What we've been up to

This last Friday Nick and I packed up the kids and went to Bear Lake. We met my parents there (they had already been there since Labor Day) and had fun swimming in the pool, sauna, and playing on the awesome toys they have for kids. Then Nick got a call from work wanting him to come in and fix something that only he knew how to fix. My parents had just left with our van to drop my sister off in Rexburg to start school, so there wasn't really any way for him to get to work. He ended up leaving at around 7pm, when my parents got back from Idaho. He went into work that night and then stayed home the rest of the weekend and went back to work Monday (which he had originally taken off for the vacation). I ended up staying with my parents and the kids had a lot of fun. I felt bad for my family because Madelyn kept crying randomly through out the night because she had a really bad bum rash and is teething. I had to be at work Monday by 2pm (the first appt was 2:10) and we were supposed to be checked out of the condo by 10am, so I thought we had plenty of time to get me to work on time. Well, we didn't end up leaving the condo until just before noon and I thought there was NO way I would make it to work. It took Nick 2.5 hrs to get home just driving in our car (at 80 mph after the canyon) and my dad was in the suburban pulling a huge boat! I felt like I was 12 again, throwing a fit about how I wouldn't make it to work and it wasn't really a day I could miss... My dad got me to work at 2:15, only 5 minutes late-so that means he made it from Bear Lake to West Valley City in 2 hrs 15 minutes, pulling a boat! My parents dropped me off and watched the kids for the 1.5 hrs while I was at work and then picked me up when I was done. When I got home my mom had unpacked almost everything and had done 2 loads of laundry-dried and folded! I couldn't believe it, she was exhausted but still managed to help me out so tremendously!
I haven't posted my weight update lately because my scale has been saying the battery is low and won't weigh me, but when I got back from the lake it decided to work again. So the news is I haven't lost anything more but I haven't gained. Which I'm very happy about because we've had so many birthdays and parties in the family-so I haven't been counting my cals or doing anything I was before. I just bought a jogging/bike stroller so now I can start walking and biking with the kids. I'm really excited and have Natalie to thank for finding a great deal for me!
Nick is starting to really like the class he is taking and to add a cherry on top-he just bought a new laptop for school. I told him he should try and get his work to cover some of it because it's for school but he doesn't think he should try. Whatever!
Madelyn turned one yesterday and we had a little birthday cake for her and sang to her. We didn't do a friend party for her because she wouldn't remember it and wouldn't even know what's going on but either next year or when she turns 3 we'll party...She goes in tomorrow for her 1 yr appt. so I'll put her stats up after then.
Andrew is growing and learning like crazy. We've been exploring different preschools for him and he's REALLY excited about the thought of going to school. He's on the waiting list for Hillside Elementary and the school district is sending me info on the other schools that have preschools and their stats. It costs about $80 a month through the school district and about $240 through Challenger.
Here are some pictures of what we've been up to...

Madelyn's first pigtails, cheese!
She'll let me do her hair if I let her splash in the sink at the same time
Andrew took about 20 pictures of things around the house (i.e. me, toys, cars in the garage, shoes, bottle caps, etc.) This is just one of the many pictures he took of Hailey right after she ate. He loves Hailey! I did a slide show at the bottom of the post of the random pictures he took because it's pretty funny. He knows how to turn the camera on and off and take many many pictures. He even knows how to change it from taking pictures to viewing them all...he's just like his daddy!
Madelyn at Bear Lake having a blast with daddy on the swings. Notice the matching nail polish? This is actually the first time I painted her nails-I know I'm lame!
She was being so photogenic!

Here's Andrew waking up from his nap to get ready to go to the lake. He opened his Pooh tent and put his spiderman sheets, Owl Babies book (gift from Rachel Harding when he was born), tin box, baby doll, and other treasures with him. I was really surprised when I opened his door to wake him and Madelyn up! Madelyn and daddy going down the slide.
Andrew climbing a rockwall at the Bear Lake park. He insisted on wearing this swimming floatie "life jacket" thing even though it's way to small for him. I would post the other pictures of him but you can see his "junk" way too clearly because the thing is so dang tight on him!
A rare moment when Andrew would smile for me while I had the camera. He's so devilishly cute!


Here's the slideshow of Andrew's pictures...