Meet our Little Night Owl

Avery Joseph Roberts was born on Aug 3, 2011. 2:36pm at 7 lbs 3 oz. He surprised us by coming a little early and we were told he was a girl. He was so cute that we decided we would keep him. We came home from the hospital with out a name, Amelia just wasn't going to work for this guy. The hospital kept calling and asking for his name so we had to quickly pick a name. Talk about pressure!! 6 weeks later and Avery still has a girl room and lots of other pink stuff, we have been too busy taking care of him to change anything. We are having lots of fun with this little guy!

Wow, I almost forgot how to use blogger. We moved on to facebook and forgot about blogs. It's still just the three of us. We are experiencing the world of infertility, wasn't really what we had in our future plans. But, it is what it is. Some days I just want to get rid of all the baby stuff and be happy with the three of us, then Mason keeps praying for a baby boy and a baby girl and I have to keep hanging in there. Luckily we don't have a lot of free time on our hands to dwell on it too long. We are really busy in our ward callings, doing the kindergarten drop off / pick up, and Neil has been really busy with work. We are really looking forward to Christmas. Each year Mason just get more fun with the whole santa thing. Merry Christmas 2010 everyone!

What have we been up to lately?

Some where back at the beginning of our summer our ward was split. Neil and I were happily serving in primary. We thought we were safe from new callings. Then it happened we both got new callings. I am now the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society and Neil is Secretary for the Elders Quorum. For the most part that sums up our summer. Am I old enough for this calling? Well when I look out on the sea of sisters each Sunday I see mostly young girls in their 20's. So maybe I am the one of the old women of the ward. The area that we live in is rapidly growing. By Christmas our ward might need to be split again. Talk about lots of visits to new sisters and visits to new mothers. Wow! Neil gets to make appointments with all the new families and make visits to them. We're getting to know a lot of new people!!

A few other events happened this summer:

• Neil turned 40, we tried using superman to turn back the hands of time. Didn't really work, but we had a fun party.
  

• Mason had a fun time this summer playing with new friends in our new yard. We actually have grass now!!!


• Neil got a new job with Senior Vision Services. He now gets to give old people eye exams in rest homes. Neil has been working hard this summer. He works all over Utah right now, doing fill in work for other doctors. you never know when you'll run into him at a Costco or Walmart, Sears, etc. With this new job he gets steady work.

• Mason goes back to Preschool. (Please note the bunny behind him is his new best friend, he came with us in the car on that first day, but he stayed in the car. Bunnies are not allowed in preschool.)

The Roberts' 5th Anniversary

We hit the fifth big one this year. So we decided we deserved a little get away from our life. We visited San Francisco for a few days without our little shadow!! It was the perfect city getaway for us. We were captured by the eerieness of Alcatraz. We were intrigued with chinatown's fish markets and smells. We were exhausted and sore from walking the ever so steep streets day after day. We were invigorated by the fresh breeze blowing in off the bay. Wow we really fell in love with this city!! The sound of the trolleys going "ding ding" will forever be in our memories.















We couldn't get enough of china town, we really felt as though we were in china.




















Life on Alcatraz must have been rough! I hope Martha Stewarts cell was nicer than this one. Alcatraz was sooo beautiful and spookey all at the same time.















We loved the fog and the misty rain!


Now its back the real world of being parents and doing yard work. Somebody did tell us that they would never buy a new home again because of all the work it takes to put in a yard. We didn't listen to them that well.

Mason turns 4

We just finished celebrating Mason's 4th birthday. We celebrated it John Deere Tractor style due to his facination with tractors. Mason's big present was a swing set. Neil was planning on building it on his birthday, but it rained and now it is still a work in progress.

We finally decided it was time to cut off Mason's long hair for his birthday and have a normal little boy cut. Neil took him to the local barber shop and they really did a number on his poor head. I cried several times that day just from looking at him. I'm not sure if it was the bad hair cut, or saying good bye to his innocent little boy look.

At age 4 Mason finally sleeps in his own room, in his new twin size bed!! This really is a big accomplishment. Since we moved it kind of messed up everyones sleeping habits, and now everyone in our home sleeps in their own beds. Mason loves riding bikes outside. He is terrified of all dogs, cats, bugs, etc. including big and little ones. He doesn't last outside by himself for too long. I'm looking for some kind of "Cowboy Up" club to make him into a man, but having a hard time finding one. Once in awhile we have an imaginary pet or friend join our family for a day or two. We have lots of fun listening to him play by himself and with his imagination!

A great way to meet the new neighbors!

So we decided that the only way we would ever get to meet all our new neighbors at one time would be to get everyone evacuated from their homes. So yesterday we broke a gas line and had a big gathering out away from everyones homes while bluestakes came and fixed the line.
Really this did happen yesterday afternoon, but it was our landscapers fault. We even had bluestakes there before he dug. Oops there are actually 3 visits made by bluestakes before you should dig.
We really did meet all our neighbors finally, and no one got hurt. No houses blew up, so over all, the neighborhood gathering was a success!

Check out the Utah Baby Guide

My article on cloth diapering has just been published in The Utah Baby Guide. Check it out! This is an free online magazine for Utah mothers. It has lots of great ideas for mothers! visit: www.utahbabyguide.com

Crazy for Cloth Diapers!

The Roberts family has had a new addition to the family. Not your ordinary new baby, but a cloth diapering business. The idea for Little Rabbit's Cloth Diapers has been brewing in Alison's head for many years. With Neil's recent layoff we decided to take the idea and run with it. We have been using cloth diapers for a little over 2 years. I loved them from the start and wanted to share my excitement for them with others. Not too many people are using them in Utah. Alison is determined to change that! Little Rabbits is now an online store http://www.littlerabbits.webs.com/, it is a cloth diapering boutique located at the Quilted Bear in Provo, booth L-12, and we offers cloth diapering classes through community education (nebo community school, and UVU community ed.). Wow!we have busy the last month getting this rolling. Things are going great so far! We have an article coming out soon in The Utah Baby Guide, we are hoping that the word will spread quickly.
Now shouldn't your baby be wearing a "bumGenius" instead of those boring, uncomfortable, chemical filled disposables?

Guess what we got for Christmas!

Christmas this year felt a little different for us. Neil got a pink slip for Christmas.( We joke the President Bush sent him the slip in a Christmas card) Exactly one week before Christmas, Neil was told by his boss that they are down sizing due to the current economic conditions around us. Neil has worked at the Cataract and Lasik Center of Utah for 9 years. This all came so unexpected that it left us feeling hurt, scared for the future, and just kind of numb for Christmas. We even thought Mason had ringworm for Christmas, but it turned out to be just a bad case of hives. Then our new roof started leaking in our garage, and so on. "When it rains it pours" is a little what our end of the year was feeling like.

But we are still trying to put on our happy faces, Neil is finding some fill in work for other Doctors. So we really are OK financially. It just feels like we lost someone in the family. :( Neil is really missing some of his patients that he has been helping for many years.

We are looking forward to Obama coming into office, and hoping that he can change this economy for us!!

Mason is rather proud of his piano talent!

Mason is getting ready for his first real performance: The family christmas eve party.

The Roberts Family wishes you a Merry Christmas!

Even though we have been super busy with unpacking and getting our other home rented, we have been making time for christmas. We unpacked christmas before many other items. I figured if I wait till I'm organized, christmas might just not get out. Mason is really excited!! He wrote his first letter to santa. He first asked for things he could see around the house. So we had to help him with ideas. His cousins are all asking for the Nintendo DS, so he thinks he needs that. We did tell him that santa knows whats best for him, so he might not get everything he puts on the list. (Santa thinks he is still a little young for the Nintendo DS, he is thinking more along the line of a V-tech pocket).

It has been a really fun season with Mason so far. It is the first year that he is understanding how christmas works, he keeps asking me what the names are for Frosty and Rudolph. He loves the snow and loves riding his bikes in the snow!

Good-Bye Orem---Hello Spanish Fork!

After 7 long months we finally bought our Dream Home!! It really took 7 month of being patient with the bank to get this house. It's been almost a week since we moved in and we are still in boxes. Along with our move we all got a cold, and it has slowed us down. We're hoping by the time Thanksgiving rolls around we will have all of the boxes unpacked.
What we will miss about Orem: Lots of shopping options, our ward, friends, Neil's quick drive to work.
What we love about Spanish Fork: No more sirens from State Street, more space for a yard and garden, the beautiful mountains, and a quiet street. Neil loves the cable package options in Spanish Fork.
Mason not so sure about the move, he wants to go home to sleep at night, and he keeps asking who will live in our white house in Orem. :(

Mason Goes To School

Mason just started Preschool a few weeks ago. He really enjoys going. He had been acting kind of funny lately in the nursery, not wanting us to leave him there alone. So we thought preschool might be the same. We were pleasantly surprised on the first day when he acted more interested in the toys than to Mom saying good-bye. Now we enjoy having him come home and tell us about his day. Mom is also enjoying a little alone time. Even though not a whole lot can be done in an hour and a half. However it feels really refreshing to go grocery shopping and put the groceries away all by myself!

Learning to Play the Piano

We have been looking for ways to entertain Mason at home. We looked into piano lessons, but discovered they are a little expensive for preschoolers. I came across a program called "Piano for Preschoolers" I bought it from Amazon.com for $40. So far I think it is worth every cent. We have had it for a week and Mason is loving it. When we come into the house and he sees the piano he wants to sit down and play. He is no where near as good as Neil, but maybe one day!!

Not a whole lot changes here at the Roberts. Call me lazy, but I hate to even pull out the camera and take snap shots. Every picture I take makes me that much more behind on my scrapbooks. We have been in the process of trying to buy us a new home in Spanish Fork since April. The home was being forclosed and once the bank owned the home they decided it was worth more than what the builder was asking. In other words more than our offer. We were not willing to pay the extra 20,000 so the home went back on the market. It sat for a while with no offers, now the bank is trying to get it appraised for what we were willing to pay in the beginning. Now we are just waiting to see if all goes well. We almost had our mind set on builing our own home until this. Hopefully by the next time I get around to posting again we will know what we are doing with our future.

Pictures at Grandma Ardella's House

Grandma died back in December and now her beautiful old home is for sale. It has a great yard for taking pictures. This is where Neil and I took our wedding announcement pictures. We had to get a few of Mason there before it sales.

Portraits of our Family

Mason turns 3

We celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday on Saturday May 3. We celebrated alphabet style. Our little boy is addicted to the alphabet! Mason finally said good-bye to his crib and said hello to a new big boy bed. He loves it!! Mom and Dad were sad to see the crib go :( Our little boy isn't so little anymore.

Erin & Travis's Wedding

On April 29th we spent the day in Salt Lake City attending the wedding of Neil's neice. The Temple grounds were sooo beautiful we couldn't help but capture our little guy on film. Next to the bride and groom, Mason was the star of the show!

Welcome to The Roberts' Roost. We're finally blogging.