The end of an eventful day...

Maddy had quite the eventful day today. From the cereal incident in the previous post, to helping mom clean the house and mow the lawn, to a hair cut(on the way he fell and scraped his knee) and then a real crash and burn(as you can see on his arm.) He was riding his little green toy motorcycle down our drive way and he would get going really fast and Steve would catch him before he got too much speed and crashed. Well one time we didn't catch him in time and he crashed pretty hard. He scraped up his arms and the other knee. After we bathed him and got his new "big boy" jammies on(which he loves because they have dirt bikes on them) all he wanted to do was watch tv downstairs with daddy. They were watching the Lakers play and he just couldn't stay awake any longer. He crashed and as you can see daddy was loving the cuddle time.

"Maddy do it!"

Maddy is in a very independent stage and is constantly surprising me with what he can do himself. Yesterday Steve went across the street to the neighbors house and Maddy went out shortly after looking for him. I went out to make sure he found him and called his name. All of a sudden he came out of the passenger side of my car with the keys and said "Maddy turn on the car." That was enough to knock some sense into me so I guess we won't be letting him play with our car keys anymore. Today Maddy asked for some cereal so I gave him some in a bowl. He usually eats it without milk unless he asks for it and then we sit at the table. Well today I went downstairs for no more than 5 minutes and when I came back upstairs I got another surprise. He had decided he wanted milk in his cereal. He got the milk out of the fridge himself and poured what was left in the gallon(luckily not a lot) into his bowl. Surprisingly he even put the lid back on the empty milk gallon. As you can see there is hardly any cereal but the bowl is clear full of milk. I'm just glad I came up when I did.

Avery joining in on the fun...

Then he started playing in it-this was about the point when I ended his fun and cleaned it up.

My Grandma Helen's Pictures of Me...

Two of the things I remember most about my Grandma Helen was how much she loved photography and nature. Every year she would take all six of her children and their spouses and her 40+ grandchildren and take their pictures. She would take several pictures of all of us as well as pictures of each family and couple. Her favorite spots were in Maple Canyon especially in the fall when the leaves were perfect for picture taking. She was always looking for the perfect spots. We looked forward to this every year. While she took turns taking pictures of each family everyone else was eating, hiking and just plain having fun and enjoying the mountains. Some of the fun included the boys shooting guns and a long hike up the mountain with my uncle Robert(who is a science teacher) in search of lizards. Once she had taken every ones pictures she would get them developed and sort through them to find the best of each person. If she wasn't satisfied with how they turned out then she would take us back out for retakes. She would then spend countless hours making a yearly family calendar that included a picture of everyone coordinated with the month of their birthday. The calenders were given to us at our yearly family Christmas party. Here are some of the pictures she took of me over the years...

This picture has special memories for me. I specifically remember her taking this picture because the two of us carefully made our way to the middle of the river so she could get the perfect shot. I can still remember smelling her perfume because it was a little breezy. She was so excited with how this picture turned out because the sunlight looked like it was coming right down on me.

1991

1991

1992

1993

This pictures wasn't taken by my Grandma because she had passed away the previous year. However in her memory we continued on with the tradition. The next post are the pictures she took of my family over the years.

My Grandma Helen's Family Pictures...

Here are some of the family pictures my Grandma took of us over the years...

1983

This is the gazebo in my Grandma's backyard that some of my uncles built. I used to play with my cousins a lot in this gazebo growing up.

I don't think this was an official "calendar" picture but I had to throw it in...check out my dad's hair...

I know...this looks like we came right out of "Little House on the Prairie."

Don't you just love how we are all lined up in order of age...

She really loved putting us in fun places like trees...

Memorial Day=Grandma's & Flowers...

My mom and I(16 months old) smelling my Grandma's flowers a couple months after her passing...

When I think about Memorial Day I think of flowers and Grandma's. Both of my Grandma's were known for their beautiful flower gardens. My paternal Grandma passed away in 1993 when I was 17 years old so I have lots of very fond memories of her. More on these memories later. My maternal Grandma passed away in 1977 when I was only 14 months old. I was too young to have memories but my mom tells me that she loved me so much and called me "powder puff" and "china doll." After both of my mom's parents had passed away my mom inherited their home and rented it out. This is where Steve and I lived for the first 9 months after we were married. So I have very fond memories of their home as well. Here are a few pictures that I have of both of my Grandma's and their flower gardens...

Me(5 mo. old) in my Grandma Beth's flower garden...

My Grandma Beth and I(5 months old) working in her backyard...

Me(17 months old) by my Grandma Beth's flowers a few months after her passing...

My Grandma Beth's back yard...

My mom with my Grandpa Donald making a bouquet of my Grandma Beth's last flowers for Sacrament Meeting services at our church after her passing. My Grandfather also died when I was young(about 8 years old.) I remember he would pull us up onto his lap and then give us dollar bills each time we came to see him.

My Grandma Helen and I(3 years old).

My Grandma Helen in her backyard...

My paternal Grandparents in their front yard...

Scandinavian Festival...

Saturday I headed back to my home town for the annual Scandinavian Festival. I took the kids and drove down with two of my sisters and their kids. Surprisingly the weather actually was pretty good and we all had a great time. The kids loved the clown, balloons, rides, booths(where they picked out some toys and I got Avery a couple headbands-as if she needed any more.) and just running around playing together. The adults loved the food, watching the kids have fun and just hanging out and talking with each other.

Willie the clown giving Maddy his dog balloon that he made for him.

Maddy and my brother Justin watching the show Willie the clown put on. This was about the only time Maddy wasn't running around or at least trying...

Willie the clown putting on his show...

Avery didn't quite know what to think of the clown...sorry dad for cutting your head off.

Maddy checking out his dog balloon...

My nephew Dallin posing and dancing with his duck balloon...

Probably my favorite picture of the day. Maddy and Dallin were so excited about playing together and their balloons...they were running around chasing each other.

Dallin enjoying his snow cone...

Avery also enjoyed spending the day outside and wasn't fussy at all even though we skipped her nap altogether. Nana and Papa had her most of the day. She slept on the way home which was also nice.

Nana and my niece Claire...

My nephew Jace...isn't this precious!

The highlight of the day for Maddy. I debated putting him on the ride because I didn't know if he would be scared or not. He loved it so much he couldn't stop smiling and threw a fit when it was over.

Maddy and Dallin loving the "airplane" ride...

Maddy kept ducking down like he was flying the airplane-then he would poke his head up and smile-it was so cute!

Maddy trying to sneak into another airplane after the ride was over. The worker had to physically remove him. This is when the meltdown started. He kept saying airplane over and over and I had to promise him we would come back later.

When we came back to the rides the kids chose to go on the swings instead of the airplanes. They loved this ride as well.

My sisters Stacy and Jamie and niece Claire.

My sisters enjoying some food. We had the "Viking Feast" which consisted of Swedish meatballs or meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and a roll. Later on we also had some raspberry and strawberry funnel cake which we all devoured.

This picture pretty much sums up the day...the only thing that would've made it better was if the hubby's were there...may be next year.