Christmas 2010

Christmas is such a fun time of year. Even more so now that Madi is getting older. I don't think she really understood what was going on but she was all for opening the presents. Aaron and I woke Madi up around 9. She woke up so happy. She got even more excited after we let her open her presents. She kept trying to open them up before Christmas! She wanted to play with all her toys before going on to the next item so we finally gave up and let her run wild. She slowly opened her remaining gift through out the day.

Madi right after she woke up. She definitely takes after her Daddy when it comes to that! Happy, Happy=)

Her Christmas jammies are a little big on her. You might notice in this next picture that her pants were falling off!

We eventually gave up and let her run around without them!!

After breakfast we took Madi to the school yard to play on the slides.

After being cooped up for most of the month she loved being outside. Even though it was very chilly!

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. I talked with my family on the phone on and off for a couple of hours. Madi took a nice long nap, she was worn out after all the excitement. Aaron's parents came over for a little while and we visited.

Over all it was a great day filled with love and warmth. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

December 2010

December was a fun month despite everyone being sick pretty much the entire month!! Madi discovered her love for all things snow. She was (and still is) constantly asking to eat it! We made snow ice cream but for the most part stayed in (again we were sick!). I'm going to do a separate Christmas post so these next pictures are pretty random!

Madi playing with a Halloween magazine. She must have hid it at some point in October because I could have sworn that I had thrown it away!
Madi trying seafood for the first time. It was a shrimp and crab pizza. She liked the crab alright but was horrified every time she tried a shrimp!

Aaron went snowshoeing with a co-worker and his wife. He had a lot of fun despite getting more sick from it.

These next 2 pictures are of Madi playing peek-a-boo with the card table. She had just eaten spaghetti and was pretty messy!

November 2010

We didn't really do much in November. Of course there was Thanksgiving but neither Aaron or I took any pictures. We went to my parents house this year. For the most part everything was very laid back. We played card games, visited and over all had a good time.

These next few of pictures are of Madi having fun and causing messes. Enjoy!!

October 2010

Madi has discovered how fun it is to draw! She's still figuring out that it should be limited to paper and coloring books only. I've already had to wash the walls a couple of times of her happy wall scribbles!

Every October Aaron and I try to take some kind of vacation. It's our most favorite time of year. The leaves are changing, the air seems cleaner, it's not deathly hot or bone chilling cold and its the month we were married in=) We celebrated our 6th anniversary by going to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Looking back a 15 hour car drive with a toddler might not be the best idea but thankfully Madi traveled like a pro!

Our first pit-stop was Durango, CO. We had to switch hotels when the A/C wasn't working in our room and the desk clerk told us our best solution would be to find a new hotel! After getting re-situated somewhere else we found a park for Madi to play at.

The next day we went to Carlsbad, NM. We spent 2 nights there, exploring Carlsbad Caverns and watching the bats come out at night! I was kinda afraid of getting hit by bat guano. Aaron probably wouldn't admit it but he was too! We are thinking about going back in 6 or 7 years so Madi can really enjoy it. She was a little too confined for her to really like the caverns. We didn't take any family type pics there (at least not ones where everyone looks ok), but Aaron took a lot of the cave itself. Maybe (no promises) I'll get around to doing a Aaron scenic picture post!

The morning we left Carlsbad we stopped at a the Living Desert State Park. It's like a small zoo for rehabilitated/injured animals. The entire exhibit was very neat and set up on a loop trail of 1.3 miles with animals (of course properly secured) spread throughout. Madi's favorite was the mountain lion exhibit where one of the lions was pacing the parameters of his cage. It's a good thing we went in the late morning. If we had got there any later it would have been too hot!!

Madi and I smelling the flowers.

Madi was still smelling them in this pic!

Aaron and Madi posing for the camera. Madi was holding onto Aaron for dear life!!

After that we made our way to White Sands, NM. We all had fun playing in the sand!

Made especially liked sliding down the dunes!

We were going to go camping that night but we missed the check in time at the campsite by about half an hour. Instead we made our way to Las Cruses, NM and stayed there for the night.

The next morning we stopped at Saguaro National Park in Arizona. We didn't stay very long because Madi (and I) couldn't handle the heat!! It was a pretty park but kinda expensive for just doing a quick drive. There are plenty of saguaros outside the park that you could see for free!

That night we stayed at Mingus Campground in between Preston, AZ and Sedona, AZ. It was an awesome place to camp and we both wished that we could have stayed longer. The next morning we made our way to Cedar City, UT.

We stopped at Marble Canyon Bridge on our way back to Utah. Madi had fun running over the bridge.

This picture was taken at a park in Cedar City. We stayed for a couple days and then went back home.

September 2010

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping up Navajo Lake in Cedar City Canyon. The next night we had a bbq at a friends. These next few pictures are from the bbq.

Alicia and Madi waiting for food at the bbq. The grill wasn't working so we ended up ordering pizza. The pizza took almost 2 hours to get delivered.....and we still had to pay for it!

Madi kissing the wired peacock structure thing-a-ma-bob.

Madi playing on the grass.

Later that month Aaron photographed a friends' wedding in Hanna, UT. Madi and I, before the wedding just hangin' out.

Aaron and Madi having fun before the dinner they had after the wedding ceremony.