Mike's new-found love....photography

For Mike's birthday in May last year, I got him a super awesome camera and he loves taking all these artsy pictures of nature and stuff. These are some pictures we've taken in and around San Jose.

SeaCliff Beach near Santa Cruz. Sunset on Valentine's Day:

I call this art! Look at that face...he should be in commercials!

Wild life just outside the SF city. It's the best of both worlds in the Bay Area.

Doesn't this one look like an old movie shot...it's the Golden Gate:

San Fransisco Bay with my Dad on President's Day:

A view of the moon one night from our balcony.

Sunday afternoon photo shooting adventure. This is just in the neighborhood around our apt.

Beautiful Whiskeytown Falls:

A tree outside out apt in the fall...ok... I actually took this one:

...and this one...not bad, right.

I love this one! So pretty...it could be a postcard or greeting card.

Mmmm, yummy!

Wow, Mike! I'm so proud of you Honey! Some day, we'll have a room in our house filled with pictures on the walls that he took. What a fun hobby!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, Mike and I actually BOTH got a WHOLE WEEK off from work and went to Redding to spend it with my WHOLE FAMILY! This is rare and we are so grateful we got to do that. We had so much fun with the whole family and everyone had fun playing with cute little Josh. It was fun and relaxing to be home.

I always seem to play the piano more when at home... on the piano I KNOW&love.

One of the favorite activities while home was our ping pong tournament with the Missionaries on Thanksgiving Day. Here's me teaching Steph how the game is played. Actually I think she might have beat me...whatever, I'm not bitter.

The boys all had fun building a tree house together in the back yard, which became a serious project when Mike and my dad got going...ideas for future expansion are already formulating. Steven loved all of this "man time" and sent me a picture of him painting it after we'd all left.

Mimi and Matt made us some excellent rolls for our Thanksgiving feast.

What a cute little "Cooking Couple" they are!

My dad got us all matching "Madsen" team shirts. They look great, I know...and we even had a chance to all wear them together when we played a friendly game of whiffle ball with our friends, the Cooleys. I know they felt a little foolish for not having their own team shirts, but there's always next year.

Joshy -Poo....love that hair! He's so big and fast now!

He loves all the attention we give him...esp. auntie Stephy!

My sister Stephan is our family beautician when she comes home. She graduated from Paul Mitchell Cosmotology School last year and is amazing with hair!

We all got to go to my cousin Nicholi's wedding at the Sacramento Temple at the end of our trip.

Here's my always-gorgeous younger sister Stephanie at the reception. She's a blonde again.

Yeah, my family is pretty awesome! And I love them so much! Thanksgiving is one of my favorites, 'cause it's about remembering what you're grateful for...and my family is definately at the top of my Thankful List! Families are Forever, and for that, I'm eternally grateful,...'cause my family rocks! I love you all and miss you every day we're apart!

A weekend in Redding

We love going home to Redding any chance we get. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, we went up to Redding and hiked to a beautiful waterfall by Whiskeytown Lake, watched Julia's mad skills on the B-ball court, hung out with Steven and his friends (by the way, he drives now!), and Mike got to use the fire torch on a pile of wood/leaves in the back yard.

"You're like a drug to me!"

So, having read all 4 of the fabulous Twilight series and/or listened to them on CD, Mike and I were so excited for New Moon to come out. Mike surprised me with tickets to the midnight showing and I was so excited, I actually made us T-shirts. I know, geeky, but we had fun!

Here we are in our seats, anxiously awaiting the start of the movie along with hundreds of screaming teenage girls. I loved it so much, I went and saw it again the next week with my mom and sister.