Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a very happy Easter. Since it was spring break as well, we decided to start the weekend with a little camping trip. We went to Peppersauce Canyon, just north of Tucson and had a great time. Madison loved being able to play around out side, we let her play in the dirt and she loved it...we figure when you're camping you're supposed to eat dirt and get dirty! There are some caves there, but it was too much to take Madison in so we went for a little hike and spent the evening relaxing and sitting by the fire (complete with marshmallow roasting!) Although we nearly froze to death that night we had a lot of fun. After camping we headed to Gilbert to spend Easter with Mahlon's family. We went to the Zoo, which was fun- Madison couldn't really figure out what it was we were looking at, but she liked being outside. She also loved her easter basket left by the Easter Bunny (aka, Grandma Newton) complete with cookies and snacks! It was so wonderful to spend a long weekend together as a family!

Welcome Tyler James!

After reading on everyone else's blogs about new neices and nephews I finally get to say I have a new nephew too! Tyler James Smith was born March 13 2007 at 7:49pm weighing in at 8lbs 11oz. and 20.5 inches long! And what a cutie! I was so very impressed with how well Selina (mom, my sister) did. Although this is #2 for her, she was able to do a natural birth this time, as the first one came C-section, and she did AWESOME! I know, because I got to be there, and I couldn't believe that she didn't hardly make one sound! I was very glad to be there to give help and support but all the credit goes to her, WOW! Congrats to both Selina and Brian as well as big sister Ashleigh! Welcome to the world Tyler!

Happy Anniversary!

Today Mahlon and I are celebrating our three year Anniversary! Yea! We've been celebrating all weekend. Saturday we went out to The Melting Pot, it was so great, we love it there! Then Today Madison and I took Lunch to Mahlon and school, becasue I got the day off! Tonight we're using a Gift Card that we have for The Olive Garden, Yummy! It's been fun to spend quality time together remembering the "good old days" before school, work and children (well, child) when life was simple. But we're greatful for what we have, for Madison and for eachother. I'm looking forward to many more crazy, busy years together! I love you, Mahlon!

*This was supposed to be posted Tuesday, but something went wrong and it didn't go up, then yesterday I was sick with the stomach flu...thanks, Jacob...so I'm just getting it up today. So Happy Anniversary, late!

And I thought she was looking more like Mahlon!

I realise I'm posting alot, but it just hit me who this picture of Madison reminds me of...me!

I can stand!

Madison started pulling herself up to standing on Monday! Its amazing how fast she's developing! It seems that once she started crawling her motor skills seem to improve on a daily basis! It took months to reach one mile stone, and now she's passing them by almost every week it seems! Probably not, but it feels that way. I don't think she's content to crawl around, she wants to be up standing and walking around like everyone else.

She can get up on the kitchen table chairs, in her crib and she's working on the coffee table. I love it now when I go get her after nap she's there to greet me, what a big girl! Now I know why they make "teeting rails" for cribs, it looks like she might be using her crib to nibble on!

This is her saying "Mom, stop taking pictures and get me out of here!"

Best Friends...Worst Enemies!

I thought it was about time to blog about my "second child". Jacob is the little guy that I baby sit 5 days a week, 9 hours a day (just a note: that's 40 hours a week!) and I definately am not making minnimum wage, but hey, it's something. Anyway, he's 16 months old and when I take the two out together (which doesn't happen very often) I get some pretty strange looks and a lot of "Are they both yours?" or "Are they twins?". Thank goodness they can't really both be my own! Mostly it's not so bad, he's pretty well behaved, for a todler. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Madison's first words were "no, no, Jacob". The two of them play together fairly well, but it's not always happy. When I took this picture Jacob had just been making Madison laugh, which is something he does a lot...then seconds later she'll be crying because he started poking at her, pushed her over, batted her on the head with something or took her toy away. It's a love / hate relationship. So here's the question of the day...do I ever want two of my own?

Picture Weekend!

What a fun weekend we had! It sarted with a fun evening out with the girls at Jill's Birthday party, thanks everyone for a great time. Then Saturday morning we left to Gilbert to go to the temple and to my Grandma's 80th birthday party. I got to visit with a lot of my family, it was a lot of fun. Madison had her very first swing ride!

Then today I had a little extra time while getting Madison ready for church so I went picture crazy. I thought I'd finally get some bath time pictures and I've been wanting to document those chunky legs and big belly!





We had a lot of fun this weekend and now I feel like I have something interesting to post, since I have some new pictures! Enjoy!