Our Summer At A Glance & Camping in the Snow!

We had a pretty busy Summer with my Daycare and decided not to take any trips this year.

We hope to go to Disneyland next year when Madison is 3 and at least old enough to really appreciate it.

We still had some fun; lots of playdates, camping, parties and fun at the park.

Madison discovered that she loves watermelon.

And sidewalk chalk which (as you can see) leaves lovely little foot prints all over the freshly mopped hardwood floor.

Here she is running right in the middle of a football game at the park because she wanted to play "ball!" Which happened on more than one occasion.

We went camping.

Maddy thought roasting marshmellows was the coolest thing ever.

Here she is diligently reading the scriptures...(or just trying to tear out pages).

We had Madison's 2nd b-day party that just about everyone came to including my Dad who flew in from Oregon.


This year she happily got the hang of the whole opening gifts thing (as you can see below).

Our 2nd celebration with my sister Jennifer & her kids who couldn't make it to the party.

More camping. At one point Madison sat in a camping chair with a huge smile looking around and said: "I'm happy!" It was the cutest thing ever! After that, I decided we definitely need to go camping as often as possible!

We got snowed on and stayed...since we're hard core (or a little crazy) like that :).

It was still a blast!

Here's part of our camping group huddled by the fire.

Maddy jammin' in the truck as we waited out the worst of the storm.

Pretty Curls!

These pictures were just too cute not to post!

I love Maddie's cute little natural curls! And I'm proud to say that she got them from her Mommy :).

Sassy little Haircut!

Madison's hair was finally long enough for me to give her a cute little sassy cut!

Since it's still so thin, I kept it short to give it more volume (and avoid the long, stringy look). And with her curly hair, it easily flips up in the back so I gave her a little flip in the back. I actually had this exact haircut for a few years when I worked in the Salon and still love it!

She looks so grown up now though, it makes me so sad! :(

1st Time at Chuckee Cheese

Rowland & I are such typical 1st time parents, we can't wait to take Madison everywhere! Chuckee Cheese was another check on the list.

She was a little scared of the rides at first, but eventually got the hang of it.





Madison noticed there was definitely something wrong with this dog when she put her hand on its shoulder and said: "Dog?...Dog?!"


She loved the games, as always and of course, the balloon.
It was fun to take her even though she's still a little young to appreciate the whole experience; we'll definitely wait a few years before having a birthday party there!

So sad when it was time to go. :(

The Child of a Hairdresser!

As a hairdresser, I've been extremely anxious for little Maddie's hair to grow more so I can do all kinds of fun things with it! Poor Maddie isn't even two yet and already she's had her hair curled, round-brushed, flat-ironed, trimmed several times and has even had to wear a hair piece!

Hopefully when she's older she'll appreciate the convenience of having a mother who's a hairdresser! As for now, I had to bribe her by letting her play in some of my hair supplies long enough to let me do this. She learned a new phrase that day: "No more Momma!"

I'm ready for my close-up...

"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?!