sunshine and summertime

sunday was the first time that madyn
went into moonbeams with no cries, no "mom dont go!", no whimpers.
just straight in and no looking back!
it was sooo nice and pretty relieving!
we actually even got to church early... i swear every time we go without eric
we always end up early or on time... and he always blames
being late on me ;)
that evening we went out for a nice walk.
we sure enjoy our time with eric being home.
the weather at the start of the week was pretty cold... or windy
for that matter so we didnt want to do too much outside.
to be honest i was starting to get pretty antsy with cabin fever.
tuesday and wednesday i had a couple of appointments so i was able to get out for a bit.
THANKFULLY!
so lately madyn has had a hard time sleeping in her room, so her
toddler bed is in our room next to our bed.
every night it's mom! mom! mom!
she doesnt necessarily want to talk, she just wants to make sure
she isn't alone in the room.
you have to answer her or it goes from a whisper to a yell or
else i would just ignore her.
so after about an hour or so of her doing this and not going to sleep
we were getting soooo frustrated!
me and eric continually ketp telling her GO TO SLEEP!
after a while it started again.
mom! mom! Mom! Mom! MOM!
mom, go make me some lunch!
this coming from my child that NEVER eats anything...
boy our daughter is something else i tell ya.
thursday mads and me were able to get out of the house for a bit,
it didnt look too great outside but it wasnt too bad so we went to the park.

i sure love my little miss.
we do have fun together.
that afternoon it started to rain and hail a little bit.
madyn was sooo distraught that her colors were going away... sidewalk chalk....
and then the thunder came... she insisted it was the rain monster:)
friday we went to the park again...
can't blame us when we are getting some sort of nice weather
around laramie!

that girl is totally in her element at the park!
i love to watch her play and pretend.
she has the best little imagination.
i got in some visiting teaching, i have the best partners.
i love visiting with them and getting to know them better. i have
been very blessed with 2 wonderful partners.
that night we had marks family and jake and brittney over
for a bbq. it was very delicious if i do say so myself.
saturday we were getting ready to head to the park once eric had gotten up
but as soon as we were headed out the door it started sprinkling.
madyn was NOT happy that we weren't going.
it was nice to be home with eric.
we played some games and watched movies with madyn.
then he went back to bed so he could get in a nap since he worked
graves the night before.
so me and madyn played dress up and she danced along to her doc mcstuffins music.

she is my little prima ballerina!
and i love her to death!
eric wasnt able to fall asleep so he joined us...
madyn even gave him a tiara to wear... unfortunately all pictures were refused!
can you believe that?!?
we love him anyways.
that evening the weather was PERFECT so we met over
at washington with mark brandy and the boys so they could play.
oh those two kiddos sure love running around.
i love their friendship.

when it was time to leave mads had a hard time leaving mark.

i swear that little girl is obsessed with him right now.

for the past two weeks she always prays to "watch over mark and brandy"

it's pretty sweet.

i love my little thoughtful little girl.

the rest of the night we watched golden state beat OKC!

we were pretty excited around our house!

and even happier that we got to watch it with eric before he had to head into work.

it's another good week in the books for the gillies family!

aww the start of summer.

sunday we all went to sacrament before mom and dad

took off back to the valley.

it's so hard to have company because i HATE to see them go.

after church we all came home and crashed!

we were soooo tired. 

i seriously slept from about 12:30-6.

i think i must have still been getting over being sick.

because about 9 we headed back to bed and i slept in till 11 am.

(and i still got a nap later that day... what is up?!?)

the weather out was pretty nasty so we spent a lot of the day

getting the house back in order.

eric had an orientation at Spring Winds and then went antler hunting

with mark up in the mountains.

they didn't last too long because it started snowing...

that's right... it's mid may and still snowing.

heavy wet snow... and i have to say i kinda like it.

it means my lawn is getting nice and green and i dont have to pay for it:)

tuesday was still pretty cold out.

but i was able to make it out of the house for a bit.

it's soooo nice to have eric around so i don't have to drag madyn

around to run all my errands.

we took mads out for a walk a little later that afternoon.

it wasnt too long before she was out!

that girl must be pretty tired too.

wednesday we had BEAUTIFUL weather!

it's about time!

madyn had a play date with katie, so me and eric

got out and did some running around.

that afternoon after another much needed nap... (i seriously havent

napped this much in forever).....

we took madyn over to huck finn to take her fishing.

she has been soooo anxious to go for the past couple of weeks. 

she kept telling us she wanted to catch a fish and squish it!

but needless to say our little miss priss HATED IT!

she wanted nothing to do with it once we got there.

it was pretty much pure terror for her.

so since she didnt want anything to do with it.... me and er fished for a bit...

at an age restricted pond.... 13 the limit... yeah we are pretty lame lol...

eric was catching left and right...

so it was my turn...

i caught one but eric wasnt around and i didnt want to kill it so i just

left it on the hook and line in the water till he could get back over...

it got himself off before eric got back....

after that i couldnt catch a fish for the life of me!

i had bites and snags but nothing stuck!

i was beyond frustrated!

so you can imagine my excitement when i finally caught one and reeled it 

in all the way!

i snagged it pretty good... too good in fact :( i killed the poor fish...)

while eric was trying to get it off the hook madyn was FLIPPING OUT!

be careful dad! let it go dad! put it in the water! don't let it get you!

no dad no! it's going to eat you! no dad! put it back! 

(it was kinda funny)

eric didnt find it funny at all... all he can say about the issue

is how did he get such a prissy girl?!?
that night for yw we had a going away party for chandler.
complete with taste tests of random sodas from rocket fizz.
after we stayed and talked for a few hours.
sometimes i swear it's so good to get out of the house and take it easy.
thursday night eric started his first night working at Spring Wind.
he worked from 10pm-6am.
he didnt get too much sleeping in so we went out for awhile
and got some yard work done.
it's starting to come together.
i swear by the time we have this yard all fixed up, weeds all gone
and looking decent we will be moving.
madyn loved playing with the sidewalk chalk!
we made her a hopscotch and colored all our walk.
however madyn liked coloring her face
more then the sidewalk....

we spent the next couple days running errands and trying
to let eric get some sleep.
i also went NU2U to sell some stuff and pick up
my balance and decided to go do a little shopping.
i found this down in the kids costumes!

madyn LOVES it!
it's kind of big and kind of dorky
but i gotta say i love it too.
we love madeline around our house....
well except eric ;)
the last couple of nights madyn hasnt been sleeping so
good, i think she is starting to have nightmares.
she just cries and wimpers in the middle of night and yells mom!
so saturday she was soooooooooo cranky!
she ended up having a late nap.... so she did not want to go to bed at night.
i was pretty exhausted so i just let her lay in my bed
and watch movies on the ipad till she fell asleep.
about 11:30 she does a big stretch and yawn and said "Mom, what time is it?!?"
i laughed so hard... like she has any concept of time. lol
oh we love her lots! :)

mother's day! graduation! car show! and everything in between!

for mother's day eric made me a wonderful

poached egg breakfast. 

it was a pretty good day.

we had accidentally slept in so we were late for church.

but we had a good day and madyn made me 

a little craft in moonbeams. 

it made my day.

we came home and all took a very good long nap...

after eric took off to go study.

so it was just me and mads for the rest of the day.

she's a pretty goofy girl.

she insisted on doing my hair.....

that night me and eric got no sleep...

he was suffering with a cold and had made himself sick

by worrying about this final in Adult Health.

i was getting a sore throat, my back hurt and i just couldnt get comfortable.

it was a long long long night.

monday we got some cleaning done around the house

and ran some errands.

mark and his family dropped by to say hi and store some

moving boxes. after a few minutes of chatting we 

decided to go get some pizza.

we had a good night visiting, eating and letting the kids play.

madyn is all the sudden is obsessed with fishing...

she loves her elsa fishing pole and reeling in her fake blue fish.

tuesday madyn went over to their house 

and played for a few hours.

they sure are a goofy bunch!

that night me and eric had such a good night

just being together and playing some games.

it's been FOREVER since we could just be together and just enjoy.

but then i started really not feeling good and had caught eric's nasty cold.

wednesday eric finished with all his finals!

me and mads made our egg planters for our G week.

so they could Grow Grass hair.

madyn calls them her little guys.

she is pretty obsessed with them.

and she tells EVERYONE about the ant that was in the dirt

of her girl egg.

my girl does NOT like spiders, bugs or anything of the sort.

so she decided what she wanted on each egg and the features that they had...

so little miss learned about freckles.

later that day we were hanging out together and she said

MOM! you have spots on your face! we wash them off.

and then she proceeded to try and wipe them off.

a little while later around 6 little miss had drifted off to sleep....

i couldnt budge her! she was so peaceful!

she woke up by the time i was off to young womens so i figured she would be ok....

i guess she was in and out of sleep the rest of the night...

i think the little stink finally hit her breaking point!

by the end of the night i was dead. 

seriously this cold is really kicking my butt.

well since madyn went to bed so early she was up at the butt crack

of dawn! she wanted to hold hands... help her fix her blankets..... watch goldie and bear....

finally she hopped in bed with us.

who knows what time that all took place.

i wasnt about to pull out my phone and look.

but it all transpired before 6:30 when eric got up for the day.
needless to say it made for a pretty long day.
mads had her annual play date with katie, i had to watch colter, and
we had lots to do around the house.
and even though eric was done with finals, he had to work
all day thursday and friday..... so we were pretty bummed.
that afternoon we went over to washington park with brandy and the boys
and had a picnic and let the boys play.
it's always nice to let mads run around outside.
and of course we had to let her swing.... FOREVER!.....
i really wanted to get the little stink down for a nap since she had
been awake so early but i had an appointment that afternoon so i couldnt
really get her down.
but she handled the day like a champ.
but didnt make it for when mom and dad got into town.
they got in pretty late so we pretty much said hello, goodnight, see ya in the morning.
madyn popped up soooo excited the next morning when she heard
dad talking to eric.
she was pretty thrilled to have her grandparents around.
we spent the morning getting ready and running a few errands around town.
we had a pretty good day of relaxing.
madyn was obsessed with being outside and all she
wanted to do was play play play.
looks like we will be out a lot this summer!
and i cant say i can complain.
that afternoon tony and carilyn got into town as well.
we had everyone over for hamburgers and a bbq later that evening.
madyn was ecstatic that she had both grandmas around.
saturday was mark's graduation.
it was loooonnnngggg. but we were proud of him and this
major accomplishment.
after pictures and everything was all over me mom eric and mads
took off to foco to meet up with dad at the car show.

they won 1st prize! pretty exciting!!!
it was so beautiful in laramie and just as we were making
our way up the summit to happy jack
it got super foggy.... i was not dressed for the cold weather.
(and didnt have madyn dressed for it as well.)
but seriously when is laramie ever nice then fort collins is?!?
so we pretty much froze the whole time.
after the car show, we went next door to hooters and had dinner....
and i got to say.... i really actually enjoyed it. lol.
the food was pretty good.
that night judi brent and jill came over and visited for a bit.
then we all headed to bed.
im pretty sure we were all EXHAUSTED!
it was a pretty good week:)

May!

sunday we got up and going and out of town!

it was crazy windy so we had terrible gas mileage but were

soooo happy to be home!

this little goober is sure something to travel with!

she kept us entertained the whole way home.

monday i was itching to spend my birthday money.

so me and mads took a trip over to cheyenne.

i know this is pretty much a broken record.... but i LOVE target.

i could seriously walk around for HOURS at that store!

my funny tidbit at target was that a little boy was being noisy

and we were kind of by them and madyn shouted "BE QUIET!"....

and the little boy started crying.... needless to say we hit the corner pretty fast.

she also kept my self esteem high while i was trying on new clothes 

telling me that i was beautiful... or if there was an outfit she didnt like.... good

thing those were the outfits i didnt like either!

madyn also insisted that she get a $1 butterfly net....

she was sooo funny to walk around with catching pretend butterflies.

after awhile of pretending the proudly announced LOOK AT ME!

I GOT CAUGHT!....... I so silly!

that you are my little girl, that you are!

we hit a few more stores before madyn had enough.

i dont blame her.

mom + target... can be a little rough.

we got home and spent about 20 minutes with eric before

he headed off to study... till the dark hours of night.

boy will i be glad to get my husband back after this semester!

tuesday we had another great day.

the weather was sooo beautiful!

so after we watched colter we took a walk over to laprelle park.

i LOVED madyns outfit so i wanted to take some pictures of her....

she wasnt very cooperative.... but i did  get in a few snaps.

i have to laugh at her :)

this next one was the "pose" she insisted on taking.

we spent awhile over there and all the sudden she hopped back

into her stroller and insisted that we GO HOME!

folded arms, attitude and all.

so we started to head out.

we crossed the street long enough to decided that she

wanted to go back to the park.....

since washington was only a few blocks away we decided to 

take a detour and call the cousins to see if they wanted to join us.

madyn spent the majority of the time in the swing....

i got lots of glaring looks from moms from us being in there so long....

but i was not ready to walk all the way back home

with a tantruming two year old!

eric had clinicals over in cheyenne and was just getting into town 

while we were still at the park so he met us over there.

 nothing has been more of a saving grace to me then getting in some

extra vitamin d with the beautiful weather. 

we enjoyed being outside together before he had to take off to study again.

these "i-only-get-to-see-you-maybe-a-few-hours-a-day" are really

starting to wear on me.

i guess it's a good thing madyn has such a silly sense of 

humor right now to keep me entertained.

she has gotten blisters on her big toes from her shoes.....

to her there is "ice cream on my toes!"

i have no idea where that one came from!

but it's not a blister, not an owie, not anything but icecream to her.

or when she comes into the room with
her googles on:)
she is seriously soooo goofy!
wednesday we did some running around.
madyn had her play date. i had appointments. it was a pretty busy day.
later we wanted to go to the park but it was PACKED!
so since we were by the university we decided to drop in and see
eric at work.
since no one was in the lab we stayed with him
till it was time to go home.
it was so nice to be able to be with him for over an hour.
we miss him lots.
thursday we had some errands to run again.
we even took baby colter with us.
he was such a champ being dragged around.
that afternoon we decided to try the park again....
this time we had it all to ourselves.

she was soooo goofy and i love watching her play

with her "imaginary" friends.

so since madyn was having so much fun and i 

had some phone calls to make i decided to get them taken care

of while i had the moment to do so.

then all the sudden i look up and my little miss was just climbing away!

about gave me a heart attach since usually she is so timid,
especially with climbing.
oh my little girl is growing up so fast!
she really got worn out...
because on the way home she passed out.

shes even a diva when she sleeps. lol.
that night we went out to eat with eric and then wanted
to hit another park before he had to take off and study again.
but i have been flaring like crazy lately...
so that pretty much ruined our plans.
friday we had a play date at the park with my visiting teachers.
i seriously have the best ones!
it was really cloudy and didnt look so great out but
it was still pretty nice out.... with the exception of a few big burst
of wind gusts.
that afternoon i had the WORST headache.
madyn was so sweet and had my lay my head on her lap
and tickled my face and ran her fingers through my hair...
see my little terror can be a sweet heart too.
eric came home from work and let me go lay down
and take a nap for a bit.
that kind of helped.... i wasnt really ready to give him up again
especially since i didnt feel good.
so the best part of our day was that he didnt go and we got to
have him all night! all to ourselves!
saturday was cold and gloomy!
so i really just wanted to stay in my sweats and enjoy the day being lazy.
eric left to go study, so me and madyn had a nice morning together.
eric came home that afternoon so he could take a nap because he
wasnt feeling very good now. he started getting a nasty cold.
so him and mads went down for a nap together
while i got stuff done around the house.
he went out and studied more that night.
so me and madyn snuggled up, did some crafts
and watched cinderella.
then we settled in fairly early then normal.
it was a pretty good day and week.

26!

we had a great sunday!

madyn went straight to moonbeams with no fits!

ahhhh talk about a relief!

I had a busy afternoon getting stuff done around the house

and running a few errands around town.

then i had a fireside with the youth that night so it was kind

of a crazy day.
eric was soooo sweet to madyn and took her on a bike ride
over to her "castle"..... lapreal park.

monday i woke up feeling awful!

all the crohny symptoms to its fullest.

it was a pretty long day.

i had to run to the grocery store two literally grab 2 things...

and madyn INSISTED that she get the car cart!

she said she needed to drive to see carilyn!

the rest of the day we relaxed. 

i seriously felt like crap!
tuesday we woke up to snow! which was so crazy because
the day before was so nice.
it knocked out the power for half of the city.
luckily not our half...
eric had clinicals at ivinson so the school cancellations didnt affect him.
bummer, because i think he could really use a day off.
it was kind of another hard day because i still didnt feel very good.
but we got some house work done and even dinner made...
so i guess we were still pretty productive.
mads loves when her dad comes home...
she even allows him to do this for her.

wednesday we babysat little colter!

he started to fuss and so i went and got his bottle ready...

in the mean time my little doc gave him a checkup.

which was seriously so sweet because when she was giving him

his checkup he stopped fussing.

since he was dressed sooooo stinking cute and he was SOOOO happy

I just HAD to take some pictures of him.

i love how they turned out.

these are my favorite.

we love little colter sooo much around our house!
while i took pictures, madyn had a play date with her friend katie.
they are seriously the cutest together and play so good together.
that afternoon was crazy busy and luckily i have
the best visiting teacher that will babysit at a moments notice
cause all my regulars were busy.
friday we cleaned up the house, packed for lyman and took it easy.
easton came over and played with mads for a couple of hours.
she loves when her friends come to play.
that afternoon our neighbors cat was out wandering around
and madyn was ECSTATIC!
she kept yelling through the window "here i am cat" "come get me cat"
"come see me cat" "i want you cat!"
then she asked if she could have a cat....
yeah, no thank you.

after eric got off work we took off for lyman.

we had been under a winter warning advisory so we weren't for sure

if we were able to make it.

it hadnt snowed until we were getting ready to leave.

it was pretty foggy and rough at first but after we got going aways

it was smooth sailing.

we were able to get a quick visit in with every one before we headed to bed.

it was rylee's birthday so we wanted to go see her and give her a present.

saturday rylee was baptized!

after we had a delicious luncheon over at moms.

james sure knows how to cook a good meal!

after we went over to jane and main and busy bee and did a little shopping.

and then just hung out a bit.

carilyn was soooo sweet and made me a good lunch and delicious cake.

and of course mads had to help me blow out my candles!

that night mads was soooo tired!
i guess it was a long couple of days for her.

we had a pretty great week!
and we are pretty blessed to have such wonderful
friends and family in our lives.