Here comes Gustav....

Have you ever seen Bourbon Street so calm?! I sure haven't! Poor, Poor, New Orleans...

As most of you know, I have lots of family that live down on the Gulf Coast of Texas & Louisiana...so you are not surprised by this post. Hurricane Gustav is headed to shore and sadly, he is headed directly inbetween the 2 towns where my family lives. I have grandparents in Houma, Louisiana (outside New Orleans) and Beaumont, Texas. I am dreading the morning when I have to turn on my TV to see what the devastation is. It seems like yesterday when I did the same thing with Katrina. Luckily, I know everyone is safe. My grandparents have made it to Memphis, Tenn to a hotel and will stay there til things calm down. Even though I know everyone will be safe, I am still scared to know that the houses I grew up visiting so often could be destroyed. I have so many memories of these 2 places, that I would be heartbroken if any of these homes are damaged beyond repair. Please pray for my sweet family members! May Heavenly Father protect them all.

Baby Maddox!

I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of Baby Maddox, my newest little nephew! Kevin's little brother Brett & Jenna had him in July. He is the sweetest little guy & I hate having to "share" him at family events. So I was thrilled when they came over for a visit Wednesday night and I had him all to myself! (They only live 10 minutes away but that doesn't mean anything!)We had a fun night of playing Rock Band and I got to hold him the whole time! These pictures don't even do him justice, he is much sweeter in real life! Doesn't help that my camera looks is taking crappy pictures lately, hint hint b-day present Kevy ;)

Arggg! Happy Birthday, Troy!

We had a pirate party to celebrate Troy's 4th birthday! Troy has LOTS of friends, I only invited his "best" friends and we invited 24 kids! Luckily, only 20 came :) It was so fun though. There is a family in our neighborhood who has a pirate ship as their playhouse in their backyard. Their kids have grown up so now it's the perfect spot for parties! I got horrible pictures for some reason so sorry! I forgot the candles for the cake so Troy had "magic, invisible, pirate candles." I don't know if he bought it! Happy birthday, Troy-Boy!

Small Town Fun!

So this is what we do for fun! It looks kinda silly if you are from the "city" I am sure! Our friend, Jared Anderson, partisipated in the crash car derby this year so I took the boys to cheer him on! (Kev was out of town with his bros and dad to see the Braves play in Pheonix.) Jared pained his car to look like Lightening McQueen and he did such a good job! He won best paint job-the boys loved it too! Colt was up way past his bedtime so he got kinda cranky by the end. The only thing that saved me that night was Colt's "leash"! All of the kids wanted to walk him! Jared got 5th out of 40 cars so we are proud of him! We'll see you there next year!

Update

Thank you to everyone who has expressed love and concern for our friends, and especially Brock. I just wanted to give you an update, now that it has been over 2 weeks, things are starting to calm down a little bit for everyone. Lindsey's family recognized Brock at the funeral and said that they loved him and that it wasn't his fault and that he was a good friend. I think that really helped Brock with his guilt, even though it's still there. We are now just waiting to see if there are any charges pressed against Brock's dad, since it was legally his responsibility. We are all just praying that doesn't happen so everyone can start to heal and move on.

Prayers Needed!

Just wanted to share some sad news tonight and hope that you can include our sweet friends the Butterfield family in your prayers. This picture is of Troy and Brock...Brock is 11 years old and tonight was involved in an ATV accident that killed his next door neighbor. He was driving and none of the kids were wearing helmets. A simple drive through the neighborhood ended with Brock hitting a curb which led to the ATV landing on his neighbor, Lindsay. I just feel awful for everyone involved. Lindsay's poor family for their loss and the Butterfields for the guilt that they now will carry for the rest of their life. We were in the temple with the Butterfields on Saturday and was reminded what wonderful people they are and how grateful we are for their friendship. Bad things happen to good people. So please keep our small little community in your prayers since this will be a hard one for everyone involved with to deal with. I love you all!

Bye Bye Van!

I don't know why I get so emotionally attached to my vehicles! Kev and I had made the decision a while ago to trade in our van for a car for many, many reasons. The main one being that gas scares me to death and I don't see it leveling out or coming down any time soon. I hate putting so much money into a car when you think of payment, gas & insurance. My van isn't the best on gas and with it being the 4 of us, I kind of felt like there was a lot of wasted space in it. (And no, there will not be any new additions in our family ANYTIME soon so don't ask!) I loved my van a lot, more than I thought I would but after 18 months in it, it is kinda fun to be in a cute car again :) We traded it in and got a Honda Accord (2 years old) that is in perfect condition. Oh and 32 MPG is sounds REALLY nice to me right about now :)

So bye, bye, bye Honda Odyssey. Hello Hot little Accord!

Tile Coaster Class

Hey everyone! Just wanted to put in a plug for my next class...we will be making a set of these tile coasters that are SO cute in person. We will be doing a cool embossing technique on the tiles. The class is August 28th at 7pm at my house...$10 for a set of 4 tiles. If anyone is interested in a set of these, I can make them for $12 plus shipping. Also, my new Stampin' Up website is: erinmadsen.stampinup.net

This is where I will be posting my class info and you also can order anything from the SU website starting next month. Hope you guys have a great day!

Boating with the Thompsons

We recently had the chance to go boating with our friends Chet, Jill, Janna & Savanna Thompson. It was a blast. The boys did the whole wakeboard thing and the girls just hung out. The kids had to take turns holding the flag...it was so fun to watch the boys show off with their tricks on the wakeboard. Thanks for a fun evening, guys!

Summer Favorites!

I just had to share what I have been LOVING in my Tivo box this summer! It has been kinda quiet around my living room since all of the finales in May but I am still finding something to watch! Here are my top 3 summer picks!

OK, Today, (7/11) TBS has started showing the Sex and the City reruns from the very first episode and they play them in order. This is the funniest show and I love the girls in it. It cracks me up. If anyone thinks I am awful for loving this show, that's your problem! :) TBS has them totally edited so just tune in (2 every weeknight) and enjoy! The first season started in 1998 so their clothes are hilarious, plus their huge cell phones!

I LOVE Tori Spelling! I know, pretty sad. But she is such a doll and I love her and Dean & Little Monkey Liam on their reality show "Tori & Dean" They are so cute to one another and I love how they call Liam "Monkey". And how Dean calls Tori "Momma". They are just cute and make ya smile :) OH and I can't wait for the new "90210" that she is going to play "Donna Martin" in!

And no suprise here, The Bachelorette! What am I going to do after Monday when it's off the air??? Maybe watch them again on abc.com :) I love DeAnna & thought this season just blew away every other one. I want to hear everyone's opinions on this: that's you Aubs! I loved Jason (and Graham but that's a WHOLE different post :) and on abc.com you can submit to see him as the new Bachelor. I have read they are deciding between Jason and Jeremy to be the next Bachelor, I will gag if it's fake ol' Jeremy. Anyway, get out your labtop, get in bed and watch the reruns on abc.com if you didn't watch this season!

K, I am done. Ignore me and my boring TV life now :)

Fun in Oklahoma!

I have been dreading doing this post because I knew how many pictures I would have to add! We had an awesome trip to Oklahoma the begining of July. I took the boys by myself and other than the plane & airport "incidents", I handled it all pretty well I think! Colt & I stayed for a week and then Troy stayed for 5 days by himself. My parents brought him home and are staying for a week for their annual Utah summer visit. Here is how we spent our vacation!

Being silly & showing off for Papa & Cookie!


Visiting with Grandma Pat (my dad's mom who recently relocated to OKC to be closer to my dad) She is so cute with the boys!

Having an early birthday celebration for Troy's upcoming birthday. He wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle cake and it was pretty crazy! I think the person who made it must have been high on drugs! But Troy loved it!

Yeah, can you believe that frosting? It stained their faces! And just imagine what it looked like 2 days later coming out the other end! UGH!

My parents house is gorgeous but totally not child friendly! What can you expect though! We visit once a year :) Colt instantly found the candy drawer which is right at his level.


This piece, he took a bite out with the wrapper still on.

We usually shop a little every day when I visit. The kids need to get out everyday and my mom and I need our shopping fix. We found lots of bargins this time which made me very happy! I will miss our daily stops at Sonic for a "cold drink" as Troy would say.

***Note: This is the last picture that we have of Underdog (Troy's pride & joy little bean bag dog) We lost him at the OKC Zoo, he tells people he went to live with the Tigers. I think I was more heartbroken that we lost him than Troy was. I have spent DAYS of my life searching for that dumb dog over the last 18 months. He has been replaced though with a new little pound puppy also named Underdog, but it's just not the same :(

We loved playing on my parents "Wiggle Cars". You wiggle the handles and the move. And they go really fast down my parents drive way! It scared me to death the first time but Troy didn't even bat an eye. They were soooo fun! My mom said I can't get them though....if I did, it wouldn't be special when we visit!

My parents garden is in full bloom! Troy loved helping Cookie pick things out of it, and eat them right outside. He loves any kind of veggies. Last year he was eating whole onions out of Grandma Nae's garden! Yuck!

Just being cute :)

Troy's new thing: washing Colt's hair

Colt's new puppy towel, Troy has a tiger one at our house

Cookie & Troy at the neighborhood parade. He got way better candy there than he does at our parades! And the cars in the parade were WAY nicer than Sanpete's!

Troy & Cookie on the Log Ride. They went to an amusment park after Colt and I went home to do the "big kid" stuff. They also saw Wall-E, played pool and practicing their golf swings in the backyard.

Summer Parades!

The boys with Savanna Thompson

Aren't they adorable? It must have been cold that day! I can't even remember!

Jill, Me, Cass

Every summer, we go to a lot of parades. Every little town has their own celebration (Memorial Day, 4th, 24th) so we always seem to be at some kind of parade. Can you tell I don't really like parades?? :) Down here, if you have seen one, you have seen them all. And all they throw is nasty old taffy. Ugh. Anyway, I found these darling photos from Memorial Day but this is basically how we spent our 4th as well, minus Troy who was in Oklahoma still.

"On this episode of Kev & Er Plus 2"

Well I am sure all of you have seen the TLC series, "Jon & Kate Plus", if you haven't then get out from under your rock! It's the funiest show about a couple that lives in Pennslyvania with 2 seven year olds and 6 three year olds. Yikes. I have had a pretty crappy week, at one time this week I was going to list ALL of the things that had stressed me out but what good would that do I guess. So on a more postivie note, here is what we have been up to this week:

From the looks of Colt, you would never think he was a picky eater. WRONG! I hate getting this kid to eat anything other than snacks. This was a beautiful sight yesterday, when he ate all of his lunch! I think he looks so much like Troy in these pictures...must be the eyes!
Mom & Me Pose: Ash & Chase, Jana & Dax, Cass & Kiana, Me & Colt
I think the worst part of this week has been the daily swim lessons with the kids. Many da ys I haven't even gotten out of my swim suit until about 4pm before Kev gets home from work. I haven't been able to get anything done while doing these lessons but they have been really fun. It's so fun to see Colt enjoy the water now! I love this picture of the 3 of us. Probably cause I never get pictures of just me with the boys cause I am always the one behind the camera!
Troy's sweet little friend, Madi Worthington, has given me a little peak into having a 3 year old girl instead of a boy. Wow, things would be different! Here are some of the highlight quotes from her 2 hour playdate:

"Your house is beeeaaauuuutiful!"
"Your car is so cute."
"I love all of your shoes, these are my favorite, no these are."

"Where are your girl dress ups?"

"Will you play princess with me? I will be the princess and you can be the witch."

"Where are the girl games to this LeapPad?"

"How do you get your toenails so shiny? Can you do mine like that?"

"My hands are dirty" while fingerpainting....it took a little while for her to get into it!

Madi is the cutest thing in the world and it was so fun having her over. She brightened up my day! I think she has a little crush on Troy, she told me that "Troy is always nice and never mean." At the end of the day, I love having Madi over but I still am glad I have boys!!!