Ryan and Erika's blog

Summer Update

2010-08-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Despite being pregnant and only getting larger as the summer went on, the time has flown by! Below are some pictures of what we did...I'll try to give you a summary of each set of pictures.

June

When Ryan wasn't called into work on the weekends, he was busy doing yard work, shoveling pea gravel, cutting down trees and getting a garden area ready for us. Andrew took advantage of the cut down trees and became our own little grizzly bear. He certainly has the growl to go with the actions! Ryan's dad came to visit at the end of June. The boys had a great time hanging out with grandpa and we went to see Pathfinder Dam during its overflow...one of the reasons Ryan would get called into work.

July

4th of July weekend, we made a trip to Utah for my nephew's baptism and since we were so close to the family in Idaho, we decided to go see them too. We let off fire works, went to a 4th of July parade (where Andrew made a haul with the candy!) and visited friends.

A couple of weeks after getting home from our Utah/Idaho trip, we went camping in the Big Horns. This was our first family camping trip this summer. The boys LOVED sleeping in the camper, especially since they got to "sleep up high" in the bunk. Who would have thought something so simple would be so exciting?! We also went on a hike into a lake where we saw a pack goat on the trail, ate lunch at the lake and the boys threw everything they could get their hands on into the lake. Andrew ran the trail all the to the lake while Ryan tried to keep him in sight and Caleb and I brought up the rear. Part way up, Caleb had to go into the kidpack (much to his dismay), but on the way back to camp he was ready and willing to get into the pack! Andrew was a trooper and kept his little legs going. Each time we stopped for a rest he would sit down, but he was always ready to go when it was time. The hike was 3.4 miles round trip, which I say is pretty good for a 4-year-old and a pregnant lady.

August

We took a week and camped with my family in the Buffalo Bill area. What began as a camping trip with my sister and her family grew into a camping trip to include my parents, grandparents and another sister and her husband. It was so much fun to be with so much family! Andrew and Caleb spent the days playing with their cousins and loving every minute of it. It makes me wish we all lived closer together so the kids could get together more often! Ryan went on a couple of good hikes and he and grandpa and uncle Cory took all the kids fishing. Since we were camped between Yellowstone and Cody, we decided to spend a day at each place. We had a great time and look forward to doing this again!

I tried to load pictures of Ryan's hikes, but it wasn't happening. He saw some amazing country. I'll get them on another post!

A Mouse Tale

2010-08-20T06:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, the boys were ready for some down time, so me being the mom I swore I'd never be went to plug them into a movie so I could have my own quiet time. Yes, at some point in the day a movie is in order to keep mom at some level of sanity. I got their snacks and drinks and Andrew and I headed down the stairs. Caleb insisted on carrying his own drink and snack, so he lagged behind. Andrew and I got down the stairs, I got the movie started and Caleb was yelling for help from the top of the stairs. Being a good mom, I went to help Caleb only to take one step up the stairs and shriek. There was a mouse in the middle of my stairs!!!! Only moments before I must have walked right over the top of him and not even known it! Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a rodent or reptile person. Of course with the shriek Andrew comes running over to the stairs to see what's going on and Caleb starts crying because I told him to stay at the top of the stairs. So, now the picture is Caleb sitting on the top step crying and Andrew and I at the bottom of the step with me trying to keep Andrew away from the mouse that he felt he must get a closer look of. Now what to do?? I didn't want to ignore the mouse and let it have free reign of the house, but how was I going to catch a mouse...a live mouse at that? Finally, I dumped toy tools out of a bucket, had Andrew get a book to help me scoop the mouse into the bucket. So, now I have the mouse cornered in the step, the bucket trapping the mouse there and the book on the step above. I slid the bucket and mouse up the side of the step to the next landing, where I have the book ready to push the mouse into the bucket. WooHoo!!!! I caught the mouse! I truly thought this whole experience was going to put me into labor, but we made it through labor free. Andrew had to see mouse several times through the afternoon as we waited for Ryan to get home from work to dispose of the mouse, which was still alive when he got home and set free by the golf course.

I should have prefaced this with the discussion Ryan and I had when we got home from our camping trip. I was unloading the trailer, using the kitchen door to the garage so it was propped open. I was just about finished when our neighbors came by and we were visiting. Ryan asked if the door was closed at which I said it was. Well, evidently, it wasn't as closed as I thought so then Ryan said we probably had a mouse in the house. I was hoping he was wrong and hadn't seen any sign, so thought nothing else of it. Well, honey, you were right. A mouse did make it into the house, probably because I kept the door to the garage open. But on the bright side, I cleaned up my own mess on this one!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2010-04-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

Andrew turned 4 on April 25th! Can you believe it? As you may recall, the week before we celebrated Caleb's birthday. Everyday for another week Andrew would ask us "Is today my birthday?" The little man was excited to turn 4. Overall, it was a good day for him too. He made a haul in gifts and got sung to at church. Unfortunately, it ended on a bit of a sad note for him. By the end of the day, he was running a temperature of 101.9 and didn't touch his piece of birthday cake. Mom and dad felt pretty bad for the little man. But, we did catch the good moments of the day in pictures, so enjoy!

Opening presents

Trying out the new T-ball set.

He got a cowboy hat from Grandma & Grandpa King. Here he is trying it on and singing "I want to be a cowboy, you can be my cowgirl". One of the "great" songs of the 80's my younger sister used to go around singing. Here's to you Rach!

The dinosaur birthday cake. Andrew wanted it to be Buddy from the PBS show "Dinosaur Train". Sorry it's sideways...tilt your head and you will get the point!

Blowing out the candles. Unfortunately, Caleb got his head int he way of the shot. I guess he figured out how it was suppose to work after I helped with his own candles on his birthday!

Caleb Turns 2!

2010-04-19T17:34:00.001-07:00

Caleb turned 2 on Saturday, April 17th! I look at that little boy and wonder how in the world he got old enough to be 2. Then he does something and I tell myself "Yep, he's 2. Not only is he 2 now, but he's been practicing being 2 for some time now." So, it's not only a wonder of motherhood, but an absolute miracle on some days that the little man survived to become a full-fledged 2-year-old! We love him and will keep him around a while longer.

Here are pictures of our big day. Sorry, there is no order to them, but blogger and I aren't getting along at the moment!

Mmmmm.....Cake!

He wouldn't get close enough to the cake or let me move the cake close enough to him to blow out the candles. Finally, I helped him get the job done.

This was the big gift. It was a big hit!

opening the big gift.

The birthday cake.

Fishing

2010-03-25T14:18:00.001-07:00

So we had a gorgeous day one Saturday a few weeks ago and decided to take the boys on their first fishing trip. Andrew was so excited. We were suppose to go the week before, but it snowed and we postponed. Andrew had to hold his fishing pole anytime their was a line in the water. That part was fine, but he had a really hard time holding still at first (imagine that). He kept crawling from rock to rock and tangling his line up. Caleb of course has to everything his brother does, so also had to have his pole in the water, but the line was never let out...it made for one less line to untangle. And of course, mom wasn't a ton of help since I don't bait hooks. Their are some jobs that are dad's job and that is how it will be until the boys can bait their own hooks!

After much patience, Andrew finally caught a fish. It wasn't much more than fish bate itself so, we threw it back after we got the picture. Look close, its on his left side doing a good job of blending in with the rocks. I couldn't get him to hold it in front of himself.

It was tons of fun, but eventually it became more fun to just throw rocks in the water. That made fishing more difficult for the rest of us...Of course when we decided it was time to come home, the boys really didn't want to leave. We'll be back again boys!

Christmas was so Awesome

2010-01-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

Hey it's Andrew again. Mom was going to do this blog, but I just had to do it because I wanted to tell you about the coolest present ever!

We went to Grandpa and Grandma King's for Christmas this year. It was such a long drive - it took us 2 days to get there, and I don't mean to short days, but 2 very long days stuck in the truck. It was fun staying at a hotel one night though. Anyway, we got to their house on Christmas Eve and I wanted to open presents so bad because I was just sure that Santa was going to bring me a bow and arrow. I've been asking for one since October! I even called Santa up and asked him if I could have one!

Christmas morning finally came and we kept opening presents. Everybody had presents to open, that was kind of cool. I got some fun stuff, but I have to show you a video so you can see the best part.

Isn't that just the coolest thing?! I was so excited and I spent the rest of the week shooting my bow and arrow!

So, highlights of Christmas (in no particular order):

My bow and arrow
Grandpa's zipper knee (he had knee surgery just a few days before we got there
My bow and arrow
Turkey hunting with dad
My bow and arrow
Playing with Grandpa and Grandma
My bow and arrow
Dad shooting a turkey
My bow and arrow

2010-01-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Andrew here. It looks like I'm going to have to take over the blogging since mom is so bad about getting around to it. Since I have like 3 months to catch up on it's going to be short and quick. And, actually, December gets it's own blog since Christmas was soooo awesome!

Here's October for you:
Obviously, Halloween was the highlight for me. I decided to be a scarecrow again. Mom tried to make me be Mickey Mouse, but I wouldn't let her put the costume on me. She said it would be a warmer costume for trick or treating, but I didn't care. So, here I am as a scarecrow. Dad took me trick or treating around our neighborhood and I got lots of candy. Mom wouldn't let Caleb go because it was to cold and windy for him. He was sooooo mad, but he had fun helping mom hand out candy to all the other trick or treaters.

Here's dad carving our pumpkin. We did the weeks before Halloween, so by the time Halloween came our pumpkin was looking pretty sad.

Dad made mom clean all the guts out of the pumpkin before he carved it. He said that stuff felt gross, and I wasn't to sure about it either. But mom and Caleb seemed to think it was fun to play in. I don't know about those two some times!

And the finished product! Mom drew the face on and dad carved it out. Later we turned out all the lights and put a candle in the pumpkin. I thought that was sooooo cooool, but Caleb didn't like the dark.

November was the best month for dad and us boys. November means hunting! We spent a week in Idaho elk hunting. Mom and dad both had tags, but the elk were pretty sneaky this year. We saw a few, but they ran off before mom or dad could make a shot. Personally, I don't think mom really wanted to shoot one. But, we went out every day for a week. Caleb and I sat in the back helping them look for elk, napping and watching movies. Once in a while we would get out and run around. I don't know how they thought they would see any elk with us out side making noise, and guess what! They didn't see anything! Guess the jokes on them!

When we got back home dad got a deer tag for Wyoming. He and I went out one day and dad shot this deer. I went with him to drag the deer back to the truck. It was a long walk, and I tried my best to keep up with dad. He was nice and carried me once in a while. Then when we got to the deer, dad got out his hunting knife and put on some latex glove. I thought only doctors wore those kinds of gloves so I asked "Are you going to be doctor?" Dad said "Yep, but I don't think this patient is going to survive." I thought it was really gross when dad started gutting the deer. But we brought it home and then Grandpa King came a couple days later to help us cut it up.

OK, so Grandpa didn't come just to help us cut up the deer. He and Grandma came for Thanksgiving. Aunt Rachel, uncle Cory, Isaac, Taylor and Brooklyn all came to. It was so much fun to have them all here and to play with my cousins! But I think Caleb was glad to see Brooklyn leave. They weren't being very nice to each other. Mom says they were just playing by the toddler rules (what ever those are).

Just to Sweet

2009-09-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

It's a nightly routine that one of us gets the pleasure of laying down with Andrew at night. The other night it was my turn. He was having a difficult time settling down and I threatened to leave when he says the cutest thing.

Andrew: "Mom, you are my best friend. Let's be friends forever."

He's been watching a lot of The Fox And The Hound lately, but it was still to cute!

Grettings from Andrew

2009-08-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! Mom doesn't let me on the computer much because Caleb always wants on too and he just pushes to many buttons. But, today is your lucky day because I get to tell you about the most awesome day I had while mom, Caleb, and I were visiting aunt Teri a couple of weeks ago. I know, I'm late, but I blame mom so you can too!

First we went to an aquarium where we got to see some pretty cool ocean life. I saw an octopus, star fish, sea horses, sting rays, sharks, eels and lots of other cool things. We even got to touch a star fish! Mom tried to touch a sting ray that was in a big pool (don't worry, it was safe to touch) but then it came up along the side and mom freaked out. My cousin said she felt the sting ray and said it was slimy. Mom says that's why she didn't touch it. The water there was to deep for me to reach in. But, I did get to touch a star fish. I didn't want to at first, but mom finally talked me into it. It felt bumpy and hard like a rock.

After the aquarium and lunch with aunt Cyndi and uncle Mike, we went to the Child Discovery Museum. My favorite thing there was the helicopter. It was a real life flight helicopter. It was so cool! Then we went to the fountains at Gateway to play. I didn't like that as much. I went out to play in the fountains, then ran to the side and fell and hit my head. I didn't want to play in the fountains any more.

My very favorite part of the day was the trip back to aunt Teri's house. Mom, my cousin Emily and I all road the train back to the station by aunt Teri's house. I LOVED it!! The train went so fast and then it would stop to let people off and then go so fast again. I wish I could ride a train every day!

Well, that's all for now. But before I go, I want to tell my cousin Garrett thanks for the bike. He's the best cousin, because he gave me his bike with training wheels that was to small for him. I ride it every day now! Sometimes, mom and dad go on walks and let me ride my bike. Now I don't mind if Caleb wants to ride my Batman bike.

Family Reunion

2009-08-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Finally, I'm updating a little more of the happenings in the Madsen family. The truth of it is, not a whole lot happens, so it's a while between posts. At the end of July we had a family reunion with Erika's family. The cousins got to get together and play while we camped in the Tetons. What a gorgeous place!!! On the way there we stopped to gas up and had to get pictures of the kids on a Jackelope. Yep, you read it right!

Then while we were at the reunion, Andrew and Taylor took no time to become great friends. They played in the dirt together, hung out with grandpa together, went on a hike with Ryan and just had a good time. It is so much fun watching the cousins become friends!

Caleb, on the other hand, was pretty intent on figuring out how the camper hooked up to the truck If he wasn't doing that, then he was turning on the water faucet in the campsite and getting himself all wet.

After the reunion, we decided to go into Rigby/Idaho Falls to visit Ryan's family and some friends for a couple of days. The return trip home was a little longer than we expected. We left Don's house (Ryan's dad) in Rigby early Tuesday morning only to make it as far as Ririe before we had trouble. Three bolts on one of the wheels on the camper had sheered off. We had to take the tire off, pull the trailer back to Rigby to see if we could get it all fixed in a hurry. Of course it wasn't going to be that simple. We had to replace the drum, not only that, but we had to track down a drum to fit our trailer! We are of the lucky folks out there where there is no easy route with this one. The drum for our trailor isn't readily available and takes 2 weeks to come in. So, long story short, the place that was suppose to have the drum welded on new bolts for us, Les Schwab fixed the rest. We finally left Rigby at 1:00 Tuesday afternoon and pulled into our driveway at 8:45 that night.

Future Farmers of America...Maybe Not

2009-08-12T18:59:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Andrew and Caleb here. Mom doesn't update this blog much, so we're filling you in on a visit to Grandpa Madsen's. The best part of the whole visit was the ride on the tractor! Daddy took both of us and drove down the field with us. It was AWESOME!!! It's just like the tractor we drive around the living room at home!

4th of July

2009-07-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

4th of July weekend we finally made it out camping for the first time this year! Nothing like camping with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. It's all about dirt, bubbles and exploring. And what is camping without rain? We had rain a little bit each day and over night. Not enough to make it muddy, just enough to not want to sit in it. AAAHHH, the glory of camping with a camp trailer! It's so much nicer to sit out a rain when you are well protected from it. All was fun and great until the Klampits moved into the campsite next door. As Ryan says, "It was like having Roseanne Bar next door". The woman yelled the whole time at the kids and the dogs and didn't have a nice thing to say about anything. Alas, we went home a little earlier than planned, but we got two good nights out of it before they came along! The only other hitch was the morning we were leaving. Andrew took a drink of hot chocolate that was too hot for him, then dumped it down the front of him. The poor kid had a little bit of blistering, but it healed within the week. And I think it effected his love for hot chocolate, poor boy. He now tells me "Mom, I don't like hot chocolate. It burns me."

Family Times

2009-07-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

In June we enjoyed visits from Ryan's mom and brother, Zach. A few weeks later we had my mom and sister with her kids visit. Here are the highlights....

During Habibi's (Ryan's mom) and Zach's visit we took a day trip up to Casper Mountain and did a little dutch oven cooking. Here are pictures of Caleb and Andrew with Habibi and Zach. Of course there is a picture of the master dutch ove chef. The boys enjoyed running around looking for bears.

During their visit we experienced our first tornado warning. It was amazing to watch the storm go through town. We went out to eat that night, not knowing about the warning. By the time we got to the restaurant you could here the warning siren. As we drove home the lightning flashes were brilliant and amazing. The rain came in sheets so you could hardly see anyone in front of you. Andrew slept all the way home and Caleb cried as the rain pounded harder and turned to hail. The tornado never actually formed, but we did get water in our basement leaking through a window. I guess that's not as bad as it could have been!

A couple of weeks later we had a visit from Grandma King, Aunt Rachel and cousins Isaac, Taylor and Brooklyn. It was a play date every day for me and the kids! The kids were great together...even Caleb and Brooklyn got along as well as any set of one-year-old could. They constantly looked for the opportunity to take the toy from the other when their back was turned.

The kids decided they needs some time in the water. Taylor, Isaac and Andrew played in the water for hours. Caleb wasn't as brave, but wanted to test the waters. I think it was to cold for him in the pool.

Brooklyn and Caleb had fun on the trampling when the older kids weren't on it to bounce them around.

Move Over Tiger Woods

2009-07-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

When your back yard borders a golf course, I suppose you have no choice but to take up the sport.

We found a child's golf club in the play area of our yard a while back. And we have an abundance of golf balls, courtesy of the bad golfers out there. Andrew decided to practice hitting the ball. He would swing and once in a while actually hit the ball. For the most part, he would swing, miss the ball, then come tell me that "this thing doesn't work". I'm sure it had nothing to do with operator error. I guess grandpa King is going to have to help him make it work next time he visits!

To Smart for His Own Good!

2009-06-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Every once in while we have to play games to encourage Andrew to eat his meals. Here is today's conversation through our little game.

Mom: "I bet you can't eat that whole sandwich."

Andrew: Takes a big bite "Look mom."

Mom: "I would hate to see you take another big bite."

Andrew: Takes a big bite and opens his mouth wide for mom to see what he "isn't" suppose to do.

Mom: "Well, whatever you do next, do not take another bit."

Andrew: "OK, I won't."

Sadly, that was the end of lunch today. Now mom has to find another way to outsmart a 3-year-old.

Truckin' Along

2009-06-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

In March, we had pictures of the kids taken. There was one series of them together that was to funny to not share!. Some day we will actually get them printed off and sent out to the family. Patience, please!!!

This series starts out nice enough, but it does tell the story of every day at home! Maybe not with the truck involved, but....

No worries though, we did get some happy pictures of the kids too.

See, they do get along some times too!

Caleb loved this little rocking horse.

Can you see the excitement on his face?!

He had a death grip on the bottle and would not let go.
I thought it was a sweet picture anyway.

Thoughtful little Andrew

Riding in the truck

And, playing with the tractor.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

2009-05-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

We don't have a lot of excitement in our daily lives, but I try to take lots of pictures. So, here are some pictures of the boys over the last few months. They certainly keep us busy!

Caleb is thoroughly enjoying his birthday present - a little car that he can either ride or stand behind and push. He just started doing this cheesy smile whenever we pull out the camera. I love it!

And here he is actually riding on his car. This little boy LOVES to be outside and it is a fight to get him in the house!

Andrew is helping his dad mow the lawn. In Idaho he used to ride on the riding lawn mower with dad, but we sold that and our yard now isn't really big enough to justify a riding lawn mower. Make sure you don't miss anything dad!

We call this series of pictures "Chase Da Wabbit". We have many rabbits that frequent our yard and this particular one likes to lay under a tree in our front yard. If it's there when Andrew gets out of the car he feels obligated to chase it around the tree (about 6 times) in the first picture, then around to the backyard. It's a bit hard to get Andrew and the rabbit both in the picture, but the rabbit is in the last picture, near the corner of the fence.

Last Sunday, he discovered he could get closer to the rabbit if he got down low and went slowly towards it. This is about as close as he was able to get - which is fine with his mother. I just have visions of carnivorous rabbits!

"HMMM...That didn't work..."

Caleb - "I'm going to climb this tree!"

We went on a walk on a nature trail near our house. Andrew had fun playing in the creek while Caleb sat with dad.

Catching Up!

2009-05-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! How time does fly when you're having fun...and when you're not. It looks like we haven't updated this at all since February and much has happened and Ryan has charged me with this responsibility this time. I apologize it will be a long one. So, here goes....

Another Move
At the end of February we found out that the house we were renting sold, so we had to find a new place to live. Rentals are hard to find and outrageously priced. In the end it is cheaper to buy a house than to rent, so that's what we did. We are now the happy owners of two mortgages!! Anybody know someone that wants to move to the Idaho Falls area??? There's a great house for sale there! We moved from our rental on March 31st, but couldn't get into the new house until April 14th. So, we prepared for 2 weeks of homelessness. A family at church took pity on us and let us store much of our stuff in their garage and took us in. I didn't feel that I could impose the whole family on them, so the boys and I went to Utah and visited family for a while. During all of this we got some good news - we were able to move into the new house on April 8th, a week earlier than expected.

Fun Times
When we weren't looking at houses or packing we did find some time to do a few fun things. First, we have heard about some water falls that are close to here and a pretty easy hike in, so we took a Saturday to do that. We really did hike to the falls, but they were still ice, so we just got some pictures of the kids and me in that general area!

It was a fun little hike and we will have to do it again when there isn't snow on the ground. For some reason I really didn't expect that much snow there in March, but I forget how much we actually do climb in elevation getting there! Next time we might actually have pictures of water!

We had some nice warm days in March and we had some days with 16 inches of snow. On the nice days we got outside and played. Andrew loves to ride his motorcycle (a batman big wheels) and he is actually learning how to peddle. Maybe moving in Flinstone fashion is getting old!
Caleb doesn't have a ton of outside pictures only because the ground was still pretty wet and he's not walking yet. So, most of our outside time is while Caleb is taking his nap. I'm not really a mom choosing favorites in children here!

While the boys and I were in Utah, my sister and I decided to take them to Hill Airforce Museum. Andrew had a BLAST looking at the airplanes. He ran from plane to plane with shouts of "Yee Haw!" (I really have no clue where he got that one from!) and many many "Wow!" I think the little man was in heaven. Caleb was pretty content in the stroller viewing from that vantage point. Here are some pictures of that little adventure.

The boys sitting by a plane. It was impossible to get a picture of the plane in the picture with them.

Andrew is standing by the tire of one of the planes. Just to give you an idea of scale, Andrew is 35 inches tall and the tire is still a bit taller than him!

I had to get a picture of the Idaho Jet.

Easter
We were still unpacking and living out of boxes over Easter weekend, so we missed out on the fun of dying eggs. Instead, we filled plastic eggs with jellybeans for the little man to find. And after filling the eggs I had to ask myself, is it really worth dying the eggs when there is so much less mess with the plastic eggs??? I'm sure next year we will dive fully into the mess!

Andrew finding Easter eggs.

Andrew showing his find. For the next week he kept asking when the Easter Bunny was going to come hide eggs for him again. I kept throwing away plastic eggs as quietly as I could!

Birthday Time
Can you believe our baby is one year old now?! And Andrew is 3!! It is amazing how fast it all goes by. There are days I wish for Caleb and Andrew to be a little older so my life might be a little easier when going places. Then they have a birthday and I realize all over again how much they have changed over the last year and all that they are doing now and I'm not really ready for them to be any older than they are.

This is Caleb's first birthday cake. As a one-year-old, he is crawling every where, but more importantly he is walking around furniture and with the help of mom and dad. One day soon I'm sure I will be trying to keep up with him as a biped! He's got "mamama" down pretty good, especially when he is upset. I am trying to encourage his love for "dadada"! He weigh's in at 22 pounds and is 31 inches long - still a big boy, but starting to thin out. The doctor is impressed and says all is well with the boy!

Caleb enjoying his birthday cake

All done with the cake. Evidently, he had a piece with a red balloon.
His mother has a similar picture of a cupcake all over her face at about this age!

Here is Andrew's 3rd birthday cake. He loved his dinosaurs! He is just to funny to listen to now. We have a little parrot in our house that repeats everything we say if he is within earshot. Needless to say, we are beginning to be much more careful about what is said around him!! As a 3 year old he is potty trained, which really happened around Thanksgiving. Andrew is trying to use the peddles on his bike and climbing trees. I think he might have his dad's rock climbing genes in him! He now weighs 28 pounds and is 35 inches tall. The doctor says he's healthy, but should gain some weight, which is not at all new to us since he's always been on the smaller side. The poor kid is going to be passed up by his brother if he doesn't start doing some growing soon!

Ready to dig in!

Climbing the tree in the front yard of the new house. This is just preparing mom for the first visit to the doctor for a broken arm!

Correction to Ryan's Blog

2009-02-28T19:54:00.001-08:00

Sorry, no pictures in this one. I just didn't want anyone to get the idea that I was planning on expanding the family. I did make an estrogen comment, but that was in no way to be construed into family planning! Boys - if you don't spell it out for them, they come up with the craziest ideas!!!

2009-02-28T08:25:00.001-08:00

Ryans blog, February 28, 2009

Caleb's first hair cut. His mother was distraught with emotional anguish. According to her he no longer looked like a baby. I personally think he is a handsome little man with an excellent barber. In the last month he more than mastered the army crawl. Got bored with it and went to crawling. Now he is pulling himself up on everything and side stepping. He will be running before long. We all know what mothers start to think once the baby starts to walk. She mentioned yesterday something about more estrogen in this house.

One of the benefits of having the wife and kids home is the fact that there are more cookies cooked in a week. Andrew now does them without his mothers help;-).

There will not be pictures of deer in this blog. They do not frequent the back yard as often. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with the picture above and what they see thru the window.
Caleb after a hard day of keeping deer out of the back yard.

The house we are staying in has sold. This means we will be moving at the end of March. We are looking at some houses this afternoon. We are going to try to lease to own. Somebody needs to by our old house. This will be six times in seven years that we have moved. Sounds like a lot. This one will be the worst. We have to move ourselves and we arn't in college. I was easier when we didn't have anything. I now understand why people with lots of stuff don't want to move.

Erika and I got new callings in the ward. She teaches the 5 year olds and I am the assistant scout something or other for the 11 year olds. Maybe we will find a house today and move out of the ward. Doubt it though, our realestate agent is in the ward and I believe they are conspiring to keep us in it. I don't know if I should feel good or not.

In summary, the kids are happy, healthy, and driving their mother to the loony bin.

Life is good!

2009-02-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

Ryan's blog, February 8, 2009. Last Friday Andrew called and told me that there were deer in the yard. Then he pointed out the big bruiser of a buck. Unfortunately I was at work and was not able to see this anomaly. Luckily Erika took some pictures. Lucky for this guy I wasn't home.

This weekend the family went site seeing and looking for houses for sale. On the way we ran into this guy (almost literally).
I'll bet you a hundred dollars you won't see him during hunting season.

The family is doing good. Work is good. Erika's cooking is good. The boys and I are getting fatter because of it. Life is good.

Family Picture

2009-02-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ryan's log, February 1, 2009. The family is doing good. The Madsen Family went house hunting yesterday and decided that there isn't a decent house here that we can afford. The cost of living is a weeeee bit higher here than in Idaho. We may have to build again. Were still looking though. There are a few nice ones out there. They are just old. Hopefully our house will sell shortley and we can realy start looking or planing.

We actually had the children ready earlyto go to church and I though my family looked so good that I decided to take a picture.

Independence Rock

2009-01-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

We went to visit Independence Rock. For those of you who don't remember the significance of this, it was a marker along the trail for those heading west on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. Many of the pioneers etched or painted their names into the rock.

Ryan and Andrew at the top of Independence Rock.

Our little rock climber working his way to the top. Andrew climbed everything he could.

Here he is on one of his many summits of the day.

And this is how Caleb enjoyed the day. He actually laughed while his dad would lift him and the stroller over barbed wire fences. Maybe we went to places we shouldn't have???

2009-01-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

Ryan's log January 25, 2009. The Madsen household is doing well. Erika has been battling Andrew the Tyrant (a.k.a-superman, batman, big boy, and dady bear) and Caleb the Volumenater. He has found his vocal cords and is using them in the highest pitch known to mankind.

We have finally settled down in Casper, WY and are loving it. I go to work and learn acronyms at the Bureau of Reclamation and Erika stays home and battles the children. Some times she wins.

A little history as to why I created this blog. Parents!!!! Need I say more. We will try to attach pictures of the boys periodically. Thier parents are of no concern to their grandparents therefore there will be minimal pictures of the man childrens parents. Make comments as to their cuter moments. Let me rephrase that. We will edit all of thier cute moments and pick out the best for your reading pleasure.

The Tyrant and Volumenater