Easter Pics

Easter 2011

This Easter was just as much fun as the last. Each year I really look forward to watching the girls run furiously to find all the Easter eggs the bunny has left. This year Ashley kept up with her cousins ages 5 and 7. I could barely get her to stop for pictures she was so focused. Maddie really picked up the idea once we pointed out where the eggs were...she insisted on picking them up herself or she'd scream at you.."Nooooooo!" This year all of Dave's family came down to his parents cabin (in Capitol Reef Utah). We rented a one bedroom cabin with a kitchen that is just at the end of his parent's property. The rest of the family opted to camp out in tents....in the RAIN and SNOW. Glad it wasn't me:) We drove on Saturday to a special place called the Donut Hole for a picnic and hike. You climb up the side of a steep rock, and when you get to the top you are overlooking a huge donut hole filled with the softest sand. You attach a climbing rope to the rock and shimmy down into the hole. Ash was so tough climbing all by herself to the top of the rock and Dave helped her shimmy down the rope. Dave carried Maddie all the way up the rock then helped her shimmy down as well. We arrived back to the cabin around 9pm and quickly dyed a few Easter eggs before the kids collapsed into bed. On Sunday, we started the egg hunt around 11am, then had a wonderful ham dinner around 2pm. All the campers packed up to go home, but we stayed Sunday night and made a leisurely trip home to SLC on Monday. We drove home via Goblin Valley and made a quick stop to see the funny looking rocks. It was raining so we opted not to take the girls out of the car for a quick hike.
We had a great time visiting with Mike and Katie and Baby Taylor. She is now 7 months old and loving her baby food. She is also very motivated to move and should be crawling shortly. She scoots on her tummy on the floor to whatever she wants. She is always so happy and smiley, and was so good all weekend.
Thanks again Grandpa and Grandma Augason for all your hospitality:)

Little Gym and Gymnastics

January brought the close of Fall semester at Little Gym with Maddie and Mr. Braden our favorite teacher. It also brought the beginning a a 6 week community education tumbling class for Ashley. We bought Ashley her first leotard, and she changes into it almost everyday at some point. She did really well in class, watching a 4 year old try to do jumping jacks is good for laughter. Gosh darn it, she really tried!

Madison's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe she is 2 years old already! I think she still has multiple personality disorder. One minute she is so happy and playing nicely...the next minute screaming wildly and throwing punches. She looks at me devilishly as she runs from me at the store, them screams like a banshee when I capture her and buckle her in the cart. She adores Ashley...as long as Ash let's her do whatever she wants and never steals her toys. She has become QUITE attached to her white blankie, "B" as she calls it "BB" for Binky. "B" gets dragged everywhere on the floor and accumulates roughly 2 pounds of dog fur daily, then she rubs her face in it and snuggles...ugh. When I try to steal it away to wash it she screams like a crazy person. I tried going to get a second one at Target, but they only had it in pink. I bought it anyway thinking the background color would not matter. I was wrong, evidently it is too clean, too pink and too pretty for her. Ugh again.
She is finally starting to eat well. She gained quite a bit of weight between 18 and 24 months. She refuses to use a high chair, so apparently food tastes better in a big girl chair with no bib. We are working to just use Binky at nap time and bedtime, so far 1 week in OK. Maybe total removal this summer:)
She has become enchanted with the training potty. When we are at home I put her in pull-ups with no pants and all she does all day is pull them down, sit on the potty, wipe with TP, and pull them back up....ALL DAY. No actual pee mind you...I suppose it is still too early.
I told Dave before she was born I wanted my second baby to be more snugly...now I'm eating my words. "Hold me" are Maddie's favorite words 24 hours a day. Makes it hard to get things done when she wants to snuggle all day.
Maddie, even though you can drive me crazy on any given day, you also make me laugh as you dance in circles with your eyes closed and sing your loudest to songs in the car and wave your arms like you are conducting a symphony. You are my sweet baby and I love you.
These photos are her professional 2 year pics from Foto Fly in Draper. For $80 you a get a CD with all the images to use as you please. They do a fantastic job!
The second slide show is photos of her party at our house with the family.

Valentines Day 2011

Dave and Ash went to our annual HOA Daddy Daughter Date night at the community center. This year they danced, made candy bags and painted picture frames. Next year Maddie will be old enough to join them....Dave has always wanted a twosome;)!
Valentines morning we had heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream...yummy.

New Years in Vegas 2010

We always go down to Las Vegas for New Years. The weather is better and there is lots to do:)...This year the weather was COLD, and WINDY. We still had fun driving to the new Hoover Dam bridge, playing games at Circus Circus and visitng with Mike, Katie and Taylor since they did not come to SLC for Christmas this year.

Christmas 2010

Christmas with both families close by can sometimes be CRAZY. Everybody wants time with us and the kids. We enjoy our families, however I want to start creating memories with just Dave and the girls....our own family traditions. This year we decided that for the 1st time we would stay home on Christmas Eve and just hang out in our PJ's, eat pizza and watch Christmas movies. Brilliant....until Deb got food poisoning. I started throwing up around 4pm and went to bed by 8pm and felt HORRIBLE. So much for our fun family night. Dave, bless him...set up everything for the next morning and was such a help. Thank you honey. By Christmas morning I was fine:) We had both sets of grandparents, Aunt Cathy and Grandma Gertrude up in the morning for breakfast, stockings and PRESENTS! The girls had a great time opening presents...and soon it was time for an afternoon snooze. After nap time we loaded into the car and headed to Dave's parents house for dinner, more presents and poker! We arrived home Christmas night around 11:30pm and happily slept late the next day, and stayed in our jammies all day.