we go where U go...

for the love of the game and.....

for the fun!

[okay, some just come mostly for the game.;)]

["i don't like it when sadie wears her cheerleader costume. she doesn't look beautiful! she just looks beautiful when she has 2 tattoos on her face." -madden=)]

 [wore that baby out!]

for the unhealthy, sometimes delicious stadium food.

 [i love the way she eats this!]

 [mad and rose had to share an icee....never again!!]

 [raining and no tailgate this time.=(] 

 ["look! i lost a tooth!" and that went on and on until the entire bucket of popcorn was finished!]

because it's a family thing.

[ken is utah alumni, along with most of mark's fam. his dad played basketball for the utes in the 60's and then went to med school there.]

[our brother (in-law), kalani, is the defensive coordinator. so proud, kal!;)]

[mark's a former ute and a MAJOR fan! seriously, you have no idea..or maybe you do, depending on who "you" are.;)]

[our beautiful niece, reagan, is a cheerleader. <3 her!]

 for the memories.=)

 [rosie girl and i]

 [you would have never guessed by that face of hers that she would end up at pcmc later that night. poor sadie and her concussion.]

 [the red-tailed hawk from tracy aviary and the new mascot.] 

 [it poured this last game. it was just mark and i though, so we didn't have to worry about kids. i loved it! well, until the game started. then mark left me to go stand on the sideline the entire time! it was fun walking in with you, babe!;)]

 [i went and found cipp and chan. we were soaked! we had given up on appearances at this point.=)]

[i swear it came out right after a touchdown.]

[go utes!!]

first time for everything=)

mark came home from his travels for a day and a half to take madden on his field trip to cornbelly's today. (i had school that i couldn't miss.) it was mark's first field trip with "all the moms" and may very well be his last. and not just because madden came home with a bloody nose.;) mad loves him some of his daddy!=)

[every year! ;)]

[mad told me this morning that they decided not to go on his field trip. after i left he told mark, "i didn't want mom to know we were going, she'd feel bad we went without her." such a doll and a little bit of a liar!;)]

bonjour petits artistes

we had the girls over the other night while tim and kal went out for kalani's birthday. the kids decided they wanted to have a "painter party" so, of course, that's what we did....

 {the artists at work...}

 {mad's lovely playground. sade and her beauitful pink mountain}

 {a darling witch by skye marie. what did you expect from max? certainly not for him to have clothes on. ;)}

 {and then came the 'staches....oo la la!}

 {"cuz she's the peculiar purple pie man of porcupine peak..rat tata tat ta!"}

 {"sherrif" and "le mister"}

{"bonjour mademoiselle!"}

you don't tug on superman's cape

                                                                                  

i guess you can say he's been protecting this family since the day he was born. (that's a quote from my nephew, parker.=)) just like parker, that statement is also true for madden.  anyone who knows mad knows  how tough, stubborn and prideful he is (i can't fathom where he got that way from.;)) he has been this way since he was a baby baby. i swear i have pics of him at less than 1yr with that scowl on his face. he is such a tough little boy, the complete opposite of my max who has mastered the role of victim, but under that tough, little exterior is the sweetest, most sensitive little angel who hates to see anyone in distress. 

but protect, he will do....

max was having some issues with a little boy at recess that he would refer to as his "enemy". (note: he was very into an episode of spongebob around this time where one of the characters had an enemy, so i'm not sure the other little boy had much of a choice on whether or not he wanted to be max's "enemy".;))  max would come home from school and tell us what the little boy had said or done that day. it was mostly just things like, "he shook the stepping thing when i was on it and i almost fell." or "he was chasing me." but this would really upset madden and he would start to plan his revenge of shaking the stepping thing while max's "enemy" was on it or "well, if he's gonna chase you then i'm just gonna chase him!"=) i suppose one day max told the little boy that his brother was going to get him (i mean, after all, in max's eyes there is nobody tougher or stronger or meaner than his little brother, madden.=))  the little boy told max his little brother was stupid and, of course, madden had a few things to say about that..."well, well, well, if he's just gonna call me stupid then i'm just gonna call him stupid." and "i'm just gonna kick him!" which eventually evolved into..."i'm just gonna get him and put him in a box!" (it's all much cuter in mad's tough, little boy voice.)  we have definitely learned in this family that you don't mess around with jim.=) crazy child!

p.s. max and the "enemy" have kind of fizzled out. so, no need to worry (dad;)). however, max seemed to really enjoy mad and i coming to lunch and recess that often; we are now expected to attend multiple times a week.=)

more of their cuteness...well, a few of the ones i can remember, it's late!=):

max came home from school today and was very bothered that christopher columbus is no longer with us. i guess they have been learning about him finding america in school and max made me google how he died. the rumor is it was from gout. anyway, max is pretty upset he's dead and madden swears he saw him at hobby lobby the other day.=)

max on the day he dressed as spongebob for school: "walking teachers just talked to me and said cute stuff about my outfit." 

i was having a hard day a while a go and was crying, mad came up and asked if i wanted him to scratch my back. he then said, "mom, do you why i'm making you feel better? because you're cryin like a baby."=) 

kenna was asking the boys what their favorite memory is. max said his very best memory is when he got stung by a bee and i made him pink cake (red velvet) and got him milk.=) all of the time and money that has been spent on trying to make wonderful memories for these two and cake after a tragedy is his best!

 madden did not have a favorite memory because he has never been stung by a bee.;)

mad to "gwama"- "i'm angry because my name's mad!" what have i done to this child?

the boys are obsessed with rv's! it's all they want for christmas.=) i took them to the rv show at the expo center the other weekend, you would have thought they had died and gone to heaven.=)

burning skin

while my sister, timberly, was still pregnant with her baby boy, my niece, skye, started having a few issues with her skin color. her daddy, kalani, is tongan and all three of those babies have the prettiest tan skin. however, skye decided she only liked white babies with blonde hair like madden and weston and she wanted her little brother to look the same.  tim kept trying to tell her that her skin was beautiful and people pay a lot of money to have skin her color. she also told her how lucky she is because she can go out in the sun for a long time and not get burned like people with white skin do. i think it finally got through to her  because for the last few months almost every time skye sees max (which is quite often!) she apologizes to him..."max, i'm sorry you have burning skin!"  and tries to protect him from the sun that seems to hate him so. ;) so, thank you, tim for giving my child a complex now! what kind of benefits am i going to come up with of being on the pale force?? =)

fallin' =)

i am in love with this time of year!! maybe it's because i grew up florida and have been deprived of the changing seasons for most of my life, but i seriously can't get enough. (i drag poor mark all over the place.) so the past few weeks we have been enjoying this beautiful change. here is a piece of our fall....

we decorated the house for halloween...

[cute mad and the cute cat he made at preschool. you can't not love that face.;)]

[i finally made one for halloween!]

["i'm just gonna drink my milk with the bats, mom." in his underwear, of course.;)]

we have enjoyed the beautiful changing leaves....

[up guardsman pass, love that drive.<3]

[most beautiful midway and sleepy jean=)]

collected leaves for our annual leaf art....

[

[max made a christmas tree. (i love the little present.)]

[mad made a "fancy elephant" this year. =)]

carved our first pumpkins of the season and more...

[crazy, dirty kids!]

[sadie and her "guee-ull" pumpkin.=)]

[apple picking with miss rowan.=)]

 [scary apple pie]

 [playing in the nice weather.]

love in the time of a cholera like illness

my sister, jo anna, and her darling kids came to visit for a week and a half. with her, she brought the most wretched of all stomach bugs! jo, elly, weston, max, madden and i all got it. we spent all of last weekend huddled up in my house with lots of gatorade, towels, buckets and lysol. thankfully my sisters, andy and kenna, and jake were there. they also spent the entire weekend with us doing laundry, holding babies and sanitizing every part of the house.  and i don't know what i would have done with out my father-in-law coming to the rescue (as always=)) with his anti-vomiting prescription. (i hate throwing up! it's the worst thing in the world to me.) and my sweet mother-in-law for bringing us the most delicious soup. so thankful for family!