"Grampa"

Last Saturday when we were watching General Conference, I showed Madison her Grandpa (Rowland's Dad) on t.v. and explained that he plays the big Organ. I said, "Look Madison, there's Grandpa!" For the first time ever, she said: "Grampa!" and repeated it two or three times throughout the day! Clay was so excited when he heard what his little Maddie had said! He & my mother-in-law were kind enough to watch her for me (and give me a ticket) so I could attend the last session. Unfortunately, Rowland had to work all weekend but what a wonderful conference, as always!

Madison's New Hair

So I've been really good about being super frugal and not spending one unnecessary penny...that is until I saw this adorable hairpiece for Madison! Rowland's little brother is getting married next month and when I put this on her at the mall, she looked like such a little princess, I just couldn't resist! Rowls & I were dying at how grown up she looks with it!

At first she didn't like wearing it but after catching a few glimpses of herself in the mirror, I think the look kind of grew on her (as you can see).

Look at that hand, such a little girl!

Rowland's Shiner!

Anyone who knows Madison knows she likes to play "rough." I'm pretty sure she broke my nose once when she smacked me in the face with our cordless phone. (My nose has already been repaired once from breaking it when I was little). A week later just as the swelling started to go down, she hit me in exactly the same place with the remote control...ouch! She of course thought it was hilarious both times!

A few weeks later, she was sitting on our bed playing when she threw one of our big heavy led crystal glasses right at Rowland's eye just inches away from him. (He was lying down with his eyes closed so unfortunately he didn't see it coming). It immediately got swollen and bruised. It looked and sounded extremely painful!

As Rowland puts it, of all the fights he was in as a little boy he never had a black eye...until his 18 month old baby girl just gave him his first one! Once we made sure he was ok, we couldn't help but kind of laugh about the irony of it. He also jokes now that it's payback since he accidentally gave his Dad a black eye when he was little too! What are the chances?!

This was taken a few days later as it was starting to heal. There was kind of a dark ring around the bottom there for a while. A few people saw him and jokingly asked what he did to make ME so mad at him. ;)

Christmas '08 Pix

I FINALLY added my Christmas pictures!

I don't post very often because Madison HATES it when I'm on the computer.

It was Madison's first time to Temple Square; she loved looking at all the lights.

My mom had her annual Christmas party where we always have a feast of what Jesus would have eaten by candle light and act out the Christmas story while Brian read it from the Bible. My are always the 3 wise men...and the shepherds. My neice, Alexandra was Mary. Last year Madison was small enough to play baby Jesus but this year she was the Angel.

I was the donkey!

Madison with her Grammy who she adores!

She was very good at opening gifts this year; she's finally getting old enough to actually care.

We had a nice dinner with my Grandparents & my sister who came in from Las Vegas

at our house.

It was a VERY child-proof Christmas this year...and will be from now on.

We found out why we should have spent the extra money for the non-breakable ornaments. :)

These are some of the MANY batches of cookies I made for all my neighbors. After all that work, I had to show them off :).

We used to help my mom decorate Christmas cookies like these as kids so it's a fun tradition I want to pass on with my kids but I think we'll just make a few batches in the future. My mom wasn't kidding when she warned me that it takes a long time to make that many!

My Daycare kids loved decorating some that they got to take home.

On Christmas day we first celebrated as a family where Madison opened her presents, then we went to both in-laws for the rest of the day. Her favorite gift was of course the most simple & cheapest gift of all, the old school popcorn popper! Isn't that usually the case?!

Sammy's New Cousin!

After researching what would be the best dog for their family, my sister, Cherie and her husband decided to go with a relatively new breed called a Labradoodle, (a mix between a Lab and Toy Poodle). The idea is to get the great personality traits of a Lab without the extra large size.

As you can see, Scout is absolutely adorable! He also fits right in where they live in Park City where everyone is a dog lover. I've been excited for them; they've wanted a dog for a long time but waited to find the perfect breed. I even threw Cherie a small "Puppy Shower" to celebrate. The idea may sound silly but it actually turned out to be really fun, (plus it was a fun excuse to get together) and there are a lot of things you need with a new dog. Here are some pix from the Shower.

Sammy meeting her new cousin.

Scout & Grammy

Madison giving Scout a big hug. He was so tiny I think she thought he was a stuffed animal.

18 Month Old Update

Madison is as cute as ever running around getting into everything! She's so tall that she has an amazing reach and we are quickly running out of places to put things. It has become especially tricky when I'm trying to put on my makeup, do dishes, or cook. She loves to put on my makeup (or eat it) and she's figured out how to open the dishwasher and use it as a stool to reach just about everything on the kitchen counter (as shown below).

Here she is exploring the kitchen right before we decided to finally put childproof locks on all of our drawers & cupboards.

And using the dishwasher as a stool to reach her favorite snack.

Unfortunately our days of eating nothing but whole wheat, fruits and veggies are over. She still eats fruits and vegetables everyday but refuses to eat her whole grain oatmeal or plain whole wheat (for babies). She has decided she loves Mac & Cheese which the Daycare kids insist on having daily and also loves chips and cheetos (although we rarely buy them)...she must related to her Mommy. :)

Madison absolutely loves to dance; it's so funny! She'll dance to anything; she'll even bop her head to rap music. One of these days if I figure out how to upload video to the blog, I'll have to post a clip of her doing one of her many dances. She also loves spilling a little bit of milk on her high chair tray and drawing pictures in it. And she absolutely loves playing the piano which is exciting to me since I used to play and am hoping she gets the musical genes from both of her Grandpas.

She loves playing ball; we're hoping with her height that she'll take an interest in sports as she gets older. Her new words she has started saying recently are: "Angoo" (thank you), "All gone," "hi," "cookie," "ok" and is also understanding us a lot more.

She'll start Nursery this week in Church-which we're VERY anxious for. I teach Primary and it has become increasingly difficult to chase her around the Primary room. Last week she ran up to the piano and started playing while a little girl was giving a talk. We'll see how it goes.

Busy with Daycare

I haven't updated my blog in a while because I've recently started a Daycare which has been keeping me very busy! I would love to post some of the fun pictures from it but wouldn't want to potentially upset any of my clients by putting pictures of their cute kids on a public website. I'll most likely set up a private blog, specifically for the Daycare.

Doing Daycare has been really good for Madison to learn how to share her toys...and her Mommy :). (I didn't want her to get too used to being an only child). The first day she was not at all happy to see other kids digging through her toy box and taking turns with her sitting on her Mom's lap for story time, but it's been great for her; now she loves playing with the other kids and loves it when they come over.

My house has been slightly transformed to avoid any potential hazards; I think it's about as child proof as possible. I have some additional equipment too like two high chairs, two boosters, two audio monitors, two video monitors and a crib in almost every room. I've also invested in a used Quad stroller which has been fabulous! The kids love to go for walks in it, it's great excercise for me and I definitely get some entertaining stares from people driving by when I use it!

I haven't taken a lot of pictures of Madison lately since our nice camera broke but I will for sure post some for her 18 month update in a few days!

Welcome Baby Asher!

My step-sister Nicole and her husband John recently adopted a precious little baby boy, Asher. Neither of them were considering adoption when they both had the strong impression that they should adopt a baby. They faithfully submitted their profile to LDS Family Services and spread the word to everyone they knew that they planned to adopt. Meanwhile, over 500 miles away, a young woman (who Nicole used to babysit as a child) decided it would be best to place her unborn baby for adoption. Her prayers were answered when she met with them and realized they were the ones!

Congratulations Nicole and John for the new addition to your cute family!!! He is a very blessed little boy and lucky to have you both as his parents! We're all so happy for you and excited to have him in the family!

Clark & Lila

Rowland's nephew and niece were both blessed on the same day.

Here is the beautiful Lila Elizabeth, daughter of Rowland's sister Laura and her husband Derek.

(Laura sewed this amazing dress for her).

Lila with her cute family and Great Grandma Lila Christiansen who she was named after.

Here is the adorable Clark Roger, son of Rowland's brother John and his wife Mandy with their cute family. Clark was named after his Grandpa Roger who is currently serving a mission in Chile.

And their proud Grandparents, Clay & Diane Christiansen.

I want Mama!!!

How sweet, Madison put together her first sentence today and proudly shouted it out. I had an upset stomach so when Rowland got home from work, he watched her for a little bit so I could lie down.

After about 20 minutes I heard her loudly protest from the other room "I want Mama!!!" I thought certainly I misheard her or it was a fluke, then she said it again very clearly. Rowland also wondering if it was an accident asked her, "Do you want Mama Madison?" She answered, "Yeah!" He brought her in to me and she got so excited to see me, she threw her little arms out toward me with a huge smile. He confirmed that I heard correctly; she said her first sentence. What a doll!

The 4th

We had a little 4th of July Bbq at our house (with everyone who didn't go to the Stadium of Fire). We watched the fireworks at the local park, then pulled out the projector at our house for some Guitar Hero while the kids watched Disney movies in our room.

Yes we're wearing matching T-shirts! (It was a Walmart $3 special), woo.

Which of these things does not belong in this picture? That would be Madison in the bottom right hand corner up WAY past her bedtime.

Weekend at the Cabin

Our good friends, the Pacini's invited us to a no kids-couple's weekend in their wonderful cabin. When someone says they have a "cabin" I never know what to expect as that word can describe such a variety of accomadations. I went expecting zero electricity and lots of mice but was pleasantly surprised when we arrived to large comfy beds for everyone, a big screen tv and a Nintendo Wii; now that's my kind of cabin!

I was also happy to discover our friend Jamie is a night owl like myself as we were the last ones up talking until about 3 a.m.

It was also my first night I've spent away from my daughter and I have to admit I had to fight back tears leaving her at my sister's but I knew she was safe and we had a great time; it was actually really relaxing. (Thank you Cherie for watching her and Sammy!)

Madison's 1 year Birthday Party!

We had Madison's birthday party at Hogle Zoo. She was still a little too young to really appreciate it yet but she still had fun and we figured it was a good excuse to take her for her first time with everyone.

I'm so sad, my baby is already 1! It went by way too fast!

Madison and her step-cousin Simon attempting to do a pacifier exchange.

Her 1st time on the carousel. Rowland insisted on taking her.

Here she is looking enthralled on her 1st train ride as you can see!

Her 1st gift of the day. We bought her a "band in a box" my sister, Jennifer suggested

(since she loves hitting things). She opened it that morning and has loved it ever since!

Now we just need to figure out how to teach her that our dog, Sammy is not also a drum! :)