The Dallings

The everyday stuff...

2012-02-10T13:09:00.003-07:00

Not much to update on--that's kind of how winter goes I suppose! We really have just been hanging around the house and playing inside. The girls are getting to be so fun now that they can play together. Maddie appreciates that Lilly is understanding how to play more now. For the most part, they get along really well. It's fun to catch the unexpected moments like these...

Maddie did gymnastics this past semester at the rec. center in town. They are so good and it's only $20 a month!! She has LOVED it! They got to perform in a recital and get a medal at the end! She just barely started dance class at the same place.

These are suckers my mom sent them in their package! They love to get and open packages with my parents on Skype.

Just being funny...

Maddie also loves that Lilly shows a tiny interest in dressing up once in awhile!

If you are wondering if I ever do my girls' hair, I do...occassionally :)

Christmas Morning

2012-01-16T12:50:00.002-07:00

Just a short post... the girls on Christmas morning opening their presents!

Lilly is currently obsessed with Elmo and his friends

The girls were spoiled this year for sure. We were lucky to actually get 4-5 of their presents for free at shop n swaps! Like this awesome stroller...FREE!

During Christmas Craig and the girls were all sick for 3 weeks. We had planned to go to his mom's Christmas Day to hang out but just went for a couple of hours since everyone was sick. Maddie loves her cousin Daxton and they play so well together!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-16T08:10:00.004-07:00

Christmas Eve was so much fun with the girls! We made treats, listened to Christmas music, drove around town looking at the lights, got new Christmas jammies, watched The Grinch and ate popcorn, and hid the pickle ornament! It is so fun to start our own traditions with our kids. We had a great time with the girls!

Each of them got to find the pickle themselves

They won M&M's for finding it

Our attempt to make an easy treat

Watching the Grinch and eating popcorn--they both sat through the entire thing!

Santa's gifts

Alabama Visit Dec. 2011

2012-01-15T23:22:00.003-07:00

My parents brought us home for Christmas this year. We stayed for 2 weeks while Craig had a break from school. Here are a few pics. I will post pics of Christmas Eve and Day tomorrow.

When we were checking in at the airport, the girls stood there hugging! It was so cute. These moments are few and very occassional! They did really well on the plane considering we had to drive 2 1/2 hours to the airport and then fly and travel for the rest of the day!

Lilly LOVED Sarabeth. She only wanted to dance with her and hold her hands

Their tree

It is tradition that we dance almost every night when we are there. The kids love it and Lilly knows the chorus to "Tonight" by Hot Chelle Ray. It's hilarious

We went to this place called Santa's Village. There were so many cute things for the kids to see and do!

More to come tomorrow...I'm exhausted!

Early December

2012-01-15T23:13:00.002-07:00

Catch up time yet again! As always there will be a series of old posts!

Setting up for Christmas... doesn't start out lookin' too good

All decorated before all the ornaments got moved up so Lilly wouldn't bother them

At the mall waiting to visit with Santa

Maddie LOVED seeing Santa this year. Lilly still had nothing to do with him.

Maddie officially had her first sleepover! This is her with her best friend Carly. She actually stayed the entire night and still wasn't ready to come home the next day!

November 2011

2011-11-20T22:13:00.004-07:00

Daddy's Girl

Lilly has an obsession lately with taking her clothes and diaper off. This is as far as she can get with her shirt though...

She cracks me up all the time. She LOVES her daddy. She loves to be tickled and to get little baby massages!

She also likes hats and says, "cute!" until you say it back.

Every.Single.Day. Without fail. What can I say? The girl loves books.

We were skyping my parents tonight and Lilly had been quiet for awhile. This is where she was hanging out.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-20T22:01:00.004-07:00

Halloween was so busy this year! I was lame and didn't want to spend money on costumes so we just used dress up clothes we already had! Lilly wore a witch/princess costume. I thought it was adorable!

For the ward trunk or treat party, Maddie was Minnie Mouse.

Checking out their stash--this was before we did door to door trick or treating. They actually ended up with a TON of candy.

We decided to let Maddie paint a pumpkin this year instead of carve it. She was thrilled. It took a lot of convincing for her to not mix all the paint until it was black.

Our apartment complex also had a party. Maddie was a cupcake this time!

We went to 2 different parties, went to the mall to trick or treat, and also walked 2 neighborhoods! It was so fun!

October 2011

2011-11-20T21:43:00.004-07:00

At the beginning of October, 4 of my nieces and nephews came over for the day while their parents were away. I also babysit 2 other kids so we had a total of 8! It was actually a lot of fun and the older ones were a huge help! I am blessed to have such awesome family! These 2 seriously go out of their way to be so good to Maddie--she adores them!

Maddie, Aizlyn, Jevin

Funny glasses

Lilly is so much fun now! She always has been but I swear it just gets better all the time. She has a huge personality and always cracks us up!

Maddie is still loving gymnastics. She can do a cartwheel pretty well now and is so excited to have something to feel proud about. I see this picture and I can't believe how big she is getting!

I made this blanket for Lilly a while back, but needed my mom to put her name in the center. So, she did that for me when we visited in August and she even put the back on for me! Thank goodness--I don't think I could have handled working with minky. I don't have near enough patience or the sewing skills!

With the extra fabric, I made her a little tiny blanket to carry around. She LOVES blankets so it's the perfect size for on the go! (should have at least laid it out flat for the picture!)

We went to Boise in October to visit Bill and Laurie. We had a lot of fun--unfortunately it was a really short visit! We went to Josh and Jordyn's soccer games. Lilly is heading out at half time... told ya she really loves blankets.

The weather was nice for a lot longer than we expected! The girls love going to the park and this one is perfect for little ones. Everything is miniature size so they require no help!

Craig's Birthday- September 28th

2011-11-20T21:37:00.003-07:00

Long (very long) overdue! Craig turned 27 in September. For his birthday he got golf shoes, socks, belts, sunglasses , an Ipad cover, money, and we went to dinner for Red Lobster! We opened the presents from the girls and I at home together! It was very simple but fun! They loved helping him open everything!

Very quick post but didn't want to forget what we did!

Now back to real life...almost

2011-09-16T00:13:00.003-06:00

We went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair with our family, JoAnn, Brad and Kaley. The girls loved the animals and seeing so many fun things! It was our last time to see Brad, Kaley, and Coleson for awhile. They just barely moved to Florida for school. I hope it's not too long before we see them again!

I started babysitting last month when we got back from our trip. It's not bad at all--the kids are so good! Also, I am trying to get into the coupon craze! I am so excited to get started! Craig has been working on his big pharmacy presentation and has finished his rough draft! He starts a new rotation on Monday. Maddie started gymnastics again this week and loves it! She has been doing everything she learned everyday! I love that she has something to be excited about and to feel proud of herself for. Lilly is SO fun now! She is at my favorite stage. She has quite a few words and we can usually figure what she wants or needs. Life is busy again but is so good! I feel so much better to have these overload of posts up finally! I am caught up for a bit now :) Keep in touch! We love hearing from family and friends

Saying good-bye to Brad, Kaley, and Coleson

All of these little girls were so cute. They kept whispering to each other and pointing saying, "Look! That's my Mom!!"

4th Anniversary

2011-09-15T23:58:00.002-06:00

August 14th was our 4 year anniversary. We happened to be in Alabama at the time so we kept saying we would celebrate later. We never did anything and we let it go by. I never even got him anything, which I'm so embarrassed to say, because I thought we were just going to go on a date sometime. Well, last week he unloaded lots of surprises on me! I wish I had pictures but I was having so much fun that I didn't even take any hardly! On Friday morning, his mom came to our house to stay with the girls for a night. We went to Salt Lake for Friday and Saturday. We went shopping at the Gateway. We bought a couple little things then went to The Roof for dinner. It's a really nice restaurant in Salt Lake that overlooks the temple. At dinner, he gave me a bracelet--at this point I was feeling really really bad..you have no idea. Then, I thought we were going to shop around a little more but he had me put an address in the GPS. I could tell it was an amphitheater. So, I started thinking of all of the possibilities of who would be there. I really thought Kalai, he was a guy we used to go see in Rexburg. We pulled up and ran because we were a few minutes late. I could hear talking but still had no clue. As we came around the corner, I was a huge semi-truck with Rascal Flatts faces across it! I started jumping up and down and screaming, and was so close to tears! He had gotten the tickets 2 months earlier. They are my absolute favorite band and I have been watching their tour schedule every year to see if they are within like 10 hours from here! At that point we ran faster! It was such an amazing concert and Sara Evans was there also! I'm still so excited we got to go! After the concert, we went back to the hotel. The next morning, we went to IHOP for breakfast and then went to Lagoon! Haha sounds funny but we had a blast! We went to one more mall then headed back home! Thank you so much JoAnn for keeping the girls! We owe you big time! It was the best getaway ever! So now I'm trying to think of something amazing for his birthday :) any ideas?

Sara Evans! She was amazing also!

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-15T23:17:00.010-06:00

I could put hundreds of pictures on here from our trip to Alabama. I had a hard time even narrowing it down. My parents flew everyone out to Alabama to be together. We went with my grandma and my brother Curt. We don't all get together very often so we are so thankful they did that so that we could all spend time together. We did so many things--I will highlight the biggest.

Here is my Grandma June

One of my brothers--this is Curt

Lilly had a thing for my Dad. She yelled "Pappa!" nonstop basically. She was interested in all of his technology and wanted him to hold her and chase her. He was so good to play with her whenever she wanted. She still begs for him on Skype!

Lilly was old enough to drink from the rock fountain this time

The kids all pushing their bubble mowers

My mom is super talented but would never let those words come out of her own mouth--so I am saying them. She made all of the kids their own monogrammed bag for the beach trip, each family a beach bag, including one for my grandma, and a towel for my brother! They were all so so cute! They were filled with goodies and toys for the drive down to Florida!

This is everything she made!! You can click the pic to see more detail

We spent the first weekend down there at Panama City Beach, FL! The beach is probably my favorite place

Grandma June setting up for the day :)

Gotta love Sam's hat!

Lilly LOVED my sister Erin. Erin is so good with babies and wants to take care of them! She was a great help!

Lilly sportin' her surf suit--she's a little too ghostly to not be covered

Maddie LOVED the sand. She didn't want to go in the ocean, but loved the pool and building sandcastles with Sarabeth.

Curt built two awesome sand sculptures. A lizard and an alligator

Love this picture- my mom with Maddie and Sarabeth

We went to Walmart there and all the kids got airbrush shirts! They needed some distraction while we were waiting for them

I am wishing I was still there...

My brother Brad, his wife Misty, and kids- Sam and Sarabeth

Maddie LOVED the sand...Lilly did NOT

Not the best photo, but I love the background

Me with my Mom

Ahhh...

Still more fun back at Maya and Pappa's house

I got to see my long time best friend Ellen, who I've known since I was 9. It's sad we are so far now...

We later that week went to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. The kids loved that too!

In the shark cage

Dinner at Brad and Misty's

Wow, like I said, there is so much I could show and say about this trip! I am always excited to be able to go home and be with family. I was glad Craig was able to go also. He was on his 6 week rotation break so it worked out perfectly! Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fun trip and for bringing us all together!

Another Utah Visit in Between Trips

2011-09-15T23:10:00.004-06:00

After the Dalling Reunion and before we left for Alabama to visit my family, we stayed the night in Salt Lake the night before our flight. We took the girls to a kid's discovery museum. I don't know how many times I must have said that I wished I was 5 years old again. It was the coolest place for kids ever! If you are ever there, it's at the Gateway and so worth your time and money! We loved it. Everything kids imagined about was something they could discover!

We will definitely go there again sometime!

Dalling Family Reunion- August 2011

2011-09-15T22:30:00.009-06:00

The Dalling's started a traditional family reunion last year. This year we went to Downata Hot Springs. We had a blast! We camped for one night, went swimming all the next day, then headed to Joann's (Craig's mom's) for the next night to attend Coleson's baby blessing! Here arethe details:

The kids checking out the horses when we 1st got there

They all did a craft--made bags and decorated them

Marc was the camp chef--he worked for a long time for a yummy dinner! Thanks, Marc!

His prego wife, Katie, who was such a good sport to camp while pregnant!

Friday night we had smores

I just love this picture. It is a true camping picture!! I think it's so cute!

Lilly chillin'

The kids were best buds. It was fun to get them all together!

Jason, Jen, Jevin, Aizlyn, Daxton, and Myla

Marc, Katie, Brielle, and Taylynn

Our family

Coleson, the newest grandbaby

His proud parents, Brad and Kaley

Maddie and Daxton were the best of friends! They did everything together!

The kids made shirts for eachother-they all stamped their hands/feet on each others shirts. I think this is so sweet!

All the kids in their shirts

Nanna with her 9 grandkids

Visit to Idaho Falls

2011-07-21T21:52:00.005-06:00

We went to visit Craig's mom for the weekend awhile back. We went to the falls to feed the ducks!

Swinging at Nana's

This is a wig we found at Craig's mom's house. It makes Lilly look like a porcelain doll! Funny and scary!

Maddie is pretty cute I think!

Maddie wanted a french manicure so I attempted

We saw a snake eating a fish! Gross but kinda cool!

My only picture from the 4th of July. Craig and I ran our first race that morning--just a 5k. Then we took Maddie to the parade! Lilly ended up sick so we went home and watched the fireworks.

Maddie loves this hat. If you talk about playing soccer or baseball she runs to put it on before she will play.

Family Photos-it finally happened!

2011-07-21T21:26:00.006-06:00

My sister-in-law does photography for fun and as a little side job. She took some for us while we were in Utah! I was so excited! Thanks Katie! We love them! For the first time, I have family pictures hanging on my wall :)

Trip to Utah!

2011-07-21T21:08:00.004-06:00

We made a trip to Utah a few weeks ago for a couple of things. We crammed alot in the 48 hours we were there, but we had so much fun! On our way into town, we went to Lime Ricki so I could get a bathing suit. Then, we grabbed cheap fast food then went to The Melting Pot for dessert. We thought it would be fun to take the kids--and it was...except for Lilly. She made it very difficult :)

Next, we spent some time on Temple Square in Salt Lake. It was beautiful! Maddie loved being able to see the temple and all the pretty landscaping.

After that, we went to a friend's wedding reception in Sandy. It was probably one of the most gorgeous receptions I have been to. It was at a clubhouse and was outdoors. It looked like something from a movie! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures! That night, we went to Marc and Katie's to stay the night. We talked for awhile then headed to bed. Saturday morning, we went to Brielle's T-ball game. It was cute and hilarious! She kept saying she was too hot...so she got a little side tracked...love this picture! I wish I could have zoomed in more! She was just hanging out with the cone on her head while the game was going on!

We also got to see Brad and Kaley and their new precious baby Coleson Isaac. I could have held him forever--so sweet! Also, didn't a picture there :( Then, (yes, like I said we did lots of stuff!) We went to my Grandma's house for a few minutes to say hey to her and my aunt and uncle.

Just before we went to her house, my sis-in-law Katie took family pics for us! Check them out in the next post!

Just everyday stuff

2011-07-21T21:00:00.002-06:00

Here in Pocatello they do "Lunch in the Park." Basically, anyone under 18yrs old can go pick up a free lunch and play there. We have only done it 2-3 because it's a lot of work by myself with so many kids there but it's fun when we do! Maddie swinging with Carlie

Lilly and Conner--with the help if Becca

Maddie was awfully quiet for a long time one day. I went looking for her and she was hiding under the kitchen table. She had gotten into the blue sparkly nail polish and done it herself. Let's just say she was very proud of her skills-click the picture to zoom and see the details

Dora birthday set

Circus

2011-07-21T20:53:00.002-06:00

Maddie gave Craig tickets to the circus for him and her for part of his Father's Day. They went with Craig's good friend Justin, and their little girl.

Highlights about the little ladies

2011-07-21T20:42:00.002-06:00

Maddie: Age 3

-VERY animated

-loves Dora

-can't wait for nursery every week

-weighs about 27 pounds

-is potty trained--hallelujah

-"I'm so sorry...I just can't believe it!"

-just started name calling--luckily she makes them up and they mean nothing (although she loves to get a rise out of us by throwing "poopy" in there all the time)

-loves working in her "schoolbook"

-could cut paper all day

-The other day she said the sweetest thing at breakfast, "Mom, thank you so much for vacuuming always. You're a good mommy." (sigh)

-still doesn't quite comprehend that Lilly is a lot younger and doesn't understand. A few weeks ago she was getting frustrated with Lilly and I told her Lilly was still learning. So Maddie got right in Lilly's face and said (begged rather), "Lilly, can you please just hurry and learn!?"

Lilly: Age 1

-Favorite song is "If You're Happy and You Know It"

-weighs 19 pounds

-still is a little nervous around other adults

-loves to be chased

-says mama, dada, DoWa (Dora), Hoosat (Who's that), and "I wan dat!"-ALL day long

-she is learning animal sounds and body parts

-VERY much a daddy's girl--for a couple of days it was really bad and while Craig was gone she would cry for him all day. I finally gave her a picture of him to carry around and she was ok!

-Loves bananas

-scratches constantly

-walks up to everything she isn't supposed to touch and says, "no, no, no"

-is learning lots from Maddie-that's both good and bad depending on the day

Maddie's 3rd Birthday, Lilly's 1st!

2011-07-21T20:28:00.005-06:00

We had a lot of different little parties for the girls. My brother Curt came and gave them each an adorable outfit. We had dinner and a Dora cake with him.

Craig and I gave Maddie a couple little things on her actual birthday--nail polish, play doh scissors (she has been dying for them), and a doll.

We just did a tiny cake with her since she kinda knew it was her birthday :)

Lilly turned 1! I honestly can't believe it!

Another time, we had our close friends over for cupcakes and ice cream.

Lilly loved the cake actually--I remember Maddie didn't love the taste or have much to do with it

Her friends brought them some presents! They got stick on earrings, play shoes, bubbles, a ball, 2 tiny Book of Mormons with their names on them!, sunglasses, necklaces--princess stuff! Thanks guys! We love our friends and sad to see some of them go soon!

Post Splurge

2011-07-21T20:03:00.006-06:00

As always, I am somehow WAY behind on keeping up with this blog. I think about doing it all the time but other things end up coming first. This is the first of a few posts coming. This is my random, no theme at all post. Here we go... newest to oldest

My Nanna drove from Mississippi out here with my uncle to come visit us! I can't believe the long drive they made! My girls had a blast though. They brought LOTS of goodies for the girls! It has been keeping them very busy and very entertained. Thanks Nanna for all you do for Maddie and Lilly!

Told ya, very random! This is a car seat cover I helped my good friend make. I thought she picked way cute fabric and I LOVE how it turned out! We made a matching wipe case also but didn't get a pic.

One of Maddie's favorite things is getting packages in the mail. (Can I just say my girls are very taken care of? We really feel blessed.) When my mom is sending one, she tells Maddie to wait for the man to bring the box and Maddie always responds with, "What it have in it? Toys and treats? and clothes?" She knows! Thanks mom and dad for sending them things...it is fun for all of us! I like the clothes and they like everything else!

Lilly got really sick one weekend and we ended up taking her in to the E.R. Couldn't find anything wrong with her but she was sure pitiful! She was throwing up and high fever for a few days...no fun, sweet girl :( However, she was extra snuggly!

In late May we FINALLY got to take our little pool out. It was actually freezing though! I had to carry out water from the house but it didn't stay warm long.

Craig recently started working with the 11year old scouts! He is definitely excited although I think he is a little dramatic here :)

Pilots in training

We have a blast with our friends here who are in school with us. Lilly can finally play with them! She's hanging out with Conner who is about 6 months older than her.

You had to laugh when you saw this...right?!?

...and smile at this...

I knew she was exhausted but didn't know she would make her way under my bed

Eating ice cream at Nana's house! It wouldn't be Nana's house without it!

Just us girls

2011-05-11T21:52:00.000-06:00

Easter 2011

2011-05-11T21:39:00.000-06:00

Easter was fun and simple this year. We took the girls to an egg hunt, dyed eggs, and had a yummy meal!

Raising Butterflies

2011-05-11T21:21:00.000-06:00

We decided to switch things up and do something new for Maddie. We bought a butterfly kit and then ordered caterpillars from the internet. They came as tiny caterpillars in a jar like below. It already had all of the food they would need. They grew drastically everyday for about 2 weeks.

Then, they would spin silk and slowly make their way to the top of the jar. They would hang there for a couple of days and then begin to make their chrysalides. It's blurry but the one in front had just done that.

They stayed there for about another week. We then transferred them to their bigger habitat. We got to watch them come out of their cocoons and learn to fly. We kept them for a while then caught them mating and decided it was time to set them free... we enjoyed them but didn't want to start all over again. We let Maddie play with them and hold them for awhile before we released them. She loved letting them fly in our house!

Sweet Lilly Kate

2011-03-30T23:04:00.007-06:00

Lilly is now currently on the move! She started crawling almost 2 weeks ago. She just turned 9 months is full of fun! She recognizes Craig and I and will say mama or dada when we come in the room. She loves to wave at you when you come in the room. She loves to give kisses, babble, laugh, follow Maddie around, and now she is standing. Just today and yesterday she started standing without holding onto anything and also enjoys cruising along the couch and bathtub. She is sleeping through the night at last but neither girl sleeps when they sleep in the same room. So for now she has a room to herself and Maddie's mattress is on our floor. Lilly is still horrified when it comes to strangers but she seems to be getting slightly better. In the mornings when she wakes up, as soon as she hears Maddie awake she starts clapping and crawling towards Maddie's room. One funny little thing that surprises me is that she knows how to work Craig's Ipod Touch. She loves to scroll through the animals on the vocal zoo app. She loves any kind of technology. She puts phones up to her ear and goes for the computer cords every chance she gets. I am loving everything about this stage. It is probably one of my favorite. It's fun to watch her learn so much in one day. She is very sweet natured and still a good baby!

She is learning to hold her own bottle. She tries to hold it with her feet usually :)

And she enjoys watching each drop splatter on her face

She LOVES peek-a-boo. She hides and pops out until you play with her.

Before she was mobile this was good entertainment. She would look left then right repeatedly back and forth until she wanted to be held again

This Dora she is holding was her 2nd favorite toy but we managed to lose it in Boise

Here she is when she first started getting away...

And sweet, wet, open mouth Lilly kisses

In the life of Maddie...

2011-03-30T22:37:00.005-06:00

Unfortunately, it looks as though my New Year's resolution of blogging more has already raced down the drain. Bummer. We have had so much fun lately. We are constantly saying how much we love the stages our girls are at. They are both so much fun! Craig and I were so lucky to be able to go to Salt Lake this weekend...ALONE! His mom graciously watched the girls for us! Thanks JoAnn! We had so much fun. It felt almost like a second honeymoon to be away for 2 nights to do whatever we wanted. We ate out, went to a movie, went to the outlets in Park City, and we had too much fun to remember to take any pictures :( Other than that, things are the same around here. Craig is busy with school and will finish up at the beginning of May. He will begin his rotations the next week! I can't believe we are a year away from real life. It's exciting and scary. I am just desperately waiting for Spring to come. Winter has seemed so long and it is so hard on me and the girls to be crammed in our tiny apartment all day! I know many of you feel the same. I am taking some exercise classes at ISU to help me lose some more baby fat, along with a Zumba class a couple of nights a week. The girls are both changing so much! It still shocks me at how fast they grow. Here is a little about Maddie... I will do another post on Lilly.

We are in the process of potty training. We are so glad we waited until now. So many people can't believe we waited and I think you just have to do what works for you. We hardly have to do anything and it's fun for her because it is all her own work. She started telling us for a day or two everytime she needed to go and hardly used the diaper. So, during the day she is in "unnerwear" as she calls it.

Also, she is OBSESSED with the color purple. I am not kidding. She carries around anything she finds that is of the color. Such as: Lilly's purple baby spoon, Lilly's purple pants, onesie, all of the purple cards from CandyLand, the washcloth in the bathroom, when she colors--she groups all of the purples and takes off with them, and so on. I believe her 100% that it is truly her favorite color.

Last item for now, she is also pretty obsessed with families and the idea of them. Bad thing? Not at all. Hilarious and also a little OCD though? Maybe. Everything that is or isn't purple is also a family. For instance, when we eat she has to take 2 big bites followed by a small one to represent the mom, the dad, and the baby. And she says which one she ate after each bite. Literally EVERYTHING has a family to her. Things that don't even make sense. Our favorite so far is when she includes the "guy man." She generally calls kid boys just a boy. Anyone over mid-teens is a "guy man." So occassionally she will ask us to make her a mom, dad, baby, and guy man with food, playdoh, or whatever else. Here is a little of her life lately:

I was rotating Lilly's clothes and Maddie found the assortment of clothing...and felt the need to wear them all... at once

Library story time was about elephants :)

All ready for church

A visit to the dentist! She did really well for the most part and told the lady how much she loved "treats," all the while she was trying to explain back how bad they are for her teeth. Wasn't a big enough impact to care..

Maddie loves getting packages. We recently got one from my parents and it was full of fun little surprises! The lips are actually an enormous sucker that barely fit in her mouth

She LOVES to play with Lilly. She is offended if Lilly is across the room playing alone. She will usually ask for us to bring her in her room to play.

The color purple obsession

Sooo naked without a camera...

2011-02-06T21:09:00.007-07:00

I FINALLY can use my camera again! I have been missing my camera cord/charger since Christmas vacation and was only able to use my camera until the battery died. It is a rechargeable battery so I couldn't do anything about it! I just got it this weekend from my Mother-in-law's house where it has been hiding out. However, because of the disappearance of my digital camera, I was motivated to get out the camcorder and take videos of the girls... which I don't do often enough on that camera. So with not many pictures, here is what has been happening!

We had dinner with friends tonight during the Super Bowl. We try to do dinner together the 1st Sunday of each month. There are 4 couples and each has 2 kids. So it makes for quite the party! I tried a cupcake football this morning-- didn't turn out like I thought but was ok. I was a little sad that the frosting sunk down in between the cupcakes while we were at church though!

Lilly is SO big! She seems different everyday! I can't believe how fast they grow. I say that a lot, but it honestly just blows my mind. She is so fun! She loves saying dadada, mumumumum, and to spit all day long. She also has a fake laugh going on right now. She is very sweet natured and loves to see you walk in the room. It's a great feeling to see how excited she gets to see us! She has "stranger danger" now, too. Lately, she will only go to Craig and I. I am hoping that she will crawl soon because she likes to be held A LOT. I hope it will help entertain her more. She is a great eater and sleeper for the most part. She loves Maddie and they just sit and laugh back and forth at each other!

Maddie is still full of energy and learning new things all the time. She LOVES books and reading. She knows all of her ABC's but 3 that she gets confused. Also, she knows every sound except the same 3. She knows TONS of songs and loves to sing in the car, in the bath, and in nursery. Right now she is enjoying bubble baths, which she has hated in the past. We do lots of crafts together. She asked...wait I mean BEGGED Craig and I for a puppy the other day. She started crying and telling us she "needed" one and she wanted one NOW. I never thought this conversation would come so early! She adores animals and loves to see them and will touch just about any of them! She loves to joke and play. She definitely brings many smiles to us a day!

We are so tired of being stuck in the house. We decided to take a whole day and decorate our apartment for Valentine's Day. This is what we came up with--mostly ideas from the internet.

Valentine snowflake garland made from coffee filters

On top of the piano we each have a "love bucket." We write notes to each other randomly. There are hearts cut out in the middle to write on.

More snowflake garland, flowers, and hearts

I had the most fun making these for the ceiling. I got the tutorial from Martha Stewart.

That's it for now! I will be blogging more often now that I have my camera again! Life is busy for us but also lots of fun. We can't wait for the summer sunshine and the fun of being outside! I want to start putting some recipes on here also that I find and like! So keep coming back!

Maddie and the Map

2011-01-04T14:13:00.002-07:00

Turn on the video sound by clicking the bottom right...

I got some huge maps at Costco a year or two ago

and haven't pulled them out until now. Maddie

LOVES them! When I first put it on the wall

she said, " Oh goodness, dis is gweat fo me."

She really wanted to know what things were

so we tried teaching her a few for 30-40

minutes. Here's what she learned!

Video Fun

2011-01-02T23:07:00.002-07:00

Lilly is really starting to be a lot of fun and show more of her personality. This is her newest trick. All you have to do is say, "dance, dance, dance" really fast.

Christmas Catch-up!

2011-01-02T22:23:00.007-07:00

We spent this Christmas with Craig's mom, JoAnn. All of Craig's brothers and their wives were able to be there for at least a couple of days. We had so much fun! We love getting together and playing games and eating yummy food. We don't see each other very often so it is always a treat! We took some of Maddie's presents with us to open since some of her cousins were doing their presents, but the sad part is that she forgot that she had opened a TON at home before we left. She was thrilled to get back home and see all her new toys again! Here are some highlights...

Sisters

We played a lot of fun Christmas games! Haha they make such great reindeer

Lilly woke up just as we were finishing presents Christmas morning

Waiting to open their presents from Santa

Maddie likes to have fun with Lilly

This is when Maddie opened presents at home before we left town. She was spoiled by so much family! Nanna, my grandma gave her this car! She thinks it is great!

She also loves this fake food that you cut from my parents. She cuts and cuts all day long. I think she likes that she gets to use a knife ;)

Her Uncle Curt came to visit and brought her some adorable shoes!

And we're back in business!

2010-12-17T21:15:00.018-07:00

Wahoo! Finally!! I am back into the blogging life. I have SO SO much to catch up on. Lilly's crib is still in our room so the only time I can blog is when she is asleep...however, I can't blog in there while she is sleeping. So, we brought the computer out into the kitchen for a couple of days! I think this is the longest I have gone between posts! It's a little overwhelming to think of all I have to catch up on! Life is so busy but we are also having a blast! To make it easy for myself, I'm just going to put up the pictures and write about them! Enjoy!

So... what have we been up to? Wow, here comes picture overload...sorry! Starting most recently, here we go.

Lilly is growing so fast! She will be 6 months old next week already! Ah! It definitely goes too quick! She probably weighs about 15ish pounds now and can occassionally sit on her own. She still forgets she is a little top heavy and falls often :) She is a very happy baby and has sweet fuzzy hair! It's hilarious actually. She is starting to sleep so well at night and only get up 2-3 times! The best part is that she goes to bed at the same time as Maddie (7:30-8:00)!

We took the girls to the mall yesterday to see Santa. Maddie thinks his name is HOHO. Too bad he hardly said a word and doesn't look to cheery!

See her fuzz head shadow? :)

Grandpa Dalling came to visit us on his way through town. We exchanged Christmas gifts and got to visit for a bit!

Craig finding ways to dress up our little princesses

Speaking of princess...

Waiting to go to church

My birthday was on the 4th. It was amazing. Craig always goes way out. He first surprised me with a digital piano he bought on Craigslist. Then, he got me gift cards to my favorite stores, some aloe infused socks, and piano lessons! I have only had 3 lessons so far but I am excited to learn to play better! He let me go shopping for the afternoon. When I got home, he and Maddie had made me a cake. I saw it and he told me to not ask questions haha...check it out...

I thought... I don't have a pan like that? Hmm.. yes, he couldn't get the middle to cook all the way so he cut it out!

Shots... and I had to go alone....

So we are thinking Pre-Med?? I can't even look at this without laughing still... weeks later...

These are my awesome friends I lucked out having! Our husbands are all in pharmacy school together and we took a girls night out! We went to eat, went shopping, bowling, and got ice cream! All for less than $10!

Jacy (third from left) did awesome! She got 4 strikes in a row! I told her I would document for her :)

On Tuesdays, I take Maddie with from friends to the skating rink. They let little kids bring anything they want--strollers, bikes, riding toys, etc. They also have all kinds for them to borrow! It is Maddie's new favorite!

In mid-October I took off with the girls to Alabama for a month! Here are lots of pics!

The kids love wrestling with Papa!

My niece had her birthday party while we were there! It was so fun! It was beautiful outside and lots of fun things to do

A girl from the ward dressed up as Cinderella and came and read stories, talked to the kids, and answered LOTS of questions. The kids absolutely loved her! What a good idea!

Maddie didn't want to leave her side-- just as all the other girls

I was tempted to get a costume of my own and start going to parties to earn a little cash--really not a bad job at all!

My Nanna came to visit for the birthday party. She brought Maddie a cash register. She loves money and playing store.

Random... but funny

Of all the toys my parents had, the best of all was the dirt pile out back. They are completely re-doing their yard and always had a big pile. The kids seriously played on it for hours on end.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Lilly...

I was watching a movie with my parents so the girls watched Barney on the Ipad

Maddie is getting so much better with Lilly. She loves helping take care of her and teaching her things.

This is my great friend Ellen that I grew up with. I was so glad to see her after such a long time!

"What are you doing, Maddie?" Her exact words-- "I Papa. I working. (as she looks at a receipt)

Sarabeth had an owie which equals Maddie having one too

My awesome brother... are words really needed? :)

Just to do something new, we blew up lots of balloons and then let some of them go outside

We were in Alabama for Halloween. I didn't have costumes so bought a used one for cheap. It's obviously the wrong size. Lilly's costume was way too hot to wear. We just went to the ward trick or treat. I had a lot of fun seeing people I grew up with and haven't seen for a long time!

I want this when I get a house-- my parents have a chalkboard wall out in the laundry room! How fun!

They also have a moon bounce thing. Another toy that kept the kids entertained for a long time

If Maddie's not happy, nobody's happy

Shoveling dirt with Papa

This is a doll house I had as a little girl. Maddie thought it was life-size

Maddie loves the fountain in the yard. She soaked in it, cleaned it, and stomped on it, washed her toys in it--multiple times a day

In October, we went to a pumpkin patch here in Chubbuck. It was cute and lots of fun!

Celebrating our friend Justin's birthday-- there are 4 couples we get together with and each has 2 kids. So, there are always 16 of us running around being silly

Becca and I took the girls out to fly kites and the poor babies sat in the garage

Maddie and Carlie decorated a haunted house

Sad--her toys were in timeout. "Sit down. No talking. Timeout, baby!"

The end...finally. Sorry to put so much on one post but I just wanted to get it on here! I have been so behind! I will try to be better and keep up more often! I hope everyone is doing well and is safe and healthy for the holidays!

2010-10-02T22:23:00.008-06:00

Who would've known how hard it would to get anything done with an extra kid?! Blogging used to be so often and routine for me and I find that it is rare and a monthly event now. I have a month to catch up on this time! Life is always crazy and I hope to keep up on blogging because it is our family journal and I don't want to forget all the fun we have together. When I blog I get to think about the things we do as a family and it makes me grateful! Today has been quite a long, hard day so I have been looking forward to blogging so I can recognize the blessings and good things in my life and not dwell on fits, screaming babies, my dirty messy house, and how I wish I could get into shape overnight :)

Last month we went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair with our close friends! We had a blast! The weather was perfect and the food was delicious (not healthy, but very tasty). The kids all got to see a lot of animals and went on some rides as well. We are definitely going to miss the nice weather here soon!

Maddie is talking more and more all the time. She is a ball of energy and has a great sense of humor. I am always shocked to hear her say long sentences. It's just weird for me that she is growing up so fast! I can't remember what she said, but she had a 7-word sentence today and it was just so unexpected to me!

Lilly jabbers all day long. She has been just cooing and making noise for 30min to an hour at a time. She is so happy and always full of smiles. She weighs 10.4 right now and is growing so fast! She is already 3 months old. She is starting to grab toys and shake them.

Fall is almost here! I am so excited! I love the changing seasons and the beautiful colors of Fall. I can't wait to take lots of pictures of the leaves and trees as they change. I also love fall/winter clothes! It's just so refreshing... all except for the snow that follows!

Maddie and her friend Carlie who lives across the street

excited to ride!

This is our friend Jacy and her little girl Emerson going on the roller coaster

Lately Lilly has had terrible skin. It is so so dry and irritates her. The only way to keep her from scratching is to put Maddie's socks on her. They don't make the baby mittens big enough!

Maddie repeats just about everything we say now. This is her lining up her dolls and toys for timeout. She told them all to sit down and that they were in time out... how sad...

Our happy little Lilly

Birthday boy! Craig just turned 26! On his birthday we took him balloons at school. The next day, we had a surprise party with our close friends

Maddie trying to get the horn to work

I was lame and bought a cake instead of making one :)

See our pitiful chocolate fountain? We couldn't get it to work for some reason :( Bummer

This is Becca, my good friend across the street, and her little boy Conner

Jackpot! Maddie was thrilled! Craig has always wanted a pinata at his birthday haha

Helping Scout get some candy

We had the party at the clubhouse

Craig let all the kids take a swing first and then he finished it off

embarrassed...

One day we were at Becca's and Maddie asked to go to bed in Carlie's bed. She only lasted about 5 minutes then was done

We gave Maddie her own BOM to use at FHE and for reading together. She now reads to her babies and makes up lots of interesting words.

This is a dress my mom made for her to wear the day Lilly was blessed

happy girl

Maddie LOVES this little gardening set. She wears this hat and purse everywhere. I think it's hilarious

After every single bath (without fail), Maddie asks us to make her have "crazy hair." She loves to go check out her new style in the mirror.

Here are a few videos. Maddie says "Obama" when I say "Oh mamma!" and vice versa. She can say both words but not without saying them backwards.

The next is Craig finishing off the pinata

The last is Lilly jabbering. I don't know how make it shorter so just watch for a few seconds and get the idea!

Ending the summer fun...

2010-09-05T21:38:00.006-06:00

I can't believe summer is just about over (at least it is here in Idaho)! This past month or so has really been a blast. We have awesome friends that we do a lot of things with. There are 3 other couples that we get together with and each of us has 2 kids. All of the guys are in pharmacy school together and I have been so blessed to get to know their wives. Sad to say that in our 3 years of marriage, this is the first time I have truly had some friends to run around with and just have girl time. I had a great friend in Rexburg awhile back but we were so busy with school that we didn't get to do much. Craig is back in school now and has already had his first test. He studies so hard and also takes time to be with us. Lilly is already 2 months old! When she went for her check up her stats were: weight: 10 lbs. 7 oz. (39%) height: 22 3/4 (66%) and head 15 1/4" (50%). She has changed so much lately. She makes a lot of noise and is so smiley! She can hold onto toys and is attempting to touch them and grab them. She is a little unsteady still but I know it won't be long! Maddie is loving having friends to play with (most of the time). She is doing much better these days but is still having a little bit of a time with sharing...as most kids do. Her best friend lives just across the street and for the most part they really like each other. Maddie is starting to talk a lot more and say longer and more put-together sentences. She is so energetic and animated! I love to ask her what she did at the end of the day. She just starts this huge list and repeats it over and over! Life right now is going much better and I am starting to feel more comfortable as a mom of 2! Here are some pictures of our latest happenings...

I made a carseat cover for the first time. I was proud that I got it on the first try... that doesn't happen very often for me. Also, I didn't make it for me... not sure what I'm going to do with it :)

My new favorite of Maddie! I cannot stop laughing. This doesn't even look like her! Craig was taking her shirt off to put her in the bath and her whole face scrunched up and she looks like a chubby sumo kid or something!

Maddie is enjoying involving Lilly in her activities. She loves to lay out all her babies on the floor--Lilly has been invited to join :)

This is unusual for our little girl-- she loves to be held and rocked. This is one of the only times she just fell asleep--all on her own

We have our friends over often for dinner and games, etc. Craig gave each of the girls a dollar to go out to the ice cream truck

The dads went to help make yummy choices

enjoying them

Also, Extreme Makeover Home Edition came here! Yes, to Pocatello, Idaho. I went with my friend Becca to an event they held to raise money for costs. We were really far away and this was as good of a pic as I could get. Ty Pennington was there with his whole crew and Jillian from the Bachelorette was too! It was a lot of fun! They will show it all this season sometime! The house looks amazing. I really can't believe they built it from scratch in less than a week! Watch for it this fall!

Saturday we decided to spend some time as a family while the weather was nice-- about 90 degrees. We went to Ross Water Park because we had never been. Here is Lilly chillin in her suit by the pool

Maddie had a blast but was tired after just an hour!

All she wanted to do was just lay in the water

That is all for now! Hopefully more fun is on its way!

Anniversary, girls, and segways

2010-08-18T12:52:00.005-06:00

Unfortunately, time is very precious and I am making this very brief. I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but we had a really fun reunion a couple weekends ago! It was great to get together with everyone on Craig's Mom's side. Lilly was blessed Aug. 8 and pictures will have to come later for that also! I only have one and you can't see her and the rest of us look terrible :) My mom made her dress and we thought she was beautiful in it! Thanks for all the hard work and time, Mom! I love that they each have their own to pass down to their girls. Also, the 14th was our 3rd anniversary. We just recently bought a car and didn't want to spend much so we kept it simple and rented segways again! We loved it. We rode all over town racing and catching small jumps haha. That is why I am covered in grass stains in the pic. Craig and I raced and he beat me so we did a re-match and I got too much air and went flying! It was hilarious. Like I said, it has to be short but I will do more later!

Craig has been so good to me! Life has been hard lately and he is there for me every step of the way! I couldn't have been better off with anyone else. We have so much fun together and there is never a dull moment with him. He knows what I need and treats me so great. I love him so much and look forward to spending forever with him! I truly hope forever is a long, long time.

Haha--after my sweet fall/slide/crash... you get the idea

yes, we are in Home Depot. Craig had no shame and I was embarrassed to death!

Lilly has been such a blessing and such a sweet baby! She is growing so fast and loves to smile and coo! I'll post a video soon!

asleep on the roller coaster?

I don't have the whole mom of 2 kids thing down yet so we occassionally go to the mall to release some of Maddie's energy!

Maddie just finished up tumbling class. She was so cute! We are looking to start another one or try out dance!

More to come later!

Pictures at last!

2010-07-12T14:20:00.008-06:00

Well, lucky for me my new neighbor came over and asked if she could take Maddie home with her to play with her little girl! How nice! They just moved in not too long ago and are super nice! It is the perfect time to blog so I will keep my words quick and post lots of pictures! Life has been a little crazy lately but very good. Maddie has her hard days and then days like today where she is just perfect! Lilly is such a good baby. We love kissing on her all day and Maddie loves to help take care of her and read to her! Here are a lot of pictures from life lately! Enjoy!

Our Little Lilly

Haha this just really made me laugh. It's something I think every little girl goes through...

Miss Maddie!

I am thrilled to be able to do pigtails now! I love them! But I hate that she looks so much older with them! I really don't want my girls to grow up! I love them both the way they are!

One of my favorites. This is the face she makes when she is dancing

All out...and out cold

This was our hard day yesterday! I think we both felt this way :)

Playin' it cute

Here are some random videos! Maddie started tumbling class today and loved it! It was so cute! Also is a video of her reading to Lilly and a video of her dancing. The very last one is from tumbling. She kept trying to sneak in a turn when it wasn't her turn lol. She tried to run when the teacher came her way :)

The newest with Maddie

2010-06-23T07:49:00.007-06:00

Check the 2 posts below this one for pictures of Lilly and her birth!

Maddie is so much fun these days! She is so energetic and is definitely a people person. Here are some pictures of her lately!

Aunt Erin paid for Maddie to ride the toys at the mall like 4 or 5 times! Maddie loved it of course! She loves being with Erin and they play good together!

We celebrated Maddie's birthday with JoAnn last weekend. She loved the ice cream cake! Thanks Nanna!

Just thought this was cute. It's one of her favorite things to do outside at Nanna's house.

My parents are here from Alabama right now. They got Maddie a wagon for her birthday! We were all excited for such a fun gift! Maddie will love riding it around the neighborhood! Thanks grandma and grandpa!

Maddie is such a Pappa's girl! They are watching for birds outside.

Playing with Grandma and Pappa!

She really adores Erin. She kept patting her face and playing with her hair.

Haha-sometimes she likes herself, and other times she has fights with herself. Guess it was a good night this time

Playing and hiding with daddy

She likes to turn on the radio and dance. She found the rap station and was dancing along with these puppets

We took Maddie to the zoo last week to see the animals. Thought this was a cool picture of the lion

My little chick sitting in the egg

Riding around Walmart with Daddy on his lunch break

This elephant was down the street from JoAnn's house a couple of days before a circus. We went for a couple of days in a row to see it. We just pulled over and watched it from behind the gate.

A classic favorite thing to do--mowing the lawn with Nanna

Little Miss Lilly :)

2010-06-23T07:33:00.002-06:00

I came to the hospital Tuesday morning at 7 to be induced. The first thing they did was start my IV. I had been worrying and stressing over the whole birth process for the past day or so. So, when I got the IV, I could feel myself slowly getting light headed. I tried to talk myself out of passing out, but unfortunately it just didn't work. The nurse was leaving the room and I called for her and told her I couldn't see a thing and that everything was completely black. So she gave me oxygen and wet towels until I came back haha. It was actually very funny after the fact. I didn't actually start the inducing process and get my water broken until 8:30am. I got an epidural but unfortunately it didn't work this time for some reason? By a little after 11, I was in a ton of pain like I have never felt before and asked for a boost on my epidural dose. At 11:30 it was unbearable so I asked them to check me because I felt like it was time to push. And that is exactly what happened! I was a little embarrassed that I was crying so much but without the epidural it was really hard. I had Craig, my mom, and Craig's mom JoAnn in the delivery room with us. Lilly was born at 12:01 pm and weighed 7lbs 7oz (that's big for me!) and 20 1/2 inches. She is so chill and hardly makes a sound. To be honest, I really don't even know what her cry sounds like yet! When she is hungry she is so patient. She doesn't cry but chews on her blanket and smacks her lips instead. We are having a blast just sitting and holding her. It's so easy to just sit and stare at her all day. Craig is completely amazed with her. It's really cute. She even has hair! It's dark like ours and is probably 1/2 in long! To us she looks just like Maddie and a lot like Craig. I am interested to see what she looks like in a few days once the swelling and puffiness goes down. We will probably be in the hospital until tomorrow. If you live nearby and want to visit please call us and come. We love to see friends and family. The hardest part of being here right now is being away from Maddie. I have been so sad about leaving her these last couple of days. Maddie came to visit her new sister yesterday. She LOVED her! She wanted to hold her and take care of her constantly! She was really soft with her and was very interested in her toes. She loved helping daddy push her around in the hall. I am so excited to be home with them both soon but I also know it will be hard once all the family leaves and is not around. We feel so blessed to have 2 sweet girls that are healthy! I'll post more pictures as they are taken! Thank you everyone for your support and help! We are just so happy! The pictures are below. The blog was really messed up last night when I was trying to post so I just gave up on trying to type and put pictures! Enjoy!

Lilly is here!

2010-06-22T14:16:00.007-06:00

Well for some reason the blog is being ridiculous and it won't hardly let me write on it! I have a whole written up post and it won't let me post all the words for some reason? I don't get it but I'm exhausted so the story part will come tomorrow! Sorry!

A Re-enactment of me passing out haha

Shortly after birth

Lilly right after birth

With Grandma

With Nana

Family photo

With Aunt Erin

Maddie taking care of her sister

This was our nurse! She was so great!

Us with the doc

A visit from Maddie!

Wrapping her and wanting to change her diaper

She really wanted to hold her and observe everything about her

Uncle Marc stopped by

To Birth!!

2010-06-21T14:44:00.002-06:00

Well I am 40 weeks today and had my doctor's appointment this morning. I am only dilated to a 3 or 4 and was 70% effaced. They did an ultrasound to be sure there was no growth restriction like there was with Maddie and everything looked good. So...she will be here tomorrow! We are going into the hospital around 7 am to be induced. The ultrasound tech said she weighs 7lbs 12 oz.....I hope she is way off! That is 2 pounds bigger than Maddie was! Hopefully the size won't be an issue and everything can go smoothly! I will keep everyone updated and will post again from the hospital probably! Thanks everyone for always checking on me and for all of your support and advice! We have had so many people offer to help us out and we really appreciate it! Check back tomorrow for updates and hopefully pictures! :)

To birth...or....not.... I guess not

2010-06-17T20:09:00.003-06:00

Well, to keep everyone updated there is STILL no baby! Haha I really thought she would come by now. I thought for sure she was coming twice already! I am technically not due until Monday but I am just so ready. I hope that since I'm almost 40 weeks it doesn't mean that she is big! I loved how small Maddie was. Right now we are staying in Idaho Falls at Craig's mom's house to be close to the hospital. We will go back home once she is born. My family drove out from Alabama and got to our place yesterday. My dad is leaving Sunday so I hope he gets to meet her! If not he will be back out for just a few days at the end of the month. We have been having fun being able to run around with them and just hang out since we don't see them too often. We still haven't decided on a middle name for her. We will name her Lilly for sure, but uncertain for the middle name. Please leave any ideas you have! I like Lilly Kate or Lilly Grace so far but want to hear other ideas :)

As for Maddie, she is 2 years old today! I remember how excited I was for her to turn one. But her having another birthday and turning 2 has been really weird for me. I love the stage she is at. She is so smart and fun but I really don't want her to grow up so fast! She has a great personality and is full of life. Her check up is tomorrow so we will see just how much she has grown. I think she is still only about 22 pounds though. Here are some little fun facts about her at age 2! I don't have my camera on me so I will post lots of pictures in the next few days. We are celebrating her birthday twice in the future so I will document later :)
-she loves to talk!
-she loves animals and could look at them or read about them all day. She can identify all the common animals but I have been surprised lately that she knows a flamingo, bison, rhino, koala bear, iguana, camel, etc. She has a great memory and loves to learn animals.
-she has started doing these hilarious dance moves (I will have to post a video soon)
-she now gets embarrassed and shy! It's sad and I don't like it. She hides her face and even cries if she thinks someone is upset with her or laughs at her :(
-she is still wearing mostly 18mo clothes--especially pants and the elastic is tightened almost all the way
-she knows LOTS of songs and can sing the main parts
-she thinks toots and burps are hilarious
-when you turn quickly in the car she yells, "hold on!"
-one of my favorites--when she calls for daddy, she yells, "Cwaig Daddy!"
-she can count to 10 but skips 6 and 8 sometimes
-for some reason, in the store lately she says, "I like boys"
-she can name almost everyone in our extended family by name and photo
-"I not happy" is a common phrase of hers
-we have a book where there is one big flap on each page with a random animal hiding behind it. It probably has 20 flaps and she can tell us what is behind almost every one of them
-hyper, fun, adorable, full of energy, talkative, and sweet! We love everything about her!

Sorry again that I don't have pictures, but I will post them soon with a couple of videos! I don't have tons with me but I will see what I have and get them on. I will also post as soon as we have the baby! Hopefully soon!! We hope everyone is doing well! We'll keep you posted! Please leave ideas for a middle name if you have one you like!

What we have been up to...

2010-05-24T14:31:00.005-06:00

Well, I am just thrilled that I have pictures to put on my blog! Our laptop recently crashed and we thought we lost everything! I was nearly in tears because Maddie's entire life of pictures was on there...about 5,000 of them. However, an amazing shop got us all fixed up and we are back in business! When Craig finished school, the first thing we did was build shelves for our garage (by "we" I mean he and his friend). We love it. We still have lots of things to organize as you can see but they will be so nice to have. Then we went to Utah and spent some time with family. First, we visited Brad and Kaley. We went bowling, mini golfing, to eat, and hung out at their place. We also got to see and spend some time with my grandma June. The next day was my brother Curt's birthday. We surprised him at work with balloons and candy! Maddie had a great time! She definitely has a thing for men. Here are some pics of the visit!

At the park

All girl... she did this all herself

Uncle Curt blowing out his candle

Haha I am not sure what she is doing here...

she was offering hand sanitizer every 30 seconds

bowling with the alligator's help..yes, I am huge

mini-golfing with daddy

our garage! I love the shelving. As you can see the sides still need to be organized

Now we are just getting things organized for the baby! I am 36 weeks now and counting down! We still have lots to do but are excited for the next month! We will keep you posted!

For my mom on Mother's Day :)

2010-05-09T14:44:00.005-06:00

Just wanted to put up a special little post for my mom today! It's funny how you don't appreciate all that you have until you are older. I wish I could see her more and spend time with her more than just a couple of times a year. Here are some memories through pictures. Sorry that I had to scan most of them from old scrapbook pages--so ignore the random paper and cutting around them. Also our laptop crashed :( so as of right now I have no pictures--so these are not the most recent. But here are a few reasons that I love and appreciate my mom

She has taken care of me since Day 1...

Always made us feel special...

Was involved in our lives--from playing outside, school plays, dance recitals, seminary teacher, etc.

Haha can you believe this pic was taken in ALABAMA? Yep, once in a lifetime--and she was there to make a big deal out of it!

This is us at the zoo when I was in high school

She has a sense of humor

Our family has a tradition of "butt shots." I'm not really sure why but we do them at every event it seems lol

She has been there for me for all of the most important days

and helped me make it to them

One last thing that I don't have a picture of since our computer is nonfunctioning is that she is so involved with her grandkids. She does so much for our family and especially Maddie. Sorry again that the pics are not the best and most recent, but I just want to say Happy Mother's Day! I love you, Mom! Thanks for all that you do!

A little husband braggin'

2010-05-04T13:45:00.003-06:00

I don't brag about Craig too much but I just wanted to put a little post up about him. He has been doing an amazing job in school and has excellent grades. Within this past school year, he was put on the Dean's list, invited to be in Rho Chi (a pharmacy society for the top 12 students in his class), and was voted to be the secretary of his class next year haha :) (which he forgot to tell me all about!) We went to the initiation ceremony last weekend where he was inducted into Rho Chi. I am just so proud of him and all the hard work he puts into his schooling. Right now he is taking his last final and then we have summer break! We are so excited to have time together before he starts working--it seems like we hardly see each other during the school semesters. We have big cleaning plans and are going to build shelving for our garage! Exciting, I know. However, it needs to be done. We are trying to get as organized as possible to prepare for our new little one. Enjoy the pics! I am so proud of him and love him to pieces! :)

These are the 12 students who were inducted in

Craig with Justin (left) and Dan (middle)- his 2 best friends in school

No words needed :)

He says it was not a big deal but look at that smile! He was loving every minute... (he's going to kill me when he sees this :)

Just some random fun

2010-04-27T20:28:00.006-06:00

This post is a little random. I just wanted to add these couple of things so that I won't forget to put them on! If I wait till I get too many pics it gets too overwhelming, causing me to not want to deal with blogging :) Maddie is all about her baby dolls lately...and of course the usual dog... She literally walks around almost the entire day like this...both in her hands whether we are home or at the store or outside playing.

Our little lady (I didn't say ladylike) lounging on her couch watching some Barney more than likely

All day long she wants you to lay out her blankets so she can put her dolls on them. This time she managed to put herself with them.

Craig and I got to go see the Monster Trucks here in town and we loved every second of it! It was so redneck and so fun! Here are a couple of pictures from it and a few videos. I was a little disappointed however that there were no girl drivers...

A little song for you from Maddie

There were a lot of cool things that happened at monster trucks but this was just honestly hilarious. This little car was called the "crusher"...you will see why. At the end of the video everyone is probably thinking, "not even close"

News, news, news...

2010-04-15T21:24:00.007-06:00

A lot has happened it seems like since my last post!

1. My Nanna from Mississippi drove all the way here alone to come visit us! Maddie had a blast with her and we enjoyed getting to visit for a few days! We really appreciate all she did for us while she was here!

2. Maddie and I took off to Boise to visit friends and family while Craig was at home studying. We were able to see my close friend Tina and her family, my Aunt and Uncle, My in-laws, and my brother and sister-in-law and their family! It was a short trip but was so fun to spend time with everyone!

3. While we were gone, Craig played ball with some friends and ended up spraining his ankle! I knew it was pretty bad when I found out that he went to the hospital for it. Luckily no broken bones, but Monday we will find out about his tendons and ligaments, etc. It is hugely swollen and very colorful! Poor guy is even on crutches!

4. I went to the doc today to make sure everything was checking out ok with the baby and they ended up running an ultrasound to double check on some things. The ultrasound tech lady (don't know the professional name obviously) knows Craig and his family from a long time ago and was super nice and took a 3D picture for me! It's kinda hard to tell on the computer, but she looks just like Maddie did and she definitely has Craig's nose also! It was so sweet to see her little face! I can't wait till she is here with us. I am getting so so excited!

5. I am now a certified teacher! I took my last two huge state certification tests about a month ago and have been nervous to see my scores. I actually ran out of time on one of them but I am SO glad that I passed! It is a great feeling!

6. Craig has been doing awesome in school! He is on the Dean's list and will be inducted into the Rho Chi Society in a couple of weeks which is for pharmacy students who are doing well with grades. He is a dedicated student and really works hard and earns the grades he gets. He only has about a month of school left and then he is out for summer! We are so excited to have some time together!

Well, those are the major events for now! We are truly blessed and life is going great! We are so thankful for family and all they do to support us and help us along the way! Here are some pictures from the recent events!

Our Sweet Lilly :) I just love her already!

Maddie and Nanna

Her new favorite toy- the baby swing

Zoo Pics- Maddie with Grandpa Bill

Feeding the goats

She was spoiled!

She wanted her picture with the penguins...she would just stand there and say cheese without actually smiling

With Aunt Jordyn

This is Olivia (My friend Tina's little girl). She is one of the happiest kids I have ever seen!

Maddie enjoys cleaning things...even Olivia's head. Olivia was a good sport--Maddie was not the most gentle cleaner

That's it for now! More to come soon I hope!

Some videos

2010-04-05T19:38:00.003-06:00

So, these videos are really random but I couldn't post them for some reason earlier. The one of Maddie is her hiding in the fridge. The one of Craig and Katie I just thought was hilarious. JoAnn thought she was taking a picture but was recording. It's only 4 seconds but I seriously laugh every time. And the last one is Craig while watching conference. I had been videoing him and his head nodding like crazy. The timing was just good! Maybe I am the only one who thinks these are even funny...if you know us well you'll probably enjoy them! :)

More Pictures and Easter!

2010-04-05T13:28:00.006-06:00

Easter weekend was great! I got the pictures on here backwards so I will tell the events that way too! We spent the weekend at Nana's (JoAnn's) house. Katie was there with her two girls and we were able to have an egg hunt for the girls. Jo had also planned an egg hunt for the adults also which we didn't know ahead of time! Egg hunts have always been a huge competition at her house in the past :) We were excited to have to find 36 eggs with just 3 of us. As you can see, Katie had a pretty good idea... haha...it makes me laugh to see her climbing up all the furniture! You can also see my nice bump in this one. Yep, I have gained almost 25 pounds! Just found that out this weekend...I don't wanna talk about it :)

Searching the pantry was quite the task also...JoAnn was an eggcellent hider this year!

The little kid egg hunt downstairs. They were so funny! We would show them the eggs and still have to almost pick them up for them!

The girls were all jammin' out on the piano--and screaming as loudly as possible in unison

Saturday we took Maddie to a community egg hunt. It was freezing!! I couldn't believe there was snow on the ground too! After, we went to breakfast as a family! Maddie ate a ton!

Craig and Maddie waiting to get more eggs!

Who had more fun!?

They had the 0-2 age range wait in line and see the bunny who gave them the eggs. Kinda lame in my opinion--so as soon as we took the picture, we ran her over to the 3-4 yr old hunt where she got lots of eggs!

Maddie has been in her big girl bed for a couple of months now. It really has not been too bad at all. I think she thinks she is not allowed to get out of her bed in the morning for some reason. So, she sneaks out, gets lots of toys and books and then puts them in bed with her. Well, this morning was a little different. I couldn't believe all the mess when I went in to get her.

She loves to have you open the fridge so she can pick her own food. She thought it was hilarious to hide in there. (we never left the room, so don't worry about her getting stuck in there :) She would slowly open it and smile, then lean forward so it was just cracked, then repeat many times. The t-shirt she is wearing is the one she got from her 1st dentist visit. She LOVES this shirt. I think she looks a lot like me as a kid in this pic

She is always wanting to wear my hats

I know I still need to post a preggo pic. I have been terrible at taking pics this time--I think it's because now I know that it's not fun to be fat whereas last time I looked forward to it for some reason! Everything seems to be alright with the baby so far. We are pretty set on naming her Lilly. No clue about the middle name yet, but as for now...just Lilly! Hope everyone had a great Easter! I am trying to download videos and it's not letting me...so maybe there will be some to come when I figure out the problem!

Quick catch up

2010-03-28T23:25:00.004-06:00

Craig has been on Spring Break this past week and it has been wonderful!! I have not seen him this much since Christmas break probably. We hung out everyday and did everything together. Maddie definitely loved having him home. Maddie is a blast! She is talking more and more everyday and is quite the little parrot. She repeats almost every little thing you say. She is into animals and babies lately. She is such a good little mommy to her dolls. I am excited to see her with the new baby. I am 28 weeks now! I wish I enjoyed being pregnant as much as I did the first time. I am super excited for the baby, but not enjoying getting fat again. Craig has about a month of school left! Woohoo! Then we are off for the summer until school starts up again. We are so excited for summer and for all the time we will be able to spend together.

Maddie moments:
I say to her: "Maddie, I love you!" She replies, "I love Barney"- I see where I stand :)

When we go to Walmart she has a fit to have a balloon. Lately I have just been saying, "No, you don't want it. We have two at home. You don't want it." Well, now when we go I feel a little bad because she says, "Uh! uh! uh!....no, I don't want it." She repeats this for like 10 minutes. She wants it and then looks at me and says that she doesn't want it because that's what I told her lol. (I'll have to get a video of her talking...its all much funnier in her voice)

She had a fight with herself in the mirror--see the video below

Everyday when she wakes up she asks to go bye bye. When I ask where she wants to go she always says, "I!" Which is the DI sadly.

She knows most numbers between 1 and 10 now. 9 happens to be the lucky favorite.

She enjoys sitting on the potty and saying, "Pssssssss" over and over

We are working on her colors. She knows most of the color names, but is still working on matching the right ones.

I am a terrible blogger...officially! I have been slacking on my picture taking as well so here's what I do have...

Haha my mom sent a Hannah Montana wig for Maddie to play with. You can see Daddy enjoyed it more than she did...yes, we are all grown up :)

Like I said, she was not a fan

Half asleep in the car

Love this--she thinks she has to wear these goggles every time she takes a bath. She always wants to put them on and then yells for Daddy to come see

This was my attempt to get some dairy in the girl. She doesn't drink milk of any kind and has finally started to like yogurt a little

Playing on the toys at her first dentist visit...which was hilarious by the way

This is Maddie with Sydney, her friend who recently moved away. Her mom and I made matching shirts for the girls for St.Patty's Day. Of course they had to have their babies with them.

Craig after a long day of school. Maddie always snuggles right in--this is pretty much a daily occurence

It was a beautiful day so we decided to have a family picnic outside on the lawn together...in our jammies

Craig and I were able to go to Logan,UT to see Kalai. We have loved his music since we started dating. He is hilarious and we had a great time!

Maddie found this hat while we were at Walmart visiting Craig. She was a big fan

This video was taken today and for some dumb reason I turned the camera sideways. Sorry! The story--Craig and I were in the living room and Maddie was in our bedroom with the door closed yelling, "Mine! No!" for a long time. I went in to see what the in the world she was yelling about. Turns out she was just having a fight with herself :) It was even funnier before I got the camera of course

Help!

2010-03-09T23:24:00.002-07:00

I am trying to give our blog a new look finally... and the problem I am having is getting rid of the header! It won't let me delete it? I just want the top bar to go away and have the picture header be it. Can someone please tell me how to get rid of it? Thanks!

Think Pink...again

2010-02-05T22:34:00.002-07:00

Yep, we are having another girl! Everything looked great with the ultrasound and we are just hoping for a healthy little princess! We are glad that we are well prepared and don't have much to do before she comes! We have no names picked out whatsoever so I'll be working on that soon! Just wanted to share the news!

"The Project"

2010-02-05T08:38:00.002-07:00

While there was no blood, sweat (maybe a little), or tears, this was really quite the process. I have been wanting to make a rag quilt and had been telling my mom that. I was thinking of the typical squares and babyish look. When I got to my parents house she showed me THIS pattern! The pattern itself was terrible and hardly had any directions. It took TONS and TONS of fabric but it turned out great! At times we were sewing through 12 layers of flannel and fleece. I think we only broke 3 needles on her sewing machine :) Thanks mom for all your help! Maddie loves it and gets hyper when I get it out! Just thought I would share this that my mom and I made together!

Staying busy and having fun!

2010-02-04T21:54:00.004-07:00

Since I have been back home and finished cleaning out our entire apartment, I have been doing some things for myself and lots of things with Maddie. Craig has a final tomorrow and I knew he would be studying all week so Maddie and I took off to Twin Falls to hang out with Marc and Katie and their family. We were only there Sunday night to Wednesday morning. It was fun to get out and just hang out with them. The kids played hard everyday and had fun together for the most part :)

The last afternoon that we were there we went to "Hop to It" which is a huge gym full of massive blow up toys. Maddie loved it. At first she was very hesitant but it wasn't long before she was asking 'gin!" to slide over and over. I do think her favorite was the ball pit that you slide into. I tried to bury her in the balls and she just looked panicked the entire time... as you can tell...

Katie and Brielle battling it out

Maddie and I in the pit

Brielle spearheaded the tea party and cooked for us all.

This picture makes me laugh. It reminds me of a boyfriend and girlfriend getting caught making out by their parents or something... but it's just Maddie and Taylynn giving loves...

Tea party preparation

On Sunday I was hurrying to get ready and handed Craig Maddie's clothes. He agreed to dress her so I could get finished. This is how she came back to me. He said, "What do you think?" very sarcastically. However, the joke was on him. He wanted to see my reaction to her pants... he honestly didn't realize that the sweater was supposed to go on TOP of the dress! He was shocked when I told him and said, "Oh, I thought the dress felt tight on her arms!" Boys boys boys...

bath time fun

I try to think of random and new things for Maddie to do. I thought, "Oh! Painting would be fun!" We tried finger painting and she just wanted to eat it and didnt understand that it was bad for her. So, I put her in her high chair with some pudding thinking she would go at it. She must have been confused by it all or doesn't want to pursue artistic talents. You can't tell it from the pictures, but she hated it. I told her to eat it, gave her a spoon, and showed her it was ok to get messy...she was not impressed.

Headin' out into the cold...sadly, she would be a cute cancer patient :) that's terrible to say but we always laugh and think hats are cute

For a couple of days she insisted on wearing Mommy's hat. She wore it at home, outside, and even to our playdate.

Craig and I have tried to start working out lately. We have only been semi-successful, however Maddie thoroughly enjoys it. Craig was lifting weights and Maddie wanted to do everything he did. It was like watching a commercial. So, I grabbed some one pound weights for her and she copied his every move. Funny thing about this picture is that she actually fell over backwards right after I snapped the pic.

Can you even see her tiny little weights?

Most hilarious of all: After they work out, Craig flexes each of his muscles and Maddie walks up to him and kisses it! Haha!

She is learning so much everyday. She has a lot of words now and we are shocked at how many songs she knows and can do the actions to. She is full of energy but is loads of fun! I feel blessed to be at home with her and see all of the learning that takes place in her little brain. She says a,b,c,d thanks for Barney and 1,2. Her 18mth checkup (way overdue) is late next week so we will post the stats then. As for us, we are really excited because tomorrow we find out if we are having a boy or girl! I will be sure to post! The time has really flown by fast with this pregnancy. I am almost 21 weeks now and I don't even realize it sometimes because we stay so busy! It's nice but also means I will be figuring out how to handle 2 kids before I know it! We will keep you posted! Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Southern Adventures...

2010-01-13T20:57:00.013-07:00

And an adventure it was! I'm sorry but this post is loaded with pictures. I have been a terrible blogger so I am playing catch up big time. When Maddie and I first got to Bama, we had a joint birthday for me, my mom, and Sarabeth. I thought this was a cute picture of Sarabeth and Misty.

This picture is funny because when she opened it she yelled, "It's a cheese!"

Maddie loves babies now. Real or fake...she loves them all. And for some reason she loves sitting in carseats...so, this is basically Maddie Heaven

She was always in someone else's shoes

Terrible cheesy smile...and very crooked

I was trying to get a picture of the headband for the store in Alabama and she kept doing this face lol

Maddie will do anything and say anything for Erin. Here she is helping with laundry and copying her every move.

Maddie and Papa (she calls him HaPa) grew to be best friends really. They loved each other. It was hard to leave him but they really had a great time. She would go around the house looking for him all day and was so excited when he got home from work.

She sat in the chair and studied this magazine for literally 15-20 min. It was a home decorating magazine.

Coloring with Sarabeth and Erin

Haha! Gotta love this face on Sarabeth.

Grandma has a small helium tank. Maddie wouldn't put one balloon down for fear someone else might get it. I believe she held onto 6 of them.

Riding the vacuum... all the fun things you don't do at home, you get to do with grandma :)

Playing with "Mamaw"

This makes me laugh. Maddie doesn't know I'm taking this picture. I walked in to get her from her nap and she was dancing all around the crib with this blanket on her head!

Grandma made this little sleeping bag! So cute! It has her name embroidered on the bottom and is John Deer fabric! Love it!

The wii was the big gift this year. The dancing game is what I was excited for! Everyone got to try it out!

Opening presents with RaRa

Maddie also loved Misty! She would ask for "Mees!" all the time.

A Ta-Da moment

Papa playing with the girls

Every morning once Craig got there, Maddie had to go snuggle with him for 5 or so min before she was ready to leave the room and play. It was cute. She adores her daddy!

Studly Papa

Grandma with her grand babies

We were trying to take family pictures and I think we all wanted to cry by the end... jk, wasn't so bad

I went behind the scenes while my brother was taking the pictures and found this...busted!

Maddie and Daddy

The week after Christmas, we all went to Nashville. We spent the day at Opryland. First, we went to a Charlie Brown ice sculpture exhibit. It was freezing! The kids didn't last long so we took turns. They gave everyone parkas to wear and literally everything was made of ice. Prepare to be amazed ;)

Waiting to go in. Erin thought the picture was a little too boring and added a nice touch of her own

All bundled up

Inside they had a big ice slide! I think Maddie was the only one who didn't make it

This is my bro Curt, who is getting his masters in psychology

A full nativity ice sculpture

Hark the herald Craigger sing

After the ice exhibit, we went to the HUGE opryland mall for lunch and shopping. Here is one of the carousel rides in it

A treat for almost lasting the entire time

both girls showing papa their coloring skills

Yep, there he is.

The last week we were there, my Nana (Maddie's great grandma) and my uncle David came to visit from Mississippi. It was so good to see them! It's hard to only see family a couple of times a year! We definitely enjoyed getting to visit with them!

Maddie got her new favorite doll from Nana. It drinks a bottle, blinks her eyes, sleeps, snores, and makes noise. What else could she ask for?

Uncle David showing her how the baby works

Playing with Nana

My mom got this drum set for under a dollar she says...yes, she is queen of finding good deals if you didn't already know that... anyway, the whole idea is just hilarious to me. It's so little and the kids loved it...yep, even papa

Everyone and their baby...poor Sammer Jammer

Leaving this time was hard for everyone. Maddie and Sarabeth had a very dramatic goodbye. It was actually really sad. They kept hugging and crying. Maddie cried like I have never seen her cry for about 20 minutes after. It was cute but sad. It's always hard to leave family.

This is what I found when I got home! Craig pulled out some old tricks just to say he missed me.

Left me a sweet message on the mirror and about 30 fish!

It was such a wonderful visit. We had a great time and like I said in the post before, we are just truly blessed! I was so glad to see family, old friends, and everyone that has been so special to me. I really wish we could see everyone more and I hope you know that! I will post a picture soon of the new belly I am forming and also a BIG project my mom and I tackled the last 3 days I was there. Also, I am completely gutting our place this week! Maybe I'll post pictures of the storage ideas I got! We hope everyone is doing well and we hope to see everyone more often!