tales from a far-land

Madi turned eight months old today.  Here are some of Madi's new milestones we have experienced this past couple of months: She is becoming quite the speed demon in her "car walker". She follows us all around the house and chases the dogs all over the place. Can now sit unsupported, leaving hands free for another activity. In fact, she lunges forward onto floor from the sitting position. Begun creeping backward or forward by pulling herself along with her strong arms on her tummy and her kicking legs drag behind or what we better call in our house as "army crawling".  She is everywhere!  We are not sure we are ready for full mobility.  Reaches and grasps a toy using her fingers rather than the palm of her hand. Will shake, bang, poke, push, squeeze, roll everything. Enjoys splashing toys in the bathtub. She doesn't stay still anymore.  It is nearly impossible to change her diaper or change her clothes. She has two full grown baby teeth on the bottom i

This past weekend we enjoyed the wonderful fall weather with a family trip to the zoo.  We were very lucky to have a couple of our friends join us.  Stephanie and Dan, we loved having you there with us! We also briefly spent time with the Gillis family, who were at the zoo at the same time as us.  Someday Madi will be able to bicycle around the zoo with them.  They looked adorable.  I am not sure if Madilyn really grasped the whole experience, but she seemed to enjoy being outside,watching the animals and soaking in as much information as she possibly could.  Check out the pics ... don't forget to hit the play button!

Madilyn wishes her Aunt Lynsey a very happy birthday.  She misses you and cannot wait to see you in December.   Enjoy your special day... Come on, Mom.  Enough pictures already.   Hmm, is this edible?   Sorry about the drool ...  

This afternoon Phoenix was hit by very severe thunderstorms which resulted in tornado-like winds, rain resulting in flooding valley wide and golfball sized hail.  It was insane!  Never have I experienced this type of storm.  It is being called the "Frozen Monsoon".  I cannot believe just two days ago the temperature was 108 degress and now it is a brisk 68 degrees.  The storm shut down several Phoenix highways due to underpass flooding and traffic accidents.  On my way home, I encountered several down powerlines and uprooted trees.  The news reported several damaged homes, vehicles and businesses because of the golfball sized hail.  My parents home and our home also fell victim to this storm.  My parents lost a skylight and suffered some minimal damage to their home.  I came home to find our front kitchen window shattered and our sunshades shredded.  We also had some minimal impact damage in the stucco on the front of our home.  There were several piles of residual hail all o

For the Labor Day holiday weekend, we decided to fly to Santa Cruz to visit Josh's parents and sister. So, while the Valley of the Sun was experiencing record heat, Santa Cruz was a beautiful eighty degrees. We had a wonderful time!  Great weather, fun times, and many new experiences for Madilyn.  Take a look at a slideshow of our trip.