Last Days in Kentucky

Our last few weeks in Kentucky were full of excitement and celebration and goodbyes and tears...and strep throat, which we didn't find out about until we were in Montana. It was one of the best places I have ever lived and most of that was definitely not due to the incredibly hot and humid summers or bone chilling cold and brown winters...It was one of the best places I have ever lived due to the people. We lived near family and friends that I will never forget and hope to never lose contact with. And Jeff graduated from dental school! Yeah!

I should have some photos to post but right now we can't find our camera. Wups! It will turn up somewhere. You always "lose" stuff in a move right? Unfortunately we lose things we really really really need, like medicine and cameras and one of Maddox's three lightening mcqueen cars. Really bad. But we made it...halfway. We are still living with my parents in Kalispell, MT until we find a house to rent. Then we will move again. Jeff finally decided on a job in Polson, MT working for the tribe clinic. He worked there last summer and had a great time. We are excited. We miss our friends but know we will see you all again!

Happy Birthday to You!

It was Jeff's birthday over the weekend. He turned 29, although my family all thought he turned 30 this year. My sister, for some reason, was under that impression and spread the word. It was funny. Here is a picture of Jeff blowing the candles out on his cake. He made it himself, with a little help from Nate and Mallory, who showed him how to make fondant frosting. If you didn't know, Jeff loves baking and says if dentistry fails him, he will open up a bakery shop instead. I told him he better start developing some recipes...Not that he is going to fail at dentistry at all. It is just that we graduate in one month and still don't have a job! AHHHH!!! We do have prospects though and so know something will work out, but just don't know which one or where or when. Anyway, back to his birthday, we celebrate birth weeks in our house. This is a newly declared tradition as of Jeff's first birthday after we were married. He kept getting presents in the mail from family and friends and had two birthday cakes and decided he really liked having a week long birthday, so now we do birth weeks and the final day being your actual birthday. This means you get special treatment throughout the week, like a happy birthday sign, special breakfasts, naps, treats, bike riding time, nintendo time, or in Jeff's case, time to make his own birthday cake! And here it is! The famous cake! Can you tell what it is? Jeff and Nate even went as far as numbering the tooth and creating the specific tooth grooves. It is a molar of some sort, but I am unsure as to the exact one. The pink is for the gums, although Maddox thought it was for him, his favorite color being pink. The other day we went shopping for sandals for spring and when he got out of the car he declared, "Mommy, I want pink sandals!" I told him to see what they have first. Maybe red. When we got in the store and I was looking at Embree's sandals, he wandered down to the bigger girl shoes and found some all pink sandals and tried to put them on, declaring this is what he wanted. I told him they were too small...all the pink ones were too small and redirected him to the ugly brown ones for boys on the next isle. Silly boy!

Maddox Update

Maddox is three now and weighs in around 34 lbs., give or take a pound of two. His head is still basically off the charts, but his body is catching up. He loves to use his imagination more. Above is a picture of him buildling a lawnmower, which we finally figured out is a sprinkler. He kept pretending to shoot us with water.

He loves the park and riding his bike.

And this one is crooked, but you get the idea. Silly boy.

Here he is with his beloved drains. He LOVES drains and says he wants to fix them when he grows up. So now we have taught him to say he wants to be a plumber when he grows up. He also loves trains, so maybe we should focus on him being a train conductor.

He also tells jokes now. His first one went something like this: I had just told him I loved him. Jeff then asked him, "Maddox, do you love Daddy?" Maddox: No, Mommy! "Maddox, do you love Embree?" Maddox: No, Mommy! (Pause) Just kidding!

And here he is eating sprinkles. He puts them in anything we let him, especially pancakes!

He is growing up so quickly, but still loves to snuggle once in awhile. He is very smart and a very good big brother, as long as he gets all the cars and toys and you don't try to tell him he has to share. We love him so much and feel blessed to have him in our lives.

Embree Update

They both love to swing...mainly Maddox likes to swing, but I have to put Embree in the swing too. Otherwise she eats bark chips and leaves and rocks.

Embree is now 14 months old. She barely weighs in at 20 lbs. 6 oz. and is fairly tall for her age. She loves shoes, jewelry, makeup, hair bands, and especially animals. Animal anything and you have her attention. She would sit in my lap for hours reading books about animals and she carries these plastic animals around almost everywhere. Her favorite is a dog or a horse. When she sees a dog she will proclaim, "Bumble!" which is the name of my dad's dog...It came with that name. Not the coolest, but she can say it and she loves that dog!

She loves climbing and at any given moment I can usually find her on the kitchen table or in something, whether it be a pot, a box, or the dryer. She still LOVES her bottle and still wakes up once a night to eat...which is way better than the three or four she was doing just a month ago. She has been a difficult baby but sure is fun to have around and we love her so much. She is loved by everyone everywhere she goes, even if they think she is a boy, which we get almost weekly as her hair is still fairly thin.

This is her favorite thing to do, after I have gotten her ready for the day. While I get ready in the morning and do my make up, she will sit in the sink and play. Then I will get her ready for the day again...

For Christmas Embree got this rocking horse from my sister and a toothbrush and toothpaste. She carried them around all morning and still will throw a fit if she sees you brushing your teeth and she doesn't get to brush hers. Really she just likes to eat the toothpaste.

Christmas morning Embree found Santa's left over frosted sugar cookies and chowed down.

September in our lives

I always hate it when people do really big long posts with a bunch of pictures that have no relation to each other, but here I am doing one, although I will argue that my pictures do have some relation to each other....they are all from the month of September 2010!

During this month, Jeff decided to try out rock climbing. He loved it!

As a mom, I am still figuring out how to balance my time. There are so many things to do and prioritizing is something I have yet to master. Hence, the next two pictures of Maddox. I was doing the dishes in the kitchen and I noticed how quiet the kids were, which is usual, so I peeked my head in and noticed Maddox had gotten out several opened boxes of baby rice cereal and was making it snow all over his trains. I caught him in the act right when he started, but instead of stopping him, I thought, "Well, I can either stop him and make him clean up the mess or I can let him finish his mess making, giving me enough time to finish the dishes, and then make him clean up his mess, which would be a little bigger, but a mess all the same. I let him finish making his mess...Do you ever do that? Perhaps it is bad parenting, but sometimes i just need a break to get some things done, even if it means more work for me (and him) in the future. Still figuring out how to prioritize!

Here he is cleaning up his mess and doing a great job too!

Here he is after I put a stop to the mess making, which I did.

Embree is into everything. The following picture is why I let Maddox continue to make his mess, so I could get the dishes in before she attacked. When she hears the dishwasher door open, she will come running!

She loves to climb into everything and on everything. Her newest favorite is this tub, which she will spend quite a bit of time in each day, just hanging out.

She also really likes the fridge and strawberries in particular. If I cut them up and give them to her in her high chair, she won't eat them, but if I leave them in the fridge in the container and she gets them out herself and eats them whole, she loves them. Very independent.

Maddox getting ready for school, which is really enjoys. It is fun to hear him come home and try to tell me all about what he did. Each time I ask him what his favorite thing was and he says, "Rings." I have no idea what that is, but he loves it!

A couple weeks ago Maddox was spinning to get himself dizzy and fell and hit his head on the piano bench. It split open. We took him to Doug to get checked out and he got a few bandages, but no stitches.

A close up right after it happened and was washed off.

We went apple picking this year again...our last year...it was so much fun.

In preparation for school, Maddox and I read a book called The Kissing Hand. It is about a little raccoom who goes to school for the first time and is scared so his mom kisses his hand and tells him it is his kissing hand and that his mommy's kiss will go with him to school. There were stickers with it. He loves stickers right now and he loves the Kissing Hand.

You can't see it too well, but Embree has a nice shiner here. She somehow got it...still no idea how. Probably something to do with Maddox and his bike cuz he was riding it around the house. I think the bike pedal hit her eye. Anyway, she got sick while she had the black eye and so I took her to the doctor. Of course, they asked me if she is around anyone who might have reason to hit her. I said no, but was thinking, "Maddox." She is always making him mad and taking his toys.

My sister made these cute headbands for Embree when we were out in MT. She won't wear anything on her head right now, so Maddox has taken a liking to them. He really likes the pink one....big surprise!Here is Jeff and the kids after they spent a whole afternoon playing nintendo and beat super mario wii, mainly it was him and Garrett, but we all watched!

We also played outside for a bit and ran throught the sprinklers. Amanda was so nice to take Embree into the water. Embree loved it!

Maddox and Matthew love to jump on Maddox's fire engine bed. They climb on top and take turns jumping.

Montana Summer

We had a wonderful summer in Montana. I am short on time, as usual, so these are mostly out of order, but at least I am updating!

Here is Embree, now almost 10 months old. She claps, dances, waves, and does Popcorn Popping and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She talks a lot and today we think she actually said hi, although time will tell. She is a terrible sleeper and eater, but we are working on it and she is slowly improving. She is very smart and active and happy as long as we don't make her sleep or eat!Maddox with his stroller. I tried to get him to push a stuffed animal, but he wanted his spatulas instead.

This summer my family, meaning my sister and brother and parents, were sealed in the temple. It was a fast trip and it happened the day before Jeff and I left to head back to Kentucky, but it was worth it! How amazing and I am so grateful for eternal families and that now I am sealed to my siblings and parents. maddox has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and wandering around and playing. This is where he finally fell asleep. Just the other night Jeff came out and found him riding his trike around the living room at 3 a.m. Funny now, but not at the time.

We went to visit my dad one day. he is working for the state of Montana flying helicopters to fight forest fires. This is his helicopter.

The boys loved it! Jett is my sister's boy. Maddox and him loved playing together, when they weren't fighting or biting or hitting.

We took a trip out to Portland to visit Jeff's family. Here is Maddox and Simon chowing down on the brownies!

Here is a four generation picture of girls. My mom, Embree, me, and my grandma, Darlyne.

Here is one of us hiking at Silver falls in Oregon. It was beautiful. You get to walk behind and under the waterfall in the background, kind of like in Robin Hood.

Here is Jeff with Maddox swimming at Whitefish Lake. Maddox loved the water. By the time we left he was going in up to his neck and trying to swim. Jeff is happy about that because the first purchase we will have for recreation when we are out of dental school is a boat!

When we went to the lake, a local sports store had some canoes, paddleboards, and such to try for free. Here is Jeff doing it.

Here I am trying it out. I failed. Some kid canoed by me and asked, "So this is your first time, huh?" It was pretty obvious. I was shaking and barely balancing. Then he very kindly rammed me and I almost fell off, but managed to just fall to my knees. In case you didn't know, I am scared of the water and was almost crying by the time I made it back to shore.

A view of Flathead Lake. The mountains in the distance are where I live.

We took Maddox horse back riding after Jeff got back from a cattle roundup with my brother in law on his ranch. It was fun!

Maddox loved the backyard and the hose, as long as you didn't spray him back.

Here I am reading to Maddox and Jett while they eat graham crackers. This was a rare moment when these two were sitting still.

To finish it all, here is Maddox right before we left to fly out to Montana, pretending to pump. Jeff was not too excited about this picture, but when we got out to visit my sister, who also just had a baby, her son Jett did the same thing. They just love their mommies so much and want to be just like them!