Mayo, Heather, and Mason Miller

Yikes!

2009-06-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I just realized that, according to our blog, it is still the ice storm (and January). So I guess it is time for some updates. School has been crazy busy for both Mayo and me. Mason is growing and growing...
Well, that pretty much sums it up!
Here are some pictures that tell about the last five months better than I could.
Hope you enjoy!

Silver Dollar City...

A friend from work invited Mason and me to go to Silver Dollar City (a theme park in Branson, MO) for two days. She has a son who is the same age as Mason, so the boys had a blast playing together. Here are some of the pictures.

Mason trying to avoid the water shooting out of the ground. He didn't quite make it though and got sprayed in the face a few times.

There was an entire room filled with balls and Mason thought he was in heaven!

He could have stayed in this room for hours.

There are wooden trains and tractors for the kids to play on at Silver Dollar City. And since Mason and Emmet were both afraid of most of the moving rides, this is where they preferred to play. Mason loved the tunnels on the train (if you can't tell).

Mason and Emmet crawling through the tunnels together.

Emmet and Mason just hanging out on the giant tractor

Mason loves wearing my sunglasses. Doesn't he look good?

Just a funny picture that I had to include!

Easter Goodness...

He loved eating the chocolate...but, honestly, who doesn't?

He did a pretty good job on his first Easter Egg Hunt.

The next few photos were taken at Tiffany's farewell before she left on her mission (or should I say 'Hermana Hoskins'?)

Tiffany with all the grandkids on my mom's side

Mason with Christian, Kendra, and Lilly

Dad and Sisters- last family pictures with Tiffany for 18 months (sad, I know)

Taken later that night- we were all a little tired

Mayo's dad actually posed for two pictures- shocking! He must have been tired...

Mason and Ryli

Mayo's Parents

Mason loves his cousin Shay!

Mason loved feeding the ducks, until one of them bit his finger. I don't think he will be sticking his hands through any fences in the near future.

Well, that is it for now. I also have some great videos, but my computer is not cooperating, so I will have to post those later. Hope you loved seeing pictures of Mason as much as we do!

Ice Storm

2009-01-28T18:46:00.001-08:00

We have officially survived our first ice storm in Arkansas. Here are some pictures of the damage the storm caused in our area. A lot of homes have been without power for 2 days now- we were lucky and only lost power for about 12 hours (during which we huddled around the fireplace to keep warm). I never realized how beautiful, but dangerous these storms can be. Sorry about the picture quality, many of the photos were taken from inside the car as we drove around.

Some of the roads were blocked with trees that had fallen over because of the ice that had accumulated on them.
This old truck was safe (Mayo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it), but the car below was not so lucky.

This picture is a little blurry because we didn't want the neighbors (who were watching us take the picture) to think we were stalkers.

Next time you have a bad day, just think, "My car could look like this" and you will feel all better.

We took Mason outside when we went to visit an elderly lady in our ward. He loved it!

Pink pajama pants are always a must on cold days when you have no place to go!

One of the houses down the street from us has trees that line the driveway all the way from the street to the house. It is normally very beautiful, but not so practical in an ice storm. I don't think they will be getting in or out of their driveway any time soon!

Poor tree!

Our house survived without too much damage, but a few trees did suffer. The top of one of our trees broke off right in our walkway- sad.

This is the willow tree in our backyard. A few of the big branches on top of this tree also broke because of the weight of the ice.

Mayo took an up close picture of the grass at the beginning of the storm. The ice made the grass very sharp at first (even our dogs wouldn't walk on it), but after a while, it was just like giant icicles on the lawn.

Hopefully this gives you at least a glimpse of what it looks like around here.

Updates

2009-01-11T21:16:00.001-08:00

Wow! I can't believe how much time has passed- Halloween, lots of family visits, and Christmas. Here are some pictures to catch up and they are not in order- sorry!

Mason loved the 4-wheeler rides.

He is learning good dental hygiene early!

Opening presents on Christmas morning. We did not make it through all of them before he fell asleep for his morning nap. What can I say- he likes his sleep!

Temple Square

Mason loved the snow. And considering we don't get any snow in Arkansas, it was the first time in his life he really got to play in the snow.

My personal favorite- sledding!

Family Visit- Mayo's family came to visit. Mason loved having his cousins around because he finally had someone to play with at our house. He idolized his cousin Daxton. Here they are in the bath together. I tried to pick the most modest picture.

More of Mason and Daxton

Halloween- my favorite holiday! My sisters and I had a great time.

I am not sure Mason enjoyed it as much as we did!

And that is it for now! Maybe in another 3 months I'll update again...maybe.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

We decided to pick our own pumpkins this year, straight from the farm.

More Birthday

2008-10-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of pics/videos of his first presents. Thanks everyone!

Mason's First Birthday!!

2008-10-19T15:58:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Mason's first birthday at the park by our house. Heather says thanks to all the friends for showing their love; I am not sure what she is inferring (or implying, Creed) about family who didn't show up.

If you look closely, you can see Cord's better side.

This is why little kids shouldn't have birthday parties. Mason couldn't take one more minute, but Heather wasn't finished having fun yet, so Mason continues to suffer!!

Jeep Ride

2008-09-14T22:59:00.001-07:00

This picture is my personal favorite!

We went to Disney, Oklahoma for a nice (and humid) jeep ride on Labor Day. Here are a few of our highlights! Oh, and I promise I will eventually catch up on everything else (including our summer vacation to Utah).

Family Pictures

2008-07-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

My dad wanted family pictures for Father's Day. So, when he was here visiting, we went to Sears and had some pictures taken of him and Mason. They actually turned out pretty cute (and don't worry- I bought the portrait CD, so these pictures are legal!).

Heather's Mom & Sisters Visit

2008-05-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Heather & Alicia are so mean spraying Mason with water, but he loved it!!

Inside the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, with Sam Walton himself (in spirit)

The rest of the photos today are from Tiffany's farewell party.

Heather, Mason, Elizabeth and Emit

Co-workers Robin, Julie & Jessie

Hula with the Hoskins Girls!!

2008-05-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Heather hoops in slow motion

We can't decide if Tiffany is rappin' or doin' the Frankinstein

Michele shows everyone that she still has it!

It is embarrassing, but the only boy (who has never hooped before) had to show the girls how it is done.

Even though Alicia is not present, she currently holds the record for the longest hula; she even beat Amanda.

2008-05-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos of cute Mason:

Mason crawling on April 21st. He is pretty quick, but needed some motivation, aka Tiffany's phone.

Mason is already pulling himself up into a standing position. Once again he needed some motivation. Even after falling he keeps trying to get the remote. When he know what he wants he goes for it.

I couldn't get Mason to stop chasing the camera. Cute guy.

Spring Break & Such

2008-04-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

First Hair Cut

Easter Fun

Tiffany making Mason laugh

Giggles

2008-03-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Mason loves to giggle and we love to hear it, so we hope you do too!

Cereal

2008-03-02T15:13:00.001-08:00

We gave Mason cereal (banana flavor) for the first time today. He didn't get very much down, most of it ended up all over, but it sure was cute! These pictures are some of the highlights.

Roll Over & Some Favorite Pictures

2008-02-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Hope you don't get sick watching this, but it wouldn't be a home video without the Nausea.

We have never heard of a baby that could not put their own foot into their mouth, until now; however, Mason already knows how to cheat.

Ask Heather!

Heather, Mason, and Tinker Bell working (I mean at their place of employment)

Never too young to learn to pray.

Our little boy is so cute! We don't know what we would do without him; and Mason is a little cute too, but not like Frank-Farter.

Some videos

2008-02-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Mason has started making a lot of noise, mostly talking-he never gets the chance to cry because Heather never puts him down. Anyway, these aren't the best videos, but at least you can hear him make some noises.

Mason's thoughts about Heather

Talkin' , spittin', and watching T.V.
I couldn't get Heather and Tiffany to turn off Full House, so you get to listen to a little T.V. from the "old days"

I think he might be a little Bipolar; in the same breath, he goes from happy talking to crying.

Snow Day

2008-02-01T10:59:00.001-08:00

Well, yesterday was our first official snow day in Arkansas. It only snowed about an inch, but we still got out of school yesterday and today (ok, only I got out of school; poor Mayo still had to go). Here are some pictures of Mason in the snow. The snowsuit may be a little much, but it is really cold (even if there isn't very much snow!).

Doesn't he look excited?

Here is a picture of Mason sleeping in this morning in our bed.

The snowsuit is a little big,but it keeps him warm (thanks Amber for passing it along)!

Not enough snow to make a snowman, but there is enough to stick to Mason's behind!
Sorry to everyone in Utah who still had to go to work/school even in a blizzard. Arkansas is not so bad after all, huh?

Sensory Overload

2008-01-27T14:42:00.001-08:00

Today we also decided to put together Mason's activity center. He may still be a little small for it, but we had fun!

Footprints

2008-01-27T14:24:00.000-08:00

Tiffany and I decided to start Mason's scrapbook today. We wanted to get his handprints and footprints to put in it and what better time to do it than when he was sleeping, right? Well, part way through our endeavor, he woke-up and was not very happy. But I am happy to say that the prints turned out fine (the most important part). :) Here are some pictures I took after we were done- he actually looks like he is scowling in one of them.

Mason's best friends

2008-01-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

Mason has become fascinated by the little plastic animals that are attached to this chair. They are obviously his new best friends. He can be sitting with us and will be fussy but as soon as we put him in this chair he starts smiling and laughing. If it wasn't so darn cute we might get offended. The cow in the middle plays "Old McDonald Had a Farm" when you pull the ring. If we don't pull it often enough, he gets frustrated and starts to cry because his "friends" aren't talking to him.

He especially likes the little blue sheep.

Also, here is a picture of Mason in his jailbird outfit. Isn't he cute?

Santa!

2007-12-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

We figured since Mason has a picture as Baby Jesus, he also needed a commercialized picture with Santa. He fell asleep while we were waiting in line. Guess he wasn't as excited as I was for his first picture with Santa.

2007-12-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! The ward christmas party was Saturday night and Mayo, Heather and Mason got to be Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus in the pageant. Heather was so excited.

Like the makeshift outfits?

Here he is in the Manger

As soon as we got home Heather and Mason crashed on the couch after all the hard work.

2007-11-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

So this is Tiffany posting this blog for Heather and Mayo. I promised my family the blog would get updated more often since I will be home all day, so here is the first update from me. Mason has gotten big but he is still just a cuddly baby. Here are some pictures... enjoy!

He's gotten so long.

We can't leave the dogs out...

Family

2007-11-12T20:41:00.001-08:00

It has been great having all of our family come to visit. Here are some pictures of everyone with the baby.

Halloween

2007-11-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

As everyone knows, Halloween is my favorite holiday. So, I had to take Mason Trick-or-Treating on his first Halloween. We walked around with some friends while Mayo stayed home to do homework (either he is really studious or he just hates begging for candy). You will be glad to know that I did not get Mason any candy, although it was tempting!

You will also notice that he has multiple Halloween outfits- thanks to my friends who encourage my love of this holiday!

Mason's first day at Home

2007-10-19T14:14:00.001-07:00

Look at how hard I (Mayo) slaved at putting the room together. Heather decided to do an old car theme. Sister Bills helped (probably did most the work) the curtains and stuff for the crib. The rocking chair belonged to Dennis; he gave it to Heather since he used to feed her in it all the time (thanks). Morgan (friend at Heather's work) made the cute blanket dangling over the crib.

One day Heather says, "Let's make a book shelf!" I replied, "I am really busy right now. Can't we wait?"
Heather answered, "It's Okay, I will do it."
I think she did paint one coat, maybe.
Anyway, Sister Bills is responsible for the "Cake-o-Diapers." Thanks to Jessie Walls for the old car book ends (pardon me grammar).

First Bath! Don't worry, we have blurred out the nudity.

You can tell he is a boy for two reasons. First, he hates baths. Second, he is being tortured by women!

I rest my case!!

He was a lot happier after all the torture.

This is evidence that Mason is indeed Heather's child; he is already staring at himself in the mirror (VAIN).

Last day in the Hospital

2007-10-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Sister Bills and Howerton stopped by to pay their respects to the end of our old lives (and beginning of a newer, happier life)

Alica, Tiffany and Michele made it in the nick of time to see the hospital; if they were running on Heather time they wouldn't have made it. We were waiting for the discharge papers (could take days) to leave when Heather's mom and sisters arrived.

Heather was so excited to put baby Mason in his outfit to go home (Grey Aunt Randi's shirt and shorts, Amanda's mittins, and Ashlee's hat for her new borns Jaron and Dax, which was just a little too big for Mason since he is in the 45th percentile with respect to head size. No, not the 110 percentile Aunt Trudi, as you might think. Thanks for the outfit.).

He didn't mind his car seat, thanks to Mrs. Brian's awesome blanket.

Day 2, Still in the Hospital

2007-10-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

If you know Heather, you know that she can fall asleep anywhere doing anything. We have nurses surrounding the bed to catch Mason when she drops him.

Look at all that hair. Let's hope that he doesn't end up like Mayo and he keeps some. Occasionally, we have to remind Heather that Mason is a boy because she keeps wanting to "Brush" his hair.

Some believe that there is not any resemblance here-cute boy, ugly man, baby black hair, man little brown hair, etc. As a result, we have sent people to find the milkman and the janitor from Heather's school to see if there is a resemblance there, ha/ha.

We are so glad that Jessica and Solveig (and mostly (j/k) all others) stopped by. We love to let people hold him and don't have many rules, only two: If you hold the baby, you have to change the diaper; if he doesn't need one right away, then you owe us. So Amanda, Jessie, Bethani, John (you're off the hook), Jessica, Solveig, Rebekah (she ignorantly sinned as she passed him to me when he was dirty-guess you should read the fine print), Bethany, Laura, Teressa, and Julie, pay up. Jessica has bad credit, at least on previous favors, so she has a high interest rate and is already into double digit diapers.

Mason Dennis Miller

2007-10-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures for now. 8lb 130z. 21 in.
Heather did awesome.
water broke at 2 or 9 am., Mason Dennis popped out at 11:55 pm, oct 14.

Heather LOVES medication!!

They are nice and quiet for the first couple of days; but we are waiting for the worst. Heather's mom gave her the curse, "I hope you have a child just like you!!"

Amanda, Jessie and Bethany (Heather's fellow teachers)

Pirate? Or is he already winking and putting some moves on the nurse, no not a male nurse.

Almost Time!

2007-10-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

My official due date is October 16th (3 days away), but with any luck (and I am hoping) Mason will come this weekend!

Project "Picnic Table"

2007-08-30T13:30:00.001-07:00

Looks easy now! Oh wait, it was really easy for "couch potato" Heather!!

Let the scraping begin (too soon for sanding)

About 100 passes later

You know what they say- "A job worth doing, is worth doing well!"

So I guess we had better change the underwear on the table too.

Time for sanding

Don't forget the benches.

Look how good the bare bench looks

Finally!!!

New Underwear!

Mayo's Grand Adventure

2007-08-05T19:49:00.001-07:00

So what have we been doing since we got home to Arkansas? We took the dogs to Disney Land of course! Disney, Oklahoma that is...it is a recreation area in Oklahoma. We went specifically to the HOV park, although we did more hiking than jeep riding. It was a fun adventure, minus the intense heat, humidity, and bugs. I think I got 10 bug bites in less than 30 minutes (ok, that might be an exaggeration, but there really were a lot of bugs)!

The dogs look like they going to overheat!
The area was beautiful, but really stinky. There were dead fish everywhere! On the other side of this area is a lake and every few weeks the park service opens the dam to release water on to this side of the park. With the water comes fish, of course, but after the dam is closed and the water evaporates, the fish start to die. There are dead fish carcasses lying around everywhere- very disgusting! But people in the area say it makes for perfect fishing conditions. We saw a lot of people standing in shallow areas catching tons of fish and others say if you wait long enough you can catch them with your hands. Not exactly my definition of fun, but to each his own!

I was so hot that my clothes were sticking to me- not very pretty, especially on a pregnant lady!

Mayo loved every minute of his grand adventure- especially when he got to go on all of these rocks in his jeep. I did have fun, but think I will enjoy it more next summer when I am not packing around an extra 20 lbs.

Vacation Highlights

2007-08-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally home from our vacation to Utah and getting back to a normal schedule. We loved seeing everyone while we were there and had a wonderful time. Here are a few of the photos from the trip!

One of the saddest, yet happiest parts of the trip- selling the puppies. I am happy to say though that we found wonderful homes for all of the puppies!

My mom was nice enough to have a baby shower for me while I was there. Actually it was a baby/bridal shower for both my sister (who gets married in two weeks) and me. Thank you to everyone who came- it was wonderful to see everyone and catch up on everything we have missed while being in Arkansas!

We also had the opportunity to go 4-wheeling with my dad.

Snow in July!

We had a chance to visit Lake Powell with Mayo's family. The sun and beach were wonderful!

We hiked to Rainbow Bridge and even our niece, who is 4 years old, beat me (I am a little bit of a slow walker these days).

Believe it or not, this is actually a picture of our puppy with a cigarette. He found it lying on the beach and decided to start early. It was too funny!

This is a picture of our nephew pretending to be a pirate. I had a little mishap with my sunglasses (I ran into a pole and broke them), but I am glad that we were still able to use them. And he does make a pretty good looking pirate!

I like to call this picture "Sunblock Time"- every two hours! Mayo's family is very diligent about putting sunblock on everyone, but hey, no one gets sunburned (except his dad of course)!

And here is Mayo's beloved "TV2"- it is his favorite thing about Lake Powell!

Well, there are some of the events from the trip! It really was wonderful to see all of our family and friends. We miss everyone and look forward to seeing you either in August at Brooke's wedding or in December after the baby comes!

First "fruits" of the garden

2007-06-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

The garden looks overwhelming. Heather told me to plant the squash 4" apart instead of 4'. Needless to say, we will have plenty of vegetables for the summer.

Here is a picture of all five puppies about five weeks old.

Catching Up!

2007-06-07T18:01:00.001-07:00

Heather's new little girl

The Silver Bullett

Well, since Mayo has updated some information on our blog about the dogs, I figured it was my turn to catch up on all of our news.
On May 21, we went to the doctor and found out that we are having a boy! I was very shocked because I was convinced that we were having a girl (so much for intuition). It has been a complete change of thinking and I hope that I can figure out what to do with a boy. :)
School is finally out for summer (for me at least, poor Mayo has to go during the summer)! Of course I will have various trainings all summer, but at least the students are done. We will be in Utah the last week of June until the middle of July to visit. So, everyone mark your calendars because we would love to see ya’ll.

The pictures show both my growing frame and the growing puppies. Two of the pictures are with my fellow teachers. One of them is also pregnant (if you can't tell) and due at the end of July. You can also tell from the pictures that I cut off all of my hair. I call it a "Mommy haircut" and I really love it! Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Puppies at 5 weeks

2007-06-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

Hope you enjoy the photos of Grandma Randi's new tenant-Rump Roast!! He is five weeks old, three weeks until Grandpa Kenny's Grandpuppy cuddles with him in the oil can chair!! Does anyone else want to claim a puppy before they are all gone?

This picture reminds me of the fish Puff catches; even though they are super small pellets,

they are still too big for the fish's mouth.

Oops!

2007-05-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I was just corrected by Mayo that our puppies were actually born on TUESDAY, MAY 1st (I don't even think that the 8th was a Tuesday). So everything actually happened almost two weeks ago- where has time gone?! It just goes to show that my loving husband has a much better memory than I do (just another reason of the many that I married him!).

Puppies Galore

2007-05-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Our little Christina finally had puppies! She had six puppies last Tuesday, May 8, 2007. How could I ever have questioned she was pregnant? Well, it was an exhausting week to say the least. She went into labor on Monday night and she actually had the puppies at the vet on Tuesday afternoon (thank you to the Farmington Vet Clinic!). My second grade students got to hear hour by hour details when the vet would phone me with updates. It was an exciting day for all of us. The saddest part of the whole event was that one of the puppies wasn't doing so well and so we had to have the vet put it to sleep on Tuesday. It was a very tough decision and I cried all of the way to the vet, but after we realized all of the internal problems the puppy had (something in its sinuses did not form correctly), and the vet warned us that the puppy would not live very much longer, we decided it was the best option. So, we have five puppies, two boys and three girls, who are getting fat very quickly. Their eyes have not opened yet, it takes about 10-14 days for their eyes to open, and I am thinking they will be much cuter when this happens (although they are already very cute). I am shocked at what a good "mom" our dog has been. She is very attentive and incredibly protective of the puppies (our docile Christina even tried to bite someone when they went to pet one of the puppies). I am hoping she will calm down in a couple of weeks! The above pictures were taken on Tuesday, May 8 and Thursday, May 10. They are so little and cute and have been a lot of fun to have around!

Welcome!

2007-05-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

I finally created a blog! I figured this was an easier way to "keep in touch" with everyone instead of sending mass emails. Also, maybe everyone will finally get to see some pictures of our life in Arkansas (our new house, puppies, and my pregnancy). The above picture was taken at a friend's wedding (congrats Amanda and Nick) in Little Rock, AR. It was about 12:30am when we took this picture, so Mayo looks a little bit tired!
We hope y'all enjoy catching up on the current happenings in the Miller Family!