My New Favorite Blog

As a mom you always try to do cool things for your kids and for you to decorate the house with on a budget. You also try to have fun activities for them so they don't get bored and drive you crazy at home, at church, on the road, at the doctor's office etc.

Madi is growing out of that baby stage and getting into that toddler stage. I am not used to it yet so when we are at church and she is restless I will pull out a toy and she will look at me like

"Mom! Are you serious?! I am not a baby anymore!"

So I am trying to think of ways to keep her entertained while we are in Church. Right now Rick teaches Sunday school and I teach Sunbeams so Madi is my buddy in Sunbeams. It can get a little tricky but I think I have come up with a solution thanks to this amazing blog. I have spent so much time on it and I can't get enough ideas. And the best part about it, these sisters are LDS! This is the kind of mom I want to be someday. A cool mom that comes up with crazy awesome ideas off the top of her head. But for now, this is the plan. Quiet book here I come! Thanks Ladies for the idea!

Summer Vacation in Utah...Continued

We had to see the T-Rex before we left Thanksgiving Point.

After the Dinosaur Museum Rick took the boys to Cabela's. They saw all sorts of things from the fish tanks to all the animals on the rocks. It was so much fun to be able to see Kathy and her boys. We miss them so much and wish that we could have spent more time with them.

Next we headed up to Mendon to see the Gudmundson family. We spent a whole day shopping the first day. It was a lot of fun...for the girls anyways. But Rick was a very good sport. After a day of shopping, Rick needed something manly to do. So him and Jenni spent some time putting together a potato canon. It took them a while to do plus a trip into town to the hardware store but it was a success. We shot the potatoes straight up into the air and they went so high we had a hard time seeing where they were coming down.

The next day was Pioneer Day and Mendon Day. There was lots of things to do. In the morning there was a 5K that my dad and sisters did. Then there was a book sale, a parade, a cooking contest and loads of other things. Then that night after a game of human battleship there was a huge waterfight between the cousins. Needless to say, Rick's team won. Hands down, dispite what rumors you may hear from Shawn and Jason. After the waterfight there was a fireworks display. We were concerned about Madi and her ears because the fireworks were being shot off about two blocks away. But Madi loves them! She was in awe over them and didn't even flinch when they would go off.

While we were there Jenni had her birthday. Since we were going to be flying out on her actual birthday we decided to celebrate it a few days early. There was a little pie fight between Jenni, mom and dad. (No idea how that happened) And no, I didn't push Jenni's head in the pie when she wasn't looking...or maybe I did. But at least dad got the pie in the face because she thought it was him. Madi also enjoyed trying pie. I think it's a new favorite.

Monday we went up to Tony Grove for some fishing. If you look really close at the back ground you will see the thunderstorm moving in. Rick and I got caught out on the lake during that. It was a down pour and we almost got rained out. But after a while it eased up and Rick and Sarah had so much success fishing afterwards.

It's a good thing we stayed for more fishing after the storm.

The Gudmundson tradition: Kong cones at Macey's.

We took Madi to Willow Zoo while were in Logan. She loved all the animals!

But the birds were by far her favorite.

We had a lot of fun while we were in Utah. That was our first real vacation in over two years and it was wonderful to be able to finally do it. While we were out there Madi had lots of firsts. She had her first plane ride, she got her first two teeth, she started crawling on all fours, she pulled herself into a standing position, she started saying mama and dada and associated the words with me and Rick. We are happy to be home but sad we had to leave everyone. We look forward to the next time we can go out and visit. We miss you and love you all!

Milestones

This past week Madi has reach two milestones. She can sit up on her own and she started crawling. The crawling isn't her favorite method of transportation yet because rolling around is much faster for her. But she is getting the hang of it. We have had to make several adjustments as far as babyproofing some things. We still have a long ways to go, but hopefully we can keep up with her.

I love this picture of Madi! She is already trying to fill daddy's shoes.

Madi showing off her crawling skills! She is concentrating so hard.

Rick is getting her all ready to be his fishing buddy. He found her a pink lucky fishing hat and he has already started eyeing up the pink fishing poles.

Madi always is so excited when daddy comes home from work. They are best buddies!

Rick and I enjoy going to the baseball diamond at the park to drive RCs. It is fun to see how much dirt we can kick up. Sometimes we can't even see to the other side of the field because of all the dirt. Here I am displying my new decal for my car. It's an Iron Cross with 'Kaiser' written across the middle. I found someone online that did custom decals because Rick had been looking everywhere for them without much success. I got one for my truck and one for Rick's truck.

5 Months Already!?!?!

Madi is five months this week and we can't believe how fast time as flown. We have enjoyed having a little girl around the house and it just keeps getting better and better. This week Madi learned how to hug. She has been hugging me and Rick non-stop. And anytime we are out and someone it saying hi to her she will turn like she is all embarrassed and hug us. Rick came home from work the other night and Madi kept hugging him over and over and over. She sure loves her daddy.

Madi knows that she is the center of attention and she loves every minute of it. It will be interesting when a brother or sister comes along (in the very distant future) and she has to share mommy and daddy. But for now, she is loving every minunte of being an only child. She has been practicing her sitting skills and she is getting really good at it. Anytime we put her in her car seat or bouncer she will do crunches to pull herself into a sitting position. I wish my abs were as good as hers.

I love this picture! This is Madi welcoming daddy home from work. Look at that smile. She is a daddy's girl through and through.

Eventful Month

Since I can't seem to keep up with everything at home, my blog has also suffered from my lack of time and energy. If I thought I was busy before I had Madi I have since realized life was a breeze. Even though we are busy and Madi keeps us hopping we are very blessed. Everytime I look in to my daughter's face and she gives me that gummy grin I realize that nothing else matters. No matter how high the stack of dishes in the sink gets or if there are more clean clothes on the floor in the bedroom then in the dresser or the closet combined. I love my little girl and I am so grateful Heavenly Father thought I was worthy and ready to be her mom. Since my last post lots has happened. Here Madi is displaying her Easter attire. We found these ears at the store and she fell in love with them the first time we put them on her. I think it's because they are fuzzy. She loves anything fuzzy, even the cats.

My mom and dad came out the end of March for Madi's blessing. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. And Madi loved getting to know her grandma and grandpa Gudmundson.

Here Madi is displaying her blessing dress my mom made for her. Madi had lots of special things for her blessing. My mom made her dress, Rick's mom made her a blanket, and my sister Heidi made her some white booties to wear. It was a very special event since Madi was named after my grandmother and Rick's grandmother. The spirit there was so strong and Rick did a really great job. We were also able to invite our non-member friend Mandel to her blessing.

Starting Solids! Well, it went better then we thought it would. For several weeks before she had been watching us eat and would sometimes cry because she wanted some of our dinner. So we decided to start giving her solids. After a few spoonfuls she was a pro. Everytime she eats, after every bite she will say "yummm". It is so cute! And if she really likes something, like bananas, then she will laugh and inhale really loud.

We are blessed with the fact that Madi doesn't seem to be a picking eater. She will eat just about anything you give her from peas to ice cream. Not that ice cream is hard to turn down. The only thing that she doesn't care for is sweet potatoes. She let us know pretty quick that sweet potatoes aren't a repeat food. And I can't blame her because I have to admit, they aren't my favorite either.One thing that Rick and I love to do after work is to go to the park and drive RC cars. The past year or so Rick has let me drive one of his monster trucks each time we would go to the park. I was having a lot of fun with it but it didn't really go that fast. So I decided to upgrade and buy one of my own. I never thought I would but when I found out that I could give mine a custom paint job and paint it pink I was sold! Here is my new Pink Slash 4x4 racing truck. I love it! It is so much fun to drive.

Rick has a Slash too so we like to go to the baseball diamond at the park and have races around the dirt. We kick up a lot of dust but it is so much fun!

Probably some of the most exciting news this month is Madi has curly hair! We didn't think that she had the curls and I have to admit I was pretty bummed but her hair has grown out and it is curly! I love playing with it after her bath and making it stick up so I can see the curls better. They are so cute!

Happy Mother's Day!

Last week Rick and I got some very difficult news. Rick's pappy pasted away. It happened very suddenly and unexpectedly. He was in very good health and never had any major health problems. We think he may have died from a massive heart attack which took him instantly while he was in his home. He was a good man and a big part of our lives and we will miss him dearly. He had a very long and fulfilling life and touched many people. His wife was a member of the church but he had never gotten baptized even though he claimed he was Mormon. About a month ago Rick and him where fishing and Rick asked him if he could do his temple work for him. Every time this has been brought up in the past not a whole lot would come of it. But this time he said that he wanted it done and he would do it now if there was a way to do it without going under the water to be baptized. We are so grateful for the gospel in our lives and for the blessings of the temple. We will miss pappy dearly but we look forward to the time when we will be reunited as a family again. We love you Pappy!

Sitting up

I think Madi is going to learn how to crawl before she too long. She rolled over for the first time about a week and a half ago but she is more interested in scooting herself around on her back then trying to roll over. And then when we put her in a sitting position on our lap she just laughs and laughs and thinks it the greatest thing since milk in a bottle. We found one of these chairs for babies who are learning how to sit up and she loves it. She likes to go in it first thing in the morning while we eat our breakfast, as you can tell from her bed-head hair-do. After a while of sitting in it though, her little neck gets tired and she slowly falls over and rests her head on the side. Isn't she a doll!