Mason is 1 Year Old...

Mason turned 1 year old on April 5th. I can't believe it!! It feels like we just brought him home from the hospital and yet it feels like he's been a part of our family for forever. We have really enjoyed him - all of us. He is so much fun. It was bitter sweet for me - because a birthday means a year older and it just seems to be going by so fast. So sorry for all of the pictures but he's only going to be 1 once so you'll have to bear with me.

10 Things I LOVE About You:

1. I love your smile - it lights up your whole face and makes me smile or want to laugh.
2. I love your little 4 teeth - you can see them perfectly when you give me one of your smiles.
3. I love it when you say "ma, ma, ma".
4. I love it when I have to wake you up and you squeeze and give me a big hug and snuggle next to my neck.
5. I love the way you smell just after a bath.
6. I love your wispy flippy hair and the little curls you have.
7. I love when you are being silly and hold your head back, crinkle your nose and laugh.
8. I love how you will pick up your little snacks with your 2 little fingers and put it into your mouth and chew it.
9. I love to watch you when your asleep - so peaceful and sweet.
10. I love it when you are singing softly or humming - so cute.

I JUST LOVE YOU!! :)

On Easter evening we had Grandma and Grandpa Gardner over for cake for Mason's birthday. As you can see Logan is helping Mason open his present from them, he was fine with it for a second and then in the 2nd top picture you can he's having 2nd thoughts - thinking, hey, that's my present. Kind of funny.

I was planning on making a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Easter and so we ended up using it for his birthday cake. He was so funny. He put his little fingers in the frosting and took them out and looked at them and then put them in again like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be getting into something like this. Then he just dug in, squishing it in his hands and putting it into his mouth. He liked it - ate the whole piece!

Then the next evening David's side of the family came and we celebrated again. Poor kid - what a sugar high with all that cake. Oh well, it's his birthday right? This time he knew to dig right in. Again he enjoyed himself with the cake.

Bryson, Kylee, Jordyn, Logan and Jaislyn.

After everyone had left and because it had been a little busy during the day he now opened the presents from us. Again with help from his older brother. :) For the boys' 1st birthday we always give them a little ride on. He was pretty excited about it. As you can see we haven't gotten rid of Logan's yet and Logan was right there trying out Mason's and riding his along Mason. They took turns pushing each other. Too cute! Love you buddy!! :)

Easter...

Nothing like an Easter Egg Hunt in the snow and the howling wind. We decided to take the boys up to the Idaho Falls Easter Egg Hunt since David's work are the people who put it on. 10,000 Easter eggs and filled with some pretty good coupons and candy. I forgot to take my camera there but the boys were all bundled up in their snow pants, coats, gloves, boots and hats - it was cold!! But towards the end the sun came out and it helped a little. Logan was so excited because he got to shake hands or "paws" with the Easter bunny and he gave him some candy bars. The boys got quite a few eggs with coupons inside them - some to Sizzler, Texas Roadhouse, Blast Off, Burger King and so on. It was pretty fun even if it was cold. Later in the day we colored Easter eggs.

Mason even got in on the action - well, with plastic eggs of course!

I tried something this year with the boys about the Resurrection Cookies. I had seen and heard about them before on the internet but hadn't ever tried them and then my sister-in-law emailed it to me a couple of days ago (thanks Jo) so I thought I would try it. They were pretty cool and didn't taste too bad either - the boys liked the whole thing. Hopefully they learned something out of it.

Easter morning... the boys were so excited. They all loved finding the real eggs and candy filled eggs.

Under the Big Top Variety Show...

It was time for another Pack Meeting. This months theme was Under the Big Top Variety Show. Circus stuff... we played a few circus games to get us started - Tightrope Walk, Hoopla, Pushing Peanuts, Through the Hoop, Feeding the Elephants, and so on. We rented a Cotton Candy Machine - the kids loved it but it made a mess - had to mop the floor after but it was worth it. Had popcorn, peanut m&m's and animal crackers.

Once the Snack Vendor had made her rounds we were ready for the show to begin. David (since he is the Cub Master) was the Ring Master. Each den was performing a circus skit and each boy had a run on to do and a talent to perform. Bryson and Dillon had so much fun. They love to act in skits - they have fun making up their own little skits together with their cousins. They performed a Flea Circus Skit, A Magic Skit and A Clown Skit. They had little silly run ons - Dillon's was - what kind of cat would you never play cards with? A Cheetah!! Ha, ha, ha. And Bryson's was - how do you stop a herd of charging elephants? Take their credit cards away. Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle. For Dillon's talent he performed a magic trick - making candy appear inside a box. Bryson played his festival piece on the piano, Accidental Wizard. Throughout the show the audience was involved too. The boys were to invite their grandparents so Grandma and Grandpa Gardner were there and since Grandpa and Grandma Cummings aren't here right now, Aunt Jo came. Thanks Jo for helping out and being their for the boys - they were excited that you could come and see them. Seriously though - I think the real circus was in the kitchen! Have you ever tried to contain 9 boys in a small area that have a sugar high from cotton candy and m&m's? Holy Cow - that is where the cub scouts were waiting to go on stage. They were so wound up but I think they all had a good time and I'm glad that they got up on stage and performed. Glad it's done though. :)

Finishing Up March...

There were some fun things that happened in March so I'll just post a few. Bryson participated in his first Piano Festival a couple of weeks ago. He played Smoke Signals and Accidental Wizard. He did awesome!! He was soooo nervous though. I can totally relate. I remember playing at festivals when I was young and taking piano and I was soooooo nervous too and I hated it - but he has a really great teacher (thanks Shell :) ) that makes it fun and the judge was very nice and he did do a great job and got a really high score! Good job buddy!!

And... for Christmas Aunt Jo gave all of the grandkids a coupon that was good for a "Day with Jo". The boys have been so excited to do this and spend some time with Jo - they love Aunt Jo. Bryson redeemed his the other day - went to the movie, then to dinner, and then to Barnes and Noble to pick out a book. He had such a great time - loved every minute of it. Thanks Jo!! Dillon is looking forward to redeeming his in the next couple of weeks.

For Spring Break we decided to take the boys and go and visit Grandpa and Grandma Cummings down in St. George, Utah for 5 days. We stopped in Salt Lake the first day and went to the Hill Air Force Base Museum in Layton. The boys loved it and my biggest boy of all - David, wanted to stay all day.

Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner - the boys had never been so they had a blast of course! Bryson had gotten tickets to the Jazz basketball game for that night from playing Jr. Jazz. So, David took Bryson and Dillon to the Jazz game. They loved it!! They kept talking about everything! They are already looking forward to next year. Me and the 2 younger boys hung out in the hotel room - we were in such a hurry to check into our motel and get them to the game that we forgot to get some of the toys that we had brought with us just for such an occasion as this - so.... it was a long time in the hotel room for me and the 2 boys and there was NOTHING on TV so me and Logan sat and watched golf and munched on cheese crackers - oh ya, we walked around the hotel a couple of times. Oh well... the next morning we got up and headed to St. George. The boys were so excited to finally see Grandma and Grandpa. Below are some pics of some of the things we did there.

We went to Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site - it was really neat to see the writings by Indians on the rocks. The boys thought this was really cool. It was a boys paradise playground - rocks and rocks and more rocks to climb on and explore.

Bryson found a lizard, they were hard to spot - they would almost blend right in with their surroundings.

Dillon and Bryson loved to just climb and explore. It was pretty cute to hear them talk about the indians and pretend that they might come and sneak up on them.

And Mason... well, he just liked to taste the rocks.

CUTE boys!! :)

Logan was picking up and collecting rocks and carrying them in his shirt - he asked Grandma why she wasn't carrying her "treasures" in her shirt. Too cute.

Love the dusty bottom! :)

The Glitter Hole - this place was soooo shiny! You almost needed some sunglasses to look at it. It was pretty... pretty sparkly.

The pictures really don't do it justice - they were rocks that looked like glass - pretty cool.

We went and saw the dinosaur tracks in the rock. The boys again thought that this was really cool. Again, the picture doesn't do it justice, but you get the general idea.

We went to Fort Pierce (or something like that) that was built by some settlers in attempts to keep indians from taking their land. Again it was a place for climbing and exploring.

We went to Zions National Park because the boys had never been. Loved seeing all of the beautiful jagged rocks and cliffs. We hiked to Weeping Rock and also drove through the tunnel that goes through the mountain.

When we got to the other side we were driving and came upon a fox, we only got a picture of the back end - weren't quick enough with the camera. It happened to be at a sandy place with rocks so we let the boys get out and play for a bit. Mason was so funny - he didn't mind too much if his toes and feet touched the sand but he didn't want his fingers touching the sand at all. Too funny!

David's birthday happened to be while we were there so on that day we went to the driving range and hit some balls. David has golfed a little but the boys had never done anything like it and as for me... well, I've been golfing once in my life and it was obviously apparent at my lack of skill. Oh well, I did hit a few balls. However, the boys loved it and Bryson has informed me that he would like his own set of golf clubs for his birthday. Hmmmm.....

Grandma and Grandpa showing the boys how it's done.

After some shopping we went bowling, then had dinner and they had gotten David a Lemon Sour Cream from this super yummy pie place down there - it was scrumptious!!! Yum! Yum! Yum! After that we went and played a round of minature golf in the dark (it was a pretty neat course and fun) and did the batting cages. I'm glad that we could be with David's mom and dad for his birthday - I know he enjoyed it and had a great day. The next day we went to the Wildlife Musuem which was really cool and then headed for home. We didn't end up getting home until after midnight but it was sooooo FUN and so nice to get away for a bit. The boys loved being with grandma and grandpa!