He LOVES Dogs!

Maddox has always loved animals and Alice, my brother's dog, was no different. He would follow her everywhere. When she laid down, he would lay down next to her or on her. She was so patient with him and would let him pull her hair and lay on her or crawl over her. I think she just liked all the attention and dog biscuits he would give her. Every time she would eat a biscuit from his hand, he would giggle as her tongue licked his fingers. Yucky, but so cute!

My Dad's Baptism

The day after Christmas, on my dad's birthday, my dad was baptized! It was such a neat experience to see and makes me want to be a better person and example. I won't lie. It was a huge suprise and all happened so quickly, but it was the best Christmas present a person could ever ask for. This time next year we will hopefully be able to be sealed as a family.

My sister gave a talk on baptism, then Zach baptized my dad. The Dilworths and Natalie and Caitlin Luehr then sang the song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then Jeff confirmed my dad. Brian gave the closing prayer.

Swimming

Maddox also had his first swimming lesson while we were in MT. He is deathly afraid of water. He hates baths and won't go into or near the bathroom if the bath or shower is on. Of course, I still have to bathe him, so he just cries the whole time I wash him and he is in and out in a couple minutes. After about 10 minutes in here, he warmed up slightly.

Here is Jett and Zach, Jett's dad. Don't they look alike?Maddox and me.

I even got Maddox to lay backwards in the water, much to my surprise.

Sledding

With all the snow we got this Christmas in Montana, we had to head outdoors to experience some real sledding...on saucers! They are definitely the way to go. While we were there, my camera died, but I was able to get a quick video of the hill. We had a blast, doing trains and jumps and falling off. At first, I was thinking, this is really scary and how in the world did I do this and think it was fun as a child, but thankfully I got over it. Wow, can those saucers fly!

Maddox's Christmas Presents

From my Uncle Gary (my dad's brother), I got a box of My Little Ponies. This year from Uncle Gary my sister got a Barbie and a real-looking plastic horse and my brother got Pokemon and Power Rangers. These are all the toys we LOVED when we were growing up. It was such a treat to open them and remember my childhood and how fun it was.

I tried to share that fun with Maddox. He just sat and stared at it. Then swatted it with his hand and crawled right on by.

True to his manhood, as Jeff would say, Maddox made Daddy very proud at that moment. Here he is with his other toy we got him for Christmas: a slinky!

The Best Christmas Present Ever

This year I got a wonderful Christmas present. I don't have a picture of it becasue it is getting resized, but I got a new wedding ring! A couple months ago, during the whole moving fiasco, my diamond fell out of its setting. Lucky for us, we found it on the carpet in our living room! What are the chances of that!?!?

Jeff took it to Jared to get priced about resetting it. They quoted him a ridiculous amount and said they had never seen anything like this before, especially because the diamond was set in platinum. We had decided on getting me a nice fake ring to wear until we were done with dental school, but Jeff, without telling me, went to Kay to get another price quote. They told him they could do it for 1/10th of what Jared would reset it for, plus throw in a couple wedding bands with diamonds set in them, which I originally wanted but never got due to money. We got everything from Kay for what Jared said it would cost just to set the diamond! Amazing and what a great suprise from a sweet husband. He used the extra money he earned from working some Saturdays at a dental clinic to do it. It is beautiful! I will post a pic when I get it back, although a picture will not do justice to the thoughtfulness of my wonderful husband!

First Sledding Experience

Jett and Maddox had their first sledding experience. Puff ball is all I have to say about their snow apparel. Here is Jett going down. He didn't know what to think but he didn't enjoy his astronaut outfit that much.And as for Maddox, he started crying. I think he was just tired. The hat Maddox is wearing is a hat from my dad's Uncle Melvin, who passed away a couple years ago. I remember going to his house out in Boston, Massachusetts when I was little. It was so fun! We ate lobster for the first time there. Well, everyone else did. I pretended to eat mine and instead threw it away later. We think Maddox got his big head from Uncle Melvin (and my dad). Big, bald heads. Uncle Melvin's hat fits Maddox perfectly!

Best Friends

This Christmas was so fun. I was able to see some of my bestest friends in the whole wide world and our kids got to meet too! From left to right, for memorie's sake: Tyler, Jenn, and their baby Conner, Valissa, Zach, and their baby Jett, Jeff, me, and Maddox, and Andrea, Randy and their little girl Alora. The girls with their kids...All of us have boys within eight months of each other except Andrea, who has the cutest, most beautiful little girl. She is going to have her pick when they get older (at least that's what us moms hope for). These girls I grew up with. You know when you meet someone and it just feels like you have known them forever and no matter how long you go without seeing or talking to them you still have no problem talking to them? While all friends are so fun to be with, these lifelong friends are the best, my sister included!

We were also able to spend time with our childhood friends, who are practically family. We were hoping one of them would marry into the family, but it doesn't look like that will happen. These girls are a lot of the reason my sister and I stayed active in the church growing up. They lived just two houses down from us and are triplets. The third is a boy, Nathan, and while he is cool too, he usually opted not to play ponies with us.

Caitlin might be getting married this summer, so she tried on Valissa's and my wedding dress. She looked beautiful in it! Natalie, you are next!

Cousins and Aunts

Jett on the left and Maddox on the right. This is the classic Jett pose. His mouth is ALWAYS WIDE OPEN and drool is ALWAYS coming out. Cute little boys.

They were looking out the window together and then Maddox started trying to crawl up Jett.My sister, Jett, and me.

Don't they have the same eyes?

The Maddox Tree

When I was growing up, a tradition we had was to go out the day after Thanksgiving and wander for hours in the snow looking for the perfect Christmas tree. Along with the perfect family Christmas tree, my siblings and I also got little trees to put in our rooms. Because Maddox had the stomach flu when we went out to get our family Christmas tree this year, my dad spotted the perfect little "Maddox tree" just down the lane from our house. So we bundled Maddox up and headed out on the sled to chop it down!

I guess I forgot to take a picture of it all lit up, but it was a nice little tree and we can't wait to do it again next time we are out there for Christmas.