Organization

My Birthday is next Thursday the 30th of September and I turn 24. We were going to go to Lake Powell with Mason's family and celebrate my birthday there but as fate has it its the same week the Phish tour starts so Mason has to be available to work since Phish is one of their biggest clients.

So since we are not going to be able to celebrate with them my awesome sweet in-laws sent me a gift card for Target and for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I was just so excited to use my Target gift card and I knew exactly what I wanted. I love to have things organized and for everything to have a place, so I got this nice shelving unit and a couple boxes to go inside for Max's toys. And I love it!

On another note, we found out that Mason is going to be laid off from his job. Turns out the economy is still crap and they are not doing as many bands as they used to. It was a shock to me but Mason kinda saw it coming. So who knows where we will be at the end of the year... Mason is just going to put his resume out everywhere. Who knows maybe it will bring us back to New York :D. But we are hoping something good comes along.

And now here are pictures of my shelf all put together, I think I might get a third box for the bottom.

"...I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."

-- Vincent van Gogh

Sunday Breakfast

Mason was craving some good hash browns and fried eggs because we have been watching Dead Like Me series. They are always eating at the same waffle house in the show. So we went to Denny's for breakfast. It was such a nice morning and we have a Denny's within walking distance of our apartment. Max was so good and cute sitting in a high chair for his first time at a restaurant. It satisfied Mason's cravings and mine as well I got some yummy whole wheat pancakes. It was a fun little Sunday outing together.

A little video of cute Max at breakfast

Maximus is 6 months old!

My sweet baby boy is another month older and is the cutest funniest and sweetest baby. He laughs so much and has the cutest faces. Here are some things Max does at 6months:

-He grabs everything, and then puts it in his mouth.
-He babbles a lot
-He does this thing with his tongue like he is chewing it like gum, it is oh so cute.
-He loves his rice cereal and smacks his gums together when I feed him.
-He is so sweet and caresses my arm when I hold him.
-He loves to be held...all the time.
-He plays with toys more.
-He loves the beginning of the show Wonder Pets, like just the part when it shows the logo then when they sing 'The phone, the phone is ringing...' then he loses interest cause he is only 6 months old.
-He loves his farm book I read him every night.
-He has his favourite spots to go to, one is grabbing at the blinds while someone holds him, another is the fridge to try and grab stuff off of it and open it with my help, he also loves the mirrors in our apartment.
-He has to pretend to drink from my glass whenever I take a sip.(video below)
-He has stopped sleeping in his crib, I don't know why but as soon as I bring him into our bed he goes to sleep. So most nights he kicks Mason out of our bed. Hopefully we can change this soon.

Here is a video of Max "drinking" from a cup

Read

I got the bracelet in the picture above awhile ago at the Salt Lake City library, it says read in 8 different languages.

I love to read. I love the smell and feel of books. I love old bookstores with used books. I was lucky to be able to work at one of the biggest used bookstores in New York City, Strand Bookstore I loved being able to be around books, being able to talk to people about books, and selling books. I could never get a paycheck without buying at least one book.

My favorite book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I think everyone should read it. It is about a young girl named Francie Nolan and her family. It is about her growing up in the early 1900's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Betty Smith is such a wonderful writer, she has a way of writing with such an understanding for what it was like to be a child and growing up. I think I like it a lot to because Francie reminds me of me, just little things like going out on her fire escape to read with her bowl of candy's and watching the people. I read it for the first time when I moved out to San Francisco area to help my sister Becky with her then baby Jonah. I also got my first job as a hostess at the restaurant Becky was a manager at. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was such a great book for me at that time in my life and I fell in love with it, with the characters, with New York. I wish I was a better writer to explain just how great this book is. I try to re-read it a lot, my copy is very used and is so special to me.

I just wanted to share my love of reading. I want to instill it in my children also. I read Max three books every night before he goes to bed and I will read to him more often as he gets older. There are so many great books out there.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn:
"Maybe," thought Francie,"she doesn't love me as much as she loves Neely. But she needs me more than she needs him and I guess being need is almost as good as being loved. Maybe better." - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Vegetarian meals

Being a vegetarian(who is not a good cook) it is sometimes hard to come up with good quick creative dinners. So Mason and I decided we would start finding new recipes to try out instead of going with our boring normal veggie burgers or pasta meals that we end up having a lot.

When we went to Costco we found this pizza crust for about $6.00, it came with three precooked crusts and three pizza sauce packets. Then we just got the shredded cheese package. I made one with just cheese and sliced tomatoes, then the other night I saw we had a leftover fake meat beer brat so I sliced it thin and cut up some white mushrooms. It turned out really yummy. I love these pizza crusts, they are super fast easy dinners and you can top them with anything and they only take about 8 min in the oven.

Mason found this great recipe that we also tried and it was so good! They are called 'Wheatballs' and they are supposed to resemble a meatball sub. All you have to do is chop a few things then put it all into a food processor(Blender in our case) and then knead it together and roll it into good size balls then fry them in a pan. We also made the cheese sauce which is also super easy its just measuring into a saucepan and heating it up. It made 28 'Wheatballs' so it went for two meals for us, we just froze the leftovers. You can get the recipe by going here.

I just thought I would share some good dinner idea's because I know how hard it is to come up with new quick and cheap things for dinner. And you don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy these meals.

The pizza uncooked

Fresh from the oven

mmm...

Blocks

No story just cute pictures of Maximus and his blocks.

I am in love...

With this guy

I just have to brag about my husband.

Things I love about Mason:

He is a caring husband who takes on a lot to take care of our family.
He truly is my best friend. I have the most fun times with him and I can tell him anything.
He is the greatest dad, he cares about Max so much and would do anything for him.
He has the best sense on humor.
He is romantic.
He makes sure I have the best birthdays.
He calls me Beautiful.
He has the brightest blue eyes, which I am so happy Max got them from him.
He gives the best hugs.

There is a lot more but I don't want to make this post to long ;)

He makes me smile

He is an awesome Bass player

An incredible Father

And my love...

I am so lucky.

Cell Phone Memories

I came across all my cell phone pictures from my old Sidekick and it brought back so many memories so I thought I would share some.

1. Kyle and I hanging out at the high school football field.
2. My new short haircut, just before I flew out to NYC.
3. My desk when I worked at MyeBiz as a customer service person.
4. Kneaders with Haley girl.
5. Jayden at Baskin Robbins after Haley's play
6. Emily and my mom at Starbucks on a Sunday afternoon in Salt Lake.
7. Emily and I at Starbucks that same time.
8. The bathroom in the Children's area at Strand Bookstore in NYC when I worked there.
9. Hanging out with Kyle.
10. Emily and Kyle before we did the Walk for MS(multiple sclerosis)
11. Staten Island Ferry going to work.
12. Jayden on my lap in Karlee's room.
13. Coney Island with Mason
14.First day in NYC in central park.
15. at the mall with Haley and Karlee.
16. Karlee at Haley's play.
17. Me and Emily waiting to see a movie, cant remember what one.
18. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge when we told our parents I was moving out.
19. Emily on my bed at my apartment.
20. The Killers concert with Emily.
21. at the fair with Kyle riding the ferris wheel.
22. My mom and I out to dinner the night before I moved to NYC.
23. Emily and Kyle eating at McGrath's Fish House after the MS walk.

California Adventures

Friday night we headed down to Anaheim with Tresa to stay at a hotel with Mason's Parents who flew out from Utah for the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon. Mason's dad had never been to California Adventures so they took us all on Saturday. We had such a great time, Max was such a good baby. He took three naps in the stroller and was so happy most of the time. It was nice to take it at a slow pace. They also have a great mother and baby area where I could feed and change Max. We got to do all the rides we wanted to and took Max on his first ride, the Carousal. He wasn't to sure at first but seemed to enjoy it once we got moving. We had a yummy dinner at the bread place, Clam Chowder Bread bowls. Max and I fed the ducks the rest of my bread bowl.

We stayed for the Wonderful World of Color. Before it started though they had two singers do a little show and it was to loud for Max so Mason and I took him into the closest gift shop. We saw a cute baby Mickey and it had a rattle inside and when we shook it for Max he got so happy! So of course we had to get it for him so we got the Donald Duck one. When the Wonderful World of Color started Max did pretty good but I could tell he was just exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel about 10 min into it. I thought Max would just zonk out because of how tired he was... but no he was so cute and happy when we got to the hotel then he just cried and cried for about a half hour. I felt so bad for the little guy that we had worn him out so much. The next morning Mason's parents got up at 4:30am, to run the 1/2 Marathon. Then we headed out to spend the rest of Sunday and Monday at Mason's grandparents.

It was a wonderful weekend with Family. And Max just LOVES his Grandma and Grandpa!

Figuring out where to go first.

Max chilling in his stroller

Lunch time

Getting on the carousal

Max not so sure at first

Happy boy at lunch

Paradise Pier

Mickey! He was the only character I really wanted to
have Max get his picture with for his first time

Max planning what to do next

Max and his (aunt) Tresa

Max and Grandma waiting for us while we went on Tower of Terror

I stayed with Max while they went on Grizzly Bear Rapids, I didn't want to get soaked like they did :)

Waiting to go on Soarin' over California

By the bread making tour, Max got a free Mickey Mouse sourdough bread for being so cute.

Max catching up on his reading at dinner

Tired at the end of the day

Max with his free Mickey bread

The toy his Grandpa got him

Max napping with his new Donald Duck