.

Wedding!

2011-08-22T17:19:00.000-07:00

My little brother, Justin got married last week in the Snowflake, Arizona Temple.

We LOVE Lindsey and are so excited to have her in the family!

We got to take a fun little trip up North for the weekend for the wedding! I didn't want to come back home to the heat! I told Ian I was going to stay there til October :) Too bad we have responsibilities here or we may have just done that...

We had some fun spending time outside while we were there! We haven't been able to have fun outside for months at home, (not without our faces melting anyway) so everybody loved it!

Dad, Madelyn, Ian

4th of July

2011-08-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Madelyn with a very fake smile...

Livy Loo

My girls :)

The super cute cake I made! And it was pretty easy too!

Zoo

2011-08-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

I feel like this year it took a little longer than normal to heat all the way up.. there was even a day in JUNE that was really nice outside!

Ian walked out the door to go to work one morning and about two minutes later, walked back in and said, "This is probably the last day of the year that it's going to be nice outside... let's go to the zoo or something!" So we did. It was a nice surprise to get Daddy to come spend the day with us- the girls LOVED it! And I didn't mind it either! :)

Water!

2011-08-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well if there is one thing this summer sure has been, it is

HOT HOT HOT!!!

We have enjoyed spending some time in the water to cool off!

Madelyn took swim lessons at the beginning of the summer with her cousin Jaycie, and her friend Colter. They had a lot of fun!

We had fun playing at the splash pad with cousins :)

This is Ian's favorite new picture of Livy Bug.... I think she looks like Popeye :)

Mady had a blast learning how to slide down her cousin Gunner's slip n slide. So fun!

Gunner, Merrick, Madelyn

Mother's Day

2011-08-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures Ian took of the girls and I on Mother's Day.

I thought this one was hilarious!

Here is a more normal one!

I love these two girls SO stinkin' much and I feel so lucky to be their mommy :)

They always know how to make me smile!

We have so much fun together,

and it doesn't hurt that they happen to be the cutest little things on the face of the earth :)

Easter

2011-04-25T11:29:00.001-07:00

We had a great Easter, celebrating with each other and with family! It was SUCH a beautiful day! The girls loved waking up to see what the Easter Bunny had left in their baskets!

I didn't have my camera before church on Easter Sunday, and unfortunately, by the time church was over, the girls were not in the mood for pictures! So these are the best I got of the girls in their super cute Easter dresses!

The wind was blowing- which equaled super messy hair... especially for Liv! Oh well- I guess I will try again next week!

At least I got one good one of Mady!

Unfortunately, my camera was dead and getting charged during the Shiflet family Easter festivities- which included family breakfast before church, and attending church all together.

We headed to the Peterson's for the afternoon for family dinner and fun!

First up: and Easter Egg Hunt!

The kids had so much fun! I think they found all the eggs in a total of like 3 minutes though! We hid them pretty easy so the little kids could get some too! Next year we will have to be more creative...

All the kids lined up getting ready to head out the door! Livy just wouldn't stay put at her spot in the front- so she's not in the picture!

Livy was a pro!

Next Up: Coloring Eggs!

It was such a great day! We loved getting to be together as a family and see our extended family as well!

That night, I was trying to teach Madelyn about why we really celebrate Easter. It is hard to explain the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to a three year old! But I just wanted her to understand that it wasn't only about eggs, bunnies, and candy!

I have a book with different pictures of Christ throughout his life that I used to show her pictures of the crucifixion and the resurrection. I don't know that she fully understood- but she got the jist of it, and that made me happy. She is growing up so fast!

Afterward she was flipping through the pages looking at the pictures. She got to a picture of Jesus when he was a little boy, with his mother Mary. I asked her if she knew who she was and she said, "That's Mary! She's Jesus' mommy.... and she has a little lamb!"

Funny girl!

Playing in the Rain

2011-04-25T11:24:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had a rainy Saturday and the girls just HAD to play in the rain! Mady picked out their warm outfits and they were set!

Playing Catch Up

2011-04-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I can't seem to stay caught up on the blog... here's March and April so far!

My sweet little girlies... I love these two so much!

I don't know if you can really see- but this was the first time I got Livy's hair into pigtails! They are so dang cute :)

Playing in the empty, never been used fireplace in my parent's living room. Mady used to climb in there all the time when she was little, and now Alivia has discovered it too!

She has also discovered the corner cupboard at my in-laws house!

On the playground at Chik-fil-a

I swear this girl can fall asleep in ANY position!

We busted out our little pool in the backyard a couple weeks ago- Mady was lovin' it...

Alivia- not so much! I think it was still a little too cold for her liking!

I am a genious-

One day I tied a laundry basket to the back of Mady's scooter and she went around the whole house picking things up that were out of place and giving them a "ride on the train" back to where they belong. Worked like a charm :)

Later, she decided to try and give Livy a ride on the train! She was a little too heavy though, so I had to help her a little bit.

We spent an afternoon at the lake in March with a whole bunch of the Peterson family! It was so fun! It's been a long time since I've been to the lake- last summer Livy was just so small and the year before that I was prego- so it was fun to get to go again! It was such a beautiful day!

sweet sisters :)

Mady and Jaycie

Jaycie, Madelyn, and Casey

February

2011-03-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

February is absolutely CRAZY for our family!

We have our anniversary on the 8th

My birthday/Valentines Day on the 14th

Madelyn's Birthday on the 18th

and Alivia's Birthday on the 28th!

It is crazy, but it is so much fun, and we miss it when it's gone! But let's just say I will be shooting for a summer baby next time to balance things out!

HERE'S WHAT WE'VE ALL BEEN UP TO!

We celebrated our 4th anniversary on February 8th! Sometimes I feel like it has been way longer than that but sometimes it feels like just yesterday :)

MADELYN

Madelyn turned 3 on the 18th! We had a super fun day celebrating! We took her to Krispy Kreme to get her free box of donuts.... score! (And yes we did that on all three of our birthdays this month....)

We took her to see Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D! It was cool, but I think I would rather just watch it regular style... it sort of gave me a headache! It was fun for Mady to get to go to the movies all by herself with Mom and Dad and have her own special time!

We had a PRINCESS PARTY for her in the morning-
LOTS of friends all dressed up= heaven to Mady!
And let's not forget the presents!...

Madelyn with her cousins, Jaycie and Casey

Lilly, Ethan, Mady and Josie

Most of the group... We had a few that refused to come be in the picture- they were too busy eating cake! I think we had 16 kids total..?

All the kids decorated their own crowns that I scored at the dollar store! I love something cheap that entertained them all forever!

The cute little THREE year old!

Lilly and Madelyn.

I made a fun little cardboard castle for the kids to play in at the party. It was a lot of fun for me to do, and I think the kids really liked it! This is the only picture I got of it... you can't quite see the whole thing- but I thought it turned out pretty cute!

My little princesses

I let Mady eat a carrot with peanut butter to dip it in.... Mistake!

She thinks she is sooooo funny!... ok, she kind of is :)

Exhausted after a hard day of dress up, and pretending to be a different pricess every five minutes!

We visited the Sea Life Aquarium at Arizona Mills mall. It was a lot of fun, but ridiculously over priced! Good thing we had free tickets, because it would have been 45 bucks just for the 4 of us to get in! It is fun if you can find discount tickets or something I would reccomend it- but not for the full price :)

In disguise in Target. Dad's idea :)

Mady got a special treat for her birthday! She got to go to Build-a-Bear with her Grandma! She had so much fun and she love her ballerina bear, which she decided to name Tanda. No idea where that came from!

ALIVIA

I can't believe my little Livy Bug turned one last week! Time has FLOWN! I thought my first baby was growing up fast... I think this time around is going double speed! It makes me so sad, but at the same time, I am just excited for them to grow and learn new things!

The Birthday Girl on her 1st birthday! February 28, 2011

Unfortunately, my camera was dead during her party, so I had my mother in law take pictures with her camera. I will have to add those in later!

Lovin' the new bath toys she got from Grandma and Grandpa

Oh man, my little Livy is a MESS MAKER! She always finds something to make a mess out of!
Especially now that she is WALKING!..

And starting to feed herself... kind of

We love our Livy Jayne all the time, whether she is making messes, giving us her amazing smile, or just smashing her face up against the door window :)

January

2011-03-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

I am so behind on my blogging!

Here is a quick update:

Mady in her cute "cowgirl dress" she got for Christmas. She also had on her boots which you can't see, and decided to throw on the hat to complete the ensemble!

Waiting outside the temple after my sister's wedding.

Playing at the mall.

Mini-snowman! Left over snow used to pack an ice chest on a hunting trip!

Mady in her cute little seniorita costume! That girl loves to dress up!

Pre-Christmas!

2011-01-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

We were lucky this year and got to celebrate Christmas for about 4 days straight! A few days before Christmas we got together with my mom's side of the family for our annual White Elephant party... so fun! Here are my silly girls getting excited for the party!

We also got together with all the Peterson cousins, their moms and Grandma to make gingerbread houses one day! Mady was only interested in helping me with the house for about 2 minutes and then she wanted to play, so I got to have fun and do one all on my own!

Mady got an early Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Peterson- a pillow pet! She has been wanting one forever- every time we go anywhere and she sees them she would freak out and beg for one! Needless to say... she was excited!....

CHRISTMAS EVE

We spent all of Christmas Eve with the Shiflet family, since we would be spending Christmas Day at the Petersons. The kids all got to open up their presents from each other and a couple from Grandma and Grandpa! Here they are waiting PATIENTLY for the opening to begin!

Merrick, Madelyn, Alivia, Gunner

Mady got a cute little purse full of church books to take to church with her to read during sacrament meeting! I am SO excited about this! I would so much rather have her reading these than just her normal books while we're at church! Thanks Mom!

Livy, with her new puppy which has been AMAZING in the car! I love it! Thanks again mom!

Ha ha! My little brother Colton got Mady this inflatable chair at the dollar store... it said "Toddler Size" on the package...

More like "Toddler's Doll Size!" We all got a good laugh out of it!

Christmas Day

2011-01-07T12:38:00.001-08:00

Christmas was so much fun this year! Mady being old enough to really get excited and understand what was going on really added to the excitement!

I felt like a little kid all over again, getting to see everything happen through her eyes!

We spent a lot of time with both of our families, but before we went anywhere on Christmas day, we spent some time together alone as a family and it was so much fun!

the Christmas Morning loot!

just waking up... waiting to see what Santa brought!

a new scooter for both of them!

Ian opening the gift that Mady picked out for him. Little tiny plastic dinosaurs and work gloves- just what he had been secretly wishing for!

I could not believe how Alivia got right in there and opened those gifts up! She totally understood the unwrapping process and got excited about what was underneath that paper!

I had a couple of shirts made for Ian for Christmas... long story but to make it short...

His FAVORITE shirt is his lacrosse shirt from high school and he seriously wears it every time it's clean. Needless to say, it is getting worn out!

So I made two for him that look exactly like it- hopefully they will last a little longer!

TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO!

Christmas Day was spent with the Peterson family for the most part since we spent all of Christmas Eve with the Shiflet family. We were spoiled as usual and had a great time with the whole family!

2011

2011-01-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's 2011!

Every year seems to go by faster and faster the older I get!

We had a great year in 2010 and look forward to what 2011 will bring!

We have started out the new year right by doing things like:

hangin' out with cousin Gunner at the mall

getting good use out of all the dress ups that were recieved for Christmas!

shakin' our booties to Taylor Swift.... some of us in our underwear...

making miniature snow men in Grandpa's backyard with snow he used to pack an ice chest after a hunting trip. (Don't worry- that's dirt, not blood. I made sure.)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T22:20:00.000-08:00

I will definitely have to add more details later... but here is a little peak into our Christmas 2010. I heard a good line at church today... Hope you all had a better Christmas than I did... cause that would mean it was beyone amazing! :)

Elk

2010-12-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

Ian went on his first really big hunt with my dad and my little brother Colton last month.

They were lucky enough to get an elk for both of the tags they had! Here are some pictures of Ian's elk.

SNOW!

2010-12-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

We were SO excited to take Mady to play in the snow a couple weeks ago! Unfortunately... there wasn't much! We had to go up to Flagstaff to pick up the meat from Ian's elk hunt, so we thought we would see if there was any snow while we were at it!

It was kind of a bummer... but she still had fun! She even made a foot tall snowman!

Sorry Mady- better luck next time!

2010-12-20T18:24:00.001-08:00

Trying to figure out how to work the ab machine in Bed Bath & Beyond

Having a movie night with my cousins!

Ethan, Brylee, Madelyn, Addison

2010-12-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

Waiting for the Gilbert, Arizona temple groundbreaking ceremony to start

Cruisin' with Merrick

Getting ready for Christmas!

All 3 kiddos passed out after a walk on Thanksgiving night :)

I have really cute kids...

2010-12-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Which is why I can't figure out why I have been so lazy lately and not taken a lot of pictures! My camera jumps from Halloween clear til the week of Christmas! I really need to get better!

Nothing too exciting going on around here... just getting ready for Christmas... we CAN'T WAIT! Ok, I can't wait... I am way more excited than anyone else at our house! Christmas gets so exciting again when your kids start to get into it!

LOVE that smile! Alivia is all into everything lately... especially the girls' Christmas Tree! It's just her size! Oh well... as long as she's not messing with my tree!

P.S. don't mind the big scab on her nose (which by the way looked 10 times worse the next day) Mady just decided it would be fun to put a bucket on her head and scraped her nose on the way down :(

Not to leave Mady out of the post!

"Mom look! I'm like Mulan!"

She was so proud of her artwork! This is the first time she's really done this! She said she was trying to be like Mulan! (The part where she takes notes on her arm when she's going to meet the matchmaker)

Halloween!

2010-11-02T16:19:00.001-07:00

We had a fun Halloween- and we're excited to get on to the rest of the holidays!

First off, we carved pumpkins with Ian's brother Shane and his wife Kylie and their kids.

I think the four of us adults were definitely more into it than the kids though!

At first, Mady wanted nothing to do with cleaning out the pumpkin, but then she decided she really liked it and wanted to help everyone get all their "pumpkin boogers" out!

I told her she had to wear an old t-shirt so her clothes wouldn't get dirty. As soon as I put it on her she ran into her room and took it off and came back with a swimsuit on! She knows that's an easy clean up! Goofy girl :)

Saturday, the night before Halloween we had our ward "trunk or treat" party. Mady dressed up as a little witch! She was so cute! All night whenever someone would say "oh what a cute little witch" or something to that effect, Mady would say, "NO! I'm a bad witch!"

Mady with her cousin Jaycie at the ward party. It's so fun to have family in the same ward!

Our first ever self-timed picture! Ha ha!

After the party.

Cute little Livy. No costume... just all decked out for Halloween!

Also... this isn't on Halloween, but today Madelyn got her first haircut EVER! I know it's ridiculous that she is almost 3 and has never even had a trim- I was just so scared that if I cut it she would lose her curls! I decided that it was definitely time so we just barely trimmed it. Seriously- you would never even notice a difference! But it was a good baby step for me!

Showing off her haircut and her popsicle she got for sitting through the torture that is a haircut :)

October so far...

2010-10-26T15:22:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year! Of course, my FAVORITE time of the year won't be here for another month or so- when we really start getting into the Holidays... but this is a good start! We haven't been up to anything terribly exciting lately, but here are a few pictures of the last few weeks:

I love these girls so much. They are the sweetest little girls and they make me so happy! I love that they are starting to play together now that Alivia is getting a little bigger! They are such good friends and they each think the other is downright hilarious! :) They laugh and giggle together and it makes my day!

Silly Girl

Lately, Mady has had this obsession with going fishing. She has been asking to go fishing every single day, so we finally decided to take her! Ya... it entertained her for about 5 minutes and then she was done :) oh well! It was fun while it lasted!

Liv was really into it too...

Ian is ALWAYS happy to smile for the camera...

CHEESE!

Mady has the cheesiest fake smile when I take pictures of her...

She is crawling now and she is ALL OVER the place! I forgot how crazy it is to have a newly crawling baby! I am glad she finally picked it up though, because now she can follow Madelyn around and not just sit in one spot and cry when she leaves the room!

The weather has been AMAZING this last week or so! FINALLY Fall is here! It has even been nice enough to turn the AC off and open up the windows! We have been taking advantage of it and heading out on walks or to the park in the afternoons. Mady is loving it!

Livy- ready for Halloween a little early!

Kind of a crappy picture- but I thought it was cute! Alivia loves to wear this hat from Mady's Halloween costume!

August and September! I am really behind!

2010-09-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures from the last month or so:

The girls, hangin' out, drinkin' their milk!

My smiley little Alivia before Church.
She is sitting up on her own now! She is getting so big, so fast! I can't believe how much time has gone by when I think about it! It seems like she was just born!

Sweet little Madelyn

Good pictures taken together are still hard to come by!

Mady's "princess hair." She has been asking me to curl it lately :)

LABOR DAY

Mady got to join Mom and Dad and some of the Peterson family at the lake on Labor Day! She was so excited to "take a ride on Grandpa's boat!" and she had a ton of fun! She looked pretty stinkin' cute in her little lake get-up too, don't you think?

We got up at 3:30 am to be able to be at the lake by 5:00 and it was perfect! Although it made for a long, tiring day! There was hardly anyone there that early and the water was nice! Plus, it wasn't too hot! When we were heading home around 9:30 am it started to get really sunny and hot and we were glad to be getting off the lake! As we pulled out, there was a HUGE line of cars waiting to get on the lake- so it was worth it to go so early!

Mady and Casey

Side note: Ian and I got engaged 4 years ago on Labor Day at this very lake, and on this very boat! Ha ha! It's always fun to hit the lake on Labor day and remember good times!

Liv, napping away as usual!

She is eating solids now too! Again, I can't believe how fast all this has come! She's getting so big!

This girl LOVES her peas!

Family Pictures

2010-08-15T21:34:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures that my mother-in-law took of our little family while we were in California a few weeks ago!

Crazy hair- thank you wind!

Madelyn, Tyler, Alivia, Casey and Lily

All of the Peterson cousins, minus Jaycie and Krew :(

Cute dresses the girls all have on too huh?! Ian's mom made them and they turned out adorable!

California!

2010-08-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is a few weeks late, but I finally have time to sit down and blog about it! We had the chance to spend a week in Newport Beach with the Peterson family at the end of July and we had so much fun! Everyone was there except for Ian's brother Shane and his family because they were a little too busy having a little baby boy while we were all gone! We sure missed them, but we still had a great time!

Liv hanging out on the beach! I didn't put her in her swimsuit once, because it was so cold! She stayed bundled up in her jacket with a blanket most of the time!

We were lucky enough to be staying in a house right on the beach! It made it easy to go back and forth all day when we needed to- which was often with the kids! It was so cool to be right there and be able to look out the window at the ocean through the whole stay!

Newport Beach Temple

unfortunately the actual temple grounds were closed the day we went, so this is the closest we got!

this was Mady's idea (that she came up with on her own) to keep her chair from getting all sandy!

in her cute little towel cover up that my little brother brought her home from his mission in Chile.

building a sand castle with Uncle Ryan and her cousin, Tyler

Grandpa brought a big shovel to the beach and dug a HUGE hole and the kids had a blast playing in it! This is when it was about half way done. It was way over Mady's head by the time they finished it!

Livy Love enjoying the beach!

We had the chance to go to Disneyland while we were there! Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma! As excited as Madelyn looks in this next picture, I promise you I was 10 times more excited! I felt like a little kid! Complete with the shaking and giddy laughing when we go there!

We got there at 7:30 AM and stayed until 11:30 PM.

LONG day, but so so FUN!

this was her first character encounter... I don't think she quite knew what to think!

Mady and her cousin, Casey.

I think Eeyore scared her a little bit!

Maybe I am just a dork, but I had no idea that there was a petting zoo at Disneyland!

Happy little Alivia just hangin' out in the stroller!

She was kind of scared of Goofy, so I had to go with her... we waited in line for 20 minutes for a picture, so I was getting one whether she wanted to or not! :)

Mady with Grandma Peterson, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shelby

on Mickey's couch in Toon Town... Kind of a freaky smile thing she has going on! That's how she fake smiles when I am taking pictures and she doesn't want to smile! She is so funny!

By the end of the day they were both exhausted and fell asleep during the firework show! It never ceases to amaze me how they can sleep through ANY noise, unless of course we're at home and I make one little noise- then they're wide awake! :)

This is what we felt like after walking around Disneyland for 16 hours!

Mady and Casey "pretending to be horsies!"

"CHEESE!"

with her princess cup that she picked out at Disneyland

Cute picture of Mady and Daddy

We also took some cute family pictures on the beach! They are on my mother in law's camera so I will have to get them from her to post!

Thank you thank you again Petersons for such a FUN trip! We had a blast and miss it already!

What we've been up to...

2010-07-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Nothing major to report! We are just chuggin' along, trying to survive through this ridiculous heat! We're headed to Cali in 2 days for a week, and we can't wait! A quick update before our trip:

First of all... remember this picture? This was a couple weeks ago after church- Mady fell asleep during lunch...

Guess what happened the next week after church?
I guess this is the new Sunday routine!

On the Merry-Go-Round at the mall. Mady was SO excited to ride the horsie! And a nice old man even came up to me right when I was going to pay the THREE DOLLARS to ride it and said, "I bought one too may tokens for my grand kids, would you like the extra one?" SCORE!

Meet Alivia- The most smiley, happiest baby in the world!

She always has something to smile/laugh about, and I love it!

Mady helping me out in the kitchen in her cute little owl apron.

(Don't mind the fact that her hair looks like it hasn't been brushed for 5 days... I swear it was only like 1 1/2)

This is what Livy looks like when I want to take ANOTHER picture of her eating.

"What the heck Mom?!?!"

This girl LOVES her rice cereal!

A LOT.

THE END.

Fourth of July

2010-07-05T15:55:00.001-07:00

So... I was soooo excited to take pictures of the girls before church on the Fourth of July because of the oh-so-cute outfits i put together for them. Mady on the other hand... not so excited. She wanted to be the one holding the camera... hence the meltdown.

Sundays are always hard days because it is the only day of the week I have to wake Mady up to get her ready on time for church. All the other days of the week she wakes up on her own and she's in a happier mood. But Sundays are hard on her!

"No more pictures Mommy!"

Won't it be fun for me to show her these when she gets older? :)

Of course, Alivia starts to cry when she hears Mady crying!

Oh well... their clothes were cute anyway, right?

Yellowstone Trip

2010-07-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

Last week we had the chance to go on a fun vacation with the Peterson family. It was a family reunion for Ian's mom's sibling and their children and so on...

We had a blast! It was a TON of driving though! Here is what our schedule was like:
Wednesday: Drive 12 hours from home to Salt Lake

Thursday: Drive 5 hours from Salt Lake to Yellowstone National Park

Friday: Drive around Yellowstone all day

Saturday: Drive around all day some more :)

Sunday: Drive those 5 hours back to Salt Lake

Monday: Drive 12 hours back home

SO basically, we spent a lot of time in the car, but we still had so much fun! I had never been to Yellowstone before so it was fun to go and see it!

On our way to Yellowstone, we stopped at a place called Bear World just outside of Rexburg. It was really cool! You drive through this park and there are all kinds of animals around that you can see from your window. Mostly bears (hence the name) but there were also deer, turkeys, elk, and some other things.

Mady looking at the animals from inside the truck.

After the driving part, there is a little petting zoo and some rides for the kids. This is the part that Mady really loved.

Trying to get a good picture. FAIL!

It was so crazy to have all these animals that were totally cool with everyone coming and petting them!

She thought the goat was so funny for some reason.

Saying, "Hi!" to all the chickens in the coop.

Following a peacock around

Mady LOVED this little roller coaster. I wasn't sure if she would like it or not. It was pretty small, but still went fast for little kids. She absolutely loved it and went on it about 5 times. She gets it from me :)

See, look at that smile!

Alivia and Uncle Ryan

Aunt Shelby and Uncle Ryan taking the kids on the train ride.

One of the days we spent driving around Yellowstone we came up to a herd of buffalo. There were probably around 60 of them. It was so crazy, they were just walking around right by all the cars, through the parking lots and on the road in between cars. Mady loved seeing them up so close! We told her she was going to get to see buffalo a few weeks before we left and she asked us constantly when we were gonna see them!

Casey and Mady hanging out in the stroller

Sleeping in the camper. It was kind of fun to squeeze our whole little family into one small bed!

Sweet little Alivia in her Yellowstone shirt that Grandpa bought her. (We all got matching ones. :) )

On the way home we spent the night in SLC. We decided to go to temple square and walk around a little bit on Sunday night.

Once again, trying to take a good picture. This is what most of them turn out like!

Best one we got... don't mind my disgusting-ness... I had been camping for 5 days, ok?

Random

2010-07-05T15:52:00.001-07:00

Just some random pictures from the past few weeks:

Hinding underneath some of her dolls in her bed

I let Mady eat her lunch in her room one day and she was SO excited.

Alivia in her first sest of PIGTAILS!

Getting ready to eat rice cereal for the first time.

Madelyn and Lilly "sharing" a chair :)

Bathtime after cupcakes with Jensen and Lilly.

Alivia

San Tan Mall playground with Lilly

Helping daddy blow out his birthday candle... ya... he turned 26 and I only had 1 candle... oops!

Trying on Daddy's new pants

Hangin' out in their PJs.

More Pictures

2010-05-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

Oh what a blessing!

2010-05-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

Alivia was blessed on May 16th. Ian did a great job and we had lots of family there with us! We appreciate everyone driving out to the boonies we call Queen Creek to be there for Livy!

Alivia is such a special little girl, and just has such a sweet spirit. I feel so lucky to be her mom and to get to have her come to earth to be a part of our family!

2010-05-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Painting

2010-05-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Last week we painted both of the girls' bedrooms and Mady was our little helper! She was BEYOND excited to "Paint her big girl room!" and waited ALL day til we were finally ready to go!

May Begins...

2010-05-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else feel like it's hard to make up a title for a post that's not really all about one thing? I always feel like my titles are so dumb :)

ANYWAY....

Here is the latest and greatest of the happenings at the Peterson home:

This is Alivia at 7 weeks old... and she has a ponytail! I am a proud momma of this little girl's hair! It is so stinkin' cute!

Just a sweet picture of Madelyn and her Grandpa Peterson.
Quick Note: There are 5 granddaughters on the Peterson side of the family. We all know little girls like to play dress up... sometimes that means that they fight over certain "princess dresses"..
Grandma and Grandpa Peterson recently took a trip to Nashville, and happened upon a store FULL of frilly little girl dresses. Grandpa decided to go in and buy a few so that the girls wouldn't have to argue over them when they came over anymore! What a sweet Grandpa, huh? They are pretty fancy schmancy dresses! I'll have to take some pictures of Mady in them where you can see them a little better!

My sweet little Alivia Jayne sleeping away

I was having way too much fun with Livy's hair in the bath one night...

"CHEESE!"

Just for Fun

2010-04-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

Just some cute pictures of my girls :)

Sprinklers

2010-04-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Mady has been dying to play in the water lately, and since the pool is a little too cold for my taste still, we've been playing in the sprinklers a lot!

Gunner and Mady

Easter

2010-04-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter and got to spend a lot of time with all of our family!

I was kind of bummed that there was no church on Easter Sunday, because I was so excited to get the girls matching Easter dresses! Oh well :)

Conference was great, and we really enjoyed getting to spend some time together as a family!

Waiting to color Easter Eggs!

This is what Alivia did the whole time :)

Gunner and Madelyn

I feel like a horrible mom-

This is the ONLY picture I took of Alivia on Easter Sunday! I had a cute little dress to put on her, but she just looked to comfy all day that I never put it on her! She pretty much slept the whole day... so this is all there is! I just think it's funny because on Mady's first Easter I took like a million pictures of her and got her all dressed up and everything! I guess that's just what happens when there is no church on Easter!

Mady was excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought her! I was trying to explain the Easter Bunny to her, and the only thing that made sense to her was when I said, "He is kind of like a way less exciting version of Santa..." Ha ha! That finally helped her to understand that he would bring her presents!

Easter Egg hunt at the Peterson's

Mady only got like 3 eggs, because every time she found one she would open it up and eat the candy before she would go looking for another one!

mouth full of candy!

Tyler, Madelyn, Jaycie and Casey

Sunshine

2010-04-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

I know these pictures are really dark, but I wanted to get them on here anyway!

There is a girl in my ward who teaches dance, so a couple times a month, she puts on a little class for all the little girls in my ward! I took Madelyn to it for the first time this week and it was so fun to watch her! I don't know how much she actually got out of it, but I think she had fun!

*Mady is on the very end on the left side*

She stood just like this for probably the whole first half of the class. She just kind of watched everyone else and didn't really try to follow along at all at first. Eventually she did start to copy the teacher though and she did really good. That only lasted for a few minutes though! Then she just started doing her own thing and running and dancing all over the place! That was pretty entertaining! I got some funny videos of her.. I'll have to put some up later.

It has been feeling so nice outside lately! We are trying to soak it all up before it gets face-melting hot outside... it won't be too long now :(

We decided to bust out Madelyn's little pool in the backyard over the weekend and she LOVED it! She would have stayed in there all day if we let her!

I went into Mady's toy room the other day and found her doing this all on her own and saying, "Yee-haw Horsie!" She cracks me up!

Random...

2010-03-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to a wedding reception for some friends.

Mady and her friend Lilly had a blast dancing the whole time. Literally.

They held hands like this and spun in circles for a good hour.

They are so cute together!

They kept watching all of these older girls that were dancing and trying to copy them.

Finally: a picture of Alivia with her eyes open!

p.s. I love her hair :)

She is growing so much already! It kind of breaks my heart how fast they grow! Every time I put pj's on her, I notice that they are a little tighter than the last time she wore them and it makes me sad! Just stay my little peanut forever please!

Last but not least...

Mady is too funny! Every once in a while she wants to play with all the baby stuff.. she climbs into the swing, jumper and the bassinet. She just wants to be the baby again!

The other day she was in her room playing in the jumper and after a while I noticed she was really quiet. I went in to see what she was up to and she was sound asleep! She probably would have stayed that way for a good long nap but I felt bad for her, so I moved her into the crib.

Pictures

2010-03-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures I got off of my mother-in-law's camera last night...

Sisters

2010-03-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

I realized today that I haven't taken any pictures of just the girls together!

I thought I would try and get some cute ones if I could catch them both in a good mood at the same time :)

Unfortunately, Madelyn has decided that she hates taking pictures. Period. She looks at me like I am such a dork when I'm trying to convince her to smile. My two year old is already WAY too cool for me.

However, I did manage to get a couple that I thought were cute. Nothing too exciting... I need to get some nice ones taken by somebody who actually knows what they are doing... and has a better backdrop than our messy couch :)

Alivia Jayne

2010-03-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

She's Here!

Alivia Jayne Peterson

February 28, 2010

10:40 a.m.

6 pounds 6 ounces

19.5 inches

We are all home now and doing great!

Alivia decided to come and join our family a little early (much to my huge, pregnant, aching, tired, pregnant body's delight!)

To make a long story short:

Sunday morning around 2:30 a.m. my water broke.

We waited at home, not sure what to do because I still wasn't having any contractions.

We headed to the hospital at about 4:15 a.m.

By the time we reached the hospital, around 5:00 after dropping Mady off with Ian's parents, I was having contractions, and in active labor.

Epidurals are my best friend. Seriously.

I have done it once the pioneer woman way, and I am proud of that, but I am not ashamed to admit that epidurals are my favorite :)

Alivia Jayne was born at 10:40 a.m.

Everything went well and Alivia is a happy, healthy little girl!

We have loved having her with us... it feels like we've been waiting on her for a long time!
Madelyn LOVES her baby sister and is ALWAYS very interested in everything she does.

She takes good care of her already!

She brings me her diapers, and cuddles up next to us when I feed her.

She holds her hand, and when she cries, she tells her "it's okay Livy, don't cry."

sisters. are. the. cutest. thing. ever.

Thanks to all that have visited and helped out!

Madelyn's 2nd Birthday!

2010-02-19T14:57:00.001-08:00

Madelyn turned 2 years old yesterday, February 18th!

I cannot believe I have a two year old!

Time has flown by so fast! Sometimes it seems like she was born yesterday!

We love Madelyn SO much and are so grateful everyday that she is a part of our family!

definitely a FAKE smile :)

Her ladybug cupcakes!

Mady loves ladybugs, so I thought it would be cute to try and make some ladybug cupcakes! She thought they were pretty cool, and enjoyed pulling the chocolate chips off of them all day while they sat on the table! She waited ALL day for everyone to come over for her party so she could eat one!

Aunt Shelby got Madelyn a fish for her present! I have to say that I think this was her favorite gift of all! She LOVES her fish! She stared at it and talked to it all night last night! And it was the first thing she wanted to do again when she woke up this morning!

Grandma Peterson got her a bunch of beach gear for this summer, and Uncle Shane and Aunt Kylie got her a bucket and shovel... so she's set! OF COURSE she was not going to be happy until she tried it ALL on last night right in the middle of opening all her gifts!

(p.s. she looks like a little 80's aerobics workout girl with her leggings still on huh?)
Mady got lots of other presents too! Thanks to everyone who came!

This morning we had another little party for Mady with some of her friends at the park!

Madelyn and her cousin Casey

Mady and her buddy Bretton

Merrick and Mady

HAPPY BIRTHDAY baby girl! We love you!

He's Home!

2010-02-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

My little brother Justin came home from his misson in Chile last week!

We missed him a ton and are sure excited to have him back!

Mady and Merrick at the airport in the cute shirts we made for everyone to wear!

Me and my girl waiting for him to get off the plane!

We got there a little early and then found out his flight was delayed.... it seemed like FOREVER!

Merrick and Uncle Colton waiting oh-so-patiently

wow... I am a whale... :)

Juddy and Mom

All 3 of my cute little brothers!

I think Justin was shocked at how much they both grew up while he was gone!

Meeting his niece and nephew for the first time!

Mady was born 2 weeks after he left, so he left with no nieces/nephews and came back to 2 1/2!

This is a cute little towel that Justin brought back for Madelyn. It goes over her kind of like a pancho with a hood and looks like the front and back of a mermaid. She loves it! She wants to wear it around the house all the time!

The jersey Uncle Juddy brought her.

She was SO happy to take this picture :)

Enjoying his first American meal... which happened to be Mexican food... you know what I meant, right?

Daddy's are so much more fun...

2010-01-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

Especially when they find things like mom's make-up that are fun to play with!

Madelyn's reaction was classic when she saw herself in the mirror! She just kept covering her face and saying "Oh my!" while cracking up! She loves all the crazy things she gets to do with her daddy.

Lounging around in her "movie chair"

A Few Random Pictures...

2010-01-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Nothing major to report... just a few random pictures of the last week or so...

Madelyn and Merrick are always getting into something! Luckily, this time they picked the clean, never been used fireplace at my parents!

I just thought this was so cute- the other day Mady fell asleep at my parent's house and their dog, Skippy just curled up next to her and took a little nap too!

Okay- every time we leave the house, we have to go through this huge ordeal of getting everything that Mady HAS to have with her. On Sunday after church, I tried to change Mady into her pajamas, but she would not let me take her skirt off! She wanted to wear it so bad! So I just left it on over her pants. (I don't know if you can really see it in the picture) Then we were headed to Ian's parent's house for dinner. I went through the whole process of getting her diaper bag ready, and then tried to head out the door.
Of course, she had to have her princess shoes and NOT her regular ones, so those were put on. Next, she had to fill up her backpack with toys that she couldn't live without for a couple hours. Think we were ready? NO. On the way out the door she picked up THREE more stuffed animals, and insisted on bringing them all!
She is so funny! I had to take a picture so that I could document what it's like every time we leave the house!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! We are so lucky to have both of our families living so close to each other so that we can spend holidays with both of them! It is so nice to not have to choose one family to do everything with or to have to switch off every other year! We love going back and forth and getting the best of both worlds :) There is never a dull moment on holidays!

We had a really great time this year full of family, friends and food! :)

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve night with the Peterson family. We had a wonderful dinner (as always!) cooked by my amazing mother in law, and carried on our usual tradition of reading the Christmas story from the scriptures and and singing Christmas songs by a fire in the backyard.

This year, we had all the kids (and some of the adults) dress up and "act out" their parts in the story. Madelyn got to be an angel, but unfortunately she was not acting like an angel that night (in fact, she was in a pretty bad mood most of the night!) so this is the best picture she would let me get of her in her dress!

sitting around the fire with her cousin Tyler

opening presents

Because we were all there together that night, we opened up all of our presents a little early! It was so much fun and as usual, we were totally spoiled! The first present that Madelyn opened was a set of a cradle, high chair, and stroller with a baby doll. Let's just say that she LOVED it, and actually didn't even open one more present the whole night! She walked around the house with it, and wouldn't come back into the living room to open more!

In her Christmas PJ's before bed

I feel weird calling it a "tradition" considering that we've only had a child for two Christmases now, but I always get Mady Christmas PJ's and have her open them on Christmas Eve, and I plan to always do that with my kids... so I can call it a tradition, right?

Christmas Morning

We woke up early on Christmas morning, and had our own little Christmas with just our family... which consisted of like 3 presents... ha ha! Then we were off to breakfast with my dad's side of the family.

The Christmas loot!

her tired smile! We had to wake her up to get out the door on time.

testing out the chair that Santa brought her

As you can see, she still has the stroller with her. She pretty much hasn't let go of it since she opened it! When she first opened her eyes on Christmas morning, the first word out of her mouth was "stroller?!"

On the left side of the picture is the Christmas present that Ian and I got for each other this year! We bought a new video camera and have been loving having a good camera to take videos of our cute girl! Besides, the camera, we just got each other a couple little things like dvds....

After breakfast with my dad's family, it was back to my parents for opening more presents and awaiting a call from my little brother Justin, who is serving a mission in Chile right now. It was so fun to talk to him! He will be home in about 5 weeks! We can't wait!

Gunner, Merrick and Madelyn waiting to open presents!

so excited!

My mom bought Mady a whole set of princess shoes!

She was in HEAVEN! She absolutely loves them and wants a pair on her feet at all times! She has been wearing them non-stop!

I know this is a terrible picture, and you can't even see everything in it, but it's the only one I got of the gifts my parents got Ian and I. Ian got a new grill (wooh-hooh!... I'm excited) and I got a new glider for the baby's room! I am way excited to have a comfy chair to sit in, as opposed to the wooden rocking chair I've had so far!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Happy BIRTHday!!!

2008-02-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

That's right! I said BIRTHday!

(and p.s. this is the grossest picture ever... about 2 seconds after she was born)

Madelyn Paige Peterson

was born on Monday, February 18 at 6:00 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and she was 20.1 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing well and heading home from the hospital tomorrow. She has a very crazy/exciting birth story but you'll have to wait til I'm not in a hospital bed on a laptop for me to type that one out! We'll be sure to post some pictures as soon as we get settled at home! Thank you so much to everyone who has been by to visit and helping out!

UPDATE

2008-02-08T07:53:00.001-08:00

Well we finally got around to getting the baby's room finished! I shouldn't say we... Ian did all the work :) Actually, Ian's wonderful mom and dad came over and the three of them had the entire room painted in about 45 minutes! Sorry I haven't taken any pictures yet.. I will take some soon and put them up... but we really love how everything turned out!
So we went to the doctor yesterday and he says things are moving along quite nicely :) He sounds like he's expecting something to happen really soon, but as he says, "You can't ever trust a pregnant woman!" So we are getting excited and hoping that we will be able to give you all some more exciting news sometime in the near future!

Anniversary!

2008-02-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

Today is our first anniversary! Wooh hooh!

One year down...

MANY more to go!

I can't believe it's only been one year, but it has been

the best year of my life!

I am so lucky to have the most

wonderful

husband in the world...

not to mention how adorable he is :)

don't ya think?

I love you Ian. Happy Anniversary.

2008-01-28T08:37:00.001-08:00

We will all miss President Gordon B. Hinckley... it is so weird for me to think that he is no longer here with us, as he has been the Prophet of the church since I was eight years old... so pretty much he is all I can remember. But when I heard the news, the only thing I could think of was how happy he must be to be with his wife again. I love that you could always tell how much he loved and missed her. Isn't is great to know the plan of salvation? He will be missed... his sparkly eyes and amazing sense of humor will be missed... but we are all grateful for his service and dedication to the church.

Laura's Baby is Finally Here!

2008-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

This is me and almost all of the girls that I was in

Laurels with at my best friend Laura's baby shower

a couple weeks ago. We had the shower at my house

and it went really well! Thank you to EVERYONE

who helped out! I couldn't have done it myself!

Anyways... it was so much fun to see all these girls again!

It was likebeing back in high school!

P.S... you gotta love the fat pregnant pictures... not my favorite :)

On another note... Laura finally had her baby!

It's a beautiful little girl and her name is Lilly.

I could not be more happy for Laura and Chad...

and it only made me that much more excited for

our little girl to get here! Yes, we've already

decided that the two of them are best friends :)

Congrats you guys!

Skippy

2007-12-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Okay I thought these were some funny pictures
so I had to post them on our blog. The other night
Ian and I were at my parents house helping them
put their Christmas lights up. My dog, Skippy was
outside too and he kept running down the street
and I would have to go chase him. Well... after a
couple times I was really sick of running him down,
but i was too busy using my hands on the lights to
hold him! So... this was my solution! And it actually
worked out pretty good! He stayed in their and

seemed like he was prett y comfy the whole time!

Baby Room

2007-12-04T11:13:00.001-08:00

Yay! We finally picked out

furniture for our baby room!
I have been trying to decide forever

which stuff I like and I finally did it!

Ian's wonderful parents are

buying us a crib for Christmas
and mine are getting us the matching

dresser! Works out good huh?
So anyways... after much

deliberation... I have made the decision.
Ian actually sat me down at the

computer on Saturday morning

and told me I wasn't allowed to get

up until I chose a crib!

Thanks Honey :)
I am so excited about this so

I thought I'd put a picture

up for everyone to see!
P.S. We are not getting the ugly

unicorn/princess bedding....

just so you know :)

Called To Serve

2007-11-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

My oldest little brother Justin, or "Juddy" as we all like to call him got his mission call yesterday! It came after quite a delay for the past couple of weeks so we were all VERY anxiously waiting to find out where he would be going! Well... it turns out he will be serving in the Chile, Rancagua mission and he will be reporting to the MTC on February 6, 2008! I am so excited for him but a little sad that he will be leaving barely two weeks before my little girl is supposed to get here. So she won't get to meet her uncle Juddy until she's about two years old, but at least it's for a good cause! We love you Juddy, congratulations!

Also, on Thanksgiving day we got the chance to go up to Show Low with my family to be with my aunt and uncle Shawn and Dana when they blessed their new baby boy, Ethan. It was a really cool experience to be their with them. He is such a little angel! Seriously, is he not adorable? We are so excited for the Owens family and their new little addition!

Our Little Thumb Sucker

2007-11-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

We went to the doctor today and had our THIRD ultrasound! Every time I've been in for one, we couldn't get her to cooperate with us and let us get a good look at her heart. She was a good girl today though and we got what we were looking for! I just thought that this picture was too cute! She is sucking her thumb early on! So... here you go every one... Your first pictures of our little girl!

Our First Post

2007-11-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Okay so we finally caved and started a blog. Now that we're "grown up" we have friends and family that we don't get to see very often and we thought this would be a good way to keep everybody updated on what's going on with us... especially once our little girl gets here in February!

A little bit about us:
Ian and I met last summer (2006) when we both went to Mozambique, Africa with a volunteer group called Care For Life. It was honestly the best experience of my life. I've never had so much fun and learned so much at the same time. Let's just say that I am definitely more grateful now for every little thing that I have then I was two years ago. Ian went to Portugal on his mission.. so obviously he speaks portuguese... which came in handy because that is the primary language in Mozambique! Thank goodness we had a good translator!
Ian and I have been married since February 8, 2007... about 9 months now. We both grew up in Gilbert, Arizona so we are lucky to have both of our families so close to us! (Except sadly for a couple of siblings) We are currently living in a house about.. oh..... 60 seconds away from my parents home (I am so grown up) and only about 5 minutes from Ian's parents! I work at my dad's chiropractic office as a receptionist and Ian is going to school at ASU and working on the side. He's such a hard worker and he does so much for our little family! Like I said before, we are expecting our first baby in February! It's a little girl and as of right now the plan is to name her Madelyn... we'll probably call her Maddie. I can't wait to be a mom... it's been my dream for who knows how long! We are both very excited!

Basically we're just living life and workin hard to keep up with it!