Tulip Festival

Tulips! Tulips! I love tulips. We went to the Mount Vernon tulip festival and it was beautiful. We're planning a road trip in June to see Scott and Nikki get married in Salt Lake, and we've been anxiously watching to see how Madilyn does in the car for two days of traveling. Any tips??

This time last year I was...

Exhausted mostly. And a little confused that we were actually going to be taking this tiny baby home with us. Who thought we should be allowed to care for an infant all by ourselves. Wasn't there a nurse we could smuggle out of the hospital with us?

Well, children are surprisingly hardy little creatures, and Madilyn has made it through her first year. We had a few friends over on Sunday night, did cake and ice cream and visited. It was a lot of fun and we were glad they could come. Here are some of the highlights...

The birthday girl with her Sunday clothes and rocking bike.

The cake (my second attempt at cake decorating...ever).

Madilyn meets the cake.

A battle ensues, although initially friendly.

It quickly deteriorates.

And because she is quick to learn, we get to do it all over again at dinner the following night.

Still, it was a good time - and if that cake looked good, she is happy to share.

Old MacDonald, Ryan's Birthday, Cute Cori

I guess I could do three different posts, but I thought I'd wrap them all into one. Trust me, it will be more convenient for you too.

And in reverse chronological order, we'll start with the farm trip we took Tuesday. It was Springtime at the farm and our ward playgroup visited all the little baby animals with all of our little babies. Madilyn got to touch a cow (above) and the cow touched her (below) which she was less thrilled about.

She also got to pet goats, ducks, chicks, all the cute little baby animals.

That was Tuesday. The Friday before was Ryan's birthday. We got a few fun presents for him, but we also sent Maddie to a friend's house for the evening. And we went to a movie. That makes the second time we've gone to the movies since Madilyn was born. And in case you're counting, she'll be one on Sunday... so we average a movie every 6-8 months. It was a fun birthday, but I can't tell you how old Ryan is now...

And for all of you people enjoying your 80 degree weather, here are some fun pics of Ryan's birthday.

That's right, it snowed a lot on April 18th...

On the Saturday before, April 12th, we were at the famed Puyallup parade with Cori and her adorable kids. That day was the hottest I have experienced since we've moved to Seattle. I even got a little sun-burned.

We got to see Cori, which was really nice, and I got to see her girls (very cute) and meet her family. It was nice to get so much Cori history. And it was just nice to see an old friend. I wish we could do it more.

Now those are some good looking girls. Who knows how many there will be next time we see each other. :)

Springtime with Spjuts

I know, I know, it has been a while (and maybe that is putting it mildly). These are some pics of baby items I have made that I wanted to post for my sister to see. I'll throw in a few family pics to keep it interesting for everyone else.



And here are some family pictures. We had some of our Spjut family in town last week and we had a great time with all the family. Madilyn was especially happy to see them and loved being held and played with. We got to do some of the touristy things here in Seattle, so it was a great trip.

These are two four-generation shots, first with Ryan's mom and her mom, and then with Ryan's dad and his mom. We were lucky enough to get both grandmas, and it was the first time for either of them to see Madilyn.

Our little family at the waterfall.

Maddie loved all the attention. I think she is dying now that it is just the two of us during the day again. She didn't seem to mind her grandma's attention.

Or Grandpa's either...We did a lot of picnicking, but it really isn't warm here yet. We're holding out for the famed Seattle summer.

We looked out the window and it was a white Christmas today. It's been a really long time since either of us has seen it snow like this (we got like .03 inches per year in Dallas) and of course Maddie hasn't ever seen it. It was fun.

And here is a picture of our new desk, too.

Another angle, and a baby

Ryan has a secret juggling talent. Since we only have one kid right now, he is just working on balancing... but just you wait until we have a couple more. :)

Camping in our living room

Last night I slept in a bed. Shouldn't have been a big deal - but it totally was. You see, we've left Texas :( and as of a week ago, we live in Washinton. :) We got here on October 27th - our stuff got here on November 3rd. In between we slept on our little air mattress. So sleeping in a bed again was fantastic.

We're so enamored with our new place. Here are a few reasons why...

- Space - so much that Maddie's toys don't have to sit in the middle of the living room.

- Garage - no more hunting for a parking space at night (or fighting with the pole in the carport spot... and you totally know who won that fight.)

- Backyard - Once Madilyn can walk, she'll actually have somewhere to run around.

- Space - no sharing walls with neighbors.

- Space - There is an extra bedroom so when you are ready to come visit - we'll have a spot for you.* This invitation is only to those of you I've actually met in person - sorry to any random blog surfers looking for a guest stay near Seattle. For the rest of you - I'd love to have you visit.

And as an added bonus to this post - you get to see Madilyn's first Halloween costume. I picked this because I know when she gets older she'll want to be a princess or a fairy or something cutsie. Not likely she'll ask to be the Hunny pot from the Winny the Pooh stories, so I have to do embarassing things now, before she is old enough to stop me.