Maher thoughts

Just SOME of the things I've been doing

2012-02-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hanging up some of my favorite pictures

I love this picture of Shaun and me. I think it says a lot about us and that we have a fun relationship. I had to put the word LOVE next to this picture.

We really do LOVE each other (most of the time) hee..hee.

I adore this picture of Max. It captures him in a pure state of EXUBERANCE.

He was jumping in a bounce house and the youthful joy on his face shows through beautifully.

To see and capture Max truly enjoying life, is priceless to me.

Max is EXUBERANCE.

Awe.......precious, sweet, baby boy. This is HAPPINESS. I get to feel and see this kind of HAPPINESS everyday from Easton. He certainly brings me HAPPINESS. I will always remember Easton and the HAPPINESS that exudes from this sweet boy!

Below each picture our totes with every one's name on them. It has been so great in keeping things organized in the living room.

You just through things into the individual tote that it belongs to.

Then I can put it all away when I get to it.

I made the above painting by printing out profile pictures of both Max and Easton. Then traced it onto vinyl, first, painting the canvas with a pearl white, then placing the vinyl cut outs of their profiles, then painting over it with two shades of blue, then you pull off the vinyl and TA-DA! a profile canvas I love!

Then I came up with the saying, "I am my brothers keeper."

They better be! I love the way it turned out.

Below is a sneak peak of the amazing bookshelves Shaun and I have been working on

I cannot even tell you how much I love it!

I told Shaun we might not be able to actually put anything on it, because I love it too much with the back splash we did with turquoise and then stenciled it with a damask stencil ! I just want to see the pretty back splash.

What a great peak huh?

I'll have to give more details in another post.

Grandparents rock

2012-02-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

My mom and dad came to visit! WE LOVE WHEN THEY COME! They spoil us the whole time and when they leave it's terrible. I love to see them with Max and Easton, they are SO good to them. We go play the whole time they're here. Except when we all got sick. That stunk! The day we were supposed to go to the Aquarium. I text them in Utah still, and ask them when it's time to go to the Aquarium. I guess we'll have to wait until they come again in April. YES!

We still went to the zoo, fed the ducks, and played at the parks. :)

Feeding the ducks

Max and Gehrig had a BLAST feeding the ducks

Riding the Train

Maximus!

Sweet boy!

They are so LUCKY to have such amazing grandparents. WE LOVE YOU!!

MOVED

2012-01-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

I do have an excuse as to why I haven't posted in a while. We MOVED! and moving is busy. We're loving our new place and trying to organize, working on building bookshelves (well, Shaun is working on it and I'm telling him what I would like. ;)

I'm having fun thinking of all the fun things I would like to do. Especially, now that Pinterest inspires me and gives me great ideas! I LOVE PINTEREST! I'm always telling Shaun to come and see all the AWESOME things they have on there and how much I love it. "Isn't this awesome?!" "Can you believe all the great ideas on here?" He gets to see and hear this all the time.

I hope to be posting soon, with pictures. I feel like I have so many things I want to post and not enough time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! speaking of New Years, I got a great idea I want to do this year and every year. I'm going to video (interview) myself, Shaun, Max, and Easton at least once a month. Well, the boys I like to video more than that, but for Shaun and I, we'll video each other about what went on for the month, things about ourselves, and the boys. I think it will be a great treasure later in life. :)

Santa Claus

2011-12-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

EASTON meeting SANTA for the first time,

Easton is defiantly on the NICE list.

MAX was NOT liking SANTA. haha!

Looks like SHAUN is REALLY liking SANTA. heehee.

Here's MAX, back when he liked SANTA. ;)

Christmas 2009

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!

YIPPEE!!

Our Thankful Tree

2011-11-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

I gathered a bunch of branches from outside, put them together in a glass jar, and... TADA! Our Thankful Tree was born. Now, we have little felt leaves to write down things we are thankful for and then we'll put them on our tree and soon our tree will be filled with gratitude.

It will have to find a new home at the top of the book shelve. Because lets be real, Max will take off all the leaves, and try to pull out the branches. ;) AND it might get over shadowed by the pile of things that end up being put or left on the table. heehee.

I also made this THANKS banner.

I'm looking forward to seeing our tree filled with gratitude and be reminded daily of all the things I'm thankful for. :)

How to train your Dragon

2011-11-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN

For Halloween we did a "How to train your Dragon" theme from the movie.

My Viking hubby with the cutest little Dragon. ;)

Love the slightly crooked Viking hat look. haha!

Our Monstrous Nightmare Dragon.

He's a little harder to train, he came with a much more FIERY temperament. heehee!

Trick or Treat

(I would give him something good. You don't want to mess with Dragons)

Trick or Treating with young kids is really about the tradition of it. Like I'm going to allow Max to eat ALL the candy, so it ends up being eaten by Shaun and I. heehee. Even though, we shouldn't be eating it all either. When you go up to a house and they tell Max to take more, it cracks me up! It's really going to the parents. AND people give out all the good kind of candy now. Remember when we were younger and you would get all sorts of "not so good" candy. Max had all the "good stuff," even some FULL sized candy bars.

Max had some wire lined wings that flared out. He wouldn't wear them. I took the wire out and used velcro to put the wings on. He still ended up ripping them off.

He also has a dragon mask, which I now wear to chase him around the house with, flapping my arms and making all sorts of Dragon noises.

I used to chase him around with a stuffed Monstrous Nightmare Dragon we got before we had seen the movie. When we first watched the movie as a family, I brought it out to watch the movie with us. Max watched the movie with his arm snuggled around the dragon. It was adorable. The stuffed Dragon has become Boston's nemesis. It's hilarious! I'm going to do a post about that.

Here's Easton earlier in the day, before he turned into a Dragon. ;)

Dewitt Stables Fall Festival

2011-11-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

I loved this place. It felt real authentic, a great horse stable, with good people, and perfect for toddlers. We'll be coming again next year.

Max VERY much enjoying the bounce house.

Hay maze

Max cheating and climbing over the hay barrels. haha!

Okay, when it starts going, you need to sit down!

(barrel ride)

Beautiful horses. This is the hay ride we took over to the pumpkin patch.

Max got a pony ride, unfortunately, poor horse Pete, got a grouchy rider. This was the last thing we did and by this time, Max was ready for a nap.

What a good horse Pete was.

Down at the pumpkin Patch, we got some great pictures! I was so happy to get a family picture.

Max organizing the pumpkins.

LOVE this little pumpkin. Best pumpkin around. He's not for sale.

Love my guys! big and little. ;)

6 months old

2011-10-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Easton is 6 months old! He had his 6 month check up and the doctor said he looked great! He was really happy for me. I still have to put up Easton's stats from his 2 month, 4 month, and now 6 month. I've got to find them. yikes! As long as I know he's doing good. He really is my sweet angel.

We started solids and our first try was a success! The next two tries were not as successful, so I let him just play with the bowl and food. ;)

haha! funny face.

I love you my sweet Easton, thanks for bringing so much joy and love to my heart and life. Just today, as I read to you and then we laid down facing each other on the bed, and the exuberant smile and laughter coming from you as I talked to you and gently rubbed your head, cheek, tummy, and played with your hands and toes. It made me never want to forget these precious moments I have with you. I want to etch all that you are and do into my mind and never forget your sweet babyness, from your head down to your toes and everything in between..... that I cannot stop kissing. Your happy demeanor is infectious. I love you so much.

Brownie anyone?

2011-10-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

That is, if Max doesn't eat all the batter. ;)

Mirror image

2011-10-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Max

(above and below)

Mommy and Easton

Mirror, mirror on the wall.............who knew I'd have TWO babies to call my own? WOW! if I only knew this before..........would have saved a lot of heartache, which now is but a distant memory, for my JOY is so grand! God knew, and blessed me with these TWO amazing boys. Thank you, I'm enjoying these mirror images. :)

Got Licorice?

2011-10-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Of course, you've got to wash it down with some milk.

If you don't have cookies, try some licorice and milk. ;)

Eagle eyes and Night vision

2011-10-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

Whenever Shaun and I are driving and we need to look out for signs, directions, ext. I call him my, Mr. Eagle eyes. He has great vision and can see far better then me, even with my glasses or contacts in, which I should always have on, especially, when driving. ;)

So, where does the Night vision come in? well, that's my department. Shaun is so blind in the dark! I mean laugh out loud blind because I will be right in front of him and he wont be able to see me. It's pretty hilarious! Once I asked him to hand me something and he was holding his arms out to give it to me to the East and I was standing South! Me on the other hand, I can see great in the dark. My eyes adjust well and I'm able to walk through the house with no problem in the dark. Shaun has to turn every light on as he goes.

We make a pretty good pair, Eagle eyes and Night vision. Shaun will have my back in the day, and I'll try not to laugh so hard when he trips over something in the dark, which I can see. I guess I better give him a heads up. ;)

A whole lot of love

2011-09-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Wow! do I love this little guy. He has the sweetest disposition, he's a GREAT sleeper, always full of SMILES, and loves his mommy. I adore him. That's ADORE!

I'm enjoying Easton so much, because I've seen how fast time goes by with Max, I'm truly enjoying Easton being my baby. I think with Max, everything was so new and it was fun to see what he would do next. Now, I don't even think about what's next. I'm just enjoying him being my baby.

He gets kiss attacked daily by me. I can't help it. He's so ADORABLE.

He's easy to please and loves when I talk to him. He gets so excited and giggles. Awe....the joy of it! I mean laugh out loud giggles. the best.

Before Easton I would wonder, will I really love another child like I do Max?

The answer...........an absolute YES!

I love you my sweet Easton. I will always love you.

Picture LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!!

2011-09-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

EASTON- (7 weeks old)

MAX- (26 months old)

BROTHERS (forever)

These last two crack me up! Max the giant(above) and then Max the pillow(below)

quick story about Max the giant. (wink) When we first brought Easton home, I would have to really overlap the taps on his diaper to cover that cute little bum. Because I changed Easton a lot more then Max, I would end up pulling Max's diaper taps too far over on one side (out of habit) and for the first little while, one of Max's bum cheeks would always be hanging out. It's a fun memory of when we first brought Easton home.

Lean on me brother.

I have so many things I want to say and express with each of these pictures. I absolutely LOVE them. I just don't have time to comment on each one. I would never get this post up trying to express in words how much each of these photos mean to me. AND these aren't even ALL of the photos I got with this photo shoot. Thanks Kapri for such great pictures! WOW!!

Unfortunately, not too many pictures of Max. He wasn't in picture mood. We still got some really great ones, that I LOVE, like for one, the boxing gloves! (enter laughter.)

So many overwhelmingly precious pictures of Easton. wow! do I love that little guy.

Now, which ones do I blow up? Too many great options. I'm seeing a whole picture wall from ceiling to floor on this. ;)

Boy oh Boy! I love these boys!

Will I every catch up?

2011-09-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm SO behind on my blog and I'm really annoyed about it! Someday I will catch up. I have so many things I need to say, so many pictures I need to put up. sheesh! I've got to show my love for my two boys. I can't get enough of Easton, he gets smothered in my kisses all day long. I'm enjoying everything about him.

Max is getting so big and he cracks me up with the things he does and says. The way he says things in his funny little voice. Love it! Like how he says Mommy (Mahn-ME.)

I love you Max and Easton!

Finally, I get something new up. :)

Messy Bun.....I love you!

2011-08-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

My long hair has really been bothering me lately. I live in Arizona, where the summer is brutally hot, so I end up wearing my hair pulled back in a boring ponytail EVERY day.

I was thinking I just wanted to chop it all off and try for a new cute short look, like really short, off my neck short. My hair needs more style.

Then some friends told me about a website called www.myyellowsandbox.blogspot.com where it shows you how to do all sorts of fun things with your long hair.

I also looked on You Tube how to make a messy bun. I did it! I love it! AND I just have to realize that it wont always look perfect because it is called a MESSY bun after all. It's off my neck and is really cute! I think I will start to like my long hair a lot more now. I'm going to be trying all sorts of things, as long as it's off my neck and out of my face.

Here's some awkward photos of me trying to take pictures of my messy bun.

Messy goodness

Over the top

I usually don't like Messy.......but.....I'll make an exception for my messy bun. ;)

American boys

2011-08-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

4th of July photo shoot. ;)

I love my American boys!

I'm so thankful to live in this great country.

God bless America!

Cheryl's Obituary

2011-07-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Cheryl Ann Maher, 41, died tragically Sunday, July, 10 2011. She was born in Peterborough , NH on a beautiful New England Fall morning on October 11, 1969.

Cheryl was a graduate of Layton High School (UT), but spent the majority of her adult life in New Hampshire , taking great pride in her roots, often fondly touting a clever New England accent. She built a life for herself and her children as a stay-at-home mom in Londonderry & Derry, NH with great involvement in her church community (especially the Young Women’s group, which she most enjoyed) and further in the business community of Derry, NH where she ran a scrapbook store with her mother. Her creativity and enthusiasm for business came through in her scrapbooks, which will be enjoyed for years to come by all of those she loved and those who love her, especially her children, Samantha, Katherine, Kelly & Jacob.

With immense enthusiasm for her family history, Cheryl amassed an incredible amount of information around her family’s genealogy. She was so proud to be able to identify family members in old ragged photos, most especially telling each person’s story to those inquiring – especially to the youngest generation of her family.

As an extremely energetic and intelligent woman, Cheryl had the drive to have her hand in multi-faceted business endeavors, from modeling, to product design, to publishing for her father’s business, and more recently had begun writing. Her most recent venture was contribution to state politics regarding women’s issues, specifically cases around family courts where … so willing to be a voice to serve those who had experienced even the toughest of challenges, leveraging all forms of media to communicate matters.

Cheryl was blessed with an enormous personality and brilliant social skills to compliment it, always willing to offer charity, empathy, and love for any in need – all who knew her loved her. While her family will never cease missing her, they are most grateful and comforted to know they will indeed be together again.

Cheryl is survived by her 4 children that she adored, Samantha Crawford, 21, of Scottsdale, AZ; twins Katherine (Katie) & Kelly Knight, 16; and Jacob Knight, 10, a loving mother and father, Richard and Marjorie Maher of Gilbert, AZ; devoted siblings, especially her sister Linda Brown of Cedar City, UT; brothers Thom Maher of Gilbert, AZ; Richard (Rick) Maher of Mesa, AZ; Timothy Maher of Gilbert, AZ; Shaun Maher of Mesa AZ; and half-brother, Stephen Maher of Sarasota, Florida; many aunts and uncles; 13 nieces and nephews; and 11 cousins.

ARRANGEMENTS: Family and friends may call on Friday, July 22, 2011 from 6 to 8 pm at the Southern Utah Mortuary, 190 North 300 West

Cedar City, Utah 84720, 435-586-4040. Funeral service will be held on Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 11 am (with viewing prior from 9:45-10:45am) at the Cedar View LDS Chapel -Leigh Hill Chapel, 320 South 1925 West, Cedar City , Utah 84720. Burial will be in Cedar City Cemetery . Donations to help with funeral arrangements can be made to any Bank of America location or checks made out to: Thom Maher for the benefit of Cheryl Maher Estate.

Thought you might need a smile

2011-07-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

eyes to the skies

2011-07-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

We've got a great view out our front window for spotting airplanes flying into Phoenix. There's never a shortage of planes flying by. Sitting at this window has become one of Max's favorite things to do. He does this several times a day.

When he sees an airplane flying by he gasps and then yells, "planes!" or "their it is!" pointing to the sky, then he adds, "cool."

It's so fun to sit and look out to our right, off into the distance, waiting for the moment a plane will fly into our view. Then we get to watch it continue it's flight path across the sky in front of us from our window.

Once a plane has gone by and we have a little break from seeing the next one, Max will yell, "Uh oh!" with a very distressed look on his face, "no planes, uh oh!" or "Oh no!" I think doing this might be as fun for him as seeing the planes. He gets all dramatic about it.

He loves airplanes and is always on the look out for them wherever we go. We'll be driving in the car and a very excited yell will come from the back seat, "Planes!"

Easton's blessing

2011-07-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

We blessed Easton Sunday June 26th. As you can see in the pictures above, he was dressed for the occasion. Might I also add, he looks SUPER adorable. which really isn't hard for him to do because he IS super ADORABLE. I love this sweet little guy. He's a very mild tempered baby, the sweetest. He's wearing the same outfit that Max was blessed in and he was also blessed with the blanket my grandma Prescott made before she died. It's a very special blanket.

The happy parents.

The big brother

Maher brothers

Tim, Shaun, Thom, and Rick who was "five minutes" away, which means he was late and missed being in the picture. ;)

My Dad, Mom, and niece Natalia (aka Talia or bids) It was so wonderful to have them come down from Utah for the special occasion. We love when they come visit!

My dad, who by the way, Easton is named after with his middle name being Kent.

My dad is awesome.

Andrew, Katee, and Gehrig

Papa Maher (Dickie)

Grandma Maher (Marge) loving on Easton

I love this picture of my brother being a goof ball. haha! love my brother Drew.

Bishop Moffit

This is Tyler Tryon, who was so wonderful in helping me when I hurt my back while I was pregnant. He would come and pick up Max and watch him for me so I could rest my back. What a wonderful person. Such a great blessing that was for me. I knew Max was having a great time at his house with his boys.

I love my family of four. I'm not loving my sweaty, flat hair though. I do love the three boys in the picture, they always look good. :)

beautiful Kelley, me, and my little cute stuff.

The kids having fun playing in Max's room. I love Beauwin's big smile in this picture.

Gehrig (who will probably be aka as "big rig")

I think I might just start that up.

lovely ladies

Sailor (the doll)

We all love you Easton!

It's hard to put into words how much you mean to me and how blessed I feel to be your mom.

I hope you will always know that I love you. I love getting to know you and having you get to know me. It makes my heart swell that you get so excited when I talk to you and you give me those big happy smiles. You are an absolute joy and precious in every way.

Fun in the tub

2011-06-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

I've decided that food coloring is one of my most favorite things. I can do SO many fun activities with Max and food coloring.

I gave Max the squirt bottles filled with colored water. He was having so much fun squirting the sides of the tub.

I then decided to take the actual little food coloring bottles and squeeze little drops from up high and when the drops of color hit the water, I would make loud bomb noises. It was so much fun dropping little color bombs into Max's tub water.

Max loved to hurry and disperse the little color bombs.

It's pretty cool looking when the color hits the water.

Green bombs. Looks like the shark is going to go check it out.

Red bombs.

I even made a few of the color bombs hit the top of Max's head. hee, hee, giggling to myself.

Mom's need to have a little fun too. ;)

Notice the water getting darker. AND the walls all squirted up.

Okay, so now the water looks pretty gross. The best thing about this is, It's so easy to clean up! I just drained the water and turned on the shower, washing away all the color over the tub and walls, it just washes right off. Then we washed Max up, and I'd say that's a pretty awesome way to take a bath.

Because our daddy is awesome

2011-06-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

First Father's Day with Max

First Father's Day with Easton

Father's Day card with Max's hand print and Easton's foot print.

Shaun and Easton

Max and Easton are so lucky to have such a great dad! Shaun is an AH-MAZ-ING father. He truly is loved and adored at our house! Thanks Shaun for being the best person I know and the best Daddy to Max and Easton.

I would love to say more and I could go on forever about Shaun's awesomeness, but then I would never have the time to get this post up and I wouldn't want to nauseate everyone with all the mushy details.

So, plain and simple, Shaun is awesome. :)

Learning to play together

2011-06-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

A while ago I told Max to show Easton his animals and hopefully get Max to bond with his brother.

It was really cute how he lined them up next to Easton and would make the noises of the animal as he would stick each animal inches from Easton's face so he could see them before he lined them up next to him.

Max then put some on each side of him. I think Easton was really enjoying this. He liked to try and reach for them. Then, Max got too rough with brother and was not listening to mom, so he had to go take a time out in his room.

This is how I found Max when I went to get him out of his room. Not exactly the "time out" I was hoping for. He was having a little too much fun. I had to take his picture because it made me laugh out loud when I went into his room and found him like this.

Then again

Time to go say sorry to brother and give him a hug.

I guess Easton was not excepting the apology. ;)

Then Max figured out a great way to play with his brother. He found that when he put the animals down by Easton's feet.........

Easton would kick the animals down. Max thought this was hilarious! I guess they really can have fun playing together. :)

Why so serious?

2011-06-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have a couple things I want to say in this post. First, I was so excited to really capture Max's beautiful eyes! Their big, blue, and covered in these long lashes. His eyes can be very intense when he looks at you, like in the above picture.

Sometimes, when I sing to him at night before he goes to sleep, he likes to stare up into my eyes, like he's studying me and what I'm saying in the songs. He'll stare so intently into my eyes, It's like he's trying to read my thoughts. He doesn't move a muscle, just stares directly into my eyes.

Second, Max is a very serious and intense kid. Sometimes, when I'm playing with Max and trying to make him laugh or giggle, he'll be more into figuring out what I'm doing or how I'm doing it. Now, of course, he does laugh and giggle, but when he's playing or learning something new, he can be very serious about it. I'll try and take his picture and get him to look at me and smile, He'll be so intense into what he's doing, he'll just look at me like in the above picture.

He becomes so intense, which turns him into a perfectionist, which then makes him upset by any change from what he wants it to be. We've been able to work on it with him and he's getting better about it.

He has a very strong personality, which, can test me on a daily basis.

He's my very spirited child, which means he can be more intense, persistent, perceptive, sensitive, and energetic, with a strong temperament. Can you tell I've read a lot of books about it. ;)

The other night, Shaun and I had a very fun discussion about what we see in Max and his personality in the way of pros and cons, and what we thought he would be like, or good at, as he grows into an adult. It was really fun to talk about! It's fun to really try and see your child for who they are, and figure out what's the best way to raise them.

I love Max and it's been so fun to see him grow and develop and become the person that he is now. Who knows what else is to come with Max and who he is. I'm absolutely intrigued to find out.

I really wanted to get a picture of Max's beautiful face AND his face smiling. So after I was getting no where trying to get him to smile, like in the above picture, with my face behind the camera it was not working. So, I held the camera below my face and tried to get Max to laugh so I could capture the sparkle in his face when he smiles and laughs.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

(notice my capital LOVE, I was so happy to really capture Max's sparkle)

serious/intense eyes

sparkling smile eyes

I love them both........absolutely beautiful.

and of course, I love that smile.

In fact, I love it all. :)

Sweet angel

2011-06-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

PEACE

LOVE

SWEETNESS

My sweet angel Easton.....what a joy.....he has a peace and calmness about him. I love him so much. He's now 7 weeks old (above pictures also) My heart smiles thinking about him.

In the above picture he's 4 weeks old. I took a picture of him next to my foot so you could get an idea of his size. Sweet little boy. He's grown so much in the last 3 weeks though. His shirt says, mommy loves me. It's true.

I look at these pictures and want to squeeze and kiss him. He's so adorable.

He's a perfect fit

Can't you just see the sweetness oozing from him.

The above picture is of Easton sometime in his first week. I love it with his leg like that. Just like in my tummy I'm sure. Also, notice the prominent ridge on his head. We had to take him to get an X-ray because my doctor was worried that it had fused together too tight and wouldn't move to allow brain growth because when he pushed on it, it was really solid. We had the X-ray and everything was fine. The ridge is gone now. He still has a pretty cool looking one on the back of his head still.

Cutie buns and toes! I love their little frog legs. So fun to have them snuggle like this on your chest. I love that. I also love how Easton has this little patch of longer hair on the back/bottom of his head that sticks out. When I'm holding him up on my shoulder. I can look over and see it, makes me smile every time.

I feel so blessed to have this sweet angel in our home AND I get to be his mommy. :)

Max's Birthday Party

2011-06-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Better late then never. Finally, the post of Max's Birthday party. We did a Noah's ark theme because the animals came TWO by TWO and Max is TWO, so we partied with animals. We were thankful that my in-laws let us have the party at their house.

I sent the above picture with the invitations.

Animal train filled with snacks and treats. Max loves these animals!

We did all the food with an "animal food theme." Here's pictures of some of the animal food we did.

LION and TIGER food

MONKEY food

ELEPHANT food (peanuts)

For drinks we had, Crocodile swamp, Hippopotamus pool, and Polar Bear splash.

The other food we had was, Duck food (bread) Mouse food (cheese) Rabbit food (salad) Gorilla food (chips) and Bear food (Swedish FISH)

We watched a video I made of pictures with music of Max's second year and then we opened presents.

It turned out that Shaun and cousins opened the presents, because Max wanted to play and run around. You can see him in the background playing. haha!

Time for some animal cupcakes!

I guess Max wanted to feed the animals on his shirt some cupcakes too. I made his shirt by putting iron on animals TWO by TWO, front and back, with a Tiger on each sleeve.

Thanks to our families who could come and celebrate with us!

Because I was pregnant and hurt my back, I didn't do ALL the things I wanted to do for the party, more with the theme, games, decorations, ext. Probably, a good thing. I tend to want to go overboard with it. I know it's not needed, but it's so fun to do!

I love to celebrate their, I say their now, because I have TWO little lives to celebrate for! Kids deserve a FUN day. When you get older, your birthday seems to become more boring. ;)

Doggie paddle pull

2011-06-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Just another reason why Boston is awesome. You throw him his ball and Max gets a fun ride around the pool.

He can even pull two

He's even fun to ride bare back, doggie surfing

Soon enough Easton, you can be doggie pulled.

Max and Easton are lucky boys to have such a great dog. I told Shaun how hard it's going to be for the boys when Boston dies. I know their going to have so many fun times and great memories with him. He's a great dog for these boys.

Shaun said, "It will be hard on the boys when Boston dies, but it will be the hardest on you."

Then I laughed and said, "you're absolutely right, I'll be bawling for months."

Shaun said, "years."

It's true, Boston isn't just great for Max and Easton, he's great for this gal/mommy too. :)

Splash pad fun

2011-05-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

You want me to do what Dad? Run through this big circle of spraying water?

Are you sure about this Dad?

Okay.......

HERE I COME!!!

Again

And again

This is AWESOME!!

The new throne

2011-05-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Seriously? Is this toilet not adorable. It makes me smile every time I see it. Max's new throne. We'll see how cute I think it is when it has pee and poop all over it, and I get to clean it up.

It's just for looks now, to get Max used to it.

I'm not sure when exactly I'm going to start potty training. I don't think Max is ready and I know I'm not ready just yet.

I love the little pee shield. haha! with a cute frog and turtle padded seat.

Max will be peeing in style with this thing. It has it's own compartment for wipes in the back.

It has it's own toilet paper roll.

It also transitions into a foot stool and the top half you can fit over the regular toilet. Lucky Max, my toilet is so NOT this cute. :)

brotherly love?

2011-05-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Max is having a hard time adjusting to Easton taking our time and attention away. He does still love his brother, most of the time. In the morning when he first sees Easton, he'll point at him and very excitingly say, "Baby!"

Here's some of the good times, because brothers don't shake hands, brothers got a hug.

I love this.

playing around with Max's stuffed dragon. Careful Max.

Giving a kiss

giving a hug

I have to constantly remind Max to be soft with Easton. He wants to go right into real play time with him, which would include wrestling. That's Max's new trick, He goes in all soft for a hug, then it turns into a wrestling take down. He's been trying it out on all his friends. yikes! He likes to play rough, he thinks it's hilarious.

Someday Max, brother will be able to really play with you. You better watch out though, I'm sure Easton will learn how to fight back. ;)

I'm picturing wrestle mania at my house on a daily basis........DING, DING, DING.......in this corner.........

I'll be adding referee to my resume.

Easton Love

2011-05-20T21:26:00.001-07:00

We are loving Easton! Well......Shaun and I are loving Easton. Max has other feelings about little brother. He's been acting up quite a bit (driving mom crazy). He's having a hard time adjusting to his little brother taking a lot of attention and time away.

I'm sure they will be best buddies someday. :)

As you can see in the pictures, Easton is TINY! So weird after having our BIG guy Max.

The problem is, Easton is not gaining enough weight. I was concerned about it and took him to the Dr. Office for a weight check. When he was born he weighed 7'3, at his newborn check up, he was 6'7, then at almost 4 weeks he was only 6'13. :(

The Dr. said that his weight gain was not sufficient enough. We now have to give him formula after each breastfeeding. I hope my little guy will be okay. He really likes the formula and drinks about 2 oz after I breastfeed him! This makes me feel awful! I feel like he's been starving this whole time! I'm also worried that he likes the formula a lot more then breast milk.

I've started to breast pump for each meal to see how much comes out. I get about 1 and 1/2 oz to 2 oz at each pump. I've been pumping every 3 hours. I feed Easton the breast milk first and then give him formula. He takes a long time to eat the breast milk and then he guzzles down the formula. He even seems to spit up the breast milk a lot.

We'll see what happens. The stress of it all is really taking a toll on me and everyone in the house. I think I was so excited to actually be able to breastfeed Easton. (I was not able to with Max) I have to except whatever happens and do what's best for everyone in my family.

Once I made the choice to formula feed Max (after a lot of stress and tears) Things worked out fine.

I just want my LITTLE (Easton) buddy and my BIG (Max) buddy to be okay. I love my boys! I mean LOVE!!!! :)

Easton Kent Maher

2011-04-28T12:09:00.001-07:00

Easton Kent Maher is here!

born April 22nd

11:28pm

7 pounds 3 ounces

20 inches long

Peace

Mommy love

My two boys

Juggling TWO

Daddy love

Looking just like big brother Max.

I think these two boys are going to look very similar. Easton looks a lot like Max did.

brothers for sure.

Family of FOUR. :)

We are LOVING our little Easton. He's tiny, sweet, and absolutely beautiful!

Easton joined our family on Good Friday! just like Max. In fact, Max was born at 11:38pm and Easton was born 11:28pm, both on Good Friday, 10 minutes apart. We'll now be celebrating 3 days in April. :)

April 10th (MAX) April 22nd (EASTON) and Good Friday. :)

What a blessing Easton is to us! My heart is full of gratitude that Easton has joined our family. I love him so much!! It's amazing how much LOVE I have for him. He's truly PRECIOUS. :)

Being induced

2011-04-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm being induced today at 12 noon! I'm so excited to meet Easton! I know I'm way behind on posting and updating. I'll have to back track sometime.

I'm hoping to have Easton today on Good Friday, because, I had Max on Good Friday 2 years ago. It would be fun to have them both on Good Friday, and they still would have separate birthdays.

I can't wait to have labor over with and see and hold Easton for the first time. It's the greatest feeling in the world.

Mommy loves you Easton!! I'm going to be kissing and snuggling you soon. :)

Happy Birthday Max!

2011-04-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

Max is TWO today!! We were supposed to have his birthday party yesterday, but I have really hurt my back! yuck! It has not been fun. His party will be postponed to, hopefully, next week. BOO!

We're doing a Noah's ark theme because the animals came on the boat TWO by TWO and Max is turning TWO. We want to party like animals! My back is not allowing that to happen at this time. Boo again! I'll have to post more about that later. I'm really behind on my posting.

Today though, I want to celebrate by never ending JOY, the Max. I love him so much! He's so fun and I love seeing him grow and his funny little personality.

Just seeing Max, I always turn to Shaun and say, "Can you believe we get to have another one?" I'm so excited for my little Easton to get here! These little boys are priceless!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!

Grandpa and Grandma

2011-03-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

My parents came for a visit. They left on Monday. We're still mourning them leaving. We had such a wonderful time with them here.

They did so much for us while they were here. We appreciate them so much!

Love this picture of Max leading the way.

Thanks for coming mom and dad! We love when you come to visit us! Miss you!

The Rice Box

2011-03-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

You can use different things to make an indoor play box. You could use a cardboard box, I used a baby tub. I also filled it up with rice. You could also do rice cereal, or oatmeal. I think the regular rice that I used would work best.

Let the fun begin

I buried some of Max's little animals down in the rice. He was very excited to discover them. Here he is getting ready to ROAR like his lion.

Max had a great time discovering, scooping, filling, and dumping. :)

Food Coloring Paint

2011-03-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

I used a piece of canvas paper for this project. I put vegetable oil in a little bowl and had Max brush the canvas paper with the vegetable oil.

You might want to give it a taste.

Then sprinkle drops of food coloring around the paper, which is now wet from the vegetable oil.

Then make a real mess of your hands, mouth, and body as you hand, brush, and try to eat the project.

Max's Master piece. :)

Max's favorite part was still the little bottles of food coloring. funny boy.

Comfy T-shirt

2011-03-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

This is a very comfy T-shirt. There's a problem though. I love to wear it around the house but I don't like to be seen outside the house in it.

First, I don't even like Mountain Dew, It's disgusting. Second, It looks a little trashy with my big belly. I don't want to go around promoting pregnant women to do the Dew. ;) AND now that I see this picture, It's not the most flattering. It's more comfy then it looks in the picture.

Third, If you know Shaun, this could be considered lingerie. (hee hee)

The man cannot get over his love for Mountain Dew. Maybe, one day the Mountain will not be so hard for him to get over.

My BULGING belly (just Easton saying "hi") will have to be wrapped in this comfy t-shirt in house only.

Happy Anniversary!

2011-03-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's been 9 years!

Shaun and I were married March 2nd 2002 in the Boston, MA Temple.

AWESOME!!

I love you Shaun!

Happy Anniversary to us! ;)

Fun with water color

2011-02-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

You'll need food coloring, water bottles, and water. I tried to find some smaller, clear water bottles and couldn't find any. So we had to use the big bottles. I had to help Max squirt out the colors. He thought it was really fun to have the water spray out.

Max's favorite thing about this activity was the bottles. He was loving the colors in each. I'm finding that Max is more of an engineer brain then an artistic one. He's more into, and good at, building, stacking, and constructing things. Maybe that's more of a boy thing? I don't know.

He doesn't like to color, He LOVES the crayons and loves to line them up and bring them to me one at a time so I can tell him what color it is and then he studies them and loves to stack then back into the box.

Back to our water color activity and Max's love for the colors in each bottle.

We've got RED

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

I had some plain computer paper that I was spraying the colors onto. Then I discovered that it was a lot cooler to spray the colors onto the garbage bags I had laid out to protect the table. I was loving the little pools of colored bubbles. I thought it was pretty cool looking. You would also get some added purples and oranges when the spray of each color would mix.

How about YELLOW now mom?

Max was trying to spray the bottles on his own. Maybe, with some practice he might be able to do it. We need some smaller handles. I'll have to show him how he can do it with two hands and some practice.

Touching the little bubbles of color

Still more fascinated with the colored bottles. :)

You could do a lot of different fun things with these colored water bottles. I know Max and I will be experimenting with them. It's a fun thing for both Max and I to experiment and discover with. :)

I also found this really great website www.familyeducation.com. It has a lot of fun activities and ideas for play and learning. You should check it out and have some fun with your child.

It's not a bedroom, It's a bed(s)room

2011-02-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

Having a pregnant belly means needing a lot of space on the bed. A pillow in front of me to support my belly and a pillow behind me to support my back. To make this all possible and comfortable for me, Shaun has been sleeping in the guest bed.

Then I was finding that I don't like to sleep without Shaun next to me. It's hard to fall asleep and when I wake up in the night (many times being pregnant), I find I can't relax and go back to sleep.

I need the calmness that Shaun brings to me. My very own Shaunie security bear. ;)

I was expressing all this to Shaun, so when I was gone working the other night for 5 hours. I came home to a surprise. Shaun had moved the dressers from our bedroom into another room, rearranged things, and made it possible to fit the guest bed into our room next to our bed. haha!

So now we have a bed(s)room, so I can have all the room I need on our bed to be comfortable and still have Shaun with me in the room.

At first, I was a little hesitate about the change. Then Shaun said, "you want to sleep don't you? and I want you to be able to sleep and be comfortable."

It's true, It's been a nice set-up for the last few nights. I'm sleeping a lot better. :)

Willy Wonka Pajamas

2011-02-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

I got these comfortable pajamas at a Christmas bunko when I was pregnant with Max. They're perfect because I love pajamas and they were big enough for me to wear comfortably all the way to the end of my pregnancy, big belly and all.

They're super cozy. Seeing them laying on my bed in this picture makes me want to put them on and snuggle right under the covers.

Now, for their brightness and excess in colors? That's where Willy Wonka comes in. When Shaun first saw me in these pajamas, he called me Willy Wonka. haha! They are now referred to as my Willy Wonka pajamas.

Now, I just need to be wearing my Willy Wonka pajamas, snuggled up in the blankets, eating some delicious Willy Wonka chocolates.

My Willy Wonka PJ's will last me through this pregnancy with Easton too.

Here's some Quotes from Willy Wonka:

"There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be."

"The suspense is terrible... I hope it'll last"

"If the good Lord had intended us to walk, he wouldn't have invented roller skates."

"No other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by waterfall. But it's the only way if you want it just right."

"Well, well, well, two naughty, *nasty* little children gone. Three good, sweet little children left."

"Well, fortunately, small boys are extremely springy and elastic. So I think we'll put him in my special taffy-pulling machine. That should do the trick."

I love Charley and the Chocolate factory, the original and new one.

Cinco de Mayo due date

2011-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

My due date for Easton is May fifth, which is Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday held on May 5 that commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza . It is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States. While Cinco de Mayo sees limited significance and celebration nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed nationwide in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I find it funny that everyday I have to have a plain tortilla with butter on it, warmed up in the microwave. haha! Maybe, Easton and Cinco de Mayo were meant to be.

picnic with some friends

2011-02-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

These are some fun pictures from last October (2010). We had a picnic with some friends. The kids had fun playing together. Max was 18 months old.

IVF and Max

2011-02-22T11:09:00.000-08:00

How do I have a discussion with Max about the way he was conceived? It's interesting to think about. I'm going to have my blog made into a book for each year and have copies made for Max. It has information in it about the in-vitro process. It's not going to be hidden from him, I'm sure it's going to be interesting for him to find out the whole process of how he got here.

He started things out a little different in a petri dish. It's crazy to think about the process of it all. It was a miracle and I would do it again in a heart beat to get my precious Max.

He's his own little character! I love everything about what makes him Max. Which makes his name all the more fitting. He certainly takes things to the Max sometimes. I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

I hope when Max finds out how he got here, he will see how much we wanted him and LOVE him. He's an amazing blessing for us.

Belly Time

2011-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

18 weeks

24 weeks

28 weeks

As you can see, I'm getting big and feeling big. Things are getting more and more uncomfortable. There's no mistaking it, I'm pregnant. :)

My bigger belly has not gone unnoticed by Max. He loves to see it. He pulls my shirt up and thinks it's so funny. He likes to touch it, then hit it. I have to tell him many times to be soft. I tell him baby brother is in there. I'm sure he has no idea what I'm saying, but my belly is pretty fascinating to him.

I know when Easton comes I'm going to have many talks with Max about being "soft" or "gentle." I think BIG brother is going to be very jealous of LITTLE brother. I'm sure, at times, Max will like Easton and then other times, there might be a few attempts to show LITTLE brother who's really the BIG brother.

I promise Easton, Mommy will look out for you. I love both BIG and LITTLE brother. :)

Valentine's Day must have

2011-02-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

What's Valentine's Day without chocolate covered strawberries? It's a must have for me. My mouth starts to salivate days before Valentine's Day in anticipation of their yumminess.

I make sure to remind Shaun about getting them for me. He responds with, "I always do."

Which he does. I just want to make sure our love survives another Valentine's Day and that means I get my chocolate covered strawberries. (wink, wink)

I very much enjoyed them again this year. Thanks Shaun, I love you!

Love for my man

2011-02-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

How do you not have love for a man who does the dishes and let's your son help? EVEN after he's the one who made dinner! Don't they look adorable? YES! He always let's Max help.
Shaun is always such a big help to me, especially, when I'm pregnant. He's an amazing dad and I think Me, Max, and Easton are so lucky to have him. Also, the lucky girls that will marry Max and Easton one day, because hopefully they will follow in their dads footsteps and see how well he treats me and they will do the same with their wives. What lucky ladies! :)

I love you Shaun. Thank you for being one of the most unselfish people I know.

Measuring cups in the tub

2011-02-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share another idea I've gotten from reading about child development and the brain.

Young children learn through play, so they had a great idea about giving your child measuring cups and spoons to play with in the bathtub.

I have to tell you Max loves playing with the measuring cups in the bath tub. He loves to put them under the faucet as the tub fills up and to pour the water on himself or on his other tubby toys. He really likes it when I get in the tub with him and he can pour the water all over me, especially my head and my now protruding belly. :)

He also likes for me to put the soap on him and then let him wash the soap off by filling his measuring cups up and washing the soap off himself.

The measuring cups and spoons should all be the same color so that the child is learning more about the depth of each one and how they are different in the amount of water they can hold.

I also want to get him a strainer and a watering can to add to his froggy, ducky, shark, and measuring cups. ;)

Bird watching

2011-01-31T17:21:00.000-08:00

It was a good bird watching day, overcast with a little rain. As I sat at the window with Max and whispered in his ear, "We have to be quite while we watch the birds so they don't fly away." I was so happy to be a mom. Otherwise, I wouldn't have just sat and enjoyed the birds outside. It's so fun to discover things again with your child. Bird watching has become a fun thing for Max and I to do.

When I see the birds outside or in the trees by the window, I make sure to bring Max over. While Max enjoys watching the flight and movements of the birds, I get to enjoy the birds and the wonder of my child.

Jell-o painting

2011-01-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

First, make some Jell-o instant pudding

Add food coloring to make different colors

Then I scooped the colors onto Max's high chair. I only did green, red, blue, and yellow. You could get more creative and mix more colors.

Let the finger painting (and eating) begin!

Taste testing each color.

Now, Let's have some real fun and get messy!

I added some more scoops of each color and gave him some spoons to play with too.

It then ends up mixing into a gross looking gray color, it still taste good though. I had to join in the fun too, I added some hearts.

defiantly a fun time for Max! I also, recommend doing this right before bath time. They will need a bath afterwards. :)

I got this great idea from a book I checked out at the library. I LOVE the library! I really enjoy books on child development. Especially, the brain. This idea, came from a book I really enjoyed called, "Smart from the start" from birth to 3 years old.

I'm going to buy a copy. It's a great book to have on hand. It has a lot of great information and ideas for brain development for children from birth to 3 years old.

Belly time

2011-01-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

18 weeks

24 weeks

I've been slacking on my belly time. I was supposed to do 22 weeks. Oh well, the baby is growing! He's also been moving a lot! I love that feeling. My pregnancy has been going pretty good. Just the usual pregnancy woes. I'll try not to complain too much yet, as there will be a lot more uncomfortableness to come. ;)

We do have a name for my little guy, his name will be Easton Kent Maher.

We really love the name Easton and his middle name is Kent, after my dad.

I feel so much love for my little Easton already! I love that we have a name for him, it makes it nice to refer to our little guy by name.

Shaun and I already refer to Max and Easton as "our boys". So fun to say that.

Mommy loves you Easton! AND daddy is really fond of you too! ;)

You've got a friend in me

2011-01-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

No, Boston should not be on the couch. But when you have a sick boy, who is watching a movie, and Boston jumps up next to him and they snuggle into each other. It's ADORABLE! AND they were watching Toy Story 3, which is fitting, because Max defiantly has a friend in Boston. :)

Christmas in UTAH

2011-01-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

DAY 1- Thursday Dec. 23

Drove 8 hours to Cedar City. Stay at Shaun's sister's house for the night. Had a GREAT drive. The roads were clear and we were smooth sailing. I was DREADING the drive being pregnant and having a little Max in the back seat. It went REALLY well. Max did awesome!

DAY 2- Friday Dec. 24th CHRISTMAS EVE!

Drove 2 and 1/2 hours to parents house. Roads were clear and smooth. Hung out with parents for a while, then off to stay at my sister Taunya's house were we would stay for our trip.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Here's me and Max after he got to open ONE present. His adorable Christmas pajamas.

We had a nice Christmas Eve. We re-in acted the story of Christ birth. I got to be Mary. I may not be GREAT with child just yet, but I'm with child. :)

DAY 3- Saturday Dec. 25th

CHRISTMAS!!

There was snow, even if it wasn't fresh snow. :)

Max with his cousins Christmas morning.

A present for Max

Max was loving the presents Santa left for his cousins. ;)

CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON AT MY PARENTS

DAD

My niece Brittany made me a cute necklace.

Me and my niece Talia

Present from grandma and grandpa

Love this picture! My niece Ava licking away at the pie!! hahaha!

We had a great day with everyone. My whole family was together for Christmas this year. We even got a family photo. I don't have it yet. I'll share when I do.

DAY 4 Sunday Dec. 26

We had a nice relaxing day. Just lounged around. Then went to my parents at night for games. It was hilarious!

DAY 5 Monday Dec. 27

Spent the day in Salt Lake City. I adore this city! It was fun to drive up and down the streets while Max was sleeping in the back seat. I love you SLC! It is the city of my birth. AND I love those UT mountains. BEAUTIFUL! I wish I would have taken pictures all over the city, but Max was sleeping in the back. *sigh* I love that city.

We went here to Discovery Gateway on the corner. What a FUN place for a kid!

So much to explore and do!

Here's a few pictures of the Gateway mall, where we were at the Discovery place.

Then we went to visit my brother and his family. Max always has fun with his cousins.

DAY 6- Tuesday Dec. 28th

Bean Museum in Provo

I love these pictures of Max checking out the nativity.

He loved the Lions. He would roar and say, "Lion"

I love how they made this nativity with all the surrounding animals

We even got to enter a contest to name the elephant.

This butterfly is so pretty. It's made of all different types and colors of individual butterflies.

We had to stop at the creamery afterwards for some yummy ice cream.

We had a great time with family while we were there. It was so nice to go be with everyone. hang out and play games, go to movies, do a little shopping, talk. It was a great vacation.

DAY 7 Wednesday- Dec. 29th

Drove the whole way home in terrible weather. Snow and rain 90% of the way home. It was exhausting! It didn't go as well as the drive to Utah. We finally made it home.

FAMILY PICS

2011-01-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

Me and my man

Love this CLASSIC picture. Max crying, Shaun looking like he's over this, and me trying to smile through it all. haha!

A whole lot of Max being Max.

Oh, that smile, makes me happy!

Crafty

2010-12-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

My friend Ashley cut out all the vinyl for us, and we made these fun Christmas picture frames. It's so fun to be crafty and make things! MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Sugar cookie fun

2010-12-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

Max's favorite part was....

Eating the cookies.....

And loading the cookies up with sprinkles.

Shaun in frosting action

Some of the decorated cookies. No professionals here, just having a FUN time! ;)

Ultrasound results

2010-12-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

Max will have a little BROTHER!! It's a BOY!! I love ultrasounds! I love every minute of it. Seeing my little baby, makes my heart swell! It's funny because I thought it was going to be a girl! but, as soon as the baby came up on the screen, I thought it was a boy right away. Weird huh? It looked like a boy and like Max. I swear!

It's so fascinating to me to be able to see the baby up on the screen. I'm happy that everything looked great! I love going through all his little body parts.

My two little boys! I'm sure they will be cute little buddies together. I joke with Shaun that, this baby better come out swinging, because Max is rough and tough and likes to wrestle. haha!

I'm so excited for my second baby boy!!

Take it to the MAX!

2010-12-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

I love my MAX. :)

Belly Time

2010-12-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

18 weeks

There's a weird shadow along my front. We don't have the best lighting in our house. You get the idea, I've got a bump!

18 weeks

2010-12-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

So, I've been such a slacker with my blog lately. I've got to do better. Now that I'm 18 weeks pregnant! Can you believe it! AND I've been feeling really good. I was so miserable up to my 14 week mark. I'm happy to be feeling good!

We also, get to find out the sex of the baby Dec. 10th, a week from today, I'm super excited! Make sure to make a guess if it's a boy or a girl on my poll to the top right of my blog. It's just for fun.

I've been feeling the baby move and I love that feeling. It's so reassuring to feel my precious baby moving. I'm excited to see Max's reaction when the baby gets bigger and makes my whole stomach move. That should be funny!

Shaun and I are now over the SHOCK of this pregnancy. It was really surreal at first and we just couldn't believe it! This feels like our second miracle baby! We feel so blessed and I can't wait for all of us to meet our newest family member.

Now I need to take some belly pictures so I can record my growing belly. Just like I did when I was pregnant with Max. I just can't believe I get the opportunity to be a mom again! It's great to have the joy and love again for this baby, just as I do for Max. The love just grows and grows. AWESOME!

Shadow play

2010-12-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

These two were having a fun time together! :)

Playing with them boys

2010-11-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

My sister Tara came to visit this weekend from Utah. She brought her little boy Thomas. It was so fun to see Thomas and Max play together. They were so cute and all boy! rough and tough, with no tears. They had so much fun together! They look like they could be brothers.

Thomas was our good helper and would go get Max when he would run out of the yard, down the sidewalk. I love their twin walk above.

Boston was having a blast with the boys too

Max giving Thomas a little chest bump to keep him moving. ;) They tended to "help" each other go down the slide if one of them was being too slow. ;) no hard feelings though. Boys are tough.

Love those cute boys!

Mother Nature's Farm

2010-11-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hayride

Shaun and Max on top of the big dirt pile.

I had to laugh at this picture.

You have me taking pictures and Shaun taking video. This kid is LOVED.

The Maze

How about this one mom?

Later that night, we went to a Halloween party and Max got chased by his cousin Gehrig......

The stink beetle. These two are so cute together.

Halloween fun

2010-10-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went to Shaun's work for trick and treating. They had a fun party for the kids. Games, booths, and candy.

Police officer by day.....

Seriously?! What a cute buns!

STOP! You're under arrest!

Then Friday night, we went to our ward trunk or treat. We were all Martians from Planet Mars(Mahers) haha! get it?

Martians by night.....

Shaun and Max had red hair. We come from the red planet. ;) I got t-shirts made with the planet Mars(Mahers) on it.

On the back of all our t-shirts had our names, letting you know we're Martians.

Ahhhhh.......being kissed by a baby Martian. It was awesome! ;)

Happy Halloween!!

A wonderful surprise!!

2010-10-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to announce that I'm pregnant!!! What?! I know, this may come as a surprise to you, as it did for me! After 5 years of infertility and then going through In-vitro, with an amazing outcome, our son Max. I discovered that I was pregnant! There was no fertility medication, no planning, no counting days, no ovulation kits. It just happened! SURPRISE!!

I've heard of this happening with other couples who had struggled with infertility. I honestly didn't think it would ever happen to us. We feel so blessed! What a miracle!! We can now say that we've got two miracle babies. :)

I'm 13 weeks today and the baby is due May 5th! I'll have to blog later with more details. I just want to get the good news out!!! YAHOO!!!

Bunko Murder Mystery Dinner Party

2010-10-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

It was my turn to host Bunko. being that it's the month of October, I had to switch things up and do a Halloween inspired party. I decided to not play Bunko and have a Murder Mystery party instead.

We were to play characters who were part of a women's society in Salem, Massachusetts. Who get together every year in October in honor of the Salem witch trials of 1692.

Everyone had a character to play and all were to dress up as a witch. Someone was murdered and we had to figure out who the murderer was.

Everyone got a prize. The ladies that had the best costume or the best actress got to choose their prize first. It was a fun night! With lots of laughs.

The Halloween themed dinner table

The entry table

The fun witchy group

The prizes!

This is my amazing hubby. Being a good sport and playing the butler. What a great guy I've got! He was being so funny! He had to lose that ridiculous bow tie real quick though. haha!

18 month check up

2010-10-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Max turned 18 months on Sunday! Which means, he went to nursery at church for the first time. It was awesome!! I got to sit and listen instead of roaming the halls with him. Thank you nursery leaders!

Here's Max's 18 month old stats:

height: 35 1/4 inches tall (over 95%)

What does over 95% even mean? That they just can't say he's 100% bigger than any other 18 month old? I'm sure they can't know that, so he gets over the 95%. He's a very tall boy. The doctor asked if he towers over other kids his age. I said, "yes" :) All I know is, When the doctor shows me Max's growth chart. 95% is a blue line, and above that is a dot for Max. :)

Weight: 27'3 (65%)

I took Max outside to take some pictures of him. I think they show a 18 month nicely. They don't sit still and they are too occupied with other things to look at the camera when you call their name. ;)

Distracted by an airplane in the sky

Pointing it out (he loves airplanes!)

Love this face

Here's Baxter being naughty and sitting on the coach looking out at us longingly. He looks adorable!

Pulling the hose out

I attempted to get one shot of Max actually looking at the camera. I sat him down with his ball and this is what I got.........

Not happy about being sat down! haha!

Airplane again. ;)

AWESOME 80's

2010-10-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

I got this e-mail and LOVED it! If you grew up in the 80's you will too! Have fun scrolling down and have a blast from the past. Some things I've forgotten about. It was fun to be reminded of them! Enjoy a little bit of the AWESOME 80's. ;)

Thanks for coming rain

2010-10-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

Come back soon!

Sweet October

2010-10-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Yes people, It's that wonderful time again. It's sweet October and that means the night of fright and all the fun that goes with it.

I may have a slightly freaky love for Halloween time. It can be so much fun! I love to decorate my house. I don't know why putting little pumpkins on my candle holders make me so happy, but it does.

I used to love to help my mom decorate our house when I was younger. We would always have a big spider web over the stairs going down to the basement. With a big black spider in it to watch over things. When you opened the front door to the house, you would always see that black spider staring back at you.

My brothers and I used to love to make haunted houses down in the basement with our friends and for each other. I remember in the laundry room we would always have someone hiding who would jump out with an electric drill going to freak our friends out. Good times. I still love to go to haunted houses.

The last couple of years. I'll sometimes second guess why I should decorate when the house just gets so messy from a little boy named Max. It kind of takes a way from the decorating. Then I say that I have to make Halloween fun for Max. I have to keep the fun of Halloween alive. That's what it's all about. Making fun memories for your kids. I have a ton of fun memories of Halloween! It's worth decorating the house up for. It makes me smile and keeps me young.

I'll be decorated the inside and outside of the house soon.

I want to be like my mom and I'll tell you why. She would always get dressed up to hand out the goodies to the trick or treaters. Such a fun mommy.

My favorite memory of my mom and Halloween, one that I will always remember. Was when I was sitting in my 3rd grade class, and all of a sudden a green faced witch with a big nose and warts came into my class carrying a tray of cupcakes. You know who that special witch was? My awesome mom!

I can't even tell you how elated I was to see her. I had no idea she would there! It was awesome! She had come to help our class with our Halloween party. What a wonderful fun mommy surprise!

I want to be that mom for Max.

snuggle up

2010-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Boston and Baxter used to snuggle up together all the time. It was so adorable. Now that they have reached adulthood, they never snuggle each other anymore. Sad. I guess it's not cool for adult male dogs to snuggle each other anymore. Sad again.

But........It is ok for little boys to snuggle dogs. Which Max wants to do all the time. He's constantly trying to hug them, snuggle them, lay on them. He adores his dogs. Boston is the best sport with this sort of thing. Baxter can only take so much. He'll end up moving and hiding from Max. It's pretty funny.

The other day, Shaun took Max to Home Depot. Someone had their dog with them at the store. Max ran right over to the dog and gave it a big hug. Clinging to the dogs neck. Everyone that saw this thought it was a adorable. The dog on the other hand, was a little nervous by this.

That's Max having no fear again.

When I took him to the park the other day. He saw a dog being walked by it's owner and started chasing after it. The dog got startled and started barking at Max. Instead of Max getting upset, scared, or running away. He just stopped and stared at the dog like, "What's your problem?"

I'm glad that Max doesn't live in dog years. Because I need way more snuggle time with him before he's too cool for that sort of thing. ;)

Shoe love

2010-09-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Max loves his shoes. The other night he was really fussy and wouldn't go to sleep. I finally let him down to see what he wanted. He went right over and got his Nike shoes. He came back to me and was fine. He was ready to go to bed now, he had his shoes in hand.

He does this for his naps sometimes too. I take off his shoes so he can go down for a nap. He quickly grabs the shoes and gets a firm hold on them, clinging them to his chest. Then I read him his books and put him in his crib. While he's still holding on to his shoes.

Once I tried to pry them from his hands while I thought he was sleeping. Big mistake. He woke up and got so mad! I had to hurry and give them back to him. He loves to sleep holding on to his shoes.

This morning, I went to get him out of his crib. He instantly squirms out of my arms and goes over to his dresser and pulls out his shoes. haha!

I think he knows that, shoes mean he can go outside. He wants to be prepared at all times. He loves to go outside.

Here he is this morning with his shoes in hand, while he watches the movie "Air buddies," which he LOVES!

He likes to put on his black boots and walk around the house. He looks absolutely adorable. He has a little bit of a bull leg to match.

Here he is just chillin' with his truck slippers on, that he wanted to wear the other day.

You're so funny Max!

Number Book

2010-09-20T16:03:00.001-07:00

Here's the Number Book I made for Max. It was easy to do. On some of the pages, I went to the craft store and got a bunch of 3-D stickers of things I know Max likes. I'm still working on finishing a few of the pages.

These pictures look like the dogs "mug shots" haha! I know Baxter would have a LONG rap sheet. Boston would only have a misdemeanor for occasionally getting into the garbage. ;)

I vel-croed the cars on the page so Max could take them off. He loves to take them off and play with them so much, that I'm going to change it to stickers. Then he can have the cars to play with and take around the house.

Still waiting to get a good picture of Max's grandparents. (send me a picture mom)

Max is really into Tiger's right now. He loves them. When he sees them in some of his books or on a DVD we have. He gets excited and loves to point at it and say, "Tig-ah"

Max really loves this book. He loves all the pages. The stickers are really cool. They have texture and stick out. I had to put clue dots on the back of the stickers so Max can't pull all the stickers off. Which he naturally tries to do. :)

Come fly with me

2010-09-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Max is really into airplanes right now. When he hears or sees them in the sky, he gets excited and loves to point them out to me.

Shaun and I decided it would be fun to take Max down to a little airport and see some planes taking off or landing.

I don't think Max was getting that this plane on the ground was the same as the planes flying in the sky.

Here he is, looking adorable, waiting on a bench to see the planes take off.

He got his chance.......

AWESOME!!

We also got to see this beauty

The guys working on a harrier. We didn't get to see these bad boys take off. This is the only airplane that can take off vertically like a helicopter. We did get to see a helicopter take off though. A bright yellow one.

Max hanging with daddy

Then some cousins came and joined us!

As you can see. Max loves his cousins.

Max also found some sprinklers to play in. I would say it was a fun day for my little guy.

It was a good day for all of us . :)

We have another little airport close by to us. It has planes taking off and landing frequently. That will be are next place to check out the planes.

Caught on Camera......unaware.

2010-09-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

When I first saw the pictures below. I starting laughing. Out loud. I found them to be hilarious! Let me explain what's going on. Max's cousins, Beauwin and Ireland, invited us to their birthday swim party. To have a swim party there must be a pool.

Max loves the water and has no fear. The moment he sees the pool, he's dead set on making his way to it, not skipping a beat and walking right off the edge of the pool into the water.

The photo's below are of me, trying to carry our swim bag to the table. While trying to hold on to Max and save him from plummeting himself into the water without someone there to help him.

I was unaware that I was having my picture taken. I would've smiled. :)

I'm almost to the table. Then I can put the awkward swim bag down.

Swim bag down. I'm really not as unhappy as I look in this photo. Max is still trying to be released from my arms.

Here I am, still trying to control Max with both hands now.

I had to change him into his swim diaper and swim suit. That was quite an obstacle, getting him to sit still for a minute, so I could change him.

finally, Max can be in the pool. Sheesh!

Dogs worst nightmare

2010-09-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe, this is what Boston and Baxter are seeing, when I hear them whimper in their sleep sometimes.

Crafty

2010-09-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

I made this COLOR book for Max. I have a lot of scrap booking stuff and it was nice to put it to use. I only used what I had. There's a few things I want to add to certain pages.

The good thing is. Max loves it! Which makes me really happy. I would be so sad if he didn't. I brought it to church with us on Sunday. Max played with it for about 20 minutes!! with my help of course. This is a miracle! My little guy doesn't like to sit still for a minute. He likes all the hands on touching he can do and play with on each page. I put some of the things on the outside of the plastic cover for this reason.

I'm in the process of doing some other books for him as well. Numbers, ABC's, and a church book.

YELLOW is Max's favorite page. He loves the Yellow bus. When I go walking in the morning. I meet Whitney at her house, where the school bus picks up the kids. Max loves to see and hear the bus. He also loves the car on the BLUE and RED pages. He points at the car on the page and says, "car" over and over. He loves to point it out to me.

Some of the pages have balls on them. I don't know if they're too small, or he hasn't really seen them yet. He loves balls.

Shaun, Max, and I were at Seagull Book yesterday. They have a bunch of pictures with Basketballs and Footballs on them in the corner of the store. Max was obsessed with these pictures. He kept running over to them, going from one picture to the next saying, "ball" pointing at one picture and then the next. He would even sit down in front of the pictures and stare at them, then point at them and say "ball" over and over. Shaun and I were getting a kick out of this. He's so funny.

Happy Birthday to Shaun!

2010-09-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Shaun! His birthday was Saturday. We went to Famous Dave's, Shaun's favorite restaurant. He loves that place. He loves it so much that I had to get him some of their famous BBQ sauces. He got 2 Sweet & Zesty, 1 Rich & Sassy, and 1 Georgia Mustard.

He also got a gift card to seagull book. I know, big surprise to those who know Shaun and his love for books. ;)

Let me tell you how much Shaun REALLY loves Famous Dave's BBQ. It all begin on a shopping trip to Costco. Famous Dave's was there, with their slow cooker, giving out samples of pork, with their BBQ sauces. They were selling bottles of the BBQ sauce.

As I was shopping around, Shaun was gone sampling. When he makes his way back to me, he has a 23 pound pig shoulder and a big box that held a slow cooker! 23 pounds of pig with a slow cooker! ummmmm?! Shaun? What are you doing with those? He insist that he needs them, with all the Famous Dave's BBQ sauces! hahaha! Seriously?! Shaun makes me laugh! He was sold the moment he tasted the Famous Dave samples.

The funny thing is, Shaun and I love the sit-com King of Queens. I think Kevin James is hilarious! Sometimes, Shaun reminds me of him in the show. This was one of Shaun's "Doug Heffernan" moments.

I had to try and convince Shaun that maybe we could first, save up for a slow cooker. Then buy some pork, not 23 pounds worth, and go from there.

We still laugh to this day about it, and will continue to laugh about it. Because at the time, Shaun wasn't happy that I thought a 23 pound pig shoulder was a little much to be "experimenting" with, especially, because we don't have a slow cooker and we don't have the money to buy one.

He did get a bunch of Famous Dave's BBQ sauces that day, that I can handle. The 23 pound pig shoulder and slow cooker? We'll stick to going to Famous Dave's restaurant for that kind of a thing. ;)

Happy Birthday Shaun! Thanks for always making me laugh! Max and I love you!

Singing in the rain?

2010-09-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

More like, splashing in the rain.

Here's uncle Rick, taking Max out to splash in the rain puddles. I love when it rains. We need it here in the A.Z. We get some really cool lightning, thunder, and rain storms every now and then. It's really incredible. The lightning storms are the best! Monsoon season is amazing.

I find it really funny, that sometimes we'll have a rain storm, then 2 hours later, there is no sign that it ever rained. It goes right back to being in the 100's with extra humidity from the rain.