How to Have a Great {31st} Birthday

1. Wake up at the crack of dawn so that you can beat the crowd at the DMV (nothing like putting off your driver's license renewal until the very last minute).
2. Half hour after that wake-up time, greet your child in the hallway, a child who has previously never met you in the hallway in the morning. Yes, that very child, on your special day, has learned how to climb out of his crib, altering life as you know it. Happy B-day, Mama.
3. Arrive at the DMV at 7:57 a.m. Attain the coveted #1 spot and quickly exit with a shiny new driver's license (unfortunately, also exit with a much lighter wallet. $65 are you kidding me!?).
4. Go grocery shopping at Walmart. (I don't know about you, but Walmart is always on my list of fun things to do on my birthday)
5. Drive to grocery store #2 since the aforementioned Walmart didn't have everything you needed.
6. Pay an exorbitant amount of money at grocery store #2 and suddenly appreciate the value that is Walmart (with the good comes the bad, right?)
7. Change your first (and let's hope only) major toddler blow-out (and I mean BLOW-OUT), complete with giving said toddler a bath.
8. Babysit two neighbor children, leaving you to care for three children under the age of three.
9. For first half hour, think to yourself, "I could totally do this--having three kids 18 months apart isn't so bad."
10. For the next two and a half hours, think to yourself, "AHHHHHHHH! Why would anyone do this?"
11. Rock crying 8-month-baby girl until she finally falls asleep. Read your own child a story and get him in his crib for his afternoon nap.
12. Once again, greet your child in the hallway, accompanied by squeals of delight at his proud accomplishment.
13. For the next hour, continually be greeted by child in hallway. After that, just give up, lock your child in his room for 1/2 hour, only to hear him playing choo-choos and cars.
14. Once your hubby comes home, go on a much-needed bike ride.
15. On that bike ride, get chased by a dog, stared-down by a cow and followed by a chicken.
16. Come home to a newly fashioned crib for your child (holes drilled lower to move the mattress down), a clean house, a sleeping child and a scrumptious homemade dinner. (It was a long bike ride).

Happy Birthday to me. At least I got I greeted by a b-day video from this guy: (Josh had this video waiting for me on the computer when I woke up. Very sweet). And at least every year I insist on having a birthweek. So, here's to more, and hopefully better, celebrating! {Friday is when I plan on having my b-day re-do since Josh has this Friday off}. Enjoy this little gem of Will singing "Mama Mia!" and wishing me a Happy B-day!

Easter: Bring on the Candy

What did the Easter bunny bring Will? Well, Will sure didn't know and/or care. What did he care about? Why, the lovely, brightly colored eggs that held mounds of candy, of course. After all that, the rest of Easter was kind of a let down. Too bad for Will, Easter is the only time he gets to consume ridiculous amounts of candy. Hopefully, one day he will not only recognize but appreciate the full import of Easter: it's not about the candy, it's certainly not about the presents but it is about the fact that our Savior lives. And hopefully, he will also one day recognize that this knowledge can bring better joy and satisfaction than any Reese's egg-shaped peanutbutter cup ever will.

The VT Madsens and the NYC Jane joined us for our Easter celebrating/Conference viewing. How blessed are we to have such good, fun family so close so that we can share all the good times? And how blessed are we that, because of our Savior's life, death and resurrection, we can live forever as a family? And who wouldn't want to live with this guy forever:

Posing with his NYC presents: light-up bunny ears from Granny and a taxi cab from Mama.

His Easter loot: notice said Reese's peanut buttercup in his hand. (When he looked in his basket, all he saw was the candy and he just kept saying over and over, "Eat it! Eat it!").
The cute kids in their Easter garb watching a church show while the adults attempted to watch conference.
Willy Will.
Will and his dada.
The three kids actually looking at the camera at the same time! Love this kid.

General Conference at our House

I don't know what General Conference-watching looks like at your house, but at our house it looks a little like this:

Will and his cousin Beth watching the "Guy Show" (the Incredibles) on "Mamadada bed";

Sam playing "choo-choo" in Will's room;

Oh and there it is--some people actually watching conference in our makeshift tv-viewing area in our office (Jane, Josh and Nate). Josh is even studiously taking notes. He gets the gold star.

We were so glad to have visitors for Conference/Easter, even if that meant General Conference viewing was a tad more crazy than usual. It's a good thing they replay it online. Hope your Conference/Easter weekend was as good as ours.

Girls' Trip 2010

What do you get when you take seven crazy Madsen girls and let them run wild for three days in the Big Apple? This is what you get:

• One viewing of a police take down.
• One spotting of a movie star on a bus (Kyra Sedgwick of "The Closer" fame).
• One much-needed spa pedicure (sooooooo worth it).
• Two opportunities to be in a Glenn Close movie.
• Two late nights eating lots of yummy yumminess (Carnegie Deli Cheesecake and Crumb cupcakes) and talking girl talk.
• Two nights at "shows" (The San Francisco Symphony at Carnegie Hall and "Mamma Mia")!
• Three trips to Levain Bakery to eat the biggest, dreamiest cookies you ever did meet.
• Lots and lots of good eats. Of course, it's NYC for heaven's sake.
• Countless hours of laughter, silliness and fun being with some of my favorite ladies. We love you Girls' Trip 2010! Thanks go out to Jane for being such a stellar tour guide. Can't wait til next year.

Photos to document the trip:

Central Park with Hans Christian Anderson statue. Adele, Kasey, Jane, me, Hans, Amy, Jill and Jane.
Central Park bridge.
The eating of the famous cookies.
Carnegie Hall.

All the ladies outside Sarabeth's (yummy brunch!)

The Brooklyn Bridge.

The spa pedicure.

68 Degrees

Let me tell you, we've been having some dreamy weather here (well, at least last week that was the case) and all I can say is: 68 degrees, will you marry me? Will you be my one and only and stay with me forever and ever? Because in your sunniness I can bask in the goodness that is you and spend my days playing endlessly at parks, going on nature walks, taking long bike rides and runs, pushing Will on the swing for hours and even reading a book in the lawn chair while Will runs gleefully around me. I love that in your blissful warmth I don't have to take twelve years layering coats and boots on Will to step outside for all of 15 minutes. I love that I get to see Will's cute, chubby legs in his short, shorts. Yes, 68 degrees, I love you. Never, never leave me.

In one way, though, you have brought some distress into my life. You have provided a means for my child to go out in public, dressed in a way that I thought I would never allow. Yes, Will insists on wearing sandals WITH HIS SOCKS. I shrieked, I moaned, I begged for the good of all that is holy, asking him to please not wear socks with his (too small) sandals. But did he listen? No. He threw a perfectly dreadful tantrum and voila: here he is in all his fashion faux pas-ness.

It's a good thing you're cute, kid. (Here he is with his awkward "cheese" smile).

Nap Time

As I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't been blogging much recently. The reasons why? Well, really there are three. Usually, I blog during nap time, but as of late during nap time I have been busy with this:

and this:

and, of course, this:

I'm seriously addicted. I think I have a problem. I've only recently, sadly enough, discovered Elizabeth Gaskell and I simply cannot get enough of her. And Jane Eyre? I think I've seen it half a dozen times, but it deserves a good viewing at least once a year. Every time I watch it, I get so caught up in the story, as though I don't know how it will end. Please, please promise me you will go and watch all of these (and more). And don't even get me started on the fact that Masterpiece Theater has just redone almost all of Austen's work. There just isn't enough nap time in the day.

And, please, please tell me that you are just as productive as I am during nap time. I'm dying to know: how do you spend your nap time (if you are so very blessed to have it)? And, of course, stay tuned for an update soon (just as soon as I finish Jane Eyre for the umpteenth time, that is).

The Second Birthday of my Firstborn

Thanks to Will's cousin Beth, Will had a pretty spectacular birthday party. I say thanks to Beth for two reasons. The first, if it weren't for Beth and all her excitement (see previous post), Will's party would have been just Josh and me singing happy b-day to Will with a candle on a Hostess cupcake (hey, don't knock the Hostess cupcake. Where I grew up, these were staples). Instead, Will not only had a homemade "footfall" cake (per his request) but also an entire "footfall" themed party. The second reason Beth made Will's party a success was because she was far more enthusiastic about it than anyone else, including the b-day boy himself. She felt the entire trip to Utah was for the sole purpose of celebrating Will's birth (when in reality it was just a lucky coincidence). She asked everyone, including her maternal grandmother (who is NOT related to Will in any way), "Are you going to Will's birthday party?" Yes, Happy B-day to you Will, but the happy celebrating goes to you, Beth.

Here's the party low down. As mentioned above, it was a football themed party (which is what Will wanted AND it also happened to be on Superbowl Sunday, so it was per-fect!).

The decorations:

(Check out that rockin' footfall cake)
The concession stand (the idea of which I stole from my friend). The concessions were earned by paying with raffle tickets acquired by winning the "ball game" that Josh and his brother Nate came up with only moments before the actual event. And what were the concessions? All of Will's favorite foods: homemade mac and cheese, lil' smokies, guacamole and chips and fresh pineapple.
The "ball game":
Check out Beth's tongue. She is trying awfully hard.
Will's turn.

And Sam. Cute Sam. He just set the ball in. He's nobody's fool. He did what he had to do to be successful.

The presents (which were weak b/c he got a train set that I wasn't about to lug out to UT so I scrounged up a few gifts around the house and wrapped 'em up):

Tape on the hand. The look on Will's face is like, "Oh, no. What do I do with the tape on my hand?" Can you say a tad OCD?

Beth helping him every step of the way.

Gus giving a helping hand as well.

And, of course, there was the singing of the b-day song (I tried and tried to upload that video, but to no avail). It was all a little frazzled because by then the Superbowl had started and heaven forbid, the big boys miss the Superbowl. We had to rush through the song and hurry and eat the cake so that the boys could catch the TiVoed footfall game. And once again, Will wanted nothing to do with the cake. He had NO part of it. Too funny. I should have made him cookies. I know he loves cookies. Happy Second B-day, Will. We love your buns.