Easter 2015

On April 5th, we all gathered in our backyard to do a BBQ, Easter Egg Hunt & dye Easter Eggs.  Unfortunately Mom was sick so she and John stayed home.  Angela did come to visit, and it was quite the pleasant day.

It is such a joy to watch the children interact with one another.  Elly watches Madelynn for us, but I rarely get the opportunity to see all of them together.  They fight of course, but for the most part they are so kind to one another.  I am relieved by how close they are since Madelynn is an only child.  Matthew and Bella act as pseudo siblings, and give her that connection she may not have otherwise had.

Our Girl is Five

I am nearly a full month late with this post (and a bunch of other posts from the summer).  Madelynn Amber Hurst, our modern day miracle, turned five on September 21st.

A huge accomplishment for our child this year was potty training.  Madelynn has Sensory Dysfunction Disorder, which means she cannot feel thing the way 'normal' individuals do.  It takes a lot for her to feel pain, and feeling pressure in her bladder or bowel was not taking place.  We had been working on increasing her sensory diet, essentially overstimulating her.  While daycare was on vacation for a week,  her brain and senses connected the pressure with the need to use to restroom and she hasn't looked back.  It was truly amazing.

On September 27th friends and family gathered to celebrate Madelynn's birthday.  Poppa Dave and Angie were gracious enough to allow us to use their home as all the guests were from Utah County.  The grandparents Jones, Darren, Elly, Matthew and Bella rounded out the family members in attendance.  My friend Erin, her husband Mike and their boys Brent, Draegan & Xander came out for the fun.  Angie's sister, Stephanie, her husband Mark and their two boys Joseph and Benjamin made the party complete.  While most of her friends n attendance were boys, they made sure Madelynn had a perfect princess birthday.  We are truly lucky to have the individuals in our life that we do.

The decorations.

The presents

All Madelynn wanted was a purple bike.  The look on her face when I brought it out is what makes this whole parent thing worth while.

Even though it was pouring rain the kids bounced to their hearts' content in the Princess Bounce House.  It was so much fun watching these kids.

A family gather post isn't complete without a Bella Collage! (Added 10.15.14)

Easter 2014

While I still have March to blog about, but since I am on here now I'll blog about Easter so as not to get further behind.

This is our first Easter back in Utah, which was bittersweet for me.  I miss Washington terrible, and Easter brought egg hunts with Andrew and ham dinners with the maternal side of the family.  Days like these just make me homesick.  On the positive side we were able to spend the day with my father, Angela, my mother, John, and Darren's family.  Dad and Angie, as usual, provided an amazing BBQ complete with a home made carrot cake that Matthew couldn't wait to devour.  We decorated eggs with the nuggets, and hid the plastic ones for them to find.  Large Easter baskets were also hidden as a bonus.  It was a beautiful day outside, and a pleasant day seemed to be had by all.

Debating on Pooh Bear's pigment.

Bella waiting for the BBQ,

Decorating Easter Eggs

The Hunt is On!

Reaping the Spoils

A New Niece

On March 26, 2014 at 3:17 PM PST Jeremy's baby sister, Amanda, and her husband, Eric, welcomed their first child to this crazy world.  Miss Annabelle Kay Brambila weighed in at 6 lbs 15 ounces, and 20 inches long.  Congratulations and all our love to the new parents! We can't wait to meet her 

Miss Annabelle 

Grandma Tammy and Uncle Gerald

Ready for home!

Catching Up: February

There is no efficient way to catch up everything that went on over the last few months.  I will be going through my camera, and throwing stuff up in the most chronological way I can.

In February Tammy and Suzanne came up from California to make a quick weekend visit.  Always one to love playing tour guide I set up our weekend to tour Leavenworth, and Whidbey Island (and grab some caches)!

Leavenworth

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The thing I love about Leavenworth is the town mandates all the businesses look the same.  After a bunch of shopping, and eating some local cuisine I couldn't wait any longer to find my caches.  I found three that day.  One in a rock wall on Main, one under a boulder in an alley, and the final one in a rock wall in a park.

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We had some random pictures taken outside of the stores.

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The next day we went to Whidbey Island.  Suzanne had never been, and Tammy only briefly.  We went to Fort Casey first.
While we were there a random seal was playing in the water.  It startled us when we were throwing rocks into the ocean.

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Tammy on the Left. Suzanne on the Right.

We found a geocache at Casey.

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 Next we went to Coupeville for lunch.  We ate at the Front Street Grill.  This is when I learned you can take  the girl out of Utah, but not Utah out of the girl as Madelynn, without any provocation  mixed her mayonnaise and ketchup into fry sauce.  It is a nice restaurant, and there my child is channeling Arctic Circle.

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Jeremy and I found a cache at the pier with the help of some of the merchants.

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After Coupeville we went on a hike to Goose Rock.  Madelynn was a trooper.  She hiked the vertical climb all by herself.  At the top of Goose Rock there was a cache.  It required some billy goating, but every hide is worth the terrain.

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Visiting the Utah Cousins - October

From October 19th to October 23rd Madelynn and I were in Utah for her follow ups with TSH and the Neonatal Clinic.

TSH gave us the option to stay the whole weekend in Utah giving us the opportunity to visit all the cousins.

On Saturday, October 20th, after Madelynn's testing we headed over to my mom's to see Bella and Matthew.  Later Darren and Elly joined us for some pumpkin patch fun.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Bella because of her upper lip.

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On Sunday we visited with Poppa Hurst and Grandma Myker.  Evan and MaKayla came over to play and paint pumpkins.

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Carving the Pumpkins

Okay, so we didn't actually have Madelynn carve anything.  We attempted to have her clean out her own pumpkin to which she replied "Ew".  

Madelynn instead painted her pumpkin, I cleaned mine out, and Jeremy shaved his. 

The finished products: one black pumpkin, a ghost, and a hollowed out pumpkin.

Pumpkins!

Saturday was a bit rainy, but being the Washingtonians we are, we all went to the pumpkin patch.  It was your typical Hurst/Reed outing with Madelynn and Andrew calling out for each other making sure they were never too far away from one another.

Finding the Perfect Pumpkin

 They had lots of little sights for the children.  Andrew drove him and Maddie on their first illegal date (or is second cousins legal?  Ew either way :) ) They found the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.

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Craven Farms had a face painting area set up for the kids.  Madelynn and Mikhaila got their faces painted.  It was decided Andrew was too much of a boy, and would not sit still for such frivolous things.  Instead he ate a big old chili bowl.  (Have we ever mentioned how much we love that kid?)

My Little Kitty Cat

Mikhaila got Optimus Prime

Andrew After the Pickin' was Done

Family Outings

My father and Angela were in town the first week of September.  We went to the park, and also got in some geocaching.  Madelynn enjoyed having the two of them visit from Utah.