California Trip!

We came home for a quick visit with the family last weekend. It was super cold and even stormed for a bit on Sunday! What in the world is going on with the weather? Someone needs to send Dallas Raines a memo that next week is June! We came from 100 degreee temperatures in Arizona, so we packed shorts and flip flops and were freezing the whole time! We still had a ton of fun and got to visit with lots of family members.

Maddie has become quite attached to Chancie. The first person she wants to see is Grandma. After that, it's Chancie. He is such a good dog. He let Maddie lay on him, put her blanket on him, and feed him her food she was supposed to be eating.

Our big Milloy/Eatough family went to dinner at La Mexicana and ate lots of yummy food. Here are some fun pictures from dinner:

Grandpa Eatough & Maddie! My poor dad ... look at those tired eyes. He is chronically exhausted from working so much overtime at work, but he drove home from L.A. to visit with us for a few hours before leaving for work on Sunday morning again at 3am. That is work ethic. Love you dad!

Super fun Aunt Gwynne & Uncle Bennett!

Maddie & Jasmine had so much fun cousin time. They are really starting to interact with each other and they are so much fun to watch. Here they are giving each other cousin love - hugs & kisses!

One, Two, Three, Four, FIFE!

Maddie is learning so much, so quickly! She recognizes and names colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. She can draw circles and she loves to practice counting!

Here she is at Grandma Milloy's house playing with an animal pop-up toy. She sits and names all the animals (my personal favorites are "ji-rap" for giraffe and "burr" for bear) and counts the numbers on top of the boxes.

Puppy!

Our friend Rachel brought over her new 2 month old puppy last week to play with Maddie. Maddie could not get enough of the puppy - she was laughing and squealing so much, she could barely breathe.

Maddie wanted to give the puppy her blankie, but the puppy wanted to play. Then, it turned into a game...

This all happened right before bed time, so when it was time for Maddie to go to sleep, she had a complete meltdown because the puppy was still at her house and she couldn't play with it. Brandon put the puppy in her crib with her and she laid right down and said, "Night, night!" Oh dear, I think Maddie may need a dog.

Our silly little love bug

Silly things Maddie is doing this week...

• Blueberry muffins are "cupcakes" & doughnuts are "cookies"
• She has taken up private reading time in her room. She sits quietly in her room in her Pottery Barn armchair and reads, "Goodnight Moon" to herself. She says "Night night moon!" as she turns each page.
• Sings "Old McDonald Had a Farm" mumbling all the words until E-I-E-I-O comes, which sounds more like "Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-O!"
• Maddie is obsessed with the boats and each time she sees one of them, she yells "Da BOOP!!!"
• She LOVES her life jacket, which she affectionately calls "jacket". She wears it around the house and spends hours clicking and unclicking the belts.
• She manipulates us by asking for something and then says, "O-kay!" like she's already decided she's getting it. For example, she'll say, "More peas? O-kay!".
• And, my favorite, she gives you the tightest, shakiest little hug she can around your neck and says "happy." It makes my heart melt to hear the happiness in her little voice.

We love our silly little love bug.

Weekend in Havasu!

It's not an Eatough summer without a trip to Havasu. Brandon, Derrick, Maddie, and I drove out to Havasu and met my family for a fun weekend in the sun. It wasn't deathly hot yet, so it didn't feel like an oven outside.

Maddie had lots of fun playing with Grandma and her favorite person of the weekend, Grandma's dog Chance.

We got to spend lots of time with Kristen & Richard. They are so silly and so much fun.

Derrick - Master & Commander of the Malibu Wakesetter

Brandon making wakesurfing look easy.

These are the tired Havasu eyes you get after you've been out on the lake for a couple of days.

Those tired eyes lead to this...

Thanks Mom & Dad for a fun weekend. We wish we were on the boat right now!

A Delayed Mother's Day Post

We were out of town for Mother's Day, so I get a pass for posting this so late! I just think of it as extra time to celebrate our moms! :)

We are so lucky to have such a young, fun mom. She was (and still is) energetic, active, and always going ten different directions at once. She made sure we had lots of fun family time boating, watching movies, and visiting family. My mom is the glue that holds together family relationships. She always hosts big family gatherings at her home and makes sure extended family is always connected. She is the first to remind us to call our family members on their birthdays and to keep in contact. My mom has said she knew all she ever wanted to be was a mom - and she is great at it. She raised six children and taught us how to serve others, to be grateful for the blessings we had, and not to judge others. I also learned compassion from my mom. She is always adopting stray animals and doing whatever she can to help others in need. She has become the most amazing grandma to the grandchildren in our family and we are so lucky to have her in our lives. Happy Mother's Day! We love you!

How can I not love the woman who raised the man I love so much? I have the best mother-in-law in the entire world! She has been my other mom since high school, so when I became an official Milloy, it was so exciting to have claims to her as my REAL mother-in-law. The earliest memory I have of Peggy is of her speaking in sacrament meeting about Emma Smith and the qualities of a wife and mother. I was so impressed by her talk, I went home and wrote about it in my journal. I was 13 then and as the years pass, I have been priveleged to see her raise my husband and all of his siblings, organize & host beautiful weddings, and now my favorite, I get to see her become a grandma. A job she was born to do! Peggy has so many amazing qualities as a mother, but one of my favorites is her devotion to her children. She is the biggest fan of her children. She celebrates in their accomplishments and shares the sorrow of disappointments as if the world has stopped and nothing else matters. She is the ultimate care taker and as our family grows, her heart just expands to include the next family member. I am eternally grateful for the wonderful qualities she has passed on to Brandon. I see her compassion, her home making skills, and her unconditional love of family members in Brandon and for that, I am indebted to her forever. Happy Mother's Day Mom! We love you!

This is my second Mother's Day and I feel incredibly blessed for my sweet baby girl. Maddie is literally the center of our world. I have never felt as close to my Heavenly Father as the moment I looked into my daughter's beautiful eyes and saw the most perfect combination of Brandon and myself. My soul changed the day I became a mother. I never imagined I could feel so much love, feel so fiercely protective of, and feel so connected to anyone. I feel the weight of what it means to be a mother and I try every day to be the kind of mother I have seen modeled by those I look up to.

I hope you all had a beautiful Mother's Day!

Summer Memories

The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever.

Robert Bridges

Maddie and one of her best friends Easton soaking up summer.

Summer is a sacred time in a child's life. Brandon and I both had the most wonderful childhoods and have such fun summer memories. Childhood summers are made for soaking up sunshine, exploring the world, running in sprinklers, getting dirty, and having bare feet in the grass.

We are so looking forward to this summer with Maddie. She is so curious about EVERYTHING and she reminds us of the important things. Like how interesting roley poleys are, how delicious summer watermelon is, and how much fun it is to run through the sprinklers with your clothes on.

A Day at the Farm!

Maddie is INFATUATED with farm animals right now. She loves her "Old McDonald" Baby Einstein DVD. She loves to sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm", especially the E-I-E-I-O part. And she spends hours putting together and then taking apart her farm animals puzzle from Aunt Jennifer. We hear her in her room naming off the animals as she puts the puzzle pieces in their spots. We thought it was time for her to see real cows, chickens, goats, sheep, & horses.

We spent Saturday morning at the Superstition Family Farm in Mesa. Laura & Bryant came along with us and we had so much fun! I had no idea this super fun place was so close to our house. We learned lots of things on our outing... like, did you know all the cows milked at a farm are pregnant? It makes sense when you think about it, but I had no idea!

Maddie petting a calf. The farmer who took us on our tour said at least 5 calves a day are born on the farm! Here's Maddie petting one of them. I think she said cow over 500 times. She was so excited.

Maddie with the chickens. She really had fun with these guys. There were probably 50 chickens running all over the place and Maddie had so much fun running with them, clucking, and yelling, "Chicken!"

This is my favorite picture from the day. I think we need to get some chickens for our house so Maddie can be part of a flock.

Maddie and a rabbit. She was pointing at his eye, showing Aunt Laura that the rabbit has an eye. She liked the bunnies. She even gave him some rocks. If you know Maddie, this is the ultimate showing of affection. Maddie loves her rocks and if she bestows one upon you, you are in a small, privileged group of Maddie's friends.

Maddie just started saying "rabbit" in the past few weeks so she was very excited to use her new word for the real thing.

Meet Toby. He is the farm dog and chases chickens, sticks, & lays in the funniest position I have ever seen a dog lay in.

Maddie got to feed a carrot to a horse. I am pretty sure this was one of the top ten most exciting days of her life.

Mom & Maddie on a hayride!

Sunglasses picture!

Maddie wanted to get down and run around with the chickens. That's way more fun than standing in front of a tractor.

Such a fun family day! For our local friends, if you want to go to the farm too, here is the website for Superstition Farm.