Happy Birthday BEN!

Hee! Hee! Now you're old like me!

For the four days between our birthdays, all I hear about from Ben is "how old I'm getting" and that I "shouldn't be lifting things for fear that I'll snap a bone"...or " how much of a rebel HE is for marrying an OLDER woman!" It's all in fun and it makes me laugh and roll my eyes because I know his day is coming up and I can share my WALKER with him! :)

We had one of Ben's faves- Lasagna! Mason went down for a quick nap that HE DESPERATELY NEEDED! Which made it so Ben and I had a quiet little dinner by ourselves.. It was kinda nice! ALMOST counts as a REAL date...ALMOST!

Mason enjoyed helping decorate the cake. He enjoyed EVEN MORE licking the frosting off of the candles once he placed it in! After lighting ALL THOSE CANDLES, we...well I, sang "Happy Birthday". I'm sure Mason will catch on next year! And we devoured the cake in no time flat! It was how ALL birthdays should be!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!

My Birthday Suit! :)

It Was a GREAT Birthday!

I just wanted to say Thank you to everyone that made yesterday so GREAT! Thanks for the calls and the texts. They made me smile a bigger each time! Thanks again!

I did have to work yesterday, but AS TRADITION... I wore my BIRTHDAY SUIT! I made this scrub top a couple of years ago (almost 5 to be exact!) to celebrate my last day of work before my wedding. It was great fun! ( I had a mini-veil and everything!!!) Well, needless to say- such hard work shan't be wasted on just one day of wear-dom(?!) So I started the tradition of wearing this giant disco-ball-of-a-scrub top once every year on my birthday to liven up work. It was a big hit! It got big laughs from coworkers and wide eyes from my patients. One even casually stated,"WOW! That's a real flashy shirt ya got on there?!" But my favorite comment from a patient was, "Um... Do you wear fancy tops like that ALL the time?!" After explaining the reason behind it, they'd just smile and nod. Come to think of it... I don't think I heard a SINGLE stupid mammo joke all day from the patients! That in itself is a Birthday miracle!!! My scrub top must have rendered them all totally speechless to the exam that was about to occur! Freeing me from having to hear OVER and OVER again how "... if Men had to put their @%#$@ in this- they'd figure another way to do it FAST..." or "have you heard how to practice for a mammogram?" UGH!!! ... Sorry- I'm off on a tangent! Where was I??? Oh Yeah! My goal is to always make April 17th not just another day! Yes even if that means getting older!

When I got home, Mason and mostly Ben sang "Happy Birthday" to me. And we went out and got some Olive Garden to go --which included their absolutley DIVINE Chocolate Tuxedo dessert. If I were stranded on an island, THAT is what I would take with me! It's THAT good! YUMMY! And we just stayed in and watched my favorite shows- 30 Rock, The Office and Lost. It was a Great Birthday!!

Ben the Weekend Mechanic!

Ben has been sooo busy these past couple of weekends, in between visits with family, all three of our cars have had one problem or another to deal with. When it rains... it pours... Right?! I can't even tell you what went wrong with each one... I'm getting them all confused now! I believe he had to replace the timing belt in the 4-runner and the water pump as well as the timing belt in the Stratus. Our neighbors are beginning to wonder if Ben has any other hobbies... or if he just like to hang out underneath the cars all the time! :) (by-the-way.. Thank you to Matt and Joe for helping Ben as well!)

Wait I know what your thinking... "Tristin- you said THREE cars...?" Well, it's a funny story...the Passat just started out just needed the oil changed before our trip to MT. Which Ben took care of no problem.... The next day as I was driving it to work and it was REAL jerky shifting gears. Ben added some more oil to it, thinking it needed more -now that it was flowing through the engine better. FOUR more Quarts later.... still the same problem! Now we were suspecting a plug somewhere in the engine....a previous problem we had to deal with this car before....VERY EXPENSIVE TO FIX!!!! NOOOO!!!!

SO.... Late into the night before we were planning on leaving, Ben has an epiphany! He realized that where he had removed the oil from previously lead right to the Transmission! Meaning that he had drained the TRANSMISSION FLUID and not the oil.... It's not his fault though- he does know what he's doing... Volkswagons are just soooo backwards from what he's used to working on. And when he picked up the new tranny fluid from the dealer the next day, they reassured him that the exact same thing happens ALL the time...especially at lube shops where soo called "professionals" are supposed to know what they're doing! Once we added the tranny fluid and flushed out 8 quarts of oil.... The car is running just Perfectly!!

I'm SOOO PROUD of my super mechanic! It has taken a lot of patience and elbow grease to get those cars going! Mason sure loved to "help" out daddy... I think he just thought they were giant TOYS. I loved seeing him laying under the car with you as you pointed out engine parts! That's something he'll always remember!!

Quick Trip to Montana

A couple of weeks ago, we took a QUICK trip up to Montana to visit family and friends. It was a great trip, but we didn't get to see everyone we would've like to. We'll plan it better next time! We had breakfast with the Tait's-(very scrumptious! Thank you Again!)- and got to see Gracie Jo. She even cuter than her pictures!! You could feel the sparks between her and Mason... We'll see in the next 20 years how it all works out!!! :) I also was able to vist with the Bell's and see their new arrival, McKinley! She was pure sweetness and soo tiny! You forget how small they start out! And Laynee is such a little lady... all grown up!!!Sorry again Janna that Mason was a little moody- he didn't really get a good nap in that day with all the running around! :) So great to see you guys!

We had a massive family B-day party for everyone born in April and Mom! We had the traditional wienee roast; which, Mason is becoming quite the pro at! We had a lot of "down-home Country FUN!" Mason's favorite thing to do while up there is go horseback riding with Pa-Pa! He's soo eager to help with the horses and isn't really afraid of them. Truly a COUNTRY BOY!

While my while my Mom was opening her presents, my brother Travis surprised us all with something that was LONG overdue!!!! Him and Ericka are ENGAGED!!!!! Super YEAH! Travis stuck a picture of Ericka's hand with the ring on it, in my Mom's B-day card. My Mom's expression tells it all...We are all just extatic! I dedicate the song "FINALLY" by Fergie on my playlist to the two of you! ;)

I am SOOO EXCITED for you Big Brother!! You and Ericka are so adorable together and are so ready for this next chapter in your life! CONGRATULATIONS! :)

Our MONTANA Visit!

Yeah Visitors!!

My brother Toby and his family, came down for a FUN packed weekend at the end of March. We had soo much fun, but Mason definitly had the MOST fun with cousins-a-plenty to play with. We went to the ZOO and checked out all the animals and posed for some pictures. It was a little chilly but that didn't stop the kids any! The next day, we went to Boondocks fun center and we played as many games as we could! Mason LOVED the Popcorn catching game... and he actually was quite good- He even BEAT ME at it! Him and Alexa finally figured out how to manuver the Kiddy Cove (a GIGANTIC playground for the little ones), and they were pro's in no time... shoving other kids out of the way to get to the fun stuff! :) We then geared up for a fast paced go-cart race where Hannah and I proved victorious! Ben, Toby and Emily didn't even stand a chance! HA! After eating our SUPER pizza... (it better be 'cause we waited AN HOUR for it;as well as,sang "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to about 7 different kids who were having their parties there in the process.. UGH!), we ventured on to a high stakes mini-golf Tournament. Even though Alicia had a hole-in-one and Toby had TWO, I still won with the most points scored! RIGHT?! OKAY- Not the case... They slattered me!...I think they even tied-I can't remember! Golf isn't my thing.. I'm surprised the club made it through the game without a single dent. It was a GREAT visit.... THANKS SO MUCH FOR COMING! You're welcome back anytime FOR A RE-MATCH!

Toby, Alicia, Emily, Hannah and Alexa came to visit!!

Easter RECAP!

Sorry- I've been a little slack in updating my blog! Our Easter was WONDERFUL! The Saturday before, we had some friends over for a mini Easter Egg hunt in our backyard. Just Mason and his little friend Sydney--(who both happen to have the exact same b-day!!) Sydney's Mom, Megan swears that they are destyned to get married one day! They see each other and their eyes just light right up and they give each other a little hug... oh!-And I'm happy to announce that they had their 1st KISS too! It was soo adorable- I walked in the other room to find Sydney leaning in ever-so-sweetly with her eye's shut and her lips puckered...and Mason was leaning in as well...mouth WIDE open and his TONGUE hanging out like a dog!!! He's a BOY in every sense of the word! :) I couldn't help but laugh!

Anyway-- Back to Easter... They both figured out right away how to get to the candy inside the eggs so- needless to say, they were both more interested in eating all the candy in one egg before finding the next one. Which made for a LONG hunt! But it was soo much fun! I'm so enjoying that Mason is able to participate in these traditions. It really makes the Holiday GREAT!

Sunday morning we awoke to find that the Easter Bunny had left us all our traditional new "Easter Outfits" and Baskets! Mason went right for the eggs in his basket and more importantly- for the yummies inside! But then we discovered another Easter tradition... plastic GRASS! He was facinated with it... how it felt and the mess that it made! It was almost too much for him to handle!

Church was AWESOME! We really felt the spirit and were able to focus on the Ressurrection and the real meaning of Easter. I realized WHY Easter is my favorite holiday... It's not just the time of year and all the flowers blooming...or the warmer weather... It's when the Atonement was finallized! Christ rose from the Dead and completed his sacred mission to help us return to our Heavenly Father! What great LOVE.. And for that I REJOICE with all my heart!!! Jesus Christ is my SAVIOR- the only way back Home! ....It was a great Easter!

Easter Time!!

Yup! Right on the Money!

You Are Megara!

Charming and witty. You are always the first person to come up with a wisecrack. Sure, you have an attitude, but that's why people love you. You keep them on their toes. Sometimes you can be misleading, but always end up doing the right thing for the people you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I Don't Know Why?!?!

So last night, Mason decided that it was very important to him to wear his bike helmet to the dinner table. I truly have no idea where THAT came from! Normally he's screams at the top of his lungs when he has to put in on to ride his skates... (It was lasagna night which means Mason get stripped of his shirt and goes right into the tub after dinner!) All I know is that he saw the helmet on the floor in the laundry room and must have thought... "You know! That would fit perfectly with my dinner attire for this evening! I MUST HAVE IT!" and the rest is history.. but it does make for a cute picture! He definitley keeps us on our toes! :)