The Book of Mormon

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't read. Aside from the Twilight series-which was a fluke-the only other book I have ever read all the way through is the Book of Mormon. And the one time I did that was in high school. So last night I finally finished it again!!! I am really excited about it and it's a pretty big deal for me. It's strange how all the same feelings I felt back in high school and the same testimony I gained then all came back to me. Immediately after finishing I felt and heard the Holy Ghost telling me that this book is true and that I was doing what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do. I am so grateful for this book and my testimony of it!

Potty time!!

So the past month or so I've been thinking a lot about potty training Maddi. She'd gone poo a handful of times and pee a few times but I never really felt like taking the time to actually train her. So about a week and a half ago I decided Ok, let's just give it a try. So I gave her a bunch of water to drink and then sat her on the potty expecting to wait a while before she actually peed....but No! She went right away! She was so excited and I was pretty much jumping all over the bathroom. After that, she got her own panties and I said next time you need to go you just come tell Mommy-not really expecting her to do that. That's what I get for underestimating her cause she did like 10 minutes later!! And ever since then we've only had 2 accidents and she's been AWESOME!!! She's doing pull-ups during her naps and at night cause she can't seem to wake up when she needs to go. But I'm ok with that!! After the almost year and a half it took Bailey it's almost too good to be true that Maddi is doing so well. I'm so proud of our sweet Maddi and I can't believe what a big girl she is already. And, I can't believe I'm out of diapers!!!! WAHOO!!!!

The past few months' little things...

It's been a long time since I've updated so here's a few little things that have been going on...

A friend of mine got married so we had a little bachelorette party for her and had TONS of FUN!

My beautiful niece, Jordynn, had her 8th birthday and got baptized!!! So proud of her!!!


The waterpark opened over Memorial weekend and we have gone lots of times since then. Believe it or not, we even got Stephen to go with us on Memorial Day!!!

The softball team that My brother, sister and I play on, Players Pub, won our 10th season victory!!! --- but we just lost our most recent season :(

I had to throw this one in cause, well, look at my huge muscles!!

My nieces, Alexis and Jordynn, played softball and just barely missed coming in 1st place! They played so great!!! And Alexis is playing all stars this summer and her team is in 1st place so far!! Yeah Alex!! (Jordynn isn't old enough to play all stars or she'd be playing too)


Ethan FINALLY cut his funky long hair off!!! He wanted to grow it out and do the cool whip to the side thing but his hair just isn't the type for it and it just ended up looking odd. Some hair stylist cut a flippin bowl cut and made it even worse so Stephen was finally able to convince him to chop it. He actually wanted to and was excited to do it. Check out the before and after.

BEFORE

AFTER

I went to girls camp!! I was the Stake Service Leader and I had no idea how much fun I would have. It was really hard being away from my girls for an entire week - especially since Maddi got pretty sick while I was gone. But I learned a lot, had my testimony strengthened, made some GREAT friends, and perfected my skills at Spoons!! We were even lucky enough to have a member of the Quorum of the Seventy come to girls camp for Bishops' Night! Elder Sitati was inspirational and each of the wards and each of the girls got to have him over to talk with them and mingle at their ward testimony meetings. It was amazing.

Bailey finished her first t-ball season! We were so proud of her and how much she improved throughout the season. She is really bummed that it's over but we're looking forward to trying out soccer in the fall!

Bailey had her very first trip to the dentist. It was largely motivated by the chipped tooth she got when she and Maddi collided jumping on the bed. She did so great and even let the dentist shave down the chipped tooth that was a bit sharp.

And maybe the lamest thing that's been going on, ok definitely the lamest thing, is I finished a 1000 piece puzzle on my own. Stephen thought it would be fun to get a puzzle for us to do together...Ethan said hey, you should get a really hard one like 1000 pieces...so I get the puzzle, challenging us with the 1000 pieces, and I end up doing it all by myself because Stephen and Ethan are both too busy playing WOW to do it with me!!! Punks! It was addicting and took a long time over 3 days.

First T-Ball Game

Bailey had her very first game today! She played so well and we are so proud of her. She tried to field every single ball that came her way (she would have too if another boy on her team wasn't FIGHTING her for every ball - ANNOYING!!). She hit super well too and even got to be the last batter one time so she was able to run all the bases at once and felt like she got a homerun! Believe it or not she only got bored once. And that was because they put her on the pitchers mound and there was too much dirt to kick around. I am so stinkin proud of her and I'm especially glad that she's having fun out there.

Let go of her thumb!!

So we went to Red Lobster tonight, per Bailey's birthday dinner request. After we enjoyed our delicious meal we decided to let the girls take 1 last look at the lobsters in the tank by the front door. One of the employees there was kind enough to let the girls pick a lobster for her to take out and let them look at it. Of course they chose the largest one (ps, it was HUGE) and she put it down on a tray for them to look at and touch. The girls thought this was sooo cool, especially Maddi...She was fearless in going right in to pet the lobster and actually try to touch it's eyes and mouth. We quickly said, "No Maddi, its face alone." She then decided, "hey, these claws look interesting why don't I try to play with those?" They put rubber bands on these things so that they can't pinch anyone. However.....Maddi happened to put her thumb right inside the right pincher claw that apparently wasn't banded down tight enough and it grabbed her! The poor employee started panicing immediately saying, "oh my gosh! oh my gosh! oh my gosh!" over and over and Stephen jumped in to help. Maddi of course was screaming and crying and none of us knew what to do. After a few failed attempts to get the thing to let go of Maddi's thumb Stephen got panicked and finally was able to get down and use all his strength to pry the claws open long enough for Maddi to pull her thumb out. Thankfully, her thumb was still attached to her hand. (Stephen and I both checked to make sure this was the case right away!) So Maddi was fine although she was more scared than I'm sure she has ever been in her life and she cried for about 15 minutes. Hopefully no serious mental scarring has occurred. I just feel so bad for that poor employee who just kept saying how sorry she was and how nothing like that had ever happened before. I tried really hard to assure her it was not her fault and that Maddi was ok and that we were not upset with her whatsoever. I hope the rest of her shift went better!! Glad nothing worse happened!

Note where Maddi's left thumb is. This is right before it grabbed her.

I couldn't even wish any ill will on the lobster since I knew he was going to get eaten soon.

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Today is Bailey's 4th birthday! We are so blessed to have Bailey in our family. She brings happiness and laughter to our lives every single day. Bailey already has a strong testimony of the gospel and especially of the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for her. She loves to help me cook and especially loves going to Grandma's house. Bailey has a sweet tooth just like her mommy. Bailey is such a special girl and we are so lucky to have her as our daughter. We love you Bailey, Happy Birthday!!

Birthday party for Bailey's 4th!

We had a grrrreat time at Bailey's birthday party today! Bailey requested a party at the park with a pinata and that's what she got!! (well she also requested a party at pump it up but we're too poor for that kind of stuff and this was much more fun!) We had great family and friends come over for playing on the plaground, a cakewalk for prizes, some pinata action, cake and presents. Bailey loved everything she got and we really appreciate everyone who came and especially those who traveled so far to see Bailey! Thanks again!! We'll be celebrating her actual birthday on Tuesday so pictures to come from that.