on Ice was coming to the Energy Solutions Arena (Delta Center).
I thought it would be so much fun if Lily and the girls went. We decided to keep it a secret until the girls got to the show. We didn't tell them anything about it.






It was a difficult secret to keep. The day they went Lily picked them up from school and told them "We are going some place fun." You can imagine the speculation. Later on Kayla told me when they arrived at Energy Solutions Arena she thought, "Oh great, we get to go to a Jazz game. Yippie. :( Can you detect the sarcasm? Hannah thought they were going to some really gigantic movie theater. Finally, Trish had to say, "We're going to Disney on Ice! Don't you guys see all the Disney stuff around here!" They called me on her phone. It was so much fun to hear them screaming about it and they were just so excited. What a great time they had.

Hannah's Bday

What a great year. Hannah became a double-digit midget! She was so excited. She had a great time both with the family and with her friends. She invited some friends over for a pizza party. They played games and ate pizza and had a blast. Hannah said her favorite present was her mp3 player. She loves listening to the Jonas Brothers.
















I think the face says it all.

Ok, We Are Alive

Ok, we are alive. I know, I know, it's been way too long since last we posted. But we do have a good excuse. Our family laptop was misbehaving. It took awhile to fix it up good. Now it's running like a champ again. My work laptop blocks all social networking sites so there was nuttin' I could do about it. I'm trying to talk Trish into posting. I think it might happen...might happen.

The bottom line is we're just busy. We are currently math tutors for Michaela. Mom and dad are tag teaming her every day so she can get her math done. It's really important for her to get all of her work done. So we spend lots of time with her right now.

Hannah is excited about her birthday coming up. She just handed me the details for the party. We are holding it on Saturday. She really, really, really wants an mp3 player. We'll see. She's having friends over to eat homemade pizza, play games, and watch a movie. It'll be awesome!

I'm way excited because this Saturday night I am taking Brandon and one of his little friends named Jackson and his dad to a Jazz game. The Jazz are playing the Nuggets and it's going to be awesome. Yesterday Hannah pushed the intercom button on the phone and was hiding in the bathroom. She would send secret messages to people in the house as they came into the kitchen. She said in her best English accent, "Hello Mr. Poe. This is count Olaf. I'm calling to discuss the offer of the orphans. What were their names? Oh yeah, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. I'm calling because I accept your offer. And I'm coming by at 6:00 to pick them up." Of course Brandon absolutely freaked out. He was really scared because he thought Count Olaf was coming to our house. He was running around screaming. Hannah had to calm him down, saying it really wasn't Count Olaf. Eventually he thought it was funny.

Personally I think the funniest moment was when Hannah "called" and told Katie it was the Princess Academy School calling to invite her to attend princess school. Katie was so excited until poor little Hannah had to break the bad news: it wasn't really the Princess Academy; she had called to be funny. Katie was so sad she said, "Oh I wanted to go to the princess school so bad!" The other night Katie was saying our evening family prayer. She went through the normal litany of bless the family, bless the missionaries, and so on. Then she got to the prophet. She said, "And bless president Monson so he can get his homework done." It was hard to restrain ourselves but Lily and I managed not to laugh. Afterward I said to her, "I didn't realize he was stilling doing homework."

Sara is just mischief incarnate. There is no other way to explain her. This is not a polite story but a funny one just the same. We were reading scriptures the other night and she was sitting on my lap. She let a fart right on me. Oh, it smelled terrible. I plugged my nose and said, "Oh you farted on me." Sara looked up with those darling little eyes and said, "I didn't fart on you daddy my bum did." What do you say to that?!

Lex-Lex is just too cute. She keeps us on our toes with her smiles and constant shows of affection. It's been so sweet because for once the first word out of one of the Mason family children has not been dadda but it's been momma. It's been so nice to watch Trish be so excited and for me to see that sweet bond between mother and daughter developing.

One good piece of news for me, I finally (after the sixth attempt and a year-and-a-half of waiting and working) got approval for my dissertation topic on Friday. It is such a relief to be able to move forward. It's been a long time in the coming. Now I'm not so sure that I really want to have approval. It just means I have a whole lot of work to do! Well, actually it's a good thing. We really want to be done. And this is a step in the right direction finally to finish something we started so long ago. Lily and I were talking about it the other day. When we began this process when I started on my Master's degree we had only two children. In other words, they all really don't know anything different than dad in school. What a blessing it will be finally to have some closure on this long but important chapter in the Mason family's life.

Best of all is what Trish is doing for the kids. They really are her life right now. It has been a total inspiration to watch her working with them. Being the mother of six is no small feat. She has so much to do and with me being so busy with work, school, and calling so often the lion's share of the family's needs rests on her. I have to admit I am amazed by her faith and dedication. Hats off to the woman of my dreams. I am so impressed with all she does. Two of her interests right now are the Biggest Loser and American Idol. We DVR both and watch them together. Biggest Loser has motivated both of us to eat healthier food and exercise more. I have lost 24 lbs. Lily is getting into shape (dieting while nursing is not a good idea). As for American Idol we love a number of contestants. Brooke White, Carly Smithson, and Syesha Mercado are our favorite female vocals. As for the guys we love, love, love David Archuleta. We also really like Michael Johns and David Hernandez. One fun piece of trivia...we have wondered if David Archuleta is LDS. Friday we saw one of our friends who teaches seminary at Murray and he said he teaches David (better said, he taught him before Idol). That's great. We just love his spirit and great attitude. Go David!

Well, take care everyone. We love you. Until next time,

The Mason's

Happy Belated Christmas

Wait, what is the date today? Oh, It's January 8th. I thought it was December 25th! Okay, okay, okay...I'm late, really late at posting the family Christmas experience. But as they say, better late than never. You see my schedule was really booked over the holidays. I had to watch a movie and stay up late every single night. It was exhausting.

Here are some of the funniest things and touching moments of the Mason family Christmas experience

1st was Brandon opening his new Heelys.



Here's Bubbie holding his Heely's.

Another gift that was highly anticipated was Hannah's remote control tarantula. She hardly talked about anything else day after day. When she finally had it in her hands she was all smiles. It's been too fun watching Han chase kids around the house and listening to them squeal.





Okay, another really awesome moment was Brandon getting a toy he has not left alone for more than an hour or so--a Ben Ten Omnitrex wrist watch game. He is so excited in this video you'll love it.





Wasn't that great. That was pure excitement bursting over from about six weeks of "I want a Ben Ten Deluxe Omnitrex" repeated again and again and again.

Now for what might be the most dramatic Christmas gift opening moment of the year...Michaela and Hannah with their Littlest Petshops Around the World. This was another much talked about and highly coveted present. Watch and enjoy. In fact I guarantee you hit replay a couple of times on this one.




We had purchased all of Katie's gifts and then Tricia was talking with Kate. Katie said "Oh, I want to make some dolls today with my doll factory but, oh, it's already wrapped and I have to wait for Christmas." Huh!? We don't buy dat for you. So off we went to buy one more gift for sweet Katie Jane...a Doll Factory.




For the grand finale...the gift we've all been waiting for...the fabulous, the unbelievable, the all favorite party play time...kkkkaaaarrrraaaaooookkkkeeee!!!! Yes, folks, that's right, a Karaoke machine in the hands of the two most dramatic girls you can imagine. Here's the fun...




Okay, drama queens right. The best was Hannah sneaking into our bedroom where we kept "the big gift" each day and hugging it. Yes, that's right, she would hug and pet the box. Can we say, "excited!" Now that it is open it's been too fun signing with them. Even Tricia sang a couple of times (don't let her fool you, she covers the Corrs and Wilson Phillips very well with her great voice.) Well, there's more videos, stories, and pictures to come. It's so dang late right now and I have work tomorrow. Soon I'll have to post a couple of other videos of us singing with the "Karaloke" machine. And in addition we want to say thank you to everyone who sent so many wonderful gifts this year. We love you and truly appreciate your generosity to our family. We miss you all and hope to see you soon. Merry Christmas and definitely have a Happy New Year!

Love,

The Mason's