michael graduates!

my little brother, michael, graduated from baylor on saturday. our whole family made it to waco to see mikey cross the stage with a degree in business administration in management and marketing. we are so proud of michael! he is the last of the "mason 5" and i am a little sad/ sentimental about that. my parents have had someone (or more than one child) in college since 1997 when i left for baylor! that's 14 years....woah!! i think there has also been someone at baylor since 1997. i know margaret and steve are excited for more than one reason! ($$) :)

also one quick sidenote: i graduated 10 years ago from baylor...which makes me feel OLD! kyle thinks i still want to be in college...somedays i do and i definitely LOVE going to visit baylor!

jordan arranged for us to have prime parking...front row!

ramie, andrew and samuel

carrie and me

little boo

baby norah rose drooling on aunt carrie

michael on the big screen!

the barkers...kind of blurry but look at that punky

andrew & ramie

the twins...all grown-up :(

the mason men

proud parents

checking out the bear pit

little bears

picnic on campus

the family plus drew, the other brother

our family (jordan was working graduation so he couldn't come picnic with us)

way to go michael! we love you and are so proud of you!

waco trip!

we set out to waco to see my dear friend, laura brown cooksey, sing with mandisa at baylor for a christmas concert. we also planned to help rachel "nest" for her little baby coming very soon!

a little pit stop with the cows

i am soooo proud of laura and always amazed and blessed when she sings!

amaaaazzzing concert!

samuel with the drummer and ron, the keyboardist. they were so sweet to samuel!

posing with mandisa and laura after the amazing concert!

hanging out at the live nativity

ahhhh....sic'em!

saturday, sic'em & spunky flowers

i love saturdays...especially when we have no plans. we start with a trip to the donut shop & starbucks. it's our special breakfast day. after samuel demolishes the tops of 3 chocolate donuts and kyle and i have enjoyed our yummy starbucks and pigs, we usually just hang around and relax for awhile.

today after relaxing for a bit, i cleaned out cabinets and closets as we are having our first ever garage sale next saturday. i was dreading cleaning at first but then i got excited and motivated. it feels so good to purge! i don't know why we don't do it more often. our house doesn't have a ton of storage space and there are cabinets and closets that i haven't touched in years. i begin to complain about our old little cottage and then realize that maybe i need to get rid of some stuff. i mean it is just stuff. i have been feeling lately that we have too much stuff. kyle loves to have a clean & organized space and i do too but i also don't throw out or clean out as much as i should. (this has also gotten especially bad since having the two munchkins...they have SO much gear, clothes & toys!) i think it's good for our souls to do this process too....it gets me to thinking about what "stuff" is cluttering my life & heart, too. i am reminded as i clean out my physical home that i also need to take inventory of my life. i think cleaning out is contagious...i've begun thinking about what i need to "organize" or "purge" in my heart...i'll let you know...

in the spirit of baylor v. tech football game we all sported our baylor t-shirts today. here are a few shots of the boys in their shirts.

our baylor bears put up a good fight and almost came out with a win :( but i guess only loosing by 7 is pretty good!

i also decided to take advantage of these really funky, perfectly hot pinky-red flowers that grow randomly in our yard and make a "contemporary" flower arrangement for my entry. the spring & summer is my most favorite time of the year and i get a little meloncholy as fall approaches. i know this is different than most people as they welcome the fall...don't get me wrong i do too...hello pumpkin spice latte, mulled cider candles and cool weather! but i do mourn the summer being over- this usually only lasts through september though. sooo...when i see some cute, perky flowers blooming in october i get excited. they were the perfect accent to my entry...don't you think!?

waco bound!

we had a great time in waco for labor day...we kept pretty busy visiting uncle jb & aunt rachie, moose, sissy & dottie and uncle mikey. we had so much fun going to football games, hanging out with paige & grace, playing with the dogs, visiting BU, getting yogurt, going to the baylor game with the kinkeade's, jeb & taylor came in town, the boys hunted and we cooked out. whew!

(pics in reverse order! i'll get it right eventually!)

yogurt on campus with cowboys uniform AND a tie...of course!

samuel & grant taeff statue

sic'em

aunt mandy!

yummy pei wei lunch.....mmmm!

uncle mikey & benjamin (we think b resembles michael as a baby)

aunt rachie & booboo

paige & grace & benjamin at rachel's robinson

rockets game!