Abigail's Blessing

 We blessed Abigail in our home at the end of June. It was so nice. Mason's parents and Lily were there, and so were Dad, Mom, Shauna (who made Abby's dress!) and Juliann. Bishop Hansen and his wife also came along. Some of the fam was able to participate via Zoom as well. We sang Families Can Be Together Forever, had a prayer, and then Mason blessed her. It was beautiful.

Here's what I remember Mason saying in the blessing:

    -She was blessed she'd continue to grow strong, she'd be strong and healthy and keep learning how to use her body she's been blessed with

    -She would continue to love being outside, her love for outside and nature would continue to grow

    -She would always remember that the people in the room love her very much, and there are people all over the country who love her and are very interested in her and in her life. She was blessed that she could turn to them for strength when she needed to

    -She would always remember that we love her and that Heavenly Father loves her

    -She's been born into this world and it seems unsure and dangerous, but she will know how she can be a bright spot in this world

Granma made her beaded socks. I love them so much!

2019 Christmas time

So, Christmas happened forever ago. It was fun.

After school got out in early December, Mason and I drove up to Beck and Ben's house in Ohio. It was a long drive but it was so gorgeous. I think our favorite part was driving through Kentucky. The scenery was breathtaking.
Also, we saw this:

Being at the Griffioen's house was SO MUCH FUN. I love going to visit family. We finished filming our Christmas music video while we were there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO2rri-QE6A&feature=youtu.be

We also had a fun time playing with the kiddos

Alexa made us this lovely banner for our room

We played in the snow

Mason built this with Lex and Austin. He also had a great time pushing them down the hill on the sled!

Also while we were there, Beck and Ben gave us all of Lex's baby clothes! We haven't had to buy hardly any clothes at all for Abigail. That has been SUCH A BLESSING.

Later, right before Christmas, Lane, Michelle, and Lily drove to Auburn from Las Vegas. We spent a day or two here at Auburn, gave them a tour of campus, ate at Foosackly's, and showed them our little house. It was so fun to see them! One of my favorite moments was when we were walking around campus, and they saw a magnolia pinecone and said, "What is THAT?!" They thought it was cool and weird.

The next day we packed up our Christmas presents and drove to Destin!!!

It was gorgeous

Mason put a chair on a sand bar that was like 50 feet away from the actual shore. It was hilarious!

He convinced Lily to brave the cold water to try it out.

This was our bed!!

We love each other

Basically, Christmas was awesome. It was wonderful have Mason home from school, to be with family, and to spend time at the beach. We are so blessed!

Mason's first year of grad school is in the books!

I wrote the first part of this post a while ago (like, last October), and I forgot to publish it! Here it is:

Mason is working his buns off at school! He usually leaves between 6:30 and 6:50 and rides his bike the 10ish minutes to school, and then most days doesn't get home until like 5 or 6 (except Monday, when he gets home at like 4). I think his flat tire count since we got here is 10. TEN FLAT TIRES. He is getting to be an expert at patching leaks in the tubes. His dad recently sent him some tires that are called Gator Skins, which sound awfully durable and tough, if you ask me. Mason has only gotten one flat tire since he put those new fancy tires on, which is GREAT. He patched the small leak just today, in record time.

Other than the flat tires, he's liking his group of peeps that entered the program the same time as him. They all share a big room and have individual cubicles where they spend a lot of their time working on homework and stuff. Mason talks the most about Andrew, Dakota, and Sean. They all seem funny and a little weird, which I like. I'm glad he is making friends!

In one of his classes, they all had to take a test. The average score was like a 27/40, but Mason got a 36/40! I am so proud.

He has a professor who always wears a hoodie with the hood up and his ears sticking out. It is ridiculous. He is also like the worst professor on the planet.

We bought a car! It is a Hyundai Accent (hatchback) and it's gray and I want to name it Francine. She's fast and gets GREAT gas mileage and has an Eco button that is cool and most importantly AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! We are so incredibly grateful to Mom and Dad for loaning us the truck for so long. They are the greatest. But we also love our Francine!

We both got callings! I'm first counselor in Young Womens, and Mason was called to be second counselor in Young Mens, but then President Nelson changed the rules, so now he's a Young Mens specialist. We both got set apart today and are super pumped about our callings.



Mason's second semester of grad school was a little different, because of the COVID-19 pandemic going on. He got switched to online classes from home in March, and had to TA virtually as well. It was hard to figure out how to balance his work life and home life, especially since we have a little baby and I wanted all the help I could get, but I think we have worked out a system that works pretty well.

Mason has worked so hard this year and I am so proud of him. He consistently does well on tests and assignments and he loves to learn so much! He won an award for being the most outstanding first year grad student in his department. Me and Abby are both so proud of him!

This summer he's going to start doing research with a professor in biophysics. He is excited and a little nervous but I know he will be great. It has been so awesome to see him really work hard this year and learn so much and connect with the people in his group that are also first year grad students. Mason is growing in so many ways and it is just astounding! It can't be overstated how proud I am of him.