The McFarlands

When do I have time to blog?

2010-05-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know how moms of multiple kids get anything done let alone blogging, facebook, email. I just don't have time for it! I need someone to teach me time management. I feel like all I do is fix food for Madison all day long and maybe fit in a little laundry and quickly pick up my house. Any free time I have I'm working. One day, when my kids are in school, maybe I can take a breath!

Here's my quick recap of the last 10 months, this will probably have to last for another 10 months because that's how my blog is going these days. Madison will be turning 2 in June. She is more active and has more attitude than ever! She loves having her nails painted, going down slides, swinging at the park, digging in the dirt with a shovel, pushing her baby in her stroller and wearing purses, necklaces and any of my high heels. She's starting to talk a ton! It's funny when she really thinks she is saying something important but it just comes out as gibberish. She loves being outside and will try to escape any time the door is open a crack. We had our house painted and am putting up the finishing touches as far as window treatments and deoorations. It's so nice when your house feels like a home! We are going to Hawaii in June and are so excited. I'm already having anxiety about the plane ride but hopefully we can get some benadryl for Madison and knock her out for at least part of the flight. I might have to take some myself so I don't get a panic attack :). Garrett just turned 30 in April and had a great birthday. I gave him 30 presents! Don't worry, they weren't all good ones. His favorite was a new 17hmr rifle (a gun for prarie dog hunting). As you can see in the picture above, Madison thinks its pretty cool too, especially when Garrett does the sound effects with it. As for me, I just had my birthday too and had a great weekend. Garrett and I went on a date night and to his demise shopped around for home decor and then went and saw Iron Man 2 (great movie). Saturday we went to the Zoo and it was perfect weather. We had a lot of fun! To finish it off, Sunday was Mothers day and Garrett made me breakfast in bed and we had a fun party over at his parents house. I'll post some more after my house is decorated and maybe when we get back from Hawaii:)

10 months later....

2009-08-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened and we just haven't had time to post everything. Since Halloween, my parents and my brother's family came for Christmas. We had a blast. It was great seeing everybody. Madison got her ears pierced, she got teeth, learned to walk and run and turned 1 in June. The week before her birthday Garrett and I went on a fun trip to Michigan to see my parents. It was so nice to be home after 2 years. We had a great time. Madison was awesome on the airplane. We had an early birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's house and went to the Detroit Zoo. For Madison's actual birthday we had a family party at our house with Garrett's side of the family. I made a butterfly cake and she got a lot of great presents. My parents came at the beginning of July for my grandma's 80th birthday. So it's been fun to see them so much in such a short amount of time. We had a great 4th of July at the Kaysville parade, Harrop family BBQ and the Kaysville fireworks. We went on the McFarland family camping trip which was an adventure. Let's just say Madison didn't sleep, the mosquitos were horrible and Madison flew out of the trailer landing on her face. Awesome! We've been to Cherry Hill a lot and Garrett of course is busy working. We'll try to be better about posting more often.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

We had a great time during Halloween! First we had a family party at my brother Ryan's house, where everyone dressed up. We ate food, played games and had a doughnut eating contest. The next day (Halloween) we had a bunch of friends over for a big costume party. Again, more food, games and good times. We decided this year to have family themed costumes so, as you can see, I was captain hook, Natalie was Peter Pan, and Madison was Tinkerbell. Natalie made both hers and Madison's costumes. Very impressive.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't been feeling to "Halloweenie" lately since I've been so busy with work, school, etc. so last night Heather came over and we carved pumpkins and watched Hocus Pocus. It was a great time. It's a tradition we started a few years back and it always gets me in the Halloween mood. I carved the sweet haunted house! Isn't it awesome!?

Moab '08!!!

2008-10-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

So this years trip to Moab was a great success. We decided to leave Madison with Grandma and headed down on Friday afternoon (oct 24). The first night we just hung out at our condo, picked up our jeeps and went to dinner. Then on Saturday morning we headed out early so we could Jeep two different trails: Fins and Things & Hells Revenge. I'd never done Fins and Things so that was pretty cool. It had some pretty difficult stuff and Es (my sister) almost rolled her jeep on this trail. For her first time jeeping, she did awesome. After jeeping we headed over to our favorite restaurant, Pasta Jay's which is always a treat. After dinner we cruised over to the go-cart/laser tag place (don't know the name?) and raced a few times. The next morning we packed up, went to Denny's for breakfast and then hiked to Delicate Arch. I haven't been there for about 7 years, so it was nice to go back. So overall, everyone had a blast! Gotta love the annual Moab trip!

WALKING! sort of...

2008-10-06T13:43:00.001-07:00

So Madison is almost 4 months old and thinks she's learned to walk. A few weeks ago we started holding her up and tried to get her to move her legs. At first she wouldn't even move, but last week she started getting the hang of it. She lifts her legs up so high that she looks like a soldier, marching along. She'll be walking in no time...Probably not a good thing.

Bear Lake - Conference Weekend

2008-10-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend I was in charge of watching Madison. Natalie had a girls shopping day for Heather's birthday, so being the great husband that I am, I took Madison fishing with me up to Bear Lake with Kip and Chief. Bob, Jen and their kids came up later that day and then on Saturday my Mom and Natalie joined us. It rained most of the weekend so we spent it at the lake house playing games, riding 4 wheelers and watching movies. It turned out to be a great time! There was even a moose that came strolling through by the house.

Park City

2008-10-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Before it got too cold we thought we should head up to Park City. We spent the weekend (labor day weekend, and yes I know that was like a month ago) with our neighbors, the Dimond's and the Larson's. We rented a sweet condo and spent the weekend shopping at the mall, playing games and in town. We had a bit of a problem with the weather, but luckily we made it on the alpine slide before the rain hit.

Madison's growing up so fast!

2008-08-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

Madison is so alert all the time. She loves looking at her wall art in her nursery, so we thought we'd get her a mobile for her crib. When Natalie pulled it out to show her, she started laughing and smiling!

Madison's first day of church. We made it to all 3 hours of church for the first time since she's been born. She looked gorgeous in her cute white dress, which is also the dress that we blessed her in. And what a hot mom!!!

Madison finally outgrew the sink this last week. We put her in her new tub and she loved it. She was kicking and splashing around. She always gets so angry when we take her out.

Mega Summer Update

2008-08-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while since we've updated our blog and everyone keeps bugging us to stay on top of it. So, this is a big post, highlighting a bunch of our summer events.

We've been up to Bear Lake a few times over the summer and Madison loved it! We hiked up to Bloomington Lake and stuck her in her Snugly baby holder. We also cruised around the lake with her in the boat and she also seemed to really like that. Anytime we're outdoors she's usually happy.

Bloomington Lake is a glacier lake. That's snow behind me!!!
Walking around Raspberry Days at Bear Lake
Sunbathing at Bear Lake

Last week we went to the Davis County fair to see a demolition derby and fireworks. I wanted to grow out a mustache and a mullet but Natalie said she would divorce me. Then the next day we left for the Uintah's. Madison's first camping trip! She came down with a little cold the night before so we thought she'd be miserable up there, but surprisingly, she did great! She hardly cried the whole trip even though it was freezing up there! It's a good thing we went shopping for winter clothes before going up there.

Davis County Demolition Derby
Watching fireworks after the derby
Madison and her rock star cousin "The Bear"
Marsh Lake (see the fog? It was freazing!)
Even happy when it's cold outside.
Marsh Lake campsite

Cousin Camden

2008-07-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

This last monday Madison's new cousin Camden was born! He was 3 weeks early and weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces. When we went to visit them in the hospital we took a few shots of the new cousins together. Camden already is bigger than Madison. He's freakin adorable.

Camera Happy

2008-07-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

So since Madison has been born I've taken over 600 pictures of her. You could say I'm a little crazy about her. But she's just so freakin' cute. Natalie and I have been meaning to do a little nude photo shoot of her and just got around to it. I really need to post more pics. It seems like this little girl is just taking up all our time.
Natalie is doing great. The baby sleeps in 3 hour increments at night and she's the one who usually gets up to feed/change her. She's a great mom! Hopefully she'll get on and post more too. Until then...

Madison Belle McFarland

2008-06-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

SHE'S HERE!!!!!!! Madison was born June 13th, 2008 at 3:57 AM. She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz and is 18.5 inches long. She is the best baby in the world, except from the hours between 2 AM and 8 AM, but she's still worth it. She had a little bit of jaundice but it's all cleared up now. She's healthy and grows more beautiful by the day. She's constantly changing and growing and we just can't get enough of her. Since we've been home from the hospital we haven't even turned on the TV. We just sit and stare at her in awe. She is so much fun and we feel so lucky to have her. She is such a great blessing. WE LOVE YOU MADISON BELLE!!!!

The Nursery is done!

2008-06-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

K, so Madison's still not here and I'm going crazy. Why does everyone else's babies come early? It's just not fair. Natalie still has one week from today so your guess is as good as mine as to when she'll come. We did finally get her nursery all done. Natalie mod podged madison's name and we put up bead board and a few other wall decors. We think it's pretty cute.

When will she come?

2008-05-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Natalie is going in for her 37 week appointment today! I'm hoping that the doctor will start us at least a few days early, like around the 12th. I'm going crazy waiting for her! We're finishing her nursery and everything else is ready to go. The next time I post, we could have a baby! Here's a couple pics of the progress...

Basement Progress

2008-05-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

The battle to finish our basement continues. We've been making good progress up to this point but I'm starting to lose my drive pretty quickly. We were trying to get it done before the baby comes, but that seems like less of a reality every day. There's still quite a bit of work to do and the funds are running short. We're finishing mudding and sanding this weekend and will put in the doors and molding this next week. There still may be a slight chance we get it done, as long as Madison doesn't come too early. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

I'm Taking Over

2008-05-08T09:55:00.001-07:00

Okay, so my wife tried starting our blog like 6 months ago and as you can see, she only posted once. So, in attempt to keep our friends and family updated on our amazing lives, I'm going to try to take over (or at least help my wife) with the blogging. I'm not totally sold on this whole internet fad, but everyone says it's here to stay. So I guess I better add all our juicy details for everyone to read about.

So anyway, a quick update on our lives. Natalie is now 34 weeks along with her pregnancy. We're having a girl and are going to name her Madison Belle McFarland. We're still working on her nursery but it's very slow going, since we're also finishing our basement. I can't wait to be a dad! It's going to be the coolest thing ever. Not sure if I'm ready, but who is? We've been very lucky/blessed since Natalie has a job where she can work from home. I currently work for Black Bear Resort as their Art Director. We're building the next big luxury resort up at Bear Lake. So it's all fun and exciting. Other than that, there's not much to our lives. Just trying to ready ourselves for parenthood. More to come soon...hopefully.

Baby's first picture!

2007-11-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

I went for my first visit to the doctor on the 7th. Garrett came along to see what it was all about. The doctor did an ultrasound to look at the baby and to see exactly how far along I was. He gave me an expected due date of June 16th.

He said, "Now lets see how many passenger's you have aboard?" and I proceeded to say, "There better only be one!" And good news, there is only one. He turned up the volume and let us hear the heart beat and that was pretty cool. It made it all the more real.

I've been so sick lately that I'm not excited yet. I just want this first trimester to get over with. I'm pretty sure Garrett wants it to be over soon as well. He's sick of spending money on going out to eat because nothing at home sounds good to me. Hopefully it's over sooner rather than later!