It's FINALLY here!!!!!!!

I have been waiting for this for a LONG time... Like 6 months or something! My Canon Rebel T1i. After saving and saving and waiting for black Friday to come, I was able to purchase this camera for a very descent price!

I have always been interesting in photography so now I can try to start getting creative!

Pictures to come soon! :)

This is what SWEET looks like...

So this weekend we had a self defense activity at church. Maddox being the copy cat that he is, got right up with the instructor and tried to imitate everything he did! And when everyone was sitting down listening, he sat with his hands in his lap and looked up at the instructor and actually sat like that for a few minutes. Oh, it was so cute. So, anyway, after the class was over we were all sitting around eating pizza and I look over at Maddox. He went and got a bottle out of a diaper bag and then he did this...

He proceeded to give the little girl lots of hugs and kisses! SO SWEET!!!

This was taken a few weeks ago... He is just admiring the fountain, taking it all in!

Maddox is talking SO much now! He still loves to dance and make funny faces. He loves to get cuddles from mom and dad but he is sure a crowd pleaser. He is always showing off! I love him!!

Aarrggg! Happy Halloween!

This year, we went to San Diego to celebrate Halloween. We had fun doing all sorts of Halloween activities and spending time with family! ONE HUGE BUMMER: So LAST YEAR I got Tommy an Ocean Fishing trip for his birthday. Well, we decided that it was about time to take the trip! So, Tommy made all the necessary arrangements and had everything all planned out. He and his friend Greg show up at 6 in the morning to go and the guy tells them that they didn't get enough people to fill the boat so the trip was canceled!!!! What a bummer... I felt soo bad for Tommy who has been looking forward to that for the last year and a half! Luckily, a few nights later he was able to go Lobster fishing. They didn't catch anything but it is all about the experience right? :)
So, anyway, on Friday, after Tommy got back from NOT fishing, we went to a little carnival with our friends Greg and Allison.

Tommy took Maddox into one of those bounce house things. Maddox was to small to go in himself so Tom had to go. I love the picture of Maddox coming out and when his whole body comes down the slide his shirt is half way off and he is missing a shoe. What happened in there?!

This is Maddox being a BIG boy on the BIG kid swings!

Friday night we went out to eat, went to Trunk or Treat (SO much fun!) and then came home and carved pumpkins and watched a scary movie!

The finished products!

This is on Saturday. This was a big day setting up the Hainline's house for all the kids to come. I love that they deck the house out! Maddox wanted to help daddy out in the picture.

So, after a failed attempt to be both Mickey Mouse and a little puppy (he didn't like having anything on his head) we settled on a little pirate costume. Some how when it was really time to go trick or treating he did actually wear the hat... who knew.

We had to get him excited about it!

....because he wasn't very excited about it!

but he finally got the hang of it and had SO much fun. He would walk up to the door and say "please" and the people would let him just dig in to the candy bowls. He got the hang of things after 2 or 3 houses and LOVED it!

This is the final picture of the night... all tuckered out and enjoying the fruits of his labors!

The Many Sides of our Maddox

We have decided that Maddox's future has no limits. He can be just about whatever he wants and he has already started trying his hands in a few things...

A Doctor

A Baseball Player (he practices daily and I'm sure daddy wouldn't mind!)

A Stud (I mean really... You can't resist that)

A golfer... He is getting better :)

The President of the United States ( I think we would be in good hands!)

A Super Hero!!

A Rockstar!!!!

A Cowboy (yeeeehaw)

And a Public Speaker (please refer back to the video titled "Best. Video. Ever." on 8.03.09)

What will we end up with? :)

We have been staying busy here. A few nights ago we went and hiked Pinnacle Peak. Tommy has been busy with work and playing baseball/softball. I have had a blast preparing for Halloween this year and now that it has started to cool off a little we have ventured outdoors and found lots of fun things to do! Maddox is learning so much and is doing new things everyday. I cannot believe how big he has gotten. He cracks us up daily and is such a fun and happy boy! I love every second of my life!!!!

We can't quite decide on any costumes for Maddox.. Any suggestions? 

BYU vs. UNLV

This last weekend we were able to drive up to Vegas and go to the BYU game! We had SO much fun. While we were in Vegas we stayed with my old roommate Ashley, which was so fun cause we don't get to see each other often so it was good to catch up! It was a pretty quick trip so we didn't really do much. Before the game, Tommy's Aunt Cathy had a big bar-b-que with all the cousins. It was fun to hang out with the family and eat some delicious food! After that, we were on our way to the stadium! We were all decked out in our BYU gear and we were really "pumped up"! 

So, you all know Tommy. He can pretty much find a way to do/get whatever he wants! He had a friend that worked for UNLV and did the camera's during the game or something so he gave Tommy a press pass to get down on the field. Tommy wasn't on the field for the whole game, he shared the time with his friend "cheddar bob"(please don't ask) and they both thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Maddox had a great time too. He did enjoy cheering and clapping for BYU (or UNLV, pretty much when he heard anyone clapping, he would clap) but I think his favorite part was hanging out with his cousins. He wanted them all to be carrying him (even though they were hardly big enough) and he loved giving them hugs and kisses and showing them all of his "tricks"!

We had a great time and of course, BYU kicked their butts!!!

Baby Shower Cake

So, I threw a baby shower for my friend Cassandra this last weekend and I had taken on the task of making the cake. I had been wanting to try fondant for a while so about 2 weeks before the shower I did a little trial run cake before the real deal had to be done. Anyway, I enjoyed it.. (for the most part). The fondant drove me crazy at times but all in all the final project turned out alright!

You know they are growing up when....

They put their shoes on themselves:

 They are soo cool sitting in their brand new booster at the "big people" table that they have to wear their shades during breakfast...

HAHAHA.... He just cracks me up! I have soo much fun hanging out with him every day and watching him learn and grow. Maddox is deffinately an entertainer!

So, in other news... We decided to take the binky away during the day time because he was WAY to attached. He was not happy unless he had it in his mouth ALL DAY and it was starting to drive me crazy. So, we have limited the binky to the crib only. The first few days have been TOUGH but he is getting better. Now I just need to figure out how to get him to stop screaming in the middle of the store without giving him the binky...??? Note: Screaming = at the top of his lungs, high pitched shrieking so bad you would think his life was going to be over. UGH!

Since we have been home...

By the time we got back from Colorado, I was SOOOO sick of traveling. Don't get me wrong, I love all of you who I was able to visit, but I think I was home for like, 2 weeks over the whole summer.. I was OVER it! So, I was soo super excited to be home! We have had so much fun being back together as a family!

For Tommy's birthday, our friends got him tickets to a pre-season Charger's game... SO fun!

We have been readjusting to this HOTT weather! This is how Maddox cools off..

This last weekend we went to this place called Joe's Farm Grill. They have delicious food and some fun places to play...

 

  

 

So, anyway, we are so happy to be back and we are enjoying every minute being together as a family! I love my boys!!

To Grandpa's house we go!

So, funny story (not really). When my dad, step-mom, and neice were on their way back home from the Island Park trip, they had their fair share of bad luck, including: blowing a tire on the trailer, my dad loosing his phone, my step-mom stepping in a hole and breaking her foot, and a few other very misfortunate things. So, when my dad called and told me that Cindy (step-mom) had broken her foot, he sounded pretty desperate for some help. Maddox and I hopped on a plane to go take care of the poor girl and to give my dad a little bit of a break from worrying about taking care of her along with the million other things he was juggling... We were slaves for a week but we enjoyed being able to help them in their time of need. One day we took Cindy to the doctor's office...

 

Here is Dr.Maddox giving Cindy the diagnosis.... I have decided that he is going to be a lot of different things when he grows up!

 

Hahaha... I just think this is a really funny face...

Anyway, it wasn't ALL work and NO play. We did get to spend time with some friends and family. My dad and I got to spend some quality time together, and it was soo fun for Maddox to be able to play out on the mountain and get to know his cousins a little better. 

Update: Cindy is doing well. She still cannot put any weight on her foot for a few more weeks but then hopefully she will be able to make a quick recovery and getta' walkin'! We enjoyed being able to help her out and just spend some time with her. Maddox sure knows how to keep people entertained!

California F.U.N.

Maddox and I went to San Diego so that I could do some babysitting. We really enjoyed spending time with some of my favorite girls (Howerton's, that would be you!) and Maddox LOVED hanging out with the little girls. I used to nanny for this family when we lived in S.D. and I try to see them whenever we go back. I was lucky enough to be able to go down and babysit for them while their nanny was on vacation. We enjoyed watching/playing tennis with Madeline, going to the aquarium, and even getting pedicures together... It was a blast! Unfortunately, some of pictures from these activities didn't turn out.. Sorry!

So, it just so happened that it was my birthday the weekend we were in California! So, Tommy and I went to Disneyland while Stacey and Tommy's parents were sweet enough to watch Maddox for the day.... I think we all had a really good time..

Here is Tommy and I on our way up to DISNEYLAND!!!! I was SO excited!

We had a blast together that day... Thanks Tommy for a wonderful Birthday!

So, its not like we were the only ones to have fun... Stacey took Maddox to the beach... I think they had a pretty good time! :)

And this is what we came home to! A little popsicle will fix anything! Grandpa Gary had been in charge for a few minutes and they did so many fun things like... well, eating a popsicle, going for a walk and throwing rocks (one of Maddox's FAVORITE things to do), and then they were playing with the hose when we got home... Maddox was drenched but he had a huge smile on his face! Thanks again to everyone that kept an eye on our little guy so that Tommy and I could go spend the day together!

Our trip to Idaho

I am SOO behind on my posts... Sorry! Anyway, back in July we went up to Rexburg and Island Park to spend time with family. We had such a good time and as always, we never wanted it to end. Well, while we were in Rexburg, we spend a lot of time with Danny and Heather, watched Stacey play softball, and we got to spend time with some old friends. One of my favorite things we did in Rexburg was go visit my old friends who I used to nanny for. They live on a large lot with horses, a trampoline, a little swing set, and a ton more things to do... The weather was wonderful so we just enjoyed being out side for the afternoon watching the kids play. Maddox enjoyed all the fun new things....

Maddox rode a horse for the first time...

  

He got to play on the trampoline with Shiloh

 Here is Maddox on a "tire swing horse"..... He didn't quite know what to do...

 He also learned how to rope! I enjoyed having a little country boy for the afternoon!

Uncle Danny taught Maddox a thing or two on guitar hero! Maddox loved this guitar!

So, this is one of the only pictures I got while we were in Island Park. One day we went on a drive into Yellowstone and saw A TON of bison... it was insane actually how many there were... Anyway, we got pretty close to them a few times.. You can kind of tell be this picture..

 While we were in Island Park, Tommy caught a huge fish... like 18 inches or something (I don't remember the exact measurement) and he is currently having it stuffed and mounted. He was pretty proud of himself and of course, that made his day! So, we did a lot of fishing, a lot of 4-wheeling, a lot of floating the river, and just hanging out. We love it there and can't wait to go back!

Best. Video. Ever.

You won't be disappointed..

TEXAS i.e. Tommy's Birthday, 4th of July, and more fun things

WOW!!! It has been a while since we have been home. These will be long posts but with lots of good pictures. We have had so much fun this summer!

So, Maddox and I went to texas and we enjoyed a lot of swimming and playing in the new house, spending time with grandma, visiting friends, and wearing silly clothes...

(ok, so this outfit isn't silly, its just plain cute!)

So, then TOMMY came into town for his BIRTHDAY!! We had so much fun with him there! When we picked him up from the airport and got home, we suprised him with a little party with homemade icecream cake. It. Was. Delicous. The we spent the next day showing him beautiful Texas! Then finally, for his birthday, we took him to a Ranger's game! We ate some delicious food and just had a blast!!

(They put his name on the board for his b-day. I think he felt special)

So, after all the baseball fun, the next day was time for some serious fireworks. Tommy was SO excited that he was going to be able to light his own fireworks. (It was pretty scary) We did enjoy our own private show though. I probably won't let Tommy ever do it again though :)

(Maddox with a sparkler. Not the brightest idea ever...)

Me and the big guy enjoying the fireworks!

Well, that's that from our Texas trip. We had SO much fun and we miss everyone there like crazy!!