Our daughter Ariel... I mean Payton

I walked into the room & saw that Payton's arm was in the air. I thought it was a little odd but hey that's my daughter most of the time. So a few days later I noticed it again... what the heck is she doing? But I didn't catch on until I was sitting down eating my lunch watching Payton watch the Little Mermaid until I realized what she was doing.... (to my defense it took me a week to catch on because the 1:20+ (if she will watch the previews) break I get while it's on is my time to get things done).

This is so cute!!!


Watching it again I think that my favorite part is when she actually looks up at her hand! Have a mentioned lately how much I love her & think she is the cutest thing in this whole world!!!
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Payton loves to go & 'help' Donald take out the trash. She brings her stroller with her & pushes her Laugh & Learn Dog around in it.She is so cute with this stroller. You can tell by her facial expression that she thinks she is a big girl.
Come on dad... let's go already.
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Bubbles...

Payton loves the bath time. She doesn't talk yet but she will attempt to say bubbles to get us to get the bubbles out. In this picture below there is a bubble on the top of her head.
Payton likes to eat the bubbles off of her hands & arms.
She is so full of personality that I can't wait till she decides to start talking. Yes I do think that she knows how to talk but she chooses not to... another manifestation of her personality. She has her 2 year check up in 2 weeks & the last time we were there her pediatrician said that she wanted to hear that Payton was saying at least 2 words together. So we aren't even close yet, she doesn't even say 1 word. She will probably send her to a specialist. The more help the better. I'm still convinced that when she finally does start talking she will be speaking in full sentences.
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Need Help with Laundry...

Payton loves to help with laundry. Actually she loves to sit in the basket & read books & watch TV.She loves to sit on (or in) things that are her size. All she needs is a little table & chairs that is her size.
I liked her expression in this picture so I had to include it.
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Big splashes require the foot to start way up high...

I have the quirkiest little girl ever. She has started to do this thing lately & just cracks me up. Check out the video.

She also does it standing up but there is no way to take that picture & keep her modest. I'm sure it was an accident that she even did it in the first place but since she gets me laughing so hard when she pops her head up & gives this look, I'm sure I've encouraged her to the point of not stopping anytime soon.I'm impressed that she can hold her leg up there without the help of her hands. Oh to be young & flexible. She's also got really strong abs, so I'm sure that helps a lot too.
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Lately Payton cannot keep her hands out of her mouth. I'm saying "hands out of your mouth" more & more.She is obedient but when she does anything with her hands they go directly to her mouth when she is done. I guess there could be worse things but with cold & flu season coming up habits like that just need to be broken....
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Curl in the middle of her forehead...

Payton has this curl that will end up in the middle of her forehead & when this happens I've had several people tell me this rhyme & I wanted to share it with you.

There once was girl who had a curl
right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good she was very very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid!

I told her that it was time to go to bed & she lost it. Her sunday afternoon nap is always the hardest on both of us. Actually Sunday is the hardest day of the week right now. It has a lot to do with the fact that our ward does Sacrament Meeting last. Crazy right? Well I have a strong opinion on this but don't feel like getting on my soapbox & going an a tangent.... :)
Such a sad face! BTW Janette I love pictures of kids crying too. My favorite are Santa pictures where the kids are crying. So cute!

Big Girl Bed

I found this toddler bed on Craigslist & got it for her. She loves it. We are quite ready for her to sleep in it permanently just yet. It'll probably be a few months before she will transition over but this is the one I wanted & for $35 you can't go wrong. The person also gave us the mattress & 6 fitted sheets to go with it. After using a Magic Eraser it looked good as new!She loves to go in the there & sit on her bed. So now we are going thru her room to take out our stuff we've been storing. It seems like I always have projects going on.
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One thing Payton has learned from watching Little Mermaid..

One thing that Payton has learned from watching the Little Mermaid is to twirl. It is so cute. Check it out....

This was something that she just got up & started doing in the middle of the movie. I rewound it & saw that she was copying Ariel!
She ran into the side of the couch seconds before she would have totally lost her balance & fell hard.
She has started doing one other thing that I have not gotten on camera yet (partially because I don't want to encourage it) but she tries to brush her hair with a fork! I don't think I would mind it so much if the fork weren't dirty. That's our little Princess!
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The rest of the Park Pics....

Payton always enjoys herself when we go to the park. This time was extra special because Ryan was there.They both had a lot of fun play around on the structure. I really liked the set up because there were other slides that were bigger & you had to really climb to get there, so the little ones couldn't even get to the big ones if they wanted to... wow someone does think of the kids when the create these play structures!
Payton's new thing, that drives me crazy, is that she wants to climb up the slide. I don't know if she discovered this on her own or not but she's turning into quite the problem solver! BTW this is NOT a good thing most of the time.
Monkey see Monkey do! Sorry Melissa, Hopefully he has forgotten that new trick!
Accept Ryan wanted to go up farther....
Then not to be out done, she tried again (Granddad Don't look at this one). I promise we were right there... & to prove that this was handled correctly check out the next picture. She actually made it a little bit farther up then that but I couldn't stay behind the camera... she making me sooo nervous!
After telling Payton she couldn't climb up the slide. (It was also a lot warmer than we expected & nap time was fast approaching.)
Casey's first time on the swings... He was so cute. He did this little, soft mousy squeal that was so adorable!
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Cousins & Best Friends....

Payton & I drove out to Redlands last week (yes I'm way behind on blogging!) and we took the kids to the park (more pics to come later). On the way back from the park Ryan wanted to hold Payton's hand. As you can see he's holding on & she's allowing him.What I love is that they not only have fun together but they genuinely do like & enjoy each other. Payton will actually give Ryan a hunk back (Ryan Translation... hunk = hug, so cute!). They actually fell the other day while hugging.
I let them go & they led each other off the path & down a grassy hill. I'm not sure who was leading who but it was hilarious!
If one of them had smile then I'd know who was leading but I think they were just walking. Such innocent facial expressions.
As they were going down the steep part Payton fell.
They are so cute & entertaining. Before they didn't use to care if the other one was there or not but now they really like each other. I know this probably isn't as sweet to you as it is to me but oh it just so heart warming.

The Fraying Blanket... first attempt.....

Last year, the day after thanksgiving I bought a lot of fabric at Joann's. I have just recently gotten around to making the blankets that I intended to so long ago. Why, do you ask, that all of a sudden I am a sewing maniac? Thanksgiving is 1 week from today & I plan to go to Joann's again & I need to use up the fabric so that I can get more without too much guff from Donald....

So this blanket below was something that I saw that was given at a baby shower a year or so ago. It seemed easy enough but it turned out to be not so easy. I love the pattern!So on the back side there are 3 different solid colors. The top is red, then green & yellow is on the bottom. You then sew lines that you later cut between so it frays. Seems easy enough right?
If I would have thought it thru I would have done it very differently. You can see the patter that I did above & the problem was that I should have done all diagonal lines. When you cut fabric with the weave then when you wash it it makes a huge mess. The shapes turned out perfect & frayed perfectly, it's just the boarder that didn't turn out like I envisioned.
Also the blanket is a really heavy blanket so it's perfect for our Southern California winters. ;)
Other thoughts on the blanket... it is not as easy as you would think. Sewing takes forever & uses a lot of thread & cutting... you have to be careful to only cut thru two layers so using sharp pointed scissors is not recommended. So the next one that I do will be straight diagonal lines (with no shapes!) & then hopefully it will turn out better.
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Halloween Candy....

Tasting some of her Halloween candy & I'm surprised to report although these pictures don't show it, she did not like it. It may have been because it was a pink lemonade dum-dum, which I don't even like.I'm not sure if she just hadn't made up her mind yet or if she wasn't actually tasting it yet because she was so involved with The Little Mermaid. BTW that is her new favorite movie.
So cute.
Just after this picture I asked her if she liked it & she stuck it in her mouth, made a sour face & gave it to her dad. That's when I tasted it & discovered how gross it was. I don't blame her for not liking it but maybe it was a good thing because I tried to offer her another one the next day & she didn't want anything to do with it. I'm sure that will change in time...
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Payton's Cardio Appointment

We had a cardio appointment this morning. She was in a good mood while in the waiting room.Payton loves climbing on chairs....
The office has recently been under some construction so this is the first time coming in since they've finished (actually the last appointment she was too upset to go in after seeing Dr. Burke in the lobby so we did everything that we needed to out in the waiting area, sometimes it just works out best that way). I'm not sure whether Payton liked the Mickey Mouse room that we were in or the fish tank better.
This is our first picture of Dr. Burke. I never got around to getting one of him & Payton when she was young (yeah I'm not sure what I was thinking, especially because I'm such a picture fanatic!). So this is the best that we could do. Payton doesn't care too much for him so this was the closest that he wanted to get after the appointment. He really doesn't like to upset 'his kids'.
Dr. Burke was able to get an echo-cardiogram done (he didn't do it but he was in the room, I think it helped that there was a female there able to do it so he wouldn't have to). Just to help you realize how significant this is they use ultrasound gel (which is usually cold) & then use a prob & rub it around her chest. She did cry but I had them keep going because I knew that with Elmo's World & my excellent distraction skills she would get calm for a few seconds every now & then & forget that she was sticky & being touched so that they could get a good look. Dr. Burke was able to see everything that he needed to and said that a few things look better & the rest looks the same which is great news. But the best news was yet to come. We don't have to go in again for ..... (drum roll please).... another 4 months!!!! YEAH PAYTON!!! Since she has been born we've gone in every 6 to 8 weeks with an exception of this last time which was 10 weeks. Of course I can take her in if I think she needs to be seen but WOW 4 months. Her color has been beyond great lately (as Janette has pointed out as well, it was good to hear that someone else thought so too cuz you never know if it is just wishful thinking on your part).

We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for not only trusting us to take care of her but that she is doing so well. It seems that she has always been on the better end of how a majority of kids do with this heart defect & I know that is because of not only her excellent care & Dr. Burke but because of prayer & of coarse her fighting spirit. We are so glad that she is here with us & growing up so strong. I can't believe next month she will be 2 years old! Wow we have all come a long way thru this journey & thanks for being her with us.

Yeah 4 months!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!

Matchbox 20!!!!

So I won tickets to see Matchbox 20 from an entry form that I filled out at Easy Life Furniture when I bought my couch. They called me the day before & I started scrambling to find a date. (Donald likes their music but is 'not a concert person'.) So after checking with my sister I invited a friend from church. We had such a good time! It was funny because we were both giddy-excited about going, which I have not gotten that way about anything in a long time.
We were on the top level so the pictures didn't turn out great.
The one above was the best one.
But the videos turned out great!!!

Watching these again..... They really are great. They are the best live band that I have seen ever.

I've seen Dave Matthews Band 8 times, Steve Miller Band, Shania Twain, Toby Keith, Faith Hill, & Tim McGraw (although I saw Toby Keith right after sept 11 & when he played Angry American, that was the greatest concert moment for me so far).

Here is a picture of Sara & I at the end of the concert. I tried taking some myself but we both had crazy eyes so we decided to have someone else help us.
A funny thought.... Here we are, wife of the Young Men's Prez & Elder's Quorum Prez out on the town, dancing at a concert, having a blast!

New Furniture

We bought some new furniture a few weeks ago & I am so glad that we did. Not only does it look great but because I went I won tickets to a concert that I'll post about next. Donald wanted a couch that reclined & I definitely did not. But the couches that I liked didn't come with a reclining chair. SO we mis-matched the couch & recliner. I was nervous about it until it arrived but it looks great!We also bought that end table that you can barely see. I have always liked the dark wood & we will be slowly (very slowly) changing out the wood (or painting it) in our living room.
I am so happy with the couch/recliner/end table that we bought!
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Happy Halloween...... better late then never!

Payton really got into Halloween & it was fun to see. It was hilarious because when she was on my parents grass (which is very steep in one section) she had trouble getting up. I think that she looked funny doing it because she couldn't see her feet. I think that is what also made her waddle a little, I should've gotten a video.
After trick or treating to the neighbors she only had a few pieces in her basket.
The last house that she went to the owner has these dogs that just crack Payton up.
Once she got back to the house she finally figured out what all the candy was for!



We then went over to Nana & Bumpa's house & Elise, Paytons 2nd cousin, was there. They had fun putting candy in the basket & then back into the cauldron.
"I'm not going to eat it I'm just playing with it."
Here let me help you with that. She is such a big girl!
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