The Hewlett Family

Valentines Day/ Lady Antebellum!

2012-02-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

This Valentines day was just amazing and they just keep getting better! Todd came home Monday, (we did a family valentines the day before cause tuesday was occupied) But anyway, he came home with Flowers, which when he walked in Maddie Yells, "OH DADDY! For me??" So cute. So Daddy brought flowers home for mommy and Maddie:) We had a yummy dinner and we gave the kids there cute valentines and Daddy had something special for mommy and Maddie... Gift certificates to have a girls day and get manicures. It will be so fun to go do that when I can find the time. Tuesday, Maddie Kyler left their present (Dr. Pepper and his most favorite candy) for daddy on his bed as a surprise for when he got home. But He didnt get to see it til after midnight cause he went straight from work to dinner and the Lady Antebellum Concert with me! We had such a great time and loved the date night! And of course, we are so blessed to have such sweet parents that will take time to watch our kids occasionally! At dinner though, we were talking and we realized that a year ago from Valentines, we actually found out we would be having Kyler! Its so fun to reflect that way and remember it was Valentines day that I found out I would be pregnant. after talking at dinner we rushed to salt lake and LOVED the concert! It was such a good show and it was our very first concert we have gone to together! We had a blast and a great Valentines day. I love my family and the fun we have! I have a great husband and 2 little angels and life doesnt get any better than this!

Birthday Weekend and More!

2012-01-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

I am so lucky and Todd is the Best ever:) For my Birthday, Todd surprised me by getting me LADY ANTEBELLUM Concert Tickets to go February 14th! I was so happy and excited! I have been wanting to go for so long and i just cant wait! After finding that out, Friday night we got to go on a date night to go to a movie and dinner. I am so grateful for my sweet parents to watch our kids every once in a while! We had a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse and went to see New Years Eve... Birthday girl's choice of course! Although my first choice was MI4, it was sold out. Saturday Todd went out and came home with a fun birthday cake and another present... Lady Antebellum CD. It was so fun to do with the Kids and watch Maddie get caught putting her fingers in the cake!

That night Todd was so sweet and watched the Kiddos while i got to go out for a girls night with my Mom and Sister in law. Sunday my parents had all the family over for a birthday dinner they always do for everyone and open fun presents and being around everyone. My parents made me my favorite... Salmon and Veggies:) My Dad can cook a mean salmon and I just LOVE IT. The next sunday we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Hewletts and my Mother in Law made my favorite meal that she makes and her yummy chocolate cake... It is seriously to die for! Again, it was so nice and fun to catch up and be around everyone! I love my family and all they do! Im so blessed and had a GREAT 25th Birthday:)

Kyler's Blessing

2012-01-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

We just had Kyler's Blessing this past Sunday, January 1st, and I do have to say that my little guy looked SO Handsome! Yes I am Biased. We did it on New Years in hopes that alot of our family and friends who lived out of state would be able to attend. Some did and we were so grateful to them for coming! We feel so blessed that we have the family and friends that truely love us and our little Family in our life. Todd did such a great job with Kyler's Blessing Prayer that brought both of us to tears. Kyler is such a special Little boy with the sweetest little Spirit. He has the ability to Smile at everyone he sees and Brightens their day. He has got the spirit and personality that just tames our sometimes chaotic home. He was sent to us from our Heavenly Father for a very profound purpose and we are so grateful for him. He Loves to talk with anyone that holds him and just smiles the entire time. Maddie and Kyler love and just adore each other and I hope they grow to stay close as they both get older. Kyler just smiles ear to ear when he sees Maddie even if she isnt paying attention to him. They are the greatest blessings in my life and I know how lucky I am. They Both bring a little bit of Heaven into our home and remind me just how important Family is. I love Kyler and so thankful that he came when he did (even though I wasnt planning on that timing) His story of how and when he came testifies to me that God holds a better plan for me that I know for myself. He knows when I need things in my life better than I do, and I need to have better faith in that. I am so grateful for all those in my life that support us, Love us, and truely care about us. We love and are so grateful to all of you!

A Hewlett Christmas 2011:)

2011-12-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was as usual, busy busy and BUSY! But at the same time, thats what its about.. being completely around family, and we are blessed to have alot of family! Christmas Eve morning we were busy taking care of 2 kids and at the same time, cooking lots of food:) We have made it our little familys tradition to make Sugar cookies and frost them for Santa. We ended up making them in the morning with Maddie and she LOVED it! We made Christmas trees and Snowman cookies and saved the frosting to do at night before bed.

We Made a cracker dip for a fun family lunch at Nana and Grandpa Spendloves house and headed over there for the afternoon. We had fun being around everyone and doing the kids present exchange. We Love to be around the entire Spendlove family! Maddie has tons of cousins and they love to play! We had fun visting, letting the kids run wild and played fun games! For Christmas Eve night we headed over to the Hewletts house for the christmas eve party. Again, busy but so fun to be surrounded by lots more family! We again ate lots of good food, Visited with more family and cousins and had a great time. Todd's mom put together an activity for the kids to act out the Nativity scene and it was really cute! Maddie loved dressing up and just followed her cousins around (even if it wasnt her turn to be in the scene) Maddie was a wise man and Kyler ended up being baby Jesus. His cousin Hallie was Mary and she was just awesome and did great at holding him as long as she did!

After the play we headed home to let Maddie have time to frost the cookies for santa and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas! She was kinda tired from everything that she wasnt too much into frosting cookies, but she watched the movie and off to bed she went. Christmas Morning Maddie woke up at 7:30 and it was so fun to go out to see her face light up when she saw that Santa left her a Kitchen and had it all set up for her! It took us 10 minutes to get her to stop playing with it and show her that Santa left more stuff!

After opening presents we hurried to get ready to go to Nana and Grandpa's church. After church we went straight to Grandma Hewletts house to be with them and open presents with the Family. While we were there we learned that we are getting a very special gift this June!! Brett and Annie had Hallie and Cole where Big Sis and Big Brother Shirts to tell us they are expecting this June. We are SO EXCITED! And what is even better is that Annie told me that since she has one of each they dont think they will find out what they are having at all so its going to be so fun to see this June if it is a boy or a girl!

After opening all the presents we then headed back to The Spendlove house to open presents there and eat a yummy Christmas dinner. We let all the kids run around playing with the toys Nana and Grandpa got and we played games and enjoyed ourselves. Even though how busy Christmas time is for Todd and I, I still come to find that we are very blessed to have the big family we do. We have alot of family and though its hard sometimes to find the time to be at everything, Im grateful I have the family we do to be surrounded by. We had so much fun even how exhausted we got. I truly am grateful for all the family in our life and grateful to My Heavenly Father for that blessing.
The week After Christmas is continuing to still be busy. Todds Brother put together a Bountiful Basketball Alumni. Boys come and play and the teams are made with the year they graduated. It is fun to go watch and see family and friends and watch a good basketball game. They do it everyday in the week at night and its fun to go do! More fun activities and ways to be around family and friends:)

Hewlett Update/Christmas Card

2011-12-19T17:24:00.000-08:00

Things in the Hewlett home have been super busy that I have not had time to come up with time to do a super cute christmas card to send out that if your disappointed, consider this your card:) but to be honest, I'm sure we don't have too many of you that are heart broken over it. Anyway, between moving, painting the house, organizing, decorating, taking care of 2 little ones, visiting family, there hasn't been much down time of relaxing. But we are so grateful for all that we have and acknowledge our many blessings! This past year starting out was a big step in the right direction for us! About this time last year Todd was only a month into his new job after struggling with a lay off before. We were so blessed to have todds parents be so open to let us live in their basement in october of 2010 when that all happened. It gave us the oppurtunity to give us the time to have todd really sit and find a good job in the direction of what he got his Bachelors degree in. While living there it gave me a chance to go back to get my CNA. We then moved to some townhomes around christmas time last year trying to continue to save money. We enjoyed the time there after being so blessed to have family to help us out. After moving to the townhome we came to find out a huge surprise on valentines day.... We were pregnant and due in October! It was a complete surprise but we were happy:) Through the spring and summer we were just going day to day of working and caring for Maddie as I gained a belly. We came to find that we were expecting a boy June 1st and were so thrilled! We spent our summer working and going to our favorite family spots East Canyon and the cabin. Todd was still in his first year of his career and had no vacation days.. But with those homes away from home we still had fun!! The beginning of August we started looking at houses and were super busy. We found the home of our dreams but went through windy roads with it being a short sale. We did finally get word that the house was ours and were extremely happy! But first we were surprised again when Kyler decided to make his appearance on the morning of October 3rd. We moved into our home December 3rd and are loving it! We love our new ward and feel very welcomed. We have been so busy getting the house tegether and raising 2 little ones. Maddie is so sweet and learning the potty process. She loves being a big sister and just adores her baby brother. Kyler is just darling and talks non stop already! This past month he has really blossomed and coos and smiles all day long! He truly is adorable and makes us laugh and smile all day! Pictures of the new home are soon to come:)

Welcome Baby Brigham:)

2011-11-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

The Spendlove Family is growing and growing fast! Baby Brigham came to the family Sunday night and he makes the 10th Grandchild for my parents! He is such a cutie and i just love him! He and Kyler are just 2 months apart and buds already! I went to visit him in the Hospital on Monday and we thought to put Kyler next to Brigham for a picture and the most remarkable thing happened! Once we put Brig next to Kyler, Kyler turned to Brigham and put his hand up next to Brigham trying to touch his face. It was such a sweet feeling and just knowing of the plan of salvation, we then realized that just 2 months ago, they were up in heaven together waiting to come join the rest of our family. It was a sense of feeling that Kyler knew who he was and that he had been just WAITING for Brigs to come be with him again! We can already tell they have a very sweet special relationship and are so glad they are this close in age! It will be so fun to see these two grow up together!
Brigham Hunter Spendlove
Born November 27, 2011
6 lbs. 14 oz., 18 1/2 inches long

Thanksgiving 2011...

2011-11-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was busy but really fun! Thanksgiving is a special holiday for the Spendlove family, So with all us kids married and have a whole other family, my Mom has made it so that every other year she moves her thanksgiving to friday so that when she does her Thanksgiving dinner, the entire Family is together. This year was her year for keeping it on thursday, so therefore, we were there for the big feast. My mom also has made having a Cherry pie a Spendlove tradition:) I have grown up with having a cherry pie every thanksgiving and its everyone's favorite! Now that we are all grown and all love it so much, my mom has now made it a fun tradition for all of us girls to go to her house the day before thanksgiving feast and make our cherry pies with her! I love this and hope it continues each year! I have so much fun even though im not the best baker... This year with having 2 needy kids my mom ended up making my crust because I kept screwing it up! Hopefully I will be better at it next year!
Todd and I strarted our Thanksgiving by going to our newly purchased home to wash walls and start the make over process in the morning, came home for the kids to take naps, then headed over to the Spendlove Grandparents home in the afternoon for dinner. We love to have so many cousins there for our kiddos to play with! They always have fun... Even though fights break out, they do have fun:)

After eating dinner, We then headed over to play a fun game of Dodgeball with the Hewletts. It was so much fun and again, we are blessed with so many people to enjoy in our family! Maddie just has a blast with everyone! It was fun to see all the extended family and play!

This past year has been one of the best BLESSED years for our family! Todd and I reflected on this past year and we are overwelmed with joy and gratitude. We have been blessed beyond measure! This past year we gained alot and hopefully improved on our weaknesses... We know we tried. We got blessed with new friendships, a new baby, and blessed with a great job for Todd, and getting a great home in a great neighborhood for our children to grow up in. We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for all the things we have and the blessings we have recieved! I am grateful for all that is in my life! I am truely blessed:)

Cousins..and Best Buds

2011-11-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

I was just going through my pictures on my camera and realized just how many I had of Kyler and Maddie with their cousins. I didnt realize how much I had and how often our nieces and nephews just love to lay down and play with Kyler!I am so thankful for all of them! Katlynn, our 5 year old niece just ADORES Kyler! Every time I see her she begs to hold him and just loves him! My kids are the luckiest! We love how all the grandkids really love to play and just be together! We are truley blessed and so are our Kiddos!

# 6 Blessing..

2011-11-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

The Hewlett side of Family. Marrying into Todd's Family is a blessing and was a little intimidating at the first. His Dad is the oldest of 5 boys and they all still get together for holidays with all the cousins and even extended cousins. There are tons of people and what is great about it is that I have gotten to become great friends with so many more people. I am grateful for so many friendships I have been blessed to have just by still having his cousins so much a part of our life. Its so fun to see them up at the cabin in the summer time and talk with all the aunts, uncles and cousins, and my sister in laws. I am jsut grateful that Maddie and Kyler have alot of aunts and Uncles and cousins that love and care for them. I never had this growing up and it truely is a blessing to be able to have the friendships with Todds aunts, uncles, cousins, and who his cousins married. They are wonderful people and I just love to sit and talk with all of them! It has made Todd the man he is today and im very thankful for that. We love and appreciate each and every one of them:)

# 5 Blessing..

2011-11-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

My Siblings! My brothers and sister are just amazing and I am so blessed to have all of them to look up to! I Love them so much and so grateful for each of them. I Love to that I have a different friendship with each of them! My sister and I have grown to be so close as I got older! She and I are 10 years apart so when I was young I was the little brat to her and she moved out by the time I was like 8 years old. But as I have reached 18 we talked alot and I can go to her with anything and we could just laugh at inside jokes we have! She seriously is one that can brighten my day. Steven is my advice guy! If I need help or advice on something Steven is my go to guy! He lays it out to me straight and gives me some great advice when I need to hear it! Brandon is the comedian in our family and this guy just cracks me up everytime Im around him! He also has helped Todd and I out TREMENDOUSLY in the process of buying our house and been so great to take his time to meet up with us and tell us what houses would be best! He is such a hard worker and I am so thankful for all he tries do to help me out! He is great at making everyone laugh and forget about there worries! Jony is just amazingly smart and has been so great to help us out when buying our car 6 months ago! He is always the one to calm me down and keep me Patient! He is also such a great Uncle and I appreciate all he does for Maddie especially when I have been busy with Kyler! He is always the one to make sure I have everything I need. Growing up these guys of course had its bumps but I couldnt ask for better! I appreciate all of them and all that they do for me! Evan is our little brother my parents are in the process of adopting and im grateful to have him join our family and just how sweet he can be! He is great with all the young kids and truly has a sweet Spirit! All my siblings have also married such great people! Neal, Kristi, Kathryn, and Sara are so wonderful and im so grateful I have them in my family as well! Each of them have been so sweet and have helped me in my life so many times! They have never failed to be there for me and Im so grateful for that! I just love this family! Something too that I love is that we have ALOT of strong minded people in the Spendlove Family! Something I do love is that we are not afraid to speak out and let each other know how we feel. If we have an argument or get frustrated with each other, we hash it out and get over it.. And at the end of the day we still care and love each other! We are not afraid to be ourselves and talk about our problems. We work them out, and continue on! I never have to question if they have my best interest at heart, or have to worry if they truly care! They are the best and am so grateful I can turn to any of them when needed!

# 4 Blessing...

2011-11-16T10:58:00.001-08:00

#4: My Dad. My dad is my hero and voice of reason. He is always willing to help anyone even if he is as busy as can be. He has been the best father to help me with homework, go to my basketball games, and just be there to talk to when life was hard! I love talking to my dad especially when there is a problem, because if I am ever wrong, he lets me know it. He literally is my rock and voice of reason... Someone else could tell me the same thing and get blue in the face because I wouldnt understand, but when my dad talks to me, i fully understand and see his point on things. Im so grateful for the Grandpa he is! He loves my children and does anything for them! My dad is seriously the greatest man I know. I am so blessed to have him as my Dad! He has taught me such valuable lessons and has helped me in so many ways! Thanks dad for all you do for me and my Family and always being a great Friend and mentor in my life!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!

2011-11-16T10:57:00.001-08:00

Today is my Mom's birthday! Which brings me to blessing #3: My Mom. I could never repay my mom and all she went through to make sure I could do the things that I can today! The day I was born wasnt a great one for her. Both of us nearly died and she had a c- section without ANYTHING to numb her. She got infected, and not knowing if I would ever have a somewhat normal life, had depression and still had 4 older children through it all. For years she took me to speech therapy, did exercises with my right side of my body (I couldnt use it for the first few years due to what happened at birth). She did so much work to help me and still does to this day. Now having my own children, she has always been there helping me! She tries her hardest to do what she can for all of her Children and Grandchildren! Thanks so much for watching my kids charge free and being so Happy to do it when I need it! I am so thankful for all she has and continues to do. Love you SO much Mom!

# 2 blessing...

2011-11-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

#2: My Children. These 2 little ones are just angels sent from Heaven. Maddie is so full of life and loves to laugh and make others around her smile! Even though she can drive me CRAZY some days, she truely is the sweetest person! If someone is crying or hurt, she always runs over to make sure they are ok, and helps anyway she can. She tries in everyway to help her mommy out with Kyler! Kyler is just a cutie! He now smiles and recognizes mommy and daddy's voices and when he is fed and changed and not tired, he just loves to stare at me and smile! What a blessing to see that sweet boy smile everyday by just looking at me! I love these 2 so much and couldnt imagine a life with out them!

Im So Thankful and So Blessed!

2011-11-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

I have so much to be thankful for and started to think about it all. As I thought of all the things that I have and the people in my life, I started to think to myself that I need to work on a flaw I have.. Complaining. Seriously, I have noticed that when one tiny little bad thing happens, I complain... But as I think of all the GOOD in my life... Its so much and I have noticed I dont fully take the time to sit and think about it and thank My Heavenly Father for all my blessings. I need to work on that more! So here we go.. I will post 1 out of the top ten things in my life that Im most grateful for each day....

#1: My Husband!! I could go on and on how grateful I am for Todd. How we met is truely Gods work in telling us we were meant to be with each other! Todd is the most sweetest man in the world! I appreciate ALL he does for me and our children. He never complains and when I do, he is there to bring me down to earth and tell me it could always be worse. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt and is amazing at not letting others actions and Mean words bother him.. And again, im the one he tells that they dont matter and our family is all that should. Todd Loves me!! Especially now that i just had Kyler a month ago, I dont feel like the most attractive girl, but Todd tells me EVERYDAY how Beautiful I am and how great of a mom I am. Im so thankful for those words! Because some days I really do get down about it. Todd can always make me smile! He is so funny when im down about something and he can make me forget about it by just being a goof!I love Todd more than anything in this world and wouldnt change a thing about him:)

Kyler at 1 month....

2011-11-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

I cant believe that my little boy is one month old today!! Boy has this past month flown by. I woke up early with Kyler to feed him and while rocking him, it hit me that today he is exactly one month old. I started to think back to a month ago and think of his birth story and all I went through that day. Looking at him and back to the hard recovery of a c section, I would do it all over again to get to have these little momnets of our early morning feedings and talking to him. I remember during the pregnancy, and how MISERABLE I felt, and still, just to have him I would do it agian. He is such a special little guy! I also just cant believe how much he has grown in just a month! He was born 3 weeks early so he was just a tiny little thing when he was born. Tiny thin arms and legs! Now just a month later, this boy has literally gained some cheeks and rolls! I tell you he eats SO MUCH! Maddie never ate as much as this boy does, and with how he looks now compared to a month ago, you can tell he just loves to eat! He has become quite a healthy big boy!
We have noticed Kyler's personality has come out a little bit and we just love it! He is laid back but is not afraid to speak up when he needs/wants something. We think he is a very easy going person, but puts up a fight when he definately needs to. He loves Maddie when she interacts with him.. sometimes. When he is in a good mood, I have caught them talking and it is just precious. Every move Maddie would make his eyes would just follow in awe. He loves to talk (to mommy) and watch the sports with daddy on the weekends. He is a very happy baby and has been smiling since day one! I just love to watch him cause he spontaneously will get a grin on his face throughout the day. We are just really enjoying this guy and love to see him learn to do new things as he continues to grow!
Kyler 1 Week Old

Kyler 1 month old...

Halloween 2011...

2011-11-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was fun to do with Maddie being 2 years old! Even though we had just had Kyler, we got to enjoy alot! Todd took Maddie to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out some pumpkins one Saturday, and since I had Kyler, I had to stay home. But Todd said she loved it and ever since that day when Maddie saw a pumpkin she would point and say, "mommy look! Pumpkin Patch!" Never once would she just say Pumpkin.. It was always Pumpkin Patch! Todd got 2 pumpkins and we had a little Family Halloween Party carving pumpkins while Making Halloween Treats and Popcorn watching The Charlie Browns Great Pumpkin! We had so much fun with Maddie and doing that for a little FHE:)

Halloween day was SUPER busy! This year Maddie chose to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland and was just sooo cute! With Kyler only being 4 weeks old I just found some skeleton Jammies and that was his costume! Todd's work had a fun trick or treating event that they let their children come trick or treating at their offices, so That was our first stop seeing daddy and having hime take Maddie around. At first she was hesitant to take a candy from people, but by the end of it she was WAY into it. She even saw this guy leaving work and walked straight up to him holding her basket out to get candy from him! It was pretty funny. After having Todd's co workers say to us just how darn cute she was, we headed to The Hewletts house for some more trick or treating around there and had Grandma's traditional chilli and Donuts. We spent some time with cousins Hallie and Cole too! I was so mad I didnt get a picture but they were so cute! Hal was a Ute Cheerleader and Coley was a Red Power Ranger! After that we went to see Nana and Grandpa Spendlove, and of course, More trick or treating. Maddie got to go with her cousins and they had such a blast! Maddie then starting running down the sidewalk screaming "trick treat! trick treat!" She now for sure LOVES Halloween!
My Cute Alice and Handsome Little Skeleton!
Love this Picture!! One of Maddie's favorite Cousins Katlynn!
I was trying to get Maddie and Bronson for a cute picture But, didnt work! He's a cutie!
Our Niece Karissa! She is the cutest little Bumble Bee I had ever seen!
Maddie and her BFC (Best friend Cousin) Kamryn! Just LOVES her!

What 2 year old Does that??...

2011-10-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

So this past week I have noticed just how NOT little My little Maddie is. She literally acts so grown up and does things I swear I have never seen a 2 year old do! Now, like every mom in the world, I am biased and think that my little girl is just the cutest, smartest, sweetest.. well, no she has attitude, but still the smartest and cutest girl in the world. She is not perfect and we have a tough route on teaching how to be sweet to others, even when they still do her wrong. I will admit that. But anyways, Back to what I am even trying to write about.... We got Maddie a little Tricycle for her 2nd birthday this past June and let me just say, Im not so sure we are getting our money's worth out of it! Let me just say that one of Maddie's most favorite things to do is ride bikes! She loves it and it is so hard to get her to come inside for the night when she is outside riding bikes and playing with her friends. Something else we also know about Maddie and are just SO proud of, is just how determined and independent she is. First off, she now no longer likes to ride her little tricycle because this past week our neighbor's little girl brought her "big girl" bike outside, and she doesnt really like to ride it all that much.. She rides it for like 2 seconds than leaves it and so since Maddie has a huge interest in bikes, she literally ran over to the bike and climbed her little body up on to the seat and taught herself how to peddle and use the breaks on it. Seriously, she was not interested in playing with anyone or anything the rest of the day. She literally was on it for about an hour or two. Once she figured how she can peddal, when her feet barely reach the pedals, she would look over at me yelling " mommy look!! I did it!" Maddie is so hilarious and so not the age 2 inside of her. I just remember thinking to myself.. What 2 year old does that with a 4 year old bike?? I dont remember ever being able to do that when I was her age!" SHe is so smart and so determined to work on things she has a passion for and I am so proud of her for that!

Another Great thing about Maddie is her Memory! SHe literally is so much better at remembering where she puts her stuff, and where I put mine.. Than I am. She will come ask me to watch a certain movie or ask me for a certain toy, and I will tell her, oh I dont know where that went! Where is it? I will get up and start looking and she will stop me and say.. "mom, it upstairs.. I go get it." And she will seriously go up, and come down with what she wants. One time I was frantically looking for the car keys cause I was late for my Dr. Appointment, I asked maddie if she had the keys or asked where she "hid" them. She was just like.. "upstairs mom!" she went up, so I followed her, and she went straight to my bedroom on the far side of the room on my nightstand, which by the way I never put the keys there, and she grabbed them saying "here they are mom!" I honestly would lose my head with out my Maddie!
She also is such a great Big sister to Kyler! She loves to help him in any way she can! Whenever its his bath night she has to have her own wash cloth and she washes Kylers little feet and hands. Whenever Kyler is asleep in his Boppy, Maddie always gets him a blanket and gently puts it on him, gives him a kiss and says night night Kyler! Whenever we start to get ready to go bye bye, she always drags his huge carseat over to me telling me Kyler needs to be put into it! She is such an amazing girl and person and we just love everything about her! She is a huge blessing in our family and we love how much she just LOVES people and loves to learn, and loves to help!

Anything Like Me...

2011-10-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

The other day I was listening to the radio and this song came on and my heart just melted. I just thought of my Boys and thought of how great Todd is with Kyler! He is such a great dad and has a special bond with both Maddie and Kyler. Listening to the words reminded me that not only does Kyler look exactly like his daddy, but as he gets older and as his personality shines through, he will most likely be like Todd in alot of ways too. Todd is so excited to see the kiddos when he gets home and loves his father son time. Its so fun to see him interact with Kyler. I truely am lucky to have such a great Husband:)

Our first week....

2011-10-11T08:37:00.001-07:00

Its been a full week of being a mom of 2, and as glad as I am to have Kyler, its been a long bumpy week. First of all, I have had a cold for about 2 or 3 weeks now(I was just getting over it when I went into the hospital.) I was planning on resting all the 2 weeks until my scheduled C=section on the 14th. But with everything going on, I have gotten worse with that cold. Some days I feel great and its going away, and the next day after being up all night, i feel worse than ever. Maddie had a cough, but was getting worse so my mom took her to the doctor on Wednesday, the day before I was coming home from the hospital, and learned that Maddie also had Pink eye. SO, putting more strain on things, I ended up being a paranoid mom all week too. Trying to be understanding of a 2 year old trying to adapt to the new change and also trying to keep her far away from Kyler has not been easy. We made her constantly wash her hands and only kiss the top of his head. Maddie has yet to even hold her little brother! Yesterday, I woke up to find that Maddie gave me that wonderful gift of Pink eye! I then started to notice that Kyler now has the eye goop going on, so again, the pink eye was passed to him as well. Maddie is now back to just a tiny little cough, which is great, but now I have pink eye, I cant wear my contacts so I cant see, a severe head cold and cough, and Kyler has pink eye. It has not been that great for our new little family in the beginning! Not to mention I cant lift and hold Maddie, or do too much because of the surgery. Recovering from a C-section is not the best thing to add on top of being so sick. I love my 2 kiddos more than anything and am so grateful we have Kyler and being 17 days early, so grateful he is such a healthy baby. But, this was our first week, and its not what I imagined it. Its already such an emotional roller coaster getting us to a new baby in the home and having to deal with all the illness and recovery, i guess you can say I haven't taken it to well. I just hope we get over everything soon! Kyler is the best baby and I'm such a proud mommy, but he sure messed up some plans and came at a very interesting time!
I did get some pictures of the first week home...... Maddie sure loves him and is such a big helper! She has caught on so quickly and loves to help us with him anyway she can. Whenever we burp him after feedings she walks up saying " I help too!" and we let her pat him... Bath time is fun with her too! We get an extra washcloth for Maddie and she actually gets it wet and washes the places on Kyler we tell her. I'm so glad she has adapted well to having a new addition to our family!
My little Kiddos:)
Daddy with his favorite children!
Kyler exactly 1 week old!
My cute little ones! Maddie just ADORES him!
My adorable Boy:)

Kyler's First Pictures!

2011-10-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

There were so many great Pictures of Kyler's first day! My sister is so wonderful and took some great pictures for me and I love her tons! We love Kyler and are so blessed with the family we have that Love our kids so much! Thanks Kathryn for the wonderful pictures I get to enjoy:)

Good ol' Uncle Jony with Kyler!
Kyler with his Nana!
Kyler and his Proud Grandpa Spendlove!
Kyler and Grandma Hewlett
Kyler with his sweet Aunt Kristi
Uncle Steve with Kyler
Evan and Kyler
Kyler with his sweet Aunt Sara!
Proud Daddy and Kyler
Our Newest Family Piture!

Kylers SURPRISE Arrival!

2011-10-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

Kyler Came into this world by a major surprise! As most of you already know, I had a scheduled C-section for the 14th of October, which was Next Friday. With how I got news from my doctor that I would not be able to have a vaginal birth, and how Maddie was born with a scheduled C-section and I never had contractions whatsoever with her, I just had it planted in my head that it would be the same and was just getting things ready at home not having a worry in the world about going into labor. I even remember talking to my mom and saying how pointless I thought my visits are too. I would go in, they would listen to the heartbeat, check my cervix, tell me that it was tight and doing absolutely nothing, and that was it. Over Conferrence weekend we basically deep cleaned the house and got more stuff ready for his arrival. Still thinking it was 2 weeks away. Sunday came and we spent the morning going to The Hewlett side of family for breakfast and to watch the first session. We then went home for lunch, naps, and watch the Last session of conferrence. we then headed to see the Spendlove side of the family for dinner and games. All day I felt great and didnt expect anything out of the ordinary. We left my parents house about 9 pm and got home to get Maddie to bed. Todd and I got ready for bed and did our usual of crawling into bed and watching a few Everybody Loves Raymond Episodes before we fall asleep. We were laying there watching and suddenly around 11 pm I felt a little bit of cramping. I kinda ignored it thinking that it was just a little pain being going and up constantly and doing so much within the past 2 days. by 11:40 The cramps I noticed were coming and going so I then told todd to time my last cramp to the next one and they were 10 minutes apart. I then called my mom and she told me to get up and walk around to see if they stop. For about 4o minutes came and went of pacing around the bedroom and noticed they slowed down and werent as intense. My mom said they were just braxton Hicks and to just go back to bed. I did just that and then couldnt sleep because I continued to have contractions. I then timed them again and noticed they were continuing to come ever 6-7 minutes for the next hour. I then called my mom around 1 am to let her know and she said I needed to go in. We waited for my mom to come pick Maddie up and off we went. The Nurses hooked me up to the monitors to see what my contractions were doing and called my doctor. They later came and told me that my doctor said it was too early and they gave me a shot to try and stop my contractions. We then waited for an hour to see what that would do, and I then started to get severe back pain and could not get comfortable at all! They then gave me another shot to stop the pain and I finally fell asleep at about 5 am. I woke up at about 6 feeling very nauseated and I was sweating horribly. I yelled for Todd to bring the trash can over and for him to get the nurse. The nurse came in and took one look at the monitors and a look at me and said, "wow, you are not going home! You are in Labor my dear!" They called my doctor again and he came in at about 7 am and said we were going to go ahead and have a C-section because my contractions were back to being regular and closer together. We barely had time to call my mom to let her know what was happening and off to the surgery room we went. About 20 minutes later, Kyler made his wimper little cry and he was here! Something funny Todd and I always joked about throughout my pregnancy is if He were to be born on the anniversary of the day Todd and I met, which was October 3rd! We find it so fun and special! Kyler is such a blessing to our family and we feel so blessed to have the children we do! We are enjoying every minute of life with these two little ones! We are so grateful to have another little piece of Heaven in our home!!

Kyler Andrew Hewlett

2011-10-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

Kyler Andrew Hewlett
Born: October 3, 2011
Weighed: 6 lbs. 13 Oz.
19 Inches long
Time: 8:01 am

Doctors Update....36 weeks along

2011-09-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Today I had my doctor appointment for my pregnancy and I left in tears. Something that has gone unanswered since I had Maddie just got answered to me today and I didnt like the results. Today was my first appointment where the doctor started to check to see if I was dilated at all. I knew it wasnt good because after everything my doctor just remained silent while he made all his documents and notes. I had told him how determined I was to have a regular vaginal birth because I had a c-section with my first and told him that the doctors down in Orem where I had her, told me they think that Maddie just got too big to get her head down and that was the reason. SO, with this in my notes, and with me asking if his head is down ever since I was 32 weeks, I could tell he had something to tell me that I was just not going to like. He started to tell me that with checking my cervix, it is so tight and isnt making any progress that it should with how far along I am. He then explained to me that the baby is head down, but nowhere near where he should be with getting prepared to have birth. He then explained that some women, not many, have a narrow heart shaped pelvis, which results to when having children, can never have a vaginal birth because the baby's head does not fit through. He mentioned with the doctors really not detecting it when I had Maddie, he thinks that is what it was with having her, which will result to be the same case with this pregnancy. We scheduled a time for my C-Section with all the statistics, there is very little chance I will be able to have a vaginal birth. After the doctor left the room, I just cried. I know I might be weird or just plain crazy but being told I will never experience a normal birth broke me. C-secitons are hard on recovering and on me period. I cried leaving the office, cried driving home, and cried calling Todd to tell him what happened. Todd calmed me down by saying that maybe its just whats healthy and best for the baby and that is all that matters. Maybe with me it is just better this way. Im not sure of the reason, but I have taken it hard for some reason. I called my mom after and she got me to see that I have done it once and that I can do it again with no problem and it helped even more. My sister said the same thing and ive come to realize that i might look at this as being hard and difficult for me to grasp that I will have to always have c-sections and never get to experience a normal one, but I need to just be grateful that I can have children. We have have a scheduled
c-section for the 14th of October which is just 3 weeks away from this friday. And that is the date unless I go into labor or something else comes up. I guess I get 3 weeks to mentally and physically prepare, and maybe it will be easier this time around.

Fun Sunday with Cousin Jen!

2011-09-14T08:13:00.001-07:00

This past sunday was so much fun for our family! Our cousin Jennifer (one of my closest friends too) came into town for a visit to see her boyfriend who is currently going to BYU and came up to see the Spendlove family for the night! I was so excited! Jennifer has always been there for me in my life and she is my only cousin my age that I have! Jennifer lived out here a little over 2 years ago, then moved back to Oklahoma just after Maddie was born, so it was so great to have Maddie see her again at an age that she can have fun with her! We love Jennifer so much and hope she comes back really soon for another visit!! The Kids just LOVE her and had so much fun playing together with her on sunday. My sister got some adorable pictures while she was here and she is awesome! We love you Jen and hope to see you really soon!
Jen and Maddie! Maddie really does love Jennifer, she just did that at my sister for taking a picture! lol
Jen with all the Spendlove Kiddos! They Love her tons!

alan jackson- Where were you september 11th

2011-09-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Every year when this tragic day comes along, I always think back to the day when our Country was under attack, and view that day when I was just 14 years old, as a big eye opener for me. I always think of Alan Jacksons song "where were you when the world stopped turning" because I always think back to that day. At such a young age, but yet an age that I understand what is going on, I no longer felt that there was a perfect peaceful world. I never thought that anything this horrible could ever happen! Out of all my childhood memories, that day I remember exactly what I did from the moment I woke up to get ready for school, til I went to bed that night. I remember what outfit I wore to school that day even. I went to school as a 9th grader and watched it all unfold on television in all my classes. I talked about with classmates and friends and remember being scared to death. I remember going home and my dad made sure he got home early to be with our family and be there to explain any questions me and my brothers had about what was happening in the world. As a family we watched history happen and cried for those in New York, those on the planes, and those at the Pentagon. It was the first time I heard of Bin Laden and the group that hates Americans. I remember not being able to sleep that night at all cause I was Terrified more attacks were coming. Even though I did not know anyone killed on that day, I still mourn, and think of them and their families and pray for them. Going through losing someone close to me like this I couldnt even imagine. I will always remember this day and Honor those that were lost, and their loved ones!

34 Weeks Along!

2011-09-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Positve Insight: -Only 4-6 weeks to go before this boy makes it into this world.
-Todd helps me out more than usual and spoils me to no end. I truly am a lucky girl to have him!
-Maddie is getting so excited to see us getting the baby's stuff set up and knows there is an actual baby in my tummy now.
-I really enjoy feeling him move constantly and feel him daily! He is literally a little person and its an amazing feeling
-No longer throwing up constantly to where I have to go to the Hospital!

Negative Insight: -Huge and uncomfortable.
-Aches in Lower Back, hips, and feet.
-Sleepless nights of tossing from one side to the other.
-Endless trips to the potty during the night.
-Swollen Fingers where I can no longer wear my wedding ring:(
-Constant kicks in the ribs where I cant breathe.
-Have to alternate from sitting to standing constantly to help the aches and pains.
Despite all the Negative, I am just excited to meet this little guy and see how Maddie does with her baby brother! I also am just so grateful to be this blessed to be able to bring these little angels into the world, and grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to put them in my hands to raise them to be wonderful children of God.

Too Anxious For Fall...

2011-09-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

Besides the Fact that Fall is one of my favorite seasons, I was so excited to see September first come! That told me that I can officially say I only need to make it through one full month before I get to meet this little man! I do have to say that this pregnancy, even though hard at some points, has gone alot faster than my pregnancy with Maddie did. Now that its September, we are busy trying to get things ready! Im now going into a frantic of telling Todd "we need to get the carseat, the swing, and bumbo out of storage! We need to rearrange the family room to fit the Rocking chair in there! I need to get Baby laundary detergent to wash all of his clothes! I need this, I need that! We dont have enough of this, we need more of that!" I think Im driving Todd a little nuts. I even changed our calendar on our fridge to September this past Monday, which was August 29th! And Todd of course had to make fun and make the comment that im now hitting that stage of pregnancy of anxiousness of him coming! And I wont deny it, I am! Im constantly trying to get things ready and wanting things all set by the 30th of this month! Is the 2nd of the month to early to get started?? Am I too anxious and crazy to start thinking of all this stuff?? I think Im just being a typical, ready to be done with pregnancy mom! Or I could just be a little off my rocker, who knows with pregnant minds right? All I have to say is I feel better if I see myself getting prepared and doing these things now rather than the end of September..... Right??!

Our Summer In Review...

2011-08-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Now that Summer is coming to an end, I thought I would reflect on our family fun adventures that stood out and that we are going to miss greatly! What is so fun for Todd and I, is to start off our sort of summer, We go down to St. George (where it really feels like summer) the beginning of May to celebrate our Anniversary. Its always so fun for us to get away and go down there! We had fun relaxing, hiking, going to see a movie even since we don't get to do that very often! lol. We have even talked about getting a permanent place down there in the very far future when we can afford it:) We had so fun and Todd took me to Vegas for my very first time, which I will need to go again because it was only for a day. But I still enjoyed it seeing the strip and going shopping!

After May we also got excited that we got news that we were finding out what we were going to have on June 1st! I was very shocked to find out we were going to have a Boy! I was completely convinced it was another girl, and the fact that I KNEW Maddie was a girl from early on, I just went with the same feeling. But, i am so excited its a boy and we were completely thrilled. We made this cake to tell my family and it was hilarious that my mom didn't get it at first! I thought she would just dig into it but she just started to cut it like normal and put pieces on plates! We sat there for a minute like.. Come on do you recognize the color?? So we had to point it out to her that the cake was blue!

June is also Maddie's Birthday! We had fun celebrating her 2nd Birthday up at one of our family's most favorite summer spots.. East Canyon! We threw her a TINKERBELL party with a BBQ and swimming at the lodges pool. It was a lot of work taking everything up there, but it was fun to spend with family up there and have all her cousins come!
Maddie and her Best Buddy Cousin Bronson!
Maddie's Role model Cousins Jackie, Katlynn, and Kamryn... They help Maddie So much and a great!
Cousin Hallie! Maddie just loves her!
Cousin Cole! Maddie enjoys Playing with Coley whenever she can! He is just wonderful to her!
Maddie's Birthday Cake:)
Swimming!!
July was super busy with Going to our other summer place, The Hewlett Cabin! I don't think I took any pictures up there because it was the very first year the swimming hole was too high and we never got the chance to go swimming up there:( But we still had fun with being with cousins, the bon fire, Maddie got to go on 4 wheeler rides with her daddy, and we of course went up for the 24th for the Demolition Derby. This year wasn't that great of a show and I couldn't even stand on the tiny bench to take pictures, but again, it was still fun for us to see family!
Other than that Maddie has really enjoyed playing outside with her cousins at Nana's playground and her friends next door Riding bikes! Summer is always sad to see go, but with me being 7 and a half months prego, I'm ready to bring fall on and meet this guy!!

32 Weeks and Looking Hideously Huge....

2011-08-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

I feel so huge and uncomfortable at this point that I am always asking... "I'm not sure I can make it to October! I don't know how he is going to get any bigger!" I tell you this boy is going to be a big guy! Guess it shouldn't come as big as a surprise with our family genes and the fact that Maddie was over 8 pounds! I really don't mean to complain, Because once he is here I know I will agree that it was all worth it. I really didn't want to put pictures up because I just carry so huge and look miserably huge, but I would feel bad that I did document with Maddie and didn't with this one. So here we are 32 weeks and hoping the next 6-8 weeks goes fast!!

Zoo Day!

2011-08-16T07:42:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was busy,tiring, but yet very fun for us! Last week Todd worked extra hours every day to get his 40 hours in by Thursday to get Friday off to spend the day with Maddie going to the Hogle Zoo for her very first time! He is seriously the best Dad in the world to think of doing that for his little girl! One day he actually went into work at 5 am and worked all the way to 5:30, when his office closes, didnt get home til 6, and never once complained about how tired he was and still made sure he played with Maddie before bedtime! Talk about how special his kids are to him! Im lucky to have a special man to do that, and I am so thankful my children have a such a great Dad that would be that wonderful!
We left for the zoo with our friends the Johnsons in the morning and spent a full day looking at all the fun animals! Maddie really liked seeing the animals, but I have to say the elephants were her least favorite. It was so weird! Every time the elephant would lift his trunk, Maddie would plug her ears thinking that it was going to make a horrible noise or something. The Zoo has now put dinasour statues throughout the park that make loud noises and move, and lets just say Maddie hated them! Every time we walked by one, she would get a scared look on her face, then cover her eyes.
Maddie's favorite animals that she saw were the Gorillas and Girraffes! She spent so much time in these places and just loved them! Seing the Gorilla was hilarious! He would walk up to the window and she would laugh but then walk away and she kept coming to tell me about the Gorilla, then run back to the window trying to get him to come back. I was really sad that my camera died before getting to her favorite animals so I didnt get any pictures of her being all that excited:(
We also bought tickets for the train ride, and we did that last before going home. At that point, Maddie was exhausted but really excited as we stood in line. Every time the train came and loaded up people, she was trying to run up through the line to get on, so telling her she had to wait didnt go very well. She wanted to get on so bad she couldnt even stand it! By the time it got to be our turn she was finally okay and I think she liked it, but she was so tired that it was hard to tell. We then headed home around 4:30 and it only took us getting out of the parking lot before she was zonked out!
Maddie excited to be at the Zoo!!
Maddie and her friend Addie on the wooden horsies!
The Elephants!
Looking at the Rhino's.
The Rhino!
Seeing how much the all weigh together compared to Elephant poop.... weird but interesting.

You Never Know...

2011-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today at church they made sure all the Sisters had the oppertunity to go to Relief Society while the Men took over ALL the primary and nursery. I was so glad they did this after attending and seeing why they wanted all of us to be in the Relief Society lesson this week. They had multiple speakers talk about the many different aspects and blessings of the temple. They had someone talk about how long temples have been on earth, then had someone discuss their experience getting their endowment, and just had more people talk about what is done in the temples and why its important to attend and so forth. Well, They had a very special lady talk about the blessings she has had converting to the church and talk about her feelings on the upcoming event in her life to be sealed to her husband and child this coming Saturday. I actually went to Jr. High and High school with this girl and so this hit me quite hard and made me really stop and think about some things. I wont mention her name, but she talked about being the girl in school who said she would never join the LDS Church because she went to school in Utah where 95% of students were Mormon and she mentioned how she just thought we were all Brainwashed. She then broke into tears mentioning that because of being a Catholic girl in a pool full of LDS Kids growing up, it was hard for her to feel like she fit in anywhere and kept her from getting close friends in highschool. She mentioned that she always felt left out and didnt fit in anywhere. Therefore, she said she remained quiet and shy and hardly said much. After hearing her talk about that and begin to say that it was her husbands push to meet with missionaries that got her to really come to understand the LDS church I was brought to tears. This girl is the strongest person I could know to go through all that and still have the courage to leave her Catholic raising for the LDS church. I also sat there thinking of how I might have come across her back in highschool and how I could have reached out more to those that could have been feeling "left out" or that they didnt "fit in." Now, anybody who knows me well, I am such a sensitive person. I hate to see anyone sit alone or mention that they feel hurt by the way someone treats them. I've always been a person that wants everybody to get along and be close to everyone. I want everybody to get along. I hate to see people hurt and I feel even worse if I feel like I could be better at not letting it happen. I have been in their shoes and think that everyone has one way or the other. I just dont think we sometimes know just how badly people want or ought to feel welcomed by you even if its a simple "hi, how have ya been." I have been there where I just hated to even go around certain people because I knew I would be just sitting there and not really be included in anything and I would always have a very awkward feeling. I wouldnt even know what to say half the time just because the others conversations would be around people or something i have no clue about. Because I have and sometimes STILL AM there, I really try to see who is sitting alone and just start to ask how things are. It makes such a difference in their appearance of wanting to be there and being comfortable if we would all just reach out more to those who seem to be quiet or sitting alone, and make them feel more a part of the group and all together more comfortable! Even though we all can get caught up in what is comfortable to us, you never know who is around you just awkwardly sitting not knowing what to say, and they could be feeling like you dont care and doesnt really want to come back again. What a difference it could make to just say a simple "hi" to someone, to make them feel welcomed. You never know how people might be feeling as you just ignore them and not say a word. Sorry for the rambling on, but this goes on more than I think we all think it does. People mistakenly can go by the rule of "not being rude, but not really being openly nice either." I think that is worse than anything at all! On the same Sunday, we sang the hymn "Lord, I would follow thee." I again started to tear up when we sang the second verse... "Who am I to Judge another when I walk imperfectly? IN THE QUIET HEART IS HIDDEN SORROW THAT THE EYE CAN'T SEE. Who am I to judge another? Lord, I would follow thee."
This hit me hard and made me think of just how judgemental some, including me at times can be! I vowed that day to try my best to not do so. It is hard but I guess if we all try to just see a side of maybe someone is having a hard time or something, we wont be so quick to WRONGFULLY judge their character. Its especially hard when you try to do that, and the person still is rude back, but at least we should try to do our part in always trying to include everyone, because you just never know!

Our Family Updates..

2011-07-24T08:59:00.001-07:00

I cant believe that its almost August next week! This summer has just cruised on by and we have had alot of fun adventures and fun memories made. Even though we didnt necessarily go on a vacation out of state, we still did so much fun things with family and friends! Todd is still in his first year of his job at Smith's Cooperate offices as a pricing analyst for Kroger brand, which means he only has 3 personal days and no vacation leave. We are saving those personal days and some sick days for when our little guy makes his appearance in just 3 MONTHS!! SO, with no vacation days we spent alot of our weekends having BBQ's with friends, or going up to the Hewlett Cabin or East Canyon to spend time with family. And we have had so much fun! This past 24th weekend we had a fun night of BBQ and fireworks with our friends and neighbors on Friday, and went up to the Hewlett Cabin for the great Demolition Derby that is a Hewlett Family tradition. I do have to say though, It wasnt as great as it has been in the past. And being 6 months pregnant, and having my balance completely off, I couldnt stand on the tiny benches to even see what was going on. But it was still fun to see family & friends and have Maddie see her cousins.
Maddie has been very busy and grown alot this summer! She Turned 2 on the 15th of June and seems like she has turned 4, with attitude and all. Its like we tell her she is 2 years old and she took that like she needed to hit terrible 2's on top of it. She has gotten better with it over the past month of Daddy and Mommy making sure we dont let any bad habits fly by without consequences. It has been hard cause I hate whenever anyone I care about cries, but its been worth it seeing the sweetness Maddie has come back out. She has already learned how to take the "big sister" role on by saying No, no no when her friends do something wrong, or when Daddy picks on Mommy. Maddie is also going through the potty training phase and its been interesting. One day she wants to go on the potty all the time and seems very interested and ready, then the next I ask her if she needs to go potty and she says no and refuses. She has actually gone on the potty a total of 1 time and I really tried to make it a HUGE deal so she stays interested, but its now been like 4 days since that happened and hasnt gone since. Im tempted to stick out the theory of not going ANYWHERE for a week and putting her in big girl panties so she can see that in order to not have potty run down her legs she needs to go sit on the toilet. For all mommies out there that have been through this, I would LOVE some advice!
Other than that Maddie really is one hilarious, sweet, and Happy little girl. She hates to see her family and friends cry and loves to make everyone laugh. She is very outgoing and says "HI" to everyone that passes her by. Sometimes as her mom I get sad when we go to walmart, she says hi to someone and they ignore her! I know its a little thing,but she literally will keep saying hi to them and some RUDE people will just glare and walk away:( She is just a sweetheart and loves to be nice to everyone.
As for me and the little boy, we are just hanging in there getting bigger and bigger in this hot and hotter weather! I do have to say I cant stay outside all day long anymore or else i sweat really bad and my makeup just melts right off my face. I am grateful that I actually am not as swollen as I thought I would be considering its the hottest time of the year. I am definitely now in the uncomfortable state of pregnancy and toss from one side to the other all night long. I cant sit for too long or else my lower back hurts, and I now feel sad when Maddie wants to play Horsie and I have to say no cause I cant get down on the floor as easily let alone let her sit on my back and carry her around. I LOVE that I get the chance to stay home with Maddie and am so grateful for it! I remember when she was just born I tried so hard to go back to work and it just didnt work out. Todd and I prayed about it and why I wasnt finding the opportunities to do so and we felt right for me to just stay home with her. And now I know why. I would not have as close as a bond with her that I do now. Even though she is only 2 we have so much fun playing and have great discussions. Its literally like best friends. I wouldnt change it for the world. I know with how the world is right now, not to many are as fortunate as I am and there are mothers who have to work. Now that Im a mom I know how difficult that would be! Doing all you can do for your family is important and that is definitely a sacrifice. Its hard work doing both and I am not sure when my time comes to go back to work that I will do it with such grace! Its hard for me just to do the mom thing! I think its great for those who are both great workers and great moms!
As for the boy, he is one active baby! He always kicks after I eat, then without fail, wakes me up between 1 am and 2 am kicking away. I never remember Maddie kicking this much! Sometimes he kicks so much and so hard that I get nautious! All I can say I am a little scared for when he starts walking and stuff. But its worth it for these little ones! We really cant wait for him to come and join our family!

What we have been up to lately.....

2011-07-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

I actually haven't really had time to update this blog and its driving me kinda nuts that I dont have time to actually take the time to document, but it just goes to show how busy we are just having fun! For the 4th of july weekend we took our saturday up by going up to the cabin and spending time there with the Hewletts. We had fun relaxing and seeing family.

That night at the Bon fire they brought in a mechanical bull which Todd was THRILLED about and I had fun watching him TRY and ride it! haha. But I do have to say Maddie did ride it for her very first time at the age of 2! She was a natural! On Monday the 4th we were busy busy busy with a full day of activities! we started off going to the Gateway Mall with our good Friends/ Neighbors, The Johnsons and their little girl. We got to spend some fun time with friends which was nice because we usually dont get to over all our family stuff over holidays. We then had a fun BBQ with the Spendloves and went to Nichols park to see fireworks as well. For the rest of July its just taking whatever comes and gettting more ready for this little guy! Im trying to plan on what I still need to get and figuring out how to put our house in order for the next 3 months. On that subject I am just getting bigger and more uncomfortable as each day comes along. All the same old stuff related to being pregnant I guess! I will have to post some belly shots sometime soon!

This Baby is a....

2011-06-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!!! We had our ultrasound on june 1st and have been so busy lately. Anyway, this ultrasound was so special to me! The whole time I could feel my Heavenly Fathers presence so strong and I just had watery eyes throughout the entire time. Before we even were told what we were having I knew there was something SO special about this little one. The spirit was so strong in that room that I just loved it. Seeing this little guy on the screen made all the hard days of being sick and 2 hospital visits earlier entirely worth it. Without meeting this guy just yet I already sense the close bond we have and know just how important he is going to be in our little family.October really needs to hurry up and come so I can finally meet this special guy! Lately too, he has become quite the little wiggle worm! 4 weeks ago I was very concerned cause my doctor said I should be feeling the baby move and I wasn't at all. I didn't feel much concern after praying about and just assumed he is a very laid back guy, which wouldn't be a problem with the sassy Maddie we have already. But lately he kicks and punches so much that sometimes I feel like a punching bag. Not to mention, he already sits so low that it doesn't help thjat what he punches is my sometimes FULL bladder!! Talk about uncomfortable! Again though, for this special kid its totally worth it. We are so excited to see how Maddie will be with him and just hope with our heavenly fathers help, we hope they have a close bond for life as well.

Adventures of May.....

2011-05-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Its been so long since i have written on this so much has happened. Other than getting over the sickness of first trimester and getting bigger each day, May has certainly been busy and fun for us. To kick off May each year Todd and I get to celebrate our Anniversary on the 3rd. This year we celebrated 3 years and got to take a mini vacation to St. George for a weekend. It was nice to get away from the rainy weather we have been having and enjoy some sun and get some color to our skin as well!!! We also drove down to Las Vegas for a day and i had lots of fun with it being my very first time in sin city! We didnt get to really enjoy all the fun sites and entertainment of Vegas for only being there for a day, but we got to enjoy some shopping and walking the strip. We drove home on Mothers day and spent the night with my family for yummy steak dinner and be with everyone to open mothers day gifts. Pictures from St. George and Vegas will have to come later once I get an adapter for my new camera!
May is also Todds birthday on the 21st and celebrated it with my mom making him and our brother in law dinner (his favorite of course being a BBQ)for a combined birthday. On his actual birthday I was busy all day getting his big present of what he has wanted since we have been married... a BBQ GRILL. It was fun to suprise him in the back patio with it since he didnt know exactly WHEN I would be getting it. Ever since we have had it we have used it almost daiy with yummy steak, chicken, and corn on the cob!!
Over Memorial day weekend we got to have a camp out at Nana's with all the cousins with a camp fire to roast hot dogs for dinner and make yummy s'mores for dessert. It was fun since it was the first year my parents came up with it and the cousins got to have a fun sleepover with each other. Sunday we will be heading up to be with the Hewlett family at grandma's cabin and have fun there sunday and Monday.
As for Maddie, she is now just 3 weeks away from turning 2 years old and I cant believe how fast the time has gone. She definately has hit the terrible 2 stage and hope we get over it soon. She definately is a sassy one and I am starting to think I have alot of work to tame her! She likes to be the boss and tell other kids "no no No!" when they are doing something they shouldnt, even when she does it herself at times! On the other side of things, Maddie really is a sweet girl and loves all her family and friends. She loves to smile, laugh, ride bike, draw, and make people laugh. She cracks up if you just smile at her and then will continue to do silly things to keep you going. With mommy's pregnancy, Maddie has also taken the responsibility to look after mom. Whenever she eats a snack or lunch, she will get one for her and bring one to me to make sure I eat it. Another one is whenever we say we are going to go bye bye or just outside in the front to play, Maddie hops up and says "SHOES" and brings momma her shoes. She really is sweet and the best little helper I could have! Its so sweet and nice to see her try and help me out.
We are also starting the potty training process with Maddie and let me just say, there is no progress yet. I am thinking I need a book on how to do it! We have had a fair amount of bad situations so far and im out of ideas!
As for little bean, it is getting bigger each day and im now Half way done!! We get to find out what bean is next wednesday the first of june!! We are stoked and cannot wait! Everyone in my side of the family say its a girl and my friends guess a boy. SO this will be interesting to see! We have a set boy name and as for girls, the name changes week to week with what I like. So secretly im hoping it is a boy just so the name hoping will be done. And also with how my pregnancies are so difficult, I could be done with a girl and a boy and be happy about it! I will have to post next week to make the big gender announcement!

Welcome Baby Karissa

2011-04-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

This week we welcomed a new little angel to the Spendlove Family!! Brandon and Kathryn had their 3rd baby, Karissa Ann Spendlove On Tuesday, April 5th 2011. I wish I had a picture but I dont yet so I will have to post it later on. She is just ADORABLE and our family loves her so much already! We are excited to that Maddie FINALLY gets a new GIRL cousin!! Congrats to Brandon and Kathryn and their growing family! She is just an angel!!

Exciting News!!

2011-03-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

Todd and I Came to find a fun suprise February 14th. We came to find a bun in the oven and Maddie will get the pleasure of being a big sister This October! We werent Planning on this soon for another little one but it has worked in our schedule and plan in a very unique way. We are thrilled for Maddie and this little one to be close not in just age but good buddies as well. My Pregnancies are miserable and just want to zip to October! But in all reality I am willing to go through all the sickness for a blessing as good as this! Our next step is to find out what we are going to have and we cannot wait!!!

February....

2011-02-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

Alot of fun things have been happening for us and we are super busy with things now a days. Lately, Todd has been super busy working for Smith's cooperate offices and on the weekends re doing our computer desk at his parents house. He is amazing a such a hard worker! We are also in the market of getting a 2nd car and are completely ecstatic!!! After 3 years of marriage we are actually going to buy a new car! We are looking on the weekends as well and so cannot wait to find what suites our needs and get it!
For Valentines this year, I finally felt like I finally came up with something great that Todd would love! I have to say, I never know what to get guys for valentines. Is it just me or is every woman having that problem? It is seriously a holiday for girls. But I always feel guilty having Todd do so much for me I have to do something good for him to. Anyway, so this year I Secretly got Jazz Tickets and a nice D. Will Jersey. My mom had great connections and got us 4 tickets to the jazz game in the Lower bowl! It was such a fun night. Because I was just trying to get 2 tickets and my mom surprisingly said the guy she got them from gave her 4, we decided it would be fun to invite his jazz crazed cousin and wife. It was great to see them since we dont so much in the winter time. Because of when the game was, Todd got his valentines early. This past weekend Todd surprised me with dinner and a movie and Sego Lilly Spa gift card. It was such a great night out with the hubby! Besides Valentine stuff, We are just enjoying watching Maddie learn and grow. She now says SO many new words lately and I have realized She is a big girl. So not my baby anymore and it sometimes breaks my heart. she is independent and says how she feels and tells me what she wants. But its also nice to see her grow and become a great and smart girl! I have just been staying home with her and enjoying being mom. I just took my last test for CNA and so now its time to go back to part time work. We will have to see what I find and how that all goes. We hope I find something to work nights so that I can still be with Maddie in the daytime.

Maddie's fun personality:)

2011-01-22T14:54:00.001-08:00

Maddie is now 19 months old and has had her personality blossom and we just never have a boring moment in our home. This girl is the most hilarious person in my life and its so hard to be upset with her for a long time. She is a completely sassy little thing, but can turn into a hilarious little laughing angel. She always makes us laugh and turn her charm on whenever she likes to. Maddie LOVES music and just dances whenever a song comes on to that she can really move to. We caught some of those moments on camera......

Many Adventures of January!

2011-01-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

January has come and flown by and since I dont have internet quite yet at our new place I never have time to update. January has start our family off with being fun and busy at the same time. New Years was spent with The spendlove cousins at Nana and Grandpa's house while they traveled home from Colorado and got in at 1 am. We had fun playing the kinnect with my siblings and having the kids play as well. Todd ended up needing to leave early.... that is another story, and not sure he would like it publicized but, we ended up leaving at 11 and putting Maddie to bed and watched the ball drop from the comforts of our new home.

With my birthday just 5 days after new years, Todd always tries to do something wonderful for me, hence he is the best hubby ever. He ended up taking me to dinner at one of my favorite places and invited family over for cake and icecream when we got back. I got spoiled with a movie and equipment for Todd to completely re-furnish our desk to the way I want it. I am so excited and cant wait til its finished:) My family is the best and got spoiled from them as well with wonderful gifts and my favorite kind of cake. It was a great 24th birthday because of the family I have and the love they all show! I truly am a blessed and lucky lady!

Our Christmas 2010.. And a few more fun things:)

2010-12-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been so eventful and busy for us! We Moved into our townhome over the 18th and are thrilled about our new place and just love it. It was a little hectic being a week before christmas but are happy we did it. With that and finishing our christmas shopping time has just flown by over the holiday season. Our Christmas weekend was extremely fun and extremely busy at the same time. We have so much family and so many things going on over the holidays that we were hardly home during the day and got off of Maddie's sleeping schedule just a bit. Christmas eve we had fun going to The Spendlove side seeing everyone and having Fondu chicken and steak for dinner. We then headed to The Hewlett Family Christmas party and saw cousins and opened presents. Maddie got a fun doll from Kennadee and just loves it. We played "yankee swap" for the adult presents and had great fun stealing presents and making fun memories. After being gone all day We headed home just in time to "help" Santa with Maddie's presents and got excited to see her face the next morning. Christmas Morning was so fun to see Maddie's face after Santa brought her a Ball house that he set up! He also lead a trail of the balls from the house to her room! Maddie got lots of fun new toys and books and we had a fun morning opening all her gifts. We then headed to Grandpa and Grandma Hewletts for Breakfast and to open presents with ger cousins Hallie and Cole. Maddie got a fun table from Grandma and Grandpa to sit and do all her coloring. She will love it. We then headed to Grandpa and Nana's house to see more cousins and open more presents! Grandpa and Nana got her the cutest thing ever!! She got a set of doll accessories. A stroller, a play pin, A diaper bag with some toys in it for her dolls... It is so cute and Maddie just plays with it all day long! Grandpa and Nana also got all the grandkids a playground for them to play in their backyard when they come to visit and boy are we excited to set it up and have it this summer to play with. We have such great family and are so grateful for all they do for us! Maddie sure got spoiled and are just so grateful to have family that loves and enjoys her. Christmas break is so fun to see family and be grateful for all the wonderful people in our life and are so blessed with family and love. Something we also started doing over Christmas break is watching Todd play basketball with His highschool alumni that his brother Brett started last year. Its been fun going to see friends and family and helping out with that as well. Still busy and having fun. We are so happy with the memories we have from 2010 and are so excited to see what is in store for our family in 2011:)

Maddie and Daddy Christmas Eve

Maddie with Cousins Kaidyn and Some of Jordan... lol

Todd and I with our Matching shirts! We found them hilarious:)

Kamryn making sugar cookies.. Christmas day:)

Kids present to Mom and Dad...All my daddy wanted! Turned out AWESOME

Maddie with her cousins Kamryn and Jackie.

Maddie with her cousins Hallie and Cole

Best Surprise Ever!!!

2010-12-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

For all those who don't know Todd and I very well, you will learn something new. Todd has not once been able to completely surprise me with anything! Every Christmas, birthday, and even when he PROPOSED to me, he has either spilled the beans, or I figured it out somehow. Bless his little heart he has tried so hard and somehow, I guess I just know him that well, I figure it out or talk and ask too many questions that I get it out of him. Well, last wednesday he totally surprised me and was so shocked I just cried (tears of joy of course). It was any regular week day for me of taking care of Maddie and when Todd got home I went to my Zumba class with My sister in Law Annie. I got home and Todd started talking about driving to layton and finally Taking Maddie around to look at the lights at the park up there. I said ya that would be fun, and I wanted to get out of the house anyway. I came home and he began cooking dinner and then he said he wanted garlic bread and said he was going to the store. I feel kinda bad about this part because I actually got testy saying I was just out why didnt you just say to drop by the store?? To be honest I was starving and didnt want to wait even longer to eat! LOL. Anyway, he got back we ate, got Maddie in her Jammies and took off to Layton. It was actually really cool. They made it so you could drive around the Park instead of getting in the cold and had different animal shapes and stuff in the trees and Maddie just laughed and LOVED every minute of it. We drove around once and then suddenly Todd Pulled over. I asked him.. "what are you doing?" He was just like, "the trunk is open!" In my head I was just like, GREAt I really hope it hasnt been open the entire time driving from BOUNTIFUL! I started thinking things fell out of the back and everything! So he gets out of the car and comes back with a Pointsedia and a note with my name on it! I had no idea he did it! I thought he found it on the porch at home and forgot to give it to me! He gave me the flower... oh and it wasnt my typical favorite of Orange Roses because its CHRISTMAS. So he had written me a letter and had the Tickets to THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS in the flower. I was Completely taken away and surprised! I was so excited and never saw it coming! December has always been a special month for us and he has always written me a letter every December. He is just the best and got me better than he ever has! The concert was Last night and I was just The happiest! I have never been before and the Music was just spectacular! I have always loved the Forgotten Carols CD and had a great Date night with Todd! It was my christmas present that came early and I am just perfect with it! We also bought Jordan Bluth' Cd, which is AMAZING and a decor for the house. I am so happy Todd did this for me and the man that he is! He is the best husband ever and is the most selfless person! This has turned out to be one of if not my best Christmas Yet!
My Christmas Present! Jordan Bluth Cd and a Nice Decor for My Living Room:)
Todd and I so Excited to See The Forgotten Carols!!
The Christmas Flower Todd Surprised Me with!
Todd and I at the Concert:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-06T10:51:00.001-08:00

Snowflake Elegance Noir Christmas

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Merry Christmas Family and Friends! Here is our Christmas Card for those of you who I just dont have your mailing address at hand.. If you would like me to mail one to you leave me a post with your address and i will be sure to send one:) We hope you all are enjoying this chirstmas season and hope all is well with each of you! We love you all:)

Being Content

2010-11-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

- I Came to love this quote by Sister Hinckley. Its something I have weaknesses with and its something I should read Everyday. Every Little Girl, Young women, and Women are unique and Special. Each of us have something special and Priceless. No matter what, even if we are being wrongfully judged and criticized, the Lord knows just how special each one of us is, and Loves us unconditionally. He made us each different for a certain purpose and therefore we should all be proud of who we are.

Being Grateful....And Humbled

2010-11-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

I have come to a realize something about myself I really never knew. This fall season I have had alot of experiences and events that has happened that made me realize just how much I love to help others, but hate to be helped. This past September, I had an experience that made me really open my eyes and see just how much of me complaining about little things that I might not have or have issues with are tiny and need to focus on being grateful for what I do have. I remember it was kinda late at night and Todd and I were driving home from my parents and I had to stop at walmart to get I think milk and some other things cause the next day was sunday. Maddie had fallen asleep so Todd stayed in the car while I just ran in to get a few things really fast. I went to the check out counter and was behind this lady that had her I think around 13 year old daughter with her. I was just sitting there reading a magazine and not really paying any attention. I remember looking up and this lady was frustrated cause the clerk was saying that her card was being declined and so she was trying all these different credit cards and nothing was working. I started to just intently listen and be concerned as this lady's eyes filled up with tears of frustration. The clerk next to the line I was in came over saying he could help me in the next cashier, so I said ok and walked over. I still just could not stop feeling bad and stop listening so I turned to see what was going on as I checked out. I got done quickly and started to go to the doors when I had a feeling to go back and see if I could do anything for her. I got there and just asked if I could help. I remember as I asked, this lady had dumped all her coins on the counter fishing through them trying to get just enough to buy the things she had. She turned to me, and I will never forget the look of frustration... But she explained that none of her cards were working and she literally just had food neccessities of milk, eggs, bread, and flour, then had some laundary detergent. She had enough cash to get the food but not the detergent. I asked how I could help and she started to go through the pennies and dimes and I just took my debit card out swiped it said that it wasnt a problem and I would jsut take care of the detergent. The Lady onsisted on getting my address to send me a check to pay back but I told her it wasnt a big deal and not to worry about any of that. She said thank you and I told her welcome and started to leave. I got to the door and she came behind me and grabbed me to talk for a little bit. Her and her daughters eyes were filled with tears as she told me her name and asked for mine. I looked at the 13 year old and saw she was crying so I gave her a hug and said everything was alright. Her mom then told me that they have lived here in centerville for years and couldnt believe that someone would do anything like that for them. She went on to explain that her husband has been in and out of the hospital with surgeries for 2 months and his work ended up letting him go so they have been running out of money he had made. She had been paying hospital bills and have had very little to buy food. She then told me that it had been 3 weeks since she had done laundary because they ran out of detergent and instead of having clean clothes, she had to buy food with the little amount they did have. This lady gave me a hug and squeezed me so tight that I could just feel how grateful and sweet she was. I gave her a hug, said goodbye, and got in the car. After I shut the door, I just cried. I never knew an experience like that would make me think twice before complaining about little things in my life. Everytime I start to feel bad or complain, I always think of this and think of her. I was happy that I got to help someone in their situation, even it was as little as buying detergent. But then this past weekend with the huge snow storm that hit, I found me and my family in a situation of needing someone's help. We were coming home from the store and going up the huge hills of Bountiful in our little honda is just hopeless. We came to this hill and Todd pushed us up. Then as we turned onto a street, Todd fishtailed then slid sideways to the gutter and ended up sideways in the road. We were stuck! Todd ended up running home, and I stayed with Maddie asleep in the car. After about 20 Minutes an adorable like 9 year old boy came to my window, I opened the door and he says.. "you ok? I can start to shovel the snow from your tires." I got out and his dad came right as Todd got back with more shovels. They said they had a truck to help us and they all shoveled snow away to push the car back. I got back in the car and tears just rolled down. I remember at this point I was keeping myself from saying sorry to this family. I felt embarrassed and a burden and thats when I realized that about myself! I tried to keep from feeling like a burden and know that I need to be more willing to give others a chance to help me as they want to. They pulled our car to the top of the hill and made sure we were able to make it home. I got out and thanked them... still crying and gave a
hug. I have come to see and experience just how great and important service is in our lives. I love to help others to lighten their load. And I have come to realize that I have a hard time letting others do the same for me. I am grateful for so much and need to not only be grateful at this time of the year, but more so year round. Im so Thankful for everything in my life. I need to remember just how blessed I truly am for the things and experiences I have in my life. Im so thankful for Todd and the love I have from him as a best friend, and husband. Im thankful for Maddie and the joy she brings in our family. She lights up any room and makes me stop and enjoy the little moments if I ever get frustrated or busy. She just laughs and I calm down. I am grateful to live in a a great place surrounded by people that reach out and help when its needed. Im grateful to have the family I do and the support I have from them. I just have so much and am so blessed to have the Family and Friends that I do. You all are so great and We love you all so much!

maddies book

2010-11-23T12:14:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Silly Sleeper!!

2010-11-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

I have had so many moments of finding Maddie in the silliest places where she just crashes that I just had to write about it! Maddie is so hilarious when she is tired and sometimes after putting her to bed, she lately will get up and play with out me knowing and I come down to check on her and I have found her numerous times in her door way dead asleep with her blanket and random things. The first time I found Maddie in a funny place was in the morning when I checked on her! I opened her door just to see how she was and she was literally in the very middle of her huge room with her blanket! I have no idea when she got out of her bed and fell back asleep, but it had to have been in the middle of the night. Another funny moment of finding her, was when Todd put her to bed for me and he came up saying she is in her tired state and she was fine when he left. We stayed upstairs doing some things for about an hour and a half. When we headed downstairs to go to bed, I noticed some toys and things that looked like a little trail. It lead down the hallway to her room and there I found her dead asleep on her blanket holding her toothpaste tube!! I started to laugh so hard! It was like she noticed we were not there and had a little party with her toys and bathroom supplies! Just this past sunday after morning church, she usually comes home hungry and ready for some lunch.
I sat Maddie at the table and gave her some milk and cut up a few bananas to keep her occupied while I cooked the rest of her lunch. I sat at the table and looked over and her eyes just started to role back and was bobbing her head a little bit. I sat there and just watched her and she slowly laid her head down into her cut up bananas! I told Todd to hurry and get the camera, and as I started to take a picture, Grandma Hewlett walked in and she shot her dead up looking around! After she realized it was just her, she laid her head back down, and I started to feel bad and took her to bed. Recently this week, I took Maddie down for a nap after lunch and she wanted to watch her favorite movie, Ellie.. Well, that is what she calls Pete's Dragon. I put it on she laid down, so I firgured she was fine and left her to clean. After I finished I went down to check on her and I found her in her doorway on a blanket with her cute lil' bum sticking up in the air. Maddie is so cute and silly! I think I have realized that Maddie is stubborn and she will just literally FALL and sleep when she is good and ready! LOl

Halloween Weekend!

2010-11-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

This Halloween weekend was quite eventful and fun for us! We did so much which did tend to make us SO tired when Sunday came rolling around. Halloween is a favorite holiday of ours and have made it a tradition to go to the pumpkin Patch for a fun family activity! Because the weather has been rainy when we actually planned to go, we had to hold it off til this Friday! Nonetheless, we did go even though it was a little late. We ended up going to Wheeler Farm in Murray and it wasnt that great for us. Maddie had fun seeing all the farm animals they had though! For the first time she actually connected COW and MOO together!! Every time we went by the cows she would repeatedly say.. "COW...MOOOOOO!" We did go through a little Hay stack cornmaze that followed to all the pumpkins. It was fun for Maddie to run through it and boy did she get into it! SHe is so smart! Everytime she went into a deadend she came back out and tried to go through it all. We had a good time but think we will need to find a better pumpkin patch next year! That night we went up to Nana's house and made Caramel Apples! I thought it was fun and it was the first time for me to do it. But the caramel turned so hard too fast there wasnt much ENJOYING the treats. But Maddie and her cousin Kamryn had fun dipping the apples, and thats whats important:) On Saturday, we really enjoyed dressing Maddie up in her costume as MINNIE MOUSE!! She was SO adorable and had fun running around in her dress!! We went trick-or-treating in Grandma Hewletts neighborhood for a bit, ate a little dinner, went out for a little bit more, then headed up to Nana and Grandpa Spendlove's house to see cousins and tirck-or-treating up there at a few houses. We went with her cousins Kamryn and Kaidyn and boy was Kaidyn a HIT!! He went as Russell, The little Scout Kid from the Movie UP and Boy does he look JUST like him!! It was hilarious! Almost EVERY house we went to they asked my sister if they could take a picture of Kaidyn cause they just couldnt believe how much he really does look like the Russell kid! That and he was too cute! It was so fun to see Maddie go for her first time. The first few houses she just looked confused and people would put the bowl down for her to take one, and she would be shy and slowly pick one. Later on she got into it quickly and would grab handfuls! It was hilarious. We really enjoyed Halloween this year and seeing all her cousins in their fun costumes. Katlynn was Ariel (when she is human) Kamryn was rapundzzel princess, Bronson was a Steelers Football Player, And Kaidyn was of course, Russell from UP! Because of different schedules we sadly missed seeing Hallie, cole and Jackie and Jordan though! But I heard that Hallie was Jessie and Cole was Buzz. Jackie was Cleopatra and Jordan was Woody. Im sure they were so cute!! This was such a fun holiday to start the Holiday season with and I am so excited for this time of year to be with Family and friends! Cant wait for the next couple holidays to shortly come! Todd and Maddie looking at the Ducks. Todd and Maddie looking at the Cows. Maddie on the Cornmaze. Me and Maddie doing the Maze. Picking out our pumpkins. Kamryn Dipping her Apple. Maddie Dipping her Apple. Maddie as Minnie Mouse. Kaidyn as Russell. Bronson as Pittsburg Steelers Football Player. SO CUTE. Kathryn even Put SPENDY on his back for the Jersey! Katlynn as Ariel and Kamryn as Princess Rapundzzel.

Our Very First Date.. October 20th 2007

2010-10-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 3 year anniversary of Todd and My's first date! Yes I remember every special date in our relationship so on those days when they come I think back to that day and remember everything:) After Getting back from Alabama seeing my sister, I still hadnt heard from Todd and started to really wonder if he was even interested in seeing me at all! I thought back and wondered if he took me saying that I was leaving town as a blow off and got really nervous about it. I got back sunday night and I remember it was so late that I actually slept at my parents house and drove back to provo monday morning. I do have to mention this because it is something I take as very important in Our story of how we came to be together.. But Around the time I met Todd, I also met another guy. This guy text me through my whole trip in alabama and called me monday to ask me out for tuesday night. I started to compare and think Todd just was not interested as this other guy was contacting me more. I didnt actually like him texting and calling me during my trip but it was the first time since the horrible summer that I started to be open and my mom told me to just try and at least go on dates with him. Well, I agreed but monday came and at night I just got the courage to send a text to Todd just saying hi and asked how he was doing. We texted for a little bit and he said he would call me Wednsday to OFFICIALLY ask me out for the weekend. This is when I really REALLY liked him. I have never had a proper asking for a date in all my life. I could tell he was just respectful. Tuesday I went on another date and had a good time and wednsday came and saw the other guy again but made sure I was done and home to talk to Todd on the phone. Todd called me and I was SO EXCITED. We talked about things and our inerest for about 3 hours... I think til about midnight when Todd started mumbling and not making sense... He does that alot when he gets way tired. So he just told me he needed to go but asked for saturday night and that he would call me the next day to tell me exactly what time and everything. Thursday came and the other guy asked me to go dancing and so I agreed and thought it would be fun. I realized Todd called me while I was with the other guy and told him that I needed to go to my apartment and get a jacket (It was an excuse to run up and call Todd) We talked but then I started feeling bad that I had a date sitting in his car waiting for me so I told Todd I had to go but would talk to him later. That night I continued my date with this guy and I just started to get a bad feeling as the night continued. I didnt know why but the feeling just got worse and worse. He kissed me that night and I started to feel worse some more. All day friday I felt confused and didnt have a good feeling. I thought it was just the fact that this guy was moving too fast and that I still was not ready to date anyone. I told the guy how I was feeling and like every guy in the world, I hurt his ego and he got very defensive. I really felt better when I told him I didnt want a relationship and closed that book. Friday I thought that feeling still was a way of telling me I was not ready for anything. My sister told me that I should still be open and go on the date with Todd the next night. I agreed and just thought in my head that nothing was going to happen and that it was just going to be a harmless one date thing. Saturday I did my usual routine of cleaning and working out at the gym and hanging around provo. Todd called me and said he would pick me up around 6:30 and that we would go to dinner and then Fat Cats to bowl with his roommates and their dates that night. I said ok and went on with my day. Todd came and my roommate answered the door. She told me he was here and I hurried and put my shoes on. I came around the corner to the family room and Todd just looked at me with a big smile! We went to Dinner at Good Woods then heaeded to go bowling. While bowling Todd would give me fives just to kinda hold my hand. At this point I started realizing that I didnt have that awful bad feeling like I did with the other guy earlier in the week. I started to really like Todd and just went with it. After Bowling Todd invited me over to his apartment for Hot Chocolate. We got there and his roommates gavee us this way long straws they got and I found it hilarious. After that Todd asked if I wanted to continue to stay and watch a movie. I really liked him so of course I said yes. We watched Nacho Libre.. Dont ask, I have no idea how or why that was the movie we chose, but we did. Toward the middle of the movie I notice Todd's hand get closer and closer to mine. Finally he put his hand on my knee and said.. "Do you want a drink of water?" Trying so hard not to laugh I say im fine. Todd goes to the kitchen and I jsut started Laughing. Poor guy is totally nervous!! He comes back and immediately grabs my hand. This is totally TOdd. Hilarious. But I was happy and the movie ended. We stayed there talking for a while til one of his roommates comes down letting us know it was 2 am!! WHOOPS. TOdd says that he better take me home and we leave.. I remember it was snowing when we walked outside and we had a little fun snowball fight. We got in his car and remembered that I didnt bring my keys and so had to call Mary, my roommate to unlock the door for me. He walked me up and we hugged and said goodnight and I was on Cloud nine. It was the best Last first date I had ever had and again, THe Lords hand was in helping us meet and come together. Love you Tood:) Todd and I at a Jazz vs. Pistons game in February.. Recently ENGAGED
Todd and I at Thanksgiving point Halloween Night.
Todd and I at a park for a picnic.. Recently Dating:)

Girls Day out:)

2010-10-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so much fun for me! I got to meet up with a friend of mine that I have not SEEN since the end of 9th grade!! She moved up to Logan after Jr. High and we lost touch through high school years but found each other on Facebook and kept in touch that way for a while! Mariska was one of my VERY good friends in middle school and Jr. High. She is just such a sweetheart and was literally one of the best influences in my life. Just such a pure person. This Friday I finally got to meet up with her and we both took a trip down to Provo to see Caitlin. We were all friends through Jr. High and I thought it would be so great to surprise Caitlin and bring her down there. It was so nice to catch up with these girls and enjoy a day together. Both of these women have been examples in my life that helped me through alot! It was so fun too to have Maddie come and see her Auntie Caitlin! She has SO much fun with Caitlin and loves her to death! We also went to a park so Maddie could play for a bit and it was hilarious to watch!! A little boy came along and they just had so much fun together! Maddie is such a little flirt and it didnt help that the little boy was too!! It was fun for her and fun for me to see how social she is though. Im so grateful to have such good friends and to stay in touch with those that have helped me become who I am today!
Maddie on the slide
Loves the slide.. its her new favorite thing!
Caitlin & Maddie
Maddie with the little boy she met at the Park.. SO cute
Me and Caitlin
Me and Mariska
Me with Good Friends Caitlin & Mariska

God's Plan

2010-10-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Past 2 months for our family have been... lets say eventful to say the least. About the middle of August, Todd found out some bad news with his company and unfortunately they cut out his postion and he got layed off of his job. This was devasting and hard on Todd to feel the way he did. He loved the company he worked for and his boss really liked him and said it was not her decision to do what the company decided. I remember that at the moment this happened, Todd and I cried, Held each other for a bit, Prayed, then got right on the phones and internet to see what options he had and looked for jobs. The past two months Todd did get the option with the company to work for them til the 20th of September, so that is what he did. Day in and day out he worked, then went straight on to job hunt til bedtime each day. When the 20th of september came, there had been little but no luck on a new job. We came to the decision to move out of our apartment and stay with his parents for a little bit to still be able to provide for maddie. We are so grateful to have the family support and help that we do. Without them it would have been alot worse for us to handle. We got all moved into the basement and settled in. We continued to do our best with me continuing with my CNA program classes and Todd ended up interviewing alot lately and came across 2 possibilities and had a great feeling for each of them. One was a pricing analasyst position here in Salt Lake Utah. The other was a junior analasyst postion in Hutchinson Kansas. Time was going and these were the Jobs that it boiled down to. Yesterday morning all of Todds searching and stress came to an end. The hiring manager at Kroger Smiths Coorperate offices called Todd in the morning to offer him the position as a Pricing analasyst specialist for the company! We were SO happy and SO grateful for this wonderful oppurtunity!! Again, Todd getting laid off at the time was devestating and hard to deal with. But as things happened and other doors were opened, we see that God has his plan for us to do what we are suppose to do. Getting Layed off from one job directed Todd to a bigger and better oppurtunity for him and our family. We are so grateful for the things in our lives and the family and friend support we have through all of this. We are going on with bigger and better oppurtunities because of Gods plan. Im so thankful for Todd and the hardworker he is. We both are excited for the future and our unexpected turns we will take to better ourselves and our family!

October 3rd 2007

2010-10-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

I would have posted this on the sunday but our family was super busy with visiting family and watching conference that it completely slipped my mind. Anyway, 3 years ago(on the 3rd) was a day that I will never forget. I was living in Provo going to UVU and enjoying my life as a SINGLE college student. I had had a hard summer with guys that broke my heart and at this point I was not having any interest in dating anyone. I even remember my roommates talking to me saying that I needed to say yes to guys that asked me out, cause I plainly was saying no to everyone that did. I remember I was in the childhood Education program studying in that department, which that day I went to an elementary school to obsereve and help. It was an all day thing pretty much and that is the reason for me changing my mind and not pursuing to be a teacher. It just was not something I saw myself doing everyday and liking it. I remember driving back, and suddenly i was thinking that I might wanna go Country Dancing that night. I called up some friends that were living down there and seeing if they wanted to go. They all had midterms to study for or didnt feel like it. Later in the night I had no luck on going with anyone and figured I didnt want to go by myself so decided not to go. That night I was in my room and my roommate Chalyse came in and asked if I wanted to go country dancing with her. I remember telling her, You know, I thought all day of going and couldnt find anyone to go!! FUNNY! So we took off and went around 9:30 That night. We got there and guys asked us to dance and we were really having fun. Around 10ish, I was looking around, and I spotted this guy walk through the door. I literally remember thinking in my head.. "wow, He is kinda handsome! I hope he asks me to dance." The night continued on and I was having fun dancing. Later on, I saw this guy again! I was standing on the side of the dance floor and saw that he was walking toward me. I remember my heart starting to beat fast. He walked up to MY ROOMMATE and asked her to dance. In my mind I litereally was like.. DANG! Cause I had been watching this guy walk by ALL NIGHT. I continued to dance with others and have fun. FINALLY, this guy walked up from behind me and asked to dance. We had fun and got talking and found out that I knew his cousins that went to my high school (Kellee and Sara) and talked about where we were from, and from what Todd tells me that got him hooked to me.. Sports! After the song was over, we stood there talking for like 10 minutes. I seriously was just waiting for him to ask for my number! After the 10 minutes, two girls came up to Todd and said that they were leaving. I kinda just sat there awkwardly. Todd told them ok, turned right around to me and immediately says, "Im not here with either one of them on a date!" hahaha I was just like "oh ok." After they left, Todd just said, "well it was nice meeteing you and I will see ya around." SERIOUSLY??? is what was going through my mind. I continued to dance and enjoy my time, and then at one point, they had a line dance or something, and from what Todd says, he said that I kept looking over at him and smiling and it was then that he said to himself.. I have to get her number before i leave. a while later I went to the drinking fountain and saw todd around the corner walking by. I saw that he was trying to find someone. I just stood there kinda watching and he completely passed, then i saw him look right at me and do a complete circl to get in the line at the fountain behind me. (I know this part sounds like highschool, but it is what happened) I took my drink and he grabbed my arm before i just walked away and said to hold on for a sec. We ended up talking some more and having great conversations. I remember that Garth Brooks "Just to feel my love" came on and Todd asked to dance with me again. This is when I really wanted to see him again. We danced and as we were, he started to spin me and rub my back. We talked the whole time til they announced they were closing and right then todd finally asked me for my number. He brought his phone out and sadly said to me, "my phone just died!" LOL. I was trying so hard not to laugh and immediately brought my phone out and said "oh! well, how about you give me your number and I will text you and you will get it then." I got his number and then I went home that night. I talked to my roommates about what happened and wasnt sure i wanted to the ball in my court. So I texted him a cute little message about sorry your phone died, here is my number and hope to hear from you. I went to bed without a text back. The next morning I was doing some homework, and I got a text message. It was Todd! He said thanks for texting and that he would call me the following week to go out. I texted him back lettting hime know that I would love for him to text me but I was actually leaving to Alabama to visit my sister and Brother in law and would be back that sunday night. I never got a text back that whole week! And that is our story of how we met! I have strong testimony of the LORDS plan that he has for us and his hand in our lives. Just looking back on how I thought ALL DAY to go country dancing and giving up on going, then having my roommate randomly ask me to go. I have great testimony that the Lord really knew Todd and I were meant to meet and be together. I love You honey and cherish our story of how we met!

So Sweet!

2010-09-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

I have got one sweet man! We have been going and going non stop all week with my in class, Todd working away, and packing to move. Maddie ended up getting sick and got her very first ear infection! GRR. But she is doing ok for the most part. But in the middle of the busy things we have going on, I was suprised with Todd coming home from work with flowers!! It completely brightened my day with all the stress I have lately. Literally wa shocked. Last time Todd suprised me with flowers SPONTANEOUSLY was the summer we got married over 2 years ago. He doesnt usually do that.. when he came in I actually had to think if we got in an arguement the night before and wondered if I just didnt remember! I know, I know.. sad, but that is how Todd is... Doesnt really come up with romantic stuff on the fly. But that is why I love Todd. He is a learning man! He treats me so good and loves me no matter
how stubborn I am at times. He probably treats me too well sometimes. He is so great and has so much patience with me and tries to teach me a time or two. Im so grateful for him and all he does. He is seriously SO SWEET:)

Busy But Fun

2010-09-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend has been so busy but we had a fun time along the way. I have started the CNA Program and its kept me studying like crazy but I am really enjoying it and learning so much. I go on the evenings of Tuesday and Thursday and then Saturday mornings.. which is not my favorite, but I guess learning this stuff that I find fun and interesting kinda evens it out a little. Todd and I just got Callings in our ward that keeps us even busier. Todd got called as the 11 year old Scout Leader. He is enjoying it alot with the kids and goin on scout trips every now and then. I got called as the Young Women Sports Director and I was completely excited for it! Its so up my alley and i enjoy being with the young women alot!
It has been a little hard since my classes started because I no longer can attend their games that fall on thursday nights and at the same time of class. I cant wait for basketball season where I will be done with the program and will hopefully be able to attend to them more often. So lately our busy life is filled with todd working, attending to the scouts, Me studying, going to classes, helping out the Young Women as best I can, and still finding time for crazy Maddie. Maddie is busuy being a fun 15 month old! She loves to read books, dress up, ride horsey, laugh, and run around screaming with her cousins.
This past weekend was fun and eventful for us. We had Spendlove family pictures taken up in the Mountains, and my parents got a condo at East Canyon that was near by so we could go and eat dinner and enjoy each other more. We had alot of fun to be up there with family to play games, relax, and have Maddie play with her favorite people! My sister Kathryn is into Photography and did an amazing job taking the pictures for my parents and for all of our families. She works so hard and did such a great job!
The Spendlove Family: Grandpa & Nana, Evan; Neal, Kathryn, Kamryn, & Kaidyn Richey;Steven, Kristi, Jackie, and Jordan Spendlove; Brandon, Kathryn, Katlynn, & Bronson Spendlove; Jonathan & Sara Spendlove; Todd, Kristin & Maddie Hewlett

Our Little Family
Grandpa & Nana with all 7 Spendlove Grandchildren

Remembering 9-11-01

2010-09-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

9 Years ago I was just a 14 year old girl waking up in the morning to another day of junior High school. I did my usual routine of breakfast, shower, and gettting ready. I wasnt realizing that I would be remembering that day and the events that took place forever. I walked into my parents bedroom to find my mom standing in front of the Television with her face in shock. I remember asking her.. "mom, whats going on?"... My mom was still in a state of shock that she couldnt answer. I again said.. "MOM... You ok?" Now that I am a mother, I understand why mom didnt even know what to say to me. She just replied.. "a plane crashed into a building!" Still staring at the T.V. And still too young to understand the dynamics of what had happened, I remember I just thought the pilot was an idiot and wasnt paying a attention. Still not understanding what our country was seeing and going through, I went to the bus stop to get on the school bus.. Still thinking.. Its just another day. Once I got on the bus, I sat down next to my Best friend, and the first thing Kathryn says to me is.. "did you see what happened on the News??" I replied.. "Ya! Crazy!! That pilot is such an idiot!" Kathryn looked at me like she always does when she has to explain what really is going on in reality.. She told me.. "No Kristin.. it was on purpose! That plane was Hijacked!" My heart sunk and I was brought out of my little regular bubble and brought to reality. School that day was not just another day. We spent the day watching the news on T.v. in our classes and watched history happen right in front of us. Up to that point in my life, I didnt know about osama bin laden or that there were others in the world that hated people juust because they were American. I didnt know that War happened in the present. My eyes got opened to the reality of the world, and learned that people are capable of such hateful acts. All my teachers that day kept saying.. "This will be a day you never forget... You one day will be telling your children about this." At 14 years old, I just watched the tv, being scared and that was it. Todds story: I was 19 and was leaving on his mission in exactly a week from this day. My mom woke me up in the morning to watch the news. In my mind I was thinking who would be that stupid for hitting a tower. About 15 to 20 mintues later I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center, that is when I began to realize how serious this attack was on our nation. I went about my day. I remember stopping at Carl's Jr, in downtown Salt Lake and seeing the newspaper headlines of terrorist attack. Later on that day, I went to Crossroads Mall to buy a few things for my mission. A lot of the stores were shut down for the day and I remember the mall being like a ghost town. Now, 9 years later, Todd and I watched a history channel that showed footage and documentary of that day and what people in New York went through. We watched real stories being told of the people involved on the planes and the lives of those that were in the buildings that collapsed. It was only a few stories of the thounsands of lives taken that day, but it literally brought me to tears. I could not imagine going through what these people and families of these people did. I thought of the people on the planes... it brought me to tears just thinking of this happening with little children on those planes. Just thinking of the firefighters that lost their lives and the families that that lost them. The Policemen, the workers in the twin towers, and the people in the buildings that got demolished from the towers coming down. That day brought Americans together, and made us realize we would become a stronger Nation. But we must remember the lives taken that day.. those on the planes, the ground, and especially the firefighters and policemen that risked their own lives to save others trapped. God Bless all the families who lost someone that day. They are Remembered in History!

Labor Day Weekend....

2010-09-06T22:52:00.001-07:00

We did alot over our holiday weekend to end our summer and had alot of family fun! We headed up to the Hewlett Cabin for one last visit to see all the Family and do all the cabin activities one last time til next summer. Saturday we went up early in the Morning and spent the day relaxing with everyone, swimming in the water hole, took fun scenery walks with Maddie and played fun games. Sunday was Sash's Birthday so we felt we needed to go back up to celebrate with her and so she could also have Maddie there! Ash is a busy girl going to BYU and working and hardly has time to see her LOOK-A-LIKE Niece! It was so fun to go back up and eat and play some more games. Maddie has so much fun with her big cousins and just LOVES all people! It was so nice to see all the older cousins include her and just love to play with her! Thanks Addi, Liz, Hallie, Cole, Kennadee, and Aubree! She loves you all so much!!
To Finish off our holiday weekend we went to Heritage Park with the Spendlove Family and had so much Fun!! Ok, not really... Todd ended up forgetting our stroller so he had to carry her and make sure she didnt run off, which she wasnt in the best mood and it seemed like that is all she wanted to do!!! But there were times where we really did have fun!! There was a fun little petting zoo and Maddie got to pet baby lambs and she just loved it! There was also pony rides they could do and we tried that, but Maddie hated it and cried the whole time. We got to walk around and see fun olden times games and activities and had fun showing the kids and seeing them participate. After that we all went to Nana's for a fun BBQ to celebrate Dad and Stevens Birthday which was on the 2nd. I love my family and love to be together. We all have fun and Maddie just adores all of her cousins! (especially her older girl cousins!!) She just cant wait to be older and catch up with them!

Blessings!

2010-08-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

This past sunday was so fun for us Hewletts! Our good friends Gaven and Sharlene Ashton invited us to the blessing of their cute little Boy Keegan. Sharlene has been one of my best friends growing up and im so thankful that we still keep in touch today. It was such a great day to be a part of that event and feel the saviors Love from this little infant! We also had another baby blessing that day. Todds Cousin Ryan and His wife Maggie Blessed little Ethan as well. Unfortunately it turned out that they were at the exact same time!! So we rushed over to Kims house after seeing Keegan and got to meet Ethan. Its so amazing how strong spirits these little guys have. They both are the cutest little infants and we are so happy to be even a little part of these boys lives. We are so excited Maddie gets a new friend and cousin to play with. Again, she is surrounded by men!! She has 3 boy cousins her age on the spendlove side and Cole that is 2 years older than her on the Hewlett side, but still the closest in age. And now, she has another boy cousin and friend Keegan that we hope gets to play with her in the future. We had so much fun at Kims as well! Maddie LOVED playing with more Cousins!! Aubree and Kennadee are Kims little girls and they were so nice to play with Maddie and keep her entertained while we got to hold baby Ethan! (Aubree is the one her in the picture) We love both of these families and are so excited they thought to invite us to such a special event. We love you guys!!

EAST CANYON 10

2010-08-30T09:11:00.001-07:00

East Canyon is a place where our family loves to go for a tiny break from our everyday life. We spend alot of time up there in June and August. We love to go up there to be with the Spendlove Fam to play games, swim, go shopping at the outlets in Park City, and just plain Relax. This year its been rainy up there everytime we went up. But we still enjoyed taking Maddie up to go swim, have camp fires ( Where she had her very first S'more and LOVED IT) and play with all of her cousins that she loves! Swimming at the pool is a favorite for all of us to go and do together. This one swimming trip was one to be remembered and be a fun joke for the Spendlove Family. We plus 3 of my other siblings and their families came up on saturday to enjoy the weekend up camping. We all went over to the pool to enjoy an afternoon, and my Brother Brandon got a great plan to get a childs float ring and try to dive through it. Ironically, it worked and he fit right through. So as my husband sees fun happen, he has got to join in he tries it. He dove through the floaty and people were amazed and we all found it hilarious. They kept playing and then later got the brilliant idea to ask others for 2 more floaties and tried to dive through all 3. My brother Brandon dove through and made it!! It was pretty amazing. So, Todd being a little bigger, brandon wanted to see if he would make it. Todd dove through and came up in the water with this tiny Kid sized mickey mouse ring tightly snug around his chest. As our niece Katlynn watched todd come up, the floaty suddenly deflated, and her face just went straight to a frown and yelled.. "TODD!! YOU POPPED IT!" My poor little 4 year old niece was scarred. Later todd went up asking if he was still her friend and she would turn away and say NO. This has become a funny memory for our family. Now that time has gone by, Katlynn has forgiven her uncle and still play with him. But whenever Todd asks to play with her toys, She clearly says No todd.. You might break this too!

We love East Canyon and love to be with all the fam! We are so excited for more fun memories and stories to come!

Hewlett Cabin 2010

2010-08-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

This year for the 24th of July our family went up to the Cabin to be with the whole Hewlett Clan. We really had fun up there swimming in the water hole (Todd and Maddie), The big Bonfire, Dance Night on the Basketball courts, and The Demolition Derby. Maddie really had fun swimming and dancing, which comes to no surprise to be her 2 most favorite things to do. She had so much fun playing with her cousins Hallie and Cole! She loves them so much and always has a blast when she sees them. We will go up for one last time before saying goodbye to the cabin til next year!

Saying Goodbye....

2010-08-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Just before the summer began, we came to find out that my one of my Best Friends was moving far away!! Our good friends Justin and Kathryn Longhurst Moved to Missouri for Justin to continue his schooling. I had so many meltdowns thinking of Kathryn living so far away. She has been on of the GREATEST friends for me since we were 12 years old. She is such an incredible person and I have so many memories! She ended up leaving Just as our other bestie,Caitlin came home from her mission from Germany. Thats right the 3 of us were best friends and what 3 crazy girls we were! Growing up with these girls was so much fun and we have been through so much. We have so many fun memories and inside jokes that make me laugh all the time when I think of these two! They know me better than I know myself sometimes and I couldnt have asked for better friends through my life. We got together alot before Kathryn had to leave and I miss her more than ever! We love you Kathryn and Justin and cant wait to see you again! MISS YOU:)

Vacations 2010

2010-08-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

I know i just mentioned how busy our summer was but was not able to post all the pictures. We had so fun traveling to Missouri and going to Silver Dollar City over the 4th of july. MaddieLOVED the water park that was there! We also went miniture golfing at my family's favorite place there called pirates cove golf. Then we got back just in time to go up to the Hewlett cabin over the 24th for the Demolition Derby! Maddie and Todd had a fun time swimming and doing fun child activities.. We also had a dance party the with all the extended Family and had a blast! Especially watching Maddie dance! Whenever she hears music she can really get her groove on and becomes the life of the party!!

Quick overview... About us

2010-08-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

I have lost touch with this blog for over an entire year! I have so much to catch up on and don't know where to even begin! Maybe I will just update how our summer went and what we are up to now and call it good. Then hope to update more often. This summer has been full of crazy and exciting events! Well The First exticiting news I need to report that tipped off our summer was Maddie taking her first steps! It was May 20th, and we saw how close she was! She would stand up and just think about it! So we started to bribe her with the Remote..(She loves Remotes!) and after that day she has been a joy and mess ever since!! June was our family's biggest and craziest month of all! School was out for the summer but us Hewletts had enough on our plate to keep us from really relaxing! We had 4 birthdays in the Spendlove family including Maddie's first (The 15th) and had a wedding in that family as well. It was so fun though and gained such a sweet family member! Sara is the sweetest girl and I am so glad she is in our family. Their wedding was so beautiful... And HOT... I think it turned out that it was the hottest day yet that summer and had to put my hair up after the pictures were done! hahaha. Then shortly after the wedding .. Last one out of us 5 by the way.. We headed for a fun Spendlove family Vacation to Branson Missouri! Todd and I really enjoyed ourselves and went to Silver Dollar City alot and enjoyed the fun rides. Maddie also got to ride for her very first time. We got back and did a coulple of camping trips up to East Canyon. We also went up to the Hewlett family cabin over the 24th of July. Its fun up there doing bonfires, and also the dance party at the basketball courts they did for the first time!! And we cant forget the Demolition Derby!!
Now that our summer is coming to an end, Todd is currently looking for jobs, Im looking for Part time jobs, and we both are going back to school! He is enrolled at LDS Business College trying to better his education in web designing for his Bachelors in business. I will be doing the CNA program that is offered at Lakeview Hospital for 6 weeks and hope to jump right in with that job while going straight into doing more schooling for Medical Assisting. Its going to be a very busy fall for us and my only hope is that we are Blessed to be able to do it all and still give Maddie the attention she needs. We love Maddie so much and hope this doesnt affect her in any negative way. Luckily my classes will only take 6 weeks!! We both start Septmeber 14th!! Wish us luck! I will be posting pictures of all these fun summer adventures soon so come back:)

Maddie's very first time Swimming!!

2009-08-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to introduce swimming to our Maddie! We went up to East Canyon one last time since the weather didnt cooperate for us the entire summer. Maddie didnt mind the water and was very relaxed being held in the water. We now know for sure she is going to be a water girl and come to love water sports just as much as mommy and daddy do!!

East Canyon 09

2009-08-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is one of our family's favorite vacations places to go that is close to home. Since Maddie has now reached 2 months we decided to go up just for the day. We had so much fun! We went on walks, Todd went swimming with our niece Jackie, played games with our family, and roasted marshmellows while telling fun stories around the campfire. We cant wait to have maddie enjoy ALL these activities in the future and look forward to more east canyon memories!!

Maddie Lynn

2009-08-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

Maddie is our 2 month old baby girl. She is such a sweet spirit! She loves to smile and talk.. even in her sleep! She is a very laid back baby.. Thanks to her dad... and only cries when she needs something. Whether its eating, tired, or just wants some attention.. Her favorite toy is her baby girraffe that she got from a baby shower and loves to give it kisses... or eat it, but we like to think she gives it kisses. We had Maddie Blessed the first sunday of August. That day was very special to us and her...Maddie is so fun to be around and we love her!

All About Us

2009-08-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

We are the Hewletts! Todd, Kristin and Maddie! This summer has been a whirlwind of excitement and adventures for us even though we didnt really take any vacations. Maddie came into our family the 15th of June and is the light of our family. She is such a sweet little girl and brings Todd and I so much joy. Together we have learned so much from Maddie and love to just play together with her. Todd has been working with a company called Daymon Worldwide at a smiths grocery store. I have had the privilage of staying home with Maddie this summer and want to keep it that way. Maddie and I love to take walks and have fun silly conversations that make us laugh. We just moved to Salt Lake and love it here. We are closer to our friends and family and enjoy the time we spend with them.