Madson Family

RANDOM PICTURES

2009-08-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

Corban Turned 6 and a 1/2!!

2009-08-31T17:33:00.000-07:00

Since Corban's birthday is on Christmas day, in the dead cold of winter, we ususally celebrate his birthday in Summer. This year he has been so much in Star Wars, the Clone Wars, so that awas the theme of his party.
A cake featuring the commander of the the Clones-Rex-friends with Light Sabers came prepared for war and a "darth Vader" punch for more energy during the war.

Dedication to Elder Tanner!!

2009-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

We had the honor of participating in the Birthday celebration of Elder Tanner-him and his wife served their mission in Fiji in 1978 and converted my family. They are in Brigham City Utah and we were able to go to his 90th birthday and I had the honor of making him a "cowboy theme cake".
It has s been 22 years since they brought the gospel to my families life and we owe them much. Who I am today is defined by what they did for me, that is bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to me and my family. The food was great and the family even better. They have a very large family and they all welcomed us with open arms. The cake was melting it was a very hot day and the boys, well they entertained themselve on the 2 hour long trip over.
Corban hid behind the aluminum foil sun deflector and Peyton cleaned the window with wet ones and bossed everyone around.

Bear World with Heidi

2009-08-31T17:11:00.001-07:00

Our friend Heidi was able to come visit us again this year. We went to Bear World for a day and had a blast. We saw elk, moose, bears, mountain goat, swan, deer, wolf etc. We took a ride called "curator ride" you get to ride on a big truck, high so the bears can't reach you and got to throw food out for them to eat. As seen in the pictures in the the end of the ride they were sitting on their bums asking for more. Kids got to have a unlimited amount of rides which was the highlight of their day.

Summer!!

2009-08-31T16:35:00.001-07:00

So as always I am horrible at making sure that our blog is updated at all times. just too many things to do I guess. Well heres to catching up. Starting with 4th of July Weekend. We had the pleasure of going to mom and dad's in Soda for the weekend. Oh the way over the we ofcoarse had to stop and test out the new slides in Lava. Oh yah the first poicture is indeed of a snake who decided to visit us while we were enjoying the sun outside!!!

Then there was the Parade and the fireworks.

Summer FUN!!

2009-07-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

Fishing is one one the very many things we end up doign during the summer. WE didn't catch any fish, but we did catch 2 catterpillars and watched them turn into butterflys. Sarge had fun chasing the rapid water, Peyton had fun getting dirty, Corban enjoyed throwing his line out and getting it stuck in the rocks. It turned out to be a fun family outing.

My very close friends sister takes pictures for a fun side money earner and did a All American session with kids. Well she charged $5 and did a awesome job with it. It was hard getting Peyton to coorperate, there was kitties around he couldn't look at the camera and not at the kitty. In the picture that he is looking away he is actually going, oh, oh, oh kitty, kitty!! It was a blast!

My Handsome Boyz

2009-06-12T17:29:00.001-07:00

Birthdays all around

2009-04-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

April is a month filled with birhtdays for us. Starting with my niece, and by Brother, then my friend in Arizona and her Husband. Josh, his sister and his Mom. We did mom's birthday last week, since Josh is working on that day, we did it early. Mom and Dad has had a rough few weeks so we went up to bring some cheer them and surprised mom with a awesome looking spring cake.

This one is called "step into Spring" and lots of heart.

Peyton is enjoying the "leftover" batter on the beater and the spatula. My desire to make cakes is growing with every birthday, This one was specially fun as I had couple pairs of extra hands helping.

Then yesterday, the 16th of April we did Josh's birthday. He started back on days today so we had to do that one easrly too. I made him a gun cake. He has been wanting a gun so I gave me one :0).

Look how precious these three are. They sure know how to find fun and excitement in the smallest things. My boys were excited to devour that one down. They had a blast, but then today I had to suffer with black nasty, stinky diaper today. Black and purple polka dotted one--incase you wanted the details.

EASTER
As always we decorated the eggs and went to Jensen's Grove for egg hunt( which lasted exactly 10 seconds, before all of them dissappeared, thanks to the "big kids" with the real kids). All was as fun as always.

We did lose some of the stickers that were supposed to go on the eggs for a little bit, till we found them again, unfortunately they were not usable. I have to admit, I do have very creative kids.

Most interesting of all was, our 6yr old, Corban, annoucing at dinner that there is no easter bunny and that bunnies don't have eggs. He told us that he watches How its Made on TV discovery channel all the time and one episode was about making costumes. And they made easter bunny and so the easter bunny at the park, according to Corban was a man in a costume. HOORAY!! One less thing I have to worry about telling my kids, there is no easter bunny. Explaning the true meaning of easter and importance of it all was a lot more easier. I was just glad he didn't asked why eggs are decorated since bunnies dont have egg. Too bad they didnt make Santa costume in this episode.

Peyton's "Under the Sea" 2nd Birthday

2009-04-02T10:20:00.001-07:00

He sure loves those Presents.

Peyton's birthday was a blast, he is at a age where everything is so fun for him and he has some new things to say. He loved his little under the sea cake, as seen in pictures he is thoroughly enjoying it. He got a dalmation truck that barks, growls and crashes like him. And a ship and a train with all the noises included!! Can you believe it, he is 2 already!!

Sarge has GROWN

2008-12-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

One this very rare 50 degree end of fall weather, we decided to take full advantage of playing outside without freezing our tusies off. As I post this blog, I realized the only Sarge pictures that are on here are the ones when we had just adopted him into our family. Well he has grown "a little" since then. He is 8 months old, still hasn't grown into is PAWS-normous paws yet. He is still growing steadily and has become a very protective member of this family.

Then again no backyard fun is complete without a wheelbarrow ride. See how Sarge follows the boyz around like a protection shield.

HALLOWEEN

2008-12-08T10:08:00.001-08:00

PUMPKIN PATCH
We adopted a new tradition this Halloween-pumpkin patch trip. Theres a pumpkin farm not too far from our home, we go to the owners house and let him know that we will be gettin some pumpkins. The we drive over across the street to the farm and walk through yards and yards of pumpkin bush and pick out the best ones. Corban was having a blast running from pumpkin to pumpkin looking for his favorite ones. Peyton onthe other hand was not so sure about the vines all over that were hard to walk over and the weeds that were taller than him. He was still a trooper and we had to choose his pumpkin since he kept trying to bite into the ones he found.

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM

So the warm, sunny days are over way too sooner then it needs to. Halloween is usually one of the holidays when we like to take part in as a whole family. This Halloween Josh was working so that theory had to be changed. Corban being in Kindergarten wanted to be various different characters. On on his school halloween program he decided to be a Cowboy Sheriff. Well here he is in his outfitt with many friends, during the halloween program. They sang many songs--mostly scary ones!

HALLOWEEN DAY AT SCHOOL

Then on Halloween day, he wnated to be scary for his class. So he decided to be emperor of evil. Well he got his wish, he looks pretty scary to me!

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

And then on the night of Halloween to go trunk a treat he wanted to be cowboy sheriff with a pistol and a rifle, phew, this boy is tiring. Well once again he got to be just that. And Peyton had to just live with what I put on him. I went as my self, thats a perfect costume :)

FIJI BEACHES

2008-11-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

THE UPRISING

One of the many things that I was looking forward to was some time on the beach. We live in Idaho, so beaches don't exist here. Anyway, we were able to spend some time at a place called the Uprising. This place was amazin. It was right on the beach and you practically live on the sand and watch the tide come in and out all day long-I can do that ALL DAY LONG--no complains here. Once again my sister is good friends with the manger at the urisingthere so we got to have some time of to ourselves and enjoy what I have been missing for 5 years. This little hut was definitely a place to relax and to get your thoughts together about importance of life.

Now why would someone in their sane mind want to leave a place like this and move to IDAHO of all places. Well, I am pretty sure you all have thought of many reasons why-my reason is-I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord, over mountains or plains or SEA....you get the idea.

Even though sometimes-like right now when it is 35 outside--I want to rebel and go back. But i will just look at our bank account and say maybe next time.

TIRI ECO VILLAGE

Our last day there, my sister and her family took us to this exclusive ECO hidden in the rainforest of Fiji to spend some more time with her family on the beach. Weather was nice but a little windy, which to the people of Fiji was cold, but for us PERFECTO. After a lot of coaxing Josh got me convinced to go snorkel, it was cold and windy but the water was or so warm and clean and blue. This place was peaceful and very serene. Noone around for miles just us, the kids and the beautiful beach. We played there for a whole day, they even had a pool that we got to enjoy as well, even if the ocean was better then the pool.

Me and sister Sharola, a very amazin view and fishys in the sea having our left over lunch.

Kids all dressed up for the swim, Komal and Kevin. Josh and Colin using one of the plates that we ate on as a frisbie. Their older sister Sonam joined in and decided to turn their brother into a woman.

Josh teaching the kids how to swim, me just happy to be there, and Josh Snorkeling.

If anyone of you are planning to visit Fiji, call me I will be your personal tour guide and take you places you won't get to see if you do this alone. Hey all I ask for is for you to take me there, pay for my flight and I will be your guide--:)

My Family

2008-11-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

My sister has been doing really well. She has a Pizza Place that she is patterns with her boyfriend, who seems to be a great guy. He takes good care of her and her children, and my sister seems really happy and content with her life.
She has two daughters, Sonam 14, Komal 11 and one son Kevin who is going to be 10 soon.

They are really good in school and are wonderful kids to their mother. Sonam takes good care of her sibblings and is a very kind, loving and responsible little girl.

Her boyfriend Colin is from England who has another Restaurant close to the Pizza place. They have been together for 3 years and seem to be doing well together.

One of my brothers, who is second in age, has two kids, they are Corban and Peytons age. Him, his wife and kids, together with mom, moved to New Zealand. Enock has a nice capenter job there are excited to embark in the new lifestyle.

My oldest brother is doing okay. He seems to have lost his way, hopefully he will find it back soon. He has 4 beautiful daughters. Then there is my sister and then me.

ZIP FIJI

2008-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Friday, day after the funeral, I couldn't stick around any more, things started to get difficult to bear and I had a constant heavy heart feeling that made it hard to breath. My sister has a pizza business so she knows a lot of people with other business' and gets great discounted prices. Josh and her sensing my mood decided that we needed to go do something fun. Sister knows the Gentleman who started the the Zip-Fiji and within the hour we were on our way to ZIP-FIJI. For more information please visit zip-fiji.com. When we got there I realized that i still had the heavy feeling in my heart, but this time it was purely another reason for it--the fear of heights. Yup I am terrified of heights and some for these zips were 45 meters high and 200 meters long and reached the speed of 60km/h. That is high, and really fast. My sister naturally being a very competitive person challenged me to go down one without the screams and closing of the eyes and yelling -I'm gonna die....!!
That is all I needed. It took my sister about 1o minutes of coaxing to get her to jump off the platform, attached to the zip line. Took me 9.99 minutes--yup less than her. But, she screamed, and kept breaking with her palm, me, once I was off the platform, all fear was gone, I realised how safe and unscary it was. It was actually exhilarating. There were 10 platforms that took you from one station to another. It required a little bit of walking to the next platform, but nothing to strenuous. You didn't have to be muscle strong, just strong in heart to take part in this adventure. Thank goodness. We were allowed to go through the 10 stations twice. "The ZIP LINE COURSE consists of traversing from treetop to treetop with specialized climbing equipment over a series of ten thrilling horizontal cables that are connected between the jungle treetops." I felt like a monkey flying from treetop to tree top and the experience was pure fun, exhilaration, thrill, moment of forgetting all your troubles.
Caution--If you are of weak heart, please bring an extra pair of underwear.
This is exactly what I needed. A little bit of fun and a chance to see the natural beautiful side of my birth country Fiji.

FIJI

2008-11-06T12:03:00.001-08:00

As many of you know that my Father past away on September 27th. We were outside all day taking the GMC apart, at the end of the day Josh came in to bath the boys and get ready for dinner when the dreadful phone call from my sister was received. We have been wanting to go visit my family for quite some time now, but it seems that everything always gets in the way.

Last year when Dad kept getting sick, and started to have heart problems, I knew that I needed to go visit him soon. Well that soon never came and the last time I was there was 5 years ago. My conversation with my sister lasted all but 2 minutes. After the intial shock, I realized that there was no way I was going to make it to the funeral--we were flat broke. First phone call I made was to my friend Julia. Both Josh's and my head was not right, we could'nt get anything out, let alone try to figure out what to do next, and Julia was the name that came to my mind.

She and her husband came over later that night and we came up with some ideas on what should be the next step. I am very grateful for a friend like that who dropped everything in a moments notice and came to my aid, when I needed her the most. Thank you for all you two do for us!

The worst, and seeming impossible task was getting me a US passport so I could get to Fiji. I got my US Citizenship last June and haven't applied for a passport. Then the next was coming up with $5000.00 to make this trip. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to handle this trip alone so Josh had to come with.

MONEY

Well the next morning-Sunday the 28th, Josh had a meeting with our Stake President, he decided that the only way they could help us out will be to ask for donations. So the Stake President started his journey to visit as many wards as possible in the Stake to ask for donations that needed to be put together in one afternoon. The Funeral being on Thursday, and because of time change, we would loose two days getting to Fiji, so the only way we could make it to the funeral would be to leave on Tuesday and get to Fiji on Thursday-funeral day.

Sunday night President called us with a bright ray of hope, to inform us that the members of the church had donated enough money to get us both to Fiji.

Our friends had Delta Airline vouchers that they gave to us without hesitation-to get us to LA and back--(to fly to Fiji you have to fly to LA and get on a Fiji flight) two separate flights.

PASSPORT

Josh, Julia and I did some research on passports, and thankfully, found out that we can get a passport in 1 day--in LA. You see how things are falling into place here-since we were to go to LA in the first place. Josh was able to get us an appointment with the Federal office in LA for Tuesday at 7am and Grandpa gave money for the passport . We decided to leave Blackfoot by shuttle to SLC on Monday afternoon. We spent the night at another friends house for Monday night in a place called Velencia just outside of Burbank, we made it to our passport appointment at 7am the next day. ( Jace and Michelle-thanks for looking after us and being such awesome friends).

KIDS

What do we do with the kids-well actually that question never came up, our friends and family made a plan for the kids for us, before we even asked. It was decided that the boys stay at Julia's for a couple of days, Bobby Jo's for few days and Grandma's in Soda springs for a week.

They both love and get along with these families well so--no worries there.

THE JOURNEY

Sunday night we booked the flights, we made a big mess at making reservations for them.. We made reservations for flying out of SLC and coming back into Idaho Falls. We decided to drive to SLC and leave the car at the Park N Jet, around two in the morning I realized that we were coming into a different airport--what about the CAR!! Thats when the necessity to taking a shuttle instead, came into play. We packed up one suitcase, got the kids to Julias and Julia dropped us to the shuttle. Shuttle left Blackfoot at 3pm, our flight leaves at 6.30--plenty time to make it one time--right--WRONG!!

We get to Pocatello and the driver realizes that he was supposed to have a extra row of seats in the back of the shuttle, but no-one ever installed the last row, so theres a lady with a baby in car seat who has no place on the shuttle. After much delibration the nice lady decided to find a ride and the driver got her arranged for a refund, by this time is 4pm!! Fear kicks in that we were going to miss our first flight of 7 that we had to make in the next 2 days. I gently leaned over and informed the driver that our flight leaves at 6.30, he says--I will try my best, we made it on time with 29 minutes to spare. Except the baggage check-in computer was upset with us that we were checking in 1 minute too late and said that our bags might not make it to the right plane-there was a lot of angry beeping involved.

Well it was wrong, we made it to Las Vegas where we connected to another flight to Burbank where we stayed the night.

Jace and Michelle were great hosts who can ask for more. The next bright and early morning Jace took us to LA. We were taken right in, 10 minutes later I was raising my right hand to swear that I was who I acclaimed I was on the papers and was told to come back at 1pm to get my passport--WAIT A MINUTE, CAN IT BE THAT EASY!!! YAH RIGHT--

just kidding, it was that easy. :)

We hung out with this wonderful family for the rest of the day, checked out California and headed back to get the passport where we waited maybe about 2 minutes and I had my PASSPORT!!

That night (Tuesday the 30th at 10.30pm our Flight to FIJI took off, at 11pm I was out like a light and didn't wake up till it was 1 hour before landing (thanks to sleeping pills--I highly recommend it for nervous flyers). After flying for 10 hours and 20 minutes we landed in Fiji on October 2nd Thursday-Funeral Day ( international date line cross through Fiji so time changes makes us loose 2 days). We landed at 6am. We had a connecting flight to another airport, that was closer to my home town at 7am. As we stood there waiting for our baggage, we realized that if we didnt get our bags soon we were going to miss our connecting flight. I hunted down a worker and told them my dilemma and they assured me that no flight will leave without their passenger and that I had nothing to worry about. Our bags were the last ones out. We hurried to the other side of the airport to re-check in and was told that OUR FLIGHT HAD LEFT. I explained to the officers at the counter about what I was told--and of coarse they denied that we were ever going to be told any such thing. They got us seats in the next fligt at 8 am. Few minutes later the original flight we were supposed to be turned around and came back for something--guess what--they wouldnt let us in the flight still because!!!!----we were assigned in the next flight--but this is my original flight people!!!! 20 minutes later we are told that our flight has broken down and we can't leave till 10am. WHAT! Another 20 minutes later the flight was fixed--yup--Heavenly Father is aware of our hearts desire and prayers. We were in the plane and 30 minutes away to the next airport. Sister was there to pick us up with her boyfriend Colin. And begun our 1hour 30 minute drive to her house. We drove for about 1 hour and the car just stops in the middle of the road in the middle of no where!!! GIVE US A BREAK!! WE ARE TRYING TO GET TO A FUNERAL HERE!! Well we hitch hiked for about 1.5 minutes and were on the way again in the back of a van with spare tires as seats, and Colin left behind with the car. We got to the funeral--30 minutes late. Funeral was done in Hindu traditional way, Dad was cremated and I said my goodbyes with a heavy heart and a sense of huge loss.

Every one who met and helped by along the path of this journey, we are forever grateful to you. Your act of kindness and charity will be in our hearts and in our book of memorabelia for all time and eternity. Thank you for watching over us and at the same time teaching us the pure and life changing lessons of life. Your love for us is going to be felt in our lives forever. This is home!

Our Last Firepit Dinner

2008-10-18T17:34:00.001-07:00

As summer came to an end the weather changed dramatically, windy and cold and rainy. On this very rare nice after we had dinner outside. Built a nice fire out in the firepit in the backyard for Hotdogs and smores.

We look forward to our days outside having yummy hot dogs, watching Corban make burnt smores, and trying to keep Peytons Hotdog together long enough for him to finish eating it. He wanted to put chocolate in the bun and not the hot dog, and ate half of daddy's bun with nothing on it. Corban had a hard time making a perfect smore and decided to settle with the burnt, while daddy tried to save his bun from Peyton. Oh how we miss summer days.

Corban Goes to Kindergarten

2008-10-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Corban has been waiting very patiently all summer long for his scholl to start. He asked me everyday how many days it was till school started. Well finally it was here and here he is on his first day.
They read a story about "kiss in a Hand", they learnt their teachers name--which is Mrs. St. John and they got to see where the bathroom, snacks and the front office was. First thing Corban did when he got home was tell me all about it, wrote a letter to Grandpa and Grnadma and told them all about it and got ready for the next day. He was too excited to wait for later.

HIDDEN TALENT

2008-10-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

In July one of my friends daughters was getting married and I was invited to her bridal shower. I decided to make a bridal shower cake for her. Well while making it I discovered something about me....I was really having a fun time making the cake, specially decoratint it. One other friend of mine saw this cake and asked me to help one for her daughters 12th birthday. At that time I was not wanting any one anyone to know about this but I was convinced other wise. We are supposed to share our talents with others I am sharing.

Cementing Pros

2008-09-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone who have been hearing about our cement project has been asking us to post the changes in here and finally here it is.

We wanted to help out a friend in need, who was working hard at putting up a yard for his family, Josh and I talked about it and decided to help. So we took out the south side of our grass and gave the sod to our friend to have a grassy front yard. And the summer project began, cementing the area where the grass came from. We decided to do most of the stuff ourselves to keep the cost down. We had to dig down about 6 inches, put gravel on and compact it, pour the cement and do the finish work. Sounds easy enough doesn't it--Not really. We spent atleast 2 months shoveling, and wheel barrowing the dirt out. Josh even got fluid in his knee, and had to go get steroid shots. We graded it and come to find out that we dug out too much. So we had to buy twice as much gravel to fill in the 2 inches +. We decided to cement a pad behind the shed so we can put Sarge's Kennel on it. Corban made for a great weight to level the gravel. Peyton kept himself dirty pretty easily. And I tried to do as much as I could.

We first did the first half and the kennel pad. This is Josh and our very handsome and kind neighbor helping us cut the cement to avoid cracks. Apparently it was too loud for Corban.

The second half was put in a few weeks afterwards. We would like to thank our neighbor across the street, and next door, our friends a block over who provided us amateurs with their expertice and helping hands. Without them we will still be working on this.

Now we have a wider driveway, less grass to mow or water. Boyz love it, play basket ball, ride trikes etc.

BRRRREAR Lake Trip

2008-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

We like to make a trip to Bear Lake at least once a year with Josh's family. Well all summer we waited to take that most enticipated break from summer project. Finally we got a chance to go on August 16th, our day started early, Brady came over from Twin Falls Idaho to go with us. It was pretty cold that morning, we thought hey by the time we get to Bear Lake it should start to warm up. The trip was fun, boyz were behaving well.

We get there about 12 and guess what, the temperature was still 59 degrees, what the hey, isn't it suppose to be warm in the summer!! Corban stayed in the water the whole time we were there--in the shallow area--Peyton followed brother and ate as much sand as possible, I went for a swim for 20 minuites and coouldn't feel my toes, Mom never went in the water, Dad, Josh and Brady played frisbee for a while but neither of them got their hair wet. We made sand castle without the buckets and I think it was the best castle ever, made of elegant statues.

Mom and Chelbie enjoyed the not so strong sun, it was a perfect tanning weather, Dad enjoyed grilling and feeding us delicious hotdogs, Josh took great care of the boys and me, and Brady enjoyed eating all the yummy as we all did.

Corban had the most fun. Making sand castle, chasing the seagulls, runnig in the water with his Dad, playing frisbee with uncle Brady, Floating with Mommy, burying ant Chelbie, Hanging with grandma and grandpa, chasing brother....In the end he was the most tired one. The day was short due to cold weather, hey atleast I can say that I got to play at the beach without the Ocean.

LEMONADE FOR SALE, NO ROBBERS PLEASE!!

2008-08-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Corban has been helping one of our neighbor boys, who is 12, to sell lemonade, he will stand there with a sign call out to the motorist to come get some lemonade. Well, one day he patnered up with one of his girlfriends to sell lemonade. They took turns to pour it and take the money.
The next day his friends weren't around so he decided to do it alone. Here is the poster he wanted me to make him.
LEMONADE 10C, NO ROBBERS, how funny. He always comes up with some extremely funny stuff. Well I set there with him for most of the time. I went inside to talk to a friend for 10 minutes and came out to findout that he had sold almost all of the lemonade. And there was a lot of dollars in his container. Apparently people will buy a glass of lemonade and tell him to keep the change. Then again if they did ask for change, he wouldn't have known how much to give back. Instead of 10 cents the lemonade costed $1.00.$6/hr

SUMMER FUN!!

2008-08-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Since our summer is coming to an end faster then we would like it to, here are some fun we had in between summer projects and swimming lessons and T-ball and work, and life.

I thought it will be fun to teach our boys on how to spit the watermelon seed out, the furthest. Well apparently my instructions were not very clear. Corban did very well, but Peyton, well he wasn't sure what he was suppose to spit out. So out came the little bites of watermelon. I tried to have him eat some the next day hoping that he had forgotten the spitting bit. Well, I was wrong, I tried to put him in the high chair to eat, he didnt want to, he grabbed a piece, walked out to the front stairs and did exactly the same old thing. I had to wait for about a week before he started to eat the melon the right way.

Well my two boys are a total opposite when it comes to playing in the water, or being a dare devil. Corban has always been our safe boy, watch from the side lines, never do anything that looks even remotely dangerous. When it comes to being in the water, its almost as if water bites, he will never just go out and get wet, and jump around in the water. You have to coax him to do any of that. Peyton on the other hand, he is a water bug. If there is water Peyton will be in it. Puddle on the side of the road-no matter how dirty, Sarge's water bowl, garden hose tha tis on etc. As you can see in the pictures above, Peyton is right in there in the slip N slide, while Corban is jumping over it. Will some one tell our boy that water does not bite.

Swimming was a lot of fun for Corban, for mommy, it was chasing Peyton around, keeping him out of the water was a challenge. If a kid is able to put their head in the water and float, they are usually advance to the second level. Corban was able to do all that very quickly, but he didn't want to got to level 2. Why? As mentioned previously, level two water was higher than his hip, since water is so dangerous-according to Corban he was going to stay in level 1 for the full two weeks of swimming class. huh

So here is some advice.

1. Take your kids to the pool or just have them take lots of bath from a very young age.

2. Don't try to teach a 18 month old kid how to spit watermelon seeds out.

3. Dress your water bug in swimming clothes at all times during the summer-they will find water and get wet, it will help minimize the laundry piles.

4. Don't take your water bug to your hydrophobic kid's swimming lessons

T-Baller Yankee

2008-07-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Month of June was all dedicted to T-ball. Ever Monday and Wednesday at 6pm was T-ball time. Daddy unfortunately, got to go to only three of his games. Unfortunately for me I had to chase Peyton around and cheer our star along in the game at the same time.

It was a blast watching the little dudes trying to figure out what to do with the ball when they are in the field being the catchers. Most of the time instead of throwing they run with it or try to snatch it of the other team members hands wanting to be the first to throw it in.

Corban's team was the Yankees. The whole thing was full of comedy. Hailey was the only girl in the team and she was all pretty excited that she actually hit the ball. When she did she had to do the victory dance and hug her parents before she ran to her base. Well, she had fun and all the parents on the side lines had a entertaining time watching her.

Corban is a talker. He always was busy talking to his team mates and not paying attention to the game. If his team mates were not accessible to talk, he would tell his coach stories--wonder where that comes from :0)

By the end of the T-ball season, Corban was hitting well and hard and running pretty fast. He was still not sure where to throw the ball or who to tag when he was out in the field. They beat all the teams except for one-the orioles-oh well.

We all had fun.

Chelsea Graduates

2008-07-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

When I said I was bad at blogging, I meant it-this is something that happend on the 30th of May.

Josh's sister, Chelsea graduated from High School this year. We all went, program was fun and sad to see how fast she has grown and gone. Life comes at you fast.

New Addition to our Family!!

2008-06-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Meet Sarge Madson our third child. We have been wanting a dog for quite sometime now. Josh works night shift all the time and we wanted to get a dog for security purposes. Well what better dog then a German Sheperd. We looked forever and found him, or he found us. When we went to see the dogs, Brutus(as named by the breeders) marched up to me and started to grunt. I picked him up and he never left my side after that. Me being the sucker for loves, decided he was the one. And it was a wise decision. I don't bond with animals very easily and when my heart cried out for Sarge I knew that he was the one. So we brought him home, first night was rough, he yelped half the night. Second night he slept for 6 hours. Third night, he was just like my tired boyz, he slept till 8 in the morning. Transition was super easy.

We love him very much, Corban and Peyton are always chasing him around, and he absolutely adores kids. SARGE AT 8 WEEKS

WOW!!

2008-06-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yup, I am definitely the worlds worst blogger. I can't believe the last time I posted something was for Corban's graduation that was 2 months ago-good heck.
Any way I will try to get all the fun things we have done so far since then.

Few weeks ago we just randomly decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner. It has been a while since we have gone out to eat. We sit down to eat, Corban gets pizza and coke and we just got a extra plate for Peyton to eat a variety of stuff from everyones plate.

First thing Corban does is gets some coke suctioned into the straw and puts it on his pizza and eats it that way. Then there is Peyton, dumps his food on the table and starts to eat with his mouth, like a dog or cat. Josh and I looked at each other and silently realized the reason we don't go out to eat any more.--How embarassing.

The south side of the house is still a dirt hole--a whole 13yards if it. We are finally getting gravel and planning to have it cememnted by the end of the week. It has been Heaven for my boys. My kitchen hasn't been clean for more then 30 minutes since the grass was removed. Finally it will stop, and I will shampoo my carpet, hand scrub my kitchen floor and it will stay clean--I hope.

We went to Soda Springs for Father's Day. It was a very nice day, sunny with a slight breeze. Things were perfect till the mosquitoes started to come out. There are so many of them, they can pratically carry you off. Things got worse when Josh hit me on square in the chin/neck with a baseball while playing catch. Ok I make it sound like its his fault, it wasn't, I am the worst when it comes to playing catch, its liek I am crossed eyed or something. I wasn't able to breath for a moment but it all passed and we were back to playing again. WHAT A DAY.

Our dog is getting real big, he is great with the boyz and very funny. He has a tail with a mind of its of , when he runs his tail goes is several different direction just like the lion on wizard of oz.

He is learning quickly and never leaves our yard-so thats a plus. We are very excited to have him as a new addition to our family. There was a time when we went somewhere, my boys were always the center of attention, oh what cute kids, they are darling. Well now its the dog. One lady asked how old is he, I though she was talking about Peyton, well I was wrongs she was wondering about sarge--LOL, its kinda nice that way I dont have to calculate in my head how old Peyton and Corban are--its starting to be to much for my brain to handle :0)
Shy

Pre-School Graduation

2008-05-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday May 22nd was Corban's Pre-School Graduation. He was very excited about it and was a little show-off since grandma and grandpa were there. Graduation started at 7pm, they had practiced very hard during the year for a wonderful and cute program. We took lots of pictures and even a vedio, this definitley was something worth documenting really well.What do you if you have a bunch of very cute kids doing the Flags with their hands the wrong way? You just Smile

All the kids were doing their actions to the songs, Corban just wanted to sing out loud (in the jungle the mighty jungle...)
I am surrounded by very beautiful girls--I better shape up and do better.

THIS IS TAKING FOREVER!!
Wanna see my teeth.
WOOHOOO

THE END

SPRING FUN!!

2008-05-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

We have been very patiently waiting for Spring. Finally it arrived and the wait was all worth it. Our two boys are besides themselves, they are having a lot of fun, which usually starts right after breakfast. Corban enjoys playing in the dirt, on daddy's truck, with his new bubble maker and with his friends. He absolutely adores our neighbors daughter, unfortunately they are selling their house and getting ready to build a new home, so they will be moving soon. We have come to love and appreciate them very much. They will be terribly missed.

Peyton enjoys chasing his brother around. He will grab his shoes and sit on the bottom of the stairs and calls out to mommy, "sho, sho". That is mommies cue-put my shoes on so I can go outside. After his shoes are on he stands by the door till you open it and let him out. His most favorite thing to do is play in the dirt and eat it. Yup thats right DIRT, he absolutely loves it. It sure is delicious and nutricious to him. Hopefully he wont get any worms. We have torn out the grass on the south side of the house so we can cement it. Well we havent really got anyone on it to do the cementing part yet, so Peyton is in dirt Heaven. Our kids are a joy and they sure make spring so much more fun then having to worry about taking care of the lawn and doing spring cleaning. So get out there you all and enjoy spring!!

Josh turns 28, Corbans half birthday.

2008-05-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, i thoug I will be good at keeping things posted on time, but I am not. I am a whole month late on this mont--then again I'd rather be late then never.
So the plan for Josh's birthday was to have a party with his family and add Corban's half birthday, Chelsea's 18th and moms 50th to it. Things were a little hectic preparing for it all, but the end result was amazing. There was lots to eat and very fun hoops and yoyo cards to open. Corban got a Wii, the reaction from him when he opened his present was priceless. In the turmoil of emotions he didnt know who was who so he turned to his uncle Brady and hugged him and said, "Thanks for the Wii uncle Brady". The whole time Josh, who was sitting across the table, thought wait a minute I am the one who woke up at 5 am to be at Walmart to buy the dang thing.

After the confusion passed Corban finally thanked his dad for the Wii. On Sunday, I surperised Josh by inviting his High School buds over for dinner. There was a lot of story telling and "where the heck have you beens". Overall I was tired of cooking and entertaining--no I didnt complain. Though I am glad it is over.

Thank You!!

2008-03-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

So as most of u know that Corban turned 5 last December and Peyton turned 1 in February. Well Corban's first word was daddda, guess what Peyton's first words are-Thank You. Either you give him something or take something away he says Thank you. So could this be because Corban looks and acts like Josh and Peyton looks and acts like me, hmmm.

Josh bought a running 68 GMC 3/4 ton almost 1 year ago that he is planning to rebuild, he hasnt been able to work on it because of the cold weather. Finally two days ago he had enough and emptied out the garage so he can work on it.

Well it was a family affair, we took things apart such as the door, seat, panels etc. I have found my calling in life--mechanics, I absolutely love it and hope to be a pro by the time we are done re-building it.

How do you make a 5 year old eat, within the hour?

2008-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

So every day for our normal routine we like to sit at the dinner table together as a family. We say a prayer for the food then dig right in. Corban, doesn't just dig right in. He likes to stir in it sing songs, maybe a little nibble, then pick up whatever is sitting next to him and play with it, or ask 50,000 questions, why mommy, why daddy? WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!
So we say "corban eat, corban hurry up, corban stop playin and eat!" I even went as far as getting him started an hour early before us so he could be caught up by the time we started. No worky! Well tonight I finally decided to do something about it.
Since he is so distracted and can't eat I put him on a chair with a little table facing the door thinking it would be a motivation to get him to eat faster with no distractions. Its all quiet Corban is in his corner we are feeding Peyton then all we hear is tap, tap, tap. Corban has started a drum solo on the little stinkin table to pass the time away!
So I am out of options, anybody have any suggestions?
I keep thinking about the time when I was in boot camp when all we had was 5 minutes to down a three course meal. Sure hope he doesn't decide that route when he turns eighteen. Somebody help us!!!!!
Josh

What a Vacation

2008-02-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

We had our first vacation of the year this weekend-February 21st. While hanging at our friends home in Maricopa, AZ we learnt about blogger spot, and thought it was a great way to keep our family and friends updated about our family, so what better time to start then with our vacation. Preparation for it started the weekend before.

First, we went to Boise to support Chelsea (Josh's sister) through the State Basketball Championship-this being her last year in High School and all her team did great, they went all the way to the finals and lost to a 3 times in a row State Champion team.
Anyway we had a great time hanging out with family. On our way home we stopped at Applebees in Twin Falls with Brady (Josh's brother) for dinner. Corban didnt want to eat and started complaining that he didn't feel good. We didn't think anything of it at that time since he is always complaining that he does'nt feel good when it comes to eating a meal.
We got home somewhere around 10pm everyone was eager to get in bed, and this is when we discovered that Corban had the Flu. His temperature stayed at 103 till tuesday. He threw up a couple of times and layed in bed for 3 days straight. But thankfully by the end of Tuesday he was doing rather good. Then came Wednesday, Peyton woke up and was sick. We were all bummed because we were all ready to go on our mini vacation for the year. Well to be just safe I took him in to the doctors and found out that he had RSV (respiratory Syncytial Virus). RSV causes infection of the lungs and breathing passages and is very highly contagious. So I waited for the Doc to give me the bad news and advise me against travelling.

No that didn't happen. So the good doc game him a prescription and sent us on our marry way.
So we all got up early Thursday headed to catch our flight to Phoenix. Everything went very smoothly at the airport, no waiting in lines, no delays, and no losing of things.

Phoenix, warm, way warm, anything is warmer than 13 degrees that we have here in Blackfoot. We were super stoked about wearing shorts and sandles and sun screen.

First place we went in phoenix was called Rawhide, upon entering the place we witnessed a Stand off between a sheriff and some villager, the whole place was set up as an olden days town. Kind of like the one in "Work and the Glory" . We ate dinner and enjoyed walking outside pretending we were in some cowboy town, while the boyz enjoyed being with pregnant Hiedi, Darin and their son Daniel Phelps (our friends).

We spent the next day hanging out and recouping from the trip and then on Saturday we went to a "Renaissance Festival". And this was quite the place to be. Everyone was dressed in olden day clothing, corsets that push the hoohaas to the max and knights, Robin hoods, Kings, Queens, Princes' and even wenchs :)

We watched juggling, joust, sword fight, looked at a torture museum(creepy), and a bird show. Josh and Corban rode on an elephant, I wasn't brave enough so I watched from the side lines. We met a talking walking/talking tree.

Peyton was a trooper through the whole thing and Corban was just too darn excited to hang out with mom and dad. Peyton has started to walk so we gave him a few minutes here and there to get out of the stroller to walk around. Everytime he got the opportunity he would turn and walk in the opposite direction to what we were walking towards, he had the biggest smile in the whole world when he did that, "it was saying look at me go, and no you can't get me".

Anyway, the best day of the whole vaca was Sunday, we went to watch NHRA Championship race at the Maricopa Firebird Raceways. Heidi was very kind to take care of Peyton for the day so we can go to the races. I was stoked to meet Ron Capps. Corban hated it in the beginning because it was rather loud. But after we went and met some drivers, got their Autographs and pictures he got as excited as Josh was about the whole thing. I got to get a close up of Ron Capps -woohoo and Josh a close up with Hillary Will. We met "Fast" Jack Beckman, Ronn Capps, Tony Pedragon, J.R Todd, Jeg Coughlin, Melanie Troxel, and Hillary Will.

Well it was a great first mini vacation. We are back home and now Josh has the Flu, guess the flu is here to stay. A small reminder would be to WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER COUGHING INTO THEM! And no its not ok to use another persons tooth brush.