Year End Updates part 2 - October & November

Madie helping Zach carve the pumpkin...she got tired of it really quickly!

 Halloween party with Zach's family.

 Madie led the costume parade and loved every second of it! She was so excited she went around the parade route twice...she even lapped some of the younger kids.

 Our Halloween costumes.

Madie and grandpa knocking out the wall in the sewing/pantry room to finish the addition.

Year End Updates part 1 - September

In September, Madie started preschool. She took a tumbling class through the city that she enjoyed (I, however, was disappointed with it).

Her favorite part was the trampolines!

We started doing Joy School with three other families in our stake. Madie loved it! Joy School is like preschool but each of the parents take turns teaching the lessons. It was fun to teach the other girls and it was really fun to have an hour and a half to my self once a week three times a month! Here she is modeling her new backpack on her first day of Joy School. 

Madie enjoyed the summer monsoon showers.

One heck of a week

Boy am I glad this week is over!!! Zach started back to school last Thursday so this has been our first full week of school mode...and apparently it is taking a toll! Here is what has happened over the last 5 days, Madie burned her hand pretty bad on the iron, my fault and I still feel terrible about it. She locked us both in her bedroom (it locks from the outside and her window jams so I couldn't get us out that way). Since I didn't have my phone on me, I had to find something to use as a key...I did, after half an hour at which point Madie was a little bit hysterical. She emptied a bottle of hairspray on her hair, arms, dress, & Ariel doll (we had an impromptu bath at 2:30 that afternoon). The blister from her burn popped this morning, of course while I was in the middle of my shower, and then the icing on the cake was that I got some hydrofluoric acid in my eye this afternoon which hurt like the dickens!
In reviewing my week, I am reminded of a phrase I've seen on Pinterest (which if you haven't checked out, you NEED to!). It goes, "don't let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life!" We have enjoyed some sewing and painting projects this week, along with some coloring. I love how focused she is when she colors!

After we finished coloring together Madie wanted to take a picture. I colored the base and Madie did all the detail work. She is getting much better at staying in the lines. And she is getting good at writing her name. I should get a picture of that.

The house across the street from us is having some work done on the outside (trees cut down, new AC, new roof) so there have been lots of workers and tools and a crane. Madie loves to sit by her window and watch the guys work! The first day she sat and watched for over half an hour and the second day, she brought company with her to watch (notice that all of the barbies heads are turned so they are looking out the window).

This girl cracks me up! We may have had a crappy week, but we definitely don't have a crappy life! :)

Oh, and don't be fooled by my sudden increase in blog posts. It's just a fluke!

5 Years

Today marks 5 years since this happened...

And since we didn't have a blog back then, here are a few highlights from that day.
I don't think our photographer realized how little I could bend in my dress.

Zach's brother was serving his mission while we got married, but was given permission from his mission president to attend our sealing. This was a neat surprise.

Most awkward (for me) picture taken...

One of my favorites. Jenny didn't want to give me a kiss so she was going to blow a raspberry on my cheek instead.

I don't even remember this happening, but the look on Zach's face makes me laugh every time.

In the last 5 years we...
- Survived 9 months in a barely 500 sq foot, roach infested apartment (which our upstairs neighbors flooded the week of our wedding), then spent 2 years in a nice big apartment in Gilbert, and now we are living with my parents.
- Bought our first car together...and less than a year later, lost our first car


- 2 years later, bought our second car together


- Got denied acceptance into ASU and one year later got into ASU
- Went from being a family of 2 to a family of 3

- I quit work so that I could stay at home with Madie and spend my days like this

- We survived multiple layoffs and almost 2 years of crappy (or no) jobs


We have been blessed with wonderful family that have helped us through so many things! I feel like we are finally at a good, stable place in our lives. Zach has a good job and while it isn't in his field of study, it is related. In less than a year he will graduate from ASU. We've had our ups and downs, but it has been a wonderful 5 years. I'm grateful to have found such a great person to share eternity with. While Zach isn't perfect, and he does things that annoy me sometimes (and vice versa), he is just what I need when I need it. He is a wonderful husband and father and is such a kind, giving, and patient person and definitely a kid at heart.

I love my family! Here is to another 5 years (and many, many more)!

Long time, no see...

See? How about talk...or read? Anyway, at the request of Lori, I am here blogging again.
 We had a good Easter. The kids did an egg hunt and I was impressed with Madie's finding abilities.

 And of course there was a pinata.

 Grandpa had to wear it on his head again this year.

 In May, Madie turned 3! I can't believe that she is 3 already! She wanted a princess birthday party (we added pirated as well for the boys) and invited her cousins and a few friends from church. She looked so cute all dressed up in her princess outfit, but took it off as soon as her guests started to arrive. I was bummed about that.

 The girls got to decorate tiaras and the boys made pirate hats.

 They played "pin the princess on the castle"...

 and "pin the pirate on the ship."

 Next up was a game called "walk the plank" where the kids had to walk on a wooden board while holding a water balloon on a spoon. They all seemed to really enjoy this game (and throwing the extra water balloons afterwards).

 Madie wanted brownies, not cake.

 Holy cow, is this kid spoiled!

 Madie got rain boots for her birthday that she got to use just a few days later for jumping in puddles.

 She has also enjoyed using them for playing in the sprinklers over the summer.

We also enjoyed a fancy dress tea party with Jenny & Katie.

 And I got a few pictures of Molly smiling.

 Here we were playing dress up with baby Molly and making fun of the giant flowers that people put on their babies heads. No offense if that is what you like, to each his own...it's just not my cup of tea. The only reason I had a flower that large is because it came on a tutu that I won from a blog giveaway a few months ago.

 Kristi and Cliff blessed Molly on the 3rd of July. My mom's mom came and then came to our house afterwards for lunch. Madie quickly made friends with Grandma. It was so cute to watch them together. The book they were reading was about a little girl and her grandma and Madie got excited because Grandma T. was wearing glasses just like the grandma in the book.

 We enjoyed our first 4th of July with legal fireworks. Madie is addicted to fireworks!

I don't have a lot of pictures from this summer, but it has mostly consisted of swimming, eating popsicles and weekly outings to the movie theater with Kristi and her girls. That's about it for now..."see" you again soon!

Sick bug

This is how we've spent our day so far- lounging on the couch in our jammies.
And zach is supposed to go camping tomorrow for three days.
In the words of madie, "I don't want to be sick."

This one's for you, Lori

After several comments about how I never update my family blog anymore, I figured I better bite the bullet and just do it. It seems kind of weird to update it though when most of the people who comment on here are people that I see on a regular basis.
Here is a recap of the first quarter of 2011.
January - we won't talk much about January. Zach's sister got married. This is the dress I made for Madie to wear.

And here are the bride and groom. And that is all that I'm going to say about it (those who know the story understand why).

Then the next morning Madie decided it would be helpful to me if she cut her own bangs (note to self: don't mention to your two year old that you need to cut her bangs unless you are going to do it right then and there).

At least she waited until the wedding was over and that they were still long enough that I could pull them back. We are still waiting for them to grow back out. They're almost there but not quite. So all I remember about January is that is sucked. Moving on to...
February & March - these pics are in no particular order. Nothing major happened in February. Zach's birthday was in March and we had a small family celebration. As soon as Zach finished opening his presents Madie asked if it could be her birthday now. She is a little excited for it!
Madie is quite the little cleaning helper these days (her favorite is to clean the bathroom). She likes to vacuum (notice how the front of the vacuum isn't actually touching the floor therefore, nothing is getting sucked up).

And sweep, to the point that I finally bought her her own broom and dust pan. Hopefully now I can sweep the floor in peace. Ha! Yeah right. She is no fool. She likes her little pink broom, until I bring out the real thing. Oh, and she likes to put on the Happy Working Song from Enchanted while she cleans. She sings and dances with the broom and knows all of the words to the song. It's pretty cute. 

I think she spends half of her time in a dress up. She likes to practice her drums just like on Fresh Beats. 

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of her friends/cousins.

But she is not all girly. She likes her fair share of "boy" things (i.e. cars & power tools). After watching Handy Manny she put on some shoes, a hat, put a pencil behind one ear & found the toy power tools and told me that she was Handy Madie. Then proceeded to find things in the house that needed fixed. 

I swear this child would live outside if I let her. One of her favorite pastimes lately has been watering the flowers in the garden.

This one cracks me up! A bug or a bird or something flew by and startled her. I was amazed that I caught her expression on camera.

If you are looking for Madie when grandpa is home, just find him first and chances are good that you find her as well.

My parents took us to San Diego in March. Madie had a blast!
We went to Sea World. Madie is checking the map to see where we need to go to start our day.

Waiting for Daddy to get the fish so she could feed the sea lions. Pretty sure this was her favorite part.

She enjoyed the animal shows. I think her favorite part of the shamu show was the popcorn. 

We rode a few rides as well. She loved the rides. The higher and faster the better, but the waiting in line was terrible! I guess she's not quite ready for Disneyland.

We went to the beach. It was cold and rainy that morning.

Madie hiding under Zach from the water. As it came closer she moved further and further back between his legs.

If we had the space and money for it, I'd have a carousel installed in our backyard. This kid LOVES them!

After the carousel we rode the train (this was at Balboa park). My mom with her riding buddy.

Madie, not surprisingly, chose grandpa as her riding buddy.

Hiding from the tunnel that we were about to enter.

One more go round on the carousel. Each time they went past us they made a different face.

We went back to the beach that afternoon and the weather was much nicer. Madie enjoyed building a sand castle and flying a kite. It was a good trip. Thanks mom & dad for taking us!

April - well I don't have any pics to post for April. But we did get some exciting news. Zach got a job!!! He got let go from his job at ASU in January (because apparently he wasn't majoring in the correct field for the job). He found another job basically doing contract work for a guy but that didn't really work out (after a couple of weeks, he couldn't get a hold of the guy to find out about work or getting paid, so he still owes Zach some money). But now he has a real job doing drafting work for an electrical engineering firm, so he works with my BIL now. Thanks Cliff, for thinking of Zach when the spot opened up at your office!
Well I think that about covers it.