4 months

Our "little" Mason Moose is getting so big!  

I'm behind on posting these, but the picture is accurate.  

At four months,

26 1/4in long and 18.5 lbs

On a side note, my back is killing me!

Mall Cookies

Where we grew up there was one mall, 45 minutes away.  It was AMAZING.  We loved going there, shopping is still a favorite pass time for my mom, me and my sisters.  We didn't really have a lot of money, most of our mall excursions involved my grandma visiting from California, or school shopping at Mervyns, but we had fun.  There used to be this cookie place in the mall, not a chain like Mrs. Fields, it was special.  They made this cookie that we ordered every time, sometimes we had to split it into thirds or fourths, depending on how many of us were there and how many cookies we could afford that day.  It was a chocolate cookie with a melted marshmallow on top and fudge icing.  It was chocolatey, gooey goodness, the size of a small plate and it was fantastic!!
Sadly the cookie place went out of business and we never saw the beloved cookie again. . .

UNTIL, my sister moved to Medford, OR and found at the mall there a tiny cookie shop that baked and sold those cookies, those exact, delicious, fantastic mall cookies!  When we were all there a few weeks ago we kept going to the mall to get some and they were out EVERY time.  Finally they gave us their card so we could call ahead, and call we did.  They baked us up a batch, which is only a dozen, and we drove over to pick them up.  We actually ended up purchasing 16 cookies!!  We raced back to the house, but Jodi couldn't wait, as soon as she was buckled in she opened the box and took a bite:

We passed it around the car and enjoyed that first one together, the rest of them didn't take long to be gobbled up either!!

February

Wow, for such a short month it sure has been busy!!  
We started off the month by driving to Oregon to be with my nephew on the day he was baptized.  He is the oldest grandchild and the first to be baptized.  It was a wonderful time for my family, even though my parents couldn't be there (still in China).  Four of my sisters and my Grandpa were there with all of the grandkids, my sister's new home was PACKED!

OH these boys!!  The fabulous five boy cousins are Nicholas, Zack, Damen, Robert and Kaden.  The two baby boys, Cooper and Mason, and baby girl Samantha aren't in the picture, we were keeping them safe!

Great Grandpa with Mason, SO sweet:)












We got home on Tuesday and on Thursday morning our sister Christi, who didn't go to Oregon because she was in Costa Rica, called to ask if I'd pick her up at the airport so she could visit for 30 hours.  I said yes and between Friday and Saturday we enjoyed every last second together! Eating at Claim Jumper for her birthday and giving ourselves a self tour of the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

We had one week of settling down before my sister Traci drove down with her son, Kaden and boyfriend Chris.  They stayed for a whole week and we had so much fun!!  Damen was out of school for the week.  We went to the movies, out to eat, shopping and to the beach.  She took Damen with them to the San Diego Zoo and just the three of them went to Disneyland for a day.                          Masons first time in the Ocean!

Damen, Mason and Kaden Cousins! 

Me and Traci w/Mason and crazy CHRIS!

It has been so much fun to travel and visit!  I love my family so much and love to spend time with them.  I'm also glad to be back to reality tomorrow!

My Resume

I have freckles, wrinkles, 

and moles.

I have a weakness for chocolate,

baked goods,

and my boys when they smile.

I am a night owl.

Not a morning person.

I love to read

create,

and laugh.

My hair has never been dyed.

I'm far sighted

Right handed

Left footed (when playing soccer).

I'm allergic to rabbits

lipstick

and cats.

I love naps.

I can cook

sew

bake

and be intimidating on the phone (thank you

job at Discover Card collections).

I don't like flan 

rice pudding

or tapioca.

I have 36 college credits

from 13 years ago.

I love daffodils

spring

and Easter.

My favorite color is blue

the color of the ocean.

I sing Alto

play the piano

and the violin.

I am a daughter

sister

wife

mother

aunt

granddaughter

niece

friend.

I am me.

Melanie 

Sunday morning

I'm not dressed.

Mason spit up on Damen's Sunday clothes

Mason spit up on his Sunday clothes

Dustin's still in the shower

I'm dressed

Damen and Mason are dressed again

Running a comb through Damen's hair and find

Toothpaste

Hair is clean

Everyone's dressed

Boys in the car

I spill half a box of Junior Mints on the kitchen floor

The End

Baby at 3

Months that is, he's ONLY three months old

I didn't like the first set of pictures above, so I took the one below on a different day.  

18lbs 25in long

Yes, he's really that big!

 I 

Oh and so dang cute!!

Gossip

I never used to give much thought to what I said.  I like to talk, if you've ever had me on the phone you know, I can go on for HOURS!  And who doesn't love to hear a bit of gossip?  A juicy tidbit about someone or some situation?  Usually sharing those little "bits" weren't hurting anyone, no big deal.

 Until one day.  

One day I repeated something I'd heard about a friend to someone else.  It didn't hit me right away, I kind of had to hear myself saying it over and over in my head, it just kept bothering me.  

Then it hit me. 

I'd repeated something that brought into question my friends religious loyalty.  This was a judgement that someone had made, and by my repeating it, I had made too.  

I was horrified at what I'd said, it was terrible.  It ate at me for a while until my conscious couldn't stand it anymore.  I humbly ran to my friends house to apologize.  Running because if I didn't do it right then I might have chickened out.  She would never have known what I'd done, it may never have gotten back to her.  But then again, it might have.  I have never felt so low and awful about myself before.
That experience more than anything I've heard or read, really changed how I view gossip and the lives it effects.
This is a fault that I despise about myself, but change is possible, I know.  I'm not perfect, I still love to talk and often share stories, this is something I'll always have to work on.  But I try to keep it to things I know are not hurtful, are true, and if not then I recall how I felt when I shared that awful comment.  Not repeating gossip isn't always easy.

Recently a close family member has become the subject of hurtful and false gossip.  It's heart breaking watching them hold their head up high trying to rise above it.  I wish that somewhere out there is someone that cares enough to NOT repeat the things they've heard.

Making a conscious effort to share or not share something you've overheard could be of no consequence to anyone but yourself, but even that is enough to think before you speak.