Easter 2011

So our Easter was a little crazy this year.  Geoffery and I both caught some sort of head cold thing/monster that kind of made us both feel not to up to the mode of celebrating, but we made the most of it.  On Saturday, we went to Abby's, my sisters, house and we had our Easter meal (which was delicious) and our Easter egg hunt with my family.  My mom, dad, Garrrett, and Monica all came up to help us celebrate.  It was a ton of fun and yes I took my camera, but it died the second I got it out.  So I did end up taking some pics with my phone, but their not the best quality.  Also the ones below of Easter morning aren't the best either because I was too lazy to open the blinds for maximum quality.  Anyway, they'll have to do:)  Don't you think its interesting when you spend all this time and money on Easter outfits and the kids will NEVER sit still for one measly picture!  I was about to die, but oh well.  Maybe when their older:)  Anyway, I didn't get the best picture of the two of them in their matching outfits, but you get the drift.  So here are some shots of our day.  Oh yeah, Geoffery was really sick on Sunday, so I went to church by myself with the kids.  Not so fun.  But they did do really well during sacrament, so I can complain! 

 She hasn't touched her Tangled doll once.  I guess dolls aren't her thing:(

 Grant's letter to the easter bunny and his drawing of a rainbow.  I really do love this age.  We're finally catching on to things. 

 Sweet girl let me get at least one picture of her!

 The only half way decent picture of the two of them.

 The three of us!  I love these two!

Back in the blogging game!

So I'm really back.... No I promise I will be better!  I've finally caught you guys up to present time.. just scroll down, its there really.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, the whole thing!  Now I can move forward with the present!  So please come back (all 2 readers!)  I promise I will be here! 

My two sweet babes in October at the pumpkin patch.

Madelyn 18mths...

I took some pictures of Madelyn when she turned 18 months.  They didn't turn out as good as I was hoping, but I did get two or three good ones.  Seriously, this age is VERY difficult to get a good picture and its something I struggling with.  In fact, this is just a difficult age in general.  Every second I feel like the girl is going to do something to get herself seriously injured.  I can't close my eyes even for a second.  And the thing with her that makes her sooo difficult is that she is an amazing climber.  She may look small, but she is STRONG.  The other day I was in the kitchen looking at the computer with her RIGHT there and I turned away for two seconds and turned back around to her STANDING on our island!  I had no idea that she could even climb on a bar stool, but ever since that day I have to put the bar stools up so that she doesn't try to get on top of EVERYTHING!  I'm really having a hard time with this stage because of that and it makes me not want to get a babysitter, because she is always surprising me with her new tricks!  AH!  It's really crazy!  But on the other hand, she becoming more vocal which is fun and more interactive.  I remember feeling this way with Grant and in fact I even wrote a post about it.  The funny part is Grant is finally leaving the whole tantrum stage as he just turned 4 (pics coming soon I PROMISE), only for Madelyn to be entering it full force.  Motherhood definitely doesn't give you much of a break.  But that's okay, that's exactly what I signed up for, so I guess I'll take it the rest of their lives!  Anyway, I'm done rambling.  Here are some pictures of my sweet babe...

 Totally her personality!

 I PROMISE I didn't edit the eyes... TOTALLY natural!

 This is what she does 50% of the time...always sucking the thumb.  Is it bad that I think it's cute?

 She lives in this necklace!

I seriously could eat her face off!  I love this girl!

Christmas 2010

So Christmas was also spent at home this year.  Pretty laid back and spend most of the time with family.  Grant had a Christmas program with his preschool class and there aren't very many pictures because he refused to get up in front of everyone and sing with his classmates (he was the only kid out of 20 that flat out refused...what do you do? nothing:)  Anyway, we did get a picture with Santa though as he came to visit and brought each kid a gift from him.  Here is also proof that Madelyn didn't freak out this time around sitting on Santa's lap.  In fact, I couldn't keep her away from him or the other kids.  I think she figured she was also in preschool.  I think she would have taken Grants place on stage proudly without even thinking about it.  Its so funny how different kids personalities can be.  Here are some pictures of our Christmas...LAST year:)

 Making a gingerbread house.  Grant really got into it...and so did I!

 The final product.... I was pretty proud!

 Christmas Eve at our house with Geoffery's family.  We decided to do appetizers and it was delicious if I do say so myself!

 Table set!

 Grant and his uncle Will, Geoffery's brother.  He also moved into our house with us in February.  Geoffery's parents moved back to Indiana:( and Will wanted to finish out high school here, so he stayed with us!  We're excited to have him in our home and the kids adore him as you can tell!

 Me and Ashley, Geoffery's sister!

 Sweet Madelyn, its impossible to get a picture of her so I have to take what I can get:)

 Santa came!

 The aftermath!

Grant and Madelyn, and the ONLY picture I could get with the two of them!  And this is the best one out of like 100!  I wanted to get them in their matching PJ's!

I know, I know Thanksgiving in April...

Quick recap of Thanksgiving for my records, and memory, which isn't so good lately.  We had Thanksgiving at my house this year and it was a LOT of fun because all I had to do was set the table and my mom did all the cooking!  Thanks mom!  She always so good to feed us even when she's the one visiting.  Its awesome!  Anyway, it was really laid back and we spent the night counting contractions as we were hoping that Abby would go into labor that night, but it was just that silly false labor playing tricks on us.  Then the next morning we all went to the mall to see none the less... SANTA!  Grant was so excited and we had been working on our list for quiet some time.  He was so careful to keep it safe from Madelyn and to add to it every time we saw a new commercial (thanks Nickelodeon).  He really got the whole Christmas thing this year and it was a ton of fun to see it all through his eyes!  He loved seeing Santa and actually ran up to sit on his lap.  No fear, at all!  What a champ!  Madelyn was a different story, which was surprising, because she's not really afraid of strangers, but it must have been an off day.  We actually saw another Santa like a week or two later and she was all over him and I couldn't keep her away from him.  Kids are funny that way!  They keep surprising us!  Anyway, here are some pics of the weekend... and don't judge because I look a little tired in these pictures.

 The table was all set!

 In the playroom!  I was feeling very festive that day.

 Either watching football or the parade... I can't remember!

 Dinner was served, eaten, and then we just sat around and enjoyed the company!

 Meeting the big man!

 He was telling Santa in detail about his list and made sure to include everything!

 I can't believe he's this big!

And then there was little Madelyn!  She didn't like it too much...obviously.

Fall Family Pics

We took some pictures the day of Halloween, that Sunday, with the whole family...Parents, cousins, etc.  We also got some pictures of just us and the kids.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out.  Grant had a difficult time participating, but all in all the result was okay.  I'll post pictures of the whole fam-damily later.  Those take a while to edit and choose one where everyone is smiling, all eyes open, etc. etc.  And knowing my family my name is mud if its a "bad" picture of them.  So I'll work on that when I have the patience, but for now here some shots of my sweet little family.  I also LOOOOVE the stage Madelyn is in and I LOOVE the stage Grant is starting to get in.  He's almost out of the terrible two's and three's... although he still has his moments.  I have to find myself explaining everything we're about to do so that nothing is sprung on him and he's not taken off guard.  For example, these pictures.  I forgot to tell him what we were doing and then he just threw a fit.  Lesson learned!

Halloween........WHAT???

I know how sad that I'm updating you about Halloween and its in the middle of January?!!  What the???  Anyway, we are VERY behind on this blog and I've decided I'm going to update you slowly on all our happenings.  I'm going to update with something new EVERYDAY until I'm finally updated.  (How many times can you say the word "update"?)  So I decided to start with Halloween. 

This year my sister and her sweet family flew all the way from Georgia, or how we pronounce it JAR-JIA, to come and see us.  Tickets were much cheaper for Halloween than Thanksgiving, so I can't blame her.  It was a lot of fun to hang out and just to be around them.  I talk to her everyday on the phone, but we only get to see each other like once, maybe twice a year.  We all decided to do a Toy Story theme Halloween for the kids so that they could pretty much choose whatever they want to be.  Grant, of course, wanted to be Buzz Light Year and Madelyn was Evil Doctor Pork chop (not so much evil as cute though:).  We had a lot of fun and probably spent more time taking pictures of the kids than we did trick or treating, but that's okay.  Here are some pictures to prove we are still alive...

 Oh yeah, Geoffery and I have this one issue that we don't completely agree on since we first got married and that's Halloween.  I love Halloween almost as much as Christmas and Geoffery HATES Halloween.  It's always been one of those things that I'm trying to get him to like and he's always trying to get me to do away with.  However, this year he surprised me with dressing up as one of the 3 amigos!  I was completely shocked and taken back!!  I guess I finally won after 7 years of spending Halloweens together!  And yes those pants are as tight as you can get.  He couldn't even bend over!!  What husbands will do to please their wife!!  Thanks hun, I got a good laugh- and that's AT you, not WITH you:) JK...

 He truely thought he was the REAL buzzlight year!!

 Ohh scary T-REX...

 This is Barbie, not that you couldn't tell by that hair!

 Little Bo Peep and her sheep!

 Aren't these two babes the sweetest!

The whole gang together at last!