Catching Up

It's been about a month since we got back from our trip to Utah... and I still haven't posted all the cute pictures I took during my time hanging out with Maddie (while Elise & Dan were in Turkey). I am going to attempt to remedy that now... with probably the longest post of pictures I have EVER posted (and I only included a few of the thousands of pictures I took). I am going to have a hard time being a mom of two... double the kids = double the pictures maybe? Anyway, here are lots of pictures with a few comments.

Day 1: Maddie's 1yr old Doctor's Appointment! Yay, ready for a front facing car seat.


This appointment required A LOT of waiting! Maddie was so smiley despite it being naptime... and having to get several shots. I even have some cute pictures of Maddie crying after the shots that I never sent Elise (didn't want her seeing them while she was in Turkey so far away... so now I can probably send them along).

First day playing together!

Andrew showed Maddie where all the roly poly bugs like to hide.

Pool trip!! Andrew loved giving Maddie smooches.

Could she be any cuter??

Splashing contests!

Dinner at Fuddruckers. Andrew tortured the other toddlers in the arcade, so I got to give this little lady my full attention.

Day 2: Breakfast together! Probably the cutest time of the day. They were so excited to eat together and see each other each morning.


Teaching Maddie how to roll the ball and play "roll that red ball down to town."

Playing the piano together... as long as Maddie didn't come too close.

Andrew teaching Maddie how to do puzzles

First field trip by ourselves- we headed up to the Alta Canyon Sports Center to meet Shauna (& boys), Shari, and Liesl (& girls)... and go swimming. We got lost and had lots of fun singing in the car!

Maddie loved splashing

Andrew loved the infamous "bucket"- ask him about it... he can talk to you about it for HOURS!! If you need to snap him out of a bad mood, just bring up "the bucket." To this day he still talks about Aunt Shauna, Grandma Shari, and "the bucket" daily.


Noodles for lunch while Andrew naps! I loved my 1:1 time with Maddie when it occasionally happened. Such a sweetheart!


Dinner at Cafe Paesan and a trip to Toys R Us to play with the trains...

and buy Maddie her new big girl carseat!!

Day 3: Trip to the Monte L. Bean Museum

Learning about habitats

Maddie learned to act fast so that she could play with the "cool" toys... she also crawled around in Andrew's wake and snatched up all the things he got bored of so as not to see the wrath of the little man if she took something he actually wanted.


Visited Grandma at work!

Trip to get Shave Ice!!

Day 4: Thanksgiving Point and Maddie's first ride in her big girl carseat!

She loved it! Especially because now she could actually see Aunt Jessie doing all the actions and crazy faces that she'd do while she was singing songs.

Carseat buddies!!

We met up with my college roommate Miranda and her three little girls at Thanksgiving Point's farm.

Andrew & Baylee riding tractors

Trapped in jail!

Checking out the ducks

Pony rides!!

Jessie had fun hanging on to Maddie as they went round and around... Maddie was too excited to grab the horse and was about to fall off at any minute.

Lunch at the Thanksgiving Point cafe

I hope I am as cool as Aunt Jessie when I grow up. The big girls loved her!

She was the hit of the afternoon... maybe even cooler than the farm? So Miranda and I actually got to catch up while she enlisted the kids in doing acrobatics.

Next was 25 cent ice cream cones at the Thanksgiving Point Ice Cream Shop. If I lived in Utah I might be going there daily? :)

Andrew had to have bubble gum like the big girls

Maddie LOVED her ice cream cone. She ate every last bite of it.

Then on to long naps (NOT!!!)... so later in the evening we threw a tantruming Andrew in the car and headed off to Kangaroo Zoo. We knew he'd love it... once he got there. The drive there wasn't so pleasant though... with the domino effect of grumpiness that couldn't be changed much by Aunt Jessie's animated version of "Old MacDonald."

I played with Maddie in the under 2 area

and Andrew & Jessie had races through all the bounce house obstacle courses

We also taught Maddie to jump in the bounce house

and she rode down some slides too

Day 5: More pool time! My cousin Janelle and her son Brody came over and joined us at the pool. The weather was gorgeous... and one of my two kids was happy... Miss Maddie!

Everyone hanging out in the pool... Andrew claiming "his" territory (the floating mat)

After a few Andrew tantrums and a quick trip back from the pool where I was carrying both Andrew and Maddie... everyone was happy to have SNACK TIME!


Then we changed (and I actually finally made Maddie look cute... and attempted to put a clip in her hair... it only took me 5 days to find them :))... and had lots of playtime in the basement while Janelle and I got a chance to catch up. I love my cousins! They are all so awesome.


That afternoon I had a solo trip to the mall by myself for a long overdue haircut and a really really decadent mint brownie at the Lion House Bakery. Yum! Then we spent the evening grocery shopping, working on Grandpa's father's day present, and packing!!



It was so sad to say goodbye to Grandma, Grandpa, Jessie... and especially cute Madeline on Saturday morning!!

Whew! Now I feel caught up! That was one fun-filled and exhausting week! We are SO EXCITED that Aunt Jessie will be making her way to the Bay area this Fall so that we can hang out with her more often.

If that wasn't nearly enough photos of Maddie for you... have no fear... I documented practically every moment (so Dan & Elise wouldn't miss her too too much) and you can see more of her in this picasa album. Enjoy!