Top Ten Lists

Monday was Lance's and my 10 year anniversary.  Crazy.  In honor of this momentous occasions here are a few top ten lists I just threw together I've been working on all week.

Top Ten Reasons I Didn't Blog About Our Anniversary ON Our Anniversary

1. I was exhausted from yet another day of unpacking and cleaning. 
2. I was still frazzled from taking three kids to the school's open house.  (Seriously, school, you couldn't have the open house just a little bit later so that the dads could come home and watch the youngest kids?)
3. I was pretty sure no one would notice.
4. We had already celebrated with the cruise in May.  Did it really need another blog post?
5. I was too full from the oh-so-fancy anniversary dinner we got from Jimmy Johns. Yum.
6. There was a pretty good Seinfeld rerun on at the same time I supposed to be blogging. (Not true.)
7. Lance and I spent most of the evening getting my plants out of our bathtub (where they had been put for safe keeping) and into the kitchen and living room.  It was a bigger job than expected.  (True.)
8. I was too busy trying to explain to Spencer and Josh what an anniversary is and why they should care.  (They didn't care.)
9. I was too busy trying to prevent Cole from falling to his death down the stairs, which he thinks he can descend by just walking forward.  (Seriously, Cole, you can't walk 35 inches without wobbling and you think you can walk down the stairs?!)
10. I was too busy making out with Lance.  (True or not true?  You decide.)

Top Ten Things I Remember About Our Wedding Day

1. Waking up in my aunt and uncle's unfinished basement.  It was, apparently, the only place in all of Utah County where I could be alone for one more night.  And I was grateful for it!
2. Eating cold cereal for breakfast at the kitchen counter with my 8 year old cousin.
3. Indulging my mom in the bridal room when she wouldn't stop messing with my dress and trying to make sure that it was all perfect.  It bugged me, but I wisely decided to let it go!
4. Sitting with Lance in the Celestial room all by ourselves.  For quite a while.  We began to really wonder if they had forgotten about us, it took so long!
5. Not being nervous at all - until right before the ceremony took place.  And then being perfectly fine again once it was over.
6. Getting sunburned during our photo shoot outside after the ceremony.
7. Lance misplacing his keys.  We were getting into my parent's minivan with my 16 year old brother when he realized he had a spare. Auspicious beginning to a marriage, right?
8. Wanting to go watch X Men between the wedding brunch and the open house, but the show times online were wrong so we missed it.  We wisely took a nap instead!
9. My dad being late to the open house because he was golfing.  Mom was not amused.
10. Lugging our bags up a rather steep staircase at the bed and breakfast we were staying at that night in Midway, while the B&B staff just watched. Great customer service there.  (Can you sense the sarcasm?)

Top Ten Reasons I Love Lance

1. He's a computer GENIUS!
2. He knows when I'm about to lose it with the kids and then takes over.
3. He has a quirky sense of humor that matches mine perfectly.
4. He works hard to keep me in this extravagant lifestyle to which I have become accustomed.
5. He is a worthy priesthood holder.
6. He took me on a cruise.  True, I did all the planning and research and work for it to happen; but he let me do this, and that made me extremely happy.
7. He takes care of Cole during the second and third hours of church so I don't have to deal with him while I'm in Primary.  (And by take care of Cole I mean wrangle.)
8. He bought me a house.  Sure, it created the most stressful 6 week period of my life (and that's sayin' somethin', considering I have three little boys, one of them being Josh), but I'm still glad we have the house.
9. He says his phone is better, but secretly knows that mine is. ;)  He also brainwashes Spencer about why Windows 7 is better than any other Windows version out there, and teaches Josh how to kill zombies on computer games.  I'm sure he is already working on teaching Cole some valuable life skills.
10. Um, have you seen how hot he is?

Top Ten Memories (That Just Popped Into My Head) in Our Ten Years of Marriage
(This list is by no means exhaustive; there's a lot more stuff that has happened.  I just didn't think of it now.  Or wisely decided not to include it.)

1. The time we hiked The Narrows in Zion National Park.
2. The week we spent in San Diego for our first annivesary.
3. Sleeping on the hide-a-bed in our living room in our tiny first apartment because the air conditioning unit only cooled that room and it was something like 292 degrees at 11pm.
4. Driving from Utah to Indiana in a Uhaul with a 6-month-old Spencer in between us.  And promising each other we would never make that drive again.
5. Stuffing towels into the window of our bedroom in our grad school apartment because it wouldn't close all the way and it was approximately -129 degrees at 11pm.  (This was before the extravagant lifestyle came into effect.  I am happy to report that all of our windows have been able to close since then.)
6. Lance telling me that he thought we were having another boy right before I went in for my ultrasound for Cole.  Me thinking the exact same thing right before he said it.
7. Going to Cedar Point with Kyle and Kevin.  Not our most romantic anniversary, but that didn't matter because it was AWESOME.
8. Putting in that back yard to our first house.  (Hauling out the rocks, hauling in the dirt.)  Sure, not my happiest memory - but I'll certainly never forget it!
9. Spencer breaking his arm when I was around 7 months pregnant with Josh.  And then having to sit out in the hallway with Lance, listening to Spencer cry while they reset the bones.  I'm pretty sure they made us both leave because they thought I was the crazy pregnant lady.  I probably was in that situation.  Also not the best memory, but also something I will never forget.
10. Pretty much the entire cruise.  When I'm stressed and need to go to my 'happy place' I just think about all the fun I had with Lance and I feel better. 

Cascade Springs & Canyon Picnic

Whew - last Utah trip post.  Finally!

The day before we went home we went to Cascade Springs with Lance's parents.  The weather was absolutely perfect and the scenery was pretty.  The boys were hyper and grouchy, but that's pretty much normal whenever we travel.

Just to prove that we actually went. :)

There's something about bridges these boys just love.

Checkin' out the lower springs.

Walking with grandpa.

A self-portrait.  Because it was a Tuesday.

This kiddo is such a good little traveler!  He just chilled in his stroller most of the time.

Spencer showed off his mad reading skills at most of the signs.  His correct pronunciation of most of the geological terms was actually quite impressive!

We asked Vigo to take a picture of just the two of us.  I had to crop out the fighting children. :)

Chillin' on another bridge.

I asked Spencer to pose for a picture.  This is what I got.

Josh was actually in a pretty good mood.

He even let me hold his hand sometimes!  (I think he was a little nervous.  This was after Spencer had fallen and skinned both of his knees pretty badly.)

Joy and Viggo

After Cascade Springs we went on a picnic up American Fork Canyon.  We had a picnic table right next to a stream, and the boys had a fantastic time throwing rocks into the water and getting filthy.  (I never did get a good answer as to why Lance decided to dress them in white that day...)

Awesome scenery, right?

Little boys in their natural element - near water, dirt, and rocks.

Poor Cole was strapped in his stroller, despite the fact that he quite vocally let us know he'd rather be down by the water with his older brothers.

More bridge action.

Chuckin' rocks.

Check out the dirt mustache on that kid.

The Taste of Summer

The most traumatic thing for me about this whole move was leaving my tomato garden behind.  The tomatoes were juuuuust about ripe and ready to go crazy the day we moved.

Tragedy.

So imagine my happiness when one of our new neighbors brought over several ripe, juicy, and wonderful home grown tomatoes yesterday.

Oh momma.  I've been feasting on them all day. Including for dinner tonight, with salt, pepper, olive oil, and fresh basil.

Heaven.

A Day With the Madsens

After the family reunion we got to spend some time with Lance's family.  While Lance and his brother, Dane, went to see a movie, the boys and I hung out with Grandpa and Grandma.  First, they checked out Grandpa's dummy.  (Cole couldn't get enough of that doll!)

Then we hung around on the humongous Paul Bunyan couches.  (As they are affectionately known as around here.)  (Spencer is actually on the smaller of the two here.)

Then grandma offered to take us to Trafalga.  For anyone who's been in Utah County lately, you know that place along I-15 with the face Mount Rushmore somewhere around Lehi?  Yeah, that's the place.

The boys, of course, were thrilled.  (Grandma and I?  Not so much.  Oh, we had fun with the boys, but the place was not that well run.  But this blog is not a rant about poor customer service.  At least today.)

We played a round of miniature golf.  It was actually pretty difficult, but fun.  Don't you love Joshie's pose?  He gestured like this a gave a cute "Yesssss!" after he got the ball into each hole.

Oh, and in case you're curious, this is how Joshie golfs.

As you can tell, all 18 holes took us a while.  An no, we didn't bother to keep score.  (Although I did make a few pretty sweet putts.)

Spencer putting into the Washington Monument

And here we are at the Washington Monument

Cole is such a good boy.  He sat quietly in his stroller the entire time we were there, never fussing or anything.  I think there was enough going on that he was plenty entertained.  Such a cute, good boy!

I think this was Mammoth Caves.

 

I'm pretty sure the real thing is much more impressive.

After golfing I got to take Spencer on his first roller coaster.  He was sooooo excited and proud!  It was pretty tame by coaster standards, but he still had a great time and wasn't scared at all.  (This is happy news for Lance and I, because we love roller coasters!)

I was actually just a tad nervous about the coaster at first, only because a bunch of what appeared to be 15-year-olds were working on it for several minutes before-hand.  Then we got on the coaster and it took us, I kid you not, 17 times of the coaster going back and forth to get enough momentum to go over the first hill.  This was not normal, as had watched the coaster before.  (As I mentioned before, Trafalga?  Not so impressive.)

That evening we enjoyed a family barbecue at Katrina and Larry's house.  (Katrina is Lance's older sister.)  This is what happens when you let Lance have a turn with the camera: a picture with no one looking at the camera, except me.  And I look like a doof.

Cole had a grand time eating on the rock in the yard.  (Hey, don't judge - it was the perfect toddler height!)

 

Cole even stopped wandering around for a few minutes to pose with Uncle Dane.

Then, apparently, it was time for Lance to take a few self-portraits.  This was the favorite of the evening.  (Cole is like, "Dude.  What are you doing?)

We kinda look like goons.  But, we're happily-married-for-ten-years-now goons.

 

Fun fact: my hair is not nearly as curly in Utah as it is in Indiana, thus the many good hair days.  (Stupid Indiana humidity...)

As per normal, Spencer found the one piece of technology around (his cousin's Nintendo DS) and latched on to it all evening.

Grandma and Grandpa Madsen.

More self-portraits.  Because those always seem like a good idea at the time... (Once again, Cole looks thrilled to be involved.)

I just now realized that Josh isn't in a single of these pictures.  Oh well, I promise he was there.  He was probably off guzzling all of the creme soda.

Finally, I got a picture of Lance with his parents and siblings, something you (unfortunately), don't see very often. 

It was a wonderful evening, and far too short.  Hopefully it won't be too long before we can all be together again!

p.s.  Here's proof that a) Josh was there, and b) that Dane is a miracle worker.  (Josh had done nothing but growl at everyone all day.  Him sitting on Dane's lap was a pretty big deal.)  ((And yes, I really do mean growl.  Ah, Josh...))

Cole's First Haircut

I finally broke down the other day and had Lance cut Cole's hair.  It really needed it; he was starting to look like a ratty little hippie.  But it was so hard because he's so cute and blond and he had these little curls in the back... I'd bet just about every mother out there reading this knows what I'm talking about.

Anywho, as you can see, Mr. Cole-Bear was none-too-pleased about getting a haircut. 

I think his main complaint was all the hair that got in his face and mouth.  Here's the finished product:

I know, it's hard to look beyond that sad sad face to see the hair.  But he really does look much older.  Oh why do baby boys have to grow up into little boys so quickly?

After Spencer and Josh had their hair cuts I noticed this on the floor.  Can you tell whose hair is whose?  (Cole is such a blondy!)

First Day of First Grade!

Today was Spencer's first day of first grade.  He was so excited!

It was a day of many firsts for him.  For the first time he...:

• Rode the bus to and from school (Last year he had 1/2 day kindergarten so I picked him up from school.)
• Ate lunch in the cafeteria
• Forgot his lunchbox at school (When I asked him where it was, his response was an annoyed "I don't know."  As if he could be bothered with remember where his brand new lunch box was.  Needless to say, I was not thrilled.) 
• Went to school full day (When asked how his day was his first response was "Long!")
• Had a homework meltdown (He was mad that I made him follow the directions on his math homework page.  Imagine my audacity!)
• Played with neighborhood friends after school and had a grand time doing it.  (Our last neighborhood didn't really have many kids Spencer's age, or they were all in daycare and after school programs.  This neighborhood is teeming with kids, much to our delight.)

When comparing him to last year he seems just so much more grown up! (Despite the missing lunch box.  I think that's just a kid thing.)  I didn't have any problem with him leaving this year; no lump in my throat and nary a tear in my eye. 

In fact, I think I may have sung "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" on the way back from the bus stop. 

But mainly because I'm so proud of Spencer and I have great confidence in him.  I think it's going to a great year of firsts in first grade!

Flippin' Baby

Because sometimes you gotta just flip a baby.