Phil is Back from Tech School!

Phil is back and all is right again in the Mason household. He shouldn't have to leave again now unless he goes on a voluntary short deployment somewhere or unless he gets a full time position out at the base doing a different job.

Tech school is not as hard core as boot camp. He actually had quite a bit of free time and he filled it up by becoming an airman leader. This means he was an assistant to his leaders and was given power over the others in his flight. Phil had to pass a series of tests and drills in order to move up and wore a yellow rope on his uniform to signify he was a leader. His schedule was pretty packed with meetings, briefings and drill evaluations. He of course thought it was pretty cool he could "get other guys in trouble".

Phil's job in the Air Force is in munitions. This means he builds missiles, bombs, small arms ammunitions, chaff and flare. He maintains and stores it and then delivers it to the flight line when it's ready to be loaded onto jets.

Now he'll be working for the next month and a half or so doing on the job training here at Gowen Field.

Sophie is so happy to have her daddy back. She was also very happy to get the new pink "cow boots" he brought her back from Texas. She ran to him at the airport and just looked and looked at his face for a long time. It was so sweet.

Thank you to those friends and family who really stepped up for Sophie and I while Phil was gone. You know who you are!

Now we look forward to the summer. We're looking for a bigger place to rent and hope to find something in the next couple of months. I really don't want to leave our home, but we are growing out of it.

Here are some pictures from tech school:

Becca's Visit

Becca came to stay with me for a week to help the time pass. She makes me happy. It was fun to go out for Cinco de Mayo (even though I ended up getting sick). Thanks for keeping me company!

Swimming Lessons

Sophie and Navy are taking swimming lessons together twice a week this month and are both loving it. Sophie gets distracted easily but Navy just eats it up.

Kiwanis Spring Tour

Friday we toured all day and then had the Music Week Concert that night. The boys did well and had a lot of fun. Jed was awesome enough to come and take some sweet pictures for us. This was our schedule:

Spring Tour Schedule, Fri. April 30th:

8:00 am Meet at Boise High

8:00-9:00 Rehearsal/Exchange with Boise High

9:30-10:00 Exchange with Shadow Hills

10:15-11:00 Summerwind Retirement Home

11:15-12:00 Lunch: Idaho Pizza

12:30-1:00 Kiwanis Club Luncheon

1:15-1:45 St. Luke’s Performance

2:00-2:45 Clinic with Matt Swenson

3:00-5:00 YMCA

5:30-6:30 Dinner/Awards Ceremony Boise High

7:30 Music Week Concert at Capital High

Needless to say, I was a VERY tired pregnant lady by the end of the night!

It's A Girl!

What should we name her? (Vote with the poll to your right!)

Final Results:

Olivia, 38 votes

Izabel, 10 votes

Addison, 19 votes

All About Sophie

I haven't done a post about Sophie lately so here are some updates I don't want to forget about her at 2 1/2 years old:

*I made the mistake of saying "I mean it!" the other day when she was postponing bedtime with every excuse she could think of. Now she says, "I mean it!" when she means it...which is every time she wants something.

*If you ask her what her name is, she'll tell you "Dopey". Yes, apparently I named my daughter after one of the seven dwarfs.

*One of Sophie's favorite games is to hide something behind her back and ask me, "Whichy one, mommy, whichy one?"

*She thinks the baby is inside my belly button and always tries to look as deep in there as she can saying, "I wanna see! I wanna see!" She talks about how when it gets bigger and comes out, she gets to help mommy feed it milk, give it a bath, change its diaper and hold it.

*We've been talking a little about how Papa is sick. When she saw him the next time, he picked her up and she looked at him and said, "You OK, Papa?"

*The melody for the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is her song of choice and even just playing around will always sing that melody with whatever words she chooses to use. The other day it was "I made mommy sad, I made mommy sad."

*Since Phil has been gone, she doesn't really want to talk to him on the phone but I've discovered if I tell her he's sad, she will immediately take the phone and talk to him. She must get that sensitive side from her daddy.

*She's really into her Tinkerbell and "baby Tinkerbell" movies. She calls Peter Pan "baby Tinkerbell" because she is so small compared to the Tinkerbell movie.

*She doesn't use any prepositions in her sentences like "for" or "with". For example she will say "Mommy, play me?" instead of "Mommy, play with me?"

Easter Without Phil

It is sad to celebrate Easter without Phil here, but I always love this time of year. I'm so grateful for my Savior, that He died for me and that He lives! I know He knows and loves me. I hope Sophie will soon understand His love for her too.