Gardening and Canning

 This year we tried to learn more and work harder on our garden as well as canning foods.  In May, we prepped the soil and planted the garden.

 Then we enjoyed the vegetables of our labor.  We had tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers.  The peach trees grew bigger this year, but was not quite ready for producing.  Also, we planted blackberries and strawberries.

Madelyn was a great helper---she enjoyed the eating part mostly, whether it was tomatoes, zucchini, or dirt from the garden.

 Then the next phrase started.  We started canning and freezing.  We bottled tomato juice and spaghetti sauce. We froze salsa, squash, zucchini, corn, peaches, jalapeno peppers and stuffed bell peppers.

 Then we canned peaches, pears, and grape juice.  It was really nice to have Todd be enthusiastic about doing all this, and he was always willing to help.  Also, we were so blessed to have family and friends share with us peaches, pears, grapes, tomatoes, and corn. Thank you!

To Grandmother's House We Go

 Rebecca and Debbie wanted to make sure they visited with Grams while they were out here. So we enjoyed seeing Grams and Gordon several times during the weekend.

 Uncle Gordon was sweet to take us out to lunch.

 Madelyn loves to play with the big stuffed dog at Grams' house.

We loved having Aunt Deb and Becca come see us! Thanks for coming!

Stewart Falls Hike

On Saturday, we took Rebecca and Debbie to see the Fall leaves while hiking Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon.  Todd was a great daddy to carry Madelyn. 

 

 We had a lovely day and found some red and yellow leaves.

 The waterfall had a nice mist to cool us off and was very beautiful.

Sisters Weekend

At the beginning of September, I was so lucky to have two sisters come for a visit! Debbie and Rebecca flew in for a long weekend. 

  

 On Friday, we stopped to see the update on the temple's construction.

 Then, while doing a driving tour of BYU, we decided we need to stop and get mint brownies.  What a treat!

By the late afternoon, Debbie and Rebecca went to spend the evening with Grandma Fuller.  Madelyn had such a fun time with her aunts that she fell asleep eating dinner.

A Day at Snowbird

 While Jon and Meghan's family was staying at Snowbird with the Millards, they were so kind to invited us up for the day.  Since David was back from his study aboard, he joined Maddie and me for our day trip.  We enjoyed a nice nature walk.  All the kids loved getting rides from David.

 We enjoyed just having time to get to know Fuller, Olivia, Logan, Will, and Daphne better as well as their cousins.

 We made it to the observation deck!

I was amazed as just how far you could see from this point.  I could see the Kennecott Cooper Mine in the far background.

After our hike, we ate yummy sandwiches and were able to visit with just Jon for a while.  Then we all went swimming together.  I enjoyed hearing the miraculous stories Jon shares from his life.  He has some good ones!  

Jon and Meghan's Family Comes for a Visit

Back in August, we were so excited to be invited to Olivia's baptism.  Jon and Meghan's family was coming to Utah for vacation and decided to do the baptism out here.  

Madelyn loved meeting her cousins, especially Daphne for the first time!

The next day, the family came for Sunday dinner. We were thrilled to visit and play with the kids.

We stopped by the Provo City Center Temple construction site as well as did a driving tour of BYU campus. 

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.