The Wizard of Oz!

Last Weekend we went to Flagstaff to see my sister, Tianna perform in the high school musical (That phrase has a whole new meaning now!) The Wizard of Oz. She played Aunt Em and Glenda, the Good Witch of the North. She did a fantastic job! (I don't have pictures because they didn't allow any) The entire production was really well done.
The Picture above is of Tianna with all her nieces and newphews that came to the show. She blends right in because she is so small! She's the one in the Blue!

It was fun to see all my sisters, it's not often we all get together in one place. Above is all of us together after the play.

While in Flagstaff we took advantage of the cool weather and went out to the forest to a nearby pond. Madison loved playing in the water and being with her cousins.

First Haircut!

Some of you may remember how bald Madison was as a baby. It took over a year for her hair to really grow, then it seemed to grow over night! However, it grew in two lengths, the back was longer than the front and if I didn't do it in a pony tail or something it resembled something like a mullet (not good!). SO...I decided to cut it off and make it all the same length! I think it turned out really cute! Sunday I flipped it out at the bottom with the curling iron and it was adorable! (I'll have to take pictures and post them.) I think my hair cutting skills have improved since my Barbie trimming days, which is a good thing, because my Barbies usually ended up looking a little butch!

Bald Baby Madison...


Before....


After....


Of course I saved a lock of hair for the scrapbook.

Does anyone even look at my blog anymore?

Well-if anyone out there hasn't completely given up on me-this is for you. I don't know where we've been all this time-we've been busy I guess, but that's everyone's excuse. I've just finished catching up on everyone else's blogs- I didn't comment but I sped-read and looked at pictures. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Here is an update and I'll try to keep up with things now! (We'll see)

1. March 11 was Mahlon's and my 4 year Anniversary.
2. Spring Break we went camping and visited Tucson (I'm sorry I didn't call anyone-we were babysitting Tania's (my sister) kids and had 8 little ones!
3. March 28 my Brother-in-law was married in Gilbert, Madison was the flower girl and I was holding two cameras, neither of which was a video camera and I hate myself for that!
4. Mahlon lost his job. Yes, he was cut despite our protests-we have to move in July with no prospects of any new job. All our spare time has been spent in job hunting.
5. Easter weekend we spent in Gilbert, dying eggs, finding Easter baskets,going to church, and having an Easter egg hunt.
6. Poor Mahlon spent Easter weekend with Strep.
7. I've been busy with my new calling: Ward Camp Leader (yes, I'm in charge of Girls Camp, luckily its a Stake Camp so my responsibilities are minimal but there is still a lot to do!

I'm feeling lazy so I don't want to give all the details but here are some pictures! There are pretty much in order.

Save Our Schools...And my husbands job!!!!

I don't know if anyone heard about this, or saw it on the news but yesterday there was a big Education Rally at the Capitol protesting the budget cuts for Arizona schools. Mahlon, along with some other teachers (and 2,500 others) went to show their supprt for schools and education. I usually don't make political statements, but it is sad to see education suffering as a result of poor money management. And becuase Mahlon is at risk for losing his job over this, it's more personal to us than usual. The website www.march4schools.com has links to more information and ways to contact legislatures and sign petitions against these cuts to educations. Please take the time to voice your opinion. Education should never be compromised! Thanks!

Catch up!

So it's been forever since I've posted...sorry. I really don't have an excuse, here are all the posts I should have been doing all this time in one!

First:

In January we celebrated Mahlon's 29th Birthday. We went out to dinner with his mom and sister and brother-in-law and had a yummy ice cream cake.



Second:

Chocolate face.
I gave Madison a piece of Chocolate...this is what I found a few moments later.


Third:

Valentine cookies.
I have heart shaped cookie cutters so I decided to make Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies. I let Madison help and she loved it! unfortunately, my camera battery died before we finished...luckily we didn't use all the dough so the next day we finished baking the rest of the cookies and took pictures (that's why she has two different outfits on!)


Such a big helper...I love the flour on the nose!


She LOVED using the cutters and would not let me help her, she'd push my hand away and say "no" if I cut out any cookies. I kept having to re roll the dough because she kept poking holes in the middle of all the cookies with her little fingers.


When she cut one out she'd get all excited and say "Did it!"


Enjoying the end results!

Fourth:
Madison has been sick for a few days, with a cough and runny nose. She was up late last night and was pretty tired. She asked to watch Tinker Bell (her new FAVORITE movie) so I put it on for her and figured she could watch it for a little bit, then have lunch and take a nap. After about 20 minutes, it was pretty quite in there so I went to check on her and this is what I found. Poor thing!

No More Diapers!!!!!!

Hooray! Madison is Potty trained! We started last Teusday and she has done so well! It took her a few days to get the hang of it, but we just stayed in and did a lot of potty time and practice -and lets face it, used a few bribes (candy and playing at the park) Now, a week later she went all day with no accidents, not even a little one! She wears "big girl" panties all day and uses the potty-even at Wal-Mart! She still wears a daiper at night to sleep, because she dosen't wake up, but if she has a diaper on before she falls asleep, she'll call for me and go potty on the toilet! I'm so excited to finally be finished with diapers (at least for the most part) especially stinky ones! Once she starts sleeping dry through the night we'll get rid of them for good! Hooray! Great Job Madison! I'm so proud of you! Now you really are a big girl-definately not a baby anymore!

Happy 2009!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We definately did.
We spent our first Christmas Eve at home. We had a wonderful dinner, watched Christmas movies, painted Christmas ornaments and got to play Santa! On Chrismas morning we opened a few presents then headed over to Gilbert to be with Mahlons family and opened more presents. We had Christmas all day! It was great! We spent the weekend there then came home and enjoyed Mahlon's time off. It was so great to have him home for a couple of weeks! New Year's Eve my sister and her two little ones came over and we partied all night (not really, they and Madison crashed at 10pm) Mahlon and I watched movies and said "oh, happy New Year! around 12:05. It was fun but we neglected to take pictures. It was a great break and now that Mahlon's back to work I'm back to my routine. I decided to start my New Years resolution once things got back to normal so I'm back to my work out routine that I gave up on pre-Thanksgiving! Also I'm going to try and get better about reading my scriptures, going to the temple, having Family home-evenings, reading the sunday school and relief society lessons and coinsiding scriptures before class, doing my visiting teaching, etc., etc., etc.! Ha Ha! That's a pretty long list of resolutions so wish me luck! Now that I look at all the things I need to improve on, I feel like a big slacker! So here's to 2009 and a perfect me! : ) Enjoy the pictures!


Madison making her Gingerbread house!

This is Madison openeing her HUGE present from Grandma and Grandpa which had to be brought over from Gilbert seperately and required that we totally rearange Madison's room inorder to make it fit!