Kentucky Dentites

My Latest Hobby

2011-07-19T09:01:00.001-07:00

Throwing up. I am pregnant again and about 12 weeks along :)

Jeff's Latest Hobby

2011-07-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Since graduation from dental school Jeff has taken up some hobbies, such as wood working, cake making, photography and crashing cars. Just kidding. Getting rear ended by semi trucks is not his latest hobby. Although this did really happen, he is not making it a habit. Before leaving Kentucky Jeff visited some dear and close friends, whom we dearly miss, to learn how to carve wood. This is something he has expressed a desire to do before we were even married. He made several pens, which do actually work, and a candlestick.

He has also taken up cake decorating. He made a pig birthday cake for our nephew Talis in June. This was one of the simplest cakes he has made and also one of the cutest. He also made a big bad wolf cake for our nephew Jett, but I don't have that picture uploaded yet. It turned out cute too and I actually made the pig and the wolf! It was fun. Jeff totally doubted my cake making skills when I began making the houses of straw, brick and sticks and if you could see the cake you would totally agree. They are very ugly and not to scale at all. In fact, there was hardly any room for the wolf on the cake. Oh well.

He also made a Spongebob cake before we left Kentucky for one of Maddox's good friends, Kale.

And he made a graduation cake for Doug, which I haven't seen pics of as Jeff forgot our camera. And this is his second and I think his best creation. It took him literally a day and a half to make. This was for our nephew Garrett's birthday.

Last Days in Kentucky

2011-07-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Our last few weeks in Kentucky were full of excitement and celebration and goodbyes and tears...and strep throat, which we didn't find out about until we were in Montana. It was one of the best places I have ever lived and most of that was definitely not due to the incredibly hot and humid summers or bone chilling cold and brown winters...It was one of the best places I have ever lived due to the people. We lived near family and friends that I will never forget and hope to never lose contact with. And Jeff graduated from dental school! Yeah!

2011-06-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

I should have some photos to post but right now we can't find our camera. Wups! It will turn up somewhere. You always "lose" stuff in a move right? Unfortunately we lose things we really really really need, like medicine and cameras and one of Maddox's three lightening mcqueen cars. Really bad. But we made it...halfway. We are still living with my parents in Kalispell, MT until we find a house to rent. Then we will move again. Jeff finally decided on a job in Polson, MT working for the tribe clinic. He worked there last summer and had a great time. We are excited. We miss our friends but know we will see you all again!

Happy Birthday to You!

2011-03-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

It was Jeff's birthday over the weekend. He turned 29, although my family all thought he turned 30 this year. My sister, for some reason, was under that impression and spread the word. It was funny. Here is a picture of Jeff blowing the candles out on his cake. He made it himself, with a little help from Nate and Mallory, who showed him how to make fondant frosting. If you didn't know, Jeff loves baking and says if dentistry fails him, he will open up a bakery shop instead. I told him he better start developing some recipes...Not that he is going to fail at dentistry at all. It is just that we graduate in one month and still don't have a job! AHHHH!!! We do have prospects though and so know something will work out, but just don't know which one or where or when. Anyway, back to his birthday, we celebrate birth weeks in our house. This is a newly declared tradition as of Jeff's first birthday after we were married. He kept getting presents in the mail from family and friends and had two birthday cakes and decided he really liked having a week long birthday, so now we do birth weeks and the final day being your actual birthday. This means you get special treatment throughout the week, like a happy birthday sign, special breakfasts, naps, treats, bike riding time, nintendo time, or in Jeff's case, time to make his own birthday cake! And here it is! The famous cake! Can you tell what it is? Jeff and Nate even went as far as numbering the tooth and creating the specific tooth grooves. It is a molar of some sort, but I am unsure as to the exact one. The pink is for the gums, although Maddox thought it was for him, his favorite color being pink. The other day we went shopping for sandals for spring and when he got out of the car he declared, "Mommy, I want pink sandals!" I told him to see what they have first. Maybe red. When we got in the store and I was looking at Embree's sandals, he wandered down to the bigger girl shoes and found some all pink sandals and tried to put them on, declaring this is what he wanted. I told him they were too small...all the pink ones were too small and redirected him to the ugly brown ones for boys on the next isle. Silly boy!

Maddox Update

2011-02-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

Maddox is three now and weighs in around 34 lbs., give or take a pound of two. His head is still basically off the charts, but his body is catching up. He loves to use his imagination more. Above is a picture of him buildling a lawnmower, which we finally figured out is a sprinkler. He kept pretending to shoot us with water.

He loves the park and riding his bike.

And this one is crooked, but you get the idea. Silly boy.

Here he is with his beloved drains. He LOVES drains and says he wants to fix them when he grows up. So now we have taught him to say he wants to be a plumber when he grows up. He also loves trains, so maybe we should focus on him being a train conductor.

He also tells jokes now. His first one went something like this: I had just told him I loved him. Jeff then asked him, "Maddox, do you love Daddy?" Maddox: No, Mommy! "Maddox, do you love Embree?" Maddox: No, Mommy! (Pause) Just kidding!

And here he is eating sprinkles. He puts them in anything we let him, especially pancakes!

He is growing up so quickly, but still loves to snuggle once in awhile. He is very smart and a very good big brother, as long as he gets all the cars and toys and you don't try to tell him he has to share. We love him so much and feel blessed to have him in our lives.

Embree Update

2011-02-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

They both love to swing...mainly Maddox likes to swing, but I have to put Embree in the swing too. Otherwise she eats bark chips and leaves and rocks.

Embree is now 14 months old. She barely weighs in at 20 lbs. 6 oz. and is fairly tall for her age. She loves shoes, jewelry, makeup, hair bands, and especially animals. Animal anything and you have her attention. She would sit in my lap for hours reading books about animals and she carries these plastic animals around almost everywhere. Her favorite is a dog or a horse. When she sees a dog she will proclaim, "Bumble!" which is the name of my dad's dog...It came with that name. Not the coolest, but she can say it and she loves that dog!

She loves climbing and at any given moment I can usually find her on the kitchen table or in something, whether it be a pot, a box, or the dryer. She still LOVES her bottle and still wakes up once a night to eat...which is way better than the three or four she was doing just a month ago. She has been a difficult baby but sure is fun to have around and we love her so much. She is loved by everyone everywhere she goes, even if they think she is a boy, which we get almost weekly as her hair is still fairly thin.

This is her favorite thing to do, after I have gotten her ready for the day. While I get ready in the morning and do my make up, she will sit in the sink and play. Then I will get her ready for the day again...

For Christmas Embree got this rocking horse from my sister and a toothbrush and toothpaste. She carried them around all morning and still will throw a fit if she sees you brushing your teeth and she doesn't get to brush hers. Really she just likes to eat the toothpaste.

Christmas morning Embree found Santa's left over frosted sugar cookies and chowed down.

September in our lives

2010-10-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

I always hate it when people do really big long posts with a bunch of pictures that have no relation to each other, but here I am doing one, although I will argue that my pictures do have some relation to each other....they are all from the month of September 2010!

During this month, Jeff decided to try out rock climbing. He loved it!

As a mom, I am still figuring out how to balance my time. There are so many things to do and prioritizing is something I have yet to master. Hence, the next two pictures of Maddox. I was doing the dishes in the kitchen and I noticed how quiet the kids were, which is usual, so I peeked my head in and noticed Maddox had gotten out several opened boxes of baby rice cereal and was making it snow all over his trains. I caught him in the act right when he started, but instead of stopping him, I thought, "Well, I can either stop him and make him clean up the mess or I can let him finish his mess making, giving me enough time to finish the dishes, and then make him clean up his mess, which would be a little bigger, but a mess all the same. I let him finish making his mess...Do you ever do that? Perhaps it is bad parenting, but sometimes i just need a break to get some things done, even if it means more work for me (and him) in the future. Still figuring out how to prioritize!

Here he is cleaning up his mess and doing a great job too!

Here he is after I put a stop to the mess making, which I did.

Embree is into everything. The following picture is why I let Maddox continue to make his mess, so I could get the dishes in before she attacked. When she hears the dishwasher door open, she will come running!

She loves to climb into everything and on everything. Her newest favorite is this tub, which she will spend quite a bit of time in each day, just hanging out.

She also really likes the fridge and strawberries in particular. If I cut them up and give them to her in her high chair, she won't eat them, but if I leave them in the fridge in the container and she gets them out herself and eats them whole, she loves them. Very independent.

Maddox getting ready for school, which is really enjoys. It is fun to hear him come home and try to tell me all about what he did. Each time I ask him what his favorite thing was and he says, "Rings." I have no idea what that is, but he loves it!

A couple weeks ago Maddox was spinning to get himself dizzy and fell and hit his head on the piano bench. It split open. We took him to Doug to get checked out and he got a few bandages, but no stitches.

A close up right after it happened and was washed off.

We went apple picking this year again...our last year...it was so much fun.

In preparation for school, Maddox and I read a book called The Kissing Hand. It is about a little raccoom who goes to school for the first time and is scared so his mom kisses his hand and tells him it is his kissing hand and that his mommy's kiss will go with him to school. There were stickers with it. He loves stickers right now and he loves the Kissing Hand.

You can't see it too well, but Embree has a nice shiner here. She somehow got it...still no idea how. Probably something to do with Maddox and his bike cuz he was riding it around the house. I think the bike pedal hit her eye. Anyway, she got sick while she had the black eye and so I took her to the doctor. Of course, they asked me if she is around anyone who might have reason to hit her. I said no, but was thinking, "Maddox." She is always making him mad and taking his toys.

My sister made these cute headbands for Embree when we were out in MT. She won't wear anything on her head right now, so Maddox has taken a liking to them. He really likes the pink one....big surprise!Here is Jeff and the kids after they spent a whole afternoon playing nintendo and beat super mario wii, mainly it was him and Garrett, but we all watched!

We also played outside for a bit and ran throught the sprinklers. Amanda was so nice to take Embree into the water. Embree loved it!

Maddox and Matthew love to jump on Maddox's fire engine bed. They climb on top and take turns jumping.

Montana Summer

2010-09-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful summer in Montana. I am short on time, as usual, so these are mostly out of order, but at least I am updating!

Here is Embree, now almost 10 months old. She claps, dances, waves, and does Popcorn Popping and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She talks a lot and today we think she actually said hi, although time will tell. She is a terrible sleeper and eater, but we are working on it and she is slowly improving. She is very smart and active and happy as long as we don't make her sleep or eat!Maddox with his stroller. I tried to get him to push a stuffed animal, but he wanted his spatulas instead.

This summer my family, meaning my sister and brother and parents, were sealed in the temple. It was a fast trip and it happened the day before Jeff and I left to head back to Kentucky, but it was worth it! How amazing and I am so grateful for eternal families and that now I am sealed to my siblings and parents. maddox has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and wandering around and playing. This is where he finally fell asleep. Just the other night Jeff came out and found him riding his trike around the living room at 3 a.m. Funny now, but not at the time.

We went to visit my dad one day. he is working for the state of Montana flying helicopters to fight forest fires. This is his helicopter.

The boys loved it! Jett is my sister's boy. Maddox and him loved playing together, when they weren't fighting or biting or hitting.

We took a trip out to Portland to visit Jeff's family. Here is Maddox and Simon chowing down on the brownies!

Here is a four generation picture of girls. My mom, Embree, me, and my grandma, Darlyne.

Here is one of us hiking at Silver falls in Oregon. It was beautiful. You get to walk behind and under the waterfall in the background, kind of like in Robin Hood.

Here is Jeff with Maddox swimming at Whitefish Lake. Maddox loved the water. By the time we left he was going in up to his neck and trying to swim. Jeff is happy about that because the first purchase we will have for recreation when we are out of dental school is a boat!

When we went to the lake, a local sports store had some canoes, paddleboards, and such to try for free. Here is Jeff doing it.

Here I am trying it out. I failed. Some kid canoed by me and asked, "So this is your first time, huh?" It was pretty obvious. I was shaking and barely balancing. Then he very kindly rammed me and I almost fell off, but managed to just fall to my knees. In case you didn't know, I am scared of the water and was almost crying by the time I made it back to shore.

A view of Flathead Lake. The mountains in the distance are where I live.

We took Maddox horse back riding after Jeff got back from a cattle roundup with my brother in law on his ranch. It was fun!

Maddox loved the backyard and the hose, as long as you didn't spray him back.

Here I am reading to Maddox and Jett while they eat graham crackers. This was a rare moment when these two were sitting still.

To finish it all, here is Maddox right before we left to fly out to Montana, pretending to pump. Jeff was not too excited about this picture, but when we got out to visit my sister, who also just had a baby, her son Jett did the same thing. They just love their mommies so much and want to be just like them!

Who laughs when they get peed on? ME!

2010-06-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

I decided I needed to write something on here. I always get on with the intention of writing but inevitably something comes up and I get distracted or I just can't think of anything to share. However, today I have something to share. I guess kids provide you with a wealth of things to share on a daily basis, especially as they get into the terrible twos, which maddox is thoroughly enjoying. Yesterday evening I was changing Maddox's diaper to get him ready for bed when I noticed him pause from his normal squirming. I looked at him and he got this huge grin on his face, started giggling, and then it hit me, literally...on the leg, on the arm, on my pants, on the carpet, all over him. He peed on me. He planned it out and thought it was hilarious and did it on purpose! I was so taken aback that I didn't know what to say and then I started laughing, but stopped that as soon as I realized I need to be a parent right now and tell him that is not appropriate, so I did, holding back the laughing, then turned my head and smiled and chuckled a litle bit and notice Jeff had turned his head and we also laughing. Why did I think it was funny that my kid peed on me? No idea. My only reasoning is that he is just so darn cute and he really did it to be funny. I think he gets his sense of humor from Jeff, although I have been known to seran wrap the toilet on April Fools.

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial weekend we decided to go for a hike at a nearby nature sanctuary, Raven Run. Well, actually it was more of a leisurly fifteen minute stroll on the handicap sidewalk. But it was still a ton of fun! The company was great. The weather was scortching and humid. The bugs were in heaven and we were too!

Here is Maddox with his "BIG stick." The kids really had a great time collecting sticks and kept trying to find bigger ones than the last. Well, when William tried to pick up a log we quickly changed focus to Dairy Queen when we were done. Embree and me.

Don't be fooled by that back pack Jeff has on. There is nothing in it. Neither Maddox or Matthew wanted anything to do with it. They did a pretty good job wearing themselves out running.

And here is a random picture of Embree. Almost crawling!

Huge (and I mean HUGE) picture post

2010-03-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

After quite a few months of no pictures I finally took the time to figure out our new camera and download three months worth of pictures. Here are the first two months...Yes, that means more to come later. The first is just a sneak peek at Embree and how she looked almost a month ago! Crazy how time flies. Here she is probably almost three months old and now she is four months old and going to have her first taste of rice cereal tomorrow!
My dad came to visit for a couple weeks. While he was here he bought Maddox this awesome bike that he loves. I couldn't believe it when he actually started pedaling away after a few minutes of instruction. I hate to admit it but I almost started crying...My baby is not a baby anymore! He can ride a bike! Poor Maddox. It is just a sign of things to come. I am going to be just like my mom, a cry baby, and I hated that she cried when I grew up. Now I will do it to my own kids! Oh well.Family picture before my dad left.
While my dad visited he bought some ice cream for us, a real treat, as you can tell from Maddox's reaction to it
Sorry this one is upside down, but you get the idea. Remind anyone of a Christmas Story?
What an awesome Daddy! All of them sick on the couch...
Here is an up close picture of Maddox after a couple days of a runny nose and wiping his nose on his sleeve. Yes, I am a bad mom I guess. Honestly I got tired of him crying every two seconds that I wiped his nose with a Kleenex so I let him use his sleeve and just changed his shirt several times a day. Life was a lot easier after that.
Maddox LOVES the camera. Here he is taking a picure of himself.
First play in the snow. He loves to make snowballs. The hat he is wearing belonged to my dad's Uncle Melvin, who passed away a couple years ago. It is fun to me that he loves this hat. I am glad too cuz it is the only one that will fit his giant head!
Just thought this pic was funny. When Maddox was a baby and was supposed to use the Bumbo he couldn't because his legs were too chunky and now it fits him just fine!
Maddox and Embree doing some tummy time.
Yummy! Cupcakes. Did I mention Maddox loves frosting? I think that is the second or third time he frosted the same cupcake.
When Jeff and I aren't busy being super duper cool parents, we do super duper cool things, like build this block tower out of Maddox's blocks. This is Jeff's Friday night creation!
Aren't they both so cute?
Along with Maddox's favorite color being pink, he also loves to have tea parties, which have actually turned out to be a great opportunity to teach table manners and how to set a table.
This one is funny. Recently Maddox has fell in love with sprinkles. One time I suggested he put sprinkles on a pancake and now he wants to eat all his food with sprinkles. He even wants to sleep with them, which I will never let him do again. Note the half empty sprinkle bottle and the sprinkles glued to his head and hand. He was literally covered in sprinkles or sprinkle dye.
After a tea party he decided to use the utensils...all of them...to eat his lunch.
Embree's baby blessing
I love this picture. Maddox playing the piano with Grandma Bird.

Maddox Learns to Climb

2010-01-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

Maddox finally learned how to climb! Well, I need to clarify...We showed him how. He loves it and really hasn't taken it any further than what you will see in the video, aside from climbing up on the table and dancing in front of the mirror from time to time.

Family Pics 2009

2010-01-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

A friend of ours offered to take our pictures for Christmas and Embree's newborn pics as a birth present for us and they turned out wonderful! Here are my favorites, but there are more here.

Maddox was crying the entire time we took pics so this is literally the best one we could get of him, aside from him looking very meanly at the camera in the family pic. Sooo, no cute pics of him and Embree. Oh well. I almost think this is cuter. Terrible twos, you think?

Maddox Turns Two (a month ago)

2010-01-12T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here is Maddox with his baby...Frosty. He LOVES Frosty the Snowman and watches the movie everyday. My mom found this stuffed Frosty at the store and now it is his baby. It even plays the song "Frosty the Snowman."

And below is his other baby. Wherever Embree is, there is Maddox, right over her, kissing her, pointing at (or in) her eyes, trying to help her do tummy time and jumping all over her. It will be a miracle if she survives her babyhood without mishap.

Our little big boy turned two last month! Jeff and I, mainly Jeff, made Maddox a sun and moon cake because he LOVES the moon.
I think they turned out pretty good!

Finally, here they are!

2009-12-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

In no particular order, here are some pics of Embree Beverlee Bird. The above is her just chillin' on the couch. She is NEVER awake. I can't get her to nurse longer than five minutes at a time. She just sleeps and sleeps and sleep! I have even tried getting her naked and a wet rag and she is just dead to the world...Definitely picked this up from Jeff.

Jeff's classmates often make fun of him for assuming the following position in class that Embree so gracefully imitates.
Maddox sharing his toys with Embree. This is the first morning after we brought her home. He even tried to get her to hold one of the ornaments in her hand.
Hanging out on the couch!

This is the first time he saw her. He wanted to share his blocks with her right away.
He was very distraught that she was upset in this picture.
Here are some hospital pics.

Right after delivery. The delivery went really smoothly. She was born on Black Friday, November 27th at 10:45 p.m. I had my first contraction while I was taking a nap that afternoon. By 6:00 p.m. we were on our way to the hospital. When we arrived I was dilated 6 cm, 100% effaced and at a 0 station. I was in pain! The contractions were about every 3-4 minutes. The doctor who checked me had the nerve to say, "Just let me check you and we will see if you have progressed enough to stay here." Hello!?!?!? I can't even move or breathe and you are telling me you might send me home? Seriously, can't you tell the difference between people in real pain and labor and those who aren't? I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. Good thing I couldn't talk very well.

I kept asking for an epidural but they kept saying they had to draw my blood first and put in an IV and do some tests and paperwork. I kept telling Jeff to go find them and get me something. My the time they finally decided to admit me I was dilated to an 8 and she was at a -1 station with contractions every 2 minutes apart. Still in pain and still no one even concerned about that!

They finally did the epidural after I told them I thought I had to push and checked me to find that I was ready to go! Thanks a lot! Anyway, I am still glad I got the epidural cuz she was face up and so we sat and waited a couple hours for her and me to rest up and then she was born after about 20 minutes of pushing. WAY easier than Maddox's delivery, even though it was more painful.
Right before Embree was born. It being the holidays, I am so grateful to whoever invented epidurals. Amazing!

Maddox's Baby Preparation Training

2009-12-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

In order to prepare Maddox for a baby sister, we used some unique and really everyday experiences. Most of the time I didn't even realize we were teaching him until I looked back at the pics and decided they were just as good as buying a doll for him to beat up and probably throw in the trash...he is really into throwing things away right now, even his candy! The first is just a cute pic of him showing his sister how to watch TV. Forget the rule that you aren't even supposed to let your kids watch TV until they are two (which he will be on Sunday) and forget the rule that you are supposed to sit at least six feet back from the TV, he is all over going blind and breaking the rules. He was actually pointing to the letter "o" on the TV and got really excited. Usually he is pretty good about at least staying behind the piano bench.

This next pic series is of Maddox wrestling with Matthew. This first move is the steamroller. He has tried this on Embree, but luckily I was holding her in my lap and was able to deflect most of the blows.
Even though it looks like Matthew is crying, it is really not due to anything Maddox did to him, at least I can't remember that being the case.
Tickle torture?
My final pic before giving birth...nine months pregnant!
This is one of my favorite things that Maddox does. Here he is learning to be soft. He loves to get the eggs out and line them up on the counter (yes, it is not clean). Then he will count them and put them back in. When he first started this I didn't like it, but he actually does very well now and doesn't break very many. The ones he does break we use to surprise Jeff with cookies so everyone benefits!

His tower. Just because he is so cute. Nothing really here that relates to babies, although he does build lots of towers now a days while I sit on the couch and nurse.
Here he is learning to be very careful (and also learning how to drink from a glass).
He was pouring water back and forth between glasses. He did very well at first until he tried to dump all the water into one cup and it overflowed. Oh well, he helped me clean up the mess.

She is here!

2009-11-29T18:25:00.000-08:00

We just got home from the hospital. I will post more later, but Embree is here! She was born Friday night at 10:45 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs and is 20 1/2 inches long. She has chunky legs and her head is normal size! Yeah! If any of you saw Maddox as a newborn, he had (and still does have) quite a head!

Pregnancy Update (and other stuff)

2009-11-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

Maddox is in love with the letter "o". Here are a few pics of the "o's" he found while we were at the park over the weekend.

This one is of him drawing an "o" in the sand with his stick...actually I drew it, but he helped and directed me.Here he is going down the slide...notice his mouth looks like he is saying "Ohhhh..." I actually think he is saying "Go" but "O" sounds cooler.
And this is funny cuz he made Jeff go down the slide. That looked awkward, but I shouldn't talk because he usually makes me go down with him and further down you will see that with my big belly it is anything but pretty.
He definitely won this game of tic tac toe...all O's. Big surprise. That one last X barely hung in there for one more second before he changed it.
On the walk through the park to the playground, he discovered this "O." He is really getting smart. He loves to look at signs and read books and identify letters. I think he knows most of them and is starting on numbers. If only we could get him to talk now!
Maddox and I chillin on the couch. It is so fun when he snuggles with me. Mostly it is when he is sick, but this time he was just being sweet. Can you tell I am running out of clothes that fit me?

And here it is. I am eight months pregnant in this...now 8 1/2 and counting! I went to the doctor today and I am officially one centimeter dilated and my cervix is softening. Not much progress, but from two weeks ago it is something! I am anticipating going late and having her sometime in December. My official due date is Nov 28.

Trick or Treating

2009-11-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

We went trick or treating this year with Doug and Roz. It was tons of fun because Maddox was old enough to understand that you get candy when you go! He is on a sucker kick right now thanks to the speech therapist. He carries around all the suckers he got faithfully, his favorite one being the red/pink ones, which, as you can tell from him pumpkin basket he picked out, is his favorite color. We were at Walmart and Jeff tried to get him to take a blue pumpkin but he was adamant about the pink one, so Jeff dug down to the bottom of the cage full of pumpkins to fish Maddox out a pink pumpkin. Several people at Walmart witnessed Maddox give Jeff back the blue pumpkin and walk off with the pink very happily. It was really cute and my excuse to get Jeff to go along with it was that our girl can have it next year.
Matthew was a three musketeer with his other brothers and Maddox was a fireman!

Jeff's and my costumes at a Halloween party. The girl who hosted used to hang out with the goth kids during high school even though she wasn't goth, so we just wanted to bring back a few memories for her. Jeff did a great job. He even applied his own make up!

Maddox having an afternoon snack. He lined up all his crackers and proceeded to take one bite out of each and then put them back, as he does with all things he eats...He never eats the last bite. You may think it is funny, but I will tell you it does get annoying and Jeff gets tired of eating Maddox's scraps.
Helping Daddy grill. He loves grilling and using the fire starter and helping Jeff work on his bike. Maybe there is hope for him, even though he loves pink! Did I mention he only plays with the pink cars we have and only colors with the pink markers?

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

We visited a local pumpkin patch the other day with Matthew and Roz. Maddox had no idea what a pumpkin what, but got excited really fast when he realized he was supposed to be excited. Even though he wasn't feeling too well, he still had fun!Looking for a pumpkin!
He picked like three pumpkins but this is the one he eventually stuck with and it was the dirtiest. I have to say we did not carve his pumpkin. We ate it instead! In fact, I am eating it as we speak! I made pumpkin bars for Jeff and me. They turned out so yummy and I didn't blow up the kitchen...I only almost did! I softened the pumpkin in the microwave and it overheated and started smelling REALLY bad. Wups! I have to say that is the only time I have ever had anything dangerous happen in the kitchen.

Then when I made the frosting for the pumpkin bars Maddox decided to help. He had never licked a beater, so I gave him one and he went to town! He LOVED the cream cheese frosting and has been asking for it ever since he tried it, carrying around the beaters, which I finally consented to making frosting yesterday morning for breakfast...I would like to note that he first ate oatmeal for breakfast AND it was Halloween, so it is officially a sugar day, right? I couldn't get the picture to move, so the first picture of his eating frosting is when we made it for breakfast.
Playing in the dirt.

The wagon ride.

Long Overdue Update

2009-10-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

One night for FHE we made a firetruck with Maddox. I forgot to get a finished product picture, but it turned out awesome! Lowe's does a craft every other Saturday for free for kids. We got this from them. Maddox is really into hammering right now, so it was perfect!And here he is with his fire truck hat he got there. He wears it backwards and loves it!
And I thought I should throw one of these in. I haven't taken many but here I am with two months to go. I am quite a big bigger now and got my first stretch mark. Kind of sad, but oh well. I figured it would happen one of these days. It is still small though so I am crossing my fingers.

Jeff and I are still deciding on a name. We like Embree, Aspen, and Paisley, but are leaning toward Embree.
And here is the series of Maddox's new favorite thing to do...He is doing it right now-watch Baby Einstein!

Curled up in his favorite blanket, laying on his other favorite blanket, watching more Baby Einstein. He won't watch anything else, which I am fine with and calls it his "move."

We tried to let him sleep in his toddler bed for a few nights. He did okay but realized quickly he could get out and that was the end of him sleeping and taking naps! After a few sleep deprived days for him and me, I put him back in his crib for now. I think the baby will actually sleep in his toddler bed for awhile.
Cars, cars, cars! He loves cars! Vroom, vroom is the sound he makes when he plays. Here we are with a ramp built for them. I am not allowed to play or touch them, just hold the ramps. Otherwise he gets really mad. He hoards those cars and can hold up to four per hand! Just dollar store cars but he doesn't know the difference.
Here he is driving his car around the house.

Lexington had a free day for kids at the horse park with free pony rides. Maddox didn't know what to think but we loved it!

Our Little Big Boy

2009-08-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

We went garage saling last Saturday and found this awesome bed! The lady gave it to us for just $25, down from $45 because she said Maddox just had to have it and he loves it...as long as he doesn't have to sleep in it for real. He will do all the pretend sleeping you want and loves to climb on it and read books, but whenever we lay him down, he always climbs out and comes to visit us in the living room with a huge grin on his face. We will have to work on that one...Any ideas?

And last but not least, our little boy can't be a true big boy without Batman pajamas, cape and all. He has no idea about any of it, but we think he is just too cute. Of course, with his recent issue with hitting, kicking, and throwing things at people/kids, we probably shouldn't encourage him with any superhero kind of stuff.

Speaking of kicking and hitting, Jeff and I have made it a point to attend nursery each Sunday to protect the other kids from him...the bully. There is a play kitchen in there that the kids love to play with and crawl through, from the oven to the other side where there are cabinet doors that open up. Maddox has recently made it a habit to stand in front of those doors and kick the kids in the face as they attempt to crawl through. I promise we did not teach him these things and we have tried a million consistent time outs to no avail. Now we are just trying to ignore the behavior and distract him and this seems to be helping out a bit. Little stinker, but still cute and we still love him!

Uncle Brian

2009-08-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago my brother left to go back home to MT and then down to school in Utah at UVU this fall. He came to stay with us right after Christmas and so Maddox grew quite attached to having him around, as did I...and even Jeff will say he misses having someone to make fun of and make play Ticket to Ride. We really enjoyed the time we had with Brian and wish it didn't end so soon, although he might say otherwise. There were times we were pretty hard on him but most of the time we really enjoyed having him around, so we thought he deserved a little present of remembrance for his time served here in Kentucky.FYI: Maddox does have a diaper on in this photo.
While out here, Brian started out working two jobs and finished playing Legion baseball for a team in Danville, KY. He did awesome and the team took second in state. Here he is right after a game he pitched at won down in Knoxville, TN.

We love you Brian and will miss you!

Rock n' Roll!

2009-08-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

I know we probably shouldn't let him dance on the table but when he dances like this it is just too cute!

Family Pics

2009-07-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Utah where my wonderful and talented sister-in-law took some family pics of us. She did our wedding too and although I don't think I am photogenic, I think she does an awesome job of making even me appear that way! If you are ever in the area and want a family pic done where you can look gorgeous and like you have it all together, she can make it happen! Seriously, though, she is amazing and all this was captured even though Maddox was crabby and we only had a few minutes.

Here is the link for more of the pics!

http://www.jeanabirdphotographyblog.com/

It's a...

2009-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Girl!!! Yep, it really is. I was hoping for a boy so Maddox would have a brother to play with but now he will have a sister to beat up/tease and hopefully he will be more of a protector big brother at some point. Anyway, I am feeling a little more excited now. I have been very nervous about this baby and scared. Maddox was such a hard baby for me. From two months on he would never eat or drink anything. He still struggles with this but is just now starting to eat and drink on his own after we have had therapists work with him. I am terrified of getting another baby that hates eating and sleeping. All scared thoughts aside, though, I am still excited to have another baby; I just have more reservations this time around because I know how hard it has been for me. I do love motherhood, but I don't think that it has come that naturally for me. It has been very difficult and my biggest trial yet...and I think my next biggest trial is probably on the way, to be delivered right before Christmas! :) Or I should say, when I am being positive and not scared, that it is a blessing because babies are also blessings and Maddox has been a blessing. Funny that our biggest blessings often come from our biggest trials.

Family Vacations

2009-07-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

My sister came out to visit for a whole month and brought her one year old son, Jett. Their first bath together Jett came out crying and Maddox had a blast. Maddox is more aggressive, but Jett knows how to hold his own...biting!

Playing in the flour...this is a classic Jett face. A huge grin and mouth open wide with drool coming out!

Cool dude! Eating mac and cheese!
One day Maddox was obsessed with wearing this bucket on his head.
After eating a pb & j, Maddox looked a bit like Joker.
Swimming at the pool just down the road. It was Maddox's first time in a pool. He LOVED it!
Valissa took Maddox and Jett to the playground one day and got pooped on by about four birds. Maddox loves to chase birds. She happened to follow a little too close behind.
We went to Mammoth Caves and took a tour call the New Cave Entrance. We descended about 14 flights of stairs through narrow cave passages until we got to the main cave floor. Brian was in charge of Maddox the whole way and they had a blast together.
Until Maddox fell asleep.
We also went up to King's Island in Cincinnati, OH. Maddox and Jett shared a stroller the first day and then second day we got them separate ones...you can see why. Jett bit Maddox several times and Maddox hit Jett several times.
Swimming at the pool at King's Island. Maddox loved this and kept walking into deeper and deeper water until it was over his head. Then I would grab him and he would get mad that I grabbed him. Seriously, I was just saving your life!
We also visited a nearby reservoir that had a park. Maddox loved this slide. It was really steep and he went really fast but he must have done it a dozen times!
Then we went swimming to cool off. Maddox just dove right in, clothes and all. He wanted to get to those birds! He eventually settled for throwing sand into the water.
My dad's family came to visit and we all met in Wilmington, OH.
Here is a pic of my uncle Gary, Aunt Debbie, and Dad.
Before we left, we stopped at this school and played ladder ball, a really fun game that you can get a Walmart really cheap. Here is Maddox saying bye to my dad.
Then Valissa and I were off to Malone, NY with the boys for a week. It was soooo cold up there, but nice and relaxing, except for when Jett fell down the stairs and Maddox chased the cats all over the place pulling their tails.

Karate Kid

2009-07-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Maddox has turned into a little Karate Kid. This is my nice way of saying he is a bully. He hits, kicks, throws, and head butts anyone and anything. He is the bully in nursery and I think they keep Jeff in there just to have someone be able to keep an extra eye on him. Today I had to put him in time out five times for pushing some kid over, kicking him in the rear when he was bending over and having him face plant and then there was hitting him several times on the head with his own head and his fists. Actual fists! I have no idea where this came from or how to stop it! Time out has no effect on him. The minute he is done with it, he goes right back to doing what he was doing, only he will look at me and see if I am watching. If I am, he will shake he head back and forth, like he is saying no and then do it anyway! I have to admit I have laughed several times, but it is not funny when he seriously is beating up on other people's kids! Any suggestions? The only ideas Jeff and I have had so far is time out and to do it back to him, but obviously we probably won't do the latter.

Another issue we have had come up lately is nose picking. Seriously, he is only 18 months old! He has no concept of picking right now. He is just fascinated with his nostrils. He found them because we are working with a speech therapist to help him talk and mainy learn how to eat better and chew, so in order to help him understand and remember to use his mouth, we taught him to touch him mouth and say a word. So when we are saying bird, we will touch our own mouth and say "ba, ba, bird" Then he will repeat it touching his own mouth. Only now instead of touching his mouth, he sticks his finger up his nose and says it. And it is not just a pick and flick. It is a very obvious I am digging for brain matter kind of pick. He has given himself two bloodly noses from sticking it so far up there! And then when I try to take it out he gets mad at me and tries to head butt me or hit my hand away OR he laughs and thinks it is a game. I am writing this smiling throughout all of it, and hopefully he will out grow most of it, but boy is he all boy.

I hope that everyone is having a great time this summer! We wish we could visit everyone, although I am sure not everyone would want us to visit right now with Maddox in this phase. So, with no promises or ideas as to how long this will last, to all of you who we will visit soon, consider this my warning to teach your children self-defense and to provide Kleenex for boogers. If he is set on the fact that he going to pick, perhaps I can at least teach him wear to wipe.

No Posts

2009-06-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

So I realized the other day while laying on the couch that I haven't posted in a long time. I have not been feeling very well for the past couple months, but now that I am starting to feel a little better, I thought I would exert a bit of energy to let everyone know that we are expecting our second baby the end of November.

The Horse Farm

2009-06-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

We visited a local horse farm with Roz and the kids. I forgot to take my camera along but while we were waiting to get loaded into the car I got a few pics of Matthew and Maddox exploring. I thought they turned out really cute.

Maddox Catch Up

2009-06-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

He likes to color, but not in a coloring book. Perhaps he doesn't like the fact that the only coloring book I have is Care Bears.

And he likes to sleep, but only in his own bed.

He loves to play by himself more now. I found this farm for $1.00 at a garage sale. Below are Maddox and Brian being cool. Maddox loves sunglasses. Only adult ones fit his head.
He also liked tongues and noses and bellybuttons.
And to take HUGE bites of food.
He really likes to snuggle in blankets. He especially fell in love with this pink blanket Brian made for a friend. He would lay on it and roll in it and curl up in it. He even slept with the scraps a couples times. It was really soft.
Ever since he saw Jeff grilling, he loves "flame throwers." He will carry them around and even sleep with them if we let him.
He can do somersaults...I think on accident, but he does them.
He loves sweets.
And he loves me too! Here I am trying to say my morning prayers and Maddox wanting me to play with him. And yes, my room really is that messy. Not usually, but that day it was!
I thought this was a cute picture.
He loves his Uncle Brian and likes to ride on his shoulders and grab his ears.
He also likes to relax on the couch for about 30 seconds a day.

Bye Randy & Beverlee!

2009-06-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Jeff's parents recently moved out to California. These are some pics of our last time visiting them. The above are Jeff's parents with Maddox.

Below is Jeff's brother, Rob.
Here we are with Grandma Birdy.
Michelle and Cheryl with Maddox
Four generations

Laughing Little Boy

2009-04-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Our Little Dancer

2009-04-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

2009-04-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our first "real" Easter with Maddox and had the Easter bunny come. In my family we have a tradition of hiding jelly beans in pairs around the living room. Maddox had a blast finding them and it took him less than a second to shove them all in his mouth. He was in love with the flavor but couldn't figure out how to swallow them, so he would chew them for awhile and then spit them out. Then go for another handful and repeat. We finally said no more two bright red stains on the carpet later.

The loot

Searching for those jellybeans!The chocolate bunny! He likes white chocolate but isn't a huge fan of "real" chocolate. Thanks Randy and Beverlee for the nice Easter shirt!

My Mom's Visit

2009-04-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Brian assuming the position for the day...Just kidding. He usually isn't this close, although he does spend quite a bit of time playing Ogre Battle. Maddox finds it humorous to close the armoire doors so Brian can't see the TV. I think it is funny and that Maddox is trying to tell Brian he shouldn't play so much Nintendo, but Brian thought otherwise. The next thing I know Brian had taped the doors to the piano so Maddox couldn't close them. I told him that probably wasn't going to work as the varnish would get taken off, so he invented another contraption with rubber bands and sure enough, it works. Maddox's efforts have been frustrated...for now.

While my mom was here we found this wagon. Maddox LOVES it!

Tired baby.
Playing with the cousins. Matthew liked to ride and Maddox liked to push/pull.
When Grandma visits, the candy is present in huge amounts and Maddox discovered he doens't really care for chocolate that much. He has a habit of sucking it for a few seconds and then spitting it all out. It is nasty and you would think we would have learned our lesson the first time, but just today I tried again, to no avail.

Jeff's Dream Come True

2009-04-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

New Toys for Maddox

2009-03-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Maddox has some new toys he has come in contact with. He got a trike from Grandma and Grandpa Sneck. At first he just loved to push it around, but now he likes to ride it and steer. He will steer from one end of the house to the other and often steers around the parking lot outside. He loves it, but he especially loved the box the trike came it. That was the best. I am sad I didn't get any pictures of him playing in it, but he would go in and hide and then come out and we would chase him around. It was a blast.

Maddox also loves to stir. He is obsessed with my kitchen spoons and whenever I am in the kitchen, he wants to be up on the counter stirring or watching whatever I am doing. If anyone ever needs to buy me a present someday, I am in need of more wooden spoons! They are quickly disappearing...maybe someday I will find his stash.

Maddox loves boxes right now. Any box at all. He tries to climb in them and put things in them. Here is Jeff climbing out of the giant trike box. Maddox also liked when he would go in there and then bust out and chase after him.
Maddox loves computers, especially Brian's laptop. He frequents the power button. Seriously, whoever invented computers should NOT have invented computer power buttons with pretty lights! That just shouts push me to a kid!
This in one of my favorite looks Maddox does. He loves the couch and loves to climb on it and jump. Then he will just sit there with this smug look on his face like, "I am the king of the world."

And he is the king of his world...and ours too. He loves the light switches and has learned which one turns on the fan. If you are ever at out house, please remember to bring a jacket because the fan is always going. If I turn it off, Maddox climbs back up onto the couch and turns it back on. He also loves to touch the fan blades (when it is off, of course!).The following pictures show Maddox's obsession with toilet paper. He loves to tear off pieces and distribute it throughout the house. He recently found a new use for toilet paper as a fashion statement. He would drape it around his neck and run around the house with it.
The bike pump. This toy it amazing! Every kid should have one. As you can tell, it gives them a workout and tires them out for a good nap later AND it entertains them!

Notice none of these new toys are really toys...

Phone in the toilet

2009-03-20T08:48:00.001-07:00

This morning Maddox decided to drop my cell phone in the toilet. Never before have I put my hand in the toilet, but this time I didn't even think twice about putting my hand and wrist in it. I grabbed that thing out as quickly as I could, trying not to puke at the thought of what I just did. My quick action still didn't save my phone though. I am still crossing my fingers that it will dry out and work again, but so far it is a no go.

P.S. This means I have no phone and I am not sure when I will. It also means I lost all my phone numbers, again, so please email me your number or call or text my phone and leave a message. I will get them someday!

The best punishment ever!

2009-03-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

Having my 19-year-old brother live with us has been interesting for all of us, probably most interesting for Brian. We have never "raised" a teenager and are still working out the kinks in our relationship and the "rules" of the house.

For example, now that Brian has a job and a few friends here, once in awhile he will go out to do something. This Friday he went out to see a movie with some friends. We had previously worked out the agreement that Brian would be home by midnight and call us if that was not going to happen. So there it was, two minutes before midnight and still no Brian. Jeff and I were sitting there fuming and deliberating about how we were going to "punish" him. My idea was for every minute he is late is a day he is grounded. Jeff thought that was a bit harsh. He thought we should take away the Wii or his laptop. I thought that would not work because then I have to entertain him throughout the day and I am just too tired and busy to do that. So we agreed that we would let Brian decide.

At exactly 12:00 midnight, Brian calls to tell us he is on his way home and should be there is ten minutes but had to drop someone off. During that ten minutes, Jeff and I fell asleep and I mean ASLEEP! I woke up around 4:30 a.m. and went into check on Brian and Maddox only to find Brian wasn't there. His bed was still a heap clean clothes that were waiting to be thrown onto the floor. To put it lightly, I was livid. I stormed back into my room and woke up Jeff and told him that I was going out to find him. As a side note, Brian has no phone out here. He just uses his friend's phones, so I could not just call him and get a hold of him.

As I got ready to go out into the freezing cold, I thought I should probably pray because something could actually be wrong with him. I knelt down and very un-humbly offerred a prayer that he would be okay and that I wouldn't kill him if he was still alive when I found him. I asked that I would know where to go.

I walked out to my car and had the impression that I should drive around the apartment parking lot. I was planning on driving over to his friend's houses, so a short detour around the parking lot shouldn't take long. I drove around and didn't see him. Then I had the thought to drive around again and look over in the back near the dumpsters, which I had previously just driven by quickly because it is dark and scary over there. Sure enough, his car was parked over near them. I drove over and peeked through the window. Brian was sitting in the driver's seat sleeping. He woke up and then I found out that he had gotten home and realized he forgot his house key inside the apartment. He knocked long and loud for nearly 45 minutes to no avail. The neighbors finally woke up and came out and he felt like an idiot and was getting cold so he just decided to sleep in his car. Well, apparently Jeff and I were out cold and there was no waking either of us. As we walked back in, we couldn't help but laugh and I realized that this was the best punishment ever...on accident!

A couple of firsts

2009-03-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I LOVE BEANS!!! After a year of being on this special diet to help me control a health issue and not having ANY complex carbs (yes, that means no bread, rice, sugar, or grain-based anything), yesterday was the first day I go to eat something that was filling...beans! I was in heaven and am in heaven still today. I actually look forward to eating! I made this delicious white bean chili. It was amazing!

Another first I experienced was forgetting about daylight savings time. No one in my little world even mentioned it to me, so this morning Jeff and I were getting ready for our 9 am church. At about 8:20 Brian, my brother, reminded us it was day light savings time. We both felt bad and hurried our way to church.

As we drove over a little hill we saw the church parking lot full. I told Jeff, "I guess we are the only people who forgot about day light savings time." We then drove into the parking lot and saw some familiar faces. Doug (Jeff's brother), Roz and the rest of the family had just pulled into the parking lot too. It looks like Day light saving got the best of all the Birds here in Lexington.

Jumping

2009-03-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Honesty

2009-02-20T10:53:00.000-08:00

The other day I saw a lady trying to park her car and she hit another car as she was pulling into a parking spot. She finished pulling into the spot and sat in her car and drank a pop or something (I was speculating on exactly what she was drinking) and then just got out of the car and walked off. I rolled down my window and without any tact whatsoever yelled, "Hey, I saw you hit that car!" She turned around and started yelling at me. Of course, I am sure she was already shaken up or upset over what she had just done and then I called her on it and it just set her off. As I sat there, dumbfounded, and she proceeded to walk into the store, the owner happened to walk out of another store. Anyway, I told the owner she had just gotten hit and pointed out the lady. I hated to "tattle tale" but I really didn't know what to do. I didn't want the lady who got hit to have to pay for the damage and I would hope someone else would do the same for me. Anyway, I could have done a better job handling it, but I have never had great tact. So, that was my good deed for the day, only I didn't feel quite so hot after doing it and getting yelled at.

Stinker and a Half

2009-02-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

Recently Maddox has come alive. He constantly has to be entertained. I have no free time anymore unless he is sleeping, which he is doing less and less of these days. Whatever I am doing while he is awake, he has to be doing too. It is fun to spend so much time with him and see him learn and grow, but sometimes I just really need to sweep the kitchen BY MYSELF. With him helping, somehow the broom ends up sweeping the carpet in the living room and then I find broken straw pieces all over the carpet for the next day or two. As seen above, he loves computers and my brother. He helps me wake up Brian in the mornings.

And he loves to cook too. If I am ever in the kitchen, he is always at my feet hanging on me until I put him on the counter. Then he will just sit there and watch and try to help out by stirring or stabbing whatever I am doing...or eating it. Here he is eating grated cheese. And no, I never leave him there by himself, not even for a second. If I move to another part of the kitchen, he comes with me.
He also LOVES the bathroom, specifically the toilet and toilet paper. Gross!

He also loves to carry around pens, pencils, and anything that writes. Just the other day he finally learned these awesome toys have a purpose besides just looking so pretty!
The culprit escaping from the scene of the crime.
But regardless of the handful he is becoming, he is so so so fun! We love him so much. He is so happy and generally on very good behavior. Recently he has taken to hitting people shorter than him on the head. He thinks he is being affectionate. Also, if you are laying on the ground and he wants you to stand up, he will pull your hair. That means, "Get up and play with me!" Too bad the little girls I babysat the other day didn't know that. I felt so bad! He is learning, though, and really just the sweetest baby ever!

January Overview

2009-02-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

We had an ice storm hit us last week. Talk about crazy and dangerous! It was amazing to see, but really did a lot of damage to the trees.
I can always tell when Maddox is getting tired because he will lay down on the couch cushions.
Lately Maddox has taken off after I change his diaper and runs around naked until I catch him. Just the other day he ran into the bathroom and stopped, then peed all over the floor. It was so funny. He had no idea what was going on and just stopped and looked down. And yes, those are tampons scattered around the floor. He likes to pull everything out of the drawers, including them.
My little sweeper!
Above: We were playing the most awesome game in the whole wide world (Ticket to Ride) and Maddox woke up early from his nap, so I got out the flour and a couple spoons and let him play away. I had no idea it would come to this, but was happy to clean up the mess after I won the game!

For the past couple weeks I have noticed Maddox's toys have been disappearing. The other day I went to take out the trash and this is what I found.

His basketball in the trash. Little did I know that he had been throwing them away! Ahhhh!

We had dinner at a friends house and Maddox discovered the stairs! And just when we thought he had the hang of them, he decided to walk right off the top step. He got a scrape on his nose and a slight fear of the stairs but other than that he was fine.
Maddox playing with his buddy, Greg.
Thanks to my dad, Maddox is now obsessed with light switches. He will climb up to them and sit and turn the lights and fans on and off. He thinks he is so funny!
Maddox's new favorite yoga position. We do yoga together everyday. This is his first successful attempt.

Just kidding. Not sure why he does this, but he does it everyday. Silly boy.

My brother, Brian, came to live with us this month. He drove his car back from MT with Jeff after Christmas. It has been so fun having him here. I am not lonely anymore and for the first time in eight years I am living near/with a member of my family. He cooks, he cleans, he watches Maddox for me, runs my errands, and keeps me company.

Maddox has stopped growing so much physically and is taking amazing strides mentally. He got his upper laterals and first year molars in, can carry on a conversation with you in fluent "Babble," finally feeds himself and prefers "real" food, and still loves balls. This is Brian's filing system that Maddox fell in love with. Now his dilemma is does he pursue a career in basketball and fulfill his need to throw things or does he become a business man?

The determination...It's all in the tongue.

His collection of balls.

My New Haircut

2009-02-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

While in Indianapolis a couple weekends ago I got a new haircut from the most fabulous hairdresser ever! She is so awesome and I can definitely see why people pay her $100 just to blow dry their hair! Because she is distant family, she gave me a discount, as well as a ton of tips. As most people know, I am terrible with hair and make up and fashion. I have none. So she cut my hair and styled it and taught me how to do it and told me exactly what I needed to buy to make it look this good again.

Two weeks later I have still not straightened it again because I am waiting on my straightener in the mail, but I am excited! What do you think? Aside from me not having any make up on and it being like 11:00 at night...Curly or straight?

Shoveling the Roof

2009-02-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

While in MT, I got snowed in and my flight canceled for a few days while it dumped snow outside. Here is Maddox watching me shovel outside.
Jarrett and Bret, my brother's friends, and me shoveling the roof. There was a good three feet of snow up there and it took all day to shovel. I only lasted a couple hours. That is hard work!

I bailed out after a couple hours. Here is how I got off. It was so fun!

Home Sweet Home

2009-02-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

Right now blogger is really annoying me. Everything I type is underlined and it keeps bolding everything I write too, as well as not allowing me to change the order of pics I post. It keeps wanting me to hyperlink this picture. This is why it has taken me so long to post my pics...I keep getting upset with this dumb program and don't know how to fix it. Anyway, I can't put posting the holiday updates any longer, so if anyone knows how to fix this, please help.

Jeff and I got to take a half day to ourselves and go skiing/snowboarding together on Whitefish Mountain. Here is Jeff with "my" valley in the background.We also took off and went ice skating for a day. My sister had a bum shoulder and so she was a handicapped skater.

Nothing beats Montana at Christmastime. While Jeff and I were there, we had a few snow storms that dumped plenty of snow for winter for some fun outdoor activities. Here are some pics of the area around my house in the beautiful winter snow!The ski mountain, just a few minutes from my house.

The little crack in mountains in this picture is the entrance to Glacier National Park. If you haven't been there, go! It is amazing.

This is a picture of our property. You can barely see our house. We have ten acres.
Driving up to go ice skating during a snow storm.
Our backyard.

He LOVES Dogs!

2009-01-16T12:44:00.000-08:00

Maddox has always loved animals and Alice, my brother's dog, was no different. He would follow her everywhere. When she laid down, he would lay down next to her or on her. She was so patient with him and would let him pull her hair and lay on her or crawl over her. I think she just liked all the attention and dog biscuits he would give her. Every time she would eat a biscuit from his hand, he would giggle as her tongue licked his fingers. Yucky, but so cute!

My Dad's Baptism

2009-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas, on my dad's birthday, my dad was baptized! It was such a neat experience to see and makes me want to be a better person and example. I won't lie. It was a huge suprise and all happened so quickly, but it was the best Christmas present a person could ever ask for. This time next year we will hopefully be able to be sealed as a family.

My sister gave a talk on baptism, then Zach baptized my dad. The Dilworths and Natalie and Caitlin Luehr then sang the song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then Jeff confirmed my dad. Brian gave the closing prayer.

Swimming

2009-01-15T12:55:00.001-08:00

Maddox also had his first swimming lesson while we were in MT. He is deathly afraid of water. He hates baths and won't go into or near the bathroom if the bath or shower is on. Of course, I still have to bathe him, so he just cries the whole time I wash him and he is in and out in a couple minutes. After about 10 minutes in here, he warmed up slightly.

Here is Jett and Zach, Jett's dad. Don't they look alike?Maddox and me.

I even got Maddox to lay backwards in the water, much to my surprise.

Sledding

2009-01-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

With all the snow we got this Christmas in Montana, we had to head outdoors to experience some real sledding...on saucers! They are definitely the way to go. While we were there, my camera died, but I was able to get a quick video of the hill. We had a blast, doing trains and jumps and falling off. At first, I was thinking, this is really scary and how in the world did I do this and think it was fun as a child, but thankfully I got over it. Wow, can those saucers fly!

Maddox's Christmas Presents

2009-01-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

From my Uncle Gary (my dad's brother), I got a box of My Little Ponies. This year from Uncle Gary my sister got a Barbie and a real-looking plastic horse and my brother got Pokemon and Power Rangers. These are all the toys we LOVED when we were growing up. It was such a treat to open them and remember my childhood and how fun it was.

I tried to share that fun with Maddox. He just sat and stared at it. Then swatted it with his hand and crawled right on by.

True to his manhood, as Jeff would say, Maddox made Daddy very proud at that moment. Here he is with his other toy we got him for Christmas: a slinky!

The Best Christmas Present Ever

2009-01-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

This year I got a wonderful Christmas present. I don't have a picture of it becasue it is getting resized, but I got a new wedding ring! A couple months ago, during the whole moving fiasco, my diamond fell out of its setting. Lucky for us, we found it on the carpet in our living room! What are the chances of that!?!?

Jeff took it to Jared to get priced about resetting it. They quoted him a ridiculous amount and said they had never seen anything like this before, especially because the diamond was set in platinum. We had decided on getting me a nice fake ring to wear until we were done with dental school, but Jeff, without telling me, went to Kay to get another price quote. They told him they could do it for 1/10th of what Jared would reset it for, plus throw in a couple wedding bands with diamonds set in them, which I originally wanted but never got due to money. We got everything from Kay for what Jared said it would cost just to set the diamond! Amazing and what a great suprise from a sweet husband. He used the extra money he earned from working some Saturdays at a dental clinic to do it. It is beautiful! I will post a pic when I get it back, although a picture will not do justice to the thoughtfulness of my wonderful husband!

First Sledding Experience

2009-01-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Jett and Maddox had their first sledding experience. Puff ball is all I have to say about their snow apparel. Here is Jett going down. He didn't know what to think but he didn't enjoy his astronaut outfit that much.And as for Maddox, he started crying. I think he was just tired. The hat Maddox is wearing is a hat from my dad's Uncle Melvin, who passed away a couple years ago. I remember going to his house out in Boston, Massachusetts when I was little. It was so fun! We ate lobster for the first time there. Well, everyone else did. I pretended to eat mine and instead threw it away later. We think Maddox got his big head from Uncle Melvin (and my dad). Big, bald heads. Uncle Melvin's hat fits Maddox perfectly!

Best Friends

2009-01-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was so fun. I was able to see some of my bestest friends in the whole wide world and our kids got to meet too! From left to right, for memorie's sake: Tyler, Jenn, and their baby Conner, Valissa, Zach, and their baby Jett, Jeff, me, and Maddox, and Andrea, Randy and their little girl Alora. The girls with their kids...All of us have boys within eight months of each other except Andrea, who has the cutest, most beautiful little girl. She is going to have her pick when they get older (at least that's what us moms hope for). These girls I grew up with. You know when you meet someone and it just feels like you have known them forever and no matter how long you go without seeing or talking to them you still have no problem talking to them? While all friends are so fun to be with, these lifelong friends are the best, my sister included!

We were also able to spend time with our childhood friends, who are practically family. We were hoping one of them would marry into the family, but it doesn't look like that will happen. These girls are a lot of the reason my sister and I stayed active in the church growing up. They lived just two houses down from us and are triplets. The third is a boy, Nathan, and while he is cool too, he usually opted not to play ponies with us.

Caitlin might be getting married this summer, so she tried on Valissa's and my wedding dress. She looked beautiful in it! Natalie, you are next!

Cousins and Aunts

2009-01-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Jett on the left and Maddox on the right. This is the classic Jett pose. His mouth is ALWAYS WIDE OPEN and drool is ALWAYS coming out. Cute little boys.

They were looking out the window together and then Maddox started trying to crawl up Jett.My sister, Jett, and me.

Don't they have the same eyes?

The Maddox Tree

2009-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, a tradition we had was to go out the day after Thanksgiving and wander for hours in the snow looking for the perfect Christmas tree. Along with the perfect family Christmas tree, my siblings and I also got little trees to put in our rooms. Because Maddox had the stomach flu when we went out to get our family Christmas tree this year, my dad spotted the perfect little "Maddox tree" just down the lane from our house. So we bundled Maddox up and headed out on the sled to chop it down!

I guess I forgot to take a picture of it all lit up, but it was a nice little tree and we can't wait to do it again next time we are out there for Christmas.

Mischievous Little Boy

2008-12-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

I was in the living room folding laundry and heard the sound of a bowl and spoon clanging around in the kitchen. It took me a minute to realize that I didn't give Maddox a bowl and spoon to play with. This is what I found!
The stinker figured out how to open the fridge door!Looking at me with no remorse. In fact, he went right back to doing what he was doing...

Which was stirring his leftover lunch and dipping it into my honey and then mixing the honey with the mashed carrots and then throwing some on the floor and trying to scoop it up in his spoon. My favorite is the blue racquetball he placed in the carrots. That was his original play toy, but obviously abandoned it at the prospect of the spoon! Isn't he a cutie? I am just glad he didn't go for the eggs!
Later that night he was still on one!

Maddox's Real Birthday Celebration

2008-12-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Maddox's real birthday on his real birthday, the 6th of December. As I think back to that time, I remember just wanting to not be pregnant anymore. It wasn't that I was uncomfortable, because I really wasn't. Okay, he did kick me in my ribs but as long as I didn't stay sitting down for too long I was fine. The real reason I wanted to have Maddox was that I didn't want to get a stretch mark and one had barely popped up. Vain, I know. I was so emotional during that time. I was a grouch and really mean for about a month. Jeff would argue that that meanness never went away. He is sitting right behind me and laughed when I typed the previous sentence and in a way, he is right. I am a little more stressed out and a little less patient with him and that is something I need to work on. New Year's goals here I come!

Anyway, we are so thankful for Maddox in our lives. He definitely keeps us on our toes and in check. He brings us many smiles and laughs and he is just so darn cute with his monster head and beautiful eyes that change colors depending on what he is wearing and the light. He is our little Gerber baby, so we wanted to make this day special for him, even though he had no idea what was going on. Jeff and I made miniature cakes and frosted them to look like all sorts of balls, which Maddox loves. He loves to throw them, bounce them, kick them, lay on them, roll them.

From top to bottom, there is a tennis ball, baseball, basketball, golf ball (he likes my pink one), football, racquetball, bowling ball, and then just a happy birthday cake. Here is the little guy about ready to touch the flame on the candle, so I blew it out quickly. He picked out the basketball. I think he liked it because it was a bright color.

He was not quite sure what to do with it. For awhile he just sat there until I put a bite in his mouth. Then he stabbed it with a fork and played with it. Then he threw some over the side.

Then he threw some on William. Then I gave him another bite and it clicked and he wanted more but couldn't figure out how to get it in his mouth, so all of a sudden he opens his mouth up wide and goes to stick his face in the cake, but stops right at last second, grabs a handful and shoves it in his mouth. Here is a sample. He did a great job!

And when he was done, after about 5 or 6 bites, he did what he always does and squished it, smashed it, squeezed it in his fingers, and threw it over the side of his high chair. Boy was it fun to clean up!Then we opened presents. Here Maddox is eating a present. He got some books, a puppetand this really cool wind up caterpillar that he and Matthew were scared of.

All the cousins together. Notice Maddox's head is bigger than all of theirs. We love you Maddox!

First Snow

2008-12-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

It snowed on Maddox's birthday, so we decided to take him out and let him explore it a bit. Really, it was more fun for Jeff and I than for Maddox, but Maddox really liked walking around. When I tried to get him to touch the snow he didn't like the cold. And when it was time to go, he was not a happy camper. He is getting very good at throwing fits. It is funny. Here are Maddox and Jeff walking. I love his shoes. This is the first time he has ever walked using them. Doesn't he look so grown up?

Taking a short break, emphasis on the short. Really, we tried to get him to sit down and he didn't like that and stood right back up and reached for our arms, whining until we helped him walk around again.

I love this one because you can see the pull that Maddox does to us when we "walk" him. He will pull us in the direction he wants to go using his body weight and arms. Here he is pulling Jeff forward.

All bundled up in our freezing car.

Maddox's Pre-Birthday Birthday

2008-12-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Maddox's birthday with my parents while we were at home in MT. Maddox was recovering from the stomach flu, so he didn't eat anything, but he really enjoyed opening the presents and playing with them the next day! We did a piece of apple pie for his "cake" because it was Thanksgiving and to buy a cake after eating so much food was pointless...plus there was no room in the fridge!
Opening his water table, which he loved!

Thanksgiving in Montana

2008-12-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

My dad's sister and her husband flew into Kalispell. I have not seen my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Tim for about four years. They hadn't ever met Jeff or Maddox. Sadly, this is the only picture I got of them. Guess we will just have to get together again with them soon! It was so fun seeing them. We talked and laid around and went to dinner and a movie and ate way too much food! And no that person on the left is not a ghost. It's my sister. Most people who live in Montana are white like her because of no sunshine. (NOTE: Jeff added the last part about you Valissa. Bring it!)Maddox was fascinated by the Christmas tree lights. My mom is vigilantly watching to make sure he doesn't eat one. The finished product. Jeff, Maddox, my mom, and I never made it out to get cut down a Christmas tree. On the way out to the woods Maddox threw up. He had a fever all that night and didn't sleep well. He was not a happy camper and Mom and Dad were really really tired. Life is the pits when your kids are sick...and I only have one!

But a tree was picked out and you can see it was HUGE! The biggest yet! It is so big the cat climbed it and knocked it over. It even has acorns on it, according to my brother, Brian. Most people would call them pine cones.My dad. This is the only picture I have of him. I am terrible at taking pictures of anything important. My dad watched Maddox a lot. We have determined that Maddox got him huge noggin from my dad and my dad's Uncle Melvin. We also determined that Maddox is stubborn just like my dad (and me). My dad tried to get him to go to sleep one day. He spent 1 1/2 hours and said Maddox would be almost asleep and he could tell he was really tired but Maddox won over the sleep and stayed awake the whole time! By the end of our trip Maddox preferred my dad over me!

My cousins from Frenchtown, MT came up to visit one day. Andre brought his fiance Ashley up to visit and meet us too. A true test of love, especially after Jeff made up a nickname for her: Gasley. Apparently we didn't scare her off cuz they are still getting married next month!

Brian, my brother, wearing reindeer antlers. Doesn't he look happy?

My cousin Jarom wore them next.

Jeff was the only person in the whole house who had never ever been hunting before...even I have been and he said he didn't want to go becasue he didn't want to go walk around by himself in the mountain lion infested woods and freeze to death...oh, and he didn't want to wake up early. As a side note, the Fish and Game recently killed 15 mountain lions near our house, one of which took a deer down a few hundred yards away from our house. Scary.

Back to story, so my dad took Jeff out to shoot my rifle-a 25 odd 6-and then Jeff decided he would go hunting, but only if he got to shoot something with horns. In other words, he wants to shoot a bull elk or buck and he wants to be guaranteed! We are going to enlist my brother-in-law's brother, Zanen, who is practically a mountain man, to help him out next year.This is Jett, my sister's baby. Isn't he pretty? The first time I saw him this trip he was wearing a turquoise jumper. His eyes are just so pretty with the longest eye lashes. He loved this fire truck.

So Jett may get his paleness from my sister, but he gets most of his looks from his dad, Zach, right down to the butt chin.I still think he looks a little like Valissa, though, in the eyes.I visited my mom at work and we found a huge box for Maddox to crawl through. Valissa decorated it with all the happy birthday wrapping paper around. He loved it!But loved it even more when he saw Jeff try to crawl through it!

Alice is the new love of Maddox's life. He is so over me. He followed her everywhere! It was so cute and Alice was so patient with him. He would lay on her and hit her with balls, as he is doing now, and she would just lay there.

Maddox and Jett loved to play with each other. Mainly Maddox like to hit Jett with balls.

Or sit on himPoor Jett would just lay there and take it. He wanted so much to be able to defend himself!

But instead he just drooled all over himself. Seriously, I have never ever seen a kid drool this much. You would think he has a mouth full of teeth by now from all the drooling, but there is nothing but gums on him!

He's a Reader!

2008-12-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

I absolutely LOVE reading. I think I could do it all day everyday if someone would supply me with nonstop good books. Sometimes I run out of books that I know are good to read. Well, this problem doesn't happen to me so much anymore (since having a child), but it used to. I am happy to announce that I think Maddox enjoys "reading" too. I will find him several times a day looking at books. We read at least three books a day together, usually more. I am so happy! Jeff has read one book since high school for fun and that was only so he could put it on his dental school application. I should note, however, that Jeff does read his scriptures everyday. He is very good at that, which I am grateful for.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2008-12-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

It took us several days (actually a couple weeks) to get our Christmas tree all the way decorated. We have been so sick recently. I was counting and figured that since September I have been sick at least part of every WEEK, if not the whole week. Not even exaggerating a little. Between all of us, we have been sick every day since September. No fun. But, we did finally get our tree decorated, while still being sick. Did I mention Jeff and I are both sick right now? :) Maddox actually does pretty good with the tree. We have only had to move one ornament up a little. Most of the time he stays away from it because it is so pokey. I guess he doesn't like pokey things.

Hence this picture. I know I already posted a video of it, but I love his face. It makes us laugh without fail.

Pokey Ceiling

2008-12-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Our ceiling is textured and pokey. One day Jeff lifted Maddox up really high to touch the ceiling and this is what happened.

Playground Time

2008-11-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I live right next to a huge park and have never taken Maddox there. One nice fall day we decided to venture over and see how Maddox liked the playground. I think Jeff and I enjoyed it far more than Maddox. It is so fun seeing your kids experience their firsts, even if they don't enjoy it as much as you would like.

Here are Maddox and I going down the slide. He really didn't know what to think of it. I think we got a half smile out of him. He is so observant and cautious.
Even when we put him in the grass, he just sits there and doesn't move, but tries to NOT touch the grass as much as possible. You can see by him lifting his leg and holding his hands up that he doesn't like it. Silly boy!

We also tried out the swings while we were there. I think this was the only smile we got out of him. Seconds later, he started fussing and reaching for us to get out.We tried to put him back in, but you can see he clung on to Jeff for dear life. There was no way he was getting back in that scary swing! I love how his legs are stiff and straight. He would flail them outwards so we couldn't put him in.

Volleyball

2008-11-17T11:20:00.000-08:00

So I don't have any exciting pictures of us totally killing the other team (NOTE: By killing, I mean slamming the ball in their faces), but I do have some nice photos of our team, minus a couple people who played off and on throughout the season. From top left to bottom right:

Brad: Never played a game of volleyball in his life until now and now he is one of our best servers and getting very limber at the net too.
Juliana: She may be little, but she is vicious! Gotta love the forearm pads, which may just be her secret to being the best passer ever! She can send that ball right on over the net from any place in the court. And, she can serve overhand.
Jared: Don't let him fool you. While is also our comic relief and likes to entertain us by sacrificing his face, more importantly he is one of our best all around players and most improved. He passes well, serves awesomely and consistently (one of our starting servers), has great net skills, AND he is moving up in the world with his setting skills.
Amber: The best setter a team ever had. Need I say more? She is the reason we actually have the opportunity to slam the ball in the other team's faces!
Me: Just another member of the team. Mostly I tell everyone what to do and where to go and they are very patient with me.
Jeff: Our secret weapon. Once he realized he could hit the ball, he wasted no time in taking advantage of his skillz. There's no need for him to flex his muscles.
Chuck: He may be quiet, but he is backing you up all the way. One of our best all around players. Can't forget his awesome blocking skills. He can read a hit coming a mile away!

Now for the info on us. We were ranked 18 out of 19 teams in a local volleyball organization when it came to tournament time. But, a little practice and a lot of luck, we made it to the championship game. Really, the first two teams we were supposed to play never showed and so then we had time to actually practice and we all know that practice makes perfect! It was so fun seeing everyone improve practially overnight! We went on to win the next two games.

Then it was championship game night. We lost the first game horribly but came back to win the second by a long shot. We were on and totally could have beat the other team, who felt so threatened that they put in their best server to start. Somehow, we lost our rhythm and fell out of sync, but hung on until the end. We ended up losing the third game, but fought the whole way. We totally could have beat the other team. I saw the fear in their eyes. With a little more practice, we will win next year and I hope we get to play the same team. That would be awesome!

A nicer photo of us. Brad and Juliana are married. Jared's wife, Esther, played a couple times. Amber is one of our bestest friends in the whole world, as well as her husband, Noel, and Maddox is best friends with their son, Greg. Jeff and I are married, of course. And Chuck is married to the designated babysitter of the kids.

Juliana is sitting mighty close to Chuck, but she is not married to him, nor is she hitting on him, even though it may appear that way with her long, silky smooth, leg all up in his face. That is just the way we are-having a great time! Jeff and I wake up the morning of a game and say, "Today is a good day. We get to play volleyball tonight!" Thanks to all those who watch Maddox and make it possible. We really appreicate it!

Fun in the Sun

2008-11-07T19:19:00.000-08:00

Jeff got Election Day off, so we decided to get out and enjoy the fall weather. It was gorgeous outside. You would hardly think it is November! After casting our vote for the next president of the United States, we played some disc golf with Amber, Noel, and Greg.

Not sure who won, but I can definitely say it wasn't me!

First Dance Moves

2008-11-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

It is totally cliche, but being a mom definitely is one of the hardest things I have done and also one of the best. Watching your child grow and learn new things and do things for the first time is amazing. Here is one of those rewarding times. I was trying so hard not to laugh during this video. And yes, our house is really as messy as it looks. That is one of the joys of having a child. He gets into EVERYTHING lately. I don't even bother to clean up until the end of the day because if I clean it up, he messes it up again. This is fair warning to any unannounced visitors. We will not pay for medical bills due to injuries sustained as a result of our son's messes. Good luck walking through his mess. I love how he just sits on wherever and on whatever he feels. Note the orange block.

This is the last dancing one. I know they are long, but it is just so cute! This one he is dancing from a sitting position. Towards the end he becomes fascinated by the fan on the ceiling.

His First Steps

2008-11-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

We found this walker at Goodwill. Maddox LOVES it!

Maddox's First Trick or Treating

2008-11-03T06:35:00.000-08:00

Our ward had their annual Trunk or Treat. It was Jeff's idea to dress up at a Where's Waldo family. We ran out of time to do my costume, but Maddox and Jeff wore theirs, nerd glasses and all! Jeff spray painted the shirts all by himself! They turned out great and smelled even better.

The whole family. I went as a dentist, I guess, and wore Jeff's scrubs and white coat. Friday night, Halloween, we went around to a few houses with Doug and Roz and fam. Maddox was SOOOO tired and so we gave him a KitKat to boost his energy a bit longer. I think he was okay with that. Garrett, Amanda, Matthew and William were all cowboys/girl. They looked great! Here they are after playing in the leaves.

Doug and Jeff with their boys getting one of their first tastes of chocolate!Maddox even had his own little bucket, which collected candy mainly for Jeff to eat..and eat he did!

Matthew was chewing on a wrapped Crunch bar and before we knew it, he had eaten through the wrapper and was sucking out the chocolate. It was so cute.

Professional Pumpkin Carver

2008-10-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

I nominate Jeff to be a professional pumpkin carver. We decorated pumpkins again with some friends in Jeff's dental school class and his turned out great! It was actually my pumpkin to carve and so I cleaned it out and started to carve away, only to stab my thumb with the first cut. I was finished for the night and so Jeff took over and did a fabulous job! Here is a picture of us right before the stabbing.Maddox had a blast. Jae and Alyssa hosted the event and they have a HUGE dog named Peyton, who Maddox loved. Maddox and Peyton

It's crooked, but you can see that Jeff did a goblin pumpkin. Not the best picture, but it turned out great!

Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza

2008-10-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we had our "traditional" pumpkin carving night with Amber and Noel/Evan and G-Reg. We ate some yummy chili and Amber ate almost all the cornbread...again (jokes) and then the guys carved pumpkins while Amber and I just hung out. Note: Amber is not nursing in the background of this photo. She is just sticking the pacifier in his mouth.Last year we had to make a face like our pumpkin. This year Jeff did Bowser. Yes, he is obsessed with MarioKart and anything Wii. He did a really good job, especially for carving from memory. Noel's pumpkin also has some unique features. Note the unibrow and gigantic ear holes!
The masterpieces side-by-side.

And here is a picture of Greg, or G-reg. I say G-reg because Amber teaches first grade and in her class there is a little boy whose name is spelled T-R-O-Y, like Troy, but is pronounced T-Roy. She said he is African American and the sweetest boy ever. Anyway, isn't Greg a chunk? Isn't he a chunk? I should preface Greg's birth weight by noting that his brave mother is of a smaller build. He was 10 1/2 pounds when he was born!

October Randoms

2008-10-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

At the end of each month, I like to write a few things about Maddox that he has learned this month and some of his favorites. One recent favorite is opening and closing doors. He loves to play with the kitchen cabinet doors and will sit and open and close them, not showing any interest at all as to what may be inside the cabinets. He has yet to discover those treasures. His favorite door to open and close is the door in his room, when he is trying to escape from nap time. He will do this for quite some time...until he usually shuts the door on smashes his finger in the door. Then he will let out a short whimper and look around for Jeff or me. Once he sees us and sees that we have acknowledged his "owie" he will go right back to playing. Silly boy! Cool spider jacket from Aunt Valissa! We have gotten so many compliments on it!
Another favorite is Daddy's markers, or any marker or pen. He crawls around the house with one in each hand. He throws one, then crawls after it. Then he throws the other and crawls after it.
Apparently Jeff used to sleep just like this growing up. We have found him in this position several times. Seeing a picture of his crib reminds me of his most recent addition to his diet: wood. I noticed the other day that there are quite a few chips taken out of the end rails of his crib. I figured it was just because we had moved twice in one week, but then realized there were chips taken out of every railing and they all looked the same. Two very close together, one on top of the other. Click. Maddox has been eating the crib! Good thing there are teething bars on the two side rails, but the two end rails are really in for it! We have a beaver on our hands!
As for any other quirks, Maddox still won't feed himself. He has his pincer grasp down great, but hasn't connected that he can used that to feed himself. So I sit there for nearly 30-45 minutes three times a day and spoon feed him. He is also done with baby food. He usually only wants "real" food, which means whatever Jeff and I are having or little pieces of food that he can chew or suck to death. He had his first french fry over the weekend and just ended up sucking the ketchup off each time and leaving the fry hanging out of his mouth. Also, whenever I give him something big to grasp in his fist and eat, like a slice of a peach, instead of eating it, he will squeeze it as hard as he can and smash it. He does this with everything-bananas, green beans, pears, peaches. He is still nursing, but really picking up on the whole sippy cup business. Only he doesn't like anything in it except water, not even juice!
We love our little boy and are loving this stage of his life. He says, "Dadadadada" and "Mamamamama." We don't know if he does on purpose, but we love it! He also thinks he is so cool now that he can stand by himself. He will pull himself up and then let go and just stand there balancing and giggling really loud to make sure you can hear him and see him. He LOVES to do this and is getting very good. Still not taking any steps, but he is making headway!
His favorite book is "Where is Baby's Bellybutton?" He really just likes the flaps. We read it several times a day and he opens and closes the flaps on cue all by himself. He is such a smart little boy and it is fun to see him make connections.

Maddox's greatest fear at this time in his life is the vacuum cleaner. If he sees it, he leaves the room or crawls to Jeff or me. If it turns on, he crawls as fast as he can to the opposite end of the house and cries. If you try to get him to touch it, he clings to you. The first time I discovered he was afraid of the vacuum, I was vacuuming in our bedroom and I came out and he had crawled all the way down the hall and was huddled up in the corner by the entryway door. So now I have to vacuum holding Maddox...I have to admit I vacuum less now. Oh, and yesterday I discovered he also cowers of the broom and mop!?!? Funny.

And that's all folks! Ten and a half months old! One more just for grins...

The House

2008-10-18T06:24:00.001-07:00

This is our house. I would like to say "was" our house, but unfortunately even though we no longer reside there, we are still paying rent there. We have had a TON of people interested in the house, but no one that suits our landlord. They are pretty picky, which I can't blame them after this whole experience with us. We are not bad tenants and they are not bad landlords. In fact, we are really good tenants and they are really good landlords, but it just wasn't meant to be. Never have I been so thankful for my little apartment with noisy upstairs Section 8 neighbors and their barking dogs, which I can sleep right through now! I would take noisy neighbors over smoke any day. And Jeff is happy in our little apartment too, as well as Maddox, who was sick at the house and cried a lot while we were there.

But isn't it cute? It would have been perfect if not for the smoke.

The backyard with a storage shed and swingset.
The kitchen. The countertops are very red, but a nice red. And notice our wonderful dishwasher (that reeks of smoke whenever you open it) that spewed nasty dirty water all over the countertops and floors the first time I used it. Apparently the disposal was not hooked up correctly to the dishwasher or something like that.
The great room with the nasty dirty fan that had seven years of dust on it and was never cleaned before we moved in. I took care of that. It was gross. And a picture of the infamous laminate that apparently smells just like cigarette smoke. Yes, the laminate does have an odor, but that odor is nothing like smoke. Just stick your nose right up to that fireplace or in a kitchen cabinet and take a deep breath. Yuck!
One of the bathrooms. In this bathroom the sink leaked. In the master bath the shower and toilet leaked, so we showered and relieved ourselves in here. Oh yeah, and the toilet paper holder was broken. It is such a small thing, but all these small things really add up, especially when you are paying good money for it!
This was the study with the built in bookshelf, which I used to store all my food storage for the few days we were there. And also a picture of the closet door, which fell off along with the laundry room doors and linen closet door. This is our lovely master bedroom closet. Aren't the mirrors beautiful! They are actually very nice mirrors, only you can't really get into your closet or see your clothes because they are too wide for the closet opening. Very annoying. And sitting right next to it are the towel racks we requested because the master bath had none. We were suppoed to install them ourselves. Not anymore. Maddox crawling around on the laminate. One of the things that really annoyed me about this place was that the couches slid around on the floor. Another was the fact that we had ants galore. They were just the baby sugar ants, but they were everywhere. I finally lost it when I went to sit on the couch and it was covered in ants.

One day Roz and Matthew came to visit us. Matthew was pounding on the screen door, so Maddox followed suit. I think it is so cute that Maddox copies everything that Matthew does. Matthew drinks out of a sippy cute, so Maddox does. Matthew is the only reason that Maddox will give sippy cups a try now. Aren't they so cute playing together!?And that's pretty much all folks! That week we lived there seems like it never happened. I have never experienced the concept of blocking memories out, but I really think I have blocked a lot of our stay out of my memory. I love our apartment!

In a Bind

2008-10-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

What a mess we are in right now...or I should say we are hopefully getting out of. We are praying it doesn't last long as we are poor college students! We moved into a house last week and were led to believe the cigarette smoke smell we smelled was the maintenance man. It wasn't. So now we are having to break our lease, which means we are forking out the big bucks, rather than stay in a smokey house. No fun. Our landlord refused to admit it smelled like smoke, even though every single person who came over said it smelled like smoke. I even called a professional who gets rid of the foul odors in homes and he smelled it and told me it would cost thousands of dollars to fix this house of the cigarette smell. Our landlord told us it was the new laminate flooring that was put in. The catch is this: we smelled the smell before the flooring was even put in and we told it was the maintanence man, who was there that day. Yes, we are gullible and naive. We have learned several lessons from this. Big ones and a hard ones and we are definitely humbled.

PLEASE pray that we will be able to rent out this house before the end of the month! We are currently paying double rent, as we moved back into our apartment, which I am ever so grateful for. AND, if you know anyone who is interested in a house, which is actually extremely cute and perfect and doesn't mind cigarette smoke smells, send them out our way! Or better yet send your prayers up to Heavenly Father to help us find a tenant soon!

Naptime Take 2

2008-10-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Maddox won't settle down for a nap, so I put him in his crib and let him play with a stuffed animal and I leave for a bit. Lately he has started throwing fits whenever I try to put him down for a nap. He will arch his back and flail his arms and kick his legs and "cry." The end is the best, so listen for the change in his "cry."

I eventually walked into his room to check on him after the fake crying stopped and laughing started. This is what I found! What a cutie! How can you resist a smile like that!?!?

Did I Do That?

2008-10-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

If you can't tell, this is a STANDING floor lamp that is now LAYING on the floor...for the third time today. It is his new favorite toy. Off to find to something bigger and better to push over...until I pick the lamp back up. Doesn't that face just say, "It wasn't me"?

Naptime for Maddox

2008-10-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

Naptime for Maddox consists of me taking him into his room and nursing him in his chair in the dark and then him sleeping. But it doesn't always go that smoothly...Lately Maddox has figured out how to escape. He will stop nursing and lunge off the recliner onto the floor, as follows. Roll over...
Make a break for it... Open the door...
And escape!
He thinks he is pretty funny and I can't help but laugh too!

Laughing Baby

2008-10-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

Maddox loves it when Jeff plays with him. I am definitely not this funny!

Some of my Favorite Memories of the Month

2008-09-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

This month Maddox has come to love him Mommy and Daddy a lot. He has gotten especially clingy and by the end of the day he follows me around everywhere I go, tugging on my legs. It honestly lights up my day that he loves me so much and wants me to hold him. He is actually pulling at his right ear in this picture. This has come to mean, "I am tired. I don't want to go to sleep, but I am tired." I usually win and he goes to sleep, although sometimes it takes awhile. Maddox is still not a very easy baby to get to sleep. Sometimes I will put him in his crib and he will play with his stuffed lion, chatter to himself and kick the wall for nearly an hour.

Also notice the blinds in the background. These are his new favorite toy. He likes to tug on them and throw them and pull on them. I had a theory that if I let him play with them then he would become less interested in them and eventually leave them alone. Not true. I underestimated the strength of Maddox's arm strength. A couple days ago he ripped one off. Wups!

Maddox LOVES his daddy and his daddy loves him. Don't you just love that double chin and those long chunky legs! I think Maddox has Jeff's legs, which means he may be doomed to sweat pants until junior high.
A favorite past time for Jeff and Maddox is Maddox balancing on Jeff's hand or in Jeff's arms, like Maddox is now. Maddox thinks it is hilarious.
Playing with the blinds. Guilty. Gotta love those rolls!
And this is Maddox's new discovery as of a yesterday, when he broke it. He thought the lamp was cool to try to use to stand up and then he realized it rocked back and forth too. Before I knew it, the lamp toppled over onto the floor and broke. Oh well. Now I know why people say kids are so expensive!

The Circus!

2008-09-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

Jeff and I were talking one day and I found out he (and Maddox) had never been to the circus before and wouldn't you know it, then came to town shortly after our conversation, so we bought tickets. At $12.00 at ticket, plus another $10.00 in fees and $8.00 in parking, we made an expensive family memory. Seriously, though, cotton candy was $12.00!!! I wanted to buy a cool light up sword for Maddox and it was $20.00! I remember going to the circus as a child and riding on an elephant for like $5.00...Okay, so it may have been more than that, but not much.

Regardless, we had a good time and were thankful Maddox is not at the age where he wants anything. He was happy looking at all the lights and noises, as you can tell from the following picture. We couldn't get him to pay any attention to us at all. The elephants. You can't see them too well, but they were all holding each other's tails and walking around. They are probably my favorite part of the circus. Jeff's is the human pyramids and cool tricks. He also liked the horse and tigers when their trainers made them stand up on their hind legs.
All that watching wore him out! It was three hours past his nap time when he finally fell asleep. Fifteen minutes later he was up and back to watching the circus. We didn't stay the whole time, but it was fun while we were there. I think I prefer the small town circus, not only because I lost my cell phone today and couldn't find it because the music was too loud to hear it ring, but also because a small town circus is more intimate and real, instead of practiced and predictable.

First Hair Cut

2008-09-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Maddox got his first haircut this weekend. We figured that since we recently had someone ask the question, "Is it a boy or a girl?" that it was about time. Jeff and I both loved his curls over his ears and in the back, but realize we have a little boy, not a girl. Here is the before pic!A back of the head shot.

The cutting! He did very well. He just sat there the whole time and played with other parts of the clippers.
Daddy's handiwork! He looks so grown up now and like such a big boy! I don't care for it and Jeff didn't either, but said it is now growing on him. Maddox got many compliments on his new hairdo, although I am not sure if he likes it yet. He used to pull his hair when he was nursing and now he doesn't have anything to pull and doesn't quite know what to do with his hands now.

A short video of the haircutting experience. Isn't he such a good boy!?

Ear Infection

2008-09-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

This past week Maddox had his first ear infection. He screamed and cried all day one day and didn't eat hardly anything for two days. We finally took him to the doctor and got a prescription, although I ended up not giving it to him. The doctor said it was my choice, that it didn't look that bad and since he never had a fever with it, I decided to just do Tylenol instead. It worked great and wasn't hard on his tummy. His ear infection cleared up in just a couple days by itself. I am of the opinion that antibiotics are great when they are really needed, but most of the time they are over-used. These pics are of Maddox being really clingy to me during his sick days. Anywhere I go, he would crawl to me and try to get me to pick him up. It has been so cute, although I am sure it could get old, but right now it makes me feel special and loved.

Teeth Brushing

2008-09-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

So we are really bad parents. This is Maddox's first time having his teeth brushed! As you can see from the date on the picture being September 5, 2008, we are a few months behind schedule. I give you all permission to give us a hard time, but especially Jeff. Mr. Future Dentist doesn't brush his kid's teeth! I secretly think he is helping Maddox get cavities so that he will have a patient to practice on. I have deemed Jeff the official tooth brusher for Maddox. He needs the practice, plus he is REALLY good at it! If you are ever over at our house and you happen to have your toothbrush, I volunteer Jeff to give complementary tooth brushings. One time he showed me the correct way to brush my teeth and it was amazing! It was like a gum massage.

Maddox loves to get his teeth brushed. He likes the feel of the tooth brush in his mouth and likes to bite on it. Plus I think the toothpaste tastes good and that helps!

I Have Teef!

2008-09-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I were so happy to see that Maddox has teeth...four of them to be exact! Two on the top and two on the bottom. We were especially excited about his bottom teeth because I never had those teeth come in. Now we are just crossing our fingers for the teeth next to his two front teeth and two bottom teeth to join the others.

Jeff would be really upset with me for not knowing the exact names of these teeth. How bad is it that a dentist's wife doesn't know the scientific name of teeth? I am going out on a limb here and trying to recall the lecture Jeff gave me last week about teeth names. I am guessing they are called the lateral teeth. Now as to anything else other than that classification, I am remembering a bunch of words, like medial and distal but can't remember what they mean. Maddox was being so serious and concentrating really hard while playing with my blush brush. He kept making motions like he was painting the carpet.There's a smile! And then he went right back to playing and "painting" with my blush brush. It was really cute. I am excited for him to be able to paint for real. Remember those painting books where all you do is paint with water and the colors are on the pages? I loved those!
And here he is eating dinner. Maddox is funny about dinner and "real" food. He really only likes to eat when Jeff feeds him. I can usually get a few bites in him but that is it. I tell you, feeding this kid has been the biggest trial of motherhood for me! Once in MT he went ALL DAY without eating a single bite of food, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.! I worried horribly all day. Hopefully he never acts on his anorexic tendencies when he gets older!

Correction

2008-09-02T16:52:00.001-07:00

I have to make a change to my list of favorite foods. I was kindly reminded of my actual favorite pizza..."Pretty Aunt Roz's" Homemade Cheese Pizza w/Homemade Whole Wheat Crust. Pizza Hut is second in my list of favorite pizzas. Honestly, though, Roz you do make the best pizza in the whole wide world. I will never forget the first time I tried it right after Jeff and I were married and we were babysitting your children. They each ate maybe one piece and I think I devoured the rest of the WHOLE PIZZA! I was a little sick afterwards, but it was soooo good. Pizza Hut could never make me overeat like I did that night!

A Big Scare

2008-08-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

Since nothing much is happening in my life, I thought I would let you know about my brother's life; well, it is my brother's best friend's life. His name is Jarrett. Jarrett went down to Idaho to visit his friends that he grew up with last week and they were having a bonfire at a girl's house in her backyard. The girl hosting the party decided that she was going to pour gasoline on the fire after it was already going to get the fire bigger. Jarrett told her that was not a good idea and turned around to walk away from the fire. The girl didn't listen and poured gasoline on the fire, which travelled up the pouring gasoline to the can and exploded, blowing everyone away. Jarrett woke up a few seconds later several feet away from where he was standing and was on fire. He rolled in the dirt and put himself out and then looked for the girl and her other girlfriend, who were standing together at the fire when it exploded. They were both engulfed in flames. Jarrett and another boy got one girl to roll and put the fire out but Justine, the girl holding the can, took a little longer. They were all life flighted to Salt Lake and they don't think Justine is going to make it. Her friend, Sammy, is in critical condition. Jarrett was burned on the right side of his body from his neck down to his hand with 2nd degree burns. He is okay, but will have to have therapy on his arm and hand and go to a burn center to get rebandaged for the next couple months.

This has been really hard for my family to go through because Jarrett was like another son to my mom and a brother to Brian. It is such a sad thing to happen and a really bad accident. All of the kids are LDS and good kids. It is sad to think of the scars they will each carry with them, not only physically, but also emotionally from seeing their friends dying and hurting. However, without going into too much detail, (a plug for Boy Scouts here) Jarrett knew exactly what to do to keep Justine and Sammy in the best "condition" until emergency crews arrived. If it wasn't for his quick thinking, despite his own burns, those girls wouldn't have had a chance.

We are so thankful Jarrett turned at last minute away from the fire and was not harmed further, but it is still so sad for those girls and their families.

Our Favorite Foods!

2008-08-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

In no particular order, here are my favorite foods, followed by Jeff's and Maddox's. I mainly did this post to get Jeff to contribute SOMETHING!

1. Deep Dish Cheese w/Extra Cheese Pizza Hut Pizza
2. Sour Gummy Worms
3. Cafe Rio Chicken Burrito Enchilada Style
4. Kneader's Cinnamon French Toast w/Caramel Butter Syrup
5. Oreo Cookie Blizzard w/Extra Oreos

1. Enchiladas-any kind from anywhere
2. Homemade Peanut Buster Bar Parfait
3. Pigs in a Blanket AKA Corn dogs
4. Kneader's Cinnamon French Toast w/Caramel Butter Syrup
5. Anything I don't have to make myself

1. Milk!
2. Nectarines/Peaches (I like to eat them whole!)
3. Plain Homemade Yogurt
4. Sweet Potatoes
5. Carrots (I love carrots, but I can't eat them cuz they plug me up!)

Funnies About Maddox

2008-08-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

Maddox does so many funny little things and has so many things he likes or doesn't like. While they are really just little quirks, they make him, him. I thought pictures would help us to remember them best. This first one is my hair. He especially loves to pull and yank it (hard, I might add) when he is nursing to sleep. He also hits himself in the head and pulls his own hair when he is nursing to sleep. Strange?
His cousin Matthew is another favorite. They love each other so much and always smile when they see each other. The other day Matthew came over to play and Maddox copied everything he did. Matthew clapped, so Maddox clapped. Matthew drank out of a bottle, so Maddox drank out of a bottle, which I have never been able to get him to do. This particular picture is funny cuz Matthew tried to crawl between the couches and got stuck.
Maddox loves his daddy. He will be having the worst, grouchiest day ever (which is very rare for him) and then Jeff walks in the door and he is all smiles!
Maddox loves his cousins, Garrett, Amanda, Will, and while they are not in the picture, Maddox also loves his cousins in Washington, Utah, and Montana! This picture is taken at Jacobsen Park last weekend. We were there for the Japanese Festival and William, aside from chasing ducks around, found this tree trunk that he kept sticking his face into. It was actually pretty cool. It was hollow and you could see down into the water. What a silly boy!
Maddox loves this miniature disc golf frisbee. He chews on it a lot and always covers his face up when he does. Thanks Grandpa Sneck!

He loves to unravel things, throw things (anything he can grasp), and crumple things, especially Jeff's notebook papers.
Maddox loves fruit. I had the idea to let him play with the fruit in the fruit bowl one day and next thing I know he was eating the nectarine whole! He actually took bites out and sucked the juices! Then he proceeded to chuck the rest of the fruit around the room and bruise it.
This is Maddox's favorite toy when he was just a newborn. It is his face, which is just a paper plate with stickers that form a face shape. I found it and let him play with it again. He crumpled it up and ate it. Bye-bye face!
He loves to chew on his vitamin dropper. It is rubber and he is teething, so it makes sense. Oh, and he loves his acid reflux medicine. He will suck it out of the dropper in the mornings. Have you ever tried it? Zantac. It is nasty!
And last but not least, he is the king of blowing raspberries, especially with a mouth full of food! So if you ever see me with speckled food on my shirt, you will know who did it.

A New Trick!

2008-08-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Maddox has a new trick he learned just yesterday. Watch and find out just what it is!
He can crawl now! Well, he can almost crawl. He did this twice yesterday and once today. I am guessing it will be another week or so until he really understands the possibilities with his newfound skill!

Maddox Clapping

2008-08-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

So Maddox can clap. He is a very talented little boy! Since our scooter was recently stolen, we have been trying to think of various ways to earn a few extra bucks to purchase another form of transportation. We were thinking of letting Maddox join the circus. What do you think?

Almost There!

2008-08-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Maddox is almost there! The very day we returned from our trip to Montana, Jeff set Maddox down and he went up on all fours in the bear crawl position! Since then, he has taken to several crawling positions in the effort to figure out just how to move his tank of a body!

While the first picture has nothing to do with crawling, it was just so cute that I had to throw it in! Here we are trying to teach him how to get up on his hands and knees with some support.
More teaching and Maddox up on his own!
And then down for the count. All tuckered out.
And he is up again and playing with toys now! He also can go from sitting to crawling, as you can see from his right leg that is stuck under him. We are still working on getting that leg moving a bit, but he is great at pushing himself backwards. Note that he is somehow pushing/falling and getting up again and going backwards, not crawling.
A couple days ago Maddox decided he had had it with going backwards. Here he is trying to go forward. He gets up on his tippy toes and pushes as hard and as high as he can, but doesn't go anywhere...he just looks like he is doing pushups. It is funny!And then today Maddox finally started pulling himself up onto things. Still no crawling in either direction, but lots of rocking and pushups and rolling around!

His First Bath in a Real Tub!

2008-08-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

This past week we gave Maddox his first bath in a real tub! This is a major accomplishment for him, but mainly for me. I have an extreme paranoia with showers/bathtubs and was seriously brainstorming how I could get away with never letting Maddox bathe in our tub. Yes, we clean it, or I should say that Jeff cleans it. I have cleaned a shower maybe five times in our marriage and in my whole life. I am simply afraid of the germs. I recognize fully that it is a mental thing and I will strive not to pass this on to my children, but honestly I would rather clean toilets than set foot in a shower barefoot. Nevertheless, after much deliberation, I finally sprayed the whole bath down with bleach a couple times, rinsed it with water, and stuck him in there. I put him down on a mat, though, so he wouldn't slide around, but also so he wouldn't touch the bottom of the tub, even though the water that is touching him is also touching the bottom of the tub. See, it is all mental.

Maddox had a wonderful time! He splashed and played and would have stayed in there all night! What a sweet little boy I have. He is the happiest baby ever. It is so hard for me to stay upset around him and once I saw him playing and having fun, I forgot all about the bathtub germs!

Avalanche Lake

2008-08-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

If you decide never to live in Montana, you should at least visit Glacier National Park. It is breathtaking. Each year we go, I try to take Jeff on a different hike and lake. This year we visited Avalanche Lake. We picniced at the base of the hike, Maddox played in the dirt some more, and then we took off. Here are Zach, Jeff, Maddox, and Brian at the trail head. The first part of the hike follows Avalanche Creek, which cut its way through some boulders. It is pretty neat.
Here is just a sample of how amazing Avalanche Creek is. Crystal blue glacial water carving its way through rocks.We all took turns carrying Maddox. Brian got him the whole way down. Jeff and I shared him the way up. What a tank! By the way, Valissa gave Maddox the nickname Tank while we were there, so I gave Jett the nickname Twigs. He has (had) the skinniest arms and legs!After an hour of hiking, here is our breathtaking reward. The water is frigid, but people were swimming in it. We stayed only a few minutes to take pictures and for me to unsuccessfully attempt to feel Maddox. That day he ate at 8:00 a.m. and not again until 5:00 p.m. What a stinker!

Facial Hair

2008-08-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

Two weeks worth of growth. That is the longest Jeff has gone without shaving. He doesn't look so bad, does he? Still no fun to kiss though!

All Work and No Fun

2008-08-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

While we had a good time during our trip to MT, it wasn't all play and no work. We definitely had our share of hard work. My mom and dad's house was in need of an update and paint job, so Jeff and I decided to take the challenge. We painted the whole downstairs and upstairs, minus the individual bedrooms. I wish I had pictures of the before and after, but we forgot to take the after. If I can ever get my sister to email me the pics, I will post them.

Here we all are hard at work. I couldn't resist the opportunity to show off my farmer's tan.

And my muscles. Here is Valissa, kind of painting. Supposedly having a baby c-section makes you excused from all manual labor. I had to give her some credit, though, because she is the one who painted almost the whole downstairs while 9 months pregnant.
Here is Jeff taping away and, as always, lightening up the mood with his goofiness.
And the hardest worker of all award goes to Bubba! This is my brother, Brian, who claimed that playing Nintendo and playing baseball took it all out of him. He helped by sleeping with the babies...and he taped and washed walls. I love you Brian!Overall, the house turned out fabulous! What I loved the most was shopping for new decorations with my mom and dad's money!

A Real Montana Man

2008-08-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

Jeff is now a real Montana Man. He had the opportunity to go fishing on Flathead Lake with Zach, our brother-in-law. I guess that fishing on Moose Lake with me wasn't good enough. Although those little six inchers can give quite a fight, Jeff was ready to catch himself a real fish.

The first time I spoke with Jeff on the phone, a few hours into their fishing adventure, he was not having the best time. Everyone had caught several fish except for him. He hadn't even had a bite. After I got off the phone with him, I prayed he would catch a fish, and he did! Secretly, I am hoping to convince Jeff that Montana isn't that bad a place to live, so him being unsuccessful at catching fish seemed like it might put a damper on that hope. My prayers were answered! I would argue it is a sign, but Jeff would argue otherwise. More convincing to come! Here is the ginormous fish Jeff caught. It was the second biggest of the day, weighing in at 5 1/2 pounds and 29 inches long. All that waiting paid off. He went on to catch several more, but this was his prize! We ate it for dinner and it was good, or so I heard. I didn't try it.
Here are the guys, Jeff on the far left and Zach on the far right.
Zach and Jeff posing with their catches! These were mostly Lake Trout.
Look at the beautiful scenery. It was an overcast day, but perfect for fishing and being out on the lake. Flathead lake is 30-something miles long and about 17 miles wide. This is from memory, so I am sure it is off, but you get the picture. It is huge! We even supposedly have a Flathead Lake Monster, which is probably nothing but an oversized pike, but scary all the same.