Wednesday, October 23, 2013

14 Months of Fun

It has been so fun to see what Madelyn likes and learns as she gets older.  I really have enjoyed this stage of her life.  
-It amazes me just how quickly she can learn something.  Also, she is always so happy and smiles.  For example, when I showed her how to knock, she got so excited when she could do it. 
-Maddie is a big eater.  She can sit in her high chair for an hour and be happy just eating her grapes, cheerios, etc.
-This past Sunday, I could tell Madelyn was not quite full after I feed her breakfast.  So I told her that I packed applesauce in the diaper bag, so she could have it when we were at church.  Sure enough, within a few minutes, during the opening song, she starts trying to get into the zipper to open the pocket with the food in it.  I decided to go ahead and just feed her the applesauce just to keep her quiet.  Boy, did she down that cup of applesauce.  The lady giving the opening prayer, did gave a long one, but Madelyn ate the entire cup of applesauce during the opening prayer.  
-Madelyn will eat anything! As long as you are eating it, she wants it.  Which is good in lots of ways, she will eat kale, grapes, tomatoes, and loves Todd's green smoothies!  We haven't given her a lot of diary yet, just trying to hold out a little longer.  Yet, every time Todd eats a yogurt she wants some.  So today, I found Maddie digging into the garbage canning, pulled out the yogurt Todd ate for lunch, and began licking the container.


-The sounds that Madelyn is learning continues to grow.  Recently she has learned "Ni-Ni" and "La-La", along with "Da-Da" and "Na-Na"
-She loves to sing.  Right now, the only tune she knows is the ABC song, but you know when she is truly happy because she just sings away---while playing by herself, in the highchair, car seat, and even in the bath tub.  (I have come to learn that Todd does the same thing---when he is truly happy he sings and whistles.  It is so cute that Madelyn has her Daddy's trait.)
-Madelyn has graduated from crawling and loves to walk.  She does really well and will bring me her shoes and jacket when she wants to go outside.  

-She loves to look at books.  Turning the pages and pointing to the moon, butterflies, and flowers are her favorite parts of books.  Also, she loves toys that makes noise-the doggy that sings, the turtle that she can ride and bounce on, and the globe that spins. 
-Even though Madelyn loves to be with her Mama, she loves to play with her Daddy.  It doesn't matter what Todd does, she wants to be help him.  
-She loves to play in the dirt and pick and eat flowers.


 -I love being able to do pig tails in her hair.  She has a natural little curl on the ends of the hair.  Also, I am enjoying really being able to communicate with her.  She does a good "huh-huh" if its a yes, and the sign language of "more" really well.  She is such a blessing in our lives and we are enjoying being parents so much.


Monday, September 30, 2013

August 13th, 2013-Madelyn's Birthday

So earlier this year, while we were attending David's BYU graduation, we heard Elder L. Tom Perry speak.  He said, Sharing a family tradition told of how his parents would put four objects-a baby bottle, a bank, a toy and a Bible-in front of their child on the baby's first birthday.  "Each item represented the different values each of us might have, our four basic needs in mortality.  Family tradition held that whichever item the baby chose, that would become their focus in life."  For the rest of the talk, see http://www.lds.org/church/news/elder-perry-tells-byu-graduates-to-keep-priorities-balanced?lang=eng 

So I thought it would be fun to do this tradition as well to see if it really works.  We put out a bottle, a Book of Mormon, a toy, and a bowl full of money and waited to see what Maddie would choose.
  

 The baby bottle it is! Elder Perry taught that the bottle symbolized good physical health and emotional strength.   (Maybe we won't have an emotional teenage daughter, that would be nice!)  Second place was the Book of Mormon, which represented spiritual strength, so we felt pretty good about her selections.  

 During her special day, we played a lot together, she took a great nap, as well as took great care of her baby dolls.
 For dinner, I made sure to have all food that she could eat.  So we feasted on sweet potatoes, steamed zucchini and then watermelon for dessert.
 Todd helped her blow out her candle in the piece of watermelon.
 Then she dove in!  It was quite the messy, juicy treat for her. Then for one of Madelyn's favorite times of the day-bath time.  I gave her an extra long bath.  
 During bath time, the doorbell rang and a friend from the ward dropped off a birthday present.  Once we dried off, it was time to open more presents! Madelyn gave cute pairs of socks, a snuggy soft blanket, and flower hair clips.
It was a wonderful day to cherish our sweet Maddie Jane.

Madelyn's Birthday Party at South Fork




For Madelyn's First Birthday Party with the Fishers, we met them at South Fork Park up in Provo Canyon.  We had a tasty chicken dinner and fresh homemade salsa that Hailey and Christopher helped me make earlier that day.  


 Then, Papa helped Madelyn open her presents.  She received some cute books from Grandpa and Gramie Shurtz as well as an adorable dress, rubber duckie, and toys from Papa and Grandma Fisher.

 We were glad that Roger, Jill, Susan, Hailey, Christopher, and Carson could make it.
 We played several outdoor games and made smores on a fire.

 We are so blessed to have this sweet child in our family!

Weekend with Hailey and Christopher




In August, we spent a weekend up in Clinton.  Saturday afternoon, we took Hailey and Christopher with us.  We love all our nieces and nephews, and we were excited to spend the weekend with them.  On our way home, we stopped at Scheels to ride the indoor Ferris wheel.  




Maddie and I waited in line with them anxiously but were a little too short to ride on it.  






It was worth the wait to see them up up so high and with their big grins!  They did say that Todd thoroughly enjoyed rocking them back and forth making the ride that much more scarier. 
 Afterwards, we wondered the store and enjoyed the photo ops.


 On Monday, we took them to see the Provo City Center Temple construction
 as well as my favorite tree in Provo.

 Then we took a tour of UVU's athletic faculties.  Christopher showed off his posing skills.

We stopped to see Todd's office.
Also, we showed them the baseball, softball, and soccer field. 
 Todd even gave them a tour on the golf cart, which was probably their favorite part of the weekend.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Family Reunions







We started the Fuller Reunion at lunch time. 





We shared stories about Grandpa and Grandma's lives and had tables with artifacts from their lives.









Glen, Barbara, Grandma, Gordon, Gene, and Gerald Fuller
Fuller Reunion 2013

We forgot our camera at the Shurtz reunion, but had a wonderful time with the blow dart guns and visiting with the family.
Shurtz Reunion 2013

Grandpa and Gramie come for a Visit






My parents came for a week to visit.  We enjoyed having special time while they were here.

Madelyn enjoyed the special toys that they brought for her.  My mom painted a tea set for her.  We frequently have tea parties now.  Also, as my parents brought my old Cabbage Patch baby doll and another one they found, Maddie became a mother of twins.  She LOVES to walk them in the stroller and feed them their bottle.

 We took several walks along the Provo River Trail and saw a lovely view of Mt Timp.



 While we were outside swinging, Todd said that this tree would probably crack.  Within a few minutes, the wind blew, and it sure did crack!
 We visited Grams and Gordon.

 Mom did several projects for us, like cleaning the blinds and windows.













Dad and Todd built the patio table together.












They did a great job! 


 We also prepared for the two reunions that was within the week they were here.  In this picture, we were preparing the boxes so the Fullers could have a junking experience.