Miss Madi...

Okay, I know I take A LOT of close up pictures but I LOVE to capture every detail of her sweet little face. Is that not the sweetest smile?Little ones amaze me with the ways they bend and move. She gets herself in some of the strangest positions and it never even fazes her. This is her position to go from sitting to crawling.

You scream, I scream...

We got a super great deal on Drumstick cones last week (54 cents). As soon as Madi saw them she thought she needed one... and she didn't want to share. :D Since she needed a bath and the floor needed to be mopped, I let her go to town.

mmmm... yum

That's the wrong end Madi!!!

She loves to make a mess of her food. What baby doesn't???

Almost gone...

Time to get cleaned up!

She is so precious! She has the most BEAUTIFUL blue eyes I have ever seen!

I love to watch her play. The looks she makes are priceless. I love you Madi!!!

My climber...

It doesn't matter what it is, Madi wants to climb it. She has no fear. She wants to explore and get into whatever she can. She crawled on top of the white box and then crawled across to the brown one from that before crawling down.
Her FAVORITE thing to explore is the laptop. She takes off the bouttons and pushes buttons until the whole things beeping or until mommy finds her at it, which ever comes first. :D

There is no hiding anything from her anymore. She will pull up to anything!

My cute girl will be walking on her own before I know it!

A touching story...

For Mother's Day Derrick and Madi gave me a book called What the Scriptures Teach Us about Raising a Child. It has a very touching journal entry that was originally in the August 1984 Ensign (a magazine my church publishes). The article is titled Living by the Spirit by Joy Webb Rigby. In the article she tells of a journal entry her daughter wrote in seventh grade. It reads:

"One day while we were reading our scriptures, we talked about how important it is for each of us to have our own knowledge and testimony- and that we must not put off asking Heavenly Father for this. That night I went to my room and shut the door. I waited until everything was very quiet. Then I knelt down by my bed and prayed. I asked Heavenly Father to please send me an angel to tell me for sure if the gospel was true. He answered that he would, and I was to get in bed and wait for the angel to come. I felt very peaceful and happy, and I waited.

The house was very still, and I think I had dropped off to sleep. I woke up when I heard a voice. It was Mother. She was kneeling beside my bed praying. She was praying for me. I listened, and when she finished I touched her hair so she would know I was awake. She put her arms around me and held me and her face was wet. She told me I had a Father in Heaven and that he loved me. She said she was glad he had let me come to live in our family. She told me he sent his own Son here to give his life so we could return to live with him if we obeyed his commandments. She told me to always remember that the gospel had been restored, and I must live it so I could go back to my Father.

We held each other for a while, and then Mother left. After she left, Father in Heaven said to my mind, 'I sent you your angel.'"

What an incredible testament that is of the sacredness of motherhood and the impact we have on our children! I am so grateful for the example of my mom and for all that she has taught me. She has always shown her family the love she has of the Gospel and for our Savior. I am grateful for the strength she offers and I hope I can show Madi the same. I love you mom!

I love the morning...

I love waking up and hearing my sweet girl chatter in her crib and play with her fishy, singy thing. She has the sweetest voice and I just love it!!!

My dad...

One of the things that I am grateful for about my dad is that he taught me how to do a sprinkling system. It has come in handy multiple times. This year we had a broken pipe. I was able to fix it in a matter of minutes. Thanks dad!

It's a double...

My poor girl has a double ear infection. She is a real trooper and has been happy for the most part. I feel so bad for her though.

What a mess!!!

Madi has figured out how to take all six of her toy bins out and spread the toys everywhere! It is so fun to watch her explore and discover new things. What a fun age! So proud of what she has done!
I love her little pigtails. I just can't get enough of this girl! I love, Love, LOVE her!!!

In the kitchen with mommy...

My big helper!

Finger Painting...

On Tuesday, Madi did her first finger painting. I covered her with a sheet and let her go to town.She wanted to eat the paint. Good thing it's non-toxic!

The finished product!!! (I helped with the hand prints :D)

Happy Memorial Day!!!

We have had a great day! It has been wonderful to have Derrick home another day. We got our garden all finished, planted some fruit trees and had some fun family time. We got Madi her first pool. She was not so sure at first but warmed up to it. Our happy girl!!!

She loves to splash in the water and it was fun to watch her play. We are looking forward to the summer, warm weather and fun times!

Rosie...

I went to Logan last Thursday to take my cousin, AJ's, senior pictures. This him with Madi. After I took his pics we went to put his pictures on his computer and ate dinner. They have a dog named Rosie. Madi has never been around a dog before so maybe it was good that Rosie was about the same size as her.
She didn't seem to be afraid of her and liked to touch her. Rosie, on the other hand, was terrified of Madi. Apparently she has never been around babies. She kept running away and Madi kept crawling after her. It was so cute to watch her. :D

Madi and Rosie

Ten months...

Madi is ten months old today. Where did the time go? She is such a delight to have in our home and I am so honored to be her mom. She loves climbing the stairs, standing and blowing bubbles. She has even said bubbles a couple of times. It is fun to see her learn and grow. I am so grateful for my sweet Derrick and that he is so good to let me be home with her each day to teach her and love her. Being a mom is better than I ever imagined and I am so thankful that we have Madi in our family!

Family and Fun...

We spent the afternoon and evening at my brothers, Nicholas'. Chris, Tiffany and Rick all came over too. We had so much fun watching each other sing and the kids play together. We are going to miss them a lot when they head to WA state in July. (Christina was accepted to the MBA program at WSU)Brenton was born ten days after Madi. It is fun to watch them interact.

Madi, Caitlin and Whitney. I love seeing them play with her. I am bummed that they will be gone for at least a year. They will change so much in that time and it is fun for Madi to play with them.

Brenton crawled right on top of Madi to get to the toys but she didn't seem to mind. What cute kids! :D

While we were down there we also stopped at my dad's grave. As soon as we put Madi down she was crawling all over!

Caitlin was tired but she did manage to strike a pose! :D

It was fun to spend time with everyone. Nicholas grilled some great burgers and we ate yummy food and talked the rest of the night! Thanks for a great evening!

The next American Idol???

Last night we went to my brothers to hang out and have some family time. One of the things that we did was play American Idol on the Wii. This is my niece, Whitney, rockin' out to Miley Cyrus!

Brenton wanted in on the action too! :D

Christopher and Annie...

On May 18th my little brother, Christopher, married Annie. Isn't she beautiful!?!?!Everything was so gorgeous and I am so excited to Annie in our family! Here she is waiting for the big moment!And this is Christopher waiting for it to start.And Madi waiting so patiently. (Annie made super cute hair pieces for everyone. Madi would NOT leave hers on for anything. Silly girl.)It's starting...They were so cute and you could see how much they love each other. What a special day! Look how happy they are!
They were both very nice as they ate their cake. Annie posted this on her blog... "The tradition of cutting cake and feeding each other a piece goes back hundreds of years. They used to say that is how lovers will treat each other in their lasting partnership- if they are nice or shove it in each others face." I have never heard that before. If I had I probably would have been a little nicer at my wedding. :DMadi was a trooper. Despite the long day without more than an two hour nap she was still all smiles at the end of the night! My mom, Christopher and Annie

We are so excited for the two of you! We think the world of Annie and can't wait to get to know her better. We love you guys!