Mischief and Christmas Candy

Madeline quickly learned that there were
real candy canes hanging on our tree.
Even more quickly she learned
how to climb up and reach them.
Stinker.

We decided to make Christmas candy this year.
We made fudge, peanut butter chocolate
rice krispie squares,
caramels, peppermint bark,
chocolate caramel pretzel rods,
oreo balls, and sugar cookies.

Madeline had so much fun helping.
She felt so special in her own
little apron. We had so much fun,
mostly watching her have so much fun.

I think the pictures speak for themselves....

Honolulu Zoo

We bought season passes to the Honolulu Zoo.
It was a great investment. This little girl
loves everything about the zoo.

She gets so excited to see all of the different animals.
From the flamingos to the monkeys, everything
is wonderful!

This particular visit she was so thrilled with
the big kitty playing with his ball.

And the playground with
the SLIDE! She probably went
down it 50 times.

When we got to the giraffes she
wanted to get a closer look.
Really, they expect those
little wires to keep kids out?? Come on now.

Thank heavens for Aunt Natalie.
She ran around and chased Madeline
so the big prego lady could just
waddle along.

She really liked the elephants too.
She would march along their pen like they
march in Jungle Book.
Silly girl.

Yes, we love the zoo!
It has become a weekly activity in our house.

Oh Well....

I was feeling pretty good about my belly...thinking to myself that I wasn't that big yet. That was until yesterday. One of Nat's friends commented to her that I must be due soon and that it was going to be a BIG baby....and shortly after a woman at the commissary informed me that her belly was as big as mine at 9 months. Thank you. Thank you very very much.

Christmas Dress

I love holidays for so many reasons,

but one of my favorite things about

Christmas and Easter is that I get to dress

Madeline in a special pretty dress.

She loved getting all "pretty." This morning.

Cute little bug.

Puppies

Our poor puppies haven't had their share of blog posts.

So I thought I would post a couple pictures of them and their

cuteness. We love our pups. They are such good

little companions, naughty little children, snugglers, and

mommy's little protectors. No one can ever sneak up

on our house without them barking.

Such good pups.

Three Years of Wedded Bliss

Today is our 3rd anniversary. Happy anniversary sweetie! I am constantly amazed at how blessed I am to have Jimmy for my husband. For me he is perfect...in every way. Heavenly Father poured out the blessings when he let me meet Jimmy. I am so thankful for him and so thankful for everything that he is. He is the most wonderful husband and father. We don't get to be together for this anniversary but it's still a wonderful day. We got to talk on the webcam! I love you honey. Thank you for being my Mr. Wonderful.

Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to my wonderful husband!

We only wish you could be here so we

could celebrate with you!

I talked to Jimmy tonight and in Iraq it is his birthday so

he's already the big 29!

We love you sweetie. Hope that you have a wonderful

day and that in some way it is special.

We miss you so much!

28 Weeks

Here I am in all my glory at 28...almost 29 weeks.

Please take note that there is a shadow outlining

my backside. My butt isn't quite as bubbly yet. ha ha

Baby boy Isakson is growing and loves to kick

and move all day long. I love this stage of

pregnancy! At my 28 week appointment is heart

rate was 164. Everything else is right on track.

I have decided to switch doctors. Considering

what happened with Madeline I felt like I needed

a doctor who was a little more concerned and a little hidden

blessing helped me find him so consider me switched.

Not to mention my last doctor lost...yes, lost my giant

packet of records...grrrrrr....after he reassured me

he would copy them and give them right back. I knew

I shouldn't have let him...oh well.

No names picked out for the little guy. Names, our

biggest dilema. We have a few that we like but we'll see.

I'm excited to get started on his room. After Christmas.

We are going with an aviation theme in honor of daddy.

I found some great vintage airplane things while in Utah and

Nat is making me some Chinook stuff and then I got

fabric to make the bedding. Hopefully it's cute

once I pull it all together. I'll keep you posted.

I'm getting really excited to meet this little guy...not

to mention that Jimmy will get to come

home for two weeks at the same time....

double excitement!

18 Months

18 months...well now actually almost 19 months.

At 18 months Madeline is still a lightweight at 21 pounds

which puts her in the 15th percentile.

She's a tall one too, 33 inches tall taking her to the

85th percentile.

She is saying a lot of words and imitating me a lot too.

Some of those words on her list are:

dog, cat, chicken, frog, horse, sheep, bus, train, car, truck,

milk, water, eat, please, thank you, more, sleep, up, down,

out, off, in, on, boo, ashes, mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa,

nat, walk, bath, bubbles, juice, peas, grapes, banana, candy,

cereal, moo, baaa, ruff, nay, ribbit, bock, meow, ruff, bed,

elmo, movie, outside, house, tree, flower, fly,

goodbye, good morning...and so on.

She is a little bundle of energy and loves to be on

the go. She loves to climb and jump off of things (not always

mom's favorite activity.) She loves animals, loves going

to the zoo, and loves her puppies.

She is such a sweetheart and will often give

baby brother raspberries. (my lucky tummy)

She loves talking to daddy on the webcam

and gives him lots and lots of hugs and kisses.

She's starting to get used to the idea of going to

nursery. Yahoo. It's not quite as traumatic anymore.

She's constantly keeping mommy on her toes and

mommy is so glad. I have constant entertainment.

We sure love our little Madeline and can't believe how

fast she is growing and learning.

Bubbles

Madeline has been really funny about

bathtime. She goes back and

forth on whether or not

she likes it. Sometimes it's pretty

traumatic...or shall I say dramatic?

Lately she loves baths...especially the

bubbles. She even loves to pour cups of water

over her head...which before was

terrifying for her.

Funny how things change so quickly

with this little stinker.

She recently discovered that the bubbles

will stick to her face. It's pretty

entertaining to watch.

Sure do love this little girl.

Sesame Street

At Schofield, the USO had a Sesame Street

presentation for the kids.

We decided to go and check it out and

Madeline loved it.

I thought it was a pretty neat thing to do.

All of the dances and songs that they did

were about being happy when you're sad...

like when your mommy or daddy

has to go away.

She was in awe and pretty much stared

the whole time. By the end she

was really getting into it and started

dancing along with the Sesame Street characters.

I thought it was funny because she kept

slowly creeping closer and closer

to the front. I think she wanted a better view.

They gave out these really cool Elmo toys that

twirl and give off light. She loves it.

I thought it was funny how she kept putting

it over her head to let it spin.

Silly girl.

Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

We have been getting everything ready

for Christmas at our house.

I was so excited when we got home from

our trip because we could go buy our

Christmas tree.

We headed out and found a good cheap tree

and got it all put up and then

waited until Jimmy could join

us on the webcam to decorate it.

We got all of the stockings up and the garlands

hung and strung with lights....

We even started making cookies

and other candy....pictures later....

After all of that, I have decided that

between Boo and Ashes digging at the presents

to get under the tree to drink the water and Madeline

coloring on, opening, and stepping on or smashing

various presents and undecorating the tree

in oh so many ways...

things will have to be done differently

next year.

Oh and not to mention that Baby Jesus keeps

disappearing. We go on a nightly treasure hunt

to find him and place him back in the

nativity. So far he has been found

under the fridge, in the stroller, and

tucked into mommy and daddy's bed.

Christmas really is so much more fun with

a toddler in the house!

I love how excited Madeline gets about everything.

She loves to turn the lights on at night,

watch Christmas movies,

help me make and eat candy,

and she's really excited about all

of the presents under the tree.

It has made me anxious for

Christmas morning.

Stroller....

We bought Madeline a doll and a stroller

to help her get used to the idea of

having a baby around....

So far the stroller has been great

for pushing oranges,

crayons, teddy bears, sippy cups, Elmo

and of course it's a great

new chair for

Madoo herself.....

More Utah

I have pictures all over the place so

this is going to be a process.

While at my mom's house Madeline

made some big big messes.

She loved to pull out all of the toys,

especially the magnetic

paper dolls...and she loved to

put popcorn and other food items

all over the carpet....

I think she's a little too used to

dogs cleaning up after her.

She was also mesmerized by this fish

aquarium. She would sit and

watch it for long periods of time and

every morning she would run over

and ask for the fishies.

Hopefully I'm not boring her out of her

mind at home. There

were so many fun things to see and do

at Grandma's house.

California-Utah Trip Part 2

I got to go on a weekend overnight

getaway with my college

roomies up at Wolf Creek and we had

so much fun. I love these girls.

You can always count on a good

time when we all get together.

We played Bunco, ate lots of

yummy food (thanks Melissa)

and played karaoke.

These are the best pictures I got

of the night...you get the idea.

It was so fun!

Madeline got to see mre cousins.

She immediately took to Qyncee and

wanted her to hold her and play with her.

She found Grandma Terri's Christmas hats....

Madeline got to make candy and all sorts

of stuff in the kitchen with Grandma

Terri. She felt so special with

her own little apron on.

She got to play in the snow....

It started to snow and was sooo windy outside

but we went out anyway.

She loved it! She absolutely

loved everything about it.

It made me laugh because it was so windy and

everytime we turned into the wind she

had to figure out how to breathe.

It was pretty funny.

All bundled up for some

chilly Utah weather.

Watching the snow fall outside.

Back in from playing in the snow.

(Thanks for the Peru hats

Grandpa Larry and Grandma Becky

they worked great!)

We went to the Discovery Museum with

Kim and Brooke and their kiddos.

Madeline loved the balls and the water.

Elly and Madeline playing in the water.

Lately Madeline seems like she is getting so big.

Pictures like this make me realize that

she is.

More fun at the museum.

All of the kids at the museum.

Me, Brooke, and Kim.

Some of the girls from Alabama got together for

lunch. I got to go and see them and their

cute kids. This was the best picture I

snapped of all of the kids...ha ha.

Madeline got to play with lots and lots of cousins.

She loved being silly, screaming, running, playing,

jumping, and just having fun with them.

We rode TRAX to Salt Lake to see the lights

at Temple Square. We went with my

mom, sisters Natalie and Samantha, Brother

Scott and his family, Cassi, Baylee, and

Deegan.

Madeline loved looking in all of the decorated windows.

Cute little Bay.

Scott and Deegan

Samantha, Mom, Madeline, Missy

Cassi, Madeline, and Missy

The whole gang, minus Cassi...she was

taking the picture.

Somedays I think Madeline

was tired of not sleeping in her bed...

she felt a little like this....

We went to Melinda and Brady's

ward Christmas Party and

Madeline got to sit on Santa's lap...

she wasn't too crazy about the idea.

She did like the candy cane he gave her though....

She loved seeing her friend Sadie again.

and loved giving everyone hugs goodbye....

We had so much fun and once again I didn't

take nearly enough pictures to document

everything we did.

Thanksgiving was great this year.

Ha ha ha.

Me and Madeline got sick and went to

lay down and when we woke up

Thanksgiving was over.

Sad.

No cheese turkey, no stuffing, or

mashed potatoes for us this year.

There were leftovers but we felt yucky for

so long that it just never happened.

Thank heavens it comes around once a year!

Unfortunately this little sickness kept us from doing

quite a few things we had originally planned to do.

Oh well, we still had a great time!

We are so glad we got to see so many

family and friends.

I really have the best friends in the

world and the most wonderful

family...yes, I do.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma and

Mom for everything.

We love you all.

This is us on the plane ride back home.

Madeline did great on this trip too.

Slept on both flights and did

awesome while she was awake.

Thank heavens for Aunt Nat who also flew

back with us. We're so glad to have her!

It's good to be home.

Now it's your turn to come and see us!