Running

I have been doing a fair amount of running lately and have found a new love. I have enjoyed the chance to clear my mind, get away and have felt so much more fit and energetic. These few pictures are from Scotland. I had them on my phone, so they have taken a moment to get on here. This is Caslte Semple. You can't actually get to it, but it was neat to go running and run past 300 year-old history.

London Day Trip

It is about time I get caught up and stay caught up on this blog of ours. In February I went with my friend Toni down to London for a girls day out. We went with no plans and no children, the only way to travel sometimes. After discovering that ticket prices for a theatre were going to be way too much, we opted to walk over to the Tower of London and have a tour there. We first ate at a wonderful little place. I don't even know the name of it, but I do know where it is. Such fabulous sandwiches and hot chocolate were had to warm us up for our day ahead. It was cold and windy, but the lack of rain made it completely tolerable.

The Tower of London is quite the day of history thrown at you all at once.

Loved this tiny little suit of armour, it was incredibly cute.

This is some of the carvings that were on the walls where they held some of the prisoners in the Tower of London. Some were done by the prisoners themselves, and others were fashioned by mason's that were hired and told what to carve by the prisoners.

We had a great time and enjoyed our time away from life and responsibility for the day. I would advice all mothers to take a break and enjoy a day now and then to themselves to do something refreshing and fun for them. Thanks for coming along with my Toni!

Uncle George

On February 15th I found out that my Uncle George passed away. I was devastated to live so far away and felt hopeless in my ability to be home and be there for the funeral and to be with my family. The next day Mike called me on my way home from the base and told me I needed to go home. He had sorted out a couple days of leave and could sort out the rest of the week with our friends to help with the kids.
I got to Utah the Friday evening before the funeral and was so grateful to be there. My Uncle George was someone who had always been very dear to my heart. He was always making me feel special and loved. My first thought after finding our that he had passed was knowing that when I went home I wouldn't have one of his famous hugs. The kind of hug that makes you feel like you are the most important thing to him right then. I will miss those hugs.
My Uncle George also always had a little sweetie in his pocket for us. When I went back home for Christy's 100 mile run in September I was at my cousin Jacob's 8th Birthday party. Uncle George was there and after one of his wonderful hugs he pulled out a package of sweets and handed them to me, stating that I was never to old to get something special from my Uncle George. Uncle George will be missed by many who loved him for the service and kindness he showed to so many. I love you so much Uncle George.

The bitter sweet part of funerals is that you are saying goodbye to one member of the family, but you get to see those family members that mean so much to you. Seeing so many people that I love all together was a blessed day in my book. It was priceless and special.

I just saw this picture opportunity and had to take it. Uncle Dave and Kellie. I'm pretty sure I just happened to get the best Uncles in the world. They are everything a proper Uncle should be.

Speaking of Uncles, I'm so grateful I get to be an Auntie..I also have fabulous Auntie's that have taught me all the proper ways to succeed in being an Auntie. This is myself and Kris. It is essential to be a little silly, have a lot of fun, and never miss the chance to stick out our tongue for a picture. :)

The flowers and everything for the funeral were incredible. The food provided, service rendered and time spent in helping my Aunt Marla and those suffering from the loss of George was amazing.

Instead of flowers they also received these fruit bouquets that were adorable in so many ways. Just thought I would highlight the amazing pineapple flower. :)

Myself and my Aunt Marla. I adore my Aunt Marla and all the memories I have with her and the whole family. George and Marla had me over in their home for sleepovers, we went Christmas tree hunting with them, myself and my cousin AJ were told we were so much like twins that I felt like a daughter to George and Marla. I love them both so much, I'm grateful for a husband who knew where I needed to be and who made it happen. I am so lucky to have the family I do, both extended and immediate. The amazing relationships I have with each of them are a treasure to me.

A blog has been set up for those of us who will cherish always our uncle, husband, brother, friend, father, cousin, and son George S. Mason
www.memoriesofgeorgesmason.blogspot.com

Danny's Wedding

This last weekend we were up in Scotland for a good friends wedding. Danny was here in our area while serving a mission for our church. We all loved meeting Danny and it was a great privilege to be invited to his big day. Of course, we can't get enough of Scotland either, so it was a win-win situation. The wedding was wonderful and we had such a lovely time.

Mike chatted with Danny before we headed up there and Danny somehow convinced Mike he should wear a kilt. Like a good guy, Mike did it :)

The whole family with Danny. Don't ask me why we didn't get one with him and his new wife, Martha. She is a gorgeous woman and I think she made an excellent decision in marrying Danny, who is a brilliant guy. The kids all love him to bits and pieces. They had been counting down the days to go to see him and be at his wedding.

In the car travelling the next day day to what was suppose to become a day at Loch Lomond. What I didn't know is that Mike hit on the sat-nav to avoid major roads. This was an interesting drive, taking the back roads of Scotland got very hairy at times. However, it was gorgeous!! Even in February we found Scotland enchanting and fell in love some more. We really are hopeful that they would build a base there and we could live there, but sadly we will just have to go on a few more trips there.

Back to our trip to Loch Lomond, we didn't get to Loch Lomond until after a very long detour to Loch Katrine, about 20 miles away from Loch Lomond. Everything was closed by the time we got there and we had to let the kids run around at a mall near there to let them run off some energy, but we still felt like we had a successful day of exploration.

SCARED!!!! These roads were very little....and we know little roads

The following are some of our favorite pictures that we captured.

Caerlaverock Castle

This was our last day in Scotland ( I learned from the last time that I should do these in reverse order). Our children are obsessed with castles, if we go on a trip, we have to go to a castle. There is no way around if we want to avoid tantrums. We don't mind, because we end up finding some pretty awesome ones.
First off, we were impressed that this had quite the moat around it. You could tell straight away that it was nothing to be messed with, as it appeared very deep in certain areas. This made me a little nervous, because there were no protective bars or anything of the sort preventing my monkey like children from falling in. Luckily, we survived the trip and it was great fun.
This castle was originally built around 1280 and was a important strategic place of interest for Edward I. After the besiege by Edward I in 1300 the castle remained in English possession until the keeper switched alliances to Robert the Bruce. The triangular shape of the castle structure was a different from any we have seen, which made it all the more fasinating.
Carter is our child who is fascinated with Scotland and likes to learn all these facts about the castles. I don't know which things stick, but at least his interest in history is peeked.
The castle eventually evolved to be a mansion and that is when the intricate stone work was done. That was a surprise to find, and I thought it was beautiful!

That wall that my children are sitting on, about 6 inches from there knees was the edge of the castle and the moat waiting for a swimmer. I was pretty sure that one of my children were going to fall in, and I did not want to follow them. So I had a few mild heart attacks watching them get dangerously close to the edge, but felt good that they felt confident enough in themselves to get that close.

Because we visited the castle on a cold Monday afternoon when school was still in session we had the luck to have the place pretty much all to ourselves. The people that were there left shortly after we got there, and the kids had the run of the place. This made for a perfect afternoon, we had left Glasgow with snow falling and had sun by the time we got to the castle.

Mike and I love this picture of Taylor and Brennan and if only our little fireball Taylor could stay that somber all the time. :) Brennan was sad because we were going in for lunch and he wanted to stay out in the cold, windy weather. So we started to walk away making our point that we needed to go in, Taylor ran over and put her arm around him and started walking to us. We took a couple pictures to remember this moment, and while I was taking the picture Mike leaned over and whispered, "she is going to yell at you when she gets here."

I replied, "yes, I know."

Taylor walked up about 5 feet from me you could visibly see the fire in her eyes light and out came, "What is your problem?!"

Mike and I started laughing, which got us in greater trouble.

Taylor went on and on about how we left Brennan and he was sad and we should have been with him etc... It was a classic moment of Taylorism.

Just for fun

Seriously, they beat us by one point. So they are officially the third set of missionaries to beat us at this wonderful game. We really need to work on getting to know one another all over again apparently. Maybe it is because we have more time to sift through for answers.

Carter was having a sleepover during the holiday break and Taylor felt left out. So I was playing with her hair when Brennan got all upset about me not putting anything in his hair. So for just a night Taylor thought she had a sister :)

Yes, one day I'm sure he will look back and want me to burn these pictures. :)

Promoted to Tech Sergeant

December 30th Mike had his promotion ceremony for the promotion to Tech Sergeant. At the last minute we decided that taking all the kids was going to be super disruptive. Carter came along because Mike had asked him to help with the tacking on of his new stripe. Carter had been practicing his punches all week and was very excited, and a little nervous, to be up in front and punching Mike.

Carter took the opportunity to congratulate the promotees after the ceremony. He went through the line and shook all their hands saying congratulations and well done. It was very sweet to see him be so grown up on that day.

So proud of Mike for his hard work and dedication to the Air Force. He works diligently at his job and certainly deserved this promotion. It was a neat experience to have Carter be so excited about his dad's new badge. He was thrilled to be there and support his great dad.