A New Niece!!

That's right, the newest Mason baby is here.


Everyone welcome Rachel Ruth Mason. She was born on 29 January 2009 at 5:04 pm and weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces (a whole POUND bigger than Hannah) and was 21 inches long. My sister was only in labor for 2 hours. There was 20 minutes of pushing. That's it. She's such a cutie and I swear the child doesn't cry. We'll see how long that lasts...



Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:
1. RACHEL!
2. A letter from Favorite (finally).
3. A new singles' ward.
4. Super bowl party with Dan.

My New Favorite Place...

Is definitely the DoubleTree Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

You go to a hotel expecting a bed that is sunken in in the middle with questionable sheets and barely enough room to walk around, right? That's what Nicole and I were expecting.

We rolled into Portland around 6-ish after a VERY long day of driving (we got on the road at 7 in the morning). It was a beautiful and eventful day, don't get me wrong. We drove through Shasta City, California and it was GORGEOUS going through some of the passes and such on our way to Medford. Then we stopped in Medford to meet up with Alli and Nic - SO fun - and while it was a good break I'd already started to get a head ache and forgot to take pills into the restaurant so by the time we finished and got back in the car I had a full blown migraine. Nicole took over the driving and we rolled through more gorgeous scenery, I said some pretty stupid stuff like, "Where there's food there's gas" (don't ask). And we made it to Portland in one piece - despite Nicole's erratic driving. Nicole kept an eye on the car and I went to check us in since the room was under my name. It was pretty busy and there was just one manager behind the desk trying to help the 7 or so people waiting in line and a woman on the phone plus someone buying something from the gift shop. He finally got me and I told him to take his time - I was in no hurry. When he finally got around to me he thanked me for my patience and pulled up my reservation. I was talking with a guy and a little baby while he was getting me all squared away and when he finally got me checked in he smiled at me, told me the price of parking, and said, "You're in luck. Your room is compliments of me, enjoy your stay."

This is what Nicole and I walked in to:

Pretty suite, huh? (Lame pun, I know.)

And of course, you can't be in a bed that big without taking a few flying leaps...

I put the fancy-shmancy suite down to my being a leggy blonde. OK, OK! There is a possibility it was because of my patience.

So we went to check us out and the manager from check in had comped us our parking, so the normally $18 fee didn't get charged.

Grand total for the hotel: $47.79 a piece.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. My niece who is one smart little almost 2 year old.

2. The unborn baby that I can egg on and play with even though she's not actually born yet.

3. Not missing you. One bit. For the first time in I don't know how many years.

4. Downtown Seattle.

5. My brother-in-law and sister.

6. Ben.

7. A new single's ward!!

Road Trip 2009

Alright, this will be my last post from Southern California for a while! (YAY!)

Nicole and I are heading to Menlo Park, California (by San Francisco) on Friday. We're planning on leaving around noonish and getting to the Mason's house around 6 or so. I'm so excited to see Ron and Cheryl and THANK YOU for letting me and my psychotic friend stay with you guys. (I'll try to keep her under control, I promise.)

Here is the best part! I was mapping out different routes to take for this road trip when I noticed the freeway we need to take goes RIGHT through Medford, Oregon. But not Klamath Falls, where Alli and her husband Nic live. They were going to live in Medford, but decided on K-Town instead. So I sent Alli a text telling her it was a shame she didn't live in Medford because I would be there on Saturday. And guess what, SO ARE THEY! I've decided God hears even our smallest prayers because I've been so sad that I didn't get to go to Alli and Nic's wedding and haven't even MET my BFF's Hubby yet, let alone seen said BFF since I DON'T KNOW WHEN and here we are, meeting up on Saturday for lunch. YAY.

So after our little lunch date (SO EXCITED) Nicole and I are going to head to Portland for the night where we're staying at the DoubleTree Hotel. It looks way nice for the price AND it's basically in downtown Portland. The website says it's 5 minutes from downtown. The rooms are either a City Skyline view or a Cascade Mountain view. So we're planning on getting into the hotel, fixing ourselves up a bit and taking a night out on the town. There's an Irish pub I want to go to for dinner - but that's still up in the air.

The last little leg of our trip will only take about 3 hours or so, so we're not going to rush leaving Portland. We'll take our time and get to Seattle - where Dan, Ashley, Hannah and the little baby that isn't born yet will be waiting - before dinner. Can I just say how excited I am to see these crazy Masons??

Nicole's flight doesn't leave on Monday until like 4-ish, so we can even go exploring around Seattle for a bit before we have to get her to the airport. HOORAY!!

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. SEEING ALLI, MEETING NIC! (It's a tie.)

2. Booking our hotel.

3. Seeing every single Mason I get to see.

4. Taking Nicole with me on this one, for once.

5. A clean car (for the time being).

6. Everyone being so happy with their lives right now.

7. KP exploring career options.

College Graduation

I love school. That has never been a secret. I love everything about school: learning new things, taking notes, buying books, meeting new people, pens, pencils, highlighters, paper...everything except tests.

I thought I was set to graduate in December of 2009. I decided to check my graduation report to see what my next few semesters will look like and figure out when I can register and all of that stuff because I honestly can't wait to do that stuff until the last minute. (Remember, I LIKE this stuff!) So. My grad report says I'm 14 credits deficent. That's it. 14. That's one very easy semester, right? (I've been taking at least 16 credits the past few semesters, so 14 is easy peasy.)

WRONG.

14 credits, yes.

One semester? No.

3 of the classes that I have left to take I haven't taken the prerequistes for yet. I'll be taking them in the summer. So that means I'll have to take at least one class that technically has no value to my major or minor for summer. The worst part? I'll have to take a good 3 or 4 classes that have no value to my major or minor in fall. AUGH. THAT is ridiculously frustrating.

I'm thinking a new horseback riding class in summer, because in fall it's suicide.

Then, in fall I'll take bowling (yay, Shauna) and anything else I can that involves the inside of a building. I wonder if there's any British Literature classes I haven't taken yet...

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. Listening to the waves crash in the dark - I couldn't see them, just hear them. Beautiful.

2. Finding all of the pens/pencils that I thought I'd lost.

3. Organizing my room (my dad's office) a little bit - finally.

4. Looking for hotels outside of Portland for Nicole and I to stay in for our roadtrip. YAY!

5. mc. (not MC but mc.)

6. Realizing I can be a friend to you...awkwardness and inappropriateness included.

7. Singing.

8. MOVING TO SEATTLE!!!!!!

The Plan...

This post is probably a little late coming, but we all know what I'm going to say: Better Late Than Never!

I had a poll up a few months ago about what I should do for Winter Semester. My options were to live in California, Utah, or Seattle. In Utah I have my Mom and Grannie that I could live with, get a job and attend a singles ward with more than 6 people in it. In California I could look for a job until April when school starts and chill with Nicole, attempting to maintain the house while my Mom is away and go to the singles ward with 6 people in it (half of whom are mean, the other half I'm either related to or is Nicole). In Seattle I would live with Ashley and Dan and help take care of Hannah and the baby that is due at the beginning of February and get a part time job while attending a new singles ward full of new people!

I choose: Seattle, Washington!
















The best part about this choice? ROAD TRIP! That's right, Nicole and I are planning a nice, long 3 day road trip to get me to Seattle. YAY!

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:
1. A new year...a new start!
2. Road Trip 2009!
3. A hot bath, in a clean bathroom.
4. Using my Christmas presents. Especially the ones from my Dad.
5. Going through my book boxes. Again.
6. Being okay with everything that has happened since I got home, surprisingly.