October 2010

Madi has discovered how fun it is to draw! She's still figuring out that it should be limited to paper and coloring books only. I've already had to wash the walls a couple of times of her happy wall scribbles!

Every October Aaron and I try to take some kind of vacation. It's our most favorite time of year. The leaves are changing, the air seems cleaner, it's not deathly hot or bone chilling cold and its the month we were married in=) We celebrated our 6th anniversary by going to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Looking back a 15 hour car drive with a toddler might not be the best idea but thankfully Madi traveled like a pro!

Our first pit-stop was Durango, CO. We had to switch hotels when the A/C wasn't working in our room and the desk clerk told us our best solution would be to find a new hotel! After getting re-situated somewhere else we found a park for Madi to play at.

The next day we went to Carlsbad, NM. We spent 2 nights there, exploring Carlsbad Caverns and watching the bats come out at night! I was kinda afraid of getting hit by bat guano. Aaron probably wouldn't admit it but he was too! We are thinking about going back in 6 or 7 years so Madi can really enjoy it. She was a little too confined for her to really like the caverns. We didn't take any family type pics there (at least not ones where everyone looks ok), but Aaron took a lot of the cave itself. Maybe (no promises) I'll get around to doing a Aaron scenic picture post!

The morning we left Carlsbad we stopped at a the Living Desert State Park. It's like a small zoo for rehabilitated/injured animals. The entire exhibit was very neat and set up on a loop trail of 1.3 miles with animals (of course properly secured) spread throughout. Madi's favorite was the mountain lion exhibit where one of the lions was pacing the parameters of his cage. It's a good thing we went in the late morning. If we had got there any later it would have been too hot!!

Madi and I smelling the flowers.

Madi was still smelling them in this pic!

Aaron and Madi posing for the camera. Madi was holding onto Aaron for dear life!!

After that we made our way to White Sands, NM. We all had fun playing in the sand!

Made especially liked sliding down the dunes!

We were going to go camping that night but we missed the check in time at the campsite by about half an hour. Instead we made our way to Las Cruses, NM and stayed there for the night.

The next morning we stopped at Saguaro National Park in Arizona. We didn't stay very long because Madi (and I) couldn't handle the heat!! It was a pretty park but kinda expensive for just doing a quick drive. There are plenty of saguaros outside the park that you could see for free!

That night we stayed at Mingus Campground in between Preston, AZ and Sedona, AZ. It was an awesome place to camp and we both wished that we could have stayed longer. The next morning we made our way to Cedar City, UT.

We stopped at Marble Canyon Bridge on our way back to Utah. Madi had fun running over the bridge.

This picture was taken at a park in Cedar City. We stayed for a couple days and then went back home.

September 2010

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping up Navajo Lake in Cedar City Canyon. The next night we had a bbq at a friends. These next few pictures are from the bbq.

Alicia and Madi waiting for food at the bbq. The grill wasn't working so we ended up ordering pizza. The pizza took almost 2 hours to get delivered.....and we still had to pay for it!

Madi kissing the wired peacock structure thing-a-ma-bob.

Madi playing on the grass.

Later that month Aaron photographed a friends' wedding in Hanna, UT. Madi and I, before the wedding just hangin' out.

Aaron and Madi having fun before the dinner they had after the wedding ceremony.

Summer 2010 Update 2

August was a pretty mellow month. We didn't do too much but we did have fun.

Madi learned that the best way to fight off the August heat was Slurpees and Swimming pools!

She also found simple ways to entertain herself when she was finished eating lunch.

Madi had tons of fun playing with "Goop". A simple mixture of cornstarch and water. She especially liked pouring it on her legs!

And of course there are always fun lightning storms during the summer.

And rain storms. Aaron and Madi had fun playing in the rain together!

We went on our yearly drive up the Uinta Mountains and wandered around for a little while. Aaron's sister Esther came with us.

Aaron did the Twin Peaks hike in the Wasatch Mountains....another "death hike" or so he said. He still looks alive to me! He went with his sister's Jessica and Esther and one of Jessica's friends.

Aaron was experiencing hiking hallucinations and thought that he was really punching out a grizzly!

These last two pictures were taken at the peak.

Summer 2010 Update 1

Here is a long time coming pic update of the random things we did this last summer. This will probably have to be done in a few posts so I'll just start out with where my last post left off.

Over the fourth of July weekend Aaron and I took Madi camping at Great Basin National Park in Nevada. Its only a hour and a half drive from my parents house in Delta. You might also know it as Lehman's Cave.

It was a little cold but otherwise an amazing place to camp. We're thinking of making another trip there next year, but we'll probably go in August when its a little warmer!

Madi was so excited to eat outside!

Aaron went ghost hunting with his friend Devin at the Union Station in Ogden. He said that the place was very interesting and kinda creepy at night.

Aaron and his sister Jessica also did the Pfeifferhorn hike up Little Cottonwood Canyon. He called it a death hike, but really that is what he calls most of the Wasatch Mountain hikes! These next pictures were taken at Red Pine Lake which is about half way up the peak (I think).

We also visited random parks and went on a few picnics in July. Madi loves swinging and she eventually learned to love slides too.

Madi.....walking??

Wow! I am such a slacker when it comes to updating our blog! Truth be told there isn't much to blog about!

Of course I can always go on and on about Madi! She's now walking....kind of! About 4 weeks ago she took her first real steps. About 4 or 5 in a row, several times! Both Aaron and I thought "This is it. Madi's walking!" We were so proud!

Boy did she surprise us when she promptly refused to walk anymore. The next few weeks whenever we would try to get her to do it again she would just go limp! Talk about stubborn! We tried everything. "Walk to (insert Mom, Dad, the cat, cheerios, sippy cup, some random toy, whatever else we could think to bribe her with)". Bribery just doesn't work well with her. She would just crawl to whatever it was that we were inticing her with instead!

So we sorta backed off and let her do what she wanted! And once again tonight she's taking her own steps! She was walking on and off for about 30 minutes! I didn't count but I'd say its somewhere around 10 steps in a row was the max. She even stood up by herself, with no help from us or furniture, twice! So maybe she's walking now, maybe not. We'll see what happens!

I went searching for a recent picture of Madi to post with my ramblings. But sadly I've forgotten what a camera is and haven't taken any in a while! Tsk Tsk Shame on me!!