St. George

As part of Matt's work, he has the opportunity to earn points and these points can go towards a free condo in St. George. So We decided with Spring Break coming up, that we should do it! We haven't been on a vacation in a VERY long time, and we doubt we will be able to go anytime in the next 2-3 years. With a new baby this summer, and Matt starting his program (see my post below), this fall, we couldn't see a better time. So we went. The condo was beautiful! We were really lucky! Though the weather was kind of cold and windy, it was still nice to get out of Salt Lake. We didn't do a whole lot, mostly just spent time together. Matt's brother Dan, and his wife Amber, and baby Hunter came with us. We had a lot of fun. We visited the outlets, went swimming, played Wii, walked the temple grounds, went for a bike ride, played on the park outside, and just had fun. It was funny to watch Luke's reaction to swimming. He loves the bath, but he was terrified of swimming. He would barely put his feet in, and just having Matt in the water scared him. He kept yelling while crying "Daddy get out!" I didn't get many pictures, mainly of the temple and playing at the park. Thanks Dan and Amber for coming with us, and Thanks Matt for getting the condo! We enjoyed it!! :) Lucas woke up one morning with a shiner on his eye, we have no idea where it came from. Then, the next day, he had a big red bruise on his cheek, again, we don't know where it came from. Then the poor kid got heat rash from sleeping in a parked car (a few times- since that was the only way we could get him to nap). So, in some of these pictures, he looks like he was beaten up, I promise you don't need to call Child Protective Services on us, we really have NO idea where the marks came from. They didn't last long, thankfully, but every time I looked at him, I just felt sad for the kid, he looked terrible. Anyway, point is, don't be alarmed if you can see these marks in the pictures. :)

Our BIG News!!

We have some big news: Matt was accepted into the Speech Language Pathology Masters program at the University of Utah!!! Matt has been worried sick about this for months. Last summer when he decided to go back to school, it was a tough decision for me. In fact I told him no. But after much prayer I realized he was right, and Matt needed to go back. This last year, as Matt has been taking the prerequisites for the program, and taking the GRE to prepare, it has been stressful and scary. We didn't know if he would get in the program, we didn't know what or where we would be living, then we found out I was expecting, and we were terrified. Even though this last year has brought a lot of surprises, we feel like things are falling into place. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and it has been fun to watch His role in everything. Now I just want to brag for a minute: Matt talked to a professor on the board who told him, that normally they have 70-80 applicants for this program, but this year, they had over 150! He said the competition was much more intense than it ever has been, the average GPA score and GRE score were much higher than normal. This man told Matt that they really had to pick the "cream of the crop" because of how high the competition was!! I am so proud of Matt, not only was he accepted, but he was called "the cream of the crop". He has worked so hard for this, and he deserves it. I love you Matt! We are so excited for this to start. Now, next year, when I am complaining about never seeing Matt and having to take care of two kids by myself and all the cleaning, and cooking, and shopping, remind me that I am excited for this. :)

What we've been up to

Well I have to warn you, this might be pretty long. I haven't posted in awhile, and we have had quite a few activites going on at our house. :)
1- Chuck-E-Cheese: Wow, Matt calls this "the night from hell." I hadn't been to this place since I was about 12 years old, I couldn't remember much about it. But we had some good coupons, and so we decided to give it a shot. We invited my sister and her family. It was crazy!! I felt like we were in a herd of cattle, there was no breathing room! Everyone knows how shy Lucas is, so being around this many people was difficult for him. And a lot of the rides scared the kid. There was one ride that Luke and Graci (my neice, 4 months younger than Lucas), were on together. It was this truck that went up and down, and Licas was terrified of it, well either scared of the ride or of Graci who kept trying to push him out of her way. Finally she decided she should just sit on him. It was funny! We had a lot of fun, but will probably never do that again. :)


2- Wheeler Farm: Some of Lucas' friends wanted to go to Wheeler Farm, having never been there, I thought it would be fun for Lucas. We fed the ducks and geese as soon as we got there. Lucas didn't quite understand the concept of throwing the food. So, a goose came right up to him, and bit the bread out of his hand, and bit Luke's finger in the process. It was hysterical. He turned to me and had the most pouty lip ever, and said "scary, hurt." Then he started to cry. After that, he wouldn't get out of the stroller, he was too scared to get that close to the animals, until it came to the chickens. My sisters family has chickens, and every time we are there, Lucas loves to watch them. So when we found the chickens, he was ready to get out. We had a lot of fun, thank you to everyone to invited us, and for everyone that came and made it fun!


3- Gateway with Aunt Heather and cousin James: My sister in law Heather told us about a free day at the children's gateway museum, so we decided to go. Of course that day, every single thing that could go wrong did do wrong. So we were over an hour late (sorry again Heather)even though we live about 15 minutes from it, and Heather who lives in Lehi was early! So by the time we got there it was incredibly busy! It felt a lot like chuck-e-cheese. So, we decided to go for a stroll around gateway instead, since it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Thanks for the invite Heather! I think the favorite part for both boys (or at least Luke's) was the fountain, Lucas was pretty amazed by it.


4- Reggie Miller night: For those who don't know, Reggie Miller is a retired NBA player who played for the Indiana Pacers. He now does broadcasts NBA games for TNT. And he is Matt's very favorite basketball player. ESPN has been doing these "documentary" specials, and they had one about Reggie Miller. It wasn't really about Reggie Miller, more of how big of a punk he is. He had this rivalry with the New York Knicks, and he just calls them on. It is pretty entertaining to watch. Matt has been looking forward to this for months and it has been on our calendar for months. So the big night came, and I was cleaning up dinner. I went into our bedroom to find this:
Yes that is Matt wearing his Reggie Miller jersery from when he was 12 years old and wearing his Pacers shorts. What a nerd. :) He then decided to start the brainwashing now on Lucas, so he dressed him up.
We had a lot of fun watching it, and I enjoyed teasing Matt about it. :)

Silly silly Lucas

A while back I made a comment about how it is near impossible to get Lucas to smile and pose for the camera. Well, things have changed. His new obsession is taking numerous pictures of himself. He thinks it is hysterical - and it is! Here are some of my favorites:





Now, don't I have the cutest little boy?!

Grandpa

Grandpa Madsen - you will be missed. We love you very much and are happy you are out of pain.

EVAN LEE MADSEN
Evan Lee Madsen 1933 ~ 2010 Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle and friend, Evan Lee Madsen passed away in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 2010 due to complications from an infection. Evan was born September 7, 1933, to Harold J. and Helen Sanders Madsen at the family home in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from Jordan High School and later graduated from printing school at Utah Technical College. He served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956 and later worked at Hill Air Force Base for 16 years. He served as a carpenter and general contractor for much of his life. He was sealed to his sweetheart Amelia Darlene Smith Graves in the Salt Lake City Temple. They have six children: Michelin, Laurie, Melanie, Darrel, Kenneth and Tamyra. Evan and Darlene shared the privilege of serving an LDS mission to Nigeria from 1984 to 1986 and grew to love the people of that country. Evan cherished his family, friends, community, nation and church. He served as a high priest group leader, high councilor, a temple ordinance worker in the Manti Temple and was an exemplary home teacher. Evan enjoyed participating in theatrical productions and was an accomplished narrator and speaker. He will be remembered as for his love to make his grandchildren and great-grandchildren laugh as he made rhymes with everything they said. He is survived by his wife, Darlene; his children: Michelin (Tim) York, Laurie Madsen, Melanie (Ron) Stoker, Darrel (Mary Ann) Madsen, Kenneth (Amanda) Madsen, Tamyra (Ron) Doty; 28 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren expected to be born this year. A viewing will be held from 5 to 7 pm, Sunday, February 21, 2010, at the LDS Kanosh Ward, 25 S. Main Street, Kanosh, UT 84637. Family and friends may visit prior to the funeral services on Monday, February 22, 2010, from 10:30 to 11:45 am with the funeral being held at 12 noon. Interment will be held at the Kanosh City Cemetery with military honors immediately after the funeral services. In lieu of flowers, donations to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund would be appreciated.

Too cute

Lucas saw me looking at picture on that camera and kept saying "smile" and holding a pose. Lucas has NEVER held a pose before, in fact it is hard enough getting him to be in front of the camera rather than behind it playing with it. So, I couldn't resist, here is my little man. I love him so much!

My New Sanctuary :)

Well I am doing my catch up in blogging, there are a few post below if you are interested, nothing too grand so don't worry. :) This post is a special one for me though. Matt and I have been married for four years, during that time we have been using Matt's mothers beautiful bedroom set. It is really pretty, but it is old. And it isn't our style, I always tell Matt that is is an 'antique' style - beautiful, but it doesn't fit our personalities, or our home (well honestly, nothing matches our home, with an apartment made of cinder block walls and tile carpet, and being less than 700 sq. feet good luck decorating!). Anyway, we decided to spoil ourselves! We bought a new bedroom set!!! We have looked online for awhile, but were too hesitant to order it online, so last Saturday, we went to look. Well really I went to look Matt was home doing homework. I found one that I loved, and though it was more than we were planning on spending, I negotiated the price, and the guy added an extra night stand and brought the price down! So, I called Matt, and we agreed to get it!! We got a headboard, footboard, bed rails, dresser with a mirror, and two nightstands! It was just delivered yesterday, and now I don't want to leave my room! It is so pretty! Here are some pictures, but ignore the clutter on top, we are still trying to put things back where they go. For four days we had everything out of our room. We had to empty our old drawer so we could get rid of that, and we had to live with our clothes piled all over the house. It drove me crazy! But it was worth it!