The Power of Prayer

From the moment Ashlyn was born she has been a little girlie that HAD to have a blanket with her at all times.  She liked to grip her blanket while she sucked her thumb.  When I was pregnant with Ashlyn everytime they did an ultrasound my sweet little girl had her thumb in her mouth;)  She used baby blankets for a while, then when she was old enough to crawl she stole Zach's old ratty blanket.  We got tired of her carrying around a red and blue ratty blankie and so we asked Ashlyn if she wanted to ask SANTA for a NEW blanket that was just for her.  Her reply...YESSSSS!!!  So when Christmas of 09 came around, Ashlyn opened her first present and it just so happened to be a purple HANNAH MONTANA blanket that (Mrs. Clause) made just for Ashlyn.  Ashlyn was so in love with this blanket that we couldn't even get her to open more presents right then...She instead grabbed her blanket and went and slept on the couch by daddy.

Ashlyn still to this day carries that blanket with her everywhere,  and this can cause a little bit of drama at bedtime when we can't find it...Usually mommy or daddy can find it pretty quickly!  Last night was A LOT different.  We looked everywhere in the house 3 times...it was nowhere to be found and Ashlyn was hysterical.  I couldn't let my poor sweet girl go to bed so upset.  So I used this as a teaching opportunity for Ashlyn and myself.  I explained to her that when we have done all that we can do to try and find something...we can kneel down and say a little prayer that Heavenly Father will help us to find it.  Within about a minute of closing our prayer we looked in the toy room for like the 4th time and it just happened to be hiding inside the train table.  Ashlyn lit up with excitement when she found her blanket...instantly stopped crying and went to sleep.

YO GABBA GABBA

This is a phrase that is used in our house ALL day long.  My little Mady girl loves to watch Yo Gabba Gabba.  We even had to start DVRing the show so that Mady could watch it at any given time in the day.
Here are some fun pictures from her little birthday party.

Here is the foofa cake that I made Mady

and the cupcakes...

                              
here are the goodie bags for her friends.  I used the regular ties on the boys to close them, then on the girls I put a cute flower hair bow that I made them...with Mady's help;)

How do you get lots of little kids to sit still in our house...turn on an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba

Mady was all smiles when I set her by her cake and we lit the candles

by the third line of happy birthday Mady was crying...she was freaked out, turns out she thought her friends were yelling at her...funny thing is she did the same thing last year on her birthday and we tried explaining it all to her then...hahaha

Mady and her friend Azure looking at her squinkies

princess dress up clothes from her friend bodie

a princess purse with all kinds of makeup from her friend Spenser

 The cutest little outfit from her friend Kloee

this is the bag holding all the cute clothes her friend drew bug gave her

A huge coloring book from her friend Grayson

Bubbles that Zach and Ashlyn gave her

A fake hair dryer, hair straightener, and curling iron from Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell

Mady picked pizza for her birthday dinner.  My kids LOVE pizza and crazy bread

WOW my cute little monkey is 3;)  We love you so much Miss Mady.  You make life so fun.

Mady's Birthday

    I can't believe that my sweet little Mady is 3 years old already.  This girl has more spunk than any kid I have ever met.  I love her to pieces.  She is so sweet with baby Nate.  In fact she tried to rock him to sleep last night while sitting on my bed and ended up rocking her and Nate to sleep.  She loves to play with Ashlyn, the stories that they make up and listening to them play house or princesses is so fun.  I know that they will be really close always.  I am glad that they have each other;)  Mady loves to play with Zach...they both like to tease people, so usually Ashlyn is the target.
    Mady is so smart.  She learned how to say her alphabet at 18 months.  She learned all of her colors and shapes by 2.  She learned how to spell her name and is now potty trained.  She always shocks people when she opens her little mouth and spits out sentences.  She looks so young.  She has been speaking in full sentences since about 13 months.  We love our little Mady.  Here are some pictures of my sweet girl.  I hope that she never loses her fun attitude...we love it!
                                            
My sweet baby girl less then 24 hrs after she was born;)
                                               
Zach, Ashlyn, and baby Mady
                                                          
I love this little beanie mady got for christmas
                                                  
Always been a steeler's fan...don't know why???  lol
                                               
Disneyland
                                                     
First Birthday
                                                   
Trying to hit the pinata
                                                   
Sweet birthday girl

Love her sweet little face

3 monkeys sitting in a tree

Man cupcakes make a girl thirsty...

Sitting at Chili's after trick or treating wanting some yummy dinner

At Knott's Berry Farm

Mady and her Mickey cake

Mady on her second birthday;)

What little kid doesn't ask to eat at Olive Garden at least once a week???

This explains Mady perfectly...girlie clothes and carrying a dirty football

Zach, Ashlyn, and Mady last summer

She even helped paint our house this summer;)

My Mady got so fearless in the water this last summer...

Practicing the first day of school pose;)  She can't wait to be involved in SOMETHING!!!

Mady had lots of fun practicing how to be a good big sister with her little cousin Ezra...she loves him

Here she is after rocking Nate to sleep...love this picture

My sweet Mady monkey is 3 years old, I can't believe it.  As the Taylor Swift song that Mady always sings says....oh darling don't you ever grow up...you could just stay this little. ;)

Tomorrow is her birthday and all of her little friends are coming over to celebrate...here is a sneak peek at her FOOFA cake.  I'll blog about her party later.

YO GABBA GABBA!!!! 

Nate's Blessing

We decided to bless Nate on Feb. 6th.  My brother was baptizing his son in Vegas on Saturday so most of my family from Ut would already be that much closer.  So saturday morning we woke the kids early to drive to vegas for a baptism.  My kids were really excited because they don't get to see their cousins enough.  We had a really fun day with my whole family (minus uncle David who had to work ).  Spencers Baptism was so spiritually uplifting.  We then went to my brother's house for pizza.  After lunch it was time to get on the road and head back home.  The kids were so excited that their cousins were coming to our house to play!

Alyssa, Spencer, and Justin

Great Grandpa Black, Grandpa Blackwell, Uncle Greg, and his son Spencer

Spencer with Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell after his baptism

Uncle Wil, Aunt Angie, Zach, Ashlyn, Mady, baby Nate, and Spencer

Uncle Eric, Aunt Jamie, Carter, Drew, Landon, Princess Riley and Spencer

This is the oldest grandkid.  My nephew Trevor.  He past up his mom height wise years ago... 

 Aunt Amy, Kolton, Derek, and Spencer

And there would be Uncle Eric trying to get everyone to sit up...

Here's Aunt Amy trying to pick up her two year old that is diving off the couch ( or maybe zach's giving him a little shove...who can really tell) 

These last three pictures from the baptism are just to show you how fun it is to try and snap a photo where all 17 grandkids are looking at the camera...We all try to snap photos really quickly while we are busting a gut because usually one of the adults is in the picture...or a kid is trying to get out of the picture.  Here are the best 3 we got that day;)  It will probably be another 5 years before we get another grandkid picture taken;) 

We blessed Nate on Superbowl Sunday which was fun since daddy is a HUGE steeler's fan and they were playing in the Superbowl.  Wil was able to bless our sweet baby boy Nate and his cousin Ezra.  What an honor it was for Wil that his brother would ask him to bless their baby.  It was definitely an emotional day.  After the blessing we came to our house for a luncheon...and to get ready for the Superbowl.  It was such a fun filled weekend with lots of family and some really dear friends.  My kids are so blessed to have so many people in their lives that love them.  Thanks so much to all of our family and friends that were able to come share in this special day;)

First of all Nate with his Great Grandpa Black who turned 91 a couple of weeks ago.  How many little kiddos get to have their great grandpa stand in on the blessing circle.  What a special treat that he would make the very long drive from Salt Lake for the blessing.  We love him very much;)

Yes I know this is not the most flattering picture of me...but here is a four generation picture:)  

 LOVE this family....their kids are so involved in baseball, gymnastics...and lots of other things too, yet they made sure they were able to take a weekend off from everything and spend time with us.  So grateful that my brother Steve, my sister Kim, and their 4 kids trevor, lexi, devin, and whitney were able to make it to Nate's blessing.;)

My brother Greg is such a hard worker and usually his career (his boss really ) doesn't allow him to be able to come to a lot of family functions...so we were so excited that they were able to come down to Nate's blessing.  My brother Greg, my sister Brendi, Alyssa, Spencer, and Justin.  We LOVE you guys so much.  It was so fun to also be a part of Spencer's baptism...if you knew this kid 8 years ago, you knew that he started out life pretty rough.  He spent like 10 days in the NICU down the hill...he had to be airlifted down there.  Now looking at him he is always at the top of his class, and an awesome basketball/baseball player.  We LOVE you Spencer and are so glad you are part of our family;)

Great Grandpa loved holding baby Nate...it was so sweet!

I'm going to blame the fact that no one is looking at the camera on my camera...It doesn't work when you want it to, it has a mind of its own...

Anyways, here I am with baby Nate, and my beautiful SISTER Amy, and her very fun energetic boys Kolton and Derek.  We were so lucky to have Amy and her boys come and spend almost a week at our house.  It was a lot of fun because I don't get to see these cute kids enough...or their mama.  We were just sad that Uncle David had to work!  Love my sister very much and thankful that she was here to help out and visit, even if she didn't make me snickerdoodles or rice crispy treats!

My brother Eric, my sister Jamie, and their four beautiful kids Carter, Drew, Landon, and Riley were there also...but my camera messed up the picture we took...Oops.   My brother Eric travels for work all the time and we were so happy that he was able to take that weekend off to be with us.  Wil and Eric get along well, but it seems like everytime there is a family function one of them is not there because of work.  It's always fun to get together with Eric's family...

This is Wil's sister Brin and brother in law Stephen.  They brought their three kids Tony, Alex, and Adelyn.  It was fun for them to get to see baby Nate and we are so glad they made the trip down from Fresno;)

Wil's parents were able to come down the night before the blessing and just visit.  Wil's mom has been waiting very patiently to come and see Nate.  We were so glad that they were able to come for the blessing.

Our really good friends Chuck and Nicole came to the baby blessing.  It was so fun to sit and visit with them;)  Chuck was Wil's best man when we got married.  And if you were at our reception...Nicole is the fun loving girl that took out half of mine and Wil's nieces trying to catch the bouquet that I threw...and she did;)  We are so lucky to have them in our lives and they are so sweet to our kids!

This one didn't turn out the best, but look at that smile on their faces...and they say they don't ever want to have babies...I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!! 

Wil and I have know Kellee for several years now...in fact she was with us on our first date;)  One of my bestest friends...I am so glad that we have little girlies close in age too! 

Here is Kellee and her sweet girl Kloee.  We were so happy that she was able to make it to Nate's baby blessing.  LOVE YOU KELLEE and your cute Mae Mae;)

Jillian and I have been best friends since I was like a Sophmore in High School.  This girl can always make us laugh;) We have a great time hanging out, and it is so fun that our kiddos are all so close in age!  Jillian and Justin we are so glad that you were able to come to Nate's baby blessing.  Love you guys!

There were other people there that we didn't end up getting pictures with, but it was such a fun and busy weekend celebrating our sweet baby Nate with lots of people we LOVE;)

Missed the family that couldn't make it, and excited to see them in MARCH;)