Picnic in the Park

Mike forgot his lunch at home today, so Maddie & I brought it to him and had a picnic. It was a rare pleasure to see Mike in the middle of a weekday! We decided to make it a date once a month. (For those of you who are incredulous that we're picnicing in November, it's still 85 degrees here and it's killing me!)







Maddie is scooching less and instead doing these funny push ups with her bum in the air. She hasn't figured out how to make progress though... she moves her feet but just ends up with her bum higher and her head on the ground! :)


Grinning at Dad! (that swing looks so nasty)


Man, I love my little family.

We're buggin' out!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

For FHE Monday night we carved our pumpkin! If any of you know Mike very well, you know he does not do such things half-heartedly. He spent over an hour trying to turn Maddie's face into a carving pattern online. We ended up just using a silhouette (left) because all the shadow gradations were too hard to carve. I think it turned out pretty cool! (Clarification: the top two pictures are just computer renderings of the patterns--the big pic is our real pumpkin!)

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Maddie practiced Trick-or-Treating! Anybody home?

We went to a 4-ward Trunk or Treat and Chili Cookoff. It was crowded and crazy, but fun to dress up! Here's the little lady with Daddy the bee...

and Mommy the butterfly!

Have you ever been rendered completely worthless by the power of an unfinished book?!? I have been consumed all week with finishing The Count of Monte Cristo... even sleeping, which I treasure, has been a chore. I am usually a pretty fast reader, but 1462 pages take a lot of effort. I guess a book review would take away from the original intent of this post, so I'll save it for later...

Back from Utah Land

I am not the only one that was glad to be in my own bed last night... little Maddie has experienced some separation anxiety, I'm afraid. She is getting so aware of what goes on around her, including where her mommy is (not near her can be a problem) and where her naps are (Auntie Dana's bed is apparently pretty scary). It made for a challenging trip, but I guess it is good for her to have these experiences and broaden her horizons. This entry may seem like picture overload, but as usual there are so many cute ones to share. I love experiencing the trip over again as I write about it.

I thought this was cute of Mike kissing Maddie's blown-up cheeks.

Look at that expressive-ness! What a silly girl! Maddie is sitting on Roamy and the other horse, Shadow, is framing the picture with his neck and head. He walked in front of the picture, so I just ducked under him!
Mike loves to visit his twin sister Rachel's house and show Maddie all the animals.

She's up on her knees! This weekend Maddie figured out how to get to her knees and rock back and forth.

The official reason we went to Utah was to put on a shower for my sister Noelle and baby Emrie! I was running the games and writing down the gifts, so I didn't get many pictures... (Mom, you'll have to post some!) It turned out really well, mostly thanks to Dana and Mom. Noelle got pretty spoiled! Ashley brought her baby Kinsey, who is only 3 weeks younger than Maddie, and it was fun to watch them play together.

Later that night the fam went to Hee Haws corn maze. We needed an excuse to dress Maddie up in her ladybug costume.

Left to right: Zak, Dana, Dad, Mom, and me, oink oink!

Isn't this a cool picture?! It almost looks like a backdrop, it's so picturesque. Maddie grabbed right on to the steering wheel like she knew what to do!

Mommy took Maddie on a little animal train ride. Moooooooo! Maddie loved looking at the animals.
This pic cracks me up. My bro-in-law, Zak, hid his head under the leaves to scare Maddie. They were trying to entertain Maddie because she was being a little grouch--not enough sleep!

We also had a great experience Sunday morning... we went to Stake Conference in Noelle & Zak's stake, which happened to be our own stake when we lived there (we forgot). We arrived at the beautiful Provo Tabernacle and began seeing familiar faces right away. Our old Bishop, Bishop Chesney, was on the stand and it was such a treat to hear him speak again. He has a very distinct, direct way of speaking--and all without notes. It was nice to visit with him and his wife afterwards. We were also delighted to see some of our favorite people: the Rowlands and baby Ava, the Mackintosh's and baby Claire, and the Terry's! I loved meeting the sweet babies in person!

Finally, this is a funny video of Noelle shaking Maddie so she looks like a bobble head. Sideways, as usual... I really need to break my habit of turning the camera.

Well, I guess I should return to real life now and actually take a shower (since it's already 2:30! hehe). It's always hard to get back into the routine of life after a nice break. Laundry is calling my name!

Little scoocher!

Maddie is getting pretty mobile with her rolling and scooching lately! She gets better every day. The second video is from this morning when she used her knee for the first time. My favorite is when she gets up on just her hands and toes and looks like she is going to do the bear crawl! Her grunts and groans of effort are hilarious.

Autumn Blessings

Isn't 'autumn' such a beautiful word? It evokes all the happy feelings and memories of my favorite season. Although I still miss autumn up north where they really have leaves, we have found ways to appreciate it here. I threw a baby shower at my house yesterday and made wassail and pumpkin cookies... divine. Some of these pictures are from the Bellagio conservatory and the rest are from our trip to Mt. Charleston last weekend.

The Constervatory is decked out with berries, gourds, pumpkins, mums, grasses, and every other fall thing you can think of. The centerpiece is a huge cider mill, and blown glass leaves hang from the ceiling and catch the sunbeams. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE! You really ought to click on the pics to get an enlarged view. That's my dream job, except that it's in the middle of sin city!
In the background is the man in the tree and a huge carved pumpkin.
Thousands of apples!
Maddie wanted to touch everything, no matter the effort! :)
This fountain is beautiful. It's big bronze leaves built onto tree limbs.
We also watched the Bellagio fountain show. It was a perfect time of day because the sun caught the water droplets and made rainbows!

Pretty aspen leaves!

This little grove was so picturesque.

We're having a Maddie roast! Yummmmm, succulent and sweet.

A Beautiful Blog

I was reading the blog of a friend of a friend... tells you how much I enjoy peeking into other people's lives. She had a link to this blog: http://sheyerosemeyer.blogspot.com/. I started reading and was touched to the very core. The author is as talented at expressing herself through words as she is through photography. If you have a moment, read about Ava here: http://avarosemeyer.memory-of.com/. What a tribute to mother-love, precious children, and life itself.

Fun, fun fun!

Grandma and Grandpa just left after a nice visit, so we are back to bloggin' and feeling a bit disoriented without company. We're so glad they made the long trip to see us! We had a good time playing with Maddie, shopping, watching Cougar football, and seeing the sights. We were out and about a lot more than usual! Here are some pictures at the Venetian, and soon we'll post some from our drive into the moutains.

Me and my fabulous parents!

Mike holding Maddie in their stiff-as-a-board exercise... it had everyone passing by smiling. I love how babies bring people out of their shells a little.

The creepy statue lady broke a smile when Maddie played with her hand. She was supposed to be perfectly still but Maddie had her arm bouncing! It was pretty funny.
Maddie loved the toy shop doggies. They were walking around yapping and she thought they were so funny!
It's hard to tell but Mike is holding Maddie up next to a joker puppet and puppeteter on stilts.

We also took zillions of pictures of Maddie with her grandparents. If you want to see the slide show, check out Seven Spuds.

Beanie Baby

It was kinda cold here this weekend! Okay, it only got down into the 50's, but I guess our blood is getting thin. We took Maddie on a walk and wanted her to be warm and toasty, so we got out her beanie and she looked so cute!

Below is another slideshow of Maddie and Daddy being silly. Mike took over 330 pictures!!!

I'm a Master Gardener!

Last fall I began a course through the University of Reno Extension Service to become a Master Gardener. It sounds like a flashy title, but really it's just a name for a person who volunteers to teach and 'extend' education to the community. I took a 70-hour classroom course (mostly a super quick review of my hort education) and then had a year to complete 50 hours of volunteer service to become certified. After graduating from the coursework in December, my volunteer hours were put on hold to prepare for and welcome little Maddie! But starting in April I began participating a couple of times a month on various projects. Most of my time was spent on the Master Gardener help line (call in to get your gardening questions answered today!) and also as a leader for the Junior Master Gardener program that meets 2x a month. The kids have enjoyed growing pumpkins, planting herbs, and learning about compost. Anyway, last Wednesday I finally became certified! Maddie came to the MG monthly meeting and was the star of the show! (You have to understand, most of these volunteers are retired older people looking for something to keep them busy. :) So far it has been a rewarding way to serve the community and stay connected to the green industry. Too bad it's not very green here... we just pretend.

Little Sweet Pea!

Last fall we were still expecting Madison, but I fell in LOVE with this sweet pea costume and had to have it. Unfortunately, my little sweet pea is too big for the costume now that her first Halloween is approaching! She was pretty skeptical about it but humored me for some funny pictures. She will probably be a lady bug instead, which will be just as cute, I am sure.

My legs are a little cramped Mom...
Timber! Feelin' a little tipsy.
Ha ha, that was fun!

Awww... now I'm getting bashful.