Look Who's 3!!

Addison Eva Middleton turns 3 on November 15th. It is fun to look back and see how much she's grown:


and the attitude that grew with her... Our sweet little Lady Bug has brought with her so much joy, love, laughter, fun, tears, frustration and ... well, she is the meaning of life's simple joys. ____________________________________________________________________________________
Addison has had a bit of a rough year... shall we re-cap???
December 28, 2009: Break #1 (resulted in a long night at PCMC ER, and surgery to put 2 pins in her elbow)
Cast #1

07/23/2010: Break #2 (Resulted in an idiot doctor who didn't think it was broken, therefore we went another 10 days before getting it casted... oops)
Cast #2

10/24/2010: Break #3 (Resulted in an abulance ride to PCMC where she was put to sleep so they could re-position the bones in her arm.)


Cast #3

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDISON! You are the bravest and toughest little girl I know! This truly has been a rough year for you, little one, but I am always amazed by you and you teach me so much! I am lucky to be your Mom and I love you so much!! Happy Birthday Lady Bug!!



Hope this next year will bring just as much love, laughter, joy, and definitely less broken bones!! Love you Addison.

New York Slideshow

Took so many pictures, we figure this is the best way to share most of them:

New York! New York!

Jon calls me at work on a Wednesday afternoon and asks me if I would like to go to New York. "Um, excuse me? We can't go to New York!". The wife of one of Jon's firefighter friends works for Jet Blue. She was able to get tickets for New York for only $72/person round trip. Hello? How do you say No to that?
Timing was less than ideal, but again.. how often do you get to be spontaneous and fly to New York?? I eagerly accepted the invitation and then spent the rest of the day trying to wrap my brain around it.

We flew out of SLC airport at 11:10pm, arrive at JFK airport in New York at what would have been 3:00 our time (5:00am N.Y.time). And so our day starts! We took a subway into Manhattan, and our first big stop was Central Park. It was so beautiful and it was amazing how serene and quiet it felt even tucked inside a big city.

We then walked through time square. Saw the big tree in front of the Rockefeller Center, and we even went to the top of The Rock and got some amazing pictures!

We saw some beautiful buildings and did A LOT of walking. Our next big trip was taking a subway to lower Manhattan where we took the ferry across the water to see Lady Liberty herself. It was really amazing to see!

We saw the Brooklyn Bridge on the other side on our way back across the water. It was a nice moment to catch a breath and just enjoy the New York skyline.

We then walked up Wall Street, where we say camera crews and the batmobile. We decided they must have been filming part of the next Batman movie, so we thought that was pretty cool.

Our next stop was Ground Zero. This was a really neat experience. Jon and Gerald were able to be the first ones to leave the new Sandy patch at the memorial/tribute site for the fallen firefighters...
It was an amazing tribute to 9.11 and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have been there to see it. We saw Station 10 that is the fire station that is right next to Ground Zero, and as we were taking pictures they returned from a call. It was fun to see them.
We then spent $20 on 2 slices of pizza and 2 drinks (as it is cheap to eat in the big city) and then did some more walking... my feet were aching but the day was still young. We sent the boys to the Fire Fighter Museum and Suzanne and I went shopping on Canal Street. That in and of itself was quite the experience. I would love to go back with some of my best girlfriends and have a shopping spree!

6:00pm rolls around and its time for us to hit the subway and get back to the airport for our 8:30 flight. It took us an hour and by the time I got there I had the worst headache ever. We boarded the plane and I wasn't sure if I'd make it through take off. By the time we were in the air the Tylenol had started doing its job and I was able to get some sleep. Our flight arrived in SLC just after 11:00pm (Utah time) so the funny thing is that our total round trip time was almost 24 hours exactly!!

I loved NEW YORK and I would love to go back when it is better planned, better budgeted and when we can spend more time. I'm grateful for friends with generous hearts that would allow us to come with them to New York. It was so much fun to have a quick, and spontaneous getaway!!

Happy Halloween 2010

(I know, better late than never, right?!?)
Here is Kristian... the strongest and bravest IRON MAN I know! He had so much fun and was an awesome IRON MAN. He had fun at a Halloween party at school earlier that week where he got to wear his costume.

He was good to always strike a pose for the camera.

Little Addison was heart set on being TINKER BELL! And she did make a pretty little TINKER BELL indeed. She even had the broken wing as an accent.

The kids and I had the opportunity to go and see Virginia. It has been several months since we've seen her and the kids LOVED it. We have really missed her.

We braved the cold rainy night to get some trick-or-treating in. All in all, I think it was a fun and successful HALLOWEEN!

Jon vs Timpanogas Mountain

Jon and his firefighter friend Craig decided to take on Mount Timpanogas. Did they make it to the top?? Almost.

Jon said the higher they climbed, the colder it got. Some parts of the mountains had snow and ice one the rocks. They reached the "Saddle" and he said there was extremely cold wind and clouds that just shot up the side of the mountain. They couldn't even see through the clouds to the top peak.


They had a great time and to be honest... I'm not sure if they're up for the challenge next year. As it stands. Mount Timpanogas: 1, Jon: 0 Next time!