Cousins...

Amber, Tyler, Brooklyn, and Boston came in town this past week. We had a photoshoot at Freestone Park and we got some really great pictures of the kids! Aubry did an amazing job...as always! Here are some of my favs.

First Mother's Day...

Sunday was my first mothers day. It was soooo great! I could so get used to celebrating this awesome holiday. It started great when I got up at 5am to feed Maddux. Drew had typed up this way cute and way funny letter from him and Maddux and left it on the computer screen (knowing I would be seeing it in the middle of the night). He knows me oh so well and is having my house professionally cleaned for my mother's day gift. I love it!

When Maddux woke up around 8, Drew got up with him and gave him a bottle and let me sleep in. He made me breakfast and did all the dishes and picked up the house. We went to church with both our moms (who are conveniently in the same ward in Ahwatukee), then spent the rest of the day out there.
I mostly just wanted to put this post up so that I would have this letter from my boys forever. It made me laugh and I just think Drew is the best husband ever! He and Maddux are the best things to ever happen to me!

oh my goodness...

well, i can just about gaurantee that if i entered a lottery to win a fabulous prize, i would never in a million years be picked as one of the winners, regardless of how many winners there were. but i entered the lottery to run the st. george marathon, fairly certain that i wouldn't get picked. wrong. i now have 146 days, 13 hours, 30 minutes and 51 seconds to get my butt in shape enough to attempt to run 26.2 miles! yikes! for starters...i'm going to the cheesecake factory for dinner tonight.
this may be tougher than expected!

bad news...good news...

So, yesterday..I was calling to make sure we could have a crib in our room for Maddux on the cruise (we are supposed to leave saturday). Well, turns out Maddux can't have a crib because he isn't even old enough to be allowed on the ship! They have to be 6 months old...Maddux will miss it by only 38 days! oops!!! After much stress, many tears, and a lot of begging and pleading from my dad...Carnival said that they would not make an exception for us.

What a mess! BUT... my family is sooooo nice and decided to reschedule for August so it can be a family vacation with all members included. I'm bummed that a week from today I won't be lounging around getting a tan on my way to Jamaica, but I'm excited to have more time to get my body in bathing suit shape! Also, in the way of good news...it looks like Amber and the kids get to come out here tomorrow! We miss them so much!!

First Swim...

Aubry, Becca, Stephanie and I spent the day at the pool at my mom and dad's house on Wednesday. It was so fun to have all the kids out there swimming. This was Maddux's first swim experience and he loved it. The swim award definitely goes to Soren though, the kid is a little fish!!!

We took so many pictures of all of us together in the pool, but this is honestly the best one I got! So, Aubry & Steph, I know you took pics! Will you email them to me so I can add some better ones? PLEASE?!

4 months...

Maddux turned 4 months yesterday, which means a couple of things....#1: he is getting big SO fast, #2: the "pokey lady" gave him three shots at the doctor's office, #3: he can start eating rice cereal.

He weighs 13 pounds, 11 ounces and is 25.25 inches long!
Maddux did better than I expected at his appointment because he fell asleep right after he got his shots. But he was T.O.'d when he got them! I felt so bad! The first two pics here are of him in the office, before his shots.

Maddux is snuggling with Grandma Craig at Drew's softball game. He fell asleep, but opened his eye to take a peek right as I took this picture.

I have been so excited to get permission from the doctor to start Maddux on rice cereal. I thought the doctor was crazy when he said to start with just a tablespoon of rice! I get it now!!! I think we somehow ended up with more cereal in the bowl than we had started with! He basically hated it! The faces expressions in these next four pictures pretty well show how it went! ha!And...here is daddy reading Maddux his favorite bedtime story, "Big, Little". P.S...Maddux slept for 8 hours last night... I am in HEAVEN!!!

Cutest in my eyes...

well friends and family...we didn't win the baby idol contest! bummer!! thank you all for your votes! drew says i can do the backyard when i sell a house. so, if you know anyone...send them my way!!! :)

I heart garage sales..and HATE photo enforcement...

Today was the best day of garage "sale-ing" (still not sure if that can be a verb!) I got soooo much great stuff for $17!!! (a portable crib, board shorts for maddux, a button up shirt for maddux, 19 Baby Einstein DVDs, two pairs of Adidas pants, 2 pairs of Nike basketball shorts, 4 American Eagle Polos, 1 pair of khakis, 2 Diamondback Jerseys (all the clothes were for Drew). $17!!!! I still can't get over the deals! AND...here is me going through a red light....BUMMER!!!!!

LAST DAY TO VOTE!!

I just realized that tomorrow (thursday) is the very last day for voting for our Maddux contest! So....VOTE! (a lot...if you have the time!!) Thanks all!!!

Pat's Run...

Saturday was the Pat Tillman Run at ASU. I was really excited to do it this year because it was the last race I ran before having Maddux (I didn't know I was pregnant when I ran it last year) and it was now my first race after having him. It was a lot of fun, but there were WAY too many people (30,000). It got really frustrating when you wanted to run faster, but you couldn't because you're completely boxed in. The worst part of the day was on the drive there when I realized that I had forgotten my Ipod! BUMMER! Luckily I found the Class 30 of the Peace Corps to run next to the whole way. They were singing and chanting , so I decided to stick with them! Anyway, it was a good time for a good cause!

Maddux meets Greg Maddux...

Ok, he didn't really get to MEET him. Last night Kasey and Joel invited us to a Dbacks game. We got to hang out in an awesome suite with people all working at UTAZ (where Joel works). The food was amazing! The best part of the game is that we got to take Maddux and when we got there we found out Greg Maddux was pitching for the Padres. It was cool to take Maddux to his first official game and watch the guy he is named after.

A few pictures...

I feel like my little guy is just growing so fast! He is getting so big and seems to be learning new things every day. It is impossible lately to get his hands out of his mouth. He even discovered the joy of sucking his thumb this week, much to my displeasure!!

Maddux and Aunt Jessica at Drew's softball game...if you look really closely at his shirt, it is SOAKED with drool! I have never seen a baby drool as much as he has these past couple of days! Poor little guy!!!

Finally..Round 3!!!

Maddux made it to the 3rd and final round of Baby Idol 2008!!! It is down to 50 babies now (it started with over 400!!) Thank you to everyone who has voted! Maddux has some TOUGH competition, there are some dang cute babies in there!! AND..I think they fixed the problem for those of you who couldn't vote!! 11 days and this will finally be over and I can HOPEFULLY be fixing my backyard!!! :)

(maddux is #33)

Tagged again...

I wish I could say that I have some amazing and super interesting things to say about myself...but no. This is all I could come up with. Sorry so boring!

10 years ago, I...
had barely turned 16, started driving….scary! My first car was a stick and it was super old (1973), so maybe not the best choice for a first timer…but I sure did love my car!

5 things on my to-do list tomorrow...
*Target (is there anything wrong with going everyday?!?
*Make/take dinner to Megan, Jeff and cute new baby Grey
*Sweep & Vacuum, my floors are hideous right now
*Visit all my students at Akimel
*Vote for Maddux like mad…

4 things I would do if I were a billionaire...
*Buy a house in Maui and maybe a place in Jamaica
*Invest
*Get a nicer car for Drew
*Have another baby

3 bad habits...
*overeating. I love love love to eat
*can you say… "computer addict”?!?
*I too am a zit picker! Sounds like there are a lot of us out there- so I’m feeling better about it! J

5 places I have lived...
Sacramento, CA
Denver, CO
Rexburg, ID
Provo, UT
Gilbert, AZ

5 jobs I have had...
*Avon sales & Real Estate (does it count if I haven’t made money yet???)
*6^th grade math teacher
*Server at Macaroni Grill
*Server at Red Robin (actually THREE Red Robins)
*Ed’s and Bev’s

6 things most people don't know about me...
*My closet is color coordinated. It drives Drew crazy!

* I used to be a decent slalom skier. I was even given the opportunity to try out for the ASU Ski team but I was super chicken and didn’t do it! I’m probably no good anymore because I haven’t been in forever.

*I already miss teaching. Let me clarify…I do NOT miss all the extra junk of being a teacher, but I do miss the actual getting up and teaching part.

*I used to have a mullet. Yes..worst haircut in the world, boy was I super-awkward-geeky in middle school (and high school for that matter!!!)

*I think I was born with perma-anxiety. Actually my mom and Amber share this awful thing with me. I always always think about the worst thing that could happen. I basically picture the newspaper headline for whatever that awful thing is. I wish I could make it go away but I can’t!

* I have an obsession with children’s books. I have so many, but it’s the first thing I want to buy anywhere I go. Always a great gift, if you ever don’t know what to buy me! I really hope Maddux shares my passion.

I tag...Kasey, Amber and My Parents (yes, kasey, mom & dad, that means you can finally make a new post! yay!!!)

Words to live by...

This was my favorite quote from Conference today. Even though I am only a brand new mom, his talk was one of my favorites. I love this quote because it applies to more than just motherhood, I need to remember this in all aspects of my life...

"I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

*M. Russel Ballard*

Toes!

Maddux discovered this past week that he has toes! He is always grabbing on to them and I just think it's the cutest thing. This picture was last night right before he went to bed. He is completely balanced on his bum with both feet up in the air! (Drew is holding his hand on his back.) Talented! :)

When Maddux woke up this morning, this is how I found him in his crib! Happy and holding his feet (The best part is that it was about 7.5 hours later! Yes...I got 7.5 straight hours of sleep TWICE this week! hallelujah!)

More Votes...

Maddux made it to round 2 for "Cutest Baby in the Valley".
Click on the link to the right --->
to help us out by voting for him! We need as many as we can get, but I think you can only vote once a day this time. (let me know if I'm wrong...but it would only let me vote once). Thank you so much for all your help! If we win, I'll have everyone over to celebrate after we landscape the backyard (sideyard!?!)

Maddux is contestant #137!

NEED MORE SLEEP!!

If you will notice, I am posting this at 3:30am. My baby boy is only 2 days away from being 3 months old and he is not sleeping through the night! I know that people say all babies are different. "Some will sleep well, some won't...". Well, I'd REALLY REALLY REALLY like for Maddux to be the kind of baby who is sleeping through the night. I have read and implemented "BabyWise". I feel like we're doing all the "right" things. But there is obviously something that we are missing! I know that lots of you reading this are experienced mothers and I'm desperate for some experienced advice. So what cha got for me!?!?! I'll take all the tips I can get because right now, a good stretch for us is 5 hours of sleep, most of the time it's 3-4 though!

Happy Easter!!

We had a very relaxed Easter this year. We started off on Saturday with a ward breakfast and Easter egg hunt. Maddux got his first Egg! We spent the night at my parent's house and went to church with our families. We had a picnic at the park down the street from my parent's house for our dinner. It was so much more relaxed than the traditional meal with tons of cooking and cleanup (we still had TONS of food), we played whiffle ball, and mostly just hung out. Drew and I agreed that this would be our new family tradition for our own little family. Maddux loved being outside in the amazing AZ weather! It's been in the 80's here and it's a great reminder of why I LOVE this place!! It was a great Easter!

Drew showing Maddux his Easter basket goodies!

At the Park...

Voting Confusion...

I have had two blog comments, a couple of texts, and some family having a hard time with the voting. It's confusing!!!! I think I may have found an easier way for everyone to vote for him..I hope it works! If it does...I'm going to change the link to the right too! Let me know if this is easier or if it even works!!!Thank you to everyone who has voted so far!! (Especially to Amber, Kasey, Wendy, Grandma, and Mom who have probably spent way more of their time than they need to voting for this little guy!!)

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR MADDUX!!!!