The Runner Up

This is the runner up for our Christmas cards this year. Even though it didn't make the cut - I love it!!!! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

My 2nd Birthday!

At 2 years old I:

• am still so sweet and mild mannered
• love to do pretend yardwork with my pretend lawn mower, weed wacker, and shovels
• say I am '2' but my hand says I am '5'
• was so excited to open my presents. I wanted nothing to do with singing, blowing out candles or eating birthday cake!
•  am a man of few words...but I understand everything YOU say!
• love Grandmas and Grandpas 
• like when people read to me
• like to look at 'I Spy' books
• love to go fishing
• like to spot animals along the road
• would rather be outside more than anywhere else
• still take a nap
• like to wear my baseball cap...just like Daddy
• love to play with trucks and trains

As you can see by the pictures, Mason had one of those extended birthdays. That's why he has so many different outfits on! We decided to take Mason fishing for his birthday party. We had a picnic at Beck Lake in Cody. Mason didn't care to eat because he was preoccupied with the pile of presents. He didn't want us to sing to him, and he didn't want to blow out his candles. He didn't even want a piece of his birthday cake!! So, we just did all of that without him while he opened presents and played with his stuff. It got a little stormy on us, but we were able to take his new fishing pole over to the lake and he actually caught a fish all by himself! He did finally eat some birthday cake the next day when he had 'time'. :)

We are so blessed to have Mason in our family! I don't think there has ever been a sweeter little boy! He is so much fun and all BOY (except for when his sisters get a hold of him!) Happy Birthday Buddy!!!!!!!

8 is Great!

 Matty turned 8 at the beginning of this month! She had a great day! Usually school is out for the summer before Matty's birthday, but this year our summer vacation came a little later and Matty got to take cupcakes to 1st grade! She was thrilled! She had a lovely birthday party at Grandma Marla and Grandpa Jim's house. Lots of family came to help her celebrate. We had a BBQ and ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Presents were opened in true Matty fashion! She is the funnest child to watch open gifts. She gets extremely excited over everything. Cards, small sums of cash, movies she already owns, underwear.  Oddly enough, she was less impressed with the wii we got her. Go figure. :) Anyways, she says things like "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!" and "Oh My Goodness Sakes Heavens!!". She is always full of 'thank yous' and hugs. When it was time to blow out the candles on the cake and we weren't quite moving fast enough, she ordered us - "Sing To Me!"  Our family's version of the Happy Birthday song includes a bit at the end where everyone sings "How old are you? How old are you? How oooold are you? Happy Birthday to you!" and the Birthday girl is supposed to sing back her age. Matty got a little flustered and couldn't remember what to sing for a minute. We kind of reminded her but she didn't want any help from us. She shushed us and continued, "I am now eighty years old, I am now forty-eight years ooooold!".  Ha ha ha! We chuckled for a while about that one. What a cutie!

Well, Matty was especially excited about turning eight this year because that is the age when you can be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We had her baptism on the last day of June. It was such a beautiful occasion. Matty had been given a beautiful white dress on her birthday to wear on her baptism day. She looked and felt like a princess. She had so many friends and family come to support her on her special day. She and Anastyn even sang a song together during the baptism. She was baptized and confirmed by her Daddy. It was a lovely service. We had a family dinner afterwards complete with a cake made by Aletha Durtsche (our very favorite cake lady. ever.)

Beautiful Day. Beautiful Girl!

 Congratulations Matalyn Cate!!

Cabin Fever!!

According to Wikipedia (unreliable sometimes, I know - but in this case I believe it is quite correct), Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, paranoia, irrational frustration with everyday objects, forgetfulness, laughter, excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow, dark or hail.

Hmmmmmm. I think we have it. We have cabin fever.

For those of you who aren't familiar with our current situation, we are living in a cabin. You see, the house we were renting sold. This house sat empty for three years on the market, until we begged to rent it. Then we begged to fix the big problems with it. And then it sold. Sarcastic smiley face.

We started panicking when we were unable to find a new place to rent. But of course it all worked out...kind of.  Another sarcastic smiley face.

We found another place to rent. Unfortunately it wouldn't be available soon enough. So we had to find a temporary solution. A place to call home for one month. And so began our Oasis Cabin Retreat!

We are living in a campground! Five of us (three of which are small children that bounce off walls and make lots of noise and go crazy when couped up) are jammed into this one-bedroom joint. And we are having so much fun! At least that's what we are trying to tell ourselves! The kids bounce from bed to bed. We find them under the bed. They watch the same movies over and over. They yell and scream and giggle. When we are all here, I would say it's pretty much pandemonium and we all want out, out, out!!!

There are some strange things about living in this little cabin. For some reason, the part of the night I should be sleeping just drags on for me. I wake up a lot. I wonder if it has anything to do with the four other people sleeping in the same room? And then, I am so tired in the afternoon I end up taking a nap (which isn't something I normally do). And a couple times I have woken up in a panic. One night it was because my entire arm had fallen asleep. I was so out of it I thought I was having a heart attack! I woke Kyle up and got him upset. And I couldn't let myself fall asleep the rest of the night because I thought I would die if I did! It took me clear until late the next morning to snap out of it!

Another night I woke up sure that I could smell a gas leak and that we were all going to die. Anyways...I don't usually act quite so crazy!  One morning I was making our bed and found a huge, nasty spider with a great big egg sac attached to it in our sheets!!!! Freaked out just a little bit.

And then, the other day I was speaking to the man that lived in this cabin just before us. He told me all about the ghost he saw one night at the foot of the bed. The freaking guy says he saw a ghost in this cabin! Holy crap, if I couldn't sleep before.....

Anyways: Claustrophobia, check. Isolated/shut in a small space with nothing to do, check. Restlessness, check. Irritability, check, check, check!  Paranoia, yep. Laughter, check. Excessive sleep, check. It all fits, really. Cabin fever it is.

On the bright side of things, the kids are enjoying it here. They think it is an adventure - and they are right!

We are looking forward to moving on. Soon, Cabin 29 will be just a memory. A good memory, but one we probably wouldn't want to repeat!