Big belly

Madie was laying on the couch after dinner and sticking out her belly. She said to me, "my belly is getting bigger because I have lots and lots of babies in it!"

Oh and here is my big belly at 18 weeks.

Visits with family

In February, Lori came to visit. She stayed with us and Madie LOVED it!!! We enjoyed hanging out with her. On one particularly windy day, we went out and flew the kite. 

We enjoyed spending time with family to celebrate the February birthdays.

Ty and Miranda came to town on their way back to Delaware. We had a nice visit with them and Ana & Matt one Sunday night. Unfortunately, Madie was already in bed so Ty & Miranda came by the next morning to see her. She had fun playing Chutes & Ladders with them and meeting their dog, Stitch. 

Wrapping up 2011 and what to expect in 2012

So I finally took the time to get the pictures from December off my camera.
The first weekend we went to Sedona. It was snowy and the kids loved it!!!

 They had a treasure hunt, had a snowball fight and built snowmen.

 The second weened we went up to Oregon to visit the Watson side. We had a good time, but we probably won't be going up in the winter again anytime soon. It was sooo cold! We exchanged presents, went caroling and even went to the zoo.

 Christmas was great...a little rushed with church but overall we had a good day. Santa was very good to Madie this year. She must have been a really good girl.

 She got her first bike and had pretty much mastered it by the end of Christmas day.

 This picture is my favorite. I love the look on her face. This is how excited she was opening each of her gifts.

This is the awesome tie we got for my did. It's the leg lamp from A Christmas Story and it lights up. 

 I love this picture. I'm not sure what they were discussing...it looks to me like Madie was explaining something to Katie, who is listening very intently. These two girls are so cute together. I love that Madie has cousins her age. We didn't get any pictures of Dustin & Sarah's kids...not sure how that happened. But the kids all had a great time together.

Now, let's talk 2012.
Madie is a Sunbeam and she just LOVES it! She loves going to Primary. She has passed off her first two Articles of Faith already. She knew the first one from being in Nursery (I taught the song to all the nursery kids) and when she passed it off and got a chocolate for it she was adamant that I teach her the next one. So she learned number 2 in one week. And she is giving her first talk on Sunday. I'll tape it since grandparents can't be there.

Zach will be graduating in May!!! Hopefully he'll be able to get a job with a Landscape Architecture firm. There is one in Chandler that he has applied with and he is working on a job with them this week with his current company.

We are hoping that we will be able to buy a house this year. That will probably all depend on what kind of job Zach is able to get. We'd like to stay in the Chandler/Gilbert area. I try not to think about that too much yet, since it's still all up in the air.

Zach was extended a new calling yesterday...he won't be sustained for 2 more weeks, so I'll share then. But it is sort of uncharted territory for us.

And the last of our new adventures for this year is that we will become a family of 4! I'm due September 10th and Madie is so beyond excited to become a big sister.  She thinks it is a girl baby because it is in mommy's tummy, not daddy's. If it's a girl she wants to call her Aurora and if it's a boy, Phillip (can you tell she likes Sleeping Beauty?). She likes to ask me if the baby is sleeping and then she pats my tummy and says "wake up, baby." We're excited and now taking suggestions for boy names (we have a few girl names that we like, but no boy names).

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)!