Happy Day

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday. Madison and I went over to my Mom's during the day to spend some time with her. We had a nice time together. My Mom is so wonderful and makes so many sacrifices for us and we really appreciate all that she does. I have learned a great deal from her and hope I can use what I have learned from her to be a better person. She is an amazing Mom and Grandma. We love you and hope you had a great birthday.

Madison and her Grandma Tine.

That night I had the family over for dinner to celebrate my Mom's birthday. Everyone was able to make it except my brother Eric and his fiancee Ruth because of work and obviously my sister who is on a mission. Here is my mom with Ellie and Ben at my house before dinner.

Here is my Mom and Step-Dad with the Grandkids except Madison who was sleeping.

We had some good food. I had  marinated some chicken and we BBQ it on the grill. My 2nd oldest brother Craig was nice and cooked the chicken for me because Mat was still at work. In the picture is my sister-in-law Lani who is married to my brother Craig, my little brother Steven in the back, and then Craig on our deck in the back.

My other sister-in-law Lindsey made some delicious twice baked potatoes. They were so good! We also had some salad, rolls, and chicken. Everything turned out great.

Of course you can't forget the cake. The birthday girl and some of the kids blowing out the candles. We had Oreo cake, brownies, and ice cream for dessert.

Madison decided to finally wake up just right before everyone left. Madison was not happy in this picture, but oh well. We wanted to compare the two cousins like we did when Madison was like a week old. Madison has grown a lot and is starting to catch up to Emma.

I thought I would post again the picture comparing the two of them when Madison was like a week old. Boy Madison has grown SO much since then. I mean look at her skin rolls and now she has some fat on her legs.

Here is a picture of the fam that was there last night in our backyard except for sweet Madison who was sleeping at the time. We sure do have a gorgeous view from our house

We all had a great evening celebrating my Mom's birthday.

The Great Outdoors

We went on our first and last camping trip of the summer about 3 weeks ago. We took Madison with us and we had a great time. We camped by Strawberry Resevoir with some family. It was so good to get out and spend some time outdoors. Here are a few pics from our adventure:

We are on our way to go camping. Madison and her Uncle Stevie. I went up earlier with my mom, step-dad, and little brother. Mat came up later as well as my oldest brother and his family.

Madison in her little hat hanging outside the trailer with me.

Stevie making a fire. We ate some hotdogs for lunch.

Playing Sorry in the trailer. The weather was rainy at times, but we had an enjoyable time anyway.

Roasting marshmallows and starburst after dinner and before the huge rainstorm that we had.

Madison in her jammies.

Madison really all snuggled up. She is such a doll.

We had our tent all set up and the play pen all set up, but we had been playing games in the trailer in the evening during a huge rainstorm. We decided we did not want to take Madison out of the trailer into the rain to get to our tent so we ended up sleeping in the trailer. Mat ended up holding Madison most of the night in the bed with us and that is why he looks so tired. This is us in the morning along with cute Ellie who wanted to hold little Madison.

My brother Ryan, cute Emma, and my little bro Steve in the morning.

My mom in the morning, but she did not want me to take a picture of her.

During the next day we went on a little walk/hike. It was beautiful. Steve, Mat, and Madison in her little backpack carrier.

Here is the gang that went on the walk except Steve who is taking the picture.

Our little family.