Happy Birthday Madeline!!

I CAN NOT believe that my little girl is already 2!! It has gone by way to fast. I absolutely love being her mom, and I am so glad that she was sent to our family. We had her 2 year appointment and she was 23 lbs. and 34 1/2 inches. That is about the 10% for weight and the 70% for height. She has always been a tall, skinny thing! When she was born she weighed a whopping 5 lbs. 13 ounces, and was 19 inches!! I am just glad that she continues to grow!!

She has been talking up a storm these last few months. She can count to ten all by herself, and she can count things. She is learning her ABC's and knows a lot of the letters. Yesterday she looked at me and said, "Oh no, what did you do?" I am still not sure what I did but it was really cute. Two days ago I was laying her down for a nap and she started singing I am a Child of God. Her new latest obsessions are horses, and trains. In fact I have been playing horses with her all morning! And she has finally started to get some hair!!! If you can't tell I am one proud momma!

We are having her party this Sunday and we got her a super cool present so stayed tuned for those pictures!!

Madeline I love you!!

Madeline and mom 11-13-2006

Madeline and dad 11-13-2006

Madeline's 1st birthday!!

This is a picture of her this morning!! She asked me to sing the Happy Birthday song 5 times!Happy 2nd birthday!!

Halloween

Yeah yeah I know these are a bit late but here you go! Madeline was a butterfly for Halloween. I have to say that she was super cute. We went trick or treating with grandma and grandpa Dean. She was scared to go up to strange houses at first but she soon realized she could get suckers out of it she was SO excited. Every house we went to she would run in when they opened the door and look for suckers. Funny girl!!

cousin Natalee, Madeline, and cousin Bennett

Fall Family Pics

On Saturday we got family pictures taken. My father in law has a fancy pants camera and took them for us!!







Look at these blue eyed babes!! This is Madeline's cousin Bennett. They were so cute sitting on the steps together.






I love this picture of Madeline. She isn't smiling, but I think she looks so pretty! Thank you Marcus for some great pictures!!

The Zoo

(Madeline looking at the elephants)

The other day Skipper called me up and said that he was leaving work early and taking Madeline and I out to eat for lunch and then we were going to the zoo.


Madeline loved the carousel and the giraffes. It was a great day!!



(If you look closely you can see the gorilla's huge face pressed against the glass)





(She was patting the tiger next to her trying to get some random girl to sit next to her.)

You look like a different person...

So yesterday my brother sent me a text message telling me that I looked like I had lost weight. This made me excited because I sure have!!! Well later I was talking to him and I told him how happy I was that he and his wife noticed. He responded by saying that I look like a different person... haha I know that he didn't mean it in a bad way but what I wanted to say was did I look that bad before?

But I am excited. Most of you mommas out there know what your body looks like after having a baby. There are some of you though that go back to normal immediately after having a baby. I just had a couple extra pounds hanging on and finally decided to do something about it. So 10 pounds later, and more to follow I hope, I do feel like a different person!!

Skipper wanted me to say that he thinks I look amazing (and a few other things I am not comfortable posting on here...)

Weekend pictures

September 11, 2001

I remember the morning that this happened. I was in Ohio and I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the world trade centers, and and this time they didn't suspect terrorist activity. I was listening when the 2nd plane hit the other tower and then a plane hit the pentagon, and one crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. I called my mom and asked her what was going on and they hadn't heard anything yet, being 2 hours earlier. . The next day was my 21st birthday which it didn't seem right to celebrate it so I didn't. The one thing I did do on my birthday was buy a newspaper which I still have. It was such a scary, and sad day. I had just been in New York City a month before and it seemed surreal.

I have always loved the NYC since I was a little girl. I had never been but I told my mom that I wanted to go. When I was 19 my mom and dad suggested I be a nanny. I interviewed with a few families on the east coast and finally decided on the O'Connor family in New Jersey. They were an amazing family and I was honored to be a part of their life during the last half of 1999-2000. I went into New York City more times than I can even count, and I fell in love with it. I have been back a few times since then too. I have been to ground zero a few times and it is an eerie, humbling, and again surreal experience when you see it. I hope that we can remember those people that lost their lives on that day and how our country came together for a moment.

Foot Massages

Madeline loves foot massages. After a long hard day of running around there is nothing she loves more than to lay on a pillow and get her feet rubbed. She is not spoiled at ALL!

Election

I am usually not one to get into the political scene but I got this comparison chart sent to me on McCain and Obama. I don't like Obama but reading this, especially the tax part, makes me hope and pray that he doesn't get into the White House. He seems sketchy to me.

Out of curiosity if someone is voting for him tell post a comment saying why.

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS

JOHN McCAIN
BARAK OBAMA
Favors new drilling offshore US
Yes - McCain
No - Obama
Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it
Yes - McCain
No -Obama
Served in the US Armed Forces
Yes -McCain
No -Obama
Amount of time served in the US Senate
22 YEARS- McCain
173 DAYS - Obama
Will institute a socialized national health care plan
No - McCain
Yes - Obama
Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy
No - McCain
Yes - Obama
Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately
No - McCain
Yes - Obama
Supports gun ownership rights
Yes - McCain
No - Obama
Supports homosexual marriage
No - McCain
Yes - Obama
Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase
No - McCain
Yes - Obama
Voted against making English the official language
No - McCain
Yes - Obama
Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals
No - McCain
Yes - Obama


CAPITAL GAINS TAX
MCCAIN
0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.
OBAMA
28% on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)


DIVIDEND TAX
MCCAIN
15% (no change)
OBAMA
39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president. The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.')


INCOME TAX
MCCAIN
(no changes)
Single making 30K - tax $4,500

Single making 50K - tax $12,500

Single making 75K - tax $18,750

Married making 60K- tax $9,000

Married making 75K - tax $18,750

Married making 125K - tax $31,250

OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)
Single making 30K - tax $8,400

Single making 50K - tax $14,000

Single making 75K - tax $23,250

Married making 60K - tax $16,800

Married making 75K - tax $21,000

Married making 125K - tax $38,750

Under Obama, your taxes could almost double!


INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN
- 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
OBAMA
Restore the inheritance tax
Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes.


NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already) New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not least....New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries!!!

You can verify the above at the following web sites:
http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/election/2008/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.taxes.htmlhttp://elections.foxnews.com/?s=proposed+taxes
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_on_taxes.html%A0http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/

Busy Weekend

On Friday night our Stake had a "Family Fun Fair" and we decided to check it out and let Madeline run around for awhile. They had one of those huge blow up slides and we have tried to take her on those 2 times this year and each time she would cling to me and would not let go. But she was really interested in it and as you can see in the pictures she loved it. Not only did she love it but she would do it all by herself. Skipper was so funny and nervous about it.

















On Saturday we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and let Madeline play in a stream, went on a hike, and had a picnic. It was a lot of fun and it got Skipper and I wondering why we haven't done this before.















Saturday night Madeline went to her little boyfriends birthday. His name is Keldon and he was turning 2. They had bubbles so Madeline was happy. She doesn't quite get how to blow but she
sure tried hard to figure it out.