Happy Halloween!

Madison dressed up as an angel for Halloween! Even though she thought she was a butterfly because of the wings. So I guess that makes her a "white butterfly"
Mommy with her little Teddy Bear

Care Bear & Teddy Bear!

Also, Aunt Loriann with cousin Kaylin. Lori was such a good sport to dress up like a hippie for halloween. I dressed up as a mom I suppose.

The Three Cousins! Kaylin, Madison, & Robby. Maddie, of course, loved to take off both of babies ears.

This year was a little different for us. Jesse & I didn't go to any Halloween parties, so it was a no-nonsense, no-dress up sort of year. I had also already dressed up as Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz, twice for our wards "Activity days" Halloween party and for a Halloween gymnastics meet I judged, so I was so not in the mood to dress up again. Oh well....there's always next year!

pLeaSe fEeD tHe dUcKs??

Madison tried to get as close as possible to the ducks even if that meant laying down at the edge of the pond or actually climb in herself (well almost)...she couldn't seem to understand why they kept swimming away as she got closer to them. She also loved feeding them and would jump up and down and scream with delight when she threw bread in the water & the ducks would fight over the piece of bread!

I am way too lucky to have the two most handsome boys (I mean men) belong to me! Robby also almost crawled right into the pond when we turned our backs for a moment.

Running Races

Jesse has always been amazingly motivated to drag his buns out of bed early on a Saturday morning to run races. Just recently I also began running and working out (when I realized Jesse's reunion was coming up) and I even ran a 5K last weekend. Of course now my ankle feels like it's going to fall off (a lovely bi-product of gymnastics). But I guess staying in shape is worth anything, including pain. So I am still running and getting prepared to run in the 2mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving (I am a bit of a wimp you see-- and cannot get the courage to do the full 10K race). Now that I pretended that I am this amazing person running 5K's and dealing with ankle pains....let me tell you the real deal. While I was out running 3 miles, Jesse, his sister Abby, and my friend Carla ran the half marathon at the same event. Now that certainly puts things into perspective:) Like I said, Jesse is truly one amazing guy!

Here are the kids at one of the races... out supporting their mommy and daddy! Many thanks to Aunt Joanna for coming and watching them last weekend!

And yes... Maddie really does have her hands on her hips in the picture (my dad said it reminds him exactly of me)

PARKS AND PLAYTIME WITH THE KIDS!

wE lOvE pLayInG toGetHeR (mOst Of tHe tImE)!

Madison loves to pick any flower she can get her hands on!


Thank heavens that the weather is finally starting to get a little cooler! We have enjoyed going to the park and playing outside now. Robby especially loves to crawl around on the grass!

bAtHtuB fUn

We just recently began bathing our two kids together in the evening before bedtime. Sooo much simpler (why didn't I think of this before) and they LOVE IT!!

Jesse's 10 YEAR REUNION

It is official....my husband is now OLD! (j/k) A few weeks ago we went to his 10 year high schoold reunion and I have to say it was rather fun. They had a lunch at the park where everyone brought their kids. Maddie and Robby had fun at the park, other than Madison being flattened face first into the sand after running in front of someone swinging. It's a good thing she's a tough kid! That evening they had a dinner in Mesa. We even got to see our coolest ever neighbors, Mark & Missy Glover! We can't wait for my reunion in 2010 (well... maybe we can wait a little while :)

This is a picture that I stole off Missy's blog (thanks!) of Missy and I-- isn't she such a hot mama of five !! She lives one street away from me in our neighborhood and we are sooo sad that they released her and Mark from nursery: Maddie adored them!

Princess Madison

Madison is obsessed with princesses at the moment. She loves her princess books, princess movies, and especially her princess crown! She is kind of a sassy girl don't ya think?!

I hate computers!

I have been working a lot lately and have slacking in the blog department :) I am super excited that my gal pal in Texas FINALLY gave me her blog address and is hopping on the bandwagon to become a blogger like all of us! It re-motivated me to try to find time to write down my thoughts and feelings. Our computer is still on the fritz and won't let me download pictures from my camera onto it. So... no new pictures of my kiddos.

On Saturday we took Robby to the ASU football game with us which was so much fun! Robby is a definite momma's boy, however, and I ended up holding him the whole time because he wouldn't go to Jesse. He was really good throughout the game and I am excited for when our kids get a little older and we can bring all of them with us. GO SUNDEVILS!

I am Alice Cullen??

So I decided to take the quiz on the Twilight series, which by the way was fabulous! I was actually pretty surprised I got this particular character. I have always liked Alice in the books, becuase she is so much fun and excited about life. I would have thought I would be more like Esme?? Not sure but it was still fun to take the quiz. Take the quiz and tell me who you are!!

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're" Alice Cullen - You are vivacious and full of energy! Your childlike way of looking at life makes you both amusing and special to your friends. You make an excellent friend, although you do have a tendency to get uppity if you're not immediately given your way- people often give into you for your charm.
Take this quiz!

Madison's Birthday Party

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MADISON!!!

For Maddie's birthday "cake" I made yummy pink cupcakes! All the little girls wanted to come sit right by the cupcakes and began making claims on which one belonged to each of them! Madison absolutely loved the attention she got when everyone sang happy birthday and even clapped at the end of the song, she then leaned forward and blew out her candles all by herself. She also LOVES frosting. She kept licking the frosting off of the cupcakes and then trying to give away all of her frosting-less (is that a word?) cupcakes to the younger, unsuspecting kids!

We sure loved having a bounce house for Maddie's special day and all the kids had a blast climbing in it as well (Thanks Bryn for letting us borrow it)

Thanks Jesse for cooking all the yummy food on the grill! Thanks Martineau's for the fun mask..... Maddie thinks it's so funny to run around the house with it on or to put it over her brother's face as well!

This is the ONLY picture we have of our sweet Robby. He is being held by our friend, Beth Greenwald. He slept through almost the entire birthday party and had just woken up in the picture.

Madison had lots of her friends that were more than willing to help with opening her presents (and thank goodness because to be perfectly honest, after opening up her cowboy boots she was tired of looking at presents and was on the run again :)

We had such a blast celebrating Madison's second birthday and look forward to many more to come! Thanks to everyone who came... we were so glad you could all make it! One of Madison's favorite presents are her new PINK cowboy boots, thanks Aunt Esther and Aunt Abby!

It's really not fair that almost all of our pictures on our blog are of Madison. I thought I would include this fun picture of Robert's first playdate with his friend Talan. Aww... aren't they too cute (I mean handsome :)

My Little Princess

Here is my first attempt at a slide show... pictures of my darling Maddie. She just recently celebrated her second birthday! Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her. I will post some pictures from her little birthday party when my dear daddy sends them my way :)

As I think back upon the last two years of my life, it has been quite a whirlwind. My life changed forever on September 9, 2005 when my beautiful 6lb 15 oz daughter arrived. She has brought so much joy and love to my life and I don't know what I would ever do without her. She makes me laugh as her little personality grows and develops a little more each day. She loves her high heels and jewelry, but also is a rough and tumble little girl, that loves nothing more than going outside and playing in the mud! Hear are a few reasons/stories that make me love her oh so much!

Madison has just recently taken a liking to baby dolls. Today after laying Robby down for a nap, she proceeded to take her "baby" into her bedroom and lay it down for a nap also. She had the baby's "blankie", bottle, and a book in hand as she sat down on her little couch in her bedroom. First she pretended to feed the baby the bottle and burp it, then came story time and finally she put the baby in her crib with the blankie and shut her bedroom door. When I asked her what she was doing she said "Shhhh... baby sleeping". It's little moments like these that make all the hard parts about being a mother totally and completely worth it.

I also just recently signed Madison up for a parent tot gymnastics class, which by the way she loves! It is over near my parents house and every time we start driving to her lessons she begins chatting in the backseat about her "Ama" (grandma) and "Papa" (grandpa), thinking that we are going to their house for a visit.

One of her favorite games in the car is "I see". She will start telling all the many things that she can see as we drive around running errands. It nearly always begins with "I see a car/tree/Robby/mommy/etc" and is a highly entertaining, not to mention cute, way to spend our time in the car.

One of her favorite phrases is "Robby's cute". She also likes to call every single round fruit an apple. It doesn't matter how many times I try to correct her they are always apples. The other day, we were eating some yummy peaches (courtesy of Rachelle- thanks!), and she kept asking for more apples. I kept correcting her, but she would adamantly say "no mommy, it's apple".

She loves to ride with daddy in his truck. Whenever she sees him leaving for work she will run outside with a big smile on her face and jump in the front seat with her dad. He always takes her around our cul-de-sac on his lap and then I will run out and grab her, so he can go to work. She always returns from these short car rides with a big grin on her face!

Check out my Slide Show!

Robby is Mobile

Yes... it is official, my baby is crawling. Here are some of his first pictures crawling. Today I had him sitting on the floor by me and I looked over and sure enough he started crawling towards me. I cannot believe he is already mobile. I have mixed feelings about this. I mean it is wonderful and exciting for him to learn new things and grow older. But I have enjoyed having him as my "baby" so much and I know the days of him sitting next to me, content as can be, are almost over. Soon he will be running after his big sister, busy exploring the world around him.

Taking the Plunge

Okay, so I finally decided to create a blog for our cute little family. We have two of the most adorable children ever (I'm not biased at all :); a two year old daughter, Madison, and a 7 month old son, Robert. At the moment Robby is teething and just had his bottom two teeth pop through last week. He is normally so gentle and calm--- he makes us want to have ten more kids just like him :). Madison just turned 2 years old on Sunday and is VERY independant. She loves to color, climb, and most of all be the center of attention! She is soo much fun to be around and has the energy to rival most. She got a "doodle pro" for her birthday and can ben seen hiding in her tent with her doodler coloring endless pieces of art!