One Smart Cookie

It's been really fun to watch Madi grown & learn. I made some cookies for church the other day and set them out to cool. Madi quickly realized that my pulling out a pot and putting the lid on it she could just barely reach the cookies.

That's one smart cookie. -- And yes, she is wearing a summer outfit in January. We had a record high of 80 degrees the other day. No snow here!

Happy New Year 2009

So, for christmas my oldest sister took my parents on a cruise. Fun City!

But we planned a sneaky suprise visit for their return!!! One of my older sisters, Laura, flew down from Utah. Carson, Madi & I drove to Oklahoma. We all got to Perry the day my parents were supposed to get home. And they didn't know we were coming! As soon as they got home we all showed up one by one. It was a fabulous suprise. (I think my mom almost wet her pants from the excitement. Don't worry that I've found out it runs in the family.) Anyway, we all stayed for about a week & brought in the new year together.

We went bowling as a family. It was super fun! I can't remember the last time we did that. I also don't know why we haven't done it more often!

We cooked a lot of food. I seriously think I gained 10lbs in that 1 week! It was probably all from "Emily's fabulous oreo balls sent straight from heaven to your mouth dipped in chocolate"! We ate a ton of those!

We played the Wii a ton! Josie bought a fun new game, Raving Rabbid Rabbits party (I think) We laughed so much! ( I should have lost all 10 lbs I gained...)

We went to the public park. I know it has the "Lion's Park" because there is a lion statue in the park. I grew up playing here. It was fun to have Madi play here too.

Emily ran and tried to jump into a flying position on the swing. It looked so funny. I tried to do it too. I just hurt myself!

It was fun to watch everyone play with Madi. I'm glad she's not super shy. She warmed up to everyone pretty quickly & now I have picture to remind her who everyone is.

This picture is my favorite! Madi & Uncle Ox

Madi, Uncle Lace & Auntie Em

Madi with Uncle Roy & Auntie Josie

Madi with Grandpa and Grammy

Christmas 2008

Let's just say, "Christmas Cake was FABULOUS!"

I made a cake from a Paula Deen magazine I have & it was full of butter & covered in chocolate ganache. Does life get better than that? I don't think so!

Christmas morning was fun this year. We got to show Madi how to unwrap presents. (don't worry she caught on quick) It was also nice that the house we are living in has a fireplace. (no we don't need one in Arizona) The fire you see is the only one we've ever had in it. It was fun for Christmas, though.

It was really fun for me to have Madi open presents, because she would act excited with each one. This is a Noah's Ark from her Aunt, or was it her cousin, in Washington. (she still loves it!)

Carson really wanted a long board for Christmas. I had a hard time justifying it. I really didn't think he would use it that much. I couldn't think of anything else he wanted though. Well I was wrong. We have already used the long board a ton! Carson's pretty good on it, too. He's also not the only one who loves it...

I think she is going to be into extreme sports. (She gets on it all my herself)

Water Baby

Madi used to hate getting her face wet. Now she is a full on frog. She sticks her whole face in the water all by herself. She has just recently started throwing her body forward into the water. (almost like trying to swim) It's been pretty fun to watch her in the tub these last few days.

Do we have two dogs?

On Saturday, Carson said he found Madi stuck in the doggie door. I sure am glad he grabbed the camera first. I always wondered how long it would take her to figure it out.

Vegas

For my birthday (which was Dec 1st), my wonderful husband planned a 2-night get away for us to go to Las Vegas. He even got our friend's the McCoy's to watch Madi. It was wonderful! We stopped at the Hoover Dam on our way there. We had a tour and everything.

In Vegas, we didn't gamble or go to any shows. We just spent time walking around the strip, ate a lot of food, and hung out. We did end up going to the MGM & playing in the arcade for an hour or two. It was really nice to be able to relax and spend some alone time with Carson. On our last night there we rode one of the rides on top of the stratuspher & then ate at "At The Top of The World" resturant. It was the nicest resturant I will ever eat at. It was very romantic. (we were wearing jeans) In the end, we were very excited to come home and see our baby girl.

Phoenix Zoo

Part of Carson's family came down for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun with them. One thing we got to do was go to the zoo. It was Madi's first visit. She had a great time. I really enjoyed how focused she was on the animals. She also made to correct animal sound when we saw the elephant, tiger, and any type of monkey. It was great!

At the zoo, they had pedal car's you could rent for $30/hour. Carson's brother-in-law, Brent, thought it would be a lot of fun. So they got one. It fit 6 adults and 2 children. They quickly found out it was a bad idea as they hit their first hill. I didn't ride on it because Madi was too young. I didn't regret it for one second.