Memorial Day Weekend

We had a super fun Memorial Day weekend!  We were able to hang out with a lot of our friends and their families, go to the park, go on a walk, and even make homemade ice cream.  One of the highlights was renting a boat on Beaver Lake for half a day with the Mast family!  This was Taylor and Addison's first boat ride!

Taylor was the best 2 year old EVER on the boat!  She was so stinkin' happy and never whined once.  She loved looking at the trees, water, geese, and riding in the wind.  The only thing that made her nervous was when Jason and I took turns wake boarding.  When Jason was wake boarding, she'd tell me "I want Daddy pome back, Daddy pome back" which translated to "Daddy come back," and it scared her that we weren't in the boat.  It was very sweet, and he said that she did the same thing when I was wake boarding as well. 

Having the time of her life!

Trying to get Addison asleep in the Baby Bjorn - obviously not working

Finally out, sleeping in Walker's car seat

You wouldn't have known we had an infant on board with us because Walker was so perfect! 

Baby Walker Mast - 8 weeks old

The newly expanded Mast Family

At first we thought that we were a little crazy to attempt to bring 3 kids under 2 years old on a boat, but they turned out being so good and we had a great time!  Even though we are in a new stage of life with kids, we can still find ways to do fun things all together that we enjoy!!

2007 - Before Kids

2011 - After Kids

Atlanta Festivities!

Jason's youngest brother was getting married, so we packed up the kids for a 4 day weekend to Atlanta!  Flights were very expensive out of Fayetteville, so we decided to fly out of the airport in Branson.  The roads are very curvy to Branson, so we took the longer route in order to minimize the curvy roads for the kids.  We started our journey to Branson and 10 minutes into the car ride, Taylor puked.  We had only gone down one STRAIGHT highway, and hadn't even made a turn yet, and she already got sick.  Poor thing, she has a weak stomach like her mommy!  We eventually made it to the Branson airport and got on our flight to Atlanta.  The girls were so good on the plane, we felt very lucky to avoid being the family everyone hates to fly with! 

Addison's First Flight - 10 months old

We made it to Atlanta, got our bags, rented our car seats and jumped in the rental car just in time to make it to Nana's house to get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner that night.  Justin and Katie's wedding was the following night and it was truly a beautiful event  The decorations were amazing and they both looked absolutely fantastic!  We were all very thankful to be a part of their special day! 

Taylor, Mommy & Addison before the ceremony

Taylor, Daddy, Nana & Addison in front of the beautiful river

Daddy with his always happy little girl!

Auntie Tara (or glowing mom-to-be) & Uncle Josh

This was the first wedding for both Taylor and Addison, and I was a little bit nervous!  Since Jason and Josh had to Usher, it was up to Tara and I to keep the girls quiet for the ceremony!  We pumped those kids with more Fruit Snacks and Mum-Mums than should ever be allowed to consume in one sitting.  I kept telling Taylor how important it was for her to whisper during the ceremony.  So, when Nana walked down the aisle, she smiled at Taylor and Taylor’s response was “shhhh” and put her finger up to her mouth.  It was very funny! 

After the ceremony, we couldn't keep Taylor off of the dance floor.  I know that Daddy is hoping for a little Mini-Me soccer player, but this girl loves to shake her groove thang like her momma!

Dancing with Nana

Addie is actually moving/dancing back and forth with Taylor
(while also losing a shoe)

She had so much fun dancing with her daddy

Auntie Jill & Taylor really got down!

Since the girls were so good, we were actually able to stay for most of the reception.  Dancing and Cake are now at the top of Taylor's most favorite things!

The three brothers with their wives

All the Aunts and cousins (ex Jacob)

Taylor with Auntie Jill, Auntie Joyce, & Nana

She just looks way too big in this precious picture!

Exhausted from all the fun

The following day, we threw a baby shower for Tara.  She is coming into the final home stretch, but was such a trooper!  Most of her close ATL friends and family were able to come to the shower, and she got some great gifts for the little Epps on the way (name unknown ;)

Posing with the Onesie Cookie Favors (she brought the sash)  ;)

Very happy with the flower bloomers!

Group photo

All of the guys took the kids to the park during the shower.  Papa even came down so that he and Jammy could spend some additional time with the girls!

Riding in Papa & Jammy's new ride

It was a fun filled weekend with Jason's family!  The girls did fantastic and we had a wonderful time! 

The Nice Weather is here!

The winter is over. . . . . the floods are gone. . . . . and we are playing outside!!!  Below are a few pictures that capture why I love working part-time! 

Even playing with sticks can be fun!

Ready for a walk around the block

UH OH, the hat is covering the face!

Took a break in front of the pond

Yummy fingers!

Kraft Carnival

Jason's work put on a small carnival for their team and families. They had the managers dressed up as sumo wrestlers, bouncy houses, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, the whole sha-bang!  Both of the girls had so much fun!  Addison crawled all over the place while Taylor people watched (like her daddy).  However, Taylor did NOT like the dressed up characters which was a big surprise!  ;)  The Oreo Man and the Kool-Aid Man made our little girl very upset so we quickly went the opposite direction, sorry no pictures!

Hanging in front of the Wienermobile

Taylor did like the lady that was dressed up like a clown, we were very surprised by this.  They were talking back and forth and having a great time!  The clown offered to draw a heart on Taylor's arm, and she happily agreed at first....

Getting painted by the clown

But quickly got upset by the drawing

They had a photo booth that we played in for a while!  Taylor has started doing certain "expressions" which is pretty entertaining to watch.  We'll say "do the sad face," or "do the surprised face" and she can change her expressions to match what we are asking.  We played around with these expressions in the photo booth.

"Surprised" face with mommy then "happy" face

"happy" face with Addison

Jason got Taylor her first Snow Cone AND Cotton Candy, so needless to say, she was VERY hyper for the rest of the night!

Vegas!

Jason had his National Sales meeting scheduled in Vegas, so we decided to go out a few days early and make a quick vacation out of it.  We arrived on Saturday and saw that our hotel, Mandalay Bay, was having a benefit concert that night.  The concert was called Tiger Jam and it featured John Mayer & Keith Urban!  We have both wanted to see these guys in concert for a really long time, so we found last minute floor seats on ebay and went!  The concert benefited Tiger Woods' charity to send kids to college, and he even came out to kick off the concert!

Tiger Woods at Tiger Jam

John Mayer

John Mayer & Keith Urban jamming together

They were absolutely incredible!  At one point, Keith Urban even went into the crowd and gave away his electric guitar!!!  

Keith Urban was absolutely amazing!

 In high school, I saw "Saltimbanco" by Cirque Du Soleil and since then, I have always wanted to see Cirque Du Soleil's "O"!  We ended up getting tickets and were able to see that Sunday night.  It was also fantatic!

At Cirque Du Soleil

I ended up staying till Tuesday night so that I could get in a little shopping and lounge out at the pool while Jason was in meetings.  It was a wonderful time away from the girls, although, we missed them like crazy!!!