The Days of Our Lives...

the reason I haven't blogged in forever...

2012-01-30T17:52:00.001-08:00

is this little GIRL right here.

what an adventure these little pidder-pattering feet are about to take us on.

I was shocked, Justin was right, ali was overjoyed, and cole was a little disappointed at first...but he is warming up quickly to the idea.

I have to admit I don't have any sisters so I feel like a fish out of water when it comes to how to deal with sisters...but I also have to admit that hearing ali say in the cutest three year old voice ever, "I can't wait to have a sister!" was pretty tender.

So here we go, round three. we are out numbered. out of practice (with diapers and such things). and couldn't be happier to have a healthy little lady on her way to us.

SCOOBY DOO and THE GANG

2011-11-09T15:00:00.000-08:00

fred, daphne, shaggy, velma, and scooby doo all stepped out for a night of mystery solving and monster chasing!

Velma has scooby, but don't worry cole has the scooby snacks!

cole and ali had discovered scooby doo on net flicks and it just seemed to fit as the perfect costume choice this year!

as soon as we put on these costumes the kids transformed. and lets just say ali was incredibly committed to her role for a 3 year old. she would only refer to us as daphne, fred, and shaggy when speaking to us. she said "JINKIES!" all night and shaggy of course had his line down, "Zoinks!" and if I ever responded to anything without saying my token line she would remind me, no you are daphne, you say "Jeepers!"

please ignore how voluminous my costume looks at this angle, it was the only family picture I had with fred donning his wig! and check out his awesome 70's jeans. they were the perfect DI find.

coles costume was pure DI as well. and my mom snagged the scooby and most of ali's costume for us.

and mine was a masterpiece whipped up by my friend Ja'nette. she and her family came trick or treating with us. and boy did the kiddos love having friends and a plethora of candy all in one night!

it eventually became much too cold for little ones and mommy's, so we packed in their van to caravan from house to house in warmth. Justin and Ryan thought getting in and out took too much time apparently, so they opted to ride on the side of the vehicle.

so scooby and the gang even had a mystery machine to ride around in.

Jeepers, it was fun!

carving our guts out!

2011-11-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

hard at work,

such attention to detail. mostly due to cole's intense pattern choice. but don't worry it wasn't all on dad,

cole was on gut patrol. and he was equally as focused.

oh and don't worry ali was putting in her fair share of work as well...poking things.

it wasn't all work and no play mind you.

a good time was had by all.

I mean just look at that face.

or this face.

or this face. can you feel the attitude oozing out?

and the finished product to be enjoyed a few days before being over run with mold....drum roll please...TADA!

happy halloween! costumes are up next on the blogging check list...are you curious what the theme crazed mama made her kids (and husband) do this year?

It was that time of year again...

2011-11-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

time for trips to the farm.

time for hay rides.

hay mazes (that cole mastered in seconds)...

and taking in the sights.

time for adoring daddy...

posing with daddy...

and taking train rides,

that go round and round...

time for an abundance of corn...

(...and blogger not letting me delete duplicate photos)

time for pumpkin finding...

and pumpkin posing.

and full out pumpkin photo shoots.

time for perfect fall colors.

time to scour the patch for the perfect pumpkin.

no matter how long the search.

and feeling the satisfaction of finding the perfect one.

that makes the perfect seat.

or jungle gym.

time for cole to meet yet another random girl to take pictures with.

time for scaling walls.

and being brave.

while trusting daddy.

again and again.

time for playing around,

and helping dad shoulder the load.

It's time for fall and we are loving it!

ain't no thing but a chicken wing

2011-10-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

this is ali.

this is ali's new favorite movie.

this is ali's new favorite food.

this is ali savoring every bite of her new favorite food.

and this is ali's very proud daddy.

this is ali winning daddy over on a whole new level.

sealing bliss & people we miss.

2011-10-06T14:48:00.001-07:00

the best of reasons for a road trip presented itself a few weekends ago!

one of my requirements upon moving was that Justin bring me back when Jimmy and Jen were sealed. Luckily for me going to this blessed event for our besties was high on his priority list as well.

even if justin and jimmy weren't able to get a mandate in...

they have an AMAZING story and we felt lucky to be there for their day of Eternal togetherness.

yeah, I cried. but that was coupled with a grin from ear to ear. we couldn't be happier for them.

we also couldn't have been happier to be back in St. George!

we had three nights of sleepover awesomeness at the Woods house. that meant quality time with more friends we love, a late night jewelry run with Kim, yummy food, and 5 awesome boys who I am equally obsessed with. we kept them up for some late nights, after all I had to get every ounce of social event possible in!

Oh how I had missed all of our dear friends. It worked out that we were able to see many of those we go thru daily withdrawal over. I wish we could have had weeks to get all the hang out time in with everyone we wanted to see...oh wait that would be a lot like living there again...which I am totally up for. Thanks to everyone who came to see us, let us come see them, or donated their houses for visiting purposes. Poor Emily, we probably kept you up way past your bed time...but it was worth it in my book (and ali's)!

it was just further proof that St. George is still home to us.

and the cherry on top?

It just happened to be the week of the primary program!!!!! Yay!

due to a bug going around I was thrown right into the action...and I loved every second of it. and yes, I cried there too. I miss all those kids like crazy. I was serving as the primary president when we left and was so happy that I got to see all that practicing for the year pay off. oh how I miss their tender spirits and hilarious comments.

oh it was a fabulous weekend...anyone else want to give us a reason to come back there? It would be an easy sell.

our kid broke

2011-09-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

cole came in the house a little over 3 weeks ago screaming that he felt like he was "going to die" and holding his arm. oh dear. He fell at the neighbors house off their slide and must have landed weird on it. He calmed down and we watched him carefully the next few days. He no longer complained but he also wouldn't put his arm totally straight. He was playing and even writing with it, but it just all looked a bit awkward so we took him in. He thought the X-rays were awesome and the Doctor let him see the pictures of his bones. The X ray showed no break so we thought we were good to go...until the radiologist who specializes in pediatrics called the dr. up and said they thought there was a significant enough amount of swelling that could actually be hiding a fracture so they wanted it splinted for a week.

cole was a champ through all of this until they got the HUGE splint on...then he started to cry "mom, this thing looks so stupid! The kids at school are going to think I look dumb!" WHAT! my kinder-gardener cares what it looks like more than the fact that his arm may actually be broken? poor kid.

so after a week they re-x-rayed, still found no break, but decided due to where he said it hurt it was a fracture of the radial head (elbow) which was being masked in the x-rays by his growth plate.

so after all that we left the doctor with this...

which he was TOTALLY fine with. Apparently casts look WAY more cool that splints. He didn't care at all, as long as he got blue and his friends could write on it. I think his teacher even helped him feel cool with the splint on account of the new nick name she gave him..."muscles".

daddy adorned him with BYU symbols as soon as he got his hands on a cool enough marker. and watching kinder-gardeners sign this thing was hilarious. He even got to have some of his St. George buddies sign it when we headed down for a sealing last week.

he looks really broken up about it huh?

well as of Tues it is off. it was only a two week deal. and he was crazy brave when they pulled out the saw to get it off, even when they nicked him he assured the nurse "It's ok, it's only bleeding a tiny bit". if he is using it normally by the end of the week, then he is good to go...here's hoping!

Now if I could just get him back to writing with his right hand...

A Very Fairy Affair

2011-09-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

before we left St. George we had one last order of business.

we couldn't very well move without allowing ali the chance to celebrate her entrance into her 3rd year of life with her gal pals.

so a few pixie pals had these show up on their doorsteps...

with an invite to attend a

Very Fairy Affair

dressed to the nine's they arrived in style to celebrate with al.

(and don't worry the mom's were smiling just as big as mila due to the fact that this gathering meant one more bonding session for them as well.)

the attendees were greeted by these...

sitting on this...

(believe me I wanted to do more, but with the boxes piling high and check lists being compiled, it was a miracle we got a party in at all!)

as you know, every fairy needs a wand...and a bejeweled wand at that.

so the fairies got to work!

constructing your perfect wand is serious business.

it takes lot's of help from senior fairies

tons of jewels

and lot's of concentration.

and after all of that concentration fairies are bound to need some nourishment.

(usually I go all out and make the kiddos cakes...ok I have grand designs and then becca, jen or justin save me...but mid move there was no way that was happening, so we cashed in on the cake we purchased from Amy at the YW fundraiser...a few picture ideas and presto she came up with this! SHE IS AMAZING and it even held up in the freezer for a few weeks after the original party plans were cancelled due to some serious food regurgitation curtousy of the birthday girl.)

now...

fairies are very good at granting wishes...

but equally as good at making them.

thanks go out to all our little fairy friends and their fairy-godmothers for making all of her birthday wishes come true.

special K.

2011-08-22T10:23:00.001-07:00

it came...the day I have been preparing myself for.

my baby started kindergarten.

He was so ready, I was not.

but then I saw this face this morning and couldn't help but be excited for him.

we had already gone to meet the teacher night, so he was excited about his teacher. (He told justin that she was pretty and had pretty hair, what else could you possibly want from a kindergarten teacher?)

then we got to the mad house that was the school this morning...good thing I left my house so early...sheesh it was a zoo! full of crying parents. which is why his initial face looked like this...

don't worry it quickly changed to this mr. confident look.

I was able to hold back tears and only get a bit misty as he rounded the corner into the classroom. I was proud of myself.

and proud of my incredible son who walked in like a champ.

what a stud.

now I am counting down the minutes until I get to pick him up....love that kid.

Boise Shmoysie

2011-08-22T08:57:00.002-07:00

we have moved.

I have put off writing this post for as long as possible, but alas I have other things to blog about and so in an effort to keep this in a semi chronological order the time has come to bite the bullet and come to grips with the fact that we have moved. moved to Boise, Idaho.

I will be honest cows and poo were what first popped into my head when visualizing our new home. turns out it looks a bit more like this...

Justin was promoted to the Boise airport. he has MUCH better hours. We now live in a house with a garage and gorgeous backyard. our neighbors had us moved in in about an hour and then fed us at the block party. that was my attempt at being positive...

because, I miss St. George like CRAZY!

as usual the Enterprise move was quick and crazy. 2 weeks in total from finding out to moving in. during which we managed to squeeze in ali's birthday party, a final in person ASL class (we will continue them online), Justins trip to San Diego with the young men, a jewelry party hosted by myself for my friend, a goodbye party, a million play dates, a flu bug, packing a house and cleaning it, a trip to Boise to find a house, and I am sure I have left something out. It was a insane.

It would have been absolutely impossible to move with out the help of our amazing friends. So many helped us clean, pack, watched our kids, seriously it was humbling to have so many come through for us. The Dutro's deserve a special shout out, they were there from sun up to sun down on both moving days. They even provided food for all those who helped us move. It would be one long post if I listed all those who helped and I am afraid I would mess up and forget someone, so I will just say that we were completely spoiled. like beyond words spoiled.

Katie heard about us moving and immediately got to party planning...thank goodness, I needed a good distraction!!! how cute is this invite?

a bash complete with yummy food (potato bar in honor of Idaho), good friends, and crazy kids all over. They even gave us the most tender scrapbook. They had the kids in the ward fill out pages in it on the sly during primary and then our friends all wrote notes to us. It even had a 40 things we love about the Maddux family page. I was a gooey mess one page in, so you can imagine how the tears were flowing by the end.

I can't go too deep into how much I love these women (and a few not pictured) or I will start to bawl. So I will just say that some of my favorite people in this world are back in St. George. Women that I admire, adore spending my time with, and just plain love. kindred spirits. I will know you girls forever.

if nothing else we will be reunited when these two are teammates at BYU.

Justin and I both consider St. George to be home for us. and as such we will be visiting our family often. In many ways I feel like not even trying to be this close to people again because after all can you really strike gold twice? Cause pure gold is what these people are. (as Justin pointed out I have been blessed with wonderful friends my whole life so I guess there is hope.) I am sure I am way too social to actually give up on a social life, but still, I will be in mourning for a while. I said in church (when the Bishopric so cruelly made me bear my testimony our last Sunday there) that I had heard the quote "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." So I am going to try and smile, with only a few tears mixed in because I am so very happy it happened.

goldie (and some new) locks

2011-07-01T14:07:00.001-07:00

'lil miss ali got a much needed haircut today.

from this amazing lady who just happens to be her FABULOUS nursery teacher.

crazy as it may seem this was ali's first hair cut EVER.

so we decided to document it with a photo shoot.

which ali totally rocked.

thanks in part to her red boots her daddy (who is wrapped around her little finger) decided she just had to have.

the baby fine hair on the ends had to go and it looks so much better.

thanks to Ann it was a fabulous experience.

Ali loves her. and rightfully so.

the whole hand.

2011-06-18T13:03:00.001-07:00

when you are five it takes the whole hand to tell people how old you are.

you are mature enough to know that your friend that's a girl probably wouldn't feel comfortable at an all boy buzz party...

when you are five you are sweet enough to invite her for an afternoon lunch.

you are funny enough to tell jokes that make people laugh.

and tender enough to make sure she has a pink cupcake, cause it is after all her favorite.

when you are five, it's still ok to believe that super hero's are real.

and that you just might grow up to be one.

when you are five it's ok to be tough as a gun toting buzz one minute, and still want to cuddle with you mom the next.

when you are five anything is possible...

anything...from infinity to beyond.

happy birthday my five year old little man. you are sweet, thoughtful, hilarious, obedient, considerate, smart, kind, tough, huge, and adorable. we love you more than you will ever know.

"star command, prepare for launch of a 5 year old!"

2011-06-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

a few days before coles party, these arrived on some doorsteps...

with this inside...

on the day of the party cole was so excited for his fellow space rangers to arrive!

we had it all set up and ready to go. complete with goody buckets,

treat jars,

and one very intense banner made by one very crazy mother!

we were all set for an infinity and beyond of fun!

first the space rangers decorated their rockets.

while mom and dad put buzz a' top the cake!

(a HUGE shout out to Jen who taught me how to make fondant and made this all happen...she is the only reason this cake was able to come about...and how about those planets and stars? that was all justin folks! as well as the piping along the bottom.)

feel free to ooh and awe...esp after the hours we all spent on it!

but it was worth all worth it when we dug in along with these cute kiddo's!

rangers mckade and kody

ranger matthias

ranger michael.

and rangers carter and max.

(these party favors became swords...of course!)

we even had a few jr rangers and big sisters tag along for the ride!

after pizza (from pizza planet), cake, and a lot of play space ranger battles, it was time for gifts!

and boy was he spoiled...thanks guys!

think he had fun?

thanks to all our friends he sure did!

he got to open one gift from mom and dad after the party, since his actual b-day was not until the next day. he choose to open a pirate gift (his other obsession besides buzz).

what a fun day! thanks for partying with us guys!

beach bums.

2011-06-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

we headed over to play at the beach on one of our last days of vacation.

I absolutely love how happy the beach makes justin and the kids...so cute to watch.

I love how she clings to him at all costs as each waves approaches.
then it was time for some sandy fun!

ali tried her hand at burying cole.

which gave dad an idea.

that he ran with...much to cole's delight.

almost...and...

there...done!

and ali had to throw her weight around while she had the chance.

argph!

we loved every second of our family time this trip!

the magic kingdom.

2011-06-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

We headed up and stayed in a hotel the night before we went to

Disneyland!

Thanks to my brothers hook up at hotels and Justin's expert finagling we ended up with a sweet hotel room with a kid's suite attached for an awesome deal!

(even if we did end up being tricked into a $70 breakfast buffet!)

looks picturesque eh?

well with cole it was...

with ali it started more like this...

ah! He's huge! It got better inside Mickey's house though.

and by the time we got to Minnie she was all smiles.

and the inside of Minnie's house brought even more smiles...

Giant make-up she was allowed to touch, heaven for her.

Goofy's house was up next and we got to see him too.

after Toon Town we decided to split up. My mom, Ali and I went off to wait in the 1 & 1/2 hr long princess line, while Justin and Cole tackled the rides.

Although the wait was forever at least it was shaded. And then you turn the corner to the intimate little setting where it's just you and the princess.

Ali was all smiles in the line. She is a pretty animated kid (wonder where she gets that from) and she couldn't wait to see princesses, but when she rounded that corner all expression left her face and was replaced with a look that can only be described as "holy cow that's a real princess". She just starred...not a word. like it was sacred or something.

First up was Jasmine...not the friendliest...but none the less a real princess...

but then it was BELLE. Oh how I loved this girl. So cute with ali, so sweet to her. Ali was in awe.

she got right down on the ground and just loved on Ali.

she told ali she must be a princess too, because she had sparkling shoes.

Sleeping Beauty was WAY cute with her too.

up to this point all ali had done was nod her heard yes to the questions. Here is where she spoke her only words "That's my mom." and that was it...so serious about it too.

don't worry, she finally got a smirk out of her.

immediately after we walked out she became her chatty self. She had just been in absolute awe...she LOVED it...it was pretty dang cute.

then we moved onto Tinkerbell...who she is currently OBSESSED with.

same thing totally chatty and excited during the 20 minute line, then dumbfounded the minute she was with Tink.

Meanwhile Cole was busy riding ride after ride after ride...and this one got hit up 4 or 5 times.

blurry I know, but we had to document the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was definitely his fav. along with Pirates of the Caribbean.

Cole can ride most adult rides, but we met back up to go on some kiddy ones all together.

she loved this rocket ride...just look at her face!

at dinner cole tried his hand at photography...pretty good if you ask me!

then we tried the photo at the castle...a little special but it works.

then the boys went on a few more rides while we scouted out Sleeping Beauty's castle. In all my years going to D-land I never knew you could go inside!

she LOVED it! And this picture is proof that my mom was actually there.

We met back up later for a few more rides before the park closed.

like the tea cups...or as ali called them "the Hiccups".

as we walked down main street to leave ali was awed by the PINK CASTLE!

she kept saying it was hers...and for one perfect day this magical place was ours.

they were asleep before we got on the freeway...dreaming of buzz, mickey, and princesses no doubt.

It's true, it's just as magical through your kids eyes.

Monkeyin' around for FREE!

2011-06-16T21:21:00.001-07:00

We started out our San Diego trip with a guy from my parents ward giving us free tickets to the zoo and bus passes for the tour whoo hoo!

we headed for the monkey's first...

then onto the hippo's...
and of course a stop at that bronze hippo, I think I have one of me at every age sitting on that thing!

Ali thought the Panda's were cool.

but really wanted to see the elephants.

we stopped for some shade...

and wouldn't ya know it, she found herself an elephant!

but was much more impressed...

(look closely)

by the real thing!

then we headed for the arctic...we even got to see the polar bears at snack time right up at an open gate as their trainers fed them peanut butter! We were way to fascinated to be snapping pictures though.

then it was off to the "pride" of the zoo...get it?

this guy was amazing.

and Justin got some pretty amazing shots.

he was looking right at us!

overall it was a FABULOUS day, made all the more fabulous by the fact that it was FREE!

It was a great way to start of our trip 'o fun.

and did I mention ali was strollerless tha whole time...ah the freedom of kiddo's old enough to walk and actually keep up!

my "peeps"

2011-04-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday came bright and early due to the fact that our ward begins at 9am.

so the Easter bunny came and dropped some stuff off in our closet and then came back while we were at church to hide all the eggs and fill all our baskets.

(we had to fill cole in on the fact that he came early and dropped stuff off to moms and dads so he didn't have to carry it all because cole caught a glimpse of his Easter loot while we were getting ready for church. good thing dad know all the in's and out's of how the Easter bunny operates...few)

the night before we dyed eggs and left them on our kitchen counter, so when we came back from church the Easter bunny had placed all the good where we left our eggs.

not only goodies were found but a letter from the Easter bunny himself signed peter cotton tail to be exact. It was all about the real reason for Easter, our Savior, and it also explained how special their mommy is...which made mommy cry...that Easter bunny sure knows how to melt a mama's heart.

then it was picture time...I insisted on one good one before we tore into the loot.

easier said than done.

ali's weird eyes-closed-smile,

stoic poses,

shy faces (yeah right little miss)

and sheer admiration of big brothers...all made getting a great one difficult.

and of course the longer it took...the more "are we done yet?" looks we got.

and then they were just done, and I have to give them credit, they had incredible restraint against the lure of those baskets for longer than we could have hoped for.

so finally it was time to break into the goods and break out the happy dance!

which lasted a few moments, 'cause this was really exciting stuff!

the baskets were filled with games for cole, and a rapuzel doll and tinker bell movie for ali.

cole also got a movie and ali rocked some bunny ears.

I think she pulls it off.

then it was Easter egg hunt time...they were masters at this!

they found those eggs so fast they had time to stop and smell the roses.

how cute is this? the nursery kids made "centerpieces" at church (cutest leaders ever huh?)

after our family festivities we headed over to the dunlavy's for some yummy Easter dinner!

where we...

played with these people, and their parents.

(I love this picture on so many levels...it is hilarious to me)

ali was spoiled (as was I) with duct tape creations by Maddy,
(she was much more into this than she looks)

and cole played with his future football teammate max.

it was a ridiculous amount of fun and deliciousness all rolled into one.

what a great way to spend a special day.

how grateful we are for our Saviors sacrifice that made it so we can live with our loved ones eternally.

"we're going on a vacation!"

2011-04-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago (conference weekend) cole and ali came down from upstairs with their bags packed. cole announced that they were going on a vacation. I looked in his backpack to see what he had decided to pack. He had his PJ's and some toys he couldn't imagine leaving town without. ali was wearing her PJ's already so she just needed to pack toys in her bag apparently. Justin walked in the door just in time to see all of this happening. He asked cole what they were doing,

"we're going on a vacation!"

"oh where are you going?"

"on an airplane"

"oh, how are you going to pay for an airplane ticket?"

"I have money!" and he proceeded to pull out a handful of quarters, nickles, and dimes he had previously packed.

Justin said "well, I guess you are all ready, go ahead."

cole had this adorable look of "really!?" pasted across his face. and they headed out the door. Ali just kept saying the whole time, "we are going on vacation!"

she had fully believed her brother from the moment he brought up the idea that she was indeed going on vacation with her big brother.

so they headed out. little did they know daddy followed them the entire way. they walked around the neighborhood, but as much as they tried to avoid it they eventually came to a spot where a street had to be crossed. they stood frozen. after a few minutes Justin showed himself and asked what they were doing.

"we are waiting for someone to hold our hand so we can cross the street."

he had to try so hard not to bust out laughing at the sheer cuteness.

after a moment cole turned and headed back down the sidewalk and ali followed. they got about 1/2 way down the sidewalk when justin called them to come back home, saying that mommy missed them. ali turned looked at dad, thought for a moment and turned her back on him to hurry and catch up with cole. stinker.

he eventually prodded them home. where we proceeded to have a talk about only going on vacations after mom and dad have given their permission. (to avoid future excursions on their own since we said yes this time.)
it was too cute. ali would follow cole anywhere and fully trusts that he will take care of her. and cole is a pretty adorable and convincing big bro, I would probably believe him too.

pit stop!

2011-04-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

The city of St. George hosted a mini-indy and different business in the community purchased go-carts to both drive and sponsor. Enterprise decided to participate this year so a whole bunch of guys from the marketing dept at corporate came down to race and justin got in on the act too.

we went to watch on race day, which ended up being cold, rainy, and incredibly windy...but the kids still thought it was great fun to get to hang out with dad! in between one of the heats the kids got to play with the big kids toy.

I think this face is hilarious...he was so into it.

then dad hooked him up with some racing gear.

the teams were all supposed to have a theme. there was a dinner the night before and it was pretty fun to see everyone decked out. there were vikings, garden gnomes, and enterprise was 70's. Justin blew them all out of the water with his costume if I am being honest. He lucked out at DI with some awesome 70's apparel, but it was lenae who really hooked him up with the sun glasses, gold chain, and not pictured here but rocked at the dinner an amazingly awesome afro. the pants were bell bottoms and that red shirt had quite the collar.

bleedin' blue

2011-04-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

we got a 'lil decked out one night 'o march madness...

we went over to our friends the lindell's to BBQ and watch some b-ball. we of course are true blue...jimmy and jen...not so much, but they put their feelings aside to enjoy a jimmer-fest.

no clue why I couldn't get this video to turn the right way...but it's totally worth bending your neck a bit!

the leprechaun strikes again!

2011-04-17T19:20:00.001-07:00

on st. patricks day that pesky leprechaun broke in and left a rainbow trail to his treasure again!

cole and ali followed all the clues and collected lots of rainbow pieces. even buzz lightyear helped that tricky leprechaun.

after all the clues had been uncovered...

they finally found the

pot 'o gold(en chocolate)...

which was awesome.

another reason we LOVE st. george

2011-04-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

is because we get to go to places like this...( p.s. check out cole's feet in the photo above...they are huge! he is growing out of shoes like crazy!)

with our family for a quick day trip...

or with friends from out of town.

Justin's friend Sterling and his cute girlfriend and her son joined us on this trip out to Zion. Sterling and Justin came here years ago together on a trip out from michigan...a lot has changed since those teen years!

cole found a way to fish...with a stick.

and when that got old he trudged straight through the water.

ali threw rocks...

and some more rocks...

played in the sand...

and made faces that daddy loved...

it was a fun trip! Come again soon guys!

kindergarten-can't-cut-the-cord-blues

2011-04-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

ok not completely...but kinda.

a few weeks ago I registered this guy for kindergarten and I would be lying if I didn't admit that I had been slightly dreading it.

How is my baby this old?

I am going to miss having him around 24/7...he is my peace making child.

What if kids aren't nice?

I used to look at parents who would wait outside my classroom anxiously and think man cut the cord...granted I taught fifth grade which is a little different than kinder, or at least that's what I am telling myself so I don't feel like the crazy mom. but still...

Cole doesn't turn 5 until this summer so he will be one of the youngen's in the class. I feel somewhat robbed of a bit of time, although parents who have children who just missed the cut off last year assure me this is something to be thankful for. then I have parents who hear my feeling of attachment and know I am a teacher ask if I would ever home school...HAHAHAHAHA.

We went for his kinder physical at a pediatrician we had never seen down here before and they were a bit shocked to find out that he is still only 4 and so huge. For memories sake his stats were:

weight 49lbs (95%)

height 44 1/2 in (95%)

so even though he will be the baby I know he won't look it physically.

academically, he is so ready...in fact in every way he is so ready. The boy walks around wearing his backpack in preparation for school, asking me questions like were he will sleep when he goes to school. apparently he is so ready he is willing to leave the comforts of home altogether.

I asked him if he would rather go to school next year or play with mommy...after a long pause (no doubt trying to decide how to break this to mom without hurting her feelings, cause that's just how he is) he replied with quiet conviction (waiting for me to cry) "go to school."

dagger to the heart! no really I am glad he is excited. two of us an emotional mess would be a bit much to handle.

so we went and registered him, legal documents and proof that he had been jabbed the accurate number of times with a needle in hand. and you know what? It wasn't that bad.

I am at home in a school and felt instant excitement when we walked in the doors. PTA sign-ups, emergency cards, paperwork and all...so weird to be on this side of it all. He was so excited and it made him feel even more special when cute members of our primary who are in 5th grade said hi to him (love those kids). Then on the way out he stopped at the giant map on the ground to point out to me where everyone lived in which states in our family...he is so excited and such a sponge.

He will love it, I will cry all the way home from dropping him off, but I will survive.

and the tears will soon be muffled anyway as I try till I am blue in the face to explain to ali why she can't go too.

"smarkely"

2011-03-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

when my mom was in town we took ali to get her ears pierced. I had mine pierced when I was 3 and ali has been begging for months...so even though she is only 2 1/2 we made the pilgrimage to the mall to have it done. It was mostly my mom encouraging this...I wanted no part of seeing my baby hurt...even if it was for some dang cute reason. my mom assured me that she would hold her and be there with her and that I could leave the store and not even hear her cry. well, the parent HAS to stay in the store...crap...but my mom did hold her and keep her still. I saw those big alligator tears and my mom handed me the $ to pay and whisked her off to find some treat to pacify her.

when I had mine done I apparently cried all the way to the Hello Kitty store and was then lulled into a calm state by visions of girly pink prizes. so I fully expected to find my daughter in tears when I rounded that corner to track my mom down. about 10 steps from the Claire's that we had it done at, the mall has those cars you can ride for 50 cents. Ali was sitting in the ice cream truck, licking her sucker that the ear piercing lady had given her, looking happy as a clam. my mom said she had stopped crying before they even reached the ice cream truck, before my mom even told her she could ride...she is one tough cookie...who really wanted earrings.

She says things like "these are my earrings, I had my ears pierced, they are smarkely" all the time.

I have to admit I did not want to deal with the hassle of cleaning them and all that business, but ali has been a champ, she sits perfectly still while I swab them and loves that she is a big girl.

justin and I both had the same parental reaction...they make her look so old. That night we went in to check on her in her toddler bed and she looked huge. when did my baby become a little girl? ...a little girl with smarkely ears.

happy heart day!

2011-03-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

it was my turn for valentines day planning this year, so we headed back to the 1950's.

I had my pearls on, and a cold beverage in my hand as daddy walked through the door from a long hard day of work. cole and ali had memorized their lines and recited them right on cue as daddy came in.

(meanwhile the theme song from Leave it to Beaver was playing in the background)

cole: "hey pop!"

ali: "hello father."

me: "welcome home darling."

I had printed off a copy of the duties of a house wife from a home economics text book from the 50's. It was pretty hilarious, but we followed it to the last detail.

after we welcomed daddy home we sent him upstairs to change so we could head off to the diner (in our kitchen).

we rocked out to the juke box and had cheeseburgers with all the fixin's!

it was a pretty fabulous valentines day for everyone involved!

after we ate we pretended the couch was a car and we went to the drive in, ate popcorn in vintage popcorn containers, and enjoyed a movie as a family.

we love a chance to get a little creative!

up where the air is clear

2011-03-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

a few weeks ago the weather was perfect for flying kites and cole asked if we could break in his pirate kite.

think he had fun?

he got the hang of it quickly and loved it!

this picture just cracks me up. I can't help but chuckle when I look at it.

don't worry big brother shared the high flying goodness with his sister.

and she loved it too!

yay for spring and all the adventures it brings with it!

dino-mite!

2011-03-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

after living here for well over a year we finally made it to see the dinosaur tracks!

as you can see from cole's expression he was impressed by how crazy big they were.

it was a fun lil' family outting.

cole was quite interested in all that there was to see

and ali loved all the gravel and rocks to get into.

daddy and cole were totally interested in what the guide had to say.

and ali listened too...

and broke the rules...she wanted to jump right in that big fun hole in the ground.

but her favorite part was the dino drawing and stencils at the end.

cole thought that was pretty fun too.

but then everything is fun when we get a day to play together.

goin' on a bear hunt

2011-03-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

For family home evening daddy decided we should go on a bear hunt.

daddy set it all up. this was the tall grass they had to walk through.

and the couch cushions were the squishy mud.

he also had water running in the bathroom to make it sound like they were crossing a river, a fan blowing on them at the top of the stairs represented the wind, and he was hiding in the playroom growling like a bear and holding up a teddy bear...yeah he is a pretty fun daddy.

vintage vision

2011-01-31T10:33:00.001-08:00

With our recent anniversary I had been thinking a lot lately about what I would do differently if I were to go back in time. If you were around me at the time you would know that I couldn't have cared less about the details, it's true, I was so obsessed with the fact that I was getting married to Justin that I just didn't care about a lot of the extra stuff. I am glad that he was my focus and I loved my wedding day it was perfect. simple, elegant, and everything I could have wanted. and I LOVED my dress.

Now six years later I have fully embraced my obsession with 1950's vintage style. I have always loved the 1950's, which you know if you ever saw my room growing up, but now I love tying that vintage feel with a modern twist. so now that I have more distinct opinions on my personal style choices (thanks in large part to my cute husband's input and awesome finds!), I thought I would compile a little peak into what I would do now if I were to roll back the clock and tell past me what future me would love.

I realize that a few tweaks would have to be made so it didn't come off costume-ish but here is a glimpse into my day dreaming.

DRESS:

I have a few different options here, depending on how daring I felt.

this first one would have a cap sleeve added of course and I would extend it to the floor, but I am pretty much obsessed with it.

I also love the vintage feel of this one...

(although I am not really a tool person...however you spell that)

and for the totally dramatic...although I would remove the giant circles.

then for my hair, I would add a vintage clip like this,

and if I was REALLY feeling daring I might even go for one of these attached to the clip, or depending on the dress I went with maybe even the flower.

and then I would change into this little number as we left the reception and headed for the honeymoon.

COLORS:

would stay the same as I had them (black, white, and red-red being the red roses)

DECOR:

I would keep it the same as we had. It was elegant and simple.

and the long stem red roses would stay...as well as my bouquet of all red roses with no filler.

BRIDESMAIDS:

some variation of this,

or this

all would have to have capped sleeves or a cute cardigan, but you get the idea.

who knows 6 years from now I may look at this post and think what was I thinking! but for now this would be my wedding make over.

although I wouldn't actually change my wedding day, seeing as how it captures who you were at that moment, it's fun to think back to that time. and seriously if I went back in time and did it all over again, I would still think the best part of it all was that handsome man I was marrying.

And it's probably that feeling that makes a wedding and marriage timeless anyway.

year number 6 of wedded bliss

2011-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

Six years ago, on January 21, 2005, I married my very best friend.

The man I had been crushing on for a good 5 years prior to those nuptials. I was smitten from the very beginning. Nothing, not even pool balls to the face, spaghetti flipped in the Morris Center, or tears at a board game could detour my affections. He was so worth the years of obsession.

I have to say that from the very beginning, long before we ever dated, he has treated me like someone who is incredibly special. He has always been there, watching out for me and making sure I was happy. Can you blame me for having a never ending crush on someone like that?

We could always talk. We never had trouble opening up and being each others confidante. It has always felt safe to trust him with everything. Whether it be serious or just laughing for hours, it has always been so easy to be together.

Our story may have taken a while. But I kind of love that we have a history so fun to tell. I can never tell our story without laughing about so much of it. One day I will have to write it all out here, and have Justin type up his version too...that would be entertaining for sure. But for now I will just say that as obsessed with him as I was six years ago as we knelt in the temple, I am even more obsessed now.

and justin, as giddy as that girl was that day six years ago, I so beat her in the giddy-ness department when I see you walk in the door each evening and see our kids run and tackle you yelling "daddy!" and see you head toward me, the girl who had that ridiculous crush, and see that look in your eyes, and know that it's for me.

Happy Anniversary to us!

it's official, he's 30!

2011-01-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

On January 6th Justin became a true grown up!

I decided to do what justin wanted for his birthday...so it was pretty minimal.

I am super social and justin is a fan of having people over too, accept not when he feels like the center of attention. So while I would normally have planned a big get together, I decided to keep it super simple and so the party was intimate...but fun!

I also decided to ask him what kind of cake he actually wanted rather than doing what I wanted...he choose carrot cake...seriously? not wanting to be the center of attention and no chocolate? opposites definitely attract.

so I dutifully made a carrot cake and kept the celebration small...to the point that instead of singing happy birthday to him (which he finds agonizingly uncomfortable to sit through as everyone focuses on him) we just said happy birthday to him...really loud.

and I have to admit...simple turned out to be really fun.

he was also spoiled on the gift front this year. I found the BYU Football Vault book...which has a picture of justin in it, how cool is that?! He also got a subscription to National Geographic, and the best of all?...2 tickets to see Bill Cosby live!

It was a perfect birthday...a simple day to celebrate an anything but simple man.

I won't get too gushy on here considering our anniversary is this week and there will be a tender post then...and so in keeping with his birthday request I will keep it simple.

we love you and we feel lucky to have you.

happy birthday you highly attractive, amazingly wonderful man!

family night fun!

2011-01-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

last Sunday night we asked cole what he wanted to do for family home evening that monday.

his reply? "I want to build a tent!"

daddy got right to work making that happen when he got home from work.

and this is what he came up with...have I mentioned I love this man?

It was pitch dark in our living room when I was taking these pictures...so its a miracle they turned out.

here they are entering the tent, justin made them repeat a password to enter.

can you see his grin? I see dimples...he was OBSESSED with this.

ali loved the adventure too, almost as much as she loves her daddy.

look at their faces, they loved every minute of our tent singing session.

daddy's make the best tents...and the best 'lil memories.

baby it's cold outside

2011-01-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

my sweet boy kept telling me how much he wanted snow for christmas...in St. George that is a bit of a long shot...but it happened, a few days late that is!

we woke up Monday morning to a pretty good snow fall.

I asked cole if he had looked outside yet...and boy was he a happy fella when he looked out the window.

ali was pretty excited herself.

the first moments were pretty tender.

cole started talking about snowballs,

so ali picked up a hunk and informed me that she too had made a photo worthy snow ball.

cole's FAVORITE thing to do in snow is eat it.

so ali tried that out too.

then it was off to play.

until she informed me her gloves were "dirty" (had snow on them), and she refused to wear them, here she is ditching them, but then cole was doing something new and fun that she just had to check out.

snow angels!

here is ali's version.

then cole took it upon himself to teach ali how to make a real snowball.

which she threw at him...don't worry he dodged it.

watching them was hilarious. they had a ball together.

and ran themselves ragged.

honestly, I thought she would be a wimp without the gloves on...she was way too busy to feel a little thing like frost bite set in.

once they did their damage on the front yard, they moved onto the backyard.

I adore this picture of ali, just taking it all in.

and don't worry that she did bust out a chorus of "baby it's cold outside".

meanwhile, cole was like a man on a mission.

he had snow to throw,

poles to lick (just kidding, but tell me your mind didn't go to that movie when you saw this picture),

and snow to roll

(daddy had taught him this trick to make a well constructed snowman.)

yes, he had a lot of things to check off that list of how to be 100% boy on a snow day.

I thought this was so tender, it gave be flashbacks to seeing him sit in the snow when he was just a 'lil tike, ah how my baby has grown...into a huge 4 year old specimen.

who has fun like no other in the snow...

here he is holding a true st. george snowball...

yep, those are rocks rolled up in there, good thing he is a gentle giant who didn't attack his sister with this find!

but seriously how pretty is this contrast?

this is my kind of snowfall, once a winter, perfect amount to play in, and gone the next day.

and yes, ali made it the whole time glove free, and when she finally decided to come in she was holding her shoes and explaining to me that they too were "dirty". ah yes standing socks only in snow makes perfect sense when your shoes are "dirty".

"baking" up a "buzz" worthy christmas of perfection

2010-12-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

It was a very merry christmas 'round the maddux abode!

santa came through!

the "big buzz lightyear with the blue circle belt from star command" was awaiting him christmas morning. "IT CAME!" were his exact words "my buzz came!" he was so stinkin' cute. for the full effect tune into the next post (blogger is being silly right now) and watch the video...it's classic.

the adorable thing is that as obsessed as he was with getting a buzz, he was equally if not more excited for ali to get her kitchen. he is the early riser (although he miraculously slept 'till 8) but he quickly ran back up to wake our sleeping beauty up and with a voice full of joy announce to her that her kitchen had indeed come.

she was equally obsessed...she hasn't stopped playing with her kitchen since.

my parents found ali the cutest bake ware ever. I think it deserves a future post all unto it's own. seriously who knew they made actual miniature spring form pans that you can really bake with? the cookie set pictured below has a real cookie sheet in it that just happens to fit in her oven with perfection. seriously, it needs it's own post.

(and check out her awesome bed head)

here is her cute new serving set...my mom found these too. they are heavy duty serious plates. as you can see she set right to using them.

and set a place for her knew obsession, molly...she deserves her own post too.

and then what to do? make cookies of course...she is her mother's daughter.

yep, onto the pan and straight into the oven.

and while one has a batch in the oven, who could resist eating a little ice cream. this is a doug and melissa set of wooden food, and I heart wooden food...I just hope it never becomes a weapon 'cause those things could inflict some serious damage.

and this is the felt food that mommy made. I have been working on this stuff for a while and have to give justin his props as well...he made the carrots and peas pictured here. I love having a husband who is secure enough in his manhood to craft with me.

and what was cole doing during all this kitchen fun? patiently waiting with woody in tow while daddy opened the long awaited "buzz"...and raveled the 2, 000 twist ties that kept him prisoner in all that packaging.

ali continued to play with her kitchen...she was so into it that I couldn't even get her to turn around and look at me.

this is the best I could get people...a random "quick mom take the picture, while I give you this weird I'll-take-pity-on-you-and-let-you-take-one-picture-of-me-face...but hurry!" and I was lucky to catch this, 'cause it only lasted 4 seconds!

yep, still doing this...

meanwhile ali moved on to making us all yoger-et as she calls it.

and finally...

success!

the hilarious thing is that he tried to take these upstairs still in the boxes and put them away so they would be safe before ever opening them...that is how precious these are to him. when we finally convinced him to open them he was very protective of them.

so here is the food (minus one cookie that is currently being played with)...and the grocery sack justin and I made to hold it all out of fun foam.

there are sandwhich options like PB and jelly, as well as cold cuts. asparagus because its ali's favorite, bacon that has raw and cooked sides, a banana that comes out of it's peel, bowtie pasta with sauce and parmesan, potatoes and gravy, a T-bone steak, one random strawberry because I got sick of making them after one, carrots and peas made by daddy, pancakes, eggs, chicken nuggets, and chocolate chip cookies. there is still so much more that I want to make! I will add to this stash as I get more masterpieces completed.

my favorite picture of the whole morning was one where I caught cole doing this...somehow it was tragically deleted and so I had cole play with them while I had the camera out so I could semi-recapture the tender moment...good thing he is obsessed so it wasn't hard to do!

we keep catching him playing and saying things like

woody: "where did you come from?"

buzz: "santa brought me for colton."

woody: "for colton!"

and he keeps putting them up in the play room and shutting the door so they are alone...he is hoping to go in randomly and catch them in a live state...it's pretty cute.

cole also has continuously locked all of our bathrooms since buzz arrived...when asked why in the world all the bathrooms keep getting locked he replied "I don't want ali to get buzz wet and ruin him."...haha to be honest, smart move.

he loves these to pieces and while he normally gives ali anything she wants, these were special to him and so we were ok with him keeping them to himself for the day...the thing was if ali even came near where they were he would yell out "No! ali don't get my buzz! oh no she is going to get my woody" we were alerted any time she even came in the general vicinity of them...

but daddy is a genius and after a while I walked into find this had replaced the anxiety...

ali had grabbed her jessie and daddy had convinced them to have a picnic...cutest daddy ever.
the anxiety issues over buzz and woody almost dissolved after that point.

and what is with this new stink eye face when I ask for a smile?
she kills me.

so now that cole was ready to share, it was even more adorable.

and ali leapt at the opportunity and laid them all down for a sleep over...

buzz, apparently sensing danger escaped the first chance he got.

but it was ok because molly was there to occupy ali. ali was given this baby alive by her grandma and grandpa...my parents must be trying to get me back because it poops and pees...we will not be using that function. over all though it is adorable, she named it molly. she bounces it on her hip, tells us she is "so stinky" and changes her diaper. it wiggles (which freaked her out at first), coo's, cries, giggles, and burps...as well as makes sucking sounds when you feed her with her bottle. remarkably it's not annoying, thanks to an on/off switch.

my parents came up the week before christmas and gave it to her so she has had it a while and packs it everywhere...that's why in the video cole comes packing molly down for her...he was trying to save time and get her down faster!

it was a wonderful weekend...I mean look at their faces.

we had a very peaceful weekend at home and the kid's got to help us do some things to help santa get to some other kids which made christmas a special time. we had a turkey dinner, watched movies, went to the park, and thoroughly enjoyed each other. cole and ali helped us tell the story of Christ's birth and although we were not there to see Jesus recieve his gifts of "gold and merb" as cole calls it, we felt truly blessed to know what happened that special night, that made it so we can enjoy our family like we did this holiday, throughout eternity.

singin'...in the rain

2010-12-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

it's pouring rain outside...which I love. love. love.
especially since I did all my errands yesterday and can enjoy the pitter patter from my nice cozy house.

I should probably be blogging christmas day events right now, but Justin has the camera with the sd card from that day in it with him, so that's out.

so what to do in the rain...sing!

I have been meaning to catch ali's constant singing on video, and today was the perfect day to capture it. Let me first say that ali sings constantly and listens to whatever I sing around the house (which may or may not be constant as well) and then incorporates it into her repatouir (I know I butchered that). I also thought I should document a little interview with her while I was at it. ...and after you watch the interview you will see why it was ok the camera died before I tried to catch her letter sound abilities on film...she was less than cooperative on her name...I can only guess how the sounds of the alphabet on command would have gone over today...but then that's an accurate portrayal of miss ali. completely aware and capable of showing off what you want her to...but only performs on her terms. but then when you see the other video's you will see why her

per-son-al-i-ty

makes all that stubbornness bearable.

sorry in advance for any sea sick feelings due to her constant motion...that is also ali in a nut shell.

video 1: interview (and cole chimming in...why oh why did they pick woody as the main character's name in toy story? )

video 2: santa claus is coming to town, a seasonal fav of her's.

video 3: polar express song...she was obsessed with this song from the moment she heard it. video 4 is a better version of it though.

video 4: the better polar express version.

video 5: this one she learned in nursery and particularly gravitated towards due to the ali-gator in it. I love her theatrics with it, she toned it down a bit when the camera was on believe it or not, but you get the idea.

oh there are so many more I could ask her to perform...but you are probably video-ed out if you even got this far. so enjoy grandparents and those of you that hung in there to watch our rainy day antics...ali just informed me when watching these herself "oh, that's adorable".

santa claus came to town...

2010-12-24T08:35:00.000-08:00

Santa came to visit our ward Christmas party!

cole wasted no time scurrying to join the line. he looked up at me with his fists clenched and the biggest smile I have ever seen while jumping up and down and said (in a high pitched excited voice) "this is so exciting!"

if you have been around my son at all this year, you won't even need to read this next part to know what he asked santa for...look at him all business as he says in one breath "the big buzz lightyear with the blue circle belt from star command!"

cole is VERY excited about santa this year and making sure that he checks with me everyday to be sure he was good and that I am not calling santa to tell him otherwise! he informed me that we need to leave santa cookies and milk and make sure dad doesn't eat them...

then there was little miss. she liked the bribe santa gave her...

but other than that wasn't so sure at first...don't worry big brother came to the rescue, stepping up and informing Santa that ali wants a kitchen.

after that she warmed up a little bit.

so basically...

dear santa,

glad you planned ahead and read my children's minds. 'cause I

sure haven't seen that blue circle belt buzz in stores for a while

now and that would have been a tragedy.

a michigander turkey day.

2010-12-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

this year for turkey day we headed down to:

poor justin has not been home on this holiday for 12 years...football schedules, work, and prices have all had their hand in foiling his holiday plans. but this year a true miracle occurred when we found $117 round trip tickets ($135 after tax)...told you a miracle had occurred!

we have not seen round trip tickets to Michigan for that price EVER.

delta...thank you for dropping your prices for the one day we booked on. you made my husband a happy happy man...although I think it was more blessing than luck...we know Heavenly Father must have had more to do with this one than delta!

so justin got a week off cleared and we hit the road...air.

we discovered how easy travel is with kids that are no longer babies. you have to pack so much less, they can walk, be entertained by a DVD player, color, and yet are still young enough to pass out before we even leave the runway (ali on the return flight).

justin calls me a weather snob...what can I say a childhood in san diego ruined me for all other weather. so I will first say...it was cold.cold.cold. but the fun we had with family balanced all that teeth chattering out. actually the only day that was horribly cold was the day were supposed to see this guy...

play his last college game. gee jeff, could you look a little more intimidating? luckily justin is fully aware of my pansy-ness and opted to have ali and I stay home and away from the freezing temps. good thing to, he called me a few minutes in and said even he (who shovels snow in shorts) was freezing and ali would have been a mess there...not to mention me.

but cole and justin braved the elements and stayed to support jeff and ....

(central michigan)

and watch jeff...who is huge...play. cole was a trooper (with 15 layers of clothes on) and loved the time with daddy and family.

this is not from the game they watched but it illustrates how fun jeff is to watch!

we had a fun filled week. ali and cole were obsessed with everyone there and soaked in every minute. their cousins katie and kyle are their new favorite people. they played adorable together...especially cole and kyle...total BFF's. It was so fun to watch them all run around together.

we headed to battle creek for the actual turkey day festivities, with the extended fam. which is where uncle jordan and papa were finally able to win ali over. from that day on she was obsessed with them both.

cole was attached to nana's side the whole time.

justin got to meet up with his high school pals aaron and ryan. it was fun to see him reminisce and hear all the hilarious stories.

cole loved every minute of having a backyard to play in. even if there were no kids out there with him he was totally content. this is how I know he has his father in him...he loved being outside in the freezing cold. it was so cute to watch him through the windows exploring and just being a total boy.

we had a wonderful time. we saw Tangled (adorable), got to go to a real mall (we are deprived here in st. george), and curled up watching movies while eating warm cinnamon rolls, or fresh from the oven cookies. with a few bouts of the flu being the only down side (12 hour bug)...it was pretty much a fabulous vacation.

cole hated to leave nana, and ali's last words to papa were "tell me a story". it was adorable. we wish we could see them more often...so basically bring on those $117 tickets anytime!

my only regret? we didn't bring the camera...hopefully we get some pictures emailed to us soon!

we miss you already!

man trip!

2010-11-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

a couple weeks ago some of the youth in our ward headed down to the BYU vs UNLV game, and justin was able to get field passes and take cole along!

(not sure why these pictures are importing so small, I'll see if I can fix it later)

so here are my boys chillin' on the field...

where justin got to catch up with his coaches and show cole all around.

and give cole an up close look at a a big part of daddy's college days.

they had a great time and soaked in the perfect day!

it's crazy to think that the first time cole was at a BYU game I was preggers with him and daddy was playing...who knows maybe some day he will wear the same uniform as daddy...you never know!

a bad case of the polka dots

2010-11-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

have you ever read this book?

it's darling, and has a good message, but this past month it popped into my head constantly because ali too was plagued with an equally insane pattern...polka dots...for real.

I could not blog about this until now, because now it's over and is just something we went through, but at the time it was so sad to me that to think about it for one more moment than I had to, like say thinking about it while blogging, was just not a good idea. that may seem melodramatic and silly to those who have gone through something far more challenging, but at the time I was just too emotional to think about it...it was just so odd.

so ali one night all the sudden had these weird purple spots show up on her legs, followed shortly by bruises popping up around her joints. not what any parents wants to see right before bed time...or anytime for that matter. anyway, we have seen ali have weird skin reactions to viruses before and she had been coughing, so when we called our dr.'s office they said to give her benedryl and watch to see if it cleared up.

it didn't.

it got worse, covering her legs, joint swelling-to the point where my baby was limping (at night particularly) when she tried to walk around. we took her in obviously before it got to this point, and it looked like something called HSP which can effect you kidneys and we were told to bring her back in weekly with a urine sample to monitor her kidneys, that there was nothing they could give her for it, and that it could last a few days, weeks, or even a year...what?

so we dutifully brought her in for her one week pee test and by this point it was spreading to her tummy and arms, with hand swelling, and one day her nose was even slightly swollen. the same PA saw her and went to get the doctor...this time it was my friend Ashley's pediatrician who she trusts as much as I trust mine up in provo. he took one look and said that it was erythema multiforme and stevens-johnson syndrome (mouthfull?) which does not effect the kidneys (few), and as weird as this sounds he said, do nothing it will go away in 3-4 weeks and it won't be something that is recurring...and the music to my ears...this is the worst it will get....it should not spread anymore. hallelujah. all of her side effects like swelling and bruising at the joints...normal. and it was not contagious. just a reaction to a virus she had had at some point.

to back track a bit, when this first all happened she was given a blessing that said that it would clear up in a few weeks and resolve itself. so hearing the doctor say that same thing was my own testimony builder. through it all she was such a trooper. talk about a tough kid. she limped around like tiny tim, and told us that her feet had a headache, and that her legs hurt (I know, rip my heart out), but she never stopped being resilient 'lil al who tried her best to run around catching up to her brother. (who by the way asked every night in his prayers that his sister would get all better.)

It was so weird. her legs were COVERED in spots, that were caused by capillaries bursting under the skin leaving bruises (don't quote me on the science of all of this that's justin's department), that would fade only to be replaced by new marks, or bumps like hives that would flatten out leaving more bruising. her arms never got as bad and it only took over the bottom half of her tummy. and then amazingly it started disappearing. more dots would appear, but they seemed to be disappearing in larger numbers that their replacements were coming in. sigh/holding breath to make sure it was really leaving.

it is completely faded now, and I am so relieved. I knew from the blessing it would be ok...but it's still hard to see your baby hurt and not be able to fix it.

so my polka dot baby is back to her normal self...almost...she has NEVER been clingy. nursery transition at church was a breeze, she didn't care at all when we dropped her off there and now? she got used to being held and snuggled and apparently developed an attachment to it, because on sunday not only did she cry her eyes out, but even after daddy rescued her the whole ward had to listen to her pitiful "I want mommy" chant until the end of church when I was no longer teaching sharing time and could appease her.

I'll take it.

I will take reintroducing her to independence over seeing her sick any day.

goodbye polka dots, hello normal-gorgeous-never-take-you-for-granted-again skin and joints. oh how we missed you.

Neverland and the Maddux clan

2010-11-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

halloween was spook-tacular for us this year!

it started off at the ward halloween party...

it was so fun to get into it with the kids.

my mom found this tinkerbell costume months ago after I mentioned I was thinking ali would make a cute tinkerbell this year, and the rest just fell into place after that.

cole thinks pirates are awesome and he loves the movie peter pan so he was just a little excited about our theme...

seriously how cute is he? Captain Hook was all about posing for the camera this year...so much easier than last year...alas my baby is growing up...

but don't worry ali fell right into the-hard-to-wrangle-in-a-photo-child role. this is the best I could get...
(and if you are looking closely yes those are dots on her legs...a topic for a whole seperate post...ali has had quite the month poor child. and that is a bite mark on her arm, not ring worm, from a run in with an equally stubborn gal pal.)

please note the adorable tinkerbell shoes that I had to search hard to find, that she for some reason refused to wear in this picture, but has been otherwise obsessed with.

a huge shout out to my friend Ashley who whipped this wendy costume up for me! I know super talented huh?!

and an ever "huge-er" shout out to my fabulously secure husband who worked this

Mr. Smee costume like nobodies business. seriously he is such a good sport. love him.

(he and cole would only call each other Captain Hook and Mr. Smee around the house.)

the ward party was tons of fun. it was a carnival/dinner/trunk or treat event.

ali got a hang of the trick or treating really fast...does she look happy about her haul or what?

in fact she was still obsessed with it 2 days later when it was time to trick or treat. instead of running off to the first house she stooped down and inspected her candy in her "pocket" as she calls it that was still there from trunk or treating.

we eventually got her going though...

but that was short lived...this was her after the first house, crouched down admiring her spoils.

cole was all about it and up for visiting every last house.
daddy eventually had to resort to this...

and speaking of daddy...he gets the award for cutest daddy ever this year...

he planned and exicuted this awesome acivity all by himself. he made hot apples cider, dyed it red, and added dry ice. then he had dried fruit, but told cole and ali that it was lizard tounges, spider legs, tail of rat...you get the idea...look how into this they were...

and who wouldn't be when daddy puts something like this infront of you!

and let's you throw "gross" stuff in...

...to something that looks like this!

it was awesome...he even replaced the kitchen lights with a black light.

it was ADORABLE.

the kids LOVED every minute of their "potion making".

I think it needs to be a tradition.

and as if it could have gotten any cuter daddy ended the night with hilarious monster stories.

basically this halloween was rediculously fun.

hope you had fun too!

Happy Haunting!

brain-ee-AAK!

2010-11-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

we opened our door to a suspicious knock friday night and found this!

sick huh?!

we were admiring it and I had just said "I bet this was Jen's handiwork", when the whole Lindell clan knocked on our door with these!

how cute is Jen? we love our neighbors and it's just icing on top that they happen to be stinkin' talented!

Mr. & Mrs. Pumpkin Head

2010-10-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

so this year we tried something different with the kid's pumpkins.

we wanted them to be able to do a lot of it, and when I saw these at target I knew it would be a hit!

thanks to toy story our kids are obsessed with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head.

I was especially excited when I got home and confirmed that the pieces would indeed work with their potato heads after halloween was over and they were no longer needed for the pumpkins.

first up was ali, how cute is justin?

she watched mesmerized and helped daddy...do you think she was happy with her princess potato pumpkin or what?

then it was cole's turn.

he was able to do a lot of it and thanks to his pirate obsession...

he was one happy boy too!

they then decided they were so scary they needed to roar at them. I love how ali looks to cole and copies his crazy ideas. partners in crime these two.

all in all, it was a success. It was fun to try something different, and we will still actually carve mommy and daddy pumpkins, but they were able to do all of this and it was a hit.

cole insisted on labeling his pumpkin, and when he was done ali said "do mine!" so hers was labeled by cole as well.

(If you look closely you will see that both the pumpkins and cole and ali are holding hands.)

and for all those not close enough to hear the say it in person cole and ali have a message for you!

happy halloween!

how do you like them apples?

2010-10-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

our friends the greens invited us over for a "sweet" FHE.

we took this.

dunked it in this and added deliciousness.

and ended up with this.

yeah, they didn't last long.

fall

2010-10-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

oh how I love you fall.

there is just something about fall that is making me so happy this year.

I love the quote from you've got mail that says something to the effect of loving new york in the fall "I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils..."

it's just the overall feeling made up of a dozen tiny little random things that are making me smile.

like seeing pumpkins everywhere. halloween preparations are in full swing and while I am a HUGE wimp about all things scary, there seems to be enough that I find fun to outweigh all that scary business. collecting costume pieces means shopping and the thrill of the hunt for that perfect costume addition.

...and making these. pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. yum.

and the way fall is making me want to constantly craft. my current obsession has been searching for halloween cuteness and making felt play food for a certain someones christmas gift. doesn't this felt pumpkin pie make you want to craft? and while mine will probably be a little less polished it will be made with love, that counts for something right?

I also love the way fall smells. pumpkin patch candles are filling my house with the scent of fall and I am soaking it all in.

this fall brought with it the release of this classic from the disney vault. fall makes me want to curl up and watch movies with my family.

while listening to my favorite thing about fall...the rain. we have been poured upon the past few days and I am loving it. I have had excited little ones at my house as they crowd around the windows to watch. the rain took a break today and I have my blinds closed imagining it is still gloomy and wet. denial? yes, I know. but it makes me happy to think fall is finally here after months of 100+ degree heat. I mean you have no idea how excited I was to bust out the fall clothes the past few days.

so fall keep it coming I am thoroughly enjoying every moment of you.

a little night music

2010-09-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

this is that we were up to last night!

we LOVE tuacahn and we were so excited to take the kiddo's to Tarzan.

It lived up to our expectations in every way.

cole and ali were in awe. ali saw the "monkeys" swinging in over her head and looked up pointing saying "it's my monkey!"

cole was glued to the stage. in awe of it all. he loved the "little tarzan" and clapped like crazy after every song.

ali was also amazed by the music. but she takes after her mother obviously, and wanted to be up there doing everything because as soon as a ballad would be performed I could hear her softly singing, it was so tender.

she really liked all the swinging about. she kept saying "the monkeys are flying!"

we all LOVED it.

Cole really wanted to see the characters up close but froze, star struck when he saw them. It was so obvious that he was in absolute awe.

he did muster a hi-5 for kala and young tarzan, but the others got stares and wide eyes as he took it all in.

the show was amazing, the music was great, and all the interaction above the audience with the high flying was incredible. we had great seats and were so happy the kids loved it as much as we did.

ali did eventually konk out about a 1/2 hour before it ended but I am sure she has sweet dreams full of high flying apes.

and she has already asked to go see her "monkeys" again.

something old, something new.

2010-09-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

at the beginning of this month we got to go down to San Diego and spend some quality family time together.

one of the days we were there we headed down to old town. I had not been there in forever and this was justin's first time. grandma volunteered to watch ali so cole could have time with just mom and dad. we had fun looking in all the shops, but the highlight was definitely the mormon battalion. having grown up there I have been to this many a time, but it was nowhere near as cool as it is now!

for example it is way more interactive now...here is cole getting outfitted in his battalion uniform.

and holding the way heavy gun.

the window to the side of the picture was actually a screen that came to life as the characters in the battalion's story told their tale. this happened in several of the rooms we were in.

(I know this picture is dark, but I loved the hat on him.)

then after all the rooms inside we headed outside to pan for gold! It was adorable. the kids got to keep whatever they wanted from the "stream".

daddy and cole both thought this was pretty great.

he was loving all that there was to do.

then he washed off his finds at the pump.

and headed off to make some bricks...or build with them rather...such a boy.

daddy got pretty into it all too.

it was a really fun FREE activity.

and we all loved it.

they even take your picture for you at the end and email you a file as well.

time well spent.

warning: maddux overload.

2010-08-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

before we begin, I know that this is out of control. but there were too many good pictures that we wanted our families to see. so this post is for those who are not opposed to obscene amounts of pictures of the maddux family.

val and mike came down again with there cute kiddo's and we were thrilled to get some new family pictures! we decided we had to do some at the red rock to document that we live in st. george. so the first half were there and the second half were at the airport...just for fun.

and we are obviously very happy with the way they turned out. the funny thing is that every time val has done our family pictures and our kids have been well, kids... I think, man I hope we get at least a few that aren't a disaster. and then I spend forever pouring over 20,000 good ones wondering which ones to put up in our home. she is good.

so let's begin the picture fest.

how cute is he? he turned it on as soon as the camera was on him!

he loved having stuff to climb on, that's for sure.

he reminds me of a lizard with his pose here.

I can hardly stand how perfect this one turned out...hence my posting 3 versions!

we were shocked when we saw what val got out of her...considering what we thought ali had given her was a bit crazy!

I love her 'lil smile

a lot.

I LOVE this little moment caught on film. it totally looks like she is telling him a story and he is laughing away. they are so dang cute to each other.

haha...she did not hold back on what she thought of this whole thing.

ok, justin loves this because he says it looks like cole is trying to explain his crazy girl friend like "look guys, she's not that bad, just give her a chance." haha

melt.my.heart.

(as chandler bing would say:)

could they be any sweeter?

she was giving daddy kisses.

and then it was father-son time.

again...melt.my.heart.

I love his little expression here.

and then daddy decided to put cole in a rock.

really high...which he didn't mind.

must be a guy thing...

oh but wait...ali got in on the action too...look at this proud dad face.

and mom hiding her terror.

airport shoot

2010-08-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

so, I was obsessed with the idea of having an old truck in our photo's this year, it just seemed like a fun background that we could play around with. but after scouring st george and finding the perfect setting that turned out to be a farm surrounded by barbed wire that nobody seemed to own or have any contact info about who did own it, I was about to give up on the idea of a random, fun, unique background when justin came to the rescue and thought of the airport! he does deals for them at work and they were totally up for it. It was perfect. shaded, colorful, and there was even this random bench that is so retro its cool just hanging out waiting for us to put it to good use!

this is my absolute favorite of the kids.

I love this one especially in black and white.

ah, the tender couple shots.

who wouldn't gaze longingly at that man!

something about the way this picture is configured makes me so happy.

love.

my shirt is sitting funky, but I still like it.

ali doing things her way as usual.

I LOVE how this candid shot turned out.

he is even cute when he looks melancholy.

this is one of my over all favorites. it just makes me happy to look at.

and I love where the plane is in position to us.

look family pictures can be fun, our faces prove it...even if there are some death stares I may have neglected to post.

I am also a big fan of this one.

this is why I love val. some photographers would have been impatiently yelling at ali to stop wondering off...she sees a moment and captures it.

just for fun.

another successful shoot. thanks val!

if you are looking at getting family pictures done, you cannot beat val, nor her prices.

she is good with kids, stays calm, is genius, and will get just as excited about the shots of your family you love as you do.

if you are interested you should head on over to her site.

http://photographybyvalerie.blogspot.com/

(you will die when you find out what she charges, so inexpensive and for her quality work...it's insane.)

potty princess part 2, for real this time, hopefully.

2010-08-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

(not a potty picture, but at least a potty pose! I think this picture is funny and it will so not be making it into the family picture montage soon to appear on our blog, so I went with it.)

ok, so a few months ago I posted that ali was obsessed with the potty, which she was. so after dragging my heels about going through the stress of it all I decided not to be lazy about it and just get going.

well, of course ali decided that it was no longer interesting the moment I jumped on board...knowing ali I am not surprised. she is a stubborn little thing and it had to be on her terms.

so imagine my surprise when her lonely bright pink potty go some major attention last week when she suddenly decided to pull off her diaper and wander in on her own to do her very lady like business.

a fluke maybe? I decided not to get too excited about this, considering her waining interest the last time I got my hopes up. but it continued all day, with no accidents. then a dry diaper in the morning followed by an immediate trip to the potty all on her own. all day I would hear her stop what she was doing and run downstairs to use her potty.

this has continued for several days now. most mornings are dry diapers and she even has dry diapers after running errands for hours (and she goes straight in to go when we arrive home.) I was really floored when she got out of the pool yesterday and went in the restrooms instead of in her swim diaper.

now there is one comical thing in all of this. she is good to go when she has to pull the diaper off, but the underwear are apparently so light and breezy that she forgets they are there, and thus forgets to pull them down and pee's right through them into the potty.
I guess though that if this is the only thing she needs work on I can handle that!

this is so ali and so a foreshadowing of years to come. it has to be on her terms. no matter if she is capable or not, it has to be her idea.

little stinker, it's a good thing she's so cute!

I know this was a lot of potty talk, but this is life around here!

tutu excited!

2010-08-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

we have waited a long time to throw this baby shower...

and so we couldn't have been happier when the day finally arrived!

last month we got to have a mini reunion and celebrate one of our best friends becoming a mama!

lindsey and I planned everything from 2 different states! can you believe the decor all ended up matching and coming together so well? we were pretty excited about that part.
lindsey had the fabulous idea to make these flower clips and use them as decor and favors...she is genius. and we were so happy when our flower fabric ended up matching after all of that long distance planning!

lindsey made these cute tutu's...which wendy got to keep for her little ballerina!
and we played a who-done-it game of wendy and adam's baby days, followed up by the opening of gifts...all while eating yummy food.

at one point, we thought everyone had arrived and the doorbell rang. lindsey went to open it and that was followed by a squeal. we looked around the corner to see marjorie...from chicago!
I totally teared up and still get goose bumps thinking about how fun it was to all be together again.

we are all SO excited for wendy and that we all got to be together to celebrate the soon-to-arrive baby jensen.

party girl

2010-08-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

today I turned 2.

I was a little happy about it.

of course I needed a party. daddy said I could.

so I invited a few friends for an impromptu birthday bash.

having them come was present enough, but then they brought REAL gifts.

some of them were hard to open, but Cole came to the rescue for me. he is such a doll.

I had to show daddy the goods.

they sat me next to a GIANT princess castle cake.

then they all broke out into song, I guess I bring that out in people.

I sat in awe of this touching gesture.

then...just when I thought it couldn't get any better...as if friends, gifts, and cake weren't enough...fire!

mom and dad wanted to get a bit more intense with the decorating on the cake, but time just got away from us this weekend. ah, the social life of a 2 year old...run run run.

I totally didn't mind, I mean it tasted delish!

and I didn't want them to feel bad, so I went straight for the draw bridge and used it as a spoon. don't judge me, I had to show them how grateful I was.

then I realized that cake can be messy.

and I didn't know how I felt about this.

I got over it.

I tried to eat as daintily as I could.

but with eats this good, I decided to throw caution to the wind.

after all, you are only 2 once.

mom and dad hooked me up with some awesome gifts too!

first an adorable big girl bed...which I have been sleeping in for a few months now...I was so over that whole crib situation.

not pictured here, but sure to be pictured on many a future post, is the MICROPHONE they gave me. I beamed, found the on switch, and went to town!

these people so know me.

(direct quote: oh! I sing songs!)

then they gave me a cash register...complete with my own

credit card.

SCORE.

dad said he could already feel his wallet tightening when I wielded the credit card with such ease.

dad also picked out some awesome cooking supplies for me.

he knows how I can't resist breaking in new pans, and of course I made sure the first meal went to him!

over all it was pretty much wonderful. mom, dad, cole, and my pals all totally hooked me up.

is it wrong to admit I loved being spoiled for a day?

yep, I think 2 is going to be a good year for me.

moose

2010-07-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

my son is a...

cole had his yearly check up and at 4 years old he is weighing in at 44 lbs. that's the 95 percentile. but don't worry he is in the 95 percentile for height too...so he is proportional.

he is our huge boy who watches daddy's every move, and then tries to be just like him...so his size may come in handy someday if he likes everything dad does.

but for now he loves swimming, riding his new bike (when it's not 110 degees outside), playing with friends, and being a hilarious boy.

he continues to be a compassionate little man who hates dissapointing us, and likes to make others happy. he is adorable with his sister and incredibly protective of her.

he makes us laugh with everything he comes up with, and is such a good boy.

we are just grateful he is ours.

celebrity look-a-likes

2010-07-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

my mom curled ali's hair while she was in town.

and it turned out adorable. eventually.

but this is what it looked like when the curlers first came out.

we all thought the same thing. george washington. see the resemblance?

and it got me thinking. who are our celebrity look-a-likes?

ali's was easy, we get told quite a bit that she looks like

cindy lou hoo.

especially when she makes faces like this.

and bats those big beautiful eyes.

or looks hurt and in turn gets exactly what she wants from daddy.

justin gets told all the time that he looks like this guy...you know the guy who is the voice of kronk on emperors new groove.

he has also gotten gaston a few times.

me? well, once I did one of those celebrity look alike sites where you upload your picture and it generates which celeb you most resemble. It came back with fred savage. ya, the wonder years kid. justin and I died laughing. and it's a good thing that he was there to assure me I did not look like good 'ole pre-pubescent kevin or it might have been a major hit to my self image.

I have probably been told the most that I look like hayley mills (the original parent trap girl.)

but cole? he is a mystery. we have never been told who he looks like celebrity wise.

any ideas?

scallywags, land lovers, and a 4 year old.

2010-06-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

this showed up on some door steps

with this is in it

because this boy was turning 4!

so these people came over.

and mom made this

(with some help thanks katie!)

and mom and dad made this.

you have no idea how many cake mixes were sacrificed for this cake to come about.

and then he did this.

and we ate some of this.

and he opened these.

thanks to everyone who made this party so much fun! Cole loved having you all here and he loves all of his thoughtful gifts. thanks also to those who donated their help and ovens for just-in-case-back-up-cakes when the pirate ship broke in half at midnight, and we weren't sure if the shipwreck would work or be a disaster. ah, the things you do for a 4 year old you love.

I can't believe he is 4. he is such a good kid and I am so lucky to be his mommy.

like white on rice...

2010-06-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

last night was a late night for justin at work so by the time he got home the kids were "in bed" and mama was d.o.n.e.

shortly after justin walked in the door, cole came down for what must have been the 5th time. which is pretty unusual, he goes to bed like a champ normally (unless it's craft night and he knows there is a party happening without him). I am sure his sruggle last night was merely the fact that he wanted his daddy. so as I turned to tell him it was time to go to bed, justin was all over it (...like white on rice!).

he told cole it was time for bed, but that daddy wanted to come upstairs to tuck him in again. a few seconds later I heard giggling and two story tellers going at it. each taking turns adding to their story about dinasaurs and such. it was tender and made me

sit, smile, and listen.

justin is so cute with them. he acts like a kid with them when it's just what they need.

so we have our share of forts, tall tales, and fighting over blocks to build towers.

and I love it.

"strip"ing warriors

2010-06-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

this is what happens when you combine gospel teachings with 3 year old (very soon to be 4yr old) speech:

"who is this?" cole asks pointing to his new gospel action figure.

"a stripling warrior" I respond

"a striping warrior!" he replies ever so excited.

I about died laughing... internally of course.

someday he too will know how hilarious it was, but for now he is just having fun being a little boy, chillin' with dad, or playing with his "strip"ing warriors.

hiking and swimming and sliding, oh my.

2010-06-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

we are loving all the eye candy that is ever present at our home sweet home.

two weeks ago justin had a thursday off work so we headed out on a hike.

red cliffs is not far at all and it was beautiful. the kids did great on the hike and we were all so excited to play once we reached our destination.

the pools were perfect for playing.

cole loved running though them...

while,

ali loved the mud.

they both found plenty to smile about.

cole especially loved sliding down from pool to pool.

while ali loved...the mud.

she had the smoothest skin after her self inflicted spa-like treatment.

I mean look at cole's face, could he look happier? I think not.

and that makes mommy happy.

and daddy? oh he was in heaven. swimming...under a waterfall...surrounded by all this...with his kids...and his wife actually being outdoorsie...perfection to him.

we can't believe how lucky we are to have all this at our fingertips...

and these cute kiddos in our arms.

we all loved our mini adventure.

and we are sure to be back soon.

a sandy situation

2010-05-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

this is justin.

this is justin wrangling 2 kids.

this is what they were doing that required his wrangling expertise.

this is what made wrangling 2 kids worth it.

really worth it.

heather is not pictured because someone had to man the camera to catch the darling memories...

like these...

this is cole discovering the beauty of wet sand.

this is cole teaching ali what to do with it.

this is justin having more fun than the 2 children that required wrangling.

this is cole after justin decided this was easier than wrangling the children.

and this is ali after she climbed in the whole justin had started digging.

and this is all 3 of them having a fabulous day.

and not pictured is heather smiling because she knew her 3 favorite people were enjoying every minute of this day.

Basket 'O Bounty

2010-05-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

oh how I love the feeling of driving into the bountiful basket location parking lot and walking up eagerly with my basket, just waiting to see what new suprises await me there. digging through the produce to see what has been placed there for me is like Christmas morning minus the wrapping paper.

this picture is from a few weeks ago. but being there this morning at 7 am gave me the urge to blog about all that bounty!

all that produce = $15

and the 16 lbs of strawberries in the box = $8