Nanette and Maddie

Last Sunday we went to LA to visit some of our best friends, the Odions. It's crazy to think they just celebrated their 5 year anniversary because it seems like just yesterday the four of us were at conference, Chuck and Kaitlin hanging out for the first time. Whatever that was in Grandma Sara's mystery casserole, it made each of us fall in love!

Now we have cute girls 4 months apart that were so excited to play together.

Here's Maddie getting a taste of her own medicine.

They live in the coolest part of LA. It's right down the street from this really nice outdoor shopping district that was all decorated for Christmas. So after dinner, we bundled the girls up and headed down to the mall.

Maddie loves Nan! She can even say her name. (Well, it just happens to be her favorite food too).

The guys with the babes at Anthropologie. Have I mentioned I love this store?

Kaitlin and I have been friends since freshman year of college. She is the best! We had so much fun reliving our pest control days eating yogurt cake and JD getting his hair cut by his favorite barber.

Can't wait til next time!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my daddy's birthday. He really is the best dad in the world. Sorry to all those who think they have the best, because I KNOW mine is. He is so loved by his children. He is fun, loving, wise, humble, competitive, gentle, motivated, devoted, honest, goofy, and so many other things. Those are just a few reasons why any one he meets also loves him.

He started dating my mom when he was 16 and she was 15. How cute were they!?!? They are such a great example of how a marriage should be. I know that all of us kids aspire to have the kind of relationship they have.

Growing up, my dad gave himself the award of "Dorkiest Dad on the Block." He was so proud of it. Little did we know how cool he really was. He's the ultimate creator of fun, and has and continues to fill our lives with amazing experiences.

Doing what he loves best: Eating good food at his favorite place in the world!

Papa with his precious newborns: Kamryn

Maddison

Briggs

Dylan

I love you dad. Thanks for all you do. Especially letting us live with you right now. It's been wonderful and I don't know how Maddie's gonna handle not being able to wave bye bye to you every morning! Hope you have a lovely day.

Happy Belated Birthday Bryce!

Saturday was my brother Bryce's birthday. I think he turned 29 :). It's hard for me to remember him as the "mean" brother because we're such good friends now. Bryce has always been the best at whatever he does. And if he's not, he doesn't do it! He's so much fun to be around, and always leaves you wanting more of him. We had babies 12 days apart almost a year ago, and it's been fun relating to each other as new parents. For someone who never liked kids much growing up, he sure loves his little buddy. Briggs is lucky to have him as a dad. Almost 3 years ago he was in a snowboarding accident and I was unfortunate enough to witness it. I'm crying right now thinking about it. It was amazing to see his faith and humility when we weren't sure what was going to happen. When miracles did happen, we were changed forever. I love you Bryce and I'm so happy things are going so great in your life: wonderful wife, successful new business, new house, cutest little boy ever!

10 Months

What Maddie's up to at 10 Months:

• Climbing stairs
• Taking her first steps
• Pointing at everything
• Taking 2 great naps a day and sleeping all night
• Imitating so many words and understanding what they mean
• Saying: mama, dada, papa, byebye, uh-oh, no, apple, Jessie, thank you, hello, hi, num nums, nana, ball, meow
• Shakin it whenever she hears music
• Getting into drawers and cupboards
• Having fun playing with other kids and playing outside
• Trying to sing along, esp. at church
• Giving a cheesy, toothy grin
• Knowing that she's being funny
• Belly laughing when tickled
• Jumping on me when daddy brings her in in the mornings
• Giving kisses and loves

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my whole family. I learned that there's nothing better than having all 10 adults and 4 babies under the same roof for a week, chaos and all. Our family has grown so much the past few years. JD and I feel so lucky to have sister and brother in laws that really are our best friends! Anyways, I'll give the short version of what we crammed into the time we had together. Before Thanksgiving the girls saw Twilight together of course, and the boys snuck off to play tennis and golf. The kids loved having each other to play with. Maddie adores Kamryn, and followed her and Briggs around all week. Dylan is still the little guy, but was interested in everything that was going on.

Thanksgiving morning we all ran a 5k. It was a perfect ending to our "Biggest Loser/ Fitness challenge." Then we went home and stuffed our faces with deliciousness. It was sooo good! Jessie's homemade rolls were my favorite. Guess she did learn something in college :). We were too busy eating that we didn't even get a picture of the food! Bummer.

If you know my family, you know we love to play, and love to compete even more. So between the race, tennis tournament, rummikub tournament, and golf for the guys, we were satisfied.

My dad got us all tickets to Mary Poppins in LA. We left the babies with sitters and took Kami. She stayed awake the whole time and felt like such a big girl. Here's our studly men:

And the girls:

The whole gang.
More Highlights: Funny pedicure experience, Briggsie walking, Shopping at Target, Finishing our countdown blocks (thanks Whitney!), Kami's comments about certain body parts, Maddie's newest word "No," Beating mom and dad in tennis, Dylan's smiley face, Cinnamon rolls, Kids playing in the back yard...

I know that I have so much to be thankful for. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for our health, for our jobs, for the gospel, for my sweet baby, for the situation we're in, and especially for my husband and our families. Hope you had a great day. Now it's time to focus on Christmas! Where did November go?!?

Sad Day

I've been dreading this day for a very long time.

I'm afraid this may be the end to one of mommy's favorite obsessions.

Visits

I'm way behind on my blogging. The last few weeks have come and gone so fast and we've done so much that I think I've felt too overwhelmed to try to blog about it all. So I've picked one thing to focus on, and hopefully I can keep up from now on. Doubt it :). Anyways, a few weekends ago we went up north to visit my brother Eric and his family. We celebrated Kami's 3rd birthday, Halloween, and baby Dylan's blessing. They sure know how to throw a party! Here's our Maddie girl all ready to get on the plane.

This guy comes home to me every night looking like this. What a babe.
I loved meeting my newest nephew. He's got gorgeous blue eyes and is so tiny compared to Maddie. I've forgotten how to take care of a newborn!
Me and the birthday girl: AKA the "Wicked Witch." She really wanted to be Malificent, but there were no costumes her size. I love her!
The proud parents who made it happen. Thanks for the fun weekend!

Getting ready to Trick or Treat.

Sweet baby Dylan's blessing.

It's always fun to hang out with the Long's. They're the best!
A week later Sam and Eric came down to visit us. The girls went to So You Think You Can Dance while the guys watched the babies. Eric was alone with the 3 of them for a couple hours before JD and Papa got home from work, and we were a little worried, but he survived.

We had so much fun re-living last seasons best dances, and we even met Mary Murphy!!! She just stood there like a wax statue, but I think it was better that she didn't open her mouth :).

I had to work one day, so Sam and my mom took the kids to Pretend City in Irvine. They said the girls loved it and were entertained for hours. I can't wait to take Maddie back.

Ya, they played hard.

Dylan is such a little trooper. He pretty much slept the whole time wherever we went.

Of course we had to go to the beach so Eric could surf. It was a little cold in the morning, but warmed up and turned out to be a beautiful day.

It's so cute to watch Maddie play with her cousins. She loves them all!

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Having little ones around makes everything more fun!

9 Months