Happy Birthday Mason

Mason finally became a teenager on Thursday the 29th when he turned 13.  We foundly call this the "caffiene" birthday because of our family rule that you have to be 13 to drink caffiene drinks.  Mason kept reminding me that Brianna woke up to a Coke beside her bed on her birthday so Mason put in his request for his favorite drink, Mountain Dew (a boy after my own heart).  I actually gave him a whole 12 pack to share attached to this balloon.  We invited his cousin Riker down to celebrate all weekend with us.  On Thursday we let Mason choose to go out to eat wherever he wanted, he choose McDonalds

On Friday, We took Mason and Riker to see the movie Mission Impossible.

On Saturday we had planned to have more of a party with his friends, but being a holiday weekend we found that most of his friends were out of town.  But his friend, Langdon, was able to join us to go to Laser Quest for a fun game of laser tag and play some of the arcade games there.  Cord even got to play but he and I were a "team".  I wore the heavy vest and he shot the gun.  It was funny to hear him laughing and trying to run around and shoot people but difficult for me to keep up with him.  We only shot 2 people but caught several people in between the rope between us (found out later that it doesn't count if we hang people during the game).  Mason was proud that he took 3rd place in the game as Master Chief.  Brianna also came and played with us. 

After playing around, we went back to the house to have pizza and cake.  I can't believe there are 13 candles on that cake!! 

Most of the weekend the boys just looked like this.................

You can see their brains turning to mush from the pictures.  It may take a few days before school starts for their brains to restart.  We sure enjoyed having Riker here with us.  They also celebrated New Year's eve together.  Mike took the boys to a place where they could see the fireworks from the strip and we had some fun popers for them to let go at midnight.  I think they enjoyed the cheese whiz and apple cider the most though. 

Misc Christmas

Just wrapping up and cleaning up. Want to document a couple more favorite things of the holiday. First would be my "reindeer mobile". I love the antlers and red nose on my car and it toally embarrassed my kids, especially Mason when I would pick him up from school. They are so festive. I told Mason I could be so much more embarrassing. I could put on an elf costume, blast jingle bells with the base cranked and the windows down, and yell his name out the open window. He shut up about my antlers! But has been begging me to take them off since Christmas is now over. I guess I will, only because I need to wash the car.


I also love receiving Christmas cards and seeing how everyone's family is growning.

Since we own our home, Mike took some time to put out a few of our outside decorations this season. It's been awhile since we've decorated the outside so it was nice this year.

Super heros here to save the day

I feel so much safer around the house these days. Cord is our new security system walking the grounds in his official uniform. He is the cowboy superhero who likes to kill bad guys. We did have to clarify that the dog does not qualify as a "bad guy" and is off limits for any type of shooting. Both boys have a crossbow like this but Cord takes on his new responsibilities very seriously.

New exercise program

This new toy will benefit both Cord and myself. I decided that it will be my new exercise program. I'll follow along behind or beside Cord as he drives and try to keep up while not getting run over. I can add upper strengthening conditioning by taking the dog and dragging him out of places he should be in. I'm exhausted after our walks together. But luckily we do live in Vegas so the weather is perfect for going for a little "drive".




He paused for a moment and disappeared down into the car. Then he pulled out his "map". After checking it out, he decided we were going in the right direction and the ride proceeded. What a good little prepared boy scout.

Christmas church

I loved having Christmas on a Sunday. I actually joined the choir with Brianna and Mike because we were singing some really cool songs. The whole meeting was inspirational. It really gave us a moment to focus on the birth of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.





My beautiful girls love that they are so much taller than me when they are wearing their fabulous heels. I refuse to wear uncomfortable heels just to be taller than them mostly because I know I'll fall on my can. I'll just let them have that one pleasure.

Merry Christmas

This is what my tree looked like this morning. Now I swear those chairs were not there when I went to bed. I guess Santa did come during the night. I was really surprised. Cord was so excited to get to his red, lightening Mcqueen car that he spied from upstairs.


I had joked with the kids that we should wait until after church to open our presents. Mason was actually OK with it. (big shocker for me). He said, "Then we'll get to be excited all morning". Brianna was actually not Ok with it because she knew that there were some fabulous shoes under the tree and she wanted to wear them to church. Chelsea also had a beautiful dress as a gift for her so we went ahead and opened the gifts. It was a great morning of chaos.






Chester was right in the middle of the chaos. He must have been on the good puppy list because there were some new toys in his stocking.


Mike had mentioned awhile ago how cool it would be to have an antique typewriter to display in his office. He would type up some document and have it inside. I've been watching craigslist and checking out antique shops until I found this really cool one. I never am able to surprise him with something cool like this so I was really excited. He's always been the one to surprise me with something cool.


Cord received his one main wish of a powerwheels car. What Santa forgot to tell us was that the battery needs to charge for 18 hours. So he had to wait until 6 pm to drive his car but that didn't stop him from playing in it. Cord also received a udraw for the wii, several ds and leapster games as well as art supplies. He was one cool looking kid.


Chelsea's main gift is not ready yet. She wanted more than anything to have a letterman jacket for her guitar letter. It's ordered and we are hoping that she'll have it in time for school to start again. Stay tuned for more pics. But she did receive lots of books, CD's and snoopy stuff. While looking for the typewriter we found a really cool dress at an antique shop, however it was too big. We decided to go ahead and buy it then have it altered. It had a zipper down the side and a difficult lining so we had to pay someone professional to do it. It looks like it was made just for her.

Brianna received a camera and kindle fire to store all her songs. She received lots of cool clothes (not picked out by me - oohh gross) and her fabulous nude color shoes. She also received lots of books and some antique perfume bottles. Chelsea gave her a really cool mirror to set on her dresser to display the perfume. (another antique store find).


Mason never did write his letter to Santa so I told him all he should expect to receive is socks and underwear :). He kept hoping for an ipad but lets get real - if I don't have an ipad neither can he. While looking at all the mini tablets out there, we decided that for what he needs it for maybe we should just get him a laptop (which is what he really wanted but didn't dare ask for). Now it really stinks to have a birthday 4 days after Christmas, and we have never done this, but to justify a laptop it would have to count for birthday and Christmas. After we explained and he opened, it was a deal he could live with. He also got several games, books, and a toy crossbow from his sister Brianna.

After church I began to make our Christmas dinner. Chicken Cordon Bleu is super delicious but hard to make so I only do it once a year (unless we happen to be in St. George, then I let my mom make it). It was worth it though and we had a really nice dinner as a family. Mason said (as he was munching on his chicken nuggets) "We should have dinners like this more often". Why should I slave all day on dinner for him not to eat it???? He meant with the china, candles, and sparkling apple cider.

It was a great day. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!