Christmas Eve in Michigan

Now, I know this is like a month late, but better late than never, right? Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I will only write small captions for each picture. Here's our Christmas Eve with the my Mom and Dad, my brother Gary, and the Dyal's (my sister Julie and her family). We had 3 of the 5 siblings together!

Siblings (Julie & Gary), Dad, and me


Christmas Eve Breakfast at IKEA (A Dyal Family tradition)

Aunt Julie & Maddie


Cousin Logan & Maddie


Christmas Eve Afternoon Movie:
Girls went to "Princess & the Frog" and boys to "Avatar"


Cooking for Christmas Eve
Family tradition of hors d'oeuvres for dinner




The Cooks on Christmas Eve
(notice all the prepared food! Lots of work!)



Logan & Maddie playing hide and seek


Empey Family Matching Pajamas

Siblings Matching (3 of 5 children-missed you Kristen & Kimmy!)


Williams Family (Mom-Dad taking picture), Dyal Family, & Empey Family

Almost February?

I have come to find that is is VERY easy to neglect a blog. My last post was on December 1st and it is already almost February! Time sure flies! I will make sure to post pictures of our Christmas in Michigan/Columbus soon!

Here's a quick update on our family's progress:

• We had such a FUN time visiting the Dyals and the Brown's on our vacation this Christmas! It was so fun for Maddie to get to spend time with all of her cousins and for ME to see and spend time with my family, too (all were there except for the Buhlers--we missed you!) It's times like those that I wish I could live close to every member of my family. We had an absolute blast! Thank you, Julie and Kimberly, for opening your homes to us. And thank you, Mom and Dad, for helping us get there! We enjoyed every minute! :)

• I currently have only 84 more days as an employee of Liberty Square Apartments (not that i'm counting.lol). Being an apartment manager of 166 units can take a lot out of you and i'm very excited to be done with this part of my life. There's so much about this place I just won't miss--mainly being away from my Maddie girl. It's a struggle every day to leave her, especially when she won't let go of my leg!! haha. I'll be glad when I can spend all day with her soon! ;)

• Applying to dental schools: Spencer started the application process for dental schools back in September and we're still waiting to hear back from UNLV. This has been quite the process and has required a lot of faith and prayer, especially for me. I have a HARD time with the uncertainties of life; the sheer fact that our lives are dependent on an admissions committee freaks me out. I know that Heavenly Father will do what is best for us in the end, but i've certainly had to try and align my will with His. Easier said than done...

• We have a 19 month old! I know this quick update won't satisfy, but Madisen is continually amazing us with all her knowledge! She can literally quote and sing most of the words to every "High School Musical 3" song and even gets a lot of the dances moves accurate too! The first time she started to sing it aloud, Spencer and I looked at eachother in amazement. She calls this movie "Sixteen" because that's the first musical number of the show. EVERY day, she asks for "Sixteen" at least 4 times. And as a result, both Spencer and I have become well versed with the lyrics and dance moves as well. Anyone need performers for their next party? :)

• A family cruise: Thanks to my wonderful Mom, the Williams family will be celebrating my father's birthday on a cruise to the Caribbean (shh--if you talk with my father, he doesn't know about this! It's a surprise!) We'll be touring in Haiti, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel at the end of May! But before that time, I have resolved to lose ALL my baby weight so that I won't be bashful in a bathing suit. My wonderful husband is being so supportive and helpful in this area--i told him to MAKE me exercise even if I fought him on it----it reminded me of when Dumbledore tells Harry Potter to keep making him drink the water to get the horcrux in the 6th movie. (I'm a nerd! lol)---so i'm finally becoming serious about it! Only 15 more pounds to go! Wahoo!

• I was released as the primary secretary and called to be the Ward Choir Pianist! I haven't really broadcast the fact that I can play, so when they asked me to be the pianist, I thought it was a joke at first. lol. But i've loved it so far! I do miss the kids with all my heart, but if anything is to fill the gap in my heart, it would be music! :) I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far! :)

That's mostly it in a nutshell! More updates to come, I promise! And i'll be better about updating more frequently too--I should've made THAT one of my new year's resolutions! But I didn't wanna set myself up for too much failure. :)

Christmas time is here...

Spencer FINALLY let me put the outside decorations up. We've had our inside decorations up for about two weeks, but he would not allow me to publicly display Christmas lights until after Thanksgiving. But they're up now! Here's a few shots (pardon the blurriness):

They are simple, but beautiful to me! AND no blog post would be complete without an adorable picture of Miss Maddie. She's become quite the social butterfly and is CONSTANTLY talking on her cell phones (that's right, plural--cell phoneS). We can only dread what our phone bill will look like when she becomes a teenager!

And she actually has conversations, mostly to "papa" (that's grandpa in maddie talk). There's a "hi" at the beginning, a bunch of jibberish interspersed with the real words she knows, followed by a "bye", and a quick punch of the "end" button. One must experience this to sincerely appreciate the cuteness.

Oh how we love our Maddie girl!

Piano Prodigy

Every time Mommy starts to play the piano, Maddie is not far behind. She LOVES to strike the keys and ruffle through Mommy's sheet music.

Hopefully this means she'll be a pianist as she gets older! Time will only tell!

Snowing in Provo

The last two weekends it has snowed! And Maddie was introduced to it in style. We bundled her up after church last week and let her out to roam freely. She LOVED the snow. She didn't wanna touch it, but loved stomping through it. Here's some highlight pictures:

We're so excited to be able to play with Maddie in the snow! And it'll only get more fun from here on out!!

Crossing my Fingers...

Anyone who knows me knows that I am quite involved with politics. I like to keep up with the comings and goings of even the smallest political happenings--needless to say that the debate on health care is not a small matter but has become a heated topic (*Disclaimer* I will be getting on my soapbox for a small moment*). AND as most of you know, the House passed this bill in a 220-215 vote. And now it comes down to the Senate vote...I'm just hoping they do the right thing. Don't get me wrong, I think universal health care is ideal, but that's just the problem--it's more ideal than realistic. Giving everyone a chance for health care is a goal this country should work towards, but rushing this bill so quickly is a definite mistake. And in this day in age, too many politicians are in it for their own political gain rather than what is best for the people. This 2,000 page bill (which I'm sure not many politicians took the time to read in its entirety) will:

• Put our country into even more debt ($100 billion dollars per year for the first ten years)
  
• Ruin private health insurance companies which means no other option other than the government's plan; who wants to compete with a government run health care?
• Coincidentally, put millions of people in the private health insurance out of jobs
• Will cost more than other insurance options
• The Individual Mandate. You will have to either buy health insurance if you don’t have it or have a 2% tax increase.
• Tax Increases to the wealthy--believe me, I don't fall into the "wealthy" category, but something must be said for punishing hard workers to give to those who won't work for it themselves
• Increased government involvement--didn't our forefathers break their ties from their homeland to avoid this?
  

These are only a few things that really worry me. I don't mean to push my ideas or thoughts onto others--believe me, I know that everyone has his/her own opinions on topics, and I respect that. I just needed a moment (and a post) to voice my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I would LOVE to know what others think about the bill even if you don't agree with me. :)

Obama Has Harder Task Ahead Lobbying Tougher Senate on Health Care - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

A Relaxing Sunday

After church today, Maddie was in a VERY cuddly and photogenic mood....translation? CAMERA time!! Here some of the precious ones we got, although after a short while she was ready to be done...

Cuddling with Mommy




Two of a Kind





Cheese!!




And then a little later...she was DONE!



So..... Mommy & Daddy took pictures together!




Happy Sabbath!!