tHaNkFuL fOr MaNy ThInGs

Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite Holidays for many years. On the surface it appears as another fun holiday to gather with family and eat good food, but for me it goes deeper and is a reminder to never get too lost in myself.

Yes I enjoy family and good food but for a handful of years now it has kind of been one of the more somber and reflective holidays. My world changed the fall of 2008 when I lost my grandma to cancer and then suddenly lost my Mother within the same week. I was lost in my grief and mourning as we approached the holiday season. 

I was surrounded by caring family and friends who would surely understand if I did not really get into the festive feelings of these holidays. I was numb and mentally wrapped in my own thoughts often. Such was the case as I sat at a reenactment of the First Thanksgiving. My children were loving the crafts and live animals at the event, however I sat quietly at the table physically present at the festivities but my heart far from celebrating Thanksgiving.

The host of the event began the evening recounting details of the 1621 feast and a realization came to me that in some ways filled me with shame, but more importantly made me want... no, NEED to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Of the original 102 pilgrims to arrive at plymouth little more then half survived to celebrate that first feast. Everyone at that first feast had lost someone. Of the original 18 women only 4 survived. At the first table of Thanksgiving sat 27 teens and children most of whom had lost their Mother.

It is hard for me to describe, but in that realization I felt connected to these people in our history, I too had that ache and the pain of losing something you cannot replace. Yet they chose to give thanks, while I sat wanting to be excused. 

Previous years I participated and listed things to which I was grateful for but in that moment my whole soul gave thanks. Fall now always finds me in those still reflective moments of reverie. My heart lets down some of its protective walls and allows me to once again deeply feel the ache and loss. But for me this is as beautiful as watching the leaves change as they die and fall. I was blessed. I was loved and for that I am thankful. I am blessed. I am loved, and for that I am thankful. I will see those loved ones again. I know I will always be blessed. I know I am always loved, and for that my whole soul gives Thanks.

We Turned 3

We Turned 3
Being 2 was a blast, we were super cool. We had a great 2012 Cousin Camp with the Morris family in June, saw the spiral jetty. Went with Sonya and Maggie to the Tree House Museum and even had a back yard party with a Giant Slide.
July we watched fire works in Kaysville with the Homers and had a fire burn pretty close to our neighborhood, and discovered GIANT pancakes with Ellie and Michelle at Herms.
We also went to Oregon where we ate at Voodoo Doughnuts with Uncle Greg, swam in Aunt Karina's pool and ate at Mike & Mimi's Cafe. We then had a Mason reunion on the coast.
In August we visited Jackson Hole and Bear World, we even got to see the Bears eat.
In September we visited Old Ephraim's grave and checked out the Book of Mormon museum in Salt Lake City. We also went to the Cure Search Walk.

October Savanna got stitches at the Pumpkin walk and we played with the Homer cousins at the corn maze. Madyson thinks corn mazes are boring.
November we learned to climb the cabinets and well really climb anything. We also started potty training. We also went to Popsi's house for Thanksgiving ( but we took a bath first- 5 min before to be exact-and in our clothes)
December Jingle the elf on a shelf stayed with us ( he gets in even more mischief then us) January we took a trip to California and played with Logan and Grace. February we all got Mustaches for Maddie and went with the Morris to the Jump Zone. We both love the high jump into the foam pit. March was a major craft month. We painted and played with all kinds of

arts and crafts all month long.
April we went on a Super Dee Duper family reunion on the Mickey boat (Disney cruise). We dressed up like princesses every day. Loved swimming and all the free icecream and cookies we could handle. But our  favorite part was all the FAMILY we had all our favorite cousin best friends in one place it was so much fun.
May we had a birthday Luau and can't wait to discover what being 3 is like. Love to you all the Mason Twins : Madyson June and Savanna Jayn.

Fake Hawaii Vacay

Happy New Year,

 I have never been great at telling a short story, but I will try and review our Hawaiian vacation. First of all let me say, we are very blessed and have been as a family (minus twins) to Hawaii, so no one needs to cry for us. We had been invited by my cuz to stay in his timeshare and since we fly for free it sounded like a great idea. We fly standby however so we always prepare for a bit of waiting around in the airport with carry on bags of snacks, games, etc. On the first day William had checked flights and it looked good to fly to LAX and then to Honolulu on the morning flights. So up and early we started out all dressed up (the company request since we fly free but represent them we dress up to fly). The first gate agent said we were going to make our flight, but after checking flights she called us back up to say the noon flight direct to Honolulu would be easier then the LAX layover and we would absolutely get on. Yes please. So she cancelled us on the morning flight out and booked us on the noon flight. Yeah! 20 min after that plane took off she called us up again to say she had made a mistake and there was NO WAY we could get on the noon flight. Ugg. That was the bumpy start and sparing you many other frustrating details I will for my own memory sake just outline the rest. William flew with the 3 older girls to Long Beach and took a cab ride to LAX. chaching$.

I got bumped around different gates in different terminals in SLC with the twins. They were super cute insisting on rolling their own little bags but super slow and prone to running into the little stores in the airport like moths to a flame."No sweetie mommy will not buy you that 4 dollar pack of gum."  They took a nice nap in the E terminal. 

I saw Bill Murray no lie, gray mutton chops and all. He even pointed to the twins and smiling said something to his friend.  I finally got a flight to LAX however the gate agent sat me in the exit row, Madyson near the front of the plane and Savanna near the back. Take off was fun as no one initially would trade seats with me. The babies LOVED flying I could hear Savanna all the way in the back shouting excitedly "We are flying, we are flying" over and over again until no lie the man sitting next to her offered to switch me seats. Shocker.The flight attendant mid flight I guess was not happy Madyson up front was using her seat as a trampoline while squealing "Weeeeee" and forced another gentleman in the back to switch seats with her. So mid flight we were again reunited, and after the flight reunited with Will and the other girls. We spent the rest of the day playing games, eating the snacks and every 40 min or so packing up camp and walking to the next flight we would not be getting on. We very late at night checked into a hotel and ordered pizza. Not complaining but the LAX food in the terminals we were in were pricey and pretentious. A second day of missing flights we realized it was time to head home. No flights home meant we rented a car and drove home. However just before sunset we drove to the beach, got on our Hawaii garb and snapped a photo of our fake Hawaii vacation. Who knows maybe someday the kids will have vague memories of traveling and airports and with this photo I will convince them we DID go to Hawaii and then be hurt they don't remember Hawaii. Yeah I am a good Mom like that.

We drove to Spenny and Nellies beautiful new home and had dinner, Nellie and I even caught a movie as the boys and kids relaxed before the long drive. We are blessed to be safe, we are blessed to be together, we are blessed to have great friends thank you Morris clan and understanding family whom had to console themselves that we did not make it to Hawaii with them. And hey in the end we had a weekend together as a family making memories.