Family Hike - Snow Canyon

Last week Matt picked me up from work and had decided that we needed to go out and go hiking as a family. So we went home, changed clothes and went on our way. It turned out to be really nice and fun for us. The hike wasn't extremely hard, but just hard enough to be a challenge.
Matt and Madalynne hiking up rocks.

The view from where we stopped.

We saw this little guy on the way out. He just stayed right in the same spot long enough for Matt to take a few pictures of him. Yuck.

An Afternoon At The Park & Other Random Pictures.

On Mothers Day we went on a walk in the evening to the Temple and the park. We bought a new camera and wanted to test it out. At the park Maddie wanted to do nothing but pick and try to eat grass.

Trying to crawl away to find Starlee.

At the St. George Temple.

I had a wonderful Mothers Day. Who wouldn't with a little girl like this?

Sick Babies Are No Fun.

Maddie hasn't been drinking of eating for two days so we took her into her pediatrician. They told us she has a virus and she's moderately dehydrated and the way we needed to get her to drink was to give her whatever she'd drink (Diet Coke, Water, Gatorade, popcicles) in a syringe down her throat. 1 tsp every 5 minutes for 2 hours. It wasn't fun and she didn't like it, or us for that matter. It still didn't help so we called back and they told us to take her to the ER for an IV to get her re hydrated. We sat around for about two hours while they checked her out. They tested her for strep and that came back negative. We just sat there trying to give her juice and popcicles because they didn't want to give her an IV. It was a long night. She's doing a little better today and she's drinking so it looks like she's on the road to recovery. It's just so sad to watch her though - she's just not her normal active self. Hopefully just a few more days and she'll be back to our playful little girl.

Random pictures from a few days before she got sick.

Playing and dancing in the mirror like normal.

New Ring

So as planned, we got my ring back last Tuesday. Matt went to pick it up in the middle of the day and ended up calling me at work pretty irritated. When he picked up the ring and opened the box he immediately noticed multiple problems. The diamond was set uneven so that it was on a slant. There was supposed to be a space on either side between the diamond and the band but the diamond was completely pushed to one side with no space leaving the other side with a HUGE space. They didn't cut and add gold to size it.. they just melted it down leaving the back side of the band incredibly thin and you could see where they had heated up the metal because it left a goldish color to it. It was terrible! Matt was furious but the jewelry store didn't think it was that bad. He ended up bringing it to me to show me what the setting ended up like and indeed, it was pretty bad. The diamonds were still beautiful but they'd destroyed the band. After I went back to work, Matt went and looked at other jewelers. Another jewelry store told him that if they melted it down to fix it, it would weaken it enough that I'd probably be able to break the center crown right out if I caught it on anything. So a few hours later I get another call from Matt telling me that he's found another ring similar to mine and he thought it was beautiful. He wanted to pick me up just to go look at it. At first I was hesitant because I didn't want to give up on my original ring, but working with that company again was almost out of the question. How could anyone send the finished ring back looking that bad? And then have the people tell you that it was okay?! So we went and looked at the other ring Matt found and I loved it. It's a little different diamond wise but I like the band more. So we ended up returning my original ring and going back to get the new one. I don't have any pictures right now but I'll post some as soon as I get it back. I'm very excited and I can't wait to wear it.

I don't think that I'll ever work with the other store again. The staff was very nice, but the quality of the finished product... unacceptable. I'll post pictures soon!

We're Engaged!

It's official! We are engaged. Matt proposed to me above the city 2 weeks ago with my diamond (GORGEOUS!!) because he got too anxious and gave it to me before my birthday. Then on my birthday, he surprised me with my band. I had no idea it'd happen but I was SO excited. We don't have a date set yet but we are thinking about next Spring. March perhaps?? Things are going along and going great. We are very happy and very excited.

Now for all the planning...

Our Trip Up North and The Hogle Zoo

Last weekend we headed to Northern Utah to get a few things done.

Maddie and I had a bridal shower to go to. We wanted to see Grandpa and Grandma Kelley (amongst other family members) and Matt and I had dentist appointments. We thought that since we'd be up there for a couple of days, it'd be a good idea to take Maddie to the Hogle Zoo since she'd never been. (Neither had Matt!) It was very nice weather on Sunday so after lunch we decided to head down. We all loved it and had a good time. Maddie LOVES animals so she got excited with each new one. The penguins were her favorite. We all got a little sun and had a nice day out as a family.

Reading her favorite book on the way to SLC.

She wasn't so sure about the hat.

Madalynne and Matt.

A picture next to the infamous fountain. My mom used to take a picture of us kids next to this fountain every time we went to the zoo.

Baby geese that were walking around.

Maddie loved the giraffes.

And the ICE CREAM!!

A monkey in the trees right above us.

Happy Easter! (A little late)

Maddie's First Easter Basket

Starting the "hunt" for her basket.

She found it!

Taking things apart like normal.

Her finishing touch. Ü

We hope that everyone had a great Easter. We did! Maddie was so cute following the egg trail to find her Easter basket. She also had tons of fun ripping things out and putting the grass on her head. Happy Easter!