The Trolley

We had to take our annual trolley ride with sweet Phil this year,
and as always, we loved every minute of it!
It has truly become one of our favorite Christmas traditions!  

Best friends!  Carsyn, Belle, and Kennedy

Daddy's girl! 

All the little kids love Camryn!  

Melissa, Camryn and Zac

The ice sculptures were just as impressive as always! 

(I can't even imagine trying to do this out of ice!  

I'm pretty sure I'd say several naughty words!)

Santa's reindeer were not nearly as happy to see us as we were to see them!

Belle, Carsyn, Kennedy, Camryn and Tyleigh

Zoo Lights and Cousins!

We spent a fun night with our cute cousins at Auntee T's house!  

We exchanged gifts, ate too much yummy food, and went to the Hogle Zoo to see the lights! 

These girls love being together!  We always miss Kaylee and Claire though!

Camryn, Tyleigh, Addie, Gracie and Carsyn

The Zoo Lights were really amazing!  

It was fun to see all the animals in lights! 

Unfortunately, it was too cold to see a lot of the real animals, but we loved it anyway!

Christmas Magic and the Happiest Place on Earth!

Disneyland in December is really something magical.  

EVERYTHING is decorated so cute for Christmas!  

We spent three crazy/wonderful days together with the cutest girls in the world

doing nothing but fighting crowds riding EVERY ride in both parks!  We had one really windy day, one really rough day (seriously, it was bring your dog, your cousin, your great-aunt, your stroller, and your wheelchair day), and one day of perfect everything, which was the perfect way to end a great trip! 

With only 245 pictures to choose from, I tried really hard to cover the basics . . .

We met lots of fun characters all over Disneyland, but didn't stand in line for too many.  The girls literally set a goal to go on every single ride in both parks, and that's exactly what we spent our time doing!
Rides are not always the best place for photo ops, but watching the girls experience each of them was priceless!  From Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, California Screamin', and Tower of Terror, they did it all! We even caught up with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the Reindeer on one of our days there!

It was such a fun way to kick off the holiday season at our house, 

and an even better way to spend some time with these growing munchkins! 

The castle was all lit up at night  . . . and they even made it snow in Disneyland!

Hope your holiday season and home is full of magic and love!  

Vegas!

We decided kind of last minute to take the girls to Disneyland for Christmas this year.
I have always wanted to see it at Christmas, and so have the girls . . . and since no one seems to be getting any younger at our house, we decided it was a great time to go!

We spent our first night in Las Vegas. We walked A LOT, and saw some amazing things . . . in all sorts of contexts! It was the same weekend as the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon, and the Rodeo Championships. Holy Moly! It was packed! We tried to stay on the cleaner side of things by visiting the beautiful fountains, MGM, and of course M & M world. Vegas really is something to see, but Rod summed it up best when he said "everything you think and imagine Vegas to be is exactly what it is!"

We did stay in a great hotel off the strip with the most amazing pools and views, but it just happened to be one of the colder weekends there with temperatures hitting a high of 53, so no swimming for us!

It was definitely just the start to our adventures!

The Angel Madsen

Our Ward Christmas party theme was "Come to Bethlehem."

Rod was asked to be the angel in the Nativity story. 

My mom and dad came up with a great costume for him, 

and he played the part flawlessly!

He makes a pretty cute angel if you ask me! 

The girls were asked to sing one of the songs during the play.
They did a great job, especially since they were the only ones we could actually hear singing! 

Cam's

I know I am a little biased when I say this, but all three of my girls have such amazing talents!

The latest fad at our house has been duct tape. It seems to entertain for hours, and the creations are endless.

Camryn got a great idea to make duct tape Tom's.

I have to admit I didn't think it could be done . . .

but she proved me wrong over and over again.

She has now made seven pairs total . . . all BY HERSELF!
Grandpa says she needs to market them as "Cam's" instead of Tom's!

Good job, Miss Creative!

Road Trip

We love Moab. It is seriously one of the coolest places in Utah.

We decided to take the girls on one last road trip before the weather wouldn't let us play anymore!

The weather was amazing - perfect for hiking . . .
but what would an adventure be without a little drama?!

Poor Carsyn had a tummy ache the whole way there. I thought for sure it was
an over-exaggerated attempt to get a soda, or maybe a case of being bored in the car.
The worst case scenario had to be car-sickness.

No such luck. It was flu.

She was devastated. We were devastated.
She begged to hike Delicate Arch anyway.

Against our better judgment, we agreed to let her.

She was such a trooper, especially considering how
delicate sage brush is as toilet paper!

We made it to the top, and as always, it was gorgeous!

It was a LONG hike back down,
(just ask Rod after carrying Carsyn half way down!)
but we made it, and at the end of the day,
we had a lot of fun in spite of it all!

We didn't make it to any other hikes, but we did go see good ol' Hole in the Rock - which is a unique adventure in and of itself . . . worth seeing ONCE in your lifetime!


Can't wait for the next adventure!

Grateful

grat·i·tude:

   [grat-i-tood, -tyood]

the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives."

We have so much to be grateful for this time of year . . . and every day of our lives for that matter. My heart is full of gratitude today for all that my life has been blessed with.

We are growing our gratitude tree this month. Each day, each of our family members pick one thing that they are grateful for and write it down on a leaf, and then it is hung on our tree.

I am so impressed by the maturity of my sweet girls in doing this activity. It has been hard to only write down one thing each day because as we get to thinking of all that we have, we really do have so much to be grateful for!

Happy November!

Pumpkins, pumpkins and MORE pumpkins!

It was a never-ending month of pumpkins, pumpkins and MORE pumpkins at our house!

The insurance company that Rod now works for owns 1000 acres of farmland in Green River.

They grow delicious watermelon, cantaloupe, other cool and yummy melons . . .

AND PUMPKINS!

They are very generous to their clients - and friends - and every other random person in the world - and give all of their melons and pumpkins away for FREE . . .

Which means that we got to be part of getting the pumpkins and melons where they needed to go! While we were more than ready for the month and pumpkins to end, we had a great time
being a part of the whole experience!

The pumpkin festivities started with the girls' school. The Banasky's (Rod's employer) donated pumpkins to every child at the elementary school (as well as several other schools throughout the state). Rod and the girls got to help pass them out to every kid . . . on the only day it snowed in October! Poor girls! They were FROZEN!

The kids were given the opportunity to take their pumpkins home, decorate them, and bring them back for a pumpkin decorating contest.

Our girls had a great time coming up with ideas for their own pumpkins,
and they turned out SO cute, but unfortunately because Rod and I were involved in the contest, their pumpkins couldn't get picked to win.



This is just a small glimpse of what the pumpkin contest looked like! There were over 460 entries! Rod and I could not pick because there were so many creative and fun entries - so we eliminated ourselves as the judges and assigned the job to others at the school that day!

One of the sixth grade classes came up with the idea to do a theme as a class. Each of the kids decorated their pumpkin as a character from Angry Birds. It was pretty creative . . . and it won them a pizza party!


Rod and I wanted the girls to see what the farm looked like with all of the pumpkins, so we took them on a little trip to Green River and Moab. They had a blast picking pumpkins and gourds all day, and would have been content doing nothing else for the rest of the weekend!


We brought several pumpkins home with us, and then decided that it would be fun to have Rod's boss drop off even more so we could have a pumpkin party at our house!

We had no idea just how many pumpkins we would actually end up with!
We had a great turn-out of friends and family and have decided to make it an annual event, so if you missed us this year, come join us next year!

I'm sure the neighbors thought we were crazy!
We were amazed that not one pumpkin got smashed until Halloween night!

We joined Rod's boss and his wife at the local rec center for a Halloween Extravaganza. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but we gave away NINE pallets of pumpkins to anyone that came! It was amazing - and who doesn't love free?!

Are you "pumpkined-out" yet?!?

We almost didn't carve any of our pumpkins because we were definitely getting "pumpkined-out", but we decided we couldn't break tradition and did it anyway!

The girls did most of it on their own, and they did a great job!

Carsyn's pumpkin

Tyleigh's pumpkin

Camryn's pumpkin

Thank Heavens Halloween . . . and the pumpkins are over . . . until next year!

Halloween!

Halloween
2011

Frankenstein's Daughter! (a.k.a. Carsyn!)

The Bumble Bee! (a.k.a. Tyleigh!)

The Sassy Devil! (a.k.a. Camryn!)

Our cute little spooks - including our "adopted daughter," the werewolf/Belle!

Crazy Hair Day!

It was a crazy day for hair at our house!

The girls are in an "acting class" that required them to have crazy hair for the day . . .
so this is what we managed to come up with!

These two crack me up!

Camryn was satisfied with "just kind of crazy!"

Love you crazy girls!

Apple Picking!

Fall is definitely in the air . . . and we love it!

Marathon Runners Are a Special Kind of Stupid!

It's one of THOSE kinds of posts . . . it's long, it's mushy, and you've been warned!

After a summer of almost no running, frustration, pain, loss of identity, and going a little PSYCHO, I was more than blessed to be able to run the St. George Marathon!



While it sounds like a funny thing to call a blessing, I have good reason . . . marathons teach you an awful lot about yourself and how you view the world.

In my own personal experience, they bring me closer to my Heavenly Father and give me a new found appreciation for a lot of things.

For example, I have never been more grateful for the human body - and what mine has overcome and been able to accomplish (surgeries, babies, dumb varicose veins, and recently, a torn calf muscle and stress fractures).

I have never been more grateful for the support of my amazing husband, family and friends.

I have never been more grateful for the power of prayer and guardian angels - both of which I felt all around me as I ran.

I have never been more grateful for the beautiful landscape we have right here in Utah - majestic!


I have never been more amazed at the strong will and spirit of the everyday man and woman, and the determination that so many have to do something extraordinary!

I am touched by the camaraderie, and the kindness that others have for those who are a little down on their luck. I am touched by how many are willing to "carry" another so selflessly.

I know that this comparison is SO over-used, but it hit home so much for me during this marathon: Life really is like a marathon. We are never alone in our race - and we really need the support of others to make it to the end. We have two choices when it gets hard: Quit and give up, or dig deep and keep going! It's not an easy thing to do, but it can be done - by anyone - if you want it bad enough!

I got to experience the "heart of the race" in St. George this year - the reason that we all keep doing this to ourselves! I will never finish first (or last, hopefully), and I will never know what it's like to be in the top five runners, but those who are focused so much on that goal will never experience the race the way that I do.

I watched numerous people stop to help another, got cheered on by complete strangers, got high-fived by hundreds of spectating children, got to watch the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen, watched people push their loved ones with disabilities in wheelchairs up giant hills, watched complete strangers link arms just to keep someone having a hard time going, and watched the human spirit and love for running conquer any challenge that marathon offered.

I finally found Joy in My Journey, and for that, I am grateful.

Thank you to all of my cute friends and family that did so much to get me out there, and that believed in me when I didn't. The care packages, the notes, the yummy treats - it was better than Christmas, and it was your love that got me through! Love you all!

(Yes, my eyes are closed - and I am beet red - and EXHAUSTED . . .
and no one said I had to look pretty after running 26.2 miles anyway . . .
and for the record, I only lost one toenail, but got PLENTY of blisters!)

Witches!

I have no idea how we got to October so fast this year!
It came a little sooner than we were ready for, but we love this time of year
and all of the fun traditions it brings with it!

We had to make our annual visit to the Gardner Village witches
to start the season off right!

(Anyone know how to make these collages any bigger???)


(This one is worth blowing up just to see Rod's cute face! Yes, his wife made him do it!
He still knows how to work the ladies!)


Camryn, the photographer, decided to have her own version of a photo shoot with Rod and I - but we never get these moments together, so I love them even if we look like goofs!

Happy October!