First bathing suit!

Maddie has decided to be a bathing suit model...

It was record breaking heat in Seattle today. Because it was so so so HOT today we went to Lake Tye today to try to cool off in the water. Maddie got to wear her cute bathing suit that Emilee bought her. She loved it. Not sure about the water though. Troy didn't go all the way in with her. Just got her legs wet. I have a feeling that if she had been able to kick her legs a bit and splash around she would have loved it just like she loves her bath. I think we may have to try the pool at the Y. It's indoor so I won't be so paranoid about the sun.

Am I boring?

I walked out of the kitchen tonight after cleaning up from dinner and this is what I found...

Food Network

Why is it that when ever I watch Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network, I always want to make homemade chicken stock? Seriously I think in every episode she mentions how much better it is to make your own instead of buying the canned stuff.

Weather Woes...

One of my favorite things about the people that choose to live in the Seattle area, is that they are never happy with the weather. Last winter we had too much snow. Everyone was dying for summer. This summer we have too much sun. Everyone is dying for winter. We are such a fickle people. hahaha!

Amazing Blueberry Pancakes

I made blueberry pancakes tonight because we had a bunch of fresh blueberries. They were delicious!! Here's what I did...

2 cups of Krusteaz Pancake mix
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp artificial butter flavoring (I use this in everything I bake)
1 cup blueberries

Lucky Red Hen Photography

My friend Shannon takes the best pictures! She took these of us at Lisa Low's wedding and I just love how they turned out. She is going to do a photo shoot with Maddie one of these days. Can't wait for that!

Macaroni Pie

I love Macaroni and Cheese! I'm a little obsessed with it actually. My favorite place to get Mac and Cheese is Beecher's in Pike's Place (www.beechershandmadecheese.com), but I don't get down there very often. In fact now that I think about it, I haven't been in almost a year!

My Mother in Law, Lucy gave me this recipe for Macaroni Pie. She lived in South Carolina when she was younger and newly married to Troy's Dad and she had a friend there that informed her that Thanksgiving was not complete without Macaroni Pie. I guess its a Southern thing, but I am loving the tradition!

Macaroni Pie
3 cups of Elbow Macaroni Noodles (really you can use whatever noodles you want)
3/4 cup Butter
3 Eggs
1 cup cream
3 1/4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 cup Milk
3/4 cup Breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Boil noodles, drain and add 1/2 cup butter (chopped into pieces). Beat the eggs and cream together and add to the noodles. Stir in the cheddar cheese to the mixture. Salt and Pepper to taste. Put in a 9 X 13 pan. Pour milk over the top of the noodles. Mix breadcrumbs, parmesan, and melted 1/4 cup of butter and spread over the top of the noodles. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

It makes a lot of mac and cheese, but it is a great meal to reheat. I almost like it better the next day and I am not a big fan of leftovers.

Three Months Old!!!

I thought it would be fun to list out some of the things that Madison has experienced during the first three months of her life.

First Passport - We are headed to Ireland in a month for my brother Nick's 30th Birthday party. I am so excited to take Maddie over to Ireland and introduce to to everyone. Well and Troy too. It will be his first time as well.

First Funeral - Josh Ward passed away last month in a car accident. It was a huge shock to everyone. I decided to take Maddie to the funeral with me. She was so sweet and slept through the whole thing. I think she knew that it would be a pretty emotional day for everyone and decided to just be on her best behavior.

First House Fire - A house just a few houses down from us was completely destroyed in a fire a couple of weeks ago. They believe the fire was due to fireworks. Maddie was very interested in all the trucks and lights. She didn't care so much for the heat of the flames or the smoke in the air though.

First Parade

First Car Accident

First ER Visit

First Camping/Road Trip

First Weddings

First Visit to the Seattle Aquarium

Something I learned from Abby

There is this little girl in Texas that is so special to me. Abby was just a baby when I met her. I loved it when she started talking and she would beg her Mom to take her to see MayMee and Kare. Abby was the sweetest baby. She was so funny and way too smart. She had the biggest smile and a huge diet coke addiction...ha! Amy, Kim, and Abby were my best friends. We did everything together. I learned so much that year that we spent together in Utah. One of the greatest lessons I learned was from Abby. It was a night like most nights...sitting around at Scott and Jani's. I grabbed an Ensign that was sitting next to me on the couch and started flipping through it. Abby crawled up next to me. She wasn't talking yet but she definitely knew how to communicate. I came to a picture of Jesus and asked her where Jesus was. She pointed right at Him. I laughed and told her what a smart girl she was thinking to myself that it was an easy question because His was the only picture on the page. But then I turned the page and there were a few pictures on the next page and only one of them was of Jesus. So I decided to ask her again, where's Jesus? She pointed right at Him again. We did this a couple more times. I couldn't believe it. This tiny little thing knew who her Savior was.

The other day I was trying to decide what pictures to put in the frames in Madison's room and I thought of my experience with Abby. So now I have a little picture frame on her changing table that has a picture of Jesus in it. I show it to her everyday and she stares at the picture for a minute and then starts smiling and cooing at it. And once again I get to see that a tiny little baby knows her Savior. It is a reminder to me that we do have a relationship with Him before we come to Earth and we each know him personally. Amazing.

A Peek at Our Week...

Maddie is changing so fast that I wanted to blog about all the new things that have come about just this week.

This week she started waking up in the morning and just hanging out in her crib cooing and laughing to herself. Troy went in this morning around 11 am to check on her because she still hadn't woken up yet (yes she has taken after her mother in that regard) and this is what he encountered...

Maddie had the worst diaper rash, so she had some naked time to dry out a little. She has started trying to suck on everything and lick stuff. She even french kisses now. I was cracking up because she was trying to eat the towel that I had her laid out on. Oh and yes that is a tattoo. Rosie had temporary tattoos of the Bridge of Promise logo made up to hand out during the parade on the 4th. I figure you are never too young to support a good cause. I may have put one on her lower back as well. Let's just say that her Daddy was not amused and I was not allow to take a picture of her "tramp stamp".

One of my BFF's Stinky (Christina Stevulak) came into town to escape the heat of Texas for a bit...I wish Amy would follow her example. She has a baby boy that is two months older than Maddie. It was so cute to see Maddie and Ethan together. Troy did try to get them to kiss. Maddie was not having it. She starting screaming her head off as soon as Ethan got within kissing range.

My Mom loves it when the grandkids take naps in her bed. So when Maddie went down for her nap at Granny's house, I had to document it for her.

Madison has discovered TV this week. She is fascinated. I was flipping through channels and stopped on The Bonnie Hunt Show which I had never watched before. She started fussing during the first commercial break and then calmed down as soon as Bonnie was back on the screen. I thought it was just a coincidence. But then it happened again on the next commercial break. We got her a bunch of Baby Einstein DVDs and borrowed some church movies from Granny Lucy. She even watched UFC tonight with Troy. She was very excited that Dan Henderson knocked out Michael Bisping.

I have been wanting a Bumbo chair for awhile now, but I just couldn't stomach spending $40 + tax to get one. My Mom said something last week about this great little chair that Tiffany had for Cassidy and she wanted to find one for me. I was really excited when I realized that she meant a Bumbo chair. Mom was totally willing to spend the $40+ but was even more willing to spend $20 when I found it on Craigslist. Maddie really likes it. She gets tired pretty quick because she still doesn't have complete control of her head, but I can tell that she really enjoys sitting up all by herself.

This was the best picture I could get of the three of them. I really need to teach them the fine art of posing.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I happen to really love this holiday. I don't care where I am in the world, it is always a very special day to me. I remember one year when our trip to Ireland had us missing the celebrations in the US. Rosie made sure that everyone had their Old Navy $5 t-shirt and that the house was decorated in red, white, and blue. That is, it was decorated until one of my mom's cousins stopped by for a visit and pointed out that the British flag is red, white, and blue and people might get the wrong idea. ha! Another year we were at my aunt Annie's house watching fireworks when a brush fire started in the backyard. Everyone starting running like crazy to find hoses, buckets, etc. Luckily the fire was out as quickly as it started. I'll never forget the year we got a call right before we started fireworks informing us that Jacob Darrell Gremmert had been born. The firework show was dedicated to him that year. And every year after. Jacob was probably six or seven before he realized that it wasn't his birthday that the whole country was celebrating. He seriously thought that the fireworks were just for him.

This year was another great celebration. We actually got to be in the Carnation 4th of July parade. Rosie was in charge of a float for Bridge of Promise and asked Troy to tow it. Bridge of Promise is a non profit organization that supports people with development disabilities. They do a great day camp every summer with crafts, horseback riding, fishing, swimming, go carts, music, games, etc. So of course when Troy told me that he was towing the float, I started planning the decorations for his truck. The parade was great. There were so many people there. The weather was perfect. After the parade, we went to Ixtapa. Its tradition. Troy, Maddie, and I met up with some friends at Lake Tye later, but didn't last long. Maddie hadn't slept much that day and was a little cranky. Mom, Dad, Nick, and Greg came over later that night for fireworks and s'mores. Troy and Dad gave us a great show. Nick loved every minute of it! Kaiser did not. He hid in the house the whole time. Poor puppy!

Here is a bunch of pictures from the day! Enjoy!

I'm a little obsessed with Maddie...

These next two pictures are from my phone. I just think they are so funny. The picture quality isn't that great, but her face is just so cute. And I love that she looks like she is shaking her fist at me. hahaha!

Here are a few pictures from the parade.

Michael Jackson

I have always enjoyed a good Michael Jackson joke. To be honest, I've enjoyed bad ones too. As I watched his memorial service today...yes I watched it, I realized that his life wasn't a joke. He had kids that loved him and miss him, he had brothers and sisters that will mourn the loss of a sibling for the rest of their lives, and he had parents that had to bury a child. It was very emotional to watch his family during the memorial service. I guess I expected it to be a big production with little emotion. I have mixed feelings about him as a person. On one hand, I love his music. I loved the entertainer. But on the other hand, I think he was Wacko Jacko. Regardless of how I personally viewed him, I'm grateful for the opportunity I had this week to reflect on my family. To think about how I would feel if I lost someone close to me. I am so grateful for my faith and the knowledge that I have of an eternal family.

Seattle Aquarium

Ryan and Tiffany came into town a couple of weeks ago for Maddie's baby blessing. We decided to go to the Aquarium while they were here. The kids had such a great time checking out all the fish and sea life. My favorite was sea horses. There were some that were born the same day as Maddie. It was really fun to spend the day together.

Mom and Dad

You've got to get a little creative when feeding on the go...haha!

Ryan and cute little Cassidy

Nemo and Dori!!!!!

Troy really tried to take a picture of us, but he just doesn't have the skills. Amy, you need to teach him a thing or two about self portraits.

I really need to get better at staying focused on one thing at a time.