Big Day

Today was a BIG day!  Payton went to nursery!  She's not quite 18 months yet (actually she's just barely 17 months), but they're letting us start transitioning her early.  Paige (my friend who watches Payton) wanted to put Logan into nursery a little early so she could have a couple of weeks with him in nursery before she has her  baby (she's due in a month).  So we figured Payton and Logan are best friends (really they are), so we should transition them to nursery together.

Last week we were in Minnesota, but Paige took Logan to nursery for part of the time.  So this week we went in with Payton and Logan, and I swear Payton knew what the nursery was before we finished walking in the door.  She was wanting me to put her down so she could go play.  They had tables set up with puzzles on them for the kids, so Payton happily ran up to the table, climbed on a chair and just smiled looking around at everyone.  It was adorable, she was so happy and excited to see everyone!  (There were about 14 boys and 6 girls in nursery). 

 Paige and I stayed in there for awhile with the kids and Paige said, "Are you ready to leave?"  I'm not going to lie, I totally wasn't, but when Paige left would be my only chance to leave as well so Payton didn't have a complete melt down.  So Paige kissed Logan bye and started walking out, Payton watched her and already started to get nervous.  I gave her a kiss and said bye and walked out and as I closed the door I could hear my little baby girl cry.....okay she may have freaked out, but literally every nursery leader stopped what they were doing and went over to her.  (Side note:  Our nursery leaders are like celebrities in our ward, they are THAT amazing.  Seriously the sweetest, nicest, happiest people anyone will ever meet.)

I stood outside the door and listened to see if Payton would settle down, and she did.  I went to the last 30 minutes of Sunday School and then went to go check on Payton.  I poked my head in the door, the leaders saw me and told me she's doing great and they said to leave before she saw me, so I did.  This was literally the first Sunday in MONTHS that we've been to all 3 hours (sounds terrible I know).  But Payton had a blast!  They had to bring her to me towards the very end of church so I could change her diaper, but they said she did a great job.  I'm so grateful for such wonderful nursery leaders in our ward, and for such a happy little girl who just loves to be around people.  Good job Little Mama!

(not the best picture of her, she literally woke up from a nap and I changed her and snapped this picture.  She looked so cute in her dress and clearly she's SO happy to be in it).

Recent Happenings

This is a completely random post, mostly just to post pictures for Grandma to see.  But the other day Payton had her hair in a pony tail on the top of her head.  Then she came over to me smiling and her hair looked like this........

Love it!

Love my baby girl

Payton has been communicating a lot more lately.  Normally when we get home from picking her up she runs right to the fridge and either wants her juice, or the rest of her bottle from earlier in the morning.  The other day she couldn't decide, so she had both.

At times she had both of them in her mouth at the same time.

Today Paige gave me my Christmas present and I LOVE it!  (I wasn't expecting anything at all, but what a cute something this is).  

Payton curled her toes when they tried to get her footprint, but it's the cutest little reindeer I've ever seen. :)

Perfect spot for the perfect present

Payton woke up this morning with a cough.  Payton is very prone to croup and normally gets a croupy sounding cough whenever she gets sick.  So when she does we do EVERYTHING we can to remedy it at home.  It means, LOTS of time in the bathroom while the hot shower is running.  We've got our routine down, just bring lots of toys and things in the bathroom to help keep Payton entertained.  Today, it was my iPod that kept her happy.  She even got so comfortable that she just laid on the ground and played her games (don't worry I just cleaned the bathroom today, so the floor is totally clean).

Just chilling

Don't mind the mess, she just loves her toys

Payton also has a habit of stealing my camera and taking pictures.  It's adorable, she try to hold it in front of herself and say "CHEESE!"  I love it.  Normally her pictures are of her fingers or just nothingness.....I saw this one and had to laugh.  

serious baby

Payton is doing new things everyday, and it's SO much fun to watch her learn and grow up.  

Here's one last picture just because:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a blast!  Payton and I were able to go to Minnesota and be with lots of family (We missed you Jonathan and Amanda!).  We didn't arrive in Minnesota until Thursday around noon, but none the less, we were still super excited to be in Minnesota and see everyone.  The weather was great (kind of cold at times) but the company was even better.  

I don't really have pictures from a lot of the trip, which is sad.  But Thanksgiving day was great, the food was amazing!  Then on Friday we went to Water Park of America with the family.  Payton loved standing in the kid pool and wave to Grandma.  The Lazy River was also a hit.  

Saturday night we went to David and Eliza's for a Polar Express party.  It was SO much fun, and seeing so many cute people in cute pajamas was a blast!  We had pizza, watched Polar Express, decorated train cakes and enjoyed family time.  Here are some pictures from the party (AKA: The only pictures I took on my camera the whole trip).

 Our ticket to the Polar Express

 Lindsay and Levi

 Love my little one!

 Adam and me

 Payton's train before we decorated it

 Grandma and Deli

 Ella and Lucy

 Grandpa and Andrew

 Cake decorators

 Cute Everett

 Ella and Bessers (Don't know why it's sideways)

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Cute little stair climbers

 David, Eliza and Aaron

 Aaron loved eating his train

 Lucy and her train

 All the kids

 It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and our trip to Minnesota ended all too fast.  Payton and I can't wait to go back for Christmas and spend more time with family!

We LOVE Visits From Grandma!

This weekend Payton and I were so lucky to have Grandma come and visit.  It was so much fun to see her and spend time with her.  Payton LOVED her Grandma time!  Mom came in on Thursday night, and then on Friday mom watched Payton while I was at work.  Grandma was even a trooper and took Payton to get her flu shot (what a Grandma!).  When they came and picked me up Payton was sure to tell me all about her shot (it was way too cute). 

LOVE!

Payton LOVED playing with Grandma's iPad.  She basically acted like it was hers, and she was letting Grandma borrow it from time to time.  

 This Little Mama was always super determined to get it.  If it was on the kitchen table, or up high anywhere, she would climb on anything and everything to get it.  (Yup, she started climbing up the kitchen chairs this weekend)

I love Payton's curls!

This weekend we spend lots of time running errands, working on a Christmas puzzle (started and finished it in 3 days), went out to eat and Mom and I even made it to the temple.  It was a WONDERFUL weekend and we LOVED it!  

Payton's definitely getting more of her little personality and it's adorable.  She was definitely in full "Show Off" mode for Grandma, and pulled out all of her tricks.  Part of her cuteness is she loves to try and be funny.  So these next pictures are her putting her sunglasses on herself and smiling for the camera, and then laughing hysterically (it was beyond adorable!)

 Hiding

 So cool

 Goofy Baby

 Ta Da!

I just love her!

Thank you SO much for coming to visit this weekend mom, we LOVED having you here!  LOVE YOU!

Fall Pictures

I have wanted to get updated pictures of Payton (for my house and for my mom's wall of Grandchildren).  I asked Tamaron to take them for me.  It was actually a lot of fun, early Saturday morning we went to downtown Gilbert and walked around.  We went early in the morning, so Payton being dressed in a sweater and jeans didn't look too crazy since it cools down a lot at night.  It was really fun walking around and it was really funny because we saw a TON of other people doing the same thing (walking around and taking pictures).  Payton LOVED walking around, she got mad whenever I picked her up to cross the street.  She also LOVED saying "Hi!" to everyone she saw.  There were a couple of people she even wanted to follow, and she started crying when I told her to come with me instead of following them.  Anyways, here are some of the pictures Tamaron took.  I love them and couldn't be more thrilled on how they turned out.  Thanks Tamaron!

Fall Activities

This fall has been fun doing more activities with Payton now that she's older and enjoys running around.  So one day when I went and picked up Payton after work I was talking with Paige and Danny and we decided to go take the kids to pick out pumpkins.  It was fun, Payton tried to eat the pumpkins, and Payton and Logan's favorite part of the outing; standing by the fence and waving to cars saying "hi!".  It was really cute.  Here are a few pictures.

 Payton trying to eat the pumpkin 

 Cute Baby

We also went to our wards Trunk-or-Treat yesterday.  That's about all we're doing for Halloween, but it was a lot of fun and Payton was an adorable angel.  Payton's favorite part of the Halloween party was running up and down the hill (seriously that's all she did).  

 My cute little Angel

 Payton and Logan (he was a Hobbit)

 Of course Payton had to drag her blanket around

 As exciting as Halloween gets for 16 month olds

Happy Halloween!