Birthday Bash(es)

*Disclaimer: A long, boring post filled with tons of pictures. So beware. I kept putting off posting it b/c I wanted to do something cute and clever, but it just wasn't happening, so it is what it is.

Will, lucky boy that he is, had several b-day celebrations. The first was while we were in Utah and his darling cousin Beth insisted she throw him a birthday party--even though it wasn't his actual birthday--since he'd always had his birthday in Utah. So she put together a grand shin-dig, complete with games, presents (she took Granny with her to pick out and buy some cute presents--thanks, Gran!), a homemade cake (that she made herself) and even decorations. What a gal that Beans is. Of course, I only managed to snap a few photos (it was a crazy night) and the ones I did manage to take are sub-par (notice both Sam and James in the below photo are missing pants). Thanks, Beth for such a rockin' party. Whatever are we going to do without you?

While in Spokane, Will got spoiled with presents from family and from my parents (they got him the beloved boat from Cars 2--the very boat that would NOT fit in my suitcase on the way home and that Will had to carry on both planes. Yes, the same boat that caused quite the ruckus on our cross-country trip, especially since it is a light up, shooting and talking boat. The other passengers loved that).

Then when we got home, we celebrated his actual birthday (well, a few days late since we were flying on his actual birthday). He had a fun-filled day with pancakes for breakfast, treats and Mama and Dada at his school, out to lunch for chicken nuggets, home to open presents, swimming with Dada, home for a homemade pizza dinner and then friends over to help eat the "cookie cake" with us and celebrate the big day. Boy, this kid is spoiled. But we wouldn't have it any other way because we love him to pieces.

Will woke up to some decorations on the door of his room. Here he is on his birthday morning.

Then he came downstairs to find decorations and presents all for him. If you can't tell, he was pretty jazzed about that.

Here he is doing his pose that he's been striking for the camera as of late. It's like a top model pose.

And Dada and Lucy Goosey were there, too.

One more pose for the camera before he's off to school.

Here he is at school. I brought homemade zucchini muffins (he wanted cupcakes but too many allergies in his class for that, so I made my famous zucchini bread and then just put it in muffin tins) and apples and milk to drink, of course. He loved having both Mama AND Dada there at school.

And now for the favorite part: the opening of presents. I made a scavenger hunt for him, hiding his presents. He was pretty cute figuring out the clues.

He got tools for his b-day as well as the appropriate carpenter attire. And Josh wins father of the year (yet again) as he put together a tool box that the two of them could make together with all his new tools. Will was over the moon about that.

Here he is pretend drilling his tool box pieces.

And here they are in the "shop" actually building the tool box.

And here's the finished product. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?

He also got a Busy Town Mystery game that I adore (and so does he) and we had to play it right then and there. Of course, it was just Will and me since Dada fell asleep, as pictured.

And here he is for the cookie cake and singing of Happy Birthday. He looks pretty excited, no? And we made a cookie cake because that's what Will wanted. He doesn't like cake, and he adores cookies so this is what we came up with. Then to finish the night, Will got to have a sleepover with his dada. And that was quite possibly the best present of all. That boy adores his dada. We love you, Willy Will. Happy 4th B-day!

Lucy Lu Lu

We are all in love with this baby girl of ours. She is currently a rolling machine and it is so much fun. You set her down and before you bat an eye, she is just rolling on over. We are now entering the stage of babyhood that I officially love. She's round and cute and funny and sleeping on a (somewhat) schedule. She has the best smile and she finally goes to bed early. She loves her brother, baths (when she gets them--I swear we bathed Will every night when he was a babe and now it's just too plain busy to give this girl a bath every night), television (I make TV junkie babies), and she's a pretty good sport about being lugged around on all our activities and/or errands. Now that she is older and life has resumed to (somewhat) normal, I am in LOVE with having two kids. It just makes me so, so happy to play in the snow with a baby and a big kid, have Will push Lucy in the swing, take Lucy to see Will at his school functions, etc., etc. And I always said I'd be happy with just two, but I won't lie to you--I want more, lots more (well, at least one to two more). But I will do my best to be happy with whatever God gives me. I recognize daily how blessed I am to have these two in my life. So, now enjoy some photos of our baby girl that have been taken the last two months.

We finally got a snuggly baby. She especially loves this spot with Joshy. It's too cute and Josh loves it. He is now the official get-Lucy-to-sleep-at-church-person and he just perches her right there on his shoulder, walks around and she's out. It's precious. Josh really needs to always have a baby right there on his shoulder--he's a natural at fatherhood if ever there was one.

After a bath, hanging out and picking her nose.

And when she's lying on her back, she likes to fold her arms like this. It's too funny.

And she's already mastered the sad-look face.

Some photos I took of her on her four-month b-day.

We love that smile.

Bumbo time.

And what would a post be without a picture of the two rugs together? Too bad Will is wearing his baby face, the face he reserves for just babies. I call it the "love-you-to-death" face.

Rice Cereal

At four months, Luce started some rice cereal in efforts to fatten herself up (she only weighed in at 12.6 lbs at her check-up, 25%). She was not a lover of the food. In fact, I referred to her as Fort Knox for a while, since she would close her lips so tightly, never allowing ANY food in. Lately, though, she's progressed to Switzerland--she's neutral to the idea of food. I wish our roles could be reversed--I want someone to ply me with food all day in an effort to fatten me up. I'd take to that job quite nicely, thank you very much. However, Lucy, who should be devouring food, has no taste for it and me, who should really lay off the stuff, can't seem to ever get enough. Ah, the injustice of it all.

Of course, such a momentous occasion as the introduction of food had to be documented. So, here are the photos of her first taste of the white goo.

And here she is all cute and tiny in the high chair. Don't you want to just squish her cheeks? Love that baby girl (and I really must since she still insists on waking twice at night to nurse).

Ski Utah

Now for the real reason for our trip (or at least the real reason for Josh): skiing. Josh, his dad and his brother skied every day and then the kids would come up to ski at Alta where it's free after 3. Will still adores skiing, powder and falling down, making Josh's job a whole lot of fun (meaning a whole lot of work). Will also enjoyed jumping around in the snow, eating the "chocolate houses" (a.k.a. Toblerone) and drinking the hot chocolate--the prized rewards for a job well-done of skiing. With a nursing newborn, I only made it up to ski for one afternoon, so this was far from a ski trip for me. That's all right, though, because there is a time and a season for everything and this is not my season to ski (plus, skiing is reaaaaaaaallllllly, reaaaaaaaalllllly killer on my legs and I've grown far too lazy in my old age to want to willingly make myself suffer. And let's not even mention the super-hero powers I have to conjure just to put my ski boots on--even with the strength of the bear, I usually must elicit the help of some poor family member to assist in the process). I've just resigned myself to the fact that Will, at the age of four, is a far superior skiier than I ever will be.

Museum

Since the big boys were skiing all day every day, I would have sadly been stranded on our vacation if it were not for Amy (my sister-in-law) and her family. The Bagleys were all in town and so we played all day with all the kids: the zoo, The Natural History Museum and Beauty and the Beast in the movie theater. It's a good darn thing the Bagleys are such fun and good sports to let me tag along on all their outings. I told Josh that I saw the Bagleys more than I saw him on our trip. Will even later referred to Maga (Amy's mom--that's what the grandkids call her) as "my Maga". It was really sweet. I didn't get photos of the zoo or the show, but I did take some photos at The Natural History Museum, so here they are:

Sam and Will playing with (or fighting over?) the frog puppet.
Will and the frog puppet. (Apparently he was the victor).

The Will-man.

The V-Madsens in the dinosaur footprint.

And Will and Beans in the footprint.

And Lucy was there, too, in the Baby Bjorn, of course.

I Love to See the Temple

Did you think I may never blog again? I thought I may never blog again. I had far too many photos to sift through of our vacation and of our recent happenings. But I persevered and downloaded the 300+ photos (my memory card was full--it's never been full before) and I've uploaded the chosen favorites to the good ol' blog. And now you can enjoy the spoils. You're surely welcome.

Instead of one ginormous post of our vacation, I've broken it up, lucky you. So without further ado, here is the first of many: the pictures of our little trip to Temple Square.

We took Granny and our cousin Sam to see the sights. The boys ran around like mad, but Will was extra sweet with the Christus statue, as evidenced below. It really was one of those precious moments in life--how he tenderly viewed the statue of our Savior.

Granny, Sam and Will

Our little family in all our splendor.

And this is how Luce enjoyed most of our vacation: in the Baby Bjorn.
Will with the Christus.

Darn That Baby Weight

I'm ba-ack from my two-week vacation (I'm sure you've missed me). And while I enjoyed myself immensely whilst on vacation, the post-vacation depression has come on in full force. I miss never cooking, cleaning or grocery shopping. I miss the great company, the constant entertainment for both me and my kids in the form of siblings/parents/grandparents/cousins. But what I miss most of all? The food. Because now that I'm back to real life and back to reality, I've come to realize something: this darn baby weight ain't going anywhere any time soon. Thus, the sad end to my happy days of eating whatever I want whenever I want. And the beginning of my days of tracking every calorie on MyFitnessPal.com and dreaming constantly of ice cream, butter and all things fattening (I have a serious sweet tooth). In order to help reach my goal, I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who wants to join me in my quest for healthy living/eating? You know what they say: you have more success if you diet with friends (but what I really think they mean is: misery loves company). So, let me know if you want to have the time of your life, depriving oneself of food and happiness but eventually (hopefully) looking decent in a bathing suit.

P.S. Send my way your favorite healthy meals and snacks and I would love you forever and ever!