What's new with us?

Well...not much! Zach is still working at ASU and he should be getting a raise in the near future. Yay! He enjoys working there and loves the convenience of working on campus but we are both hoping that he can get a job working in the field he is studying before he graduates.
We also found out today that Zach got a $300 scholarship! Not much, but hey it's free money!
Here are some pictures of one of his latest projects. It is a model of a graveyard.

I spend my days crafting, counting, coloring, reading, watching movies, swinging & teaching colors. Ok, so pretty much I'm a mom all day & try to squeeze in some crafting time when I can. I can't believe how grown up Madie is getting. She climbs the ladder to the slide all by herself (which makes me nervous), she knows several colors (pink & blue are her favorite) & she loves to sing, especially primary songs & veggie tales songs. She also loves to help me cook, but is no longer content to watch me do things...she needs to help. I think that just about sums things up, so here are some cute pictures.

Madie loves to help Grandma (& mommy) with sewing projects.

She loves to dress herself.

Did you notice the bandaids on her knees? :)

She loves to play with her cousins.

(She loves Dustin & Sarah's kids too...we just don't have any pics of her with them. She does pretend to call them on the phone on a regular basis...it's pretty cute.)

She's becoming quite the artist. Yep, that's ink pen on a tortilla.

And, yes she is trying to paint with her face here. That was fun to clean up.

She loves to hide,

and dance,

and dig,

and snuggle (well, occasionally she enjoys this),

and just be stinkin' cute!

Short or long???

I'm sick of my hair! It needs something done to it, but I'm torn between cutting it short...
like here

or letting it grow out again, like here

Please help me decide!!!!

Updates

What happened to January??? Good heavens! 
Anyway, I figured it was time for another update...so here we go. Zach started back to school about half way through January. He is super busy with school, work & homework but he does a good job of trying to get things done so that he can still help out with Madie and spend time with us. Once this semester is over he'll be half way done with school! YAY! I spend my free time crafting...when I have the energy. Madie wears me out these days. I think she is starting to enter the "terrible twos". She used to be such a good listener and would do the things that I would ask her to, but now it is really hit or miss. So most days I'm exhausted from battling with her over just about everything. Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad. As she becomes more of a goober she also gets cuter and sweeter. That must be the Lord's way of keeping things balanced. 
She is quite the chatter box lately. Most of what she says is still jibberish, but she is starting to get a little more clear in her speech. Her interest in the potty is increasing! Yay! Hopefully this will continue and we can ditch the diapers in the next few months. She is my little dancing queen! If there is music, she is dancing. One of her favorite pastimes is dancing in her bed to the Veggie Tales cd we borrowed from Kristi. 
Her new favorite place (to play or hide or do her business) is the cupboard. It is also filled with lots of fun things...such as straws. 

Here she is surveying her work...

and deciding that it wasn't quite messy enough. So she ran her hands all over the pile, sending straws flying all over the kitchen floor. It was hilarious!

One day she was hiding in there while I was making dinner and I heard this crunching sound. I thought she had gotten into the chips so I opened the door prepared (with my best "mommy voice") to tell her no and take them away. However, as soon as I saw her I started laughing. She discovered that she can take the lids off of the #10 cans and was helping herself to the uncooked macaroni noodles. 


Upon sitting down to eat her oatmeal one morning, she noticed the giant container of pretzels on the table next to her. She looked at it...then the oatmeal...than at me and said "dip".

Yep, she wanted to dip the pretzels into the oatmeal and then suck it off. Why not?

She also enjoys the swing set in the backyard. Her new favorite ways to play on it are to swing on her tummy and to hang from the bars. 

In case you care...

Remember this post??? Well my cardboard box oven is now up on Mod Podge Rocks!!! :)

I feel so special! :)

Good Match

So Zach says to me last night...

"That's why we're a good match. You remember the important things and I remember the random stuff!"

That made me laugh :)

Burrr...it's cold outside

With the weather so cold and wet and windy I thought today would be an appropriate one to post our trip to Snowflake to see Zach's family after Christmas. We drove up on the 30th and came back on the 31st. The trip went a lot smother than last year! We did get some snow between Payson and Heber on the way up but nothing too heavy. I have only seen it snow once that I can remember, so it took me a little while to decide for sure if it was snowing or not. It really looked like little pieces of styrofoam floating through the air. We really had a good time. I think this might become somewhat of a tradition. :)
Madie's favorite part? The cat.

Looking out as it snowed with her grandpa.

She had a great time with Sarah. When she wasn't following the cat around she was following Sarah around!

This is the only picture I got of Lexi.

Madie also enjoyed running around outside with the dog, Lizzy (as long as Lizzy wasn't running toward her). So much, in fact, that she learned to say "Lizzy" in the short time that we were up there. She still sometimes calls Pugsley "Lizzy"

She was not happy that the snow was sticking to her shoes. And she didn't like if any of it got on her hands either.

Adam pressing his luck...

We had a good time, but were happy to be home warming our toes by the fire.

My Finger *Warning! Pictures not suitable for all audiences.*

*Warning! Pictures not suitable for all audiences.*

Here are some pictures of my finger. This was the day after I got it with the rotary cutter (if you want the story click here).

Please excuse the dried up blood surrounding the wound. 

 It is doing much better now. It is starting to scab over a bit. The weirdest part is that it is numb. Oh, and you can't really see from the pictures but the cut goes about 1/4" longer than it appears to...the skin just didn't get cut all the way off.