Almost there!

Well, today is my last day of finals, Josh flies in this afternoon, and we're packing up our moving truck tomorrow! I can't believe we're already here at this point. I'm so excited to have my little family back together. So I just focus on that right now and not how sad I am to leave my good friends and Provo. It's all I can do to keep myself from crying. I hate goodbyes!!! :'(

Our little wrestler

So 2 weeks ago Madsen, Kristi, and I were able to go watch Jeremy wrestle at a tournament in Evanston. Madsen has watched his uncles wrestle before but not since last year, so this time around it was a whole different experience. This time we were even able to watch Jeremy from practically right next to the mat. He did amazing, against some tough competition. We were really proud to see how hard competed, even if he didn't get all the results he wanted. Well Madsen really loved watching Jeremy. He was yelling and cheering for him the whole time. The next day we were at Papa's house and Travis and Trenton were wrestling, Madsen was watching them super closely and getting kind of anxious and I thought nervous. All of a sudden he runs to the boys and pulls them apart. I thought to myself, "oh, my sweet boy got nervous about them hurting each other." But as soon as he pulled them apart he turns to Travis and says, "Travis, wrestle!" and proceeds to lunge towards Travis and start reaching for him. He was so into it that it went on for probably 10 minutes, before the kids started a movie, but Madsen was not done. He just kept following Travis around trying to get him to keep wrestling with him. So I guess its official. My sweet little baby boy is longer, instead I have a rough and tough big boy toddler. :) Well, a plus is we're good friends and going to live close to a previous State Champion wrestler, and his family of wrestlers, so I guess Madsen will have a good personal coach. :) The one bad thing is we're trying to teach him that not everybody wrestles :/

Wilderness Explorer

So for those of you who haven't seen the new Disney movie UP, I highly recommend it. I bought it mostly because I had a coupon that I could use to buy it (something that almost never happens) and quite a few people recommended it to me. Little did I know how much both Madsen and I would like it. It probably is one of his new favorites. He calls it the Kevin movie and asks for it all the time. Well, he likes it so much that as a joke we've started doing the wilderness explorer call whenever we play outside in the "wilderness". Well our new house is surrounded by quite a bit of trees and he loved exploring all of it. We let him roam around the yard while Josh and I stained the deck one day, having him check in with his wilderness call. It's so cute to hear his little voice call out, "cacaw, cacaw, roar!". Well as a true wilderness explorer would he tried to befriend all creatures whether they big great or small. He found an ant hill and tried to play with them. My poor little boy had his first run in with Tennessee red ants! I saw him standing up and pulling on his pants and thought something might be wrong, so I asked Josh to check on him. Josh hesitantly started making his way over to Madsen, when all of a sudden Madsen screams out" Daddy! Daddy, help me!" I just turned around in time to see Josh pick Madsen up and then clothes started flying in the air. He had ants up his pant legs and in his socks. My sweet boy holds no malice towards the ants, he just calls them silly ants for biting him and is more than happy to show you his bites and tell you about how Daddy saved him. I guess these are the kind of adventures you run into with little boys, especially in the wilderness :) (don't worry Josh has promised me that he will be extinguishing that ant hill this weekend so I won't have to worry about it in the future)

Madsen showing me where the ants bit him.

Ouch!

My cute boy who's more than willing to show you his battle scars. :)

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

So Madsen and I got the wonderful chance to visit Josh in Tennessee for Thanksgiving. We had an amazing time spending time together as a family along with visiting with Jeff, Jessica, and Kellen Cuthbertson who so graciously allowed us to stay at their house for the week. Jessica was out of town for the first part of the trip, so that left me to cook my first Thanksgiving dinner ever. Josh and Madsen helped me and together had a lot of fun cooking it. We decided to just take it slow throughout the day. I’m glad we did because it sure was a lot of work. But it was nice just to be together. Madsen is ALWAYS trying to help in the kitchen, so for him it was heaven. He was so excited about the turkey and brownies, it was so cute, he kept trying to get samples of the food, just like his daddy :) He was such a good helper, but he got wore out and without me even realizing it he cuddled up on the couch with a blanket and pillow. I was pretty nervous making dinner especially since we had Jeff's family over, but it turned out amazing! Of course silly me, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product. We also got to enjoy Grandmother and Leroy's farm and a later Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday after. They had an beautiful home, Madsen was very excited about seeing the farm. He loved the beagles, and fourwheeling, and pecan picking. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day, so I'll have to get pictures from Jessica. For those of you who don't know, our family has had the huge blessing of finding a brand new house that we will be able to call home. So for me it was really exciting to finally see in person this beautiful house, that I will soon call home. I also got to have fun picking out paint colors, lighting fixtures, and finally seeing in person the cabinetry and flooring we've picked out. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. We have been greatly blessed to have lived in our small basement apartment for the last couple years, it has been a great home. We brought our baby Madsen home to this place, and I can think of many countless happy moments that we have had here, but I am ready and grateful for the upgrade. We are so grateful for the direction our lives are moving in. It will be sad to leave Provo and all our friends here, but we are grateful for a good job that Josh loves, Madsen is excited and grateful for a backyard to explore and daddy's green truck, and I am grateful to have a new home that we can all live in together and be one happy family again. :)

My sleepy little helper

Playing in the daddy's green truck

Our new house!

A bright, sunny, and bigger living room!

Madsen exploring around the yard.

Our own backyard.

Beautiful Harrison Bay and its close to our house!

Good friends.

My little swimmer.
Bathtub fun!

Our kitchen cabinets that got installed the day before I left.

Halloween Fun!

So we had an amazing time with our friends and kids this Halloween. I had originally planned on dressing Madsen up as Diego, but after Max got his Sully costume, Connie begged me to make Madsen a Mike Wazowski costume. I realized that this was the last chance that these little best friends would have to dress up together, so I gave in. It was more work than Diego would have been, but I'm so glad that I gave in. They looked so cute together!! I made the costume in one night, it wasn't too bad. It just took some time to figure out the size and sewing. But it only took me 3 hours and 1 mess up, not bad for somebody who's not an expert seamstress without a pattern. Needless to say our Mike, Sully, and Buzz Lightyear trick or treaters were super cute. :)( we're obvious supporters of Pixar) Trick or treating was a hit with all three boys. We had to keep a close eye on Madsen because he kept trying to get seconds when they let him choose his candy. Towards the end we realized that Madsen kept picking butterfingers, so we coached him to get orange candies ( hopefully a Reese's). At the next house he went to he was just looking at the bowl of candy and saying , "orange, orange, orange". lol. I guess we've taught him to be a good listener. It has been so much fun to watch Logan, Madsen, and Max be cute little friends. It'll sure be sad when we have to leave them behind.

Hello again.

So after not posting for a while here I am. These last couple weeks have been super hectic with school. I have had at least one midterm every week for the last 3 weeks! I had to do some major pep talk to myself about the importance of staying in school and not quitting. I guess it worked, cause I've survived. I'm so glad for the 2 1/2 week break I have until its time for another midterm. So as you guessed from the video, Madsen and I had a fabulous time with Josh when he came home. It was so much harder to say goodbye this time around. I'm so grateful for the family I have out here that are always willing to help me feel better. I had to take a break last week from school and just spend some good quality time with all my brothers and sisters in law, packing in a ticket to ride europe game(so much fun!), bumper scooters, training Hershey(their dog) and watching and playing some good football in a quick 2 day trip, missed some school but it was so worth it! I'll admit that there is a reason for all the extra mopiness and hormonal mood swings. We're expecting a new little addition to our family in May! We're all so excited and can't wait to be a family of four ( as we will all be together again by then). We keep asking Madsen if he wants to have a baby brother or sister, he changes his mind every other day. He is so cute about the whole thing. When we start talking about the baby in mommy's tummy he gets really excited and says he wants to hold it and gets very frustrated when I tell him that he can't right now because the baby is too little and we have to wait for it to get big. He is going to be an amazing big brother. He's already informed me that he's going to be my helper getting the baby's diaper and wipes and that he is willing to share his blankies, all three of them:his star, his kachow(lightning mcqueen), and his princess blankie. (his new favorite movie is Sleeping Beauty and he found this receiving blanket that I had for future baby shower gifts with princess aurora on it and he has officially claimed it as his, oh well). I'm so grateful for all the support I have right now from all my friends and family. I love you all so much and thank you for everything you do :)

So as most of you know, Josh has accepted a job in Tennessee with Jeff Cuthbertson. He left on the 31st of August to start the job and it definitely has been hard this last month without him. Madsen is such a good boy, I could not ask for a better child. He is so patient with me, as I've had to adjust to life as a single parent. At the same time as this adjustment he also had to adjust to me going to school full time. Heavenly Father has definitely blessed me. Somehow I've been able to keep up with school, not fall behind, and still be a mom to my little boy. I know it's hard for him to understand where and why Josh is gone. I've tried explaining to him where daddy is but he is insistent that daddy is at school and he will come back soon. In the mean time he loves talking to daddy on the phone, and was SUPER excited the other day when Josh sent him a video of himself. He watched it like 10 times in a row. It was actually really cute. He was even more excited when we finally had a video chat on Saturday. The good news for us is that Josh is coming home Thursday! We are so excited. Madsen can't stop talking about all the motorcycle rides he and daddy are going to take. :) I love how much he loves doing boy things with his daddy. He also talks about how daddy is going to come and push him on the swing, because mommy doesn't push him high enough. I've been really looking forward to this visit, but at the same time I have been a little disappointed that I had a microbiology exam scheduled during the exact days Josh will be here. bummer. But tonight I got the best e-mail I could have asked for. My professor decided to post pone the exam until after conference :) I can't believe it, this is what I have been secretly praying for!!!! So although I'll still have to start studying for it while Josh is here, I won't be pressured to study hard core and take the exam all during the 5 days Josh will be here. Miracles do happen!

Goodbye Tio Ervin

Well my little brother left last month for boot camp and it has been pretty lonely around here without him. We miss him a ton and Madsen always asks for him when he wants juice instead of milk, guess we know who spoiled him rotten. :) But we're so proud of him and we know he is doing great and excelling in his training. We can't wait to see Ervin again in October. Here's a couple pictures we took right before he left. Here ya go mami!

Behind like always

Once again I find myself having to backtrack but there just has been so much going on in the last month I just can't believe that it's September already. Where did the month of August go? Well to start off we had a combined birthday party for Madsen and Isa the first weekend in August. It turned out really cute and I just can't believe how big these kids are getting. I just want to thank again everybody who helped. We had some technical difficulties at first but overall I think everyone had a great time, so it was worth it. Once again I must thank Connally Wilkins for all her help with the cake, I don't know what I'm going to do next year without her. So here are just a few pictures of the party.

Hitting Isa's pinata

Trying to raid Aunt Charity's candy

Madsen found more candy

Sharing candy with Champ

Amazing cake thanks to Connally.

What was I thinking when I bought him a white shirt for the party?

He loved this card so much. It plays "Life is a Highway" from the Cars movie.

He still takes it around the house and dances to it.

Grandpa always finds what we need. More monkey pajamas!

The birthday boy and girl. They're so big.

Big Zucchini

This is Madsen holding a zucchini from our garden. It's huge!! We have had a lot of luck with our garden this year. Pictures of tomatoes yet to come.

Madsen says hi

Our little musician!

My calling has switched to choir pianist, so that means more practicing for me, actually I really enjoy it and it is really relaxing. But now that I've actually been playing our piano Madsen will sit on the couch and applaud for me after I finish a song and say, "Yeah mami! my turn." He'll sit there for at least 5-10 minutes just practicing his pieces.

So this weekend we went to a family bbq at the National Guard base in Spanish Fork. Madsen was so excited about all the army trucks and tanks that they had out for the kids. He loved spending time with his Tio Ervin, he's going to miss him a ton when he leaves for basic. :(

Madsen checking out the army trucks with Tio Ervin!

Ice Skating

Madsen went ice skating for his first time. He liked it and was starting to get the hang of it by the time we were done

Ice Skating with Jacob and Levi

Cookie Mess

Garden Strawberry

Look! Our first strawberry from our garden! It is kind of small, but tasted wonderful. Josh, Martha, and Madsen split it into three small pieces so we could all enjoy the fresh home-grown flavor.

Too tired to keep going.

Madsen has been playing very hard these days. It is not uncommon for him to come inside after a very active day, want to watch a movie and crash only a few minutes after it starts.

GOING HOME!

It's taken me a while to get a chance to blog about my good news, but here it is I'm going home in less than 3 weeks! I haven't been home or seen my family in almost a year. It has been extremely too long and unfair for both sides. My parents haven't seen their only grandchild since he was 10 months old. 10 months old! That is forever long in infant/toddler time. He was just crawling the last time they saw him. He is now running absolutely everywhere, talking a storm and is expressing his cute little personality is so many different ways. I can't wait to spend some quality time with my family, especially my mom. She is an amazing person and my best friend. And I need some time with her to be inspired, to help me refresh and regroup, to be an even better mom and wife. The sad part is Josh can't come with us this time. :( But I told him not to worry, hopefully it won't be too long before we get to live there. So a cute Madsen update, we decided to try more songs with him, to see which ones he liked and caught on to. We finally introduced Popcorn popping and he LOVED it. He tries singing it which is super cute and is so excited to do all the actions, and always claps at the end and says "Mas, peas". (more please) and get so excited when we start it again. I am absolutely loving this stage of his life. He is so funny and knows it.

Overdue update

So I've gotten worse at updating. Sorry Jenae. Things have actually been pretty busy but not too crazy, thank goodness. I can't believe that the semester is almost over. I have thoroughly enjoyed being back in school and am grateful for the opportunity I have had to attend. So an update on the past month. We got amazing seats to Disney on Ice, thanks to my best friend Nora. The Heiner's got to come with us and Max and Madsen were so excited. I will have to say that Peter Pan was the hit for all of us. Can't go wrong with the classics. :) Josh and I did this Master Cleanse diet where you drink this lemonade mix for 10 days and it was HARD! It's true when they say you won't be hungry but I craved food so bad! I just wanted to bite into something and taste all the different flavors. But it was worth it. I feel great now and my muscle's haven't felt so relaxed since the last time I got a massage! I have really bad toxic build up and knots in my back and this helped a ton with the aches. It also is a plus to have a lost a couple pounds, I'm even closer to my goal :). Mostly what I've done in my spare time is hang out upstairs, outside and make extra books for my bookbinding class. Which I'll have to post pictures of later, when I actually take some. So all in all everything is going well, so bring on the finals!

Waiting to go in!

Even little Sam was entertained :)

10th row has a great view!

Josh modeling Madsen's flounder hat for us.