A Golden Doodle and a Garden Hose

Gotta love Big Charles.  He is such a clown!  While we were in town this weekend, my mom busted out the garden hose so we could watch Charles go nuts.  And go nuts he did.

Now imagine if you will, the next morning when Charles decided that he wanted to take off in the cotton field behind the house and not come back.  Imagine me in my pajamas sprinting barefooted through my parent's yard in their lovely peaceful neighborhood trying to get Charles to chase me away from the road and back to the house.... only too look over and see their neighbor sitting on his back patio watching me.  Awesome.

Charles is my brother's dog.  The black dog who poops IN bushes and small trees and ON TOP of tree stumps... that one is mine.

I Finally Learned

I finally learned how to download pictures from my iPhone to my computer!  You are probably thinking I am an idiot since I have had this phone over a year and just now realized you are supposed to hook it up to your computer for things like updates and downloading files.  I actually learned this a few months ago when people kept getting mad at me for not using imessaging since my software had not been updated and now... here we are... all 900+ iPhone photos are on my MacBook at my fingertips!

I. Am. Pumped!!

So, here is my first iphone pic blog post.  Some of these photos you have probably seen if you are my facebook friend or follow me on instagram.  However, some of them have been tucked away for a special blog debut such as this.  Some of these I have posted simply because I love them and others because they represent a detail in life that I want to remember.  I am so excited to have these pictures from every day life because when I print out my blog book one of these days, I will be able to remember so much more than if I was just relying on my brain.  I think my brain got too full in pharmacy school and things don't stick as well as they used to.  Then again, maybe it's "mom brain", who knows?  Most of the pics on this blog were taken with Camera+ (my favorite), instagram (the poor quality ones), or Ben's iphone (which took the following picture) which he then texted to me.  

I work every third weekend and during those weekends Ben is thoughtful to send me photos of what he and Mason are up to so I don't feel too left out.  I get the biggest kick out of Ben taking Mason on wagon rides because he always loads the wagon down with books and toys to keep Mason entertained.  I tried to tell him that the wagon ride is supposed to be the entertainment.  However, Ben never fails to be over prepared.

This is one of Mason's last days in his Chico (or is it Chicco?) infant seat.  It served him well but he hated facing the back.  Happier days are ahead for Mason in the car.

This photo is an older one but it melts my heart every time I look at it.  I hate that the image quality is so poor because I want this blown up to an 8x10 and hung in every room!!

 One of his first times in the sandbox... Love!

One of his last morning bottles. If I think about this too long I will cry.

Poodle was overdue for a hair cut and got a new do with the poofiest.ears.ever!  He also made the photo bulletin board at the groomer's. So proud.

Our friend and old roommate Daniel, his sister Heather, and his girlfriend Crystal came to hang out one weekend and played a little Just Dance 2 on the wii.  That game never gets old!

Sissy and me on the way to the rehearsal for Leslie's wedding.

Meeting Daddy for lunch to celebrate Mason's first birthday!  

Baby and Me at Old El Paso something something, can't remember the name of the place because we never eat there.  Totally random selection for birthday lunch.  It was close to the zoo which was our ultimate destination.

Part of our bath time ritual.... I (and Ben too) always wrap Mason up in his super large Three Martha's bath towel after his bath and then we look in the mirror at him all wrapped up and then we go say hi to the other parent and then we go to his room for lotion and p.j.'s.

One of Mason's first times to ride in his big boy car seat.  Every time we looked back at him he would smile and laugh because he wasn't used to being able to see us.  He loves it! (And so do we!)

I got this for a mother's day/birthday gift.  I have been thinking about learning to sew for a while and the kids clothes just pushed me over the edge.  I really am enjoying it so far!

This is our ice cream stash. Yeah, you can find about 4 or 5 cartons in our freezer on any given day.  Why? Ben has a major sweet tooth.  Combine that with the fact that I won't finish a carton because I only like it fresh.  Fresh as in only a few days old.  After that it becomes "freezer burned" in my eyes and I will have nothing to do with it. So, we accumulate ice cream.  Ben eventually finishes it off because he can't stand for anything to be wasted. Oh yeah, Buy One Get One Free Breyer's Ice Cream at Publix puts an end to any open space in our freezer.  Also, Santa's White Christmas - top notch.  Definitely need to pick up a gallon of that this season.

Awkward family photo. This is the only photo I have on my phone of all three of us! We were visiting our new baby cousin, Olivia, at the hospital.  Mandi (Olivia's mom) took this photo to document her visitors and then texted it to me later.  Ben and I were on our way to a wedding.  That is not our typical hospital visit attire.  Also, this was the first night that Mason spent the night away from home!  Mimi (Ben's mom) kept him that night since the wedding was in Birmingham and we wouldn't be getting back until late.  Mason did great and so did I.  Now lets hope I can handle it for 4 nights when we take our cruise!

Dessert at Central during our anniversary date. Now I can share the pictures I took on the date with my phone!

Just hanging out, walking around down town Montgomery. 

What a fun night!

This is a picture of my daddy when he was a little boy.  Can you see the resemblance between him and Mason? 

Mason visiting his great grandmother while we were in Florence.  I can't remember why he is naked.

The other day we met some of our good friends at the pool.  This is the closest I could get to a group photo.  Thirteen month olds aren't good at posing for pics. 

I got lucky by catching Caden and Mason standing in the same vicinity.  Check out Mason's cool floating suit!  Hilarious. 

Mason doing his thing.  Making me a nervous wreck.  Today I remembered that Cara and I used to walk on top of the privacy fence in our back yard when we were little girls.  I guess mom didn't know about that... 

This is another photo that Ben sent me when I was at work.  Made my day!

Mason LOVES to help us blow off the back porch.  Even when we aren't blowing off the back porch, he is trying to turn the blower on or get us to turn it on.  He has an infatuation with lawn equipment.

The other night I made homemade bruschetta (tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, garlic).  I had forgotten how easy it is to make and how good it is!  If you have a basil plant, you need to make this! If you don't love garlic then you might want to omit that.  Mason even liked it.  Then again, Mason likes everything, especially his new favorite, tuna salad.

 Junior wants a cookie.  Clearly, he has already had some cookies.  He doesn't just want a cookie, he wants to feed it to himself. Melted chocolate chips and all.

I give in to his relentless screams pleas. This is bliss.

Now he is mad because we have to clean him off with a wet wipe.  It was nap time, can you tell?

 And last but not least, this is a picture I took this morning of Mason playing in his chair.  Mom, Dad, and Matt gave him the chair for his birthday and I think we will get a lot of use out of that gift.  The trolley car in the picture was a gift that mom and dad brought Mason back from their trip to California. He is pretty hard on it but so far it is still in one piece.   And on a side note, Mason turned 14 months old today and he is cutting 2 new teeth on the bottom for a total of 8 teeth!

The Zoo and Mason's Soup

What? We're awesome.

 The weather was overcast and breezy so Mason and I, accompanied by several of our friends, decided to go to the zoo.  Mason's friends were Hadley, Caden, Parker, and Rylie.  Caden, Parker, and Mason were all born within 6 months of each other and their moms were in my life group at church.  I am sure that they will be big buddies growing up.  When Caden (pictured above, 18 months old) got out of his car and saw Mason he said, "Hey Mase."  It was pretty cute.

The zoo in Montgomery has a really nice play area for the kids.  Mason isn't quite big enough for all of the climbing things and slides, but he still liked trying to climb up the stairs.  Check out his curly hair.

Here is our group shot before Rylie arrived.

Mason thinks the swings are way lame.  Can you tell?  He seems excited about getting in them, but once he is in them he shows no enthusiasm whatsoever.  He thought the people in the swings next to him were weird.

However, Mason found the River Otter exhibit enthralling.  It was definitely his favorite exhibit this trip.  Do you think someone needs a hair cut?  I gave him one today when we got home.

After the zoo, Mason, Caden, Parker and their mommies all went to Chappy's where kids eat free!  The boys were all champs.  None of them had had a nap all day and they were so good.  On the way to Chappy's I stopped by the farmer's market to pick up some fresh veggies.  I have been trying really hard to have more veggies and fruits available for our family since Mason is eating our food now. 

Speaking of Mason eating our food... that boy can eat. He eats pretty much anything we feed him and likes it all!  His latest favorite is bananas, but he only likes them if he gets to eat them whole, not cut into bites. He wants to bite it off by himself.  When he goes to Moe's he eats almost the entire Mini Me with chicken, beans, and corn salsa on it. Whenever he sees food he gets really excited and sometimes even squeals really loud.  

Lately, Mason has spent most of his free time making "soup" or something of that nature. He likes to pull leaves off of my lantana plants and put them in the blue cup and stir them with the bubble wand.  Every now and then he will add a rock, some water, etc.

 My plant is starting to feel the pain from all of this soup making.

List Form

Mason at the Pool

Hello Friends!  It has been raining cats and dogs around here so I am happy to have a minute to catch up on what has been going on with us.  When I last left you, I mentioned that my dad had broken his hip, could not put weight on it for 6 weeks, and my parents were about to close on their house and move... well, it has been a roller coaster and I am just going to make a list of all the events that have taken place since.

My Brother's Dog - Big Charles

1. My dad was admitted to the hospital after the pain meds from his leg caused him to become dehydrated due to adverse reactions (nausea and vomiting).

2. My wonderful partner pharmacist said she would cover my shift that week since I only had one day to work and this allowed me to go to Florence (with Mason in tow) and help (as much as possible while chasing around a 13 month old) my mom get packed and moved.  My wonderful employers for my work- at- home job relieved me of any cases that week as well and so I didn't have to stress over getting that work done either.  Thank the Lord for my wonderful bosses and co-workers.

Leslie and Me

3. I had taken Memorial Day weekend off anyway to go home and celebrate with Leslie and Shane during their wedding and wedding festivities.  I was sooo excited about celebrating with Leslie and seeing all of my best friends from high school and college.  The wedding was perfect and Leslie looked so beautiful! There is not much better than spending time and catching up with wonderful friends such as these.  All of my high school friends are now married and I can safely say that God has blessed them each with a spouse perfect for them (and that goes for my married college friends also).

Bridesmaids and Friends of the Bride at the Bridesmaid's Luncheon

I enjoyed getting to be a bridesmaid with Cara! Here we are waiting on the wedding to begin

Ben and Me with our good friends Shelley and Josh after the wedding before they headed back to Birmingham

Stephanie, one of my best friend's from college.

The beautiful bride having her veil perfectly placed.

 4. Back at Crazy Land, we are all trying to get stuff weeded out and put in boxes.  It seemed like everything that could go wrong did including:  my brother, the strongest person we have, badly injured his leg and the doctor told him that he needed to stay off his leg for a week (this happened before the move), my mom reached her hand in the pool drain and found a snake coiled up inside it (thankfully it didn't bite her!), my dad developed blood clots in his leg and was put on blood thinners, Cara found a spider the size of a tarantula on her leg while she was moving things to and from the cars, the people who sold us the new house unexpectedly took their refrigerator.... you get the idea.  I tried to help mom with running errands as she had a million and one things to do to prepare for the move.  Thankfully, it all somehow got done.  They are now safely at their new house in Muscle Shoals and they love it.  It is strange to think that "home" isn't in Florence anymore, but I think mom and dad will be very happy at their home across the river.

"LeLe" and Mason getting some quality time together in the midst of the craziness

 5. My parents took a while trying to decide what Mason would call them.  Mom wanted to be "Nana" but my sister had negative feelings towards that name for personal reasons and refused to let her be called that.  Thus, the name was changed to "LeLe" since mom's name is Lisa.  However, during the week at home, Mason came up with his own name for her... "Nana."  He started calling her that on his own.  I think this is hilarious but we are trying to make it more like "Nona." We will see....

Haley and Me with our baby boys

6. Mason and I were thrilled that we got to go to Sam's second birthday party while we were in town! Most people who read this blog (that I know of) know Haley, but you can read more about Sam's party if you click on her link "Blessed" on the right of my page.  Haley and I have been friends since we were five (that makes 24 years of friendship) and I love that we have boys so close in age who can be friends too!  At the party, Mason enjoyed his first taste of corn on the cob and his first experience with a bubble mower.  The mower was a gift to Sam, but he didn't get to hardly see it, much less play with it the whole time Mason was at the party.  Thanks for sharing, Sam!

Mason takes his mowing seriously

 7. For a little mid-week break, my 2 great Aunts accompanied Mason and me to Amish country to see the menanights (I have no idea how to spell that but they won't ever know seeing as they don't even have electricity).  If you have no idea what I am talking about, the Amish live in TN about an hour from Florence.  They have amazing gardens and are very skilled at woodwork and other things.  You can visit them and purchase their goods.  My aunts have gone frequently and since I was in town they offered to take me show me around since I have always wanted to go.  I was hesitant to leave mom for the few hours the trip would take, but she insisted that I go saying that I might never have the chance to go again.  I am so glad we went!  I loved spending time with my aunts and my only regret is not taking a picture of all of us together.  The Amish do not like for you to photograph them so my pictures were sneaky and very limited. I loved it there and sort of wish I could live with them for about a week.  The following pictures are from that trip.

The School House

Houses and a Farm (most houses are white and the newer ones are red)

One of their amazing gardens that went on as far as I could see

 8.  After a little over 4 hours of sleep on Thursday night and moving all day on Friday, I hit the road at 9 PM knowing Mason would sleep all the way home.  The trip was smooth, but wouldn't ya know, 30 minutes down the road I realized I didn't have my computer or any of my technology with me. Blast! Mom mailed it to me and the computer-less break was kind of nice after all.  I got home around midnight (the drive from Muscle Shoals is shorter!! Yay!!) and crashed.  The next day I was dead to the world and spent all morning in bed thanks to my sweet husband who took care of Mason.  I don't know how my mom was still going.  She was running on hardly any sleep at all.  She is still recovering!  I don't know what we would've done without all of the love and support from our friends and family.  People came over and brought food, helped load stuff, and even built a ramp for my Dad in the garage. We have been so blessed by our family and friends!

9. Happy Anniversary to us!!  I actually spent mine and Ben's 4th Wedding Anniversary in Amish Country since I was still in North Alabama.  I was sad that we had to spend our anniversary apart, but he had lots of work to do and I was glad to be able to help mom and dad out as much as I could.  We celebrated the Saturday I got back and the picture above if the only real picture (aka taken with a real camera and not my phone) that I have from the date!  My sweet Sister and Brother in Law and our two neices came to play with Mason while we went on our date.  Ben surprised me by taking me to a new restaurant here in town called Central.  We had a great time!  We will further celebrate in a few weeks when we go on our cruise!  We try to take a trip for our anniversary every year and our anniversary trip has always been one of the highlights of our year. I cannot believe it has been 4 years already!

10.  Ben, Mason and I have celebrated 2 new births in our family! We have a new niece and a new cousin (another baby girl) who are just precious and I want to write more about them in their own post.

11. Along with the births, we have sadly experienced a death.  I am hesitant to mention this because it is so sad, yet I feel I can't go without saying it.  The Tuesday after I returned from Florence, I got word from Leslie that one of the girls who had celebrated with us at the wedding had been killed in a car accident.  Bailey (in the picture of all the bridesmaids back row, second from the right) was so young and so full of life.  She was one of those people that you meet and instantly feel like you know them.  She sat next to me at the bridesmaid's luncheon.  I haven't been able to get her off of my mind and I know everyone who was with us that weekend feels the same way.  Please keep her family in your prayers.

12. We are still enjoying our summer here and loving our time at the pool and the zoo.  I am so thankful for the time I get to spend with my little boy who grows and changes and learns new things every day. Being a mom has been such a blessing and a greater experience than I could have imagined.  No, no swimsuit looks good on me anymore, I don't get to eat first or finish a meal most days, my house is covered with toys, and I spend most of my time on the floor playing or on the couch with the ipad watching Sesame Street (the new fave), but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Mason's first experience with Play Dough (recipe on my Pinterest)

13. I could spend a lot of time counting my blessings around here.  These past 2 weeks have been stressful and at times trying and upsetting, but I am so thankful for my family, friends, my sweet little boy, a wonderful husband, 4 years of marriage, and this amazing life God has given me.