Oops Sorry....

The kids love these push/ride on toys (at least they did before Christmas, they haven't had to 'share' this toy since then). Ryan was pushing Payton around & around for, & I'm not exaggerating, 10 to 15 minutes before I took this video. The most hilarious part, & you can only tell in the very beginning, is that every time Ryan pushes her into something he says 'Sorry'.

I can't get over how cute they are together... but I have to warn you, you haven't seen nothing yet. I have some pictures from the wedding that I will post soon that will make your heart melt! I'll try to get that posted sometime in the next day or so.

Chimes...

Every Christmas Eve we go over to my Nana & Bumpa's house & have dinner, do chimes & then Santa comes. This is the first year that Payton & Ryan could 'participate'. I think that over the years we have gotten quite good. Check it out (pst. sorry Melissa that you are front & center the whole time!). One day if you are good you can do 2 chimes at once too.

Don't we sound pretty good?


Payton got into it too.
I love that Payton is into trying new things, even when she gives us the look that says 'you guys are crazy! you want me to do what?'.

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JD & Jamie

It is no secret that Payton does not like new people. If you are a girl then you have a better chance at getting at least an acknowledgment that you are even in the room. So when the kids were watching TV JD took a moment to sneak in a "look we are friends" picture.However Jamie doesn't have to try too hard. Payton won't go to her but she will sit & play along side her & these pictures are so cute.
I LOVE this picture. "Jamie you are so cool, I want to be just like you!"
Payton loves to pound on the piano.
And sing, which if you didn't pay close attention sounds like yelling. :)
Payton getting tired of playing the boring way with her hands decided to venture out & try something new.

Lights, lights, lights....

One of Payton's favorite houses to go to was this one.

We would sit there & watch for at least 2 or 3 songs.Later when Ryan was here we went back.
They both were memorized by it. It was nice because the house was only around the corner so it was a short walk, especially because the time that we went with Ryan it was colder & Payton's little fingers were purple by the time we got back.

Christmas Morning....

Our Christmas Morning was actually Christmas Eve... We left for the East Coast on Christmas Day for my brother JD's Wedding. I love this picture of Casey! This was taken while everyone was waiting for Donald, Payton & I to arrive.From Santa Payton got a shopping cart. It was a huge hit.
I'm not sure what Payton was doing here but I loved the expression!
She got a bear that she gave a kiss to & here she is giving it a hug!
Sit & Spin! I had one of these. I can't tell if she has a favorite (technically, counting today, she's only had 2 days to play with her toys but this one is at the top along with a Tickle Me Elmo).
My dad finally took some WD-40 to a squeaky wheel on the shopping cart. It was hard to convince her to give it up for the repair. She watched Granddad very closely to make sure he wasn't breaking it!
She got a medical kit from Donald & I & she walked around with this around her neck 'listening' to herself. Tonight she ventured out & started listening to everyone else's bellies. So cute but also so sad that she knew what every toy in there was really used for; stethoscope, thermometer, eye/ear scope thingy, syringe, blood pressure cuff & band aid.
Great Christmas. She really got into ripping the paper off of the presents & it was hard to get to stop playing with the new toy she just got & move onto the next.

I'll be playing a lot of catch up so pardon the bombardment of posts in the next little bit. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
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Christmas Nativity Grant Style!!

Christmas at my mom's house is a huge ordeal. It has become a part of what I think of Christmas... 2 or 3 days of putting up lights (4 or 5 hours each day), spending the next few days figuring out how to connect them without tripping the circuits (because every year we add more or move things around). Actually my mom's house was featured in the Elf movies extra features (Go into infini-film (or something film) & we are the first house under Deck the halls. But it wasn't with this display. Yeah so you can say you know a movie star now! ha ha. Seriously I'm just now getting over the embarrassment of being on there.

So last year in November I started this project. The first weekend was spent tracing (from a pattern found on the internet) & cutting & painting a base coat. Then almost every day after that while Payton was sleeping I painted & painted & painted. Because I am a perfectionist each color got at least 2 coats if not 4 to 5 on the bolder colors like Red, Blue & Purple & the Tan in some cases. Towards the end I would take some home & work on it into the wee hours of the night. So this year we got an award from the neighborhood my mom lives in (btw we aren't the only house that does this it is basically the whole neighborhood so we aren't crazy.... or considered all that crazy... because we are surrounded by crazies!!! lol ). We got the religious award & got a cool trophy with a Santa on it.
So here it is in all its glory.



The hardest part was the baby Jesus' face. The face that came with the pattern was scary looking so the face is the only thing that I had to come up with myself. Thank goodness for Lisa Richardson (one of my mom's best friends) who sent me a few "How to's" on drawing baby's faces... btw NOT EASY!!!



Sorry I didn't post this sooner so that you could come by to see it... I think we are taking it down tomorrow.

Merry Christmas...

We wanted to take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas. We've been really bad about basically everything this time around. Decorating, blogging, sending out Christmas cards, everything. We had Christmas morning today because tomorrow morning we will be heading to the airport. We are flying back east (Washington, DC) for my brothers wedding (the 2 love birds are the reds shirts in the back in the middle). Doesn't Jamie fit in perfectly! We think so.
So I'm hoping that when I get home I will be able to get caught up on my posts... but I'm not going to promise anything.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Love, The Hicks!!!

Decorating the tree...

Feeling that Payton was a little young to help decorate the tree (maybe next year) I did it myself. I love all of our ornaments! This is the first year with this fake tree & I can't believe that I filled it up. I even bought some new balls & didn't have to use them.Yes I know it's so glamorous but there is nothing better than a lit Christmas tree in a home (my sister Kristin would say that it would need to be a live tree to even count as a Christmas tree). I love to see the ornaments that people have, it is such a person expression of who they are.
Payton loved waking up in the morning to see the tree lit. We've had the tree up & lit for a few days & has loved it. Now we play 'find the .....' & she is so good at it.

I love the perfectly timed eye rub... definitely sells the point that she just woke up.
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My first Christmas post... wow I'm really behind!

Our ward Christmas party was, wow, a while ago. I was in charge of planning it with an awesome team of people that really make our activities (& me) look good. We had breakfast & activities for the kids. Here's Payton coloring a picture for Christmas.Santa came! Look how excited Payton is!
Payton was fine with Santa as long as there was someone between Santa & her. This is blurry but I think that it gets the point across.
The difference between this year & last year is that she wasn't as strong. We didn't want to strain Santa so we didn't try to have Donald back out of the picture. Hey at least everyone else in the picture seems to be having a good time. Sorry Payton that you didn't enjoy as much as we did.
She then had to tell me all about it. Her little finger was pointing to Santa. I then put down the camera & became the loving & comforting mom she was wanting in this picture.
Once Santa left she wanted to sit in her chair. Maybe this is her way of pretending to be brave! At least brave when it comes to a person with an unreal amount of facial hair with a hat that covers most of his face, think about it, I get why she doesn't care for the real thing. But she loves to point out all the Santa's we see & that are on the tree.
Wondering how it went last year.
Just about the same. It is actually the same Santa so this year if knew what to expect... however I don't think that he expect her super-human strength! I love this video. Pay attention to her feet, you can tell exactly when she spots Santa!

By the way I do not enjoy torturing my daughter even though it may look like it. I will freely admit that I love Santa Pictures where the kids look like they are just freaking out. My favorite Santa pictures of us growing up are the ones where one or more of us are crying.
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Rocking Horse...

Payton got this rocking horse last year for Christmas from Donald's dad & she has finally got the hang of it. Before she figured out or rather got the confidence to get up there herself we would set her on there & if we stepped away she would freak & want off. Now I walk in there & find her on it looking so proud & more like a big girl every day. My baby is truly gone! :(Up until this video I still couldn't figure out how she got up. Here is our little problem solver in action! She really is getting too smart for her own good.

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Kissy bear

I realize that I totally set myself up for a hard time... I posted a week ago or so that it was getting to be so easy to put Payton down for a nap. Now it's the complete opposite. It is like she's 3 months old all over again where we had to make sure that she was asleep & slowly transfer into her bed so as not to wake her up. Yikes is right! It was a lot easier back then because she was at least 20 lbs lighter. Hopefully she will get over it soon....

At night we have Payton give us a goodnight kiss. Sometimes we let her sit on her big girl bed while we read books & sign songs. This time she included the bears in the process.

And of coarse the bears did give some love back in the form of kisses.We've tried to get her to do it again & it wasn't anything like this. We are getting into the realm of pretend & make believe & I'm loving it! Toddler-hood is looking like it will be fun!
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2 Years Ago Today...

2 Years ago today was the happiest day of our lives. Payton was born at 1:50 am & we began this roller coaster of a journey. She is less than 6 hours old here.The next day at 10:30am they took Payton to the NICU to do an echocardiogram to check out a loud murmur. 1 hour later marked the lowest point of our lives.
She has gone thru so much in her life & I'm so glad that we had to wait 5 long years for her to come & be born near the people that paved the way for her to be so healthy now.

She came home only 2 short weeks later, was a perfect fit to our little family & was sleeping thru the night.
She was blessed at 3 weeks old with all her family around her.
We were pals from the beginning.
We cannot imagine our lives without her... These 2 years have flown by at times & we have always found a way to have fun & make each other smile.
Happy Birthday Payton! We all love you & are looking forward to many many more.
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