More Madden . . .

By popular request - some photos showing off Madden's full head of hair.

Already posing with a football in hand :)

One of my favorite pictures - isn't he just precious?!

He's a lucky little guy- he has wonderful parents who addore him.

Motherhood is amazing! It is exciting to see my own daughters beginning their own amazing, emotional, wonderful, love filled, funny, amazing, fulfilling, non-stop ride. Enjoy the ride Tiffany!

Introducing Madden Brimhall

My day started with a phone call from Tiffany that they were in the hospital and she was in labor. I checked the flight schedule and in order to catch the next flight I would have to be on my way to the airport in 15 - 20 min. I wasn't sure I would make it but I decided to go for it. I called a friend to drop me off at the airport curbside and I made the flight. I was so excited to get to Phoenix and to the hospital before the baby was born. I didn't think that was possible. Tiffany was progressing slowly, and when they would up the meds to increase the contractions, the baby's heartbeat would drop and they would turn off the meds. After nearly 12 hrs of labor - the baby gave us all quite a scare. His heart rate plummeted, 4 nurses were all over Tiffany changing her position, making adjustments to her drip, they called the Dr. and he raced to the hospital and the decision was made to take her in for an emergency C-section. It was stressful and scary - but the Dr. had this beautiful baby boy delivered a short 10 min after he got to the hospital. Mother and baby are doing great - and we are all grateful.Madden under the warming lamps - in the recovery room.

Here's the proud parents of Madden Randall Brimhall weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz and 20" long
Tiffany was just so happy that the baby was fine and enjoying motherhood.
Randy got to give Madden his first feeding while Mom got some rest.
Pictures don't do justice to how cute this little guy is. He has a cute round head, pouty lips, a beautiful complexion and lots of black hair. We're all so excited he's here. More pictures to
come :)

Spring Break - Landon style

Landon wanted to use his Spring Break to get out snowboarding again for the last time of the season. We headed to Reno - where we stayed at the Chatterly's and Landon, Tanner, and Seth went snowboarding at Mt. Rose Thursday.
Then on Friday Landon and I headed off for South Lake Tahoe - where Landon met up with Jeff Wadman to see what the Sierra slopes had to offer. (what a great Young Men's advisor!)

You can see by the pictures what a gorgeous day it was. I spent most of it here - on the deck, with no coat, watching the skiers and reading a good book (until I realized I was getting a sunburn). It was a nice relaxing day inside as well - Landon had fun and we headed home at the end of the day. There are certainly perks (for both me and Landon) for being the only child. Any guesses what John did Friday while we were in Tahoe? Yep - we all had fun!

Day Trips with the Grandkids -

I am always asking other peoples advice on what to do to keep my grandkids happy and busy when they visit - it's been quite a few years since mine were that age. So this trip we went to some tried and true destinations and even tried out some new places. Here's our itinerary in a nutshell - Good old Cowell Park -across the street from our house.

This park is in Danville - just a mile or so past the Danville Stake Center - it was big and lots of fun for the kids.

Super Franks - A friend told me about this place in Pleasanton and we went to check it out. I thought it was fabulous for kids 5 and under - 3 huge rooms with every possible thing for kids to play with and run around with.

The cars were my favorite.

The Lindsay Wildlife Museum - the kids loved the animals and the play room there.

The Exploratorium - kept the kids happy and busy all day.

We had a great time. Being a Grandma is the best job in the world!

Naomi - the main attraction!

Everyone was so excited to get to meet little Naomi -

Isn't she adorable? Getting a group picture of the 4 cousins was another story - this photo sort of illustrates how things went down - Never a dull moment - let me tell you :)

Family Get Together

Last week we got to have all 3 of our daughters here at home together for a few days - something that hasn't happened in over 2 years we realized. You would have thought I would have gotten a "sister picture" but that somehow got missed. We did make some great memories though - and had a lot of fun together.

We did some outings - but a lot of the fun took place just at home hanging out together -

Thanks everyone for coming - we loved having you all here!!!

4 Fun Filled Days in Phoenix

I just got back from 4 fun filled days in Phoenix with Tiffany. Tiffany was on her spring break from Kindergarten and I had planned on going out to help her finish up her baby nursery. She was so excited about the project that she was pretty much done - so we weren't buried with any big projects - just a few finishing touches. It left a lot of time for shopping for baby clothes, just visiting and having fun. A very relaxing and fun week! I love hanging out with my daughters.

An added bonus - we got to meet up with Lynnette and Dave who were in Phoenix for the weekend. Lynnette's youngest little guy looks just like Lynnette did when she was little. I love that I've known Lynnette since she was a baby and I can't wait to see what Tiffany's little boy will look like - I'll be back in Arizona in May for the big event!

The Cottage gets a make-over -

This last year the cottage has been my work station for cutting out patterns, storing fabric, etc but I decided it was time to make it more user friendly for when the kids come to visit (like the end of March). There was a bed upstairs and my treadmill downstairs but not much else inviting.

So I decided to do the "design on a dime" concept and try to fix it up a little. I found a couch and coffee table on Criag's list, hit a great consignment sale, and gathered misc stuff from storage that I wasn't using. Then I enlisted Bonnie's help to make it all come together.

Here's the barren look I had going before -

Now - VOILA! Bonnie came and did her magic arranging all my odds and ends and misc to look totally wonderful. She really has a talent - it was such a fun day.

I forgot to take before pictures of the bedroom - but it was just a bed and an empty dresser - now it's much better . . . .

The black round mirror was a hideous gold thing I found at a consignment sale - I taped it off and spray painted it black and it works great. I am so proud of my cheap deals!
Here's what we did in the kitchen - Bonnie is all about the "details" She even arranged things on the top of my fridge - that's a first for me!

So for my kids and all my out-of-town girlfriends - I'm ready! Come and pay me a visit. I've got things ready for guests!

Thanks again to Bonnie - she was fantastic. It really got me started - now I want to pull all the weeds that you can see from the cottage windows, purge through my closets and make my house more in order, and get up EVERY morning and hop on the treadmill and enjoy my new view. Not to mention it is really nice once in a while to accomplish something that you can actually see the fruits of your labor and that lasts (I guess that's why laundry, cooking and housework fails to feel all that rewarding). This was a mission accomplished. Now I'm assessing what my next project will be. :)