Maddie turns 11!

I can't believe my baby turned 11 this last year. I remember when she was born. After 3 years of trying to have a baby, and lots of fertility doctors and tests, we found out we were expecting. We were so excited! What a wonderful blessing to have this wonderful little baby come into our life. I never thought she would grow up this fast! After 11 years, she has grown to be a wonderful, perfect girl. I am so lucky to have her. She is 5'4" tall and gorgeous! She reminds me so much of me when I was her age. She loves clothes, shoes, hairstyles, basketball, and excelling in school. She had a 4.0 g.p.a. this last quarter. She is also becoming quite the piano player. She's growing up, yet she loves her dolls still and loves me to snuggle her to sleep at night. Happy Birthday! We love you so much!

On her birthday we had a mom/daughter day with her friend Hope and her mom Merci. Maddie wanted to shop, eat at PF Changs, and see the Muppet Movie. Scott stayed with Georgia and we drove to Tucson which is an hour and 15 min away. It was a great day!

Never to old for dolls.

PF Changs with Hope

cute picture on her 11th birthday

6 yrs old

Two yrs old

4 months old

Settling In

Settling into our house here was pretty easy. We put 90% of our stuff in storage and brought the other 10% with us. Our house is 3 beds and 15oo sq ft. It was mostly furnished, kitchen and all! It is great. I love that it doesn't take as long to clean! Less is more they say. I believe it to be true. The school bus picks Maddie up right in front of our house.

Georgia in her new room, she is setting up her babies and stuffed animals.

Maddie wanted the piano in her room. Now she plays way more than she did when it was in the basement in our other house.

Man this girl makes us laugh. She is in the holiday spirit.

This is what it looks like right out our backyard. Miles of trails. That is the Cochise Stronghold in the background. It is desert, but has mountains too. So we had to take advantage on the wheelers.

HALLOWEEN

Maddie was a stylish nerd and Georgia was Elmo.

Georgia had her face painted at our branch trunk or treat (which had about ten cars). It was funny. They did have a bounce house and tables set up with games and food. The church sits in the middle of our neighborhood, so all the kids out trick or treating joined in.

Maddie's school had a halloween party for all kids and thier families. So we went and played games and had food.

Georgia making her halloween cookie

Today Forward...

Yep, we are back! Where did the two years go? I have no idea. The time has flown by and I can't keep up. Life for our family has been nothing short of chaos with alot of ups and downs and learning curves, but at the end of the day we can say that we have truly been blessed in the midst of it.

After ten years in Payson Utah, we decided it was time to move on. We loved living there. It was hard to leave our house, friends, family, and life. After packing up ten years, we are now living in a very small town called Sunsites Arizona. It is a retirement community with alot of "Grandma's and Grandpa's" Georgia says. Maddie goes to a school with 85 kids total from K-8th grade. I really thought we were crazy coming here, but after 2 months, this is where we are supposed to be right now. Crazy how that works.

We are liking it, surprisingly. We are together as a family more. We have Scott home every night and the girls are loving it. I was worried about Maddie not having alot of kids in the neighborhood to play with, me feeling isolated, and Georgia not having any other kids her age to learn to share with. I was wrong about all of this. There are a few kids (not alot) that Maddie has made friends with with good families. She is liking school. It is definitely different she says, but it's a good experience for her. Georgia has a little friend named Shaylee who is 3.

I like that the evenings are spent doing homework, cooking dinner, and spending time together as a family. We live to far away from take-out so I have to cook! It has been good for both Scott and I. After the last four years of him working so much and traveling, especially this past year, it is finally good to have him home more. I am trying new recipes and Scott is getting very good at the barbeque. We have no family close so we have to rely on each other. We do everything together, shop, take walks, ride bikes; Scott and I even get up in the morning and attempt to excercise.

Church has been good. We are in a branch with maybe 50 people on a good Sunday. In the two months we've been here, we have spoke in sacrament, I got called to Relief Society 2nd counselor, Scott got called to branch missionary, I have taught a lesson, put on a RS christmas dinner and program, and next week have to help with the branch christmas dinner. Let's just say, we are not lacking for things to do. I do love the seniors. They have a unique wit about them and they are not afraid to say what is on thier mind! I look forward to learning from them. They are all a very grateful and humble people. It is neat to see.

Pictures to come...

Summer's Over? What?

Hello Everyone! Long time no talk! Ok, so time has just flown by for me that sometimes I forget what day it is.

Summer was a lot of fun. Bree came up for a month and Gracie for two weeks. During that two weeks the flu spread like wild fire and took a week out of there summer at Aunt Melyssa's. As soon as we got over that, we swam, went to the movies, out to eat, got glitter toes, and I cut Gracie's hair! She wanted me to highlight it, but I had to draw the line. We also went up the canyon on a hike. At night they watched Napoleon Dynamite over and over. Bree loves pasta so we made that a lot, and we went to the zoo for which after we went and hung out at Auntie Pam's. We love her house! It is our new crash pad when my mom comes into town. All in all, we had a good time!

After Bree left, she got to come back up to my house for the Bateman family reunion. Although I didn't go, I heard it was really a lot of fun.

Briaunna also had her 21st birthday in July! Crazy. She wanted to go to Vegas, but we did a birthday lunch instead, maybe next year! She started her senior year at UVU, so maybe when she graduates we can go on a fun trip!

A really neat day was the day Carina was baptized. I have been to a lot of baptisms, but her being a convert, it was really very special. We were glad we got to be a part of that.

And last but not least, my niece Dani left on her mission to Cleveland Ohio. We are way excited for her new adventure! We now have 3 missionaries out in our family!

We also found out that Ashlee and Rod are expecting their first baby in April!

As far as our family goes, we are doing well. Bri is in college, Maddie just started 3rd grade, and Georgia is ummm, not walking yet, but can crawl like no baby you have ever seen! She is walking along furniture and climbing on things, but when we try and practice walking she laughs and fall down. So what if she is almost 17 months! The good thing is, you don't see any adults crawling around still! She'll get there, we have faith!

Amber, Dani, and Bri

Jason, Conner, Carina, and Hunter at Carina's Baptism

Gracie after hair cut

Gracie before haircut

mom, Georgia, and Auntie Caysi riding the train at the zoo

Gracie, Bree, Maddie, and Mom at movies watching UP

Bree, Caysi, Gracie, Maddie, Mallory, grandma, Georgia at zoo

Georgia standing fascinated with the washer

Oh, my baby's first day of 3rd grade

Oh, my other baby's 21st birthday at PF Changs

Georgia having fun at Bri's birthday

Bottom: Melyssa, Georgia, gma Karen, Carina, Conner, Morgan, Aunt Stephanie, Mike, Tiffani, Briaunna, Aunt Patti, Presli,

Top:Bree, Bailey, Maddie

Bri's Birthday

Maddie, Gracie and Bree camping out in the basement

Maddie, Georgia, Presli, and Bree the day Bree went home

Cute pic of Maddie and Georgia

Maddie and Briaunna at Carina's baptism luncheon

Livin and Lovin Life

I know it has been a while...But I make no excuses, I am busy! Sometimes I think my gosh where does the time go. I really don't think we have done a lot until I am scrolling through pictures and trying to decide what to put in this blog.

Let me begin. Easter was not much fun. Maddie and Georgia were so sick! Maddie had strep throat that took her out of school for three days with a fever of 101. Georgia had ear infections and a throat infection. She was so sick that she actually spiked a fever and made her have what is called a febrile seizure. Scared me, I knew what was happening, but still very scary. Called 911 and everything. We are all doing better now thank goodness.

Spring Break we headed to Vegas. My sister Caysi's house is the new hang out. We are using her for her pool. We actually had a really good time. Her daughter Gracie had a pool party for her 10th birthday so we went down for that. My brother Brad and his fiance Shannon came up for the weekend. My mom also flew down. So it was really fun hanging out, swimming, and visiting.

Me, Briaunna, and Georgia went and watched my niece Tiffani audition for a talent competition at UVU and she won! So she gets to perform at the Kelly Clarkson concert next month! We are so excited to get to go watch her.

Maddie had crazy hair day at school. I was pretty proud of her flower pot hairdo.

And finally, Georgia turned one! I can't believe my little baby is one. Although she doesn't crawl yet, she scoots around like crazy! I have to watch her closely as she can open cupboards and pull cords that are hanging over the counter...yeah, not good when the curling iron falls an inch from her head.

We have also had 2 of our nephews missionary farewells. JT Lindsay left in March to Seattle, Washington. Alex Talbot leaves May 6th to Tampa Bay, Florida spanish speaking.

My niece Amber also graduated from UVU with her degree in graphic arts! Congratulations!

I think I covered everything! I hope everyone is doing good and I will try to update again soon.

Georgia at Auntie Caysi's sittin by the pool eating a strawberry

Uncle Brad feeding Little G some pancakes

Easter morning with my sick girls

Crazy hair day for Maddie

Maddie and Gracie getting ready to swim

All the girls went to Thanksgiving Point to the Tulip Gardens

Tiffani, Bailey, Maddie, Presli, and Georgia. Grandma Lindsay

Hunter, Conner, Carina, Dani, and Jason came as well.

Georgia and Presli after Tiffani's audition

Georgia, Briaunna, and Mely during Tiffani's audition

Georgia's First Birthday Cake

Seriously, who sleeps like this?

I don't think I have ever seen a baby so flexible. I don't know, maybe a dancer? Gymnast? Yoga instructor? We just moved her crib mattress down from infant level because she finally started sitting up in her bed. She probably won't try to pull herself up any time soon, but I would rather be safe then sorry. She also does the army crawl across the floor now, not crawling, but scooting, we are making progress...She is SOOO much fun, I guess I enjoy her so much because she is my last.

What we've been up too...

Since I always decide to wait WAY to long to blog, I am just going to randomly tell what we have been up too...

First, a couple weeks ago I got to babysit my nephew Conner while Carina my sister in law took Hunter, Maddie, and Grandma to see the play Willy Wonka at the Children's Theater. Conner is almost exactly 3 months younger than Georgia. We all had fun playing "take the binky away from each other" and "who could poke the other baby's eye out," it was a good time. By the way, don't laugh at Georgia's pajamas, I swear they fit the day before but when I put them on again, they were to small, so I had to cut the feet out of them.

Friday was the first really warm day. Me, Carina, Tiffani, Amber, and G-ma decided to go to Discovery Park and have a picnic. So we packed a lunch and hauled the kids to the park to play. It was so warm! Yes, Spring has sprung, or so we thought...as I type this I am sitting in my sweats with the heater on and snow on the ground. Go figure.

Tiffani and Presli sliding on the slide

My neice Amber, looking gorgeous as always

Maddie, isn't she so pretty?

Georgia's first trip down a slide!

Carina, Conner, Maddie, Melyssa, Georgia, Hunter, Amber, Presli

and Tiffani

This is Maddie after her piano recital. She did so good! This is her second year performing in festival as well. She worked so hard to memorize her songs...Dad and I are so proud of you!

Finally, the family got together and went to the open house of the Draper Temple a couple weeks ago. It was pretty awesome to see how beautiful it was. The highlight was Conner throwing his little grover into the baptismal font.