Easily Amused...

Isn't it great how little kids are so easily amused? The other day I was trying to get some cleaning done and Madi was being my usual shadow, getting into everything. I had decided that our fridge decor needed a face-lift. I had moved the magnets to the bottom and in normal Madisyn fashion, she immediately took all of them off and thus began Madi's time consuming game. We have a deep freezer in our kitchen (you heard me, in our kitchen). It is perfect for magnet play because it has such a broad canvas. Madi's afternoon consisted of puting the magnets on the freezer, taking them off, and repeating steps one through two. You can't imagine all the stuff I got done. It was amazing! I'm glad that Santa had the foresight to think of magnet games for a certain little someone. Oh the cleaning that will get done in our house every weekend! Yippee!!! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Don't you be hatin' on the mad volume this kids hair is sportin'! You all are just jealous!

It's official..... we're rednecks......

In case there was any question, it is confirmed that we are rednecks. I think that we have always had a little bit of redneck in us, but boy did it come booming on out this past weekend. We have been dying to get Madi a snow suit because she has been begging us to let her ride her 4-wheeler. Since our living space isn't conducive to 4-wheeling, we thought it would be best if we could just bundle her up and take her outside and let her play. Not to mention her Daddy can't wait to pull us around the back yard on a tube behind the big 4-wheeler. So we began wondering where to purchase such a snow suit. It needed to cover her from head to toe, yet agile enough for her to move around and operate her wheeler. All of a sudden the light bulb went off and we headed out the door to Cabela's. Below is what we found. I may have to sell a kidney to pay for the blasted thing, but doesn't she look like her dad!!!! SO CUTE! Little bugger! Now we just need to go out and play in the snow!

At first Madi wasn't too happy about wearing it but once she found her spoon, she was ok with it...

Of Course she had to ride her 4-wheeler, even though it was just in the house....

What a cute little redneck! She looks ready for the bow hunt! Watch out Daddy!!

Merry Christmas!!!

So, this year I have been a little bit eager for Christmas. My usual surly attitude has melted away much like the ending of the Grinch story and I have been all about the Christmas season! I cannot wait to spend Christmas with Bryon and Madi this year! As you can tell, I got a little bit anxious and as soon as our tree went up the presents were wrapped and in their places under the tree. I wish there was a way to take a good picture of our tree with the lights out. It really doesn't do it justice with them on. Also, please note that the ornaments start right about where Madi stops, this was not an accident. We were very worried that she was going to be a terror with the tree but she surprisingly has been great. She will go and look at it sometimes but she doesn't touch the presents and she doesn't touch the tree either. I just don't think she gets it yet. I'm guessing next year will be a whole different story......

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!!!

Pink Eye SUCKS!!!!

When Madi was so sick one of her main issues was Pink Eye in both eyes along with a severe cold and major ear infections in both ears. Before we went to the doctor to find out what it was, me being the genious that I am, kept digging the goop out of her eyes and carrying on my merry way. During some point in the day I must have touched my own eye with my disease harboring finger and gave my self the wicked crap! Please note that I am fully aware that this picture of me looks more like something straight out of Lord of the Rings, but that is exactly how I felt too! You know you're jealous! ÜI had to go to the doctor the day after we took Madi and I was diagnosed with Pink Eye in my left eye, an ear infection in my right ear and a sinus infection. Keep in mind that is only half of what Madi was going through. I wanted to die!!!! I have no idea how Madi has been so easy to deal with this whole time. I don't know how she does it. Once again, I must tell you all how wonderful my child is. She really is the greatest! I don't have any idea how both of us hellions were blessed with such a sweet child! All of our lives Bryon and I were cursed with "I hope you have a child that is just like you!" Apparently the big guy upstairs didn't care for those curses upon us, because he sent us the best little girl two parents could ask for. Lets just hope she stays this sweet for ever!!!!

Black Friday Shopping Excursion....

Ok, so we don't get excited to go shopping on Black Friday. In fact, I have always prided myself on the fact that you couldn't pay me to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I still have pretty strong feelings on the subject. However, Tenille called me and stated that they went to the hot places to shop around 10:00 am and it was pretty much dead. She said there was no waiting, nothing. I had a bit of shopping I needed to get done and I had nothing better to do, so Tenille, Kevin, Bryon, Madi and I went a shoppin'. While we did accomplish all of our goals for the day, we wore poor little Madi out! She was just coming down with all of her sicknesses and hadn't been able to nap at all. No sooner had we pulled in to the neighborhood home, Madi zonked out. We knew that if we took her out of her car seat she would wake up and it would be impossible to get her back to sleep. Alas, Bryon had a stroke of genious.......

.......We took out the whole car seat, Madi and all. Bryon carefully crept down the stairs to our apartment and he carefully lifted her out and put her in her bed. It was pretty amazing and hilarious! Honestly, I think she was so tired she would have slept through him just getting her out of the truck, but it wouldn't have been nearly as funny to watch! Until next time......

Letters from Mom....

Dear Sweet Madisyn,

Another month has gone by and so much has happened. We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Davis Family. We had a wonderful meal provided by Mark and Paula. Everything was delicious! You even ate a plate full which is pretty impressive in and of itself! In your typical Madi fashion, you stole the show and hearts of all of the guests at dinner. It never fails to amaze me (and terrify me) how confident you are to approach even the scariest of people with zero hesitation. You are so accepting of everyone in your pure being. You walked directly up to some people at dinner that you had never met before and insisted on being held. Some of which, if I didn't know better, would have caused me to run yelling out of a dark alley way! Ha ha!

You are saying so many words now. You love to tell us when the neighbors dogs are barking by mimicking them. It is so adorable how your little cheeks puff up with each "woof, woof". You are very interested in books. You don't quite have the patience to actually read the books, but you love to look at the pictures and have us count to you. You know that 2 comes after 1 and tell us so if we start to count. We haven't quite progressed past that but we are getting there. You also know that B comes after A. Your knowledge is really impressive! We are in awe of you every day!

This past weekend has been very hard on your little body. You have come down with about every bug you could get! You have a horrible cough, you have pink eye in both eyes and very severe ear infections in both ears. In spite of all of that, you are still the cute loveable Madi that we so enjoy spending time with. In fact, we would have never known you were sick if it weren't for the goop in your eyes. You never let sickness bring you down. You are such a sweetheart! We love you Madi and we can't wait to spend Christmas with you! You bring such a joy to our lives and we couldn't imagine life with out you!

Love,
Mom

Halloween

I am officially ready to blog about our Halloween. Sorry, I haven't had these pictures on my computer until now. If you recall a few posts back, we visited the pumpkin patch. We did end up carving them the day before Halloween, but it was fun. I forgot how gross it feels to gut a pumpkin. It really is disgusting! But I forged on and we made some pretty awesome pumpkins, if I do say so myself. Here are a few pics of the master pieces in the making.....

Here is my pumpkin, of course, a kitty.... precious.....

... and here is Bryon's bat. He did an awesome job, but for the life of me I can't understand why he carved it on the rotten side..... he says because it was the flat side. It still looks great babe!

..... here they are all aglow!

On Halloween day Bryon had to work a graveyard (spooky) so we had to get Madi's trick or treating done early in the day. I took the day off of work and we started off with a visit to the Doctor for Madi's 15 month check up. Her doctor was dressed up as a hippy, which was entertaining in itself, but I thinked it helped mellow Madi out. I'm not sure she recognized who he was. Normally she freaks out as soon as he walks into the room. She was much better this time. Everything checked out great! She was supposed to have a couple of shots, but in past experience, Madi is not the happiest camper the remainder of the day when she gets poked so we opted to wait until her next visit. Next on our agenda was a visit to Grandma's work. Madi was too funny. She didn't want to take any candy. She kept telling everyone no. She was walking up a storm there but those pesky boots were so heavy it was hard for her walk around. Then we headed over to my work and said hi to everyone. Madi made a new best friend. She decided she wanted to hang out with Buddy in his office. Of course he let her color with markers, which she made a BIG mess with. Thanks Buddy! Then we went and met Tenille at the park for lunch. It was far to cold to hang out outside so we ate in our truck. Finally we were off to Bryon's mom and dads.

Isn't she cute?????

When we got there Bryon's mom had bought Madi some princess sippy cups. She was thrilled.

After trying out her new sippies and playing with the phone it was time to head home and bid daddy adieu and head out to the annual halloween dinner with the fam at Brick Oven. We had our favorite waiter, in another one of his great costumes....

Which Madi was not impressed with.....

It was a great night! We loved seeing everyone and I am pretty sure Mads had fun all dressed up. She never got upset once even when we kept taking her wings on and off. We hauled off with a load of candy! YUMMY!!! Now we are looking forward to another great Halloween next year!

Letters from Mom....

My Dearest Madisyn,

So much has happened just in the last month! I can't believe how much you have grown! You are no longer my little baby you are my little girl! You started walking only a few short weeks ago and now we can't hold you back. Your balance is improving everyday by leaps and bounds and you are even making small attempts at running. You are starting to talk so much, albeit, not very coherent, but you are talking! Tears streamed down my face when you and daddy called me at work the other day and amidst your adorable babble, you said "love" which we later found out is your way of saying "I love you". And as much as I love hearing you call out for your momma, it really would be nice if you could find a different word to use when you want something. But I love to watch you learn. You are so lucky to be able to spend so much time with your daddy during the week on his days off. His new favorite thing to do is to teach you a new trick to show me when I get home at night. The latest accomplishment is that he taught you to throw garbage away in our cupboard garbage. It really is tender to watch you struggle to open that door, but you are so determined to do what you have been asked to do. The only down fall to this great trick, is that you don't know the difference between actual garbage and things such as, oh say, mommy's wedding ring. We are going to have to re-arrange our house so that the valuable things aren't so easily accessible to your adorable little curious hands. This past month has been incredible. I can't wait to see what November brings. I love you Madi!

Love,
Mom

8 Things...

8 Favorite Shows....

1. The Office
2. Boston Legal
3. The Hills
4. Any of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge Shows
5. Kath & Kim
6. Professional Bull Riders Events
7. Man vs. Wild
8. WEC/UFC Fights

8 Favorite Restaurants.....

1. The Brick Oven
2. The Five Alls
3. Noodles & Company
4. Cafe Rio
5. Johnny Corinos
6. Training Table
7. Olive Garden
8. Wingers

8 Things from Yesterday.....

1. I worked
2. I figured out where my polling location is
3. I lent people money that I really doubt I will ever see again Ü
4. I realized that freezer chicken nuggets are not a good meal option
5. I realized that Daylight Savings ending really blows!
6. I decided that I am, in fact, feeling under the weather and I hate it!
7. I realized how much I am going to miss Boston Legal when it ends this year.
8. I realized that in order for me to get sufficient sleep at night, I need to turn off the DVR and go to bed!

8 Things I'm looking forward to.....

1. Getting off work
2. Going to vote, I'm not looking forward to the long line though!
3. Going home tonight and getting a good nights sleep
4. Getting to spend some time with my husband tonight since he is off graveyards today
5. Getting to play with Madi
6. Christmas
7. Getting our new computer
8. Eventually buying our own house with property

8 Things on my wish list....

1. That house with property listed above
2. Getting completely out of debt!!!!
3. Buying a new truck
4. Our new computer
5. That Day Light Savings became the permanent time
6. That Winter just went away!
7. That I was REALLY rich!
8. That my hair will grow back.... NOW!

I am tagging:

1. Tenille
2. Kristin
3. Kelly
4. Marrissa

I'm Bella....

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm a nerd! If you didn't figure it out on my previous Book Release Party post, here is further evidence. I played. I'm Bella.

Here is the actual description:
You are observant, diplomatic and often aim to please. You are unaware of your attractiveness and despite being uncomfortable with any form of attention, people enjoy your company. You can be impatient, stubborn and headstrong, but you are true to your word and mature for your age, often taking care of your family and enjoying a good book over chatting with girlfriends on the phone.

Pretty nifty! Try it out for yourselves!

The Great Pumpkin Search

Is anyone looking for a pumpkin? Farmer Madi knows where to find one.... Just follow her....

Ok, so seriously, how cute is that? Madi was having so much fun on all of the props at the pumpkin patch. She helped direct wheelbarrow traffic at the row signs.....

She helped pick out pumpkins from the wagon.....

Moving right along on our tour of the patch.... Can I just tell you how much Madi loved the tractor? A girl after my own heart!

When we got down to business, Bryon had the great idea to put Madi in the dirt filled wheelbarrow. For a good 10 minutes she wouldn't pay attention to anything. She was too busy making sure there wasn't a clean spot left on her.

We got her attention long enough to snap a quick shot of her on her big adventure with Dad. Someone should have maybe told Bryon that wheelbarrows don't come equipped with shocks. He was hittin' those furrows so hard, I thought Madi's brand new chompers would come flyin' out! She didn't care though, she was having fun!

After searching high and low........

We found "The One".... Madi couldn't have been happier!Next on the "To Do" list is to carve these bad boys. I'm sure that will be interesting. I'll be sure to have my camera handy and I'll post as soon as we finish! Happy Halloween everyone!

Family Halloween Party!!

This past Saturday we had our annual family Halloween party. Our family parties usually consist of my dad's sister Kay and all of her kids with their kids and all of the kids and grandkids from our family. We all headed up to Aunt Kays for some yummy soup in bread bowls, brownies, cookies, etc. After a nice warm lunch we headed outside so the kids could play some games. Thanks to Aunt Kays "short bus" parked out front, we were able to use it to put up a memory game for the little hoodlums we had trouncing about the premises. As you can see we had a visit from Red Ranger aka Tyler who got some matches. Tenille, you make a great Vanna White!

Kylie was dressed as herself. Isn't she cute! She was also really good at the memory game!

Here are the bunch of hooligans in their halloween best and the scariest of all, Uncle Chad....

Next on the agenda was the pumpkin bean bag toss. The kids had a lot of fun so the adults thought they would take a whirl.

Cory of course had to throw his from across the whole yard.

Grandma had to get a little bit closer....

Finally, a game of musical halloween plates, much like musical chairs. Of course when you have both Red Ranger AND Iron Man, things can turn south in a hurry. Luckily, it was all in good fun and they played a good game of tackle to wear each other out. To which I am sure their parents were very thankful. Since Madi was too little to get in on the action, she sat on the sidelines with Dad and played with a little flashlight.
She also showed out her mad walking skills as well as the art of getting up. What a cute tush!

After we got done at the party, Bryon, Madi and myself headed to the pumpkin patch.....

to be continued......

Hold on to your hats folks, WE'RE WALKING!!!

You heard me right! The little Madi Monster has perfected the art of walking... sort of..... The monumental day actually occured about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't have the pictures to post and I didn't want to put anything up without the visual effects to go with it. We have been trying to get Madi to walk for SO long! She had been doing really well, but just never dared to do it on her own. It was amazing, she just one day took off and hasn't stopped for anything! She still gets a little bit wobbly, but it is incredible to watch her balance herself out and stay standing. I don't know where she gets her balance from, it can't come from me, I swear my equilibrium is WAY off and Bryon trips over air on a regular basis. Some how, she lucked out! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that we took of her the first day she took off. So cute!

Here she is getting her balance...

Here she is walking to Daddy...

Here she is on her evening stroll around the house...

I LOVE this picture. It is of her "getting" me! So cute!

The mighty hunter has slain the wild beast....

This past weekend Madi and I had the opportunity to go on the all important deer hunt with Bryon. Bryon has been doing the dedicated hunter program the past couple of years and he was getting pretty down and out because he had been hunting all of the seasons and just wasn't having any luck this year. Bryon's friend, Tyson, was going to Monroe to hunt with his In-laws that live down there. Since they would be staying in a house and Tysons wife and son would be there, Madi and I decided to make the trip as well. We rolled out on Friday afternoon. Bryon knew he was only going to be able to hunt on Saturday and Sunday morning. He also knew he was going to have to work really hard if he wanted to get one. The boys all left at about 5:30 Saturday morning and those crazy guys stayed out on the mountain until about 7 or 8 at night. Honestly, who does that?! I was kind of bummed that Madi and I didn't get to spend any time with Bryon on Saturday but we know how important this is to him. And hey, how often does one get to spend an entire day shopping at the Monroe Walmart?!?!? That is an adventure in and of itself! Anyway, on Sunday morning Bryon and they guys headed out for one last attempt at about 6. I started packing up all of our belongings and loading the truck and I just had this feeling that Bryon was going to get one. At about 9:30 I was out packing up and they pulled in. I thought to myself, Sweet! He got one! I looked to the bed of the truck hoping to see the "wall hanger" he had promised me but I didn't see anything! No horns, no legs, nothin'! I scratched my head wondering why in the world they came home so early!? As soon as Bryon got out of the truck I KNEW he had shot one. They dropped down the tailgate and pulled out one of the greatest bucks of all time....... Let me just throw out a word of caution. If you have a weak stomach or do not like looking at dead animals, you may want to stop right now...... Below is a look at the monster buck that Bryon was able to harvest.... Wow Babe! We're all impressed you were able to kill Bambi! It's a good thing your daughter isn't old enough to have seen that movie! I'm worried if she were she wouldn't speak to your for months!!! I'm teasing! Bryon was able to harvest this buck with a perfect 80 yard shot out on private land (with permission of course). He took one look at his body and had to take him. These pigs had been livin' it up on the corn fields, etc. They were so healthy, Bryon knew he would be good eatin'! It's a good thing Bryon likes deer meat. You won't catch me touchin' it! YUCK!!! Good Job Babe! We're all really proud of you!

Doesn't Madi look impressed????

Madi of course, had to check everything out. That kid is too curious for her own good!

Our Picture Outing....

So a few weeks ago my whole fam damily decided it was time for a new family picture.

After work we loaded up and headed out to this cool little place in Bluffdale. I LOVE to take pictures so I fiddled around with the camera during some of the down time and I managed to get a couple of really cute pictures. I have doctored them a little using my favorite website www.picnik.com. Here is one I snapped of Bryon and Madi chillaxin' on the stone bench. Wow, I have a cute little family, if I do say so myself!This picture we were trying to get of Madi sitting by a big rock, but there was SO much shade, it was hard to get a good picture. Is it just me, or does this angle make her look like she has GINORMOUS feet? Her face sure looks cute though!

While Bryon and Madi were sitting on the stone bench, she slipped and I caught the picture at just the right time. Doesn't it look like she is doing the "Stayin' Alive" dance? Wow, my child is so talented, she is already doing choriographed dances..... Watch out Dancing with the Stars!

I absolutely LOVE this picture. On the othe side of the stone bench there were two yellow flowers. I thought it would be so cute to get a picture of Madi touching or smelling the flowers. Needless to say, we couldn't persuade her to even get close to them!! I still managed to get a pretty dang precious picture of her by them. What do you think?

Finally after we got done we packed up and headed for the truck. The sun was just going down and there was an absolutely gorgeous glow creaping over the horizon. I couldn't help but sneak a picture of my cute husband carrying his darling daughter off into the sunset! Awwwww....