dave, mandi, james & madeline

Our New Baby Girl!

2012-02-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Introducing Miss Madeline Grace Freestone

She was born February 7th at 6:02pm weighing 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long. She has TONS of dark hair, long skinny fingers and toes and a very sweet and mellow demeanor.

I was induced a week early. The labor and delivery was a great experience. Less than 5 hours and just three pushes we had our little Maddie!

Our family of four!

One very proud daddy with his sweet little girl

James has been very sweet and gentle with his new baby sister. Most of the time he is more interested in his cars and balls than our new addition, but he is quick to bring her a blanket and and gentle pat when she whimpers.

Great-granddad Charon was able to be here for Maddie's arrival. She loves to nap in his arms all day long.

Maddie and her Lady. My mom was here for the delivery too. She has been a huge help getting me adjusted to two small kids!!

Our little princess has been even sweeter and more beautiful than we could have ever hoped for. It is hard to believe it has only been a week since she joined our family she feels so familiar.

We cannot express enough gratitude to all our friends and family for all their love and support!! We are truly blessed!!!

Has it really been since August....

2012-01-19T10:15:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I haven't posted a thing since August...Quick recap:

Halloween:

Such a blast! James was totally into it this year. We carved Jack-o-laterns for family night the week before...he LOVED it! We had to go outside and say "nigh-night" to our pumpkins before bed every night.

We went Trick-or-treating with two of James' favorite people Brynn and Ava. James couldn't really keep up, he had to say "tank too" (thank you) to everyone involved with the candy and look at all the decorations along the way. It was so much fun! For several weeks after Halloween James would still run up to our neighbors doors when we went for walks and knock on them and yell thank you....probably hoping for some candy.

We didn't go very far just down the street with the girls and around our

block but James got loaded with candy. We let him indulge on a few

pieces the first couple of nights, but then the candy disappeared.... Oh and he was an airplane incase you were wondering.

Residency Interviews:

Dave has been really busy interviewing for Pediatric Residencies this fall and winter. He did three audition rotations (in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Phoenix Children's) and interviewed at 7 programs. One of the programs he got an interview at was Loma Linda University just about an hour away from Disneyland...so we decided to make a very last minute trip out of the interview since it also happened to land on my days off of work. We went and saw family in Escondido and took James to meet this guy:

He LOVED Disneyland. It was especially fun seeing our friends the Stevens who live in LA... We hope we can go back again soon!

Meanwhile:

We have been working on a little potty training. James actually likes sitting on the toilet and prefers going #2 on the toilet to going in his pants...we are not so good at #1 though. Just before Thanksgiving I had a little time off and he did GREAT. We had a few days without any accidents...but then the holidays came...along with double ear infections, bronchitis, croup and now some nasty virus that I have to be cautious of with my pregnancy...needless to say we will be starting over when the baby comes...but I just love his skinny little legs in his big boy underwear!!!

Thanksgiving:

We were able to go home for Thanksgiving this year!! It was so much fun seeing all of our family. We spent most of the time in Richfield with the Freestone/Ogden family. Lots of GREAT food and fun memories!

Christmas:

We also made it home for Christmas. Though I realized as I was doing this post I was horrible about taking pictures! We all had a great holiday. It was so nice to again be with our loved ones.

James helping daddy set up his new toy from Bonnie and Grandpa. He also got a Toy Story bag from my parents that he had to take with us EVERYWHERE we went...to the store, to get the mail (fortunately the novelty has begun to wear off)...He had a great Christmas!

I had to head back to Phoenix early to go to work. But Dave and James were able to have some Father/son bonding time in Utah after I left. Dave took James to his first college basketball game. He loved it!

Sorry no preggo pics...I need to take some! Hopefully I can post some before the baby comes...but that is just 3 weeks away (or less if I am induced as scheduled)...so don't hold your breath (mom). But there you have the last 4-5 months! One of my new years resolutions is to be better about blogging. My goal is to write at least once a month. I am one for one!

It's a....

2011-08-31T08:47:00.001-07:00

Girl!!!!

We are so excited to welcome baby number two! She is due on Valentines Day.

Big Brother is blissfully ignorant!

California 2011

2011-08-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

I guess it goes without saying that I am behind again on my blogging (sorry mom).
In July we were able to go on another amazing trip this time to northern California with Dave's family to celebrate Phil and Liz's 40th anniversary!! It was an absolute blast!!! We had great weather, beautiful scenery, yummy food and best of all we got to be with the family all week long!! There was so much we did I don't know where to begin. Here are the highlights:

Dancing! Our cute nieces entertained us with songs and dances they put together. Adorable.

Catching up....Emma and Lilly (my 12-year-old nieces) have officially passed me up in height (quite the accomplishment)...they are quickly gaining on their moms and even Nancy....she is jumping in this picture.

Naps!

More Dancing! Ken and Thomas doing the Haka at our Luau.

The Hula courtesy of Emma, Liz and Lilly

Us at the family Luau.

Swimming!

More Dancing! The kids put on a 4th of July program for us. They are so creative!!

4th of July psuedo-5k (more like 3 1/2k)

Happy 4th of July!!
The cute grand-kids showing off their festive pinatas they made.

The Beach!

Family Pictures!

Redwoods at Muir Woods

San Fransisco!

It was a wonderful trip that came and went to quickly. Thanks so much to Mom and Dad Freestone for the great time and for everyone for the many happy memories!!

Pennsylvania 2011

2011-07-14T17:38:00.001-07:00

We have been blessed with an amazing summer so far!! Dave had a test that was only given in Philadelphia...so, thanks to my awesome parents, we decided to make a family trip of it. I had never been to Pennsylvania nor had my parents so we were all excited to see that part of the country and get away from the heat. Sure enough Philadelphia was having one of their worst heat waves on record so no reprieve from the high temps but it was still a super fun trip!! Here as some highlights:Our secret for surviving the long flights....dum dums! James has been on more flights than I care to count but as he gets older and more active he gets to be more and more difficult to fly with. I debated all sorts of methods to keep him happy, but the options were few. He doesn't get sugar often, not even juice...so this was like baby crack for him....it only took two suckers to get him there and three to get him home...the result, happy baby, happy passengers, happy mom and dad!

Day 1 Reading Terminal, Philly Cheese Steaks and Ice Cream..YUM!

Day 2 Lancaster PA, Amish Country

Science Factory

Lancaster and the surrounding Amish towns were BEAUTIFUL. It was amazing to see the pristine gardens and land maintained by the Amish using horse drawn tractors and plows. We were able to go to a Farmer's market where we got lots of yummy produce, jams, popcorn, cheeses...afterwards we ate at a fresh garden restaurant for dutch oven cooking.

Day 3 Downtown Philadelphia Tour and Test Day for Dave
Dave had already seen Philadelphia so we took a tour of the city while he took his big test. We saw lots of fun things!!!
The Liberty Bell
Enjoying ice cream just outside of the Church where many founding father's attended church including George Washington, John Adams, & Benjamin Franklin.

James getting recruited for the Continental Army

I think James' face in this picture shows how we all really felt about the heat...It was in the high 90-low 100's and super humid! But it was still so fun to see the beautiful city and learn so much American History!

Day 4 Gettysburg

Gettysburg was beyond beautiful. The history there is incredible.

Day 5 Constitutional Center and more downtown Philly

James hanging out with Ben

James' Inaugural Address (He did amazing)

James LOVED the fountains that were throughout the City

James and Dave giving the weather report at the Franklin Institute

For our final adventure James climbed the Rocky Step...all by himself....it took a while.
It was such a GREAT trip. Thanks so much to my mom and dad for making it possible for us all to go and thanks to Dave for letting us all tag along for his big test!!!

Lots of Catching Up

2011-06-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

To say it has been crazy around here is not doing us justice. Since my last post there has been a break-in, a painful good-bye to my beloved Grandma, a car accident (I hit my boss' car), a clinical rotation out-of-town, multiple doctor visits for multiple ear infections, 8 plane rides with a one year old, and lots and lots and lots of happiness in-between that keeps us going....so brace yourself this is a long overdue catch up post...

About two months ago my beautiful Grandma was placed on hospice. She had been battling Multiple Sclerosis for many many many years and was, understandably, tired of the fight. Being away from home was horrible. I wanted so badly to be there to help her and my granddad but all I could do was call and pray for them. She had said she wanted me to come to see her and I said I would. With work, Dave's schooling, James and other obligations it would be a challenge but I am eternally grateful that I made it happen as soon as I did. James and I came up for a very quick 36 hour trip, spending every moment I could with my grandma saying a very hard and bittersweet goodbye. She passed away peacefully less than two days later. She was a beautiful person. She was smart, witty and the most giving and selfless person I have ever known. I miss her dearly.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?n=shirlee-charon&pid=151281270

About a month before my grandma's passing this happened:Our home was broken into. Dave was out-of-town doing a month long rotation in Prescott. While this was super scary and stressful to say the least there were many tender mercies involved with this incident. First I had come home about three hours early from work that day (which I almost never do). The police believe that my coming home spooked the kid and he left. As a result he did not get away with very much stuff. Second the police came to my home before I even realized what had happened because the kid had broken into a home earlier and been seen and he was hiding out in his parents house which unfortunately is just behind ours...so the 'suspect' was caught and I had help right away. Finally while it was awful to have Dave out of town it was a blessing that he was still close enough to drive home that first evening so I didn't have to be alone that night. I still feel very safe in my home and neighborhood. It is sad that people are so desperate and have no problem violating or hurting other people to get what they want. I am just so grateful that everyone is okay!!
Enough sadness here are the happy parts of the past two and a half months..

James had his one-year photo shoot as a gift from my mom (thanks again mom) by this talented girl http://www.megsphotographyanddesign.com/
He is so cute!

We played with these guys. For James' birthday we came to Utah to celebrate some more (because two parties in AZ wasn't enough!). It was so much fun playing with all our friends and family. Thanks to my sweet parents Dave and I had our first night away with out James!

These guys came to visit us !!! Soon after we left Utah my sister jenn (not pictured, she is the photographer of this photo) and her wonderful family came to play with us while Dave was in Prescott. We had so much fun going to the zoo, hiking, playing wii, visiting the science center and eating lots of yummy things! We loved having the Tullis' here!!

I made this. Which resulted in this....
Yes that is my sewing machine needle....no this picture does not do it justice. This was yet another thing that happened while Dave was gone (he misses out on all the fun). I have LOVED my new sewing machine I got for Christmas. I have made james ties, bow ties, toys, a quiet book...I saw this reversible cape on my friends facebook page (thank you Stacy for the idea) and Dave had a bunch of old t-shirts that were just the right colors so I made James one...but stupid me couldn't wait for the next nap to finish it so I was sewing with the one-year-old when I was rethredding my needle and he snuck under the table and sat on my peddle...resulting in a shattered needle that went straight through my finger. It hurt less than I would have guessed. Morale of the story....wait until nap time to sew.

James had his first haircutThanks Uncle Cary!

And his first swim lesson.He LOVES the water!

Thanks to my wonderful husband and amazing baby I had an AMAZING mother's day!And somehow we have found time to play, a lot...At the Zoo

At the Science Museum

At Papago Park

And at the Children's Museum

Also we have been doing lots of family bike rides with our 20$ yard sale find:
A bike trailer for James. He LOVES it!

Finally We just returned from an AWESOME Trip to Philly....but that will have to wait enough catching up for now.

James' First Birthday!

2011-03-30T17:17:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it, our baby turned 1!!!! James had his 1st birthday on St. Patty's day. It has truly been the busiest, fastest and GREATEST year of our lives!!!
James' birthday celebration started a couple of days early when his sweet sitter Crystale threw him a party at her place with all of his friends from her house. She made him this beautiful cake and spoiled him with sweet gifts. He LOVED digging into his first birthday cake.
A couple of days later on St. Patty's day we celebrated James' birthday with some of our dear friends from the neighborhood and ward. My mom, James' Lady was able to come too!! Thanks mom for all your help!!!!

I have always looked forward to making my children's birthday cakes...I probably went a little overboard. Thanks to my sweet friend Brie (she provided all the pans and recipe for the fondant, not to mention lots of moral support) this actually was much easier than I thought it would be and it turned out pretty well...not that James really cared.

Some of James' friends playing with the bubbles. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!! We were able to play and lounge outside and fill up on cake and ice cream.

I am sad I didn't get any pictures of James with all of the kids that came but here are some of the little cutie pies. The two beautiful girls next to James (Bryn and Ava) are our dear friend Jenny's girls. Jenny watched James for us for nearly six months when I went back to work. They adore him and he adores them. It is so cute to watch them together!!! The handsome boys on the left are Carson and Landon, Brie's boys. The other kiddos that came were Jay, Alice, Duncan, Eva, Max, Kate, Gabe & McKay...Thanks to all our wonderful friends that were able to come celebrate James' big day. We are blessed with great friends and are SO grateful for all the love and support you show us!

James taking his first bite of cake!

He LOVED it!!! Totally takes after his mom and dad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sweet Baby James!!!!

Visitors

2011-03-12T01:02:00.000-08:00

Dave and I always love visitors (hint hint Jenn and all you other slackers who haven't come to see us!)!! We have been blessed with a few the past few weeks.
First my brother Dallin and his wife Cami came with their sweet little boys Carter & Davey!

Little David loving the bubbles.

James not sure what to think about the bubbles.

Davey loving more bubbles.

And Carter also loving the bubbles.
Okay I promise we did more than just blow bubbles...but that is all I got pictures of. Thanks Dallin and Cami for coming to stay with us for a little while. It was so fun seeing you and spending some time with you and your cute guys!!!
Next we had a great visit from Liz (Dave's mom) and Grandma Lu. Bonnie (a.k.a. Liz) helped us take care of James and cooked us delicious food. It was so much fun spending time with her and Grandma Lu. I know James especially loved it. I of course did not get ANY pictures of either of them while they were here, BUT I did get a picture of James while they were staying with us:

Don't you just LOVE him! oh and Happy very belated Valentines Day! Liz was with us over Valentine's Day. She even sent Dave and I on a well over due date while she watched our little munchkin. It was so-o great having her here!!!

And finally our latest visitor was this super cute little thing:

Amelia

She also brought along her cute parents (not pictured) Nick and Stacy. Her mom Stacy has been one of my dearest friends for 15 years. It was so nice of them to come all the way from LA to play with us for the weekend. The kids LOVED playing together, we will definitely have to get them together again soon!

We went to Tempe Town lake. The park was closed for a Beer festival...we didn't think we should take the babies to a Beer festival...but knowing Arizona we probably could have if we wanted to! This picture sums up how James felt about me taking his picture that afternoon.

James and his daddy walking from the Lake.

I'm sure they will thank us for this one someday!

Obviously if there was a theme for the weekend it would be hygiene. The kids practiced really good hygiene together. And yes I am aware that my son has a pink toothbrush, thank you.
Amelia we LOVED having you and your parents come to visit us. You can bring them to Phoenix anytime!
Thanks to all our wonderful visitors!!! We love you and miss you already...come again soon!!!!

1st Visit to the Zoo!

2011-02-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

We finally took James to the zoo!! Dave and I have been wanting to go for sometime but work, school and illnesses have kept us from going. Despite the fact that James was more interested in the dirt on the ground, his shoes and the other people at the park than any of the animals it was still a lot of fun!

They have a cute little barn and petting zoo where the kids can touch and interact with a bunch of goats...it was a little unnerving for me, especially when one of the goats grabbed the park map out of my back pocket to eat it. Apparently there were multiple signs up in the barn warning visitors of goats eating maps out of their hands and pockets. I of course did not notice any of them until after the fact. But I think James liked it!

James and Daddy checking out the farm animals.

James was wearing little 'squeaky' shoes that make a loud squeak with each step...well this turkey loved (or maybe hated) the noise and came right over to the fence when he heard James' shoes. The turkey was fixated on James. Every time he took a step the bird would try to get closer to him and peck at the fence. James thought it was hysterical.

Loving the slide!

And the toys....probably could have just taken him to a park.

James and daddy 'driving'...very exciting!

James and I playing at the little barn playground.

This might have been James' favorite part of the whole zoo experience. He loved turning the tractor steering wheel back and forth! I didn't quite capture it but there were LOTS of smiles and giggles!!

Watching the birds at the 'wetlands'
It really was such a great outing! Everything is so much more fun now that we have this little guy to experience things with.

Good Bye 2010...Hello 2011!!!!

2011-01-01T09:18:00.001-08:00

2010 has been a happy and blessed year, I am a little sad to see it go so quickly. Dave and I often feel overwhelmed with how much our Father in Heaven blesses us. We are so grateful for a healthy and happy year and look forward to this new one. We are especially grateful for our amazing family and dear friends. We hope and pray that you and yours will have a joyous and blessed New Year too!
This Christmas was a very merry one sharing it with our sweet little boy. Here are a few of the highlights...

Meeting Santa at the ward Christmas Party...James really couldn't have cared less but it was about an hour past his bedtime so we were just impressed he was still awake.

Here is James with his cousin David. David is 5 1/2 months older than James, but you wouldn't knowing looking at them! We traveled to Utah for the Holidays. The 10 hour drive there was uneventful (wish we could say the same about coming home). James had a great time playing with all his Cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents...we did too!

Christmas Eve with the Johnston Cousins.
He also loved playing with his Freestone Cousins they gave him LOTS of love and attention, but his spacey mom didn't get ANY pictures!

Christmas Morning.
We didn't think James would be that into opening gifts and playing with toys (He would rather play with my eye lash curler than most any other toy he has). But he was actually quite excited Christmas morning and loved playing with his new things.

Nativity Scene with all the Johnston Cousins and 2nd Cousins.

James was the Donkey for the Nativity Scene...a pretty darn cute one if I do say so myself.
Dave and James at the Grand Canyon so happy to be okay after our VERY scary event and oblivious to the excitement just ahead of us.
Our drive home was absolutely CRAZY!! Our safe arrival home was truly an answer to our MANY prayers!! We left very early (4:30am) on Wednesday morning from Richfield UT. A storm had started just an hour or so before we left. The roads were slick and covered with icey snow and visibility was poor. We had made it just past Panguitch and was coming up on Kanab when Dave took a turn that slid us into a spin pushing us across the highway and into a snowy embankment on the other side of Highway 89. There were many tender mercies to this event. First we were completely unharmed. Second our car (miraculously) was unscathed, not even a scratch. Third we landed perfectly, had we slid off to the right we would have likely rolled due to the slopped terrain, but because we slid across to the left and hit a hill our car was safely stopped. It is truly miraculous that we didn't hit any other cars or the many boulders and trees that were nearby. The final tender mercy in this event was a very kind good Samaritan that stopped just 5 minutes after we spun out. He had a large truck and was able to pull us out in just a few short minutes. James just cooed and played through the whole event. After a very heartfelt prayer of thanks and gratitude we were on our way. We thought we were in the clear until we reached Flagstaff where the roads were just as bad, if not worse. We were stuck behind a large line of cars waiting for other drivers to struggle up the snowy hills, many of which were sliding off the road or unable to make it up. After a nearly 3 hour stand still we were on our way. Our would be 8 hour journey from Richfield took just over 13 hours. But we made it safe and sound, what a blessing!!!!

A Little Catch-up Before Christmas

2010-12-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

Time sure flies during this time of year. Since my last post we celebrated two holidays, went on two trips, cut four more teeth (James), learned to cruise all over the house (also James), had a wedding and a baptism and all the little stuff in between...its been a busy few weeks.

Halloween 2010

We are lawn ornaments. James and Dave are Garden Gnomes and I am supposed to be a pink flamingo...okay so James' costume has been ready for over a year Dave and I threw ours together the night of our first Halloween party.

Our cute Garden Gnome.

Thanksgiving 2010

I feel like all I do is take pictures of this cute little guy and yet I don't have ANY pictures from any of our Thanksgiving dinners. But here he is the night of Thanksgiving getting ready to go for a walk to see the neighbors' Christmas lights. As you can see he is SUPER excited!
We had three Thanksgiving dinners this year. The week before Thanksgiving we traveled to San Diego to see Dave's niece Jessie get baptized and had an early Thanksgiving dinner with the Freestones. On Thanksgiving Day Dave's sweet Aunt Pat and Uncle Chris had us over with some of their family. The following Sunday my parents flew in from Salt Lake and we had a small Thanksgiving dinner with the five of us. Needless to say we have already put on our extra holiday weight.

Utah v. BYU 2010
James cheering on his Utes. It was a GREAT game!!

Getting Ready for Christmas
James wearing his new Jammies from his Lady. She actually got all three of us matching ones...we will get a picture of that eventually.

Utah December 2, 2010
Our little snow angel. James loved playing in the snow...for about 5 minutes.

Justin & Mariah's Wedding December 2, 2010We went to Utah last week for my brother's wedding. He has found a fantastic girl. We are so happy for them.

Someone is ready for Christmas.
James is good to leave the tree alone but he does love to play with the wrapping and bows on his gifts under the tree. We got him just a couple small gifts but I think he would be fine if I had just wrapped some empty boxes.

Only 19 days till Christmas!!!

Ooooooklahoma!!

2010-10-23T07:32:00.001-07:00

For the past four weeks Dave has been doing a pediatric rotation at The Children's Hospital of St. Francis in Tulsa Oklahoma. James and I were able to join him for his last week. We loved Oklahoma. It had beautiful fall weather with the leaves just starting to turn. We were able to see many beautiful parks, visit the new city library, see the cute children's hospital where Dave worked, walked along the Arkansas river...basically it was a great trip! But best of all we got to be with Daddy again!!!!!
On our way home from Tulsa James and I had a layover in Salt Lake City. My Dad extended the layover a day so that we could spend time with family. It was a busy few hours in Salt Lake we saw all of James' cousins on my side, his four great-grandparents on my side and all my brothers and sisters. Our flight home that night ended up getting canceled so we were stuck in Salt Lake an extra night, it was a little stressful, especially since I was supposed to work the next day...but in the end it was okay and we got to spend a little more time with Grandpa!

Happy Fall everyone!!!

Six month pictures

2010-09-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Our little baby is six months old!! I really wanted to get some pictures of him at this fun stage of life, but as poor students we really don't have extra income for things like that anymore. So I solicited the help of my father-in-law (Phil) and mother-in-law (Liz) and with their help we were able to get some cute pictures (if I do say so myself) of our sweet baby James.

Our drooly boy cut his first tooth about a week ago.

He doesn't "pout" much so I am excited we caught this on film.

Yes James is crawling!! He started to army crawl when he was just five months old but he is working hard at getting the on-all-fours down.

Our little man.

James was pulling himself up to stand in the basket through most of the shoot. I know I am biased but he really is a strong little guy.
So there you have it. Our Sweet Baby James at 6 months old!!
Thanks to Phil for letting me use his camera and Liz for all your help and Baby James for being so darn cute!!!

Visitors, road trip and much more

2010-09-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

The past three weekends we have been filled with family, friends and lots of firsts for James.

First we had a visit from Uncle Justin, his friend Mariah and her son Bronson. They watched James for us so we could celebrate our fifth anniversary. On Saturday we took the boys to the Peoria splash pad and had a picnic (both firsts for James).James & Daddy cooling off.

Bronson "not" feeding the ducks.

James enjoying his first picnic.

While Justin was in town we also had a quick visit from the Moore's (Dave's sister's family). Here is James with his cousin Thomas. It was so good getting to see them even if it was for just a little while.

The weekend after Justin's visit my mom, also known as Lady, came to see us. It was so much fun getting to see her. She left just a couple of days before her birthday so we had an early celebration. Here is James helping Lady blow out her birthday candle.
Happy Birthday Lady!!!! We love you and miss you!!!

For Labor Day weekend Dave and I decided we would take a quick road trip to L.A. and see my friend Stacy. Stacy and I have been best friends since elementary school. She had her first baby just a few weeks before James. She and her husband Nick live in Sherman Oaks now and were nice enough to let Dave and I come stay with them.

Stacy and I with the babies. Dave took about 5 or 6 of these pictures and little Amelia is staring and touching James in each one. These two were so cute with each other!

We went sightseeing on Hollywood Blvd. Here we are at the Chinese Theater.

James and Shrek just outside the wax museum.
Dave and I love the beach were so-o excited to take James. Nick and Stacy took us to a Beautiful beach in Malibu. Even the drive there was stunning. We were a little worried it would be crowded because of the holiday, but we got there at the perfect time and it wasn't crowded at all.
James!!
He LOVED the beach...not so much the ocean though. It was a little chilly.

James and Daddy checking out the waves.

We finally took James to the park. He has been before in his stroller. But now he is strong enough to go in the swings. And as you can see he LOVED it!
This has been an amazing summer with our sweet little baby!!!

5 years ago....

2010-08-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

August 20th five years ago Dave and I began our lives together.
These past five years have been filled with many major milestones and incredible memories. We feel truly blessed to have one another and to have been able to experience all we have with each other at our side. The day we were married I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the world...and I was.

Our engagement picture.
Dave and I met in Physiology class at Weber State University. After a wonderful year of dating Dave proposed in June of 2005 (I said yes).

August 20, 2005
Our Wedding day was more than I could have ever hoped for. We were surrounded by our amazing families and friends. The love and support we had was incredible. The sealing was sweet and beautiful. The weather was perfect. I could not stop smiling all day.

December 2005
Our First Christmas together in our first apartment in Washington Terrace.

Nursing School Graduation, June 2006

August 20, 2006
Our first Anniversary Walt Disney World Florida. We were able to celebrate with my parents, sister and her sweet family. So much fun!!!

Thanksgiving 2006

Christmas 2006
Puebla, Mexico. Dave's dad and mom served as mission presidents in Mexico our first three years of marriage. We were able to go visit them every year at Christmas time.

Summer 2007
Going through our pictures I realized Dave and I have dressed up ALOT the past five years. This was for my nephew Jack's superhero birthday party. We made these costumes ourselves!

The Amazon River, Peru, May, 2007
Our first medical mission. In the Spring of 2007 Dave and I were able to travel through parts of the northern Amazon Basin with a group from our University and provide medical aide to the people there. It was an amazing experience and we are so grateful we were able to share it together.

Machu Pichu, Peru July 2008
The following year my parents surprised us and my siblings with an opportunity to go on a service mission together. This time we traveled through the Andes serving people in very remote villages high in the mountains. It was spectacular.

December 2008
Dave graduated Weber State University in the Spring of 2008 with a degree in microbiology. That summer we moved to Arizona so he could begin medical school at Midwestern University. Here we are at his White Coat Ceremony during his first year. Now he is in his third year busy doing rotations. I am so grateful to have such a hardworking and dedicated husband!

Fall 2008
Kayaking in Southern California.

August 2009
For our fourth anniversary Dave and I traveled to Italy. My parents joined us (they were celebrating their 25th anniversary!!). It was a blast!!! Dave served his mission in Rome. He had always said that he would take me there one day. We are so grateful we were able to go on this amazing trip!!

March 2010
Just two days before our lives would change forever!!! We just bought this car the day before. We were so excited and anxious for our little guy to come. Dave was so great to me throughout my pregnancy. Foot rubs, back rubs, not complaining about having cereal just about every night (my only craving). My pregnancy made me love and appreciate Dave even more!

March 17, 2010
Our greatest adventure/accomplishment/joy of all. Sweet baby James!!

We have LOVED being parents. Doing it together makes it even better. Dave is an amazing daddy. I feel even more blessed and lucky to have him now that we have James.

Thank you for 5 wonderful years!! I look forward to the many more ahead!!

And just because we haven't posted in a while here are some pictures of James...

Our little cowboy. All dressed up for the 24th of July pioneer party at church.

James is one of the happiest babies I have ever known!!

Our Big Guy is sitting up really well rolling across the room and pushing himself around in circles. It is always a surprise to see where he ends up in the crib when we go to pick him up in the morning or after a nap.

Warning: LOTS of cute pictures in NO particular order....

2010-07-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

There is so much to catch up on I don't know where to begin!! I'm sure this post will be a bit disorganized and totally out of order, but it's filled with cute pictures of our sweet baby so who cares!?James is growing so fast! He sleeps through the night now, just in time for his mommy to go back to work! He is such a perfect little guy!!!

He loves to giggle and talk and sing. He smiles and laughs all the time. He even loves his bath time and massage now.

We celebrated our first mother's and father's day. James and daddy surprised me with flowers and a gift hiding in James' crib when I got up with him early in the morning on Mother's day. James and I got daddy a basket filled with some of his favorite things and celebrated Father's day ALL weekend. It was especially exciting because Dave had just finished taking his boards (phew!!)

James amazes us with his strength. He rolls over all the time. Pushes himself around in circles stands with a little help just for balance and can sit by himself (just not for too long).

The "bug" eye family.

James and his buddy Jay in their matching red hats.

James eats like an 6 month old! He LOVES cereal, carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. Now I know that some of you might be judging me for feeding my three month old infant food, but he LOVES it he spits up less, is much less fussy, sleeps through the night and don't worry he still gets plenty of breast milk and formula. Besides I recently read an article saying that Finnish researchers found infants that were introduced more foods between 3-6 months had LESS food allergies AND because of this research the AAP is in the process of changing their recommendations of when to introduce foods....so there.

Telling mommy a story.

We took him swimming...he liked it...didn't love it...but liked it.

Grandlady came to help me with the transition back to work. She has come to help us for a whole month! James just loves his lady and we love having her here!!

He is so cute!

In May we went to Utah to visit family and friends. James had lots of love and attention from his cute cousins!

He loved to snuggle with his great uncle cary

James was an ANGEL on the plane rides (phew). I was so grateful since I flew to Utah by myself.

We got to see my bestest friend (since I was ten!) Stacy and her sweet little Amelia. We are already planning their wedding.

We played lots with Grandpa and Bonnie.

And He LOVED being carried around by his Grandpa.

Dave met up with us at the end of our trip to Utah to bless his sweet baby. We had lots of family and friends come to support us! Thank you everyone for coming it was so good to see you all!!!

Our friends the Scott and Romney and their beautiful little Jocelyn.
Great Grandma Lu keeping James happy just before the blessing.
Our sweet little boy.

We just love this little guy!!!

For Justin

2010-06-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have some catching up to do...I will try to get to it this weekend...but for now here is a post for my brother who is always good to remind me when I haven't posted in a while...

Growing Baby and Completed Nursery

2010-05-03T17:41:00.001-07:00

James seems to grow by the minute. It is so much fun to watch him change and develop. He smiles and coos all the time now. He is pretty content, especially if he is being held and snuggled.

Being burped by daddy. He is so alert. We usually give up on sleepers once he has spat up on the 3 or 4th...fortunately it is so warm here clothes are more of a formality.
My two favorite boys. Dave had come home just after a test completely beat. He was asleep...James not so much, he was wide awake but very content and happy to be with his daddy.

Tummy time. Sometimes he likes it. Sometimes he doesn't. He is sure getting strong though!

The nursery is finally done... It really just needed a picture of James to be complete but here is the final product...

I hope one day James appreciates it too!

Newborn Photo Shoot

2010-04-22T10:08:00.001-07:00

We had newborn photos taken of James when he was just ten days old by the very talented Kathy Scoffield (http://www.kathyscoffieldphotography.com/). We got them back yesterday and I couldn't believe how much he has changed!! The pictures turned out beautiful...now the tricky part is choosing which ones to have printed for his announcements...

Already 1 month old!!

2010-04-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to believe that our little guy is already a month old. The time has gone by so quickly and yet he feels like he has been a part of our family forever! Being James' mom is far better than I could have ever imagined it would be. He brings Dave and I so much joy!! We have been blessed with a very calm, happy baby that, best of all, sleeps like a little angel.

This month has been full of MANY firsts for James....

Making purposeful eye contact (I never knew this could be so-o exciting!)

Giving actual smiles. The gas ones are pretty fun too.

First Sunday outfit...though no showing it off at church just yet.

First hike (yes he is sound asleep)

First Easter!

There have been MANY more. Of course as a first time mom I have captured just about all of them on tape or camera. But I didn't think James would appreciate me posting pictures of his first bath and first blow out.

Happy First Month Birthday Baby James, We LOVE you!!!!!!!!

The first week...

2010-03-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

This has been the most amazing, exciting and surreal week of our lives. Everyone that has had a baby tells you how incredible it is...we had no idea!!!

Baby James was born on St. Patty's Day at 9:34 in the morning after a long but great induction.

Our first family photo.

I was completely exhausted...and totally in love!

Dave is a complete natural and James just adores his daddy!

Most of the first day is a blur. I just remember being so relieved that he was here, safe and healthy!

James is very alert and calm...except when we change his diaper.

I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital so I requested an "early" discharge...in order get it we had to bring James to the pediatrician when he was just 3 days old. Here he is ready for his first outing. He was an angel of course.

James has had lots of visitors all ready. His Uncle Justin (Mandi's brother) was able to come down from Utah and spend a couple days with us. It was so great having him here, he even mowed the lawn for us!

Bonnie (Dave's mom) flew down right away too. She was a HUGE help especially the first few nights when she took James so I could get some sleep and recover. She cleaned, cooked, shopped...you name it... and ultimatly she kept James happy.

His Lady (Mandi's mom) was there from the very beginning. It was so neat sharing the delivery with her. She has been such an amazing support to us. She too has done tons of cleaning, shopping, cooking and countless other things to help us get into the swing of this parenting thing. James loves to snuggle with her and listen to her sing.

Dave can't get enough of his boy...which is hard when you are a second year med student. He is so helpful and willing to do anything that needs to be done. I sometimes have to "remind" (nag) him to study rather than just sit and stare at his son.

I know that everyone thinks their child is beautiful...I get that I am biased...but he REALLY is BEAUTIFUL!

So there is the first week in a nutshell. This picture pretty much sums up how I am feeling right now. Sleepy, completely content and happy!!

Introducing...

2010-03-20T05:59:00.001-07:00

James Linden Freestone

Born March 17th, at 9:34 am

6 lbs 14 oz. 20 inches long

Got everything...but a baby...

2010-02-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks Dave, baby James and I have been showered with love, kindness and amazing generosity. On Saturday my friends Brie, Heather, Ashley and Julie threw me a beautiful ward/friend/family shower. It was a blast.
My friend Brie and her sweet family have been so good to Dave and I since we have moved to Arizona...I don't know what we would do with out them!!

Steve (Brie's husband) helping out with the shower. Puffy faced me and Beautiful Brie.

My AMAZING mom came all this way again to come to the shower, but somehow I did not get a SINGLE picture of her there !!! But above is the adorable diaper cake she made for us and CARRIED on the plane!!

Even our family (on Dave's side) made the trip all the way from Buckeye to support us! We are so grateful for them and all their love and support!!

Here are some more pictures of the girls and guests. It was such a fun shower...Thank you EVERYONE for your kindness and support!! We are truly grateful and amazed at the love and generosity!

The week before the wonderful nurses at work threw me a baby shower. Everyone there has been so kind and incredibly supportive throughout this pregnancy, it has made it that much more exciting!

The PACU crew...and me opening the gifts in the break room...

So now thanks to all our friends and family Dave and I feel ready for this little guy to come...Thank you EVERYONE!!!

just a few more weeks!!!

Nursery Preview

2010-01-20T16:22:00.001-08:00

This past weekend my mom came down to help us get a little more ready for the baby. She was a HUGE help. We were able to get most of the nursery put together....but because I am so picky I am relying on my talented sister Jen to do some sewing projects and my handy husband to hang a few more things....and then it will be complete. In the meantime here is a little preview of what we have so far...

I sure hope the name James fits him....or that he'll grow into it.

One excited Grandma!! She got us the beautiful crib that she is standing in front of...if it weren't for her James would be sleeping in my nightstand drawer for awhile!
The changing table courtesy of Bonnie and Grandpa Freestone. Did I mention how grateful we are for grandparents!?!

Dave hung all the wainscoating and designed the molding himself, I think he did a pretty amazing job!!!

So there you have it...so far...all we need now is a couple finishing touches and a baby!!!

10 more weeks...but who's counting!

2010-01-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

First of all to those of you (mom) who frequently remind me of how infrequently I update this blog I am sorry...this post is for you.
Dave and I are back to our normal routine after the holidays. It was so much fun spending time with family, friends and loved ones. Quick recap:
We were able to enjoy Thanksgiving here in Arizona with all of Dave's immediate family. We were so busy and had so much fun that we did not take ANY pictures :( the whole time the family was with us. But it was so much fun having everyone here. We played lots of games, ate lots of food and ultimately enjoyed each others company. Thank you everyone for making the trip down here and for all your help with everything!!!
Christmas came and went far too quickly. Our short trip to Utah was filled with loved ones, great food and lots of fun. The highlight for me was our trip to fetalfoto. Dave and I were able to see our little guy again but this time we were able to share it with my mom and dad, Dave's mom and grandma, Dave's sister Nancy and my Uncles Cary and Zac. It was so fun enjoying that moment with our loved ones. Unfortunately our little guy did not cooperate very well for his first public photo shoot. He kept both his hands and feet in front of his face throughout most of the session it actually was kind of funny. Fortunately we were still able to get some cute shots....

He is quite the contortionist. He was literally folded in half the entire time, we tried to get him to move but nothing was working, the only time we got some decent shots was when he would spread his legs long enough to see his face.

I can not wait to see him in person!!!!
Finally we rang in 2010 with our dear friends the Wheelwrights...again no pictures sorry. The countdown to midnight seems to be less and less climatic as we get older but it was fun being with friends and eating Brie's delicious burritos.
Today we are officially 30 weeks (yay!!!) Everything still seems to be progressing just as it should be. I am still feeling really well and my belly is getting rounder everyday just as it should!!

Here is the proof...one of these times I will just get Dave to take the picture of my belly so you don't have to see my lovely faucet and bathroom towels!

Hope you all had the happiest of holidays and a great new year!!!!

Christmas Tree and End of 2nd Trimester

2009-12-13T16:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I LOVE this time of year!! Each year I try to talk Dave into putting the tree up early (and by early I mean just before Thanksgiving, nothing too crazy). But every year he calmly reminds me that we should celebrate one holiday at a time. I guess that is what I get for marrying someone that is practical. So once again the tree came up the day after Thanksgiving. Dave was on an outing with part of his family but fortunately I had some very cute and eager helpers staying with us for the holiday. Unfortunately I did not get ANY pictures of the nieces helping me decorate but it was so much fun having their help and it was a great way to start off the Christmas season. Here is our tree. I can't believe it is our last Christmas just the two of us!

This is officially the last week of my second trimester. I am very excited to be getting closer to having the baby...but very sad to end this part of my pregnancy. Everything continues to progress well. I feel great and the baby is definitely growing! I'm sorry I am not better about keeping everyone updated on our pregnancy....hopefully I will be better when the baby is here...hopefully.

It's a....

2009-11-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

Many of you may know by now we are having a baby BOY!!!

Here is a 3-d picture they took of our little guy.

I've really started to pop these past couple of weeks...here's my belly today at 20 weeks 4 days (More than half way yay!!!)

We truly couldn't be happier. We had our second trimester ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and everything looked absolutely perfect. It was so amazing to see him. He is a little wiggle worm, but he cooperated perfectly for this exam. Overall the pregnancy has been great and most importantly our little guy looks to be perfectly healthy. We are very blessed!

Bella Italia

2009-10-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Since our blog will soon be dedicated to our new little one I thought I should at least do one quick post about our amazing trip to Italy this summer.

Everyone always asks us "what was the best part?" I usually say the food (which was amazing)...but honestly it was EVERYTHING!! The architecture, art, history, people, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Napoli, Sorrento, Mediterranean sea, Pompeii, shops, resturants, on and on...We loved it all!!! It was so fun to see many of the areas that Dave served in as a missionary and discover new places together. His Italian came back to him quickly and he was a great tour guide. So here is a brief recap of our trip of a lifetime.

We didn't want to waste a minute of our time in Italy, right after our 14 hour journey we headed straight to the Collosuem and Forum to see Ancient Rome...It was Spectacular!

Us at The Colloseum and Our Travel Buddies (my parents) Lindy and Cindy. They were the best! We were all Jet Lagged and hot but they were up for ANYTHING, we walked for miles each day and saw everything! We are so glad we got to do this trip with them.

We learned quickly the first day that there are two things that don't exsist in Rome, places to sit and bathrooms...kind of difficult with a bilateral amputee and a pregnant woman...but we improvised well.

The Second Day we saw the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's and all. It was beautiful! That evening we did a night walk of the City.

Amazing art work throughout the Vatican Museum.

Dave in front of a Painting of Sardania, an island he served on for several months. We didn't make it to Sardania, but we figure it is our excuse to get to go back one day.

The beginning of the night walk. It was a beautiful evening. So amazing to see the fountains, buildings and piazza's all lit up. This was also the night we started the standard of having Gellato at least twice a day yum!

The third day we visited the Borghese Gardens and Gallery (beautiful!) and returned to see many of the spots we caught on the night walk during the day.

Day four we were able to go to the same church Dave went to in Rome. In the evening we went for one final walk around ancient Rome, probably one of our favorite spots in the city.

On the fifth day we traveled to Florence where we stayed for three days. Dave has an old companion that lived there who was very eager to show us around his city. We saw far more than we ever would have on our own! It was a beautiful city.

Florence

Sunset on the River in Florence

The Churches in Florence were by far the most Beautiful!

Tuscany!!

Dave's old companion Pietro.

Dave's new companion, me.

Pietro took us to this amazing medival city call San Gimignano. Touristy for a reason!

We found that the best gellato, hands down, was in Florence. Ironically it was also the cheapest!

On our Eighth day we took the train to Napoli.

The View from our Beautiful Hotel, the New Castle, with the Mediterranean and Vesuvius in the background. Our first day we explored the city and ate the most delicious pizza at one of the oldest pizza places in the world. They claim to being the birth place of the Margherita pizza. Napoli was colorful, beautiful and very tasty!

Dave in front of his favorite place to eat on his mission, unfortunately they were closed for the holiday when we were there...I guess we will just have to try again later.

The second day we went to Pompeii. This city was far more vast than I anticipated. It was amazing how well preserved and large it was. We took hundreds of pictures. This one is probably my favorite it is of one of their public baths.

After Pompeii we visted Sorrento and the coast. Apparently you should yeild if you drive into the ocean. Sorrento was a beautiful, small town. We did a lot of shopping (but no buying) and had a delicious pasta lunch.

Our last day in Napoli we shopped (by far the cheapest place we visited in Italy), ate more great pizza, and walked around the busy but beautiful city. We were warned extensively that it is a very dangerous city, but we fortunately had no problems and felt very safe.

Our final night in Italy we returned to beloved Rome....you can guess what we did:

It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Greatest summer of our lives.

2009-09-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Dave and Mandi agree that this has been one of the greatest summers of their lives!!!! Both of them had time off of school and were able to take full advantage of that time off. Here are a few of the highlights (in no particular order).

Dave traveled to Guatemala with other students from Midwestern to serve his third medical mission. He had a great experience and was able to polish up his spanish. More pictures to come later..probably.

Here is Dave hiking a volcano you can see a little lava behind him. Very Hot!

While Dave was away, Mandi was able to go to San Diego and spend some time with Liz and the Moores. It was a great trip!

Dave and Mandi were able to go home for the 4th of July. They ran a 5k, Mandi's first, and she beat both of her brothers...by a LOT...a LOT (it is the first and likely the last time she will ever do that so she is savoring it while she can)!!

Sweaty, and so happy it is over!

After the race Dave and Mandi were able to see Grandma Lu and the gang for food, fireworks and a lot of fun! They love Richfield on the 4th of July!!!

They got a Beautiful new car. Seriously the nicest thing either of them have ever driven, AND it pretty much saved Mandi's life today...long story. It is a 2005 white Toyota Camry...LOVE IT!!!

Dave had gotten tickets for Mandi to see WICKED, it was even better than she remembered from New York Dave loved it too!!

WICKED!! not a very cute picture...but you get the idea.

We got a new, beautiful neice, Elsie. We will be meeting her this weekend, so no pictures yet but they are coming!

To end the Summer Dave and Mandi were able to take their dream vacation to ITALY!! It was absolutely AMAZING!!! More details and pictures to come later...most likely.

Dave and Mandi with Rome in the background. They had always hoped to take this trip before they were blessed with children so it is a good thing they did it when they did because....

They are having a baby!!!

Due March 21st.

By far the highlight of the Summer!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

2009-06-21T10:51:00.001-07:00

To the Dad's in my life:

My Dad Lindy is one of the most incredible people I know. He works harder than any person I have ever known. He has always made me feel loved and cared for. I couldn't ask for a greater dad. The older I get the more my love and admiration for him grows. I am eternally grateful for his love, support and example. I love you Dad Happy Father's Day.

Dad with an old Peruvian man. For Christmas Dad took the whole family to serve the people in Peru. He has always taught us the importance of service through his amazing example!

My Father-in-law Phil has always made me feel like one of his own. Our whole marriage we have lived far away from Dave's parents but they have always made a strong effort to be close to us in other ways. I am grateful for his kindness and example. I am especially grateful for the incredible father he was to Dave and the contributions he made to create the person that David is today.

Phil was serving as Mission President for the Puebla, Mexico Mission when Dave and I were married. This cutout was made so Dad could still be in the pictures. We missed having him on our special day but we are so grateful for his service and dedication to the Lord.

The Future Father of my children Dave. Anyone who knows us knows how much I love and admire my husband. And anyone who has seen David with children knows how amazing he will be as a father. David is one of the most selfless and service oriented people I have ever known. He works hard everyday to be able to provide for his future family. I am grateful for his hard work, his love, patience, kindess and dedication to the Lord.

Dave with one of the Peruvian children. Dave is currently serving his third medical mission this time in Guatemala. He is always looking for opportunities to do things for other people.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!!!

Tag - you are it. and other stuff.

2009-02-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

As many of you know I NEVER follow through on a tag...but there is always a first. My dearest and best friend Stacy tagged me on this one...so this one is for you Stac.
here are the rules:

1. Go to your documents/pictures

2. Go to your 6th file.

3. Go to your 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

This is a picture from our first trip to Peru in May of 2007. If I remember right this was the first village we went to. On that mission we traveled to villages off of the amazon river only accessible by boat. In the villages we set up medical, vision and dental clinics. It was a life-changing experience and we are so grateful that we had the opportunity to go, and return there again with my family the following year. The people in Peru are so beautiful and sweet. But for anyone who knows me I was especially in love with the children!

I tag:
1. Jenn Tullis
2. Brie Wheelwright
3. Mary Evans
4. Collette Goodman
5. Wendy How
6. Kristin Augustus

To appease my mother and others who have reminded us that we have not blogged in a while I will take this opportunity to do a quick catch up in pictures.

Since I last blogged Dave and I had the opportunity to go home for Thanksgiving:Kick off.

My brothers, Dave and a group of their friends played in their first annual "Turkey Bowl" Here are dad and I watching them play. We ate lots of food and had a great time with our friends and family.
About a week later Dave had his White Coat Ceremony:

He is so-o Handsome!!

Both our parents flew down for the Ceremony. We are all so proud of Dave and all his hard work. We loved having our parents in town. It was a great weekend!!

We didn't go very long without seeing family. Just a couple weeks later we returned to Utah for Christmas. It was so great being with everyone again for the holidays. I had the chance to catch up with some old friends:

My dear friends Jessica Bott and Stacy Moss Stevens (mentioned above). We have been friends for over 10 years. I absolutely love these girls and it was so good to catch up with them while we were in town!

Since everyone was in town we also took LOTS of family pictures.
Johnston Family. Taken at my parent's home. Thank you Stacy you are the best!! Isn't my mom's tree so cute! And just for clarification my nephew sitting on my sister's lap is just pulling a weird face he does not have CP.

Freestone Family. This was taken out doors, it was very cold that day and the sun shining off of the snow was very bright (thus Thomas' eyes) also, Lilly is being smushed....but considering the circumstances all of the kids were being great sports!

After the Holidays we returned back to real life. We have been so busy with work and school that January just flew by. Dave celebrated his 27th Birthday!! We ate out (Thanks mom and dad Freestone) which for us is a big treat and Dave took the night off from studying.
So now we are caught up...till next time!

California trip!!

2008-11-20T15:56:00.001-08:00

With school and work and finals we were in some desperate need for some fun and relaxation! Which is just what we got this weekend with the Freestones in beautiful California. The first couple of days were spent in San Diego at Amy and BC's home. We were able to play and eat and enjoy time together at their home and the beautiful beach in La Jolla.Dave and Thomas....this basically sums up what they did the whole time at the beach.

The Girls...Digging away.Enjoying the Sunset

Kayaking. BC was kind enough to take us Kayaking on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the water was crystal clear. You could see Leopard sharks swimming all around us...it was AMAZING!!
BC and Kenny enjoying the Kayaking as well.

On Monday we left San Diego for the Happiest Place on Earth!!! Disneyland that is!
It was a BLAST! It was the first time for some of the kids. The weather was perfect (again). The lines were next to NOTHING! We saw Tons of great characters (including all of the princesses). They had the parks decorated for the Holidays and it was beautiful.

Jessie working super hard on that sword...She is very strong, I think if anyone was going to get it it was going to be her!

Thomas just barely made it on to the Soarin' California Ride.

The Beautiful Princesses and Adorable Prince with Aurora...Lilly got Thomas to go up to the Princesses and say "Your Prince has arrived!" It was very cute!

The Princesses...Jasmine and Jill are babes!

These girls were so much fun! Emma was SO-O brave she even did the Tower of Terror (a ride BC wont even go on!). And we so wish we had a picture of Jill on space mountain, way too much fun!!!!

Dave and Mandi in front of Bourbon Street all decorated for the holidays.
Mom and Dad Freestone in front of the beautiful castle.

It was so nice to spend time with the family and create so many happy memories...
Can't wait for the next trip!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween to all. This year Dave decided to go as one of his professors, Dr. Nydam. He pulled it off really well and even won Best Overall Costume for his class (Mandi is so proud). The "Just for Men" beard die was kept on a little long...and still lingers today even after a good shave...but it was worth it!

Life In Arizona

2008-10-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

We are finally feeling settled here in our new home state. And now that the weather is cooling off we are beginning to realize why people move to Arizona (we weren't too sure for a while there). A LOT has happened our first six weeks here so we'll just give a brief recap....first the good stuff:

~Dave started school at Midwestern...he is doing great and loving it...He is enjoying his classes. It is definitely a challenge with a TON of information in a very small amount of time but he is managing his time very well and Mandi is thrilled to get to have dinner together every night!

~Mandi started her new job at the surgical center...Loves it! Awesome hours, Adorable patients, and Wonderful coworkers. Plus she gets the holidays off so we'll see you all in Utah for Thanksgiving! Yay!!

~ We got our house (see pics below)!!! We absolutely love it! It was a super quick move-in with LOTS of help from great family, friends and new ward members (We LOVE our new ward!!!)! The home and neighborhood are even better than we realized before we moved in.

~Mandi's mom and dad came down for a weekend and helped get us settled, it was a HUGE help and a lot of fun having them here. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming and our home is beautiful. We feel very very blessed!!

~Both Dave and Mandi have had lots of exposure to the Arizona wildlife: coyote spottings, a gecko living in one of the bathrooms, and TONS of cute little jackrabbits all over the neighborhood...fortunately no signs of scorpions or snakes.

And the not so good stuff:

~There was no power in the new house for the first weekend (long story), of course temperatures were well above 100 degrees...needless to say at about 1:00am the night before Dave's first test we ended up outside on the grass to keep from dying of a heat stroke (He did great despite the crazy night).

~Mandi's car has broken down...3 or 4 (or more) times. The mechanic explained that it has "cancer" and we are pretty sure we can not afford the chemo. Needless to say Mandi has achieved what seemed to be the impossible for her, and learned to drive a stick shift so she can get to and from work, fortunately Dave's school is very close to our new house.

So there you have the past six weeks (more or less).
Here are some pics of our house:

The Front...taken while we were still just looking. The grass is much greener now that it is getting water and it is no longer 120 degrees.

The Dinning/Living room...still empty...probably will be for another 4 years.

The kitchen. We love our kitchen.

The Family Room.

The family looking into the kitchen.

The Guest Bedroom (a.k.a. the Cindy Suite)

Guest Bathroom (Where the gecko lives.)

In case you missed the sign, this is the laundry room.

Dave's office (a.k.a. the cave).

Master Bath

Awesome walk-in closet...we barely take up about a third.

The Master Bedroom

Crazy Summer!!!!!

2008-08-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

Okay...okay...as many of you have pointed out it has once again been a super long time since we have made a post. We are sorry. Here is a quick recap of what we have been up to that has kept us from Blogging.

~PERU~
On June 28th (the same day Dave's parents returned from their three year mission to Mexico, don't worry we caught them on our layover in Houston) we were able to go to Peru with Mandi's family (Thanks Mandi's mom and dad!!). This was our 2nd trip to Peru. We had the chance to go last year with a group from Weber State and serve the people in the Northern Amazon Basin. This time we got to travel throughout villages in the Andes. It did not even feel like the same country as last year. The first time we were able to get by with our broken Spanish, but this year we had not prepared our Quechua (the native language of the Incas that many of the natives in the remote villages we visited still speak).
It was an absolutely amazing experience that we will never be able to express enough gratitude for. This trip once again reaffirmed for us how truly blessed we are. What made it even more amazing was to share that experience with more of the people we love!!
Some of the awesome Peru highlights:

~Two hour drives on steep, scary, dirt roads with hundreds of switchbacks.
~The Children!!!
~Brass Bands playing in your ears while you try to obtain a manual blood pressure.
~Playing soccer at 13,000 feet high
~Painting Faces
~Learning some Quechua (some is used very loosely there)
~Using the community toilets (if you can call them that)
~Free Echocardiograms (dave's ticker is lookin' good!)
~Trying to teach the children some english (Okey-Dokey)
~Broken Coccyx (stubborn Hemo!)
~Dallin, Estas Caliente? (Thank you Cammie, we will be eternally grateful!!)
~Homes with dirt floors and no running water, but a functioning TV and Stereo!!
~Listening to the flight of the Condor, again and again and again....
~Machu Picchu, Pisac, Ollantaytambo, "Sexy Womand" and all the other AMAZING Inca Ruins
~Alpacas!
~Peruvian Cuisine (Guinea Pig, Alpaca, nasty Ketchup and lots and lots of bologna sandwiches!)
~Mom calling all the Peruvian women "mamamama" and telling them to "escuchiscuchi"
~Mandi's "Spaznish" (Thank you ben) yo quiero una blanketa
~Convincing the children that Jessica was Barbie in the flesh
~Learning that 20 minutes peruvian time is really 3 hours
~Dave Winning the Pull up contest at the Ocean.
~The footless wonder climbing the steep rocky inca trails with the best of them (and showing many of them up!)
~Hours of Charades to pass the 18 hour day (Make sure Jenn is on your team!!)
~Trying to not get hit crossing the streets!

~Last, but not least...Barbie head.

Needless to say it was an amazing trip.

~The Move~

Soon after we got home from Peru we had to start saying our good-byes. Dave left his job at South Davis Hospital after 3 years of working as a Medic and Mandi left her (dream) job at Primary Children's Hospital (shout out to Same Day Surgery, Mandi loves and misses you all!!!!).

Two days after Mandi's last day at work, and the day after Dave's 30-mile trek with his brother Kenny we packed up and headed for Arizona.

So here we are. Dave has had his first week of lectures. Mandi started her new job at Phoenix Children's Surgical Center. We are living with Dave's super nice Uncle Chris and Aunt Pat while we wait for our house to close (looks like it will be the 12th, YEAH!!....To be continued on future posts). So far it has been a great experience. Of course we love and miss all you Utahns, but thanks to Dave's awesome family and our new friends, Arizona is starting to feel more like home.

We know, we know...it has been a while.

2008-06-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Okay so it has been a while. Or so we have been told, again and again and again (Justin this one is for you). So after great consternation here is a quick recap of what we have been up to.

August is coming quick and so we've been getting ready for our big move to Glendale. For those of you who are not aware we are headed to Arizona this summer for Dave to start medical school at Midwestern University. We have seen alot of great prospects for our new home some of our favorites include...

Gang Grafitti back yard with prison bar windows, Red Velvet Carpet and Rainbow house.

These Pictures do not do them justice...not even close

But seriously we do have some great prospects...we will let you know what we get in the end. Here are a couple of the homes that we loved when we were there last weekend.

Though we have been super busy with our moving plans and house hunting we still have had time for some great family parties!

In April while the men folk left us for their priesthood meeting the girls held our First Annual Princess Party. It was everything you could have imagined and more! Including a three foot wall hanging of Sleeping Beauty (Mandi's mom could use some Grandaughters!).

Pictured below Princesses: Eliza Freestone, Cindy Johnston, Jessica Johnston, Jill Freestone, Emma Freestone, Nancy Freestone, Katie Freestone, Mandi Freestone, and Sleeping Beauty.

This month we partied superhero style in honor of Jack's 5th birthday. Not only was there super food, super costumes and super guests there was also super arm wrestling, super leg wrestling and everyone's favorite super bum wrestling (which is even more awesome than it sounds!).

The Birthday Boy!!

Super Mom Batgirl and Batman Clark Kent and Superman

Best looking Superhero ever!! Dave as Radioactive Man.

Carter as Spider man, Grandma as cat/cheetawoman, Benson as Batman, and Superman Jack.

Mandi as Mighty Mouse with Radioactiveman and Superman. Dallin and Cami as quasi-bat people and their spider child.

So there you have it...A Post!!! We won't wait so long for the next one!

A tribute

2008-03-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to Granddad. Because he is awesome.

Granddad just celebrated his 85th birthday last month. That day he bowled a 299. For those of you who don't know that is ELEVEN strikes in a row with the last shot dropping nine of the ten pins. While many people would be upset that the last single pin didn't fall Granddad was thrilled and says he "still has something to shoot for". Like we said he is awesome.

On Tuesday the Jazz dancer's preformed with their fathers. Jessica, our sister-in-law, invited granddad to dance with her. They only practiced a couple of times before they preformed and granddad was a little nervous. In fact he said he didn't sleep well the night before and woke up at 2am going over the moves. As you can see from the video the midnight practice payed off and he did great. And we are eternally grateful to Mandi's brother Justin for talking him into wearing the jersey without a shirt underneath...the sweatbands on the arms are a nice touch as well.

We have thousands of fun, endearing and hilarious memories of granddad and look forward to many more.

These are a few of our favorite things

2008-03-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

Dave and Mandi would like to share with all of you some of their most favorite things....

~License plates with acronyms or semi phonetic spellings AKA vanity plates (a name so appropriate)...gr8fun
~When people bring their children to films not catered to young minds or short attention spans.
~Tip Jars at a cafeteria style restaurants or fast food joints...unnecessary guilt trip.
~Politics!! Particularly the incoherent elderly that are voted into office time and time and time and time again. Dave and Mandi are convinced that Hatch and Bennett will be elected to office years after their deaths...and at that point they will be just as effective as they are currently! Our favorite career politician is 90 year old former KKK Klansman WV Senator Byrd (click image to see clip).

~TV Medical shows...did you know a defibrillating shock can save just about anyone!? it's true!
~Finding mystery fluids on their scrubs at the end of the day.
~The seemingly exponential rate that stupid people are reproducing.
~Narcissistic parents, because it is they who truly deserve the attention.
~When class becomes story telling forums (it is important that the class knows about your wife’s UTI).
~Internet shopping sites that send you the wrong item (the speedo is very flattering).

~These are a few of our favorite things...we would love to hear some of yours!

In the Beginning...

2008-02-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome friends, family and possibly others who have ventured here by fate and good fortune. This is our blog. Our lives are riveting journeys filled with adventure, intrigue, suspense and above all love. Since few have such fulfillment in a lifetime that we have in a day we felt it was our duty to share ourselves with the world. So now we welcome you to our lives. Do not hesitate to become enraptured with our stories and live vicariously through us...we know we would if we were you!

Side note: We love getting Christmas letters that are written in the second and/or third person, keeping the true author a mystery and allowing for unabashed bragging. Therefore we will be following those examples in our blog. We suppose you could make a game of it...guess who wrote what!