*Projects

I am the type of person that has LOTS of projects. As I type this I can count at least 6 projects that are in one phase of completion or progress. I think this impresses Brice as much as frustrates him. I always have more to do than time to do it. What can I say.. I have always been this way. I blame it on my dad, he was a 7 irons in the fire kind of guy as well.

Well in January Brice inherited a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. He inherited it because it didn't work!

(This picture was taken when Brice went to pick up the Jeep)

It was towed to our house on the back of the tow truck. It was in pretty bad shape! Now not only does it run, he has made so many improvements on it! It is a fun little Jeep to drive around in. It started out being for me (I have always wanted a Jeep Wrangler). It has since become Brice's toy, but now we both agree that it is Madison's!! Every time we are in the garage she points to the Jeep and wants to get in it! She loves to go for rides in it. Brice takes her around the block. She loves it!

This is constantly where I find my husband. There is always something that he is adding to it, or wants to upgrade on it.

He has rewired almost the entire Jeep. Head lights and tail lights that didn't work. The stereo wiring had to be redone. He complete stripped the interior out of it and Rhino-lined type of insulated the inside of it. It has helped with noise reduction and heat.

The Jeep had a soft top (that was in pretty bad shape) when we got it. Brice did a clutch job in trade for a hard top. We wanted a hard top for the winter. He then did another job and got a nicer soft top. So we now have hard top and soft top and a very nice looking Jeep.

I am grateful for this project that has Brice has. Sometimes it can be annoying, but I am sure my projects are annoying at times too! Babe.. you are amazing. I love you! Thanks for getting me and Jeep and making it look so great! Can't wait til we can take it to Moab.

*Mothers and Daughters

When Brice and I first started talking about having a baby I wanted a boy. Brice having three sons was voting for the female variety. Obviously we know how that turned out! :)


Madison has been a mommy's girl since the minute she was born. Don't get me wrong, she loves her daddy, but mommy is still best. I know this will not always be the case, so I have LOVED every minute of it! At times it can be a little overwhelming. Especially when I need to get something done. Other than that... I love when this little one wraps her arms around my neck, or when she is crying and as soon as she is in my arms she stops. I love that when we say family prayer it is my arms she wants to be in. I love when I get home from the office she gets so excited. She claps her hands and stomps her feet. It makes my heart sing. Like I said, I know this wont last. Little girls need their daddys! I want her and Brice to have a great relationship.

I do have a huge fear though! So many of my friends tell me me how they struggle with their girls. They tell me how hard the emotions of little girls are and the accompaning mood swings. My mom and sister fought all growing up. Brice and I are both of the stong opinion/willed type of personality. Well, unfortuantely for Madison (and her future husband) she has both of us in her and she is already so strong willed!! She is only 18 months. The future is going to be really interesting. I love Madison SO MUCH! I love putting her to bed each night and rocking her in my arms. I love how when she gets up in the morning she wraps her arms around my neck and just wants to snuggle for a minute. I love everything about being a mommy! Good times and bad (so far).

My mom and I have always had an incredible relationship. I have always considered her my best friend. Does that mean we have always seen things the same way always? Did you forget that I am a very strong will opinionated person? However she has always been so important to me, and once I became a mom, she became even more important. She is at my house at least twice a week, if not more. Often Brice will say "what is your mom doing on ....? Do you think she would want to come/go to dinner?" How lucky am I that he wants her around and enjoys her company as well?

This is my hope for Madison and I. I will always be her mom, but I want to be her friend as well as a parent. She will have enough friends and in this world, she will need a parent. My hope is that she and I will have the kind of relationship that my mother and I had. That she will always feel like she can come to me. I will be someone she can trust and count on. I want to be her biggest fan. I want to be there when her heart breaks and when it sings. Most importantly...I want to inspire her! I want to teach her the gospel and install in her a great Love for her Father in Heaven. I want her to know that she is divine, that she is a daughter of God. So much for our future. Thank you Madison for being my baby. Thank you for letting me be your mom. Thank you for loving me and making my life more complete than I knew it could be.

*Thursdays Adventures

I am finding that the days that I am home with Madison are getting harder and harder to get things done. She HATES it when I am gone and the day after I work she is so clingy! I love it and hate it! I love that she so much still wants to be with me. I hate it for the fact that so little gets accomplished. I keep reminding myself that this stage wont last forever and soon she will have no interesting in spending her days with mommy! So I take what I can get and so be it that I have to do my work at 1 am to get it done! At least I have these moments with my baby!

Today it was beautiful outside. Brice dropped home for a minute to get something and we were commenting about the weather. He mentioned that I should take Madison to the zoo. We got zoo passes for Christmas. I thought that was a great idea! She woke up from her nap and I fed her some lunch then was gathering all our stuff to leave the house. Just as I was about to go get in the car it started to POUR!!! So much for the zoo!

As we pulled out of the driveway Brice called. He told me not to get on the I-15/I-80 interchange that there was an accident. I thought he was telling me this because he had a truck on it's way to tow. He then said "The accident is involving a semi and a blue acura." WHAT? A semi had drifted over his lane and into the side of Brice's car! This guy can't catch a break! This is the second accident in this car in the two years that we have owned it! Poor guy! I would say the car is cursed and we should get rid of it.. but he LOVES it! I am just grateful that he is okay and had no injuries!!! Oh well.... the car is off to the body shop again!

Tonight Brice has his monthly meeting for work so I took Madison and went to claim my free meal at Cafe Rio (shout in your mind "FREEE MEALLL!" you know how they do it!) Well Madison is all about doing things herself now right? Doing it all herself and eating off of my plate. It doesn't matter that I put the food from my plate to hers... she wants to now eat it directly off my plate with me! She is also all about the sauces now and dipping! Tonight she was so funny with the salad dressing. I didn't have my camera with me (don't know how that happened!) so I only got these pictures with my phone, but oh she was making me laugh. I am sure the people around me were totally astonished, but she was happy and life was good! What made me laugh the hardest is when she put the cup up to her mouth to drink out the rest of it! That's when I knew we were done.

*Love to giggle

I think these pictures pretty much speak for themself. I love her laugh! She is so stinkin' cute!! She will scrunch her nose and shrug her shoulders as seh smiles... so cute!!! I love you my Madi Mads!