Happy Birthday to Mady!

For Mady's birthday this year all she really wanted were some 'designer' jeans and a palm pixi (that's a cell phone). She didn't think she was getting the phone so she was really surprised and excited when she opened the box.

Besides a lot of clothes and her phone she also got a bead watch, some jewelry, $$$, a scarf... pretty much the essentials for a teenager...wait, what?...Ahh! We now have an official teenager in the house! Thank goodness our Mady is such a sweetheart (for now anyway). Well, since it's Mady's birthday this post is going to be all about her.
Mady LOVES to dance. Absolutely loves it. When she's not actually at her dance classes 8+ hours a week she is at home making up dances with her friends in our basement. They always perform them for me and they are so fun to watch, they really have a talent for it.
She also really likes to go mountain biking and rock climbing with her dad. All her dancing has given her a great set of lungs and some pretty strong legs. She can keep up with Dusty all the way up the mountain. Last summer she went on a ride with her dad and his friend and some 14 year old boys and she put the older boys to shame. She beat them all up the mountain and she was the only kid who didn't have to rest.
Mady also loves to snow ski and in true Mady style she has taken to it really well. Dusty says she can 'shred'. That's some kind of skiier lingo I don't understand, all I know is that she can smoke me down the mountain.
Mady is a great baker and is always making cookies! I think I've gained 5 pounds since she learned to cook...
She also likes to draw, read (depending on the book), go shopping, hang out with her friends, wear jammie pants, listen to music, keep up on her gymnastic skills, facebook, argue (she should go on the debate team in high school) and design rooms and clothes. She and her sister really want to start a swimsuit line for girls, they have already designed dozens of swimsuits, now if we could just get some funding... maybe some day.
Some of her favorites are:
Food - Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl from Rumbis
Color - pink
Song - When I Look at You (Miley Cyrus), Baby (Justin Bieber), Telephone (Lady Gaga, Beyonce)
Treat - Cookies, Cinnamon Rolls
Movie - Step Up 2
T.V. show - Good Luck Charlie, Phineas and Ferb
Mady might be a little bit forgetful at times but she is so dependable and I can always trust her with the younger kids, she's always been a little mom. She makes good decisions and I know that wherever she is, she is making the right choice. She is a good example to others and stands up for what she knows is right. She is also such a HAPPY girl! She almost always has a smile on her face and she is so giggly. Almost anything can set her off and then she can't stop forever! Her laugh is contagious. She is also quite the talker, she could talk your ear off sometimes... especially if it's time for bed. I think she pretty much tells me everything and I'm so glad that she feels like she can talk to me, I wonder when that will change. Hopefully it never does! Mady is a wonderful daughter and sister and we are so lucky to have her in our family. We love you Mady!

Easter 2010

"It's beginning to look a lot like... Christmas?" Oh wait, it's Easter. I got a little confused there for a second because we woke up to SNOW! Crazy! Well, regardless of the weather, the Easter Bunny was still able to visit our house during the night and hide our eggs and leave plenty of treats and toys for the kids in their baskets. When the kids woke up they immediately went hunting for the goods! The Easter Bunny was pretty creative this year, hiding the eggs in silly places and some of our baskets were pretty hard to find! Kaden's was under Breckyn's tea set table in her room, Breckyn's was taking a shower, Ashlyn's was hanging up in Kaden's closet under his Jedi cloak and Mady found hers packed away in the linen closet with all the towels!



It was General Conference this weekend so we had a lot of time to hang out at home, watch Conference and eat lots and lots of sugar! After Conference was over we all got ready to go to my Grandparents. Mady and Ash took about a million pictures of their new headbands, here are two...


Every year we have an Easter dinner at my grandparents and an Easter hunt in the yard for the kids. We weren't sure that we would be able to have the hunt outside because of the snow but it had all cleared out by dinner time.



At dinner baby J. was entertaining everyone. He really liked the chocolate pudding and would give the BIGGEST, cheesiest smile after every taste. It was funny stuff.

Took a quick picture of my grandparents and other family members chit chatting at the table after dinner. They are so cute, I'm so glad we all still get together to celebrate the holidays!

The kids wanted to take a picture of their baskets with all their loot!




It was a good day today! We got to be spiritually uplifted by conference, spend time with extended family and fill our bellies with good food and LOTS of treats. Yep, definitely a good day!

Decorating Eggs

Tonight we took our kids to the "Reflections of Christ" exhibit over at the Daybreak church house. It was really neat to see the photographs and to watch the video of the process the photographers and models went through to make sure each picture projected the feeling they were trying to capture. They really put a lot of thought into it. I think one of everyone's favorites was the picture of the angels heralding the birth of Christ. I also really liked the picture of John the Baptist and Christ hugging and smiling in the water after Christ was baptized. It was the perfect thing to take the kids to for Easter. It's so hard to find activities that revolve around the true meaning of Easter and not just the Easter bunny. With that said, after the exhibit we all went over to the Lewis' and decorated easter eggs. The kids had a blast together and they were very creative!


We had tie dyed eggs (those didn't work out so well), and glitter eggs (Brit's FAVORITE, she couldn't get over them), and painted eggs and eggs that said "I love Mom" (my favorite), eggs covered in stickers, eggs with General Grievous drawn on them, and a few cracked eggs... whoops.



After everyone was finished coloring their eggs, we made bunny cupcakes. They turned out really cute and not only were they fun to make but they were fun to eat as well!




Now off to bed so the Easter Bunny can come!