Here are the photo's I took for our Christmas card this year.
Mission completed! All I need to say is thank goodness for digital. I would be so broke if I had to go and develop film.
I also tried to get a photo of the girls together but Kimber just didn't want to share the limelight. Well, see for yourself. 
She's our little Prima Donna baby. Oh well, I tried at least.
The other night Brett and Madi were watching Spider-Man. At some point in the movie Spider-Man is crying. Madi turns to Brett and says, "Oh!! He needs his Mommy!" I love that she knows that Mommy is the one to come to when you feel sad and you need someone to make you feel better.
It's so cold here!! Brrrrr!! Our bedroom is probably the coldest room in this whole house and we weren't really sure why. We just figured it's the way it is. Well yesterday was a very blustery day. The wind was blowing all the snow from the west. I think the temperature got down to -1 but by the time to go to bed it was -2. Our room felt like an icebox. Our windows are really drafty so I thought that I would just put big pillows along our headboard to keep the draft from our heads. When I walked over by Brett's side of the bed the draft by the floor felt like I was outside in the cold. I just thought, "Thank goodness I have my curtains on the windows! It's keeping most of the cold out." When Brett came into the room I told him about how cold it was on the floor and he asked if the window could be open. Well, since our windows are awesome (note the sarcasm) they do open by themselves sometimes. Guess what! The window had pulled down about a half an inch from the top letting all the cold winter air into our bedroom.. BRRRRR!!!!
Once upon a time there was a sweet little monster that scared everybody. The End!
We have the best hill just a short little walk from our house. 
So we walked home and had hot chocolate with marshmallows.. Yummy!
This morning around 7:30am I decided to get myself all bundled up to go outside and finish shoveling the snow from our driveway. Brett had started doing it at 5:00am this morning but gave up because our shovel was a piece.
I almost had my boots on when I heard a really loud motor running in the front of our house. When I looked out the window I saw the neighbor from across the street snow plowing our driveway. I was completely shocked that someone would do that for us and also so excited that I didn't have to go and do it. I mean he did what would probably take me over an hour in the matter of minutes. What awesome neighbors we have. I hadn't even met this neighbor yet so it was a great opportunity to go out and meet him. It also turns out that they have a little girl Madi's age and all this time I've been trying to find someone for Madi to play with. If only I had been a little more outgoing before I would have met them a few months ago. Oh well.. I just owe him big for clearing my driveway for me. Hopefully they like sugar cookies because I'm going to take them a huge plate full.
Weird weather here in Iowa. The temperature outside fluctuates anywhere from 9 degrees to 30 degrees. Last week we had a day that was in the 40s and it was so lovely!
Happy Thanksgiving!
We had a great Thanksgiving at home here in Le Mars, Iowa. We had planned on going home to Vernal but since we have all been sick we decided not to punish ourselves with a long, loNG, LONG drive and runny noses and hacky coughs. We also didn't want to get our sickies around the new babies. So we stayed home and had a good ole time all by ourselves.
Madi and I made Grandma Woolley's yummy corn bread stuffing together.
Brett helped me put the turkey breast in the baking bag. We all worked together and had a wonderful feast. 
I almost did the entire Grandma Woolley and Grandma Barnes traditional turkey dinner. We had turkey breast, corn bread stuffing, candied yams with marshmallows on top, steamed veggis with cheese sauce, fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, rhodes rolls. I also made the pumpkin pie and chocolate pie. After doing all this stuff a few times I nearly have it perfected. I'm so proud of my work I just had to take a photo of my crust. It's such an art. I'm a dork I know but hey it took practice to get it right.
Had we been at Grandma's we also would have had the yummy frozen slush (which Bud and I always fight over), a whole turkey with dark meat and all, fresh cranberry jello salad (which is Brett's favorite), another type of fresh cranberry salad with marshmallows (which is my favorite), and lemon meringue pie. The Fairey family had deep fried turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, candied yams, rolls, lots of pies, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. Yummy Yummy! I had planned on making the fresh cranberry salad but there is only so much a girl can do especially when you do everything from scratch... So much work but so worth it. Now we have all of the left overs for the lazy days that I really can't bare to cook dinner.
We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We missed being with our families and friends but there is always next year to look forward too.
Madi has been talking about the things that she wanted on her Birthday for weeks if not months. One day she just started saying that she wanted a "Kitty Cake" and then it was a "Kitty Birthday". She must have seen a commercial or something because then she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for her Birthday. Well, I did my best to make all of her dreams come true. I looked at all the Hello Kitty cakes they had at the store and I wasn't really impressed. So I tried to find a cake pan shaped like the Hello Kitty. They don't really make one. So I made my own with two different shaped pans.
I think it turned out really great and I think that Madilynn had the time of her life. It was so much fun to watch Madi playing at Chuck E. Cheese's.
She had a blast. Then to watch her face when she saw her cake for the first time. She was just delighted! Probably the best part was watching her open her gifts. She loves everything about Barbie and has wanted every kind that she has seen. It was so much fun for her to play with her new dolls and watch her new movies. I have to admit I think that Brett and I had just about as much fun as she did on her Birthday. Kimber even got in on the action.
Happy Birthday Madilynn! I hope you had fun and that all of your wishes came true! We love you munchkin!
Three years ago today she was born. Our little Madi Moo Moo! She arrived ready for her first photo shoot. The nurses said they had never seen such a beautiful baby. 
Madi you are such a joy in our lives. You always keep us laughing and on our toes. I just love to hear the things you have to say. I love to watch you dance and play. You are such a great big sister. It's so much fun to watch you take care of your baby sister. Remember how Daddy and I are trying to get you to say, "Oh my goodness!" Instead of, "Oh my gosh!"? Then on the phone the other day you corrected your Grandma and told her that she shouldn't say, "Oh my gosh!" You are so smart and you don't forget anything we tell you. You really are a Princess and you're our little Princess. You are so glamorous with all of your jewelry and party dresses that you love to wear everyday. It will be fun to look back when you are older at how you loved to dress up. I wonder if you will always love to do that. Daddy and I are so proud of you and we are thankful that you are our little girl.Tonight Madi had a book and was reading Kimber a story. When she was done she went over to Kimber and gave her a hug and told her she loved her. It was so cute! You can really tell how much they love each other and even though Kimber is small I can tell that she really looks up to and admires her older sister. It just really touches my heart and I'm so glad that we have been blessed with these two very sweet little girls.
I guess with this time of year comes the time for runny noses and coughs. It's no fun especially for the little ones. Although I'm not sure if it's harder on them or on us the parent's. About a week ago Madi started having a runny nose. No big deal I thought, she's probably getting more teeth. Then she started coughing. Well, as you might have guessed we all got sick. Poor little Kimber really had it rough with her teething and rashy bum. She is a little girl that's not afraid to show you how she really feels. Oh yeah I'm talking about her "Banshee scream" Oh boy!! I think I'm deaf from having her scream right into my ear.. Ouch!!!
Well, last night I felt that she was sounding worse and that maybe her cough had turned into the croup. I just kept thinking about when little Brea Proctor had a croupy cough and when they took her to the emergency room she had pneumonia. Brett and I decided that it was time to take her to the emergency room. First time ever!! The nurses and doctors were all great! Kimber wasn't feeling too cute but I think that the nurses had fun talking to her and playing with her just a little bit. They kept us there for about 30 minutes so they could watch Kimber and make sure that her temperature went down from 101.9 which it did.
I think that Kimber is starting to feel a bit better today. She wakes up happy so that's a good sign. Brett on the other hand is just starting to get the sneezys. Poor guy! Hopefully we are all better in the next couple of days so that we can taste our Thanksgiving dinner.
I thought that my first time taking either of my girls to the emergency room was an historic event that needed to be documented.
Did anyone see Amazing Race last night? I laughed so hard! I have a cold too so my laugh came out more like a wheeze. The team of Andrew and Dan were what I was laughing at. They are so challenged. The things that seem so simple end up being so hard for them. Last night they had to march with Russian soldiers and lets just say it didn't go well. So funny!
(I can't figure out how to put the video on here so follow the link. I thought it was pretty funny and maybe you'll get a laugh out of it too.)
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/video/video.php?cid=868013920&pid=T08jXYYzzNHg_wZ42Q_xsZ6ZmG_LqwRz&play=true&cc=33
I love watching the Amazing Race. It's fun to see what they make the people do and how well they handle it all.
Last night they had the choice of either feeding the Russian soldiers some soup or learning the traditional march and marching around the track. All of the groups decided to do the march. They had to first put on the uniform and do it correctly. Everyone did it just fine until the guys from Arizona got there. Oh man!! They had trouble. One of them wasn't able to do the folds on his socks correctly so they decided to bag the march and go and feed the soldiers. Once they get over to the area with the soup they see that they are supposed to have the uniforms on. So they go back and put the uniforms back on and this time they both get the socks correct. So now they decide they will do the march. Holy cow! I haven't laughed so hard! I have a cold too so my laugh was more of a wheeze. One of the guys couldn't do the march at all. He looked completely drunk. He was swinging his arms and moving his legs all crazy. I just laughed hysterically.. It was great fun to watch!
Everything with our move happened so quickly I didn't really get a chance to explain what we were doing. Anyway, here it is...
We decided that Brett needed to find a new job, the one he was at just wasn't going where he wanted to so we decided to start looking for something new. Brett looked into some job opportunities in Arizona so we could stay where we were already settled. He interviewed with a few different places but they just weren't the right fit so we decided to look outside the state of Arizona. Then came this job with Wells Dairy (Blue Bunny Ice Cream) in Iowa. It was a Production Supervisor job doing similar work to what he had been doing for the past six years or so. It was appealing to us because it was in a small town and the company was a smaller family owned company. When Brett went to Iowa to interview he just fell in love with the area.
The day after Brett came home from his interview with Blue Bunny he received an offer for the position and we took it. They wanted Brett to start as soon as possible so we jumped right in and organized our move and got the heck out of dodge. It really happened so fast I didn't get a chance to really tell anyone that we were leaving or get a chance to say goodbye to anyone. I feel terrible because I had made some dear friends in Arizona and then I just pack up and leave without as much as a, "See ya later." I guess I did put a post on this blog but that's probably a little too informal but what can ya do.
The movers came on the 1st of September to start packing our house. Thankfully we had the best neighbors ever that let us take over their house while ours was full of boxes and moving men. The Wallin's were such fun neighbors. You know the kind of neighbors that are there for you when you need to barrow something. And there are the million times we had Kelly fix our computer. I don't know what we are going to do now when our computer breaks... Hmm... We had a lot of fun hanging out with the Wallin's (Kelly, Holly, Brinna and Laci). We really didn't hang out with the Wallin's as much as we should have :( Probably two months before we moved we started playing cards with them. We would either go to their house or they would come to ours and we played BIG. It's such a fun game! I don't know what to compare it to so that you know kind of what it is but it's one of the games where you have to get rid of all of your cards first to win. Maybe that's all card games.. Anyway the whole strategy of it is what's fun. The last time we got together we took a couple of photo's and this one of Brett and Kelly will always crack me up. They just look so special don't they? What a bunch of goofballs. We really miss you guys!
The second day of packing went a lot quicker than the first. The movers pretty much just had to take down our beds and load the truck. Our original plan was to stay that night in the empty house and then head out for Utah in the morning. Well, the plan changed when the movers finished so early. We loaded our Montero said some goodbyes and then got on the road. 
Before we left Buckeye our good friends the Wright's (Ryan, Tifany, Kutter, Payton and Maggie) came over to see us to say goodbye. Pretty much wherever Ryan and Tifany were we were soon to follow. Brett and Ryan have worked together at three places now and it's not a coincidence. Ryan has always put in a good word for Brett and brought us along with him. We really owe their family a lot. Besides helping us find jobs Ryan and Tif have helped us with all sorts of projects anywhere from painting to yard work you name it and they have been there. It was really hard to say goodbye this time our little girls are close in age and have always played so cute together. We sure do miss you guys. I wonder if the Bishop is going to think that the Wright's moved since he always thought that Tifany was me.. Funny times!!
Just before we left Buckeye Brinna Wallin was at our house and she asked me where our couches were. I was already pretty emotional so when I told her that they were on a moving truck because we were moving far away I just started crying. Even sitting here right now I'm holding back tears. Moving for me hasn't ever been a hard thing. I'm very adventurous that way. This move was hard because I hated taking Madilynn away from all of her cute friends. I was sad about leaving our friends too but I knew that I would remember them but Madilynn is so little I thought that she wouldn't understand what was going on. I'm just so glad to have the blogs of our friends to look at so that we can keep caught up on what's going on in their lives even though we are far away. Madilynn hasn't forgotten her friends. She talks about them all of the time. Hopefully we'll get to see them sometime when we are all in Utah at the same time.
I wrote this a month ago and for whatever reason I didn't post it. Well, since then a few things have happened. Ryan and Tifany (and their kids of course) are moving to Iowa!!! We are so sO SO excited for them to get up here! I mentioned earlier that we have always followed them wherever they were. (That sounds a little stalkerish) Well, it stands true we have to be around each other. Ryan will be working with Brett at Blue Bunny and probably for the first time ever they will actually be on the same shift so maybe they will get to see each other. We are very excited to have the Wright's here close. Now we just need to talk some of our other friends into moving up here too..
Madilynn and Kimber had their well child visits last week. Our doctor here is great! She spent a long time with us checking the girls over. Madilynn is doing great except for some rashes on her feet. She has really sensitive skin so the dry fall weather is hard on her. We just have to really lather her up with the lotion and cortisone cream.
Kimber checked out really well. The doctor was a little concerned that she isn't sitting by herself yet. She said that Kimber's little leg muscles seemed a little tight so she wanted us to take her to physical therapy. She also said that she heard a heart murmur but wasn't concerned about it. I guess that with little babies when they listen to their heart they can hear normal blood flow and that makes it sound like there is a murmur. She told me that we'll watch it and if we feel it's necessary we'll take her to a cardiac specialist. The doctor really didn't think it was an issue she just wanted me to know everything.
On Tuesday Kimber and I went to her physical therapy appointment. I forgot my camera but I had a camera phone with me so I took a few photo's. It was so cute to see Kimber sitting on the huge table. The therapist worked with Kimber for about 40 minutes. She showed me a few things to help Kimber figure out how to sit all by herself. Kimber has always preferred to lay on her stomach so she just kind of skipped over sitting and has gone right into trying to crawl. Her little hamstrings are just tight from not practicing sitting up so we will work on her to get her in shape.
My dear sweet Aunt Jeanine returned to our Heavenly Father on Friday. She was the most amazing woman. We always loved to go and stay with Aunt Jeanine and Uncle LaThare. Jeanine was one of the ladies that on short notice could have the most amazing meal prepared for last minute guests. I remember Jeanine as a very loving and kind person. She always made me feel welcome and loved. I will really miss her and will always remember what an awesome person she was.
The phone rings and I answer,
"Hello."
"Who's this!" The voice on the other end of the phone says rudely.
I pause and say, "This is Heather."
CLICK!!!! The rude guy on the other end of the phone hangs up.. Umm.. Where are people's manners?
Sorry that just happened and I was kind of stunned and had to tell someone about it. How weird.
My friend Nicole Bender tagged me with this picture tag. It's so much fun to see what random photo you come up with.
For this tag you find the 5th file of photo's and then the 5th photo and post that. Here is my 5th photo.
I tag Barbara, Angelia, Tiffany, Beth, and Mariann!
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