Our Great Weekend!

Austin says my posts are too long... Too bad! I'm posting it anyway!

The Matthews' family has had a pretty excellent weekend! Friday was Austin and my second anniversary. I know, I know, we are doing good-- two years, two kids! We were so excited to get to go out on our first "date" in a while. Annie and JJ (thanks so much!) watched Makenna for us and we went to Applebees (with a giftcard from Austin's mom-thank you!) and to the movies (with free tickets I got as a gift from my old school). A cheap but fun date I would say! It was so nice to get to go out, just the two of us! Austin opened my doors and held my hand... almost like he likes me! ; ) And apparently Makenna was a good girl while we were gone. So it was a great thing!

Saturday Austin's school had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Saturday was really yucky, yucky weather so they had to move the hunt indoors. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed in it. They had all the 0-3 year olds crammed in a tiny room and they just threw eggs in the middle of the floor. And it was so, so hot in there! I had to step out because I thought I was going to be sick! But I think Makenna had fun which is all that really counts I guess!

And they are off! When they said go, Makenna instantly dove for the eggs!

Then she pretty much got lost. There were just way too many kids in there! She just froze in the middle of the floor! She ended up with just four eggs, but she is just little so that is ok! She didn't know she could have got more!

We let Makenna use her bag from Grandma Becky as her Easter basket on Saturday. She is so cute holding her "purse"! Also thanks to Grandma Becky for that little outfit. It was perfect for cold weather and also perfect for an Easter egg hunt!

Makenna and all of her cute little friends! She just did not want to pose for a picture!

Makenna and mom checking out her Easter eggs. She ended up with a sticker and whistle, a top, a bracelet, and a little foam bunny.

The rest of the day was spent having lunch, taking a family nap, and then that afternoon Makenna and I got to go to Jillian's house to make and decorate Easter cookies! Then Austin watched Makenna so I could run to the store.

*Okay, get ready for a rant... So I went to the store. The lady at the check out said, "Oh you are having a baby!" "Yeah..." "Any day now, huh?" "Umm... no!" So here it is, NEVER, NEVER presume to tell a pregnant lady when she is due. NEVER, EVER mention how large she is. NEVER tell her she looks ready to go any day now. No one likes to hear they are big! No one likes to hear that they look like they are 9 months pregnant when they are only 7 1/2! Just don't mention it! It gets on my nerves more than anything else while I am pregnant... I can't help that I get as big as a whale! Just stop and think people! *Now going back to happy weekend news... : )

Today Makenna slept in until 8. Way to go Makenna! Then she got to see what the Easter bunny brought her!

She loved the little bus with her new baby markers in it! Only she doesn't use them as markers; she thinks they are little people or something!

Look at all of Makenna's fun toys-- bracelets, bendable bunnies, a coloring book, wow!

Makenna loved putting ALL of her bracelets on at once!

After she took everything out of her bucket, Makenna cracked us up by putting it on her head! Silly girl!

Soon it was time to get ready for church. Makenna is such a blessed little girl to have Grandmothers that love her so much! Both sent her fun packages with adorable clothes in them! She wore a dress from Grandmom to church today and an outfit for Easter egg hunting and one for dinner from Grandma Becky. And she has a dress to wear next week from Grandma Becky too! What would we do without Grandmothers? (Probably not have clothing for our children!). Thanks Grandmas for loving our little girl and taking care of her and sending her adorable things! We love you!

Makenna's dress from Grandma Becky. She is going to wear that one next week!

Her dress from Grandmom. She looked like an angel in it today! Makenna loves these poofy dresses-- she is such a girly girl!

Makenna dressed for church (can you tell she wouldn't take a nap this morning?). She looks so pretty! I wish she would smile though! : (

After church, we were able to go to Annie and JJ's house for Easter dinner. I just want to say, thanks so much for having us over! Makenna loves you guys and we like you a little too ; ) . Dinner was great!

Makenna dressed for dinner in an outfit from Grandma Becky (yep, still tired!)

Makenna had so much fun playing with Cole and the magnets! Cole and Logan are her best friends!

Uh oh... Annie may not let us come back! Makenna and Cole are making a mess of her cabinets! Those troublemakers! : )

After dinner we headed home to get Makenna ready for bed. We took off her clothes but before she could get in the bath, she somehow managed to get her Easter bucket stuck on her leg! She walked all over everywhere with it stuck on there!

Ha ha, silly Makenna has a bucket on her bottom! She ended up falling down and sitting in it! (Sorry, I wasn't fast enough to get a picture!)

Oh man, get that off mom!

Makenna is dressed in her Easter pjs. Good night! See you next Easter!

Once again, thanks to everyone who made this a special time for us and our little Makenna!

Crafts, Crafts, Crafts

For, oh I would guess about the past month, I have been working on some crafty sewing projects. I just thought I would post pictures of them to "show off" my work!

This is a picture of the apron I made. This was my first, completely on my own, sewing machine project. Excuse the trashy picture of me (this is just what a stay-at-home mom looks like, ok!). What you can't really see from the picture is the heart shaped outline (I have to thank my mom for explaining to me over the phone how to do that!) and the ruffle on the bottom. This has been done several weeks now. Have I used it? Umm, no! Aprons are for looks, not use! : )

I have also been working quite a while on some needlework projects. I made these wall hangings for the kids' bedrooms. What you basically do is applique the different colored felt pieces on it and then do the designs in embroidery stitches. So you start with a plain piece of felt and add the details! Makenna's I did first and it took me FOREVER! This is also the first time I have ever sewed anything, except a button, by hand. Not to brag, but I love it!

The one for Max is not complete yet. But I can't complete it-- we aren't positive on his name yet and I don't know his birthday! : ) His name and the date will be on that banner and then it is basically done.

This is just a close up of the plane. This was 1000 times easier than the castle I made for Makenna! And while hers took me about a month to complete, I did this one in a day! Way easier!

The last projects that I have been working on are baby shoes. I got the pattern from a friend and have got together with the girls a few times to work on them. These are the slippers I made for Makenna (I had to make a bigger pattern because my pattern was just for babies--that resulted in shoes still way too big for her!). I think they look like frog feet!

These are the shoes I did first--they will be for baby Max!

So there are my projects! What have I learned from all of this? A sewing machine is good for little projects, but I get really frustrated with it! I much prefer sewing by hand! The needlework stuff is really fun and relaxing for me (surprising because I never really loved counted cross stitch!). So I can't wait for my next by-hand project!

Family Home Evening

So I blogged last week about our trip to Mesa and how we picked up the nursery manual to have Family Home Evening with Makenna. Well, we tried it for the first time tonight! Here's how it went:

We had a prayer and some yummy pizza. Then we showed Makenna a picture of a family, "Here is the Mommy, Daddy, and Baby. Heavenly Father gave us families. This is a family. They are a happy family!" Makenna kept pointing to the baby. She really likes babies!

Next, I had made some people (basically I copied it out of the manual, colored it, and mounted it on thick paper) and put them in the little house Makenna got for her birthday (thanks Annie!). One at a time, Makenna took the people out of the house. "This is Daddy. This is Mommy. This is Makenna. This is our new baby brother. This is our family. We are a happy family!" Honestly, I think Makenna could have spent all night taking the people out of their house and putting them back in. She really liked us telling her who each person was too!

We ended by singing "We are a Happy Family" a couple of times. Also, lots of hugs and kisses! Then Makenna's bath and family prayer!

Austin and I were both really excited about our FHE tonight. I mean, the lesson was only like 5 minutes long. But Makenna sat with us and mostly paid attention. What was the topic? Happy Families--so although it was very short, I think we got the point across, don't you? So we recommend the manual! It works!

Family time at the Mesa Temple

So we have decided we want to have better Family Home Evenings for Makenna. Well, actually, first we decided we wanted to actually even start having them with her and then we decided they needed to be better! Last week we had to sing "Popcorn Popping" about six times and we tried to read her a Book of Mormon story... she just wanted us to keep singing and had no interest in the story! So I decided that I wanted to get the nursery manuel to teach Makenna lessons from, lessons that were more on her level. So today Austin, Makenna, and I headed to the Distribution Center in Mesa. While there, we had a fun opportunity to walk around the temple for about an hour. Makenna loved it!

Yeah! Makenna was so excited to be walking around at the temple!

Makenna loved "playing" with Daddy's shadow!

Makenna and Daddy taking a nice little stroll.

Okay, we did this for about twenty minutes. The stairs were such small steps that Makenna could take them safely by herself. Over and over and over, up the stairs and down the stairs! Fun for one year olds, not so fun for the waiting Mom and Dad who wanted to actually walk around!

This was Makenna's "aha" moment--she finally realized that she could hold on to the stair rail and it was much easier to climb up the stairs! We thought she was actually pretty smart to come up with this on her own!

Daddy, Makenna, and Mommy outside the Mesa Temple

"... We are a Happy Family!"

Las Vegas

This weekend, very, very, VERY spur of the moment, we went to Las Vegas on a little trip! Makenna was feverish the whole time (I think she is cutting her back teeth) and so pretty whiney, but it was still a nice trip!

Our view from our balcony (the resort had 5 pools, kids playground, putting range, basketball courts, and much more!):

We stayed at a really nice resort. It was basically our house: living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, two bedrooms, two bathrooms! It was really nice to be able to put Makenna in her own room for naps!

On Saturday we went for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Makenna loved the fish in the aquarium!

But here is a little warning for others planning the trip-- even during the day, don't walk down the strip, especially with kids! The smoke, the language, the "cards" they pass out... not good people!

Happy Birthday!

Happy First Birthday Makenna!

It is absolutely crazy for me to believe that we have a one year old! My little tiny baby is now a complete big girl! I won't say it has been an easy road- it hasn't. Makenna was a very difficult tiny baby! But she is such a delightful big girl! Makenna not only walks now- she runs! And she talks so much. Sometimes we can make out her words (mama, daddy, dad, da da, no, yeah, yes, bye bye, and tons more!) and sometimes she has her own language. But she talks all day long! She has also learned to follow most directions (although she sometimes chooses to selectively ignore mom and dad). She is completely off the bottle. She eats only big people food. To sum it up, she is the exact definition of a toddler! And she is so much fun! We love our precious little Makenna! So today was a really fun day to celebrate her being our fabulous little girl! And for family and friends who could not share this wonderful day with us- get ready for tons of pictures and a VERY long post!

I have to admit, I was so excited for Makenna's birthday that I had a hard time sleeping and got up very early this morning. And the second she made a peep I made her Dad get up and we burst in her room singing Happy Birthday. Well we scared her to death and I had to just sit and hold her for about twenty minutes! Then she opened her present from us- a little radio that plays all sorts of songs! She loved dancing to them like crazy! Soon after that we got her ready and took her to IHOP (her favorite place) for breakfast:

Makenna (and the always present thumb) waiting for her food.

Mom and Makenna (both looking a little out of it)

Dad and Makenna (her necklace is a new favorite present from Grandmom!).

Makenna got a big breakfast of strawberry pancakes and eggs. But when the waiter found out it was her birthday, he brought her a big dish of ice cream. What a lucky girl to get ice cream for breakfast on her birthday! She loved it!

We came home and Makenna and mom went down for a nap. Afterwards mom checked the mail. Makenna received a card from Grandma Linda and a package from Grandma Becky, Melissa, Alexa, Jonah, and Eli.

Looking at a birthday card.

Makenna with her new feel book. She loves to feel the fur on those bears!

Makenna playing with her new play food set.

Makenna received so many presents! Just for posterity sake (and to let all of the relatives know), we will go ahead and list them out (yes it might be a little tacky but we want everyone to know how thankful Makenna is for all of her presents!)

Grandmom and Grandad, Hollee, Logan, Gordon: table and chairs, new outfit, cell phone with carrier, purse, necklace, bracelet

Grandma Linda: Card and money! We will have to see what Makenna picks out for her present!

Grandma Becky: Lots and lots of clothes, shoes, a bed set for her new big girl bed, book, play food

Melissa: clog shoes (Makenna's favorite kind!)

Alexa, Jonah, Eli: a new float for the pool

So many thanks to all of our family! It is so wonderful to receive so many fun presents! Makenna loved all of them and she spent all afternoon playing with everything! She really is so cute- she would go from one thing to the next trying to get a chance to play with everything! So thank you again to everyone!

After Makenna played again for a while and had lunch, we put her down for her afternoon nap. Then it was time to get ready to PARTY! We invited several friends over for a BBQ outside by the pool. Thanks to everyone who came- we had so much fun!

Makenna and Annie- her absolute favorite friend! This little girl is honestly happiest when her best friend Annie is holding her!

The birthday girl! Makenna looked like a little hippie at her party! She was wearing this bright tshirt dress and bright shoes (Grandma Becky she went ahead and wore her new shoes-they are just a little too big but they matched perfectly!) and a headband and beads! Then we ended up adding her birthday crown that all the kids made as a craft. Such a cutie!

After dinner of hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, soda, and pasta salad (thanks Carly!), we had yummy birthday cake!

Makenna (and Dad) blowing out the candle.

Mom dishing up the cake.

Makenna taking her first bites of birthday cake.

Yummy! She might not eat very much dinner, but she can definitely handle that cake!

Michael, Logan, Emma, Natalie, Makenna, and Mom enjoying cake.

After cake, Makenna opened her presents. Once again, thanks to everyone! Makenna loved all of her presents! Annie, JJ, Logan, and Cole got her a Little People set with a house and a little DVD. Jenn, Nate, and Natalie got her an Elmo movie. Nate, Brittnee (is that how you spell it- I'm sorry!), Ari, and Devynn (spelling again! I'm sorry if I got names wrong!)her a little newborn baby doll. And Scott, Jillian, Michael, Emma, and Katelynn gave her some certificates for playdates (that one is very nice for mommy!).

After the party, we drove around as a family for a bit and then came home to clean up. When it was finally bedtime, Makenna cried because she wanted to stay up playing with all of her toys! Obviously, that proves it was a great day!

I've said it several times already, but thanks to all of the family and friends who gave Makenna such wonderful gifts and came to her party to make this a great day for her. She is such a blessed little girl to have so many people who care about her. Thanks to everyone! We love you!

The Long Awaited Camping Post!

As most know, Austin is on Spring Break this week. To help "celebrate" we went camping with five other podiatry families. We went to a camp about an hour and a half from here. Our camping spot was actually really pretty with trees and a lot of green grass surrounding our tent. We also managed to get our tent right next to the bathroom--which is perfect for a pregnant mommy! It was a really fun trip and it was awesome to get to know some of the other families better!

Here is how the trip went: [WARNING: This is more of a long journal entry than a short blog!]

We left Tuesday at about 2:30. When we got to camp there were already three families there (and we followed another family down). There were three spots left for the six families in the circle so we each doubled up with another family to share a camping spot. Shhh- our spot was the nicest one! We were set up closest to the bathrooms and in the spot with the fire ring. It was also full of trees and grass. Don't tell the other families! ; ) We quickly set up our tents and built a fire. We spent a nice evening making tin foil dinners and s'mores and everybody sitting around the campfire (because when the sun goes down it definitely gets cold! Brr!). The kids also had a lot of fun playing in the trees and running around! Makenna was ready for bed at her normal time, but she seemed scared to go to sleep in the tent. She also didn't want to sleep with everyone else up! So I let her get up again and she stayed up until about 9:30. Then she was so cranky she didn't want to go to sleep! She honestly cried for about 30 minutes, even with us holding her, singing to her, and rocking her! Finally she laid down with her dad and went to sleep! So although we brought the pack-and-play, Makenna slept with Austin and I on our air mattress. It was pretty cramped up! I rolled over once and fell off the bed! We were also really worried about her getting cold so we put her winter pjs on over her clothes AND wrapped her up in a fleece blanket AND put her in her sleeping bag AND put her to sleep between us AND put our sleeping bags over her! I don't think she got cold but I definitely did! I froze to death! It got pretty cold! So with being cold and cramped, it wasn't the most restful night!

Wednesday Makenna woke up at 6:00 just screaming like crazy! She was hungry and wanted her yogurt-only we forgot to bring yogurt! So Austin and I got up and we had to drive to Wal-Mart before other families were even up! I think my mom would be horrified to see me go to Wal-Mart without brushing my hair or teeth and wearing my pajamas but we were desperate with our hysterical little girl! We got back and boy was it still cold! So we quickly fed Makenna and got her changed. By then others were getting up. We all sat around the fire because it was cold! Here is Makenna with her red cheeks:


We had breakfast and then everybody headed to a little park to play. We were going to drive there, but Makenna fell asleep as soon as we got her in the car. So we drove around a little bit and then went back to camp. But of course as soon as we put Makenna in her bed she started screaming and crying again! She cried and cried and cried. I have to admit I was really grumpy- I hadn't slept the night before and I can't stand to hear Makenna cry! So Austin and Makenna went to the park to join the others and I stayed in the tent to take a nap! Afterwards, we all had lunch and played around our own campsites for a while. Here are a couple of pictures of Makenna playing in the grass by our tent:

After lunch we all went on a drive up the mountain to a place called Jerome. We stopped along the way to take some pictures:

Did you see Makenna's hair? The wind was blowing like crazy! It was pretty cold up there! The town was pretty different. All of the houses were pretty old and not that nice and they were all built into the mountain. We stopped and walked down one street and to get to the next street you had to go up stairs! The streets were built on top of each other-it's really hard to explain! We went up to a park and let the kids play for a while and there were a lot of people dressed really old fashioned. One of the guys said it reminded him of Newsies and it really did! It was crazy! It was also crazy cold up there and the wind was blowing so much so we didn't stay long. But it was still a fun drive and a fun little stop. Then we headed back to camp and let the kids run around and play for a while before dinner.

Makenna playing at the picnic table.

Makenna loved playing with all of everyone else's toys!

Jenn brought some foam visors and little sticky animals and glitter glue for the kids to decorate. Thanks Jenn!

Mommy helping Makenna put her animals on her visor.

Jenn, Natalie, Pam, Makenna, and Logan decorating visors.

Doesn't Makenna's look nice? She did it herself!

Cheese! Mommy and Makenna having fun, doing crafts!

Makenna and either Katelynn or Emma (I can't see their face to know which one it is!) playing on the trees.

Logan was so sweet and really took Makenna under his wing-he always let her play even though she is still a bit young for their games!

Logan blowing bubbles for Makenna.

After the kids played, we had dinner. It was great! Chicken burritos = yummy! This time Makenna went right down to bed at about 7:30. So Austin and I got to sit around the campfire with everyone else completely childless! It was actually pretty weird- but everyone else was having to run after their kids so it wasn't as fantastic as it could be! Ha ha. Anyway, but it was really fun to get to sit around and just talk to everyone. I think that was our favorite part of camping! But everyone was pretty tired and we went to bed at about 10:00. It was a pretty good night's sleep. Makenna slept for the most part in her own bed and I bundled myself up so I stayed toasty. Yes!

Makenna didn't get up on Thursday until about 6:40. Then we got up to get things going because it was our turn to help make breakfast with the Reagan's. We made omelets in a ziplock bag and hashbrowns. I have to admit it was pretty good! But I had a scare before breakfast- I went to change Makenna and as we were coming out of the tent I tripped and fell with her. As I was falling I kept thinking, "I'm pregnant and holding a baby! This is really bad!" So I tried to twist around and fall on my back. I just managed to twist my knee instead. It really hurt! It was also embarrassing because I started to cry! Makenna wasn't hurt at all but she was pretty shaken up by the fall I think. So she soon went back to bed- it was too much for her! My knee was sore so Austin had to really take care of me- poor guy! But anyway, we had breakfast and then it was time to clean up and start packing up. It didn't take us too long to get everything done. But Makenna was still asleep so we even had to start taking the tent down around her! We got everything done and everybody left at about 10:30.

All in all it was a very fun trip! We came home very tired. We were a little sunburned and Makenna and I were beat up- my knee is even now still a little swollen and Makenna has all sorts of bruises and cuts from being outside all day! But we had a lot of fun and loved playing with all of our friends. Thanks everyone! It was such a great time!

Oh and by the way- I can't believe I am first to blog! You guys better hurry it up, you are behind! Also, tomorrow is Makenna's FIRST BIRTHDAY! Can you believe it?!? Expect to see a very detailed post then too!