It's the Final Countdown

Halloween

She is a cheese ball! Madison was a cute scarecrow for Halloween this year. She loved trick or treating and getting candy at least for the first area we went to. When we came home from trick or treating on Main she refused to go out again. It took some convincing from G-ma and Papa before she was willing to go to a few friends houses.

26.2

A few months ago Jay decided to run a marathon. He started the intense training and discovered he really didn't like running. He did it though. On July 4 he ran a full 26.2 miles in Portland, OR at his first and he claims last, marathon. I am so proud of him. When Madi saw her daddy she ran to him all smiles and he carried her to the finish line. Way to go honey!

It's About Time

It's been so long since I updated last. We had a wonderful summer...

We spent a week in Sun Valley with my family. It was heaven! We did a lot of relaxing, eating and laughing. We went boating at Red Fish Lake and had a blast swimming at the pool. We learned that Madison loves the water. We went to pool several times during the summer but it wasn't enough. She loved playing in the water and we are looking forward to going again next year.

Madison LOVES animals. We got her a puppy this summer and she walks around the house saying "pup". She recently has learned how to say bunny and bear, which sound almost the same.

The rest of the pictures won't load. Lame.

Happy Birthday

Catch Up

In the past 2 months...

Madison has turned 8 months old and is still a WONDERFUL baby. She has 6 teeth. She crawls and pulls herself up on everything. Everyone keeps telling me she will be walking before I know it. She is the happiest baby to be around. She is loving our neighborhood and all the little kids that come to play with her. It's amazing the personality my little 8 month old shows. She gets excited when she sees other kids and is already thinking mom and dad are lame.

We bought a house! We closed the end of April and I finally feel like the house is ours. We repainted every room in the house and it took FOREVER! Madison tried helping us a couple times, once she painted the carpet and another time she stuck the paint brush in her mouth. We have already had to call poison control a few times. I didn't realize she could get to places so quickly. Our house has 4 bedrooms and we expect visitors! We are LOVING our neighborhood and all the great friends we have made.

Jay is still loving his job and I am loving being a stay at home mom. Jay finally has a regular schedule and while his shift isn't my favorite he is really liking it. I recently picked up a freelance project that has been a welcome challenge. It's been great designing something again.

California

We just got back from a wonderful trip to California. We visited Disneyland and Balboa Island. We loved the sunshine and beaches but hated the traffic and crowds.

Madison got her first experience with sand. I was a little nervous she was going to try and eat it but she didn't. She loved it. She kept grabbing handfuls and letting it sift through her fingers. It looks like we might need to get a sandbox.


Balboa Island is a family favorite. We stopped at Dad's Bakery for frozen bananas and Madison showed she is a true Petersen and LOVED the banana. We almost had to get her her own because she kept eating ours.
Madi didn't get to go on very many rides but she did enjoy the ones she was able to go on. Her favorite was the carousel at California Adventure.

Jessie from Toy Story loved Madison and kept coming back to see her and play with her. Madison thought the characters were interesting and trying grabbing them.

My parents had a great time playing with their beautiful granddaughter. Here is my dad and Madi in the Nemo Submarines. I'm not sure who was more entranced by the fish.

On our last night my little sister McKayla wanted to sleep with Madison. It didn't last too long as Madison is a bed hog. She kept smacking McKayla in the face as she was trying to stretch out.

Six Months

Happy girl!
Madison is growing like a weed. We haven't gone in for her 6 month appointment yet, but when we weighed her ourselves she was 19.5. Yep, I've got myself a nice big baby. We can't get enough of her! At six months she is sitting up by herself and crawling. She still only has 2 teeth for which I am very thankful. They are two very sharp teeth.

She is such a great baby. We have had a crazy March and April is going to be just as fun. The beginning of the month Madison and I drove to Idaho Falls to spend a week with my family. My grandfather passed away and we attended the funeral and stuck around for a few days. We had a great time but, as always, it was hard to say good-bye. A week after we got back Jay's parents came to visit. We had a great time with them and Madison is going through grandparent withdrawls. She still loves books. She has a room full of toys but if she sees books or paper she will drop all her exciting toys and head for the books. We love that she has a love for books. Its great when the whole family (all 3 of us) are sitting around reading from our books at the same time.

She has recently found a love for big people food. She found some play food at my parents house and played with it for so long that I decided I should "borrow" some it so she could play with it at home. We've taken it with us to restaurants just so we can see what people say when we hand our 6 month old a hamburger and potato chips.

We pretty much just think she is a doll. She had just taken her sunglasses off in this picture.

Madison has made a few friends in our ward. This is her best friend Hailey. The adore each other. Hailey likes to carry Madison around and Madi thinks its great that she gets to play with the big kids. She has already had her first sleep over with Hailey and I am sure there are many more to come.

Five Months

My baby is now five months old! I can't believe it. She is SO big. I call her my Chunky Monkey. No really, look at her rolls! I love it. My back does not love it. She has two teeth now. Both on the bottom. She got them a few weeks ago. I couldn't get a picture of them though.

She found her toes. She thought they were cool for about a week now they are old news.

She still loves to read. We (Daddy, unless he is at work) read books to her every night but often she takes the book away so she can look at it on her own.

Four Months

Here is Madis four month picture. She weighs in at a whopping 15 lbs and is 26 inches long. I wish I would have gotten her 3-6 month clothes out earlier because some pants are already too short.

She LOVES to eat big people food. She likes her rice cereal but she really likes mashed potatoes.

All clean after making a big mess while eating.