The days of Winter

Our little Addi loves to play outside. Enjoy the pictures of her having a ball in the snow, her yogurt pants, and kitty boots!

I had to stop and take this picture just down the street from our house


Too cute





She is so fun

Training with a little help or helper

It has always been my dream to run in a marathon. I would love to run with Steve but I think we all know that will never happen, not that he can't but he has strong beliefs that you should only run if you are running away from being food, or running to catch your food. He has tried but I understand he doesn't have the same passion for it as I do. My friends ran in the Ogden Marathon last year and are doing it again this year, but by the time I committed to running it was sold out, but I'm not giving up. I've decided to run in the Salt Lake half-marathon and try that first. Training is very time consuming and difficult but I'm so lucky to have a treadmill at home so I'm able to run on my own time frame. Addi is so good to come down to the basement and play and hang out with me, she does get restless and we always have to have Addi's running time where she gets on the treadmill and runs her little heart out!

Running this morning


She loves her kitty boots





She walked downstairs the other day just like this

Life with a 2 year old is.....THE BEST!

I have loved all of Addison's stages so far but I can honestly say right now, I LOVE THIS STAGE!!! She talks so much and is so funny the things she is picking up and then uses at random times. Right now we are struggling with a LOT of her words that sound very similar to swear words, now I'm not going to lie and say I never swear because i say my fair share of "naughty" words, which I blame solely on where I grew up :) But, I do not swear often and only when it is justified. I know Addi isn't saying swear words just words that come out wrong. Time out sounds just like damn it, ashes, sit, and so on. She is just like a little sponge, she picks everything up. Our days are filled with laughter and fun because she is so playful and has quite the imagination. Last Friday night Steve was working so Addi and I headed to Rexburg to hang out with Shayla at her apartment. Addi loved all the attention she got from all of Shay's roommates. She warmed right up to one of them and was sitting by her and touching her arm and playing with her. She even went and handed her a bottle of nail polish and took off her sock for her to paint her toenails.
Other things Addi loves. If you are ever laying on the floor she thinks it is free game to come and jump on you, who wouldn't think that, duh! We have several fashion shows with Addi, mostly with shoes and jackets. She absolutely LOVES shoes! If we have shoes by the door she will wear every single pair by the end of the night. She ALWAYS has shoes on. We were in Wal Mart recently and she was walking with us and we lost her for a minute so I went back an aisle and she was sitting on the ground with her shoes on the floor and she was wearing these huge men's slippers. I just had to laugh, we just love our little girl and this big personality she has. She has the cutest yoga pants and she loves to wear them and she calls them her yogurt pants. I can't wait to see where she goes in this life because she already has quite the personality and attitude! I have so much more to write and many more stories to tell but I will leave it here for now!

Here she comes


She's everywhere





We love Nae Nae, and BYU-I





Boots I had when I was little, she LOVES them


high heels, she calls them just heels

Just Addi

Steve was home sick on Monday so we all had a blah day. Addi was so playful and full of energy. We enjoyed our time just watching her little brain come up with all these ideas she was having. She played better by herself then she has EVER played. To end the night she was wearing her backpack, sparkly shoes and jumping around.

Swinging in the snow

Saturday morning was such a "nice" day. It was only like 35 degrees but that is pretty nice for a day in early January! I decided to bundle Addi up and take her outside to play, outside is her favorite place. It has been to cold for me to even try to take her out so today was the day! We played on the swing, went down the slide, kicked a ball around the yard and her favorite shoveled. We just love Addi so much and enjoy watching her experience and learn new things. She is showing us just how smart she is everyday. Her favorite things right now are Mickey and all his friends, books, gum, her ladybug pillow pet and her daddy!


Love her seriousness

Leo's place

Last Saturday night my friend invited us to go to Leo's place with her and her daughter. Addison loves her daughter even though she is 2 years older than Addi. They have a lot of fun together and let me tell you, those girls together are WILD!!! People should thank their lucky stars they aren't the same age :) Dawn and the boys met us there as well and that added even more fun for Addi to have Grant & Garrett there. We were there for about 3 hours and Addi was EXHAUSTED! We will definetly be going there more often! They have a cool play place for the kids and an arcade. We are so lucky to have friends and family that will come play with us. It's hard to take Addi places like that alone because she wants someone she knows to play with her and there is no way I'd fit in those tight spaces.

Addi's favorite game





She loves to drive


The devil machine (you can read about this toy in a previous blog http://steveandjillian.blogspot.com/2009/05/horrible-toy.html


I can hear the scream still, I LOVE IT

BYU-Idaho times 3

My youngest sister Shayla has decided to come attend BYU-Idaho and we are so excited to have her here! It is just funny for me to think about because I came out to BYU-Idaho in 2002 and we kind of got stuck in Idaho! Don't get me wrong, we are happy to be here it is just weird how we ended up here and how now ALL of my 4 siblings have attended BYU-Idaho at one time or another. We moved Shayla in last week and it just brought back a lot of memories. I had SOOO much fun attending school in Rexburg, some of the best days of my life (pre-marriage, pre-kids) happened there. I'm so excited for this opportunity that Shayla has and I wish more people were going to be able to experience it, but there just isn't enough room!

Buying groceries


Kitchen time


Addi was so happy to be watching TV on Aunt Nae Nae's couch

Ringing in the New Year

We were finally back from Colorado and unpacked and ready to bring in the New Year. We had made plans with our good friends the Patterson's for the evening. Both of us don't have much family around so we decided we would get together and let the kids play, eat, play games, watch tv, and eat some more. It was perfect, we feed the kids and let them play and then put them down for the night. We then had taco night, which was AMAZING it all tasted so good. We played games, and ate some treats and enjoyed one another's company. We watched the ball drop and did a little celebrating and then we finished playing our games and went home. It was a great way to ring in the New Year! We have high hopes for 2011!!!

The beautiful Shayla, before shaving


??


Stevie and Me


James and Jeni! James was real excited!


Games

A Christmas to Remember

Of course the only day Addi decides to sleep in is on Christmas day! Steve and I are like little kids at heart, we were dying to go out and see what Santa brought to us and to see Addi's reaction to what she got. We decided to go out as a couple and see our presents and wait until Addi woke up so she'd be in a good mood. I was excited Santa brought me plane tickets to see my longtime best friend Stefanie in........Phoenix, Arizona!!!! That is ALL I wanted, and lucky for us Allegiant air in Idaho Falls flies direct to Mesa, Arizona which is close by! Addi woke up shortly after, and she was so sleepy, I just loved her sweet little sleepy eyes. She just didn't know what to do with everything. She received a kitchen, mickey mouse, earrings, and chocolate Santa's! It was so great, we sure love our little girl. She played with her kitchen basically all day long. She also got a Handy Manny tool box with all the tools, she loves it!
We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas feast and then went to my brother and his families house about 30 miles away for the evening. We all went to bed plenty tired and at

We are so blessed as a family to have everything we have. We are especially grateful for our families and the wonderful knowledge of our Savior and to have the gospel in our lives. Really even if we didn't have all the extra "material stuff" we know we'd be fine because of our family, friends, and knowledge of the gospel! Jesus is the reason for the season!

Opening presents, she is a PRO


She loved the game Cooties


The spoiled younger ones and their loot


Playing with the kitchen


The loot


Grandpa hunting


Grandpa making delicious cream cheese blueberry pancakes


Can you see her cute ring?


We need to protect ourselves and so we got a GUN


Look at those boots


Christmas dinner

A Christmas Eve to Remember

Christmas time is so fun for me, I love it! I love buying presents for people, love making treats to give away, (maybe I eat some myself), and love focusing on the reason for the season my Savior and focusing on his birth! I also love being able to be with my little family during this special time as well. While in Colorado we made sure we made some time to do Christmas things like make a ginger bread house, look at Christmas lights, and read the Christmas story as a family. It is so much better having a little one that can understand presents and be excited for presents and for Santa to come. We had so much fun with Addison this year. We are trying to teach her more about Jesus and praying and she just melts my heart each time she folds her arms and lowers her head to pray. I love to hear her talk about Jesus and point out his picture. We also were trying to teach her who santa was and I was glad she didn't get them mixed up :)

Oops, didn't realize Addi was trying to squeeze in


The building process


Contractor Mo was there to help us build it properly


Love this picture, she LOVED her Minnie Pj's


Addi opening the present on Christmas Eve


Finished product


Writing a note to Santa