365 photos.

Need a goal for 2013? Don't ya worry, I've got ya covered! One of my favorite blogs, A Beautiful Mess, inspired me to take this challenge.

Mostly it's an excuse to use my new camera AMAP (as much as possible). I think Kenedi is planning on joining me as well. Every time I pull out the cameras, she grabs one and takes a picture of every inch of our house- she's a cutie!

Speaking of cute Goose, did you know that she broke her thumb? Yup, she broke it playing basketball a month or so ago. She's having surgery on it before the break is over.

I've had too much fun with my famiroo this Christmas Break and I hope you have, too! Stay tuned for more pictures of my lahvely break!

Happy New Year.

Best wishes,
Madison

merry christmas.

wishful thinking.

I remember my best friend in the first grade. I remember that we sat next to each other in  Mrs. Thomas' first track class. 

I remember you were easy to talk to.

I remember we ate lunch together everyday. I remember we would wait for each other when we used the bathroom before recess. You would use the bathroom on the right and I would use the bathroom on the left. I remember I usually finished first. But sometimes I would purposely take longer, just to see if you would wait for me. You always did.

I don't remember what we did at recess, but I do remember what happened in class.

I remember our classmates teased you. They teased you about us.

"Brady loves Madison, Brady loves Madison," They'd chant.

I remember you put your head on your desk and began to cry.

I remember blushing, just a little, but mostly I was confused. What were they talking about?

I remember this was the first time I began to learn what love was. Maybe not true love, but nonetheless love.

Then something sad happened. Cedar Ridge split into two schools. I stayed and you went to Deerfield. I didn't see you for a long time.

I remember the next time I saw you was at that Smile Perfect patient party at Seven Peaks. I wanted you to remember me.

And you know what? I think you did, maybe just a little.

After that, there was seventh grade Utah History. I remember the seating chart was alphabetical by last name. I remember my last name came right after yours. I remember secretly hoping we could be friends again. Nothing happened.

Now here we are, same school once again. I'm too shy to talk to you, but maybe one day we can be friends again.

Maybe.

Yours 'til the cat meows,

Madison

dear God, thanks for a beautiful family.

lovers of cameras.

    

I have the best siblings ever. Don't try to argue with me because I will always win. These people are my people. They love the camera almost as much as I do. You see, we've got this all figured out. I'll be on the side of the camera that takes the pictures and they'll be on the other side. It works out really well. They like it, I like it.

Fall Leaves and Laughter.

Family Pictures: Coming Soon!

09.04.12

Guess who's excited?

Me, that's who.

My Kind of People.

These are the peeps I spent my whole summer with- my kind of people. Friends are great, but sisters are better. What did we do this summer? Well, let me tell you!

McKayla was my running buddy. If it weren't for her, there is no way I would have gone running as much as I did. She is the best running buddy ever! She'll run whenever and wherever- I call it, she does it.

Kenedi has recently discovered how amazing chick flicks are. WAHOO! I've got myself a chicky-flicky buddy! I find her searching for a movie to watch and I inform her of my favorite movies and add,  "AND it's a chick flick!" She gasps and insists that we watch it together.

Reagan has introduced me to a whole new obsession-  Hanging with Friends. Yeah... I said I would never EVER play iTouches (as my siblings call them)- like ever. (Side note: Have you heard this ridiculous song? Ha yeah I sorta like it but more in a haha-you-are-quite-ridiculous-miss-swift kind of way.) Reagan was so chill as she taught me the ways of iTouching- it's somewhat fun... okay a lot of fun. I can't tell who has worse control issues (me or Reagan), but we definitely had a lot of fun being crazy iTouch fanatics.

My sisters are amazing and no, I will never trade my sistas for ya sistas (not even for a day). This summer has definitely been a summer to remember.

A Fashion Post

It was hard to wake up this morning. I did it anyway. My iPod died on mile one of my run this morning. I ran it home then finished the rest of my run. I felt like "color blocking" my outfit. So I did just that. Turns out McKayla was feeling my vibe and wore something quite similar to what I had on. Talk about clashy and matchy!  All before work today I was picturing what Candy's reaction might be like. Would she say anything? Would she just stare at us? Would she laugh? Let's just say I had fun acting out that situation in my mind.

I'm indecisive. I can't decide. I keep on changin. My blog's design. (Hint: you were supposed to sing that to the tune of that one Justin Bieber song... eh brain fart... the name's not important if you know what I mean.)

Anywho... what do ya think? I guess the only way to recognize my blog is if it's always changin'. I don't want to disappoint my dedicated readers.

You know what? I miss my camera. I hope I don't make your jaws drop to the floor when I say this but... I have only used my camera once this summer. Once. When? Oh when good ol' Quail burnt our beloved mountains. I have two and a half weeks (tear) to accomplish everything on my summer photography list. Lot o' tears. Lots.

Don't you worry, my friends. I am taking my camera everywhere now. Yes. I am.

There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne.

Do you remember that large rainstorm the other day? Yes well, that day I decided to sit on the porch- the best place to smell the rain. At first, I sat in the rocking chair, but the rain was giving me a shower so I moved to the driest spot on the porch- behind the rocking chair.

Do you want to know something? I think I might have done something hip and trendy. Yeah that's right, it is super hip to sit on your porch with a blanket in the middle of a rainstorm!

Do you want to know something else? Leaving your window open in your bedroom during a rainstorm  makes the best air freshener- and it's FREE!  

Last night, (or should I say this morning), was amazing. I went to the midnight showing of The Dark Night Rises. I absolutely loved it, maybe even a little too much...

Oh soooooo attractive!

It was so fun to go with my ward peeps. Having the theatre to ourselves before the show lead to planking the seats. Wowie it was really uncomfortable! Tyler struggled to take our picture which didn't help at all, but I definitely got a good laugh out of it. Midnight movies are my favorite.

My heart goes out to the victims of the movie theatre shooting in Colorado. I can't imagine how they must be feeling right now.  So sad...

Girls Camp was fun.

  Nuff Said.

Girls and Mountains

Dear Maddiey: Welcome to the Bloggin' World

Terrible-Bloggin' Maddiey here. I've been out and having fun instead of sitting here in Blogger World. I am not sorry about that.

A lot has happened and I don't even know where to begin. I guess I could start off by telling you that Mama Bird taught her babes to fly and now the nest is desolate, leaving nothing to entertain me as I eat breakfast every morning.

I hiked Y mountain with my peeps, Marisa and Dani. Hiking an running are two different things, just incase you were wondering.

I went to Seven Peaks and the Carnival with my Ward Friends.

Hey Happy Father's Day! In honor of THE BEST father in the whole wide world (in my opinion, I understand if your's is different...) here is my favorite picture of my dad.

Summer is a beautiful thing, my bloggin buddies.

Summer 2012: Day 6

Scott Joplin can only be so entertaining, if you know what I mean. *  I haven't figured out what I want to do with my sunny days quite yet. So far it looks like this:

Wake up 6:40 A.M.
Run.
Eat Breakfast.
Shower.
Play Solitaire or The Entertainer (on the piano- for those that are still confused with my joke above).
Eat Lunch.
Wait for Kayla to eat lunch so we can go to work.
Go to work.
Sit in an office entering daily sales while I should be outside soaking in the sun's rays.
Dinner.
Watch a chick flick- alone.
Play more solitaire.
Got to sleep 12:00 A.M.

This is far from normal for a teenage summer routine. There is also no Seven Peaks or summer walks thrown in there somewhere. I guess it just takes some time to figure out what summer should be like. But if I don't figure out what I should do, this will end up like the last summer- nothing noteworthy. Besides, this is my last summer before I graduate. That's scary. Really scary. I need to make this summer the BEST summer ever- A summer to remember. Or I could title it after my favorite 80's romance novel- A Summer to Sing About.

Oh yeah, did I ever mention that? Hmm yes, I love to read 80's romance novels. I wouldn't necessarily consider them to be cheesier than modern romance novels, but they are definitely written with a... unique word choice... that makes them... captivating... I don't know how to explain it. I just really like reading all of my mum's old romance novels and that's all.

Daddy Daughter

You've gotta love 'em. Camping with these... peeps was probably the most hilarious thing that has happened to me in a long time.

Out tent poles were broken. We came early to get a good spot to put our tent and get a start on dinner before people came. People started spilling into our campsite and our tent still wasn't up- oh well.

We wrote the most pathetic raps. One of us would say a line (mainly McKayla taking the lead) and the rest of us would cap it off by saying, "Eh." All of us, except for Kenedi, had decided that our rapping skills weren't enough to make us famous so we put our mind towards the problem at hand-our broken tent. McKayla (commenting on my dad's gestures) said, "When he does that you know something is wrong."

Goose: "Eh."

Don't you doubt it- we were definitely laughing- hysterically.

We fixed our tent. We slept in our tent.

Noteworthy: Somebody That I Used to Know.

Don't mess with Mama!

Yesterday after a beautiful day at church, I walked home with my friends and chatted with my dear friend, Brynn. As I started back to my house, I could smell the BBQ aroma. So, instead of going through the front door, I headed towards the back yard. 

I wish I took a picture- my dad stood there observing the ash tree in our back yard. I greeted him and asked what he was doing. He went into great detail of how the tree had about 26 inches of new growth and how he was concerned that bugs might be eating away at our tree... he reminded me a lot of my grandpas. 

As he was discussing the ash tree with me, we noticed an obnoxious chirp coming from behind us. To our surprise we found Mama Bird, outside of her nest, chirping at us. She was annoyed that we were too close to her babies. She was trying to get us to back off- man that mama was vicious!

I slowly walked into my house, trying not to get too close to her babies. As soon as I got into the house, I looked out my window to see how Mama responded.  She had gone back to her nest.

Hey, at least she cares about her babies. I have a feeling we won't be on very good terms this summer...

Speaking of Summer...  IT'S HERE!!!!

Save The Shop Around the Corner and you will save your soul.

Need a sensational soundtrack to listen to this weekend? Don't you worry, I've got you covered.  I couldn't get the full versions of all of the songs, but hey now you have something to look up, something to listen to this weekend.

When I was taking pictures for photography class, I came upon these flowers and I bet you can guess what my first thought was. If you guess that quote from You've Got Mail, you would be correct. And it's definitely true. Daisies are the friendliest flower.

I'm watching the movie this weekend and listening to the soundtrack on my way to work. I absolutely love this movie as well as the soundtrack. The YGM Suite is my theme song for most mornings. I reenact the parts in the song, but apply it to my morning duties. It can make my mornings pretty dramatic sometimes.

My friends, you may be annoyed with my love for daisies and titling notes with "you need quiet while a hot dog is singing?" and desperately wishing I could go to New York in the fall and carry around a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils and smelling scotch tape... come to think of it, that's probably where my obsession with tape came from... I think it's a rather fine obsession though, very... unique.

Don't worry. I'm still working on it.

fingertips trembling though they may be.

I can't sleep. I haven't slept in over a week. Of course I have laid in bed and closed my eyes for a few hours, but that's not sleep. Right as I feel myself sinking into the sheets, my alarm goes off. I hit snooze, hoping I can sink deeper and get some sleep. I hit the snooze button twice. Nothing happens. I'm still without sleep. In those hours of so-called sleep I have the weirdest dreams. My dreams make it embarrassing to go out in public. I can't look at people without weird feelings sprouting up. Will I ever feel normal?

I stretch in class and I automatically think of the Stretch Theory. I think about what I am doing and I become self conscious that others are watching me, too. I am afraid of what they are thinking. And then I am reminded that none of them even know what the Stretch Theory is about.

Choir Tour Series: Coming Soon

One day, I'll get around to writing what I call my "Choir Tour Series" posts. As for now, you will just have to deal with these very few pictures I have at the moment.


PROM: TOMORROW!!

Spring Break: Obsessions

Our family went to St. George for the first half of spring break. I was pretty lame and forgot to take pictures... I hope you forgive me. Besides, I didn't think you would be interested in seeing us swimming, sleeping, or watching The Biggest Loser- that is just so boring! 

My sibs have become obsessed with playing this game called Draw Something on their iTouches. I don't understand. I'm not talking about Draw Something but about the iTouch as a whole. What makes it so desirable? How do people become consumed by their games? What makes cutting a rope to feed a monster a piece of candy entertaining? In the car ride home from St George I overheard Goose ask my dad a question that made me chuckle:

Hey dad, can I upgrade the Moron Test 2?

I knew what she was talking about, but I still couldn't help but laugh at the oddness of that question. 

Can anybody explain to me what makes the iTouch so addicting?

While my sibs obsessed over their games, I have been obsessing over this book:

Usually when I am in St. George on vacation, I am constantly worried about my pale skin becoming a beautiful brown. This time I said to myself, To heck with tan skin! and instead of tanning I swam in the hotel pool. Unfortunately the pool was not open for an hour after the time posted on the door. My mom was determined to get a head start on her tan so the entire family staked out on the pool deck, taking the best chairs available. I had no desire to just lay there so I went back to our hotel room to get my book. 

We waited for an hour. As time slowly went by, the young ones became more and more impatient. As for me, I was content just sitting there reading my book while allowing the sunshine to warm up my cold body. I didn't worry about my position on the chair and what would be the best tanning strategy. I was more worried about how to make my eyes adjust to the light bouncing off the pages as I was trying to read. As a result, I now have splotchy sun burns on my legs and arms. Ha.

Anywhoooo... read this book! Every time I read it I have to force myself to stop so I can get some sleep. This book makes me want to be a mom more than anything. I am so excited to be married and have my own little family! I know it will be beautiful!

But right now, I am just a teenager in high school. Excited for choir tour.

Choir Tour 2012: 9 Days

Traditions

Every six months when General Conference comes around, our family makes scones. It's tradition. Every Sunday morning we wake up to the smell of freshly-baked scones and see the kitchen counter top covered with toppings galore. There's the powdered sugar, the cinnamon sugar, the butter, the honey, the jam of every kind imagineable.... I think you get the idea- lots o' toppings.

And that's just the beginning of our traditions.

We also do treats during conference. They are meant to be used for Conference Bingo... we end up just eating them all at the beginning of the session instead.

Also, after priesthood session, we have pie and ice cream. Mmmhmm APPLE PIE!!!! Oh how I love apple pie and vanilla ice cream.... mmmhmmm...

On Saturday night, I had fun playing games with some of my favorite peeps and some boys from Arizona. We played Blowpong, SPAZZ, and Touch Five. I am not the best player at any of these games but I had fun laughing and being with my friends. Dangflabbit, I wish I took pictures! Eh, you'll just have to trust me when I say we had a blast!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, whatever your traditions may be.

Happy Birthday Goose

Kenedi turned eleven yesterday. Birthdays (even if it isn't mine) are my favorite. Not because I love to see what they are getting or all the treats that are all over the house (although, I must admit, it is an added bonus). I like to think about what makes that person amazing. I love to make that person feel extra special.

What makes Goose (aka Kenedi) so special? Oh, well let me tell you. This girl is the cutest eleven year old I know. She is always smiling and everybody wants to be her friend. Even when she is sick, sick, sick she some how finds a way to still be smiling. I think that Goose's smile is the highlight of her character. That and her contagious giggle. When she has friends over, I love to listen to them because they are always giggling. {Side note: when Kenedi laughs, her nostrils flair. HILARIOUS!}

Kenedi is an amazing basketball player. She isn't like me (obnoxious, ball-flopper, hand smackin', backboard slamin') she is more of a calm yet skilled ball player. She isn't cocky and loves her team mates. She gets excited about making her shots, but not in the over-the-top-annoying kind of way.

She is also a fabulous pianist. Without fail, every morning Kenedi is at the piano. She is one of those sick kids who actually enjoys practicing her lesson. She is so determined to learn her pieces to perfection. She plays with emotion and knows how to bring extra beauty to the music.

Meanwhile... (as Wentz would say)

I have some good news. The term is over! Only one more term 'til summer. Oh baby! I have already started making my summer list of things to do. I have even started to do summerish stuff. This change of seasons has made me a little bit on the spastic side... don't mind me... I think I'm finally thawing from an awful winter.

BOOYAH.