ONE YEAR older and wiser too,

Yay Happy Birthday Mason! Mason was kind of sick for his birthday (the usual runny nose, cough, low fever that seems to have hit our neighborhood) but all things considered we had a really fun day. We had crepes for breakfast and put up some birthday decorations in the morning. I had planned to invite some of Mason's little friends over for a kind of playdate, but since he was sick I didn't want him to spread germs. So we just invited some of our (adult) friends over for cupcakes that afternoon and I'd still like to do a little party for my other friends and their kids a.k.a. Mason's friends later when he's feeling better. We were also able to Skype with both of Mason's grandmas and they saw him try out his new skill--walking! He took his first steps this past Tuesday and he has been slowly getting more confident at letting go of hand supports and striding out. That evening we opened some bday presents--he got some good DVDs and toys and books! Thank you everyone! He loved them all.

(I tried making his birthday sports themed--with baseball, soccer, and football cupcakes with a giant basketball cupcake for Mason . . . I realize I have a lot of room for improvement in my cake decorating skills)

David was our camera man for the birthday cake/song/candle moment. He caught the blowing out of the candle, stopped the video for one second (unfortunately that was the part when Mason touched the frosting) and this is the rest:

Other than that I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. David took me out on a date which involved going on a treasure hunt via several of our favorite places in Omaha and ended with a dozen roses at our home, and we went out to eat at P.F. Chang's.

Oh what do you do in the wintertime?

I've been feeling tons better--pretty much back to normal since the surgery, so this week I've got a LOT done. It might also have to do with the fact that I haven't exercised (at first I wasn't supposed to after surgery, but now I really don't have an excuse) and I put cleaning on the back burner. AND it's still too cold to go outside so I'm always trying to think of things to do . . . Here are the fruits of my labor :)

- completed a Valentine's wreath--I stole the idea from one of my friends--it includes loofahs! Who thought of using a loofah for a wreath?!

- finished painting our dressers (the big one and the dresser seen in the mirror reflection)

- ordered a poster-sized wedding picture (thanks Maris for the fabulous editing job ;) and painted the frame for it (free frame that our friends were taking to Goodwill!) and Finally ordered pictures for the frames on that side table
- sewed some real cute snap bags--I had some great instructions via phone from Talane since I was sick when she showed us how to make them during Christmas



- I actually finished putting new seats on our kitchen chairs in December, but I had to show them because I took so long in getting them done--I got the chairs this past summer and just kept putting the project off because I didn't have a clue how to get started. It was actually pretty easy to do, and I'm mad I didn't do them sooner.

- puttied and re-painted all the nail holes in our upstairs.

- finished "decorating"/hanging frames up in our bedroom

- finished making "countdown to Christmas" wooden blocks, but I stored them away before I got a picture!

- made and sent out Valentine's cards, but once again I didn't take pictures . . .

Bday, Xmas, Vacation, Annniversary, Gllblddr

Opening presents with dad!















Visiting the amazing gingerbread display in Council Bluffs, IA.

Mason's new favorite treat: a slice of apple. Feels so good on teething gums!

Introducing the Harper piano quartet!

My wonderful grandma Harper.

our Christmas card :)

my bday :)

our Christmas tree

Homemade stockings!

December 7th = my 24th Birthday! David gave me the most wonderful present I could ever ask for: a Nook! (Well, he got me a Kindle but I returned it and went to B&N all that same day and picked up my nook :) I have LOVED it. I was very surprised because it's a little more pricey than our usual bday gifts, but that was my bday/Christmas/Anniversary gift. I received presents from family back home and I loved them all! Everyone was just so thoughtful and knew exactly what I would like. I had a terrific day. We had a yummy homemade Chinese dinner with fried rice and orange chicken, and I also had a fun book club night with my friends. I was also going to make a chocolate cake that I thought looked SOOO good, but I ran out of time and David surprised me once again with an Oreo cake! He's so good to me.

The week of Christmas Eve & Christmas we spent with David's family and played games, ate good food, watched movies, and just loved hanging out together. Mason was in heaven with all this exciting company, fun new toys and books and friendly Zuri kitty. He was right on her heels most of the time. We also loved hanging out with our friends in Salt Lake--we miss you guys!

The week of New Years Eve we spent with my family in Idaho and enjoyed doing crafts, watching movies, playing games, going shooting, playing ball, all the fun traditional ID things. It was especially fun to see Mason's little cousins and all of them play together! It was hilarious. We had a family talent show one night and our talent was Mason's Magic Imporium. He made a blueberry disappear, pulled a turtle out of a hat, and performed a card trick.

For our 3rd Anniversary (woo-hoo!) on January 2nd, we were actually flying back to Omaha. So we celebrated a few days earlier and left Mason in some Very good hands and got a special Mississippi-themed hotel room for a night. It was soooo nice to go out to eat, to sleep in, sit in a jacuzzi, and watch movies.

On January 3, I got my gallbladder out. I had 5 attacks during our 2 week vacation, and the roughest part was not being able to eat all the typical holiday food, including ice cream, pies, cakes, cookies, ham, toffee, chocolates, etc. My mother flew in to help for a week and ended up staying an additional 5 days after I had a setback and had to return to the hospital from severe muscle spasms. It was so nice to have her here though--I love you Mom!

Saaaantaaaaaaahhh!

Free Santa picture from the Bass Pro Shop in Iowa! (Sorry about the big glare)

As we were waiting in line, David says to me, "I'll give you $10 if you pull an Elf scene when we get to Santa."

Don't you love that movie?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went to Denver, CO for Thanksgiving--my mother has 2 siblings that live there with their families, and my parents and two brothers came, as well as my grandma, so we had quite a lot of family there, which was great! Denver was a lot of fun--some of my favorite things we did there was go to the theaters and see "Tangled"--GREAT movie, went to a Nuggets VS Bulls game, went shopping, went to an art museum, celebrated my grandma's birthday, saw the lights in downtown Denver, and of course Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks Mark & Jill family for the great time!

David and I did a top 10 things we are grateful for for FHE last week before Thanksgiving--we alternated our top favorites, starting with David, then me, then David, etc. To the best of my memory, here they were:

1. Heather
2. Mason
3. School
4. David
5. family
6. the gospel
7. Oreos
8. America
9. Oreos
10. Good friends and neighbors

Halloween Costumes!

Sheriff Woody: complete with sheriff's badge, boots, hat and pull-string.
Bo-Peep: complete with diaper bag sheep, homemade bonnet, and shepherd's crook.
Buzz Lightyear: complete with purple trick-or-treat bag.

Yates family lately (I finally found my camera cord!)

Visiting Wenninghoffs pumpkin patch.

Going on the hayride at Wenninghoffs

Going through a corn maze (Wenninghoffs).
Mason was kind of done at this point.Cooking s'mores and hotdogs at Lake Manawa, right across the river.

We visited a park that had a frisbee golf course. It was awesome.

I had no idea some people were so amazing at frisbee!
Cloth diapers! I like 'em.
Bowling. I bowled my best game--150-something--woohoo!

Some friends we went to Kansas City with

Visiting the dinosaur museum in Kansas City.

Me and my friend Melanie at the Kansas City half marathon.
She rocked!! She really helped push me along.

Slink the Dog and Buzz Lightyear at the Lauritzen Gardens' trick-or-treat for Village Greeners

Dental Dave, Jesse the Cowgirl, and Buzz Lightyear at the kid's parade at the dental school.

Carving pumpkins :)
Our spooky Halloween dinner.

Featuring dead man burgers, mummy O's, strawberry ghosts, Frankenstein eyeballs, witch fingers, and a tigers blood drink.