My Helper!

Payton LOVES to help us in the kitchen. She is such a good helper especially if it means that she can play in the water.

She totally looks guilty in this picture below. I came around the corner & saw her & she didn't see me until I took this picture.

Lately whenever her daddy is home she is ALWAYS in the same room as him. She may be keeping an eye on him so he doesn't leave... Luckily she won't have to worry about that for a little while because Donald had his last final last night & is a free man for 3 weeks!
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Nerd Alert!!!

Okay so... You may not know but I am NOT an avid reader. In most cases I actually would rather just sleep then read. About 9 months or so ago I started hearing about these books by Stephanie Meyer & all I knew was that 'it was about vampires but it is surprisingly good so don't hold that against it.' Also another deterrent was the fact that there were 3 already with #4 was coming out soon. So I put off the urge to read, which really wasn't that hard because I was not into the whole vampire thing anyway. Around this time I got into a little TV show called Moonlight & it was about vampires. I'm actually a huge fan (or should I say was, it has been canceled :(... ) & it's the only show I was looking forward to starting up again this fall. I'm sad but I'll get over it...

So I got into the show & I don't remember where I was but someone made the comment that if you liked Moonlight you would LOVE Twilight, so I caved in. I have a 3 chapter rule, if it doesn't grab me by the 3rd chapter I'm done. It did & the rest is history! I started reading it on the Monday before the 4th book came out. I stayed up till 1am Monday & Tuesday night, 4:30a Wednesday night... er Thursday morning & Thursday I tried but couldn't stay awake & fell asleep around 12:30. In this time I was able to read Twilight, New Moon & I was few hundred pages into Eclipse when I went with a good friend Sarah to go pick up the 4th book Friday at midnight. I came home finished Eclipse & then had to refocus to prepare for a week long trip to Utah with Donald's family. I was so tired & so stressed (man I look tired in that picture)! I didn't have time to start packing until Monday at 1pm & we were trying to leave by 4pm. We were 2 hours late in leaving, which is not bad... I think at least.

So Sarah went home that night & started to read it & was done by Sunday. I told her to hold onto it for me till Monday (I knew I didn't have the self control not to start it). I was able to finish it up in Utah & Donald's family was so good not to harass me about being anti-social. I did stay up until 3:30a one night to finish it, partially because I couldn't put it down & partially because I needed to start paying attention to other things & people.

Verdict.... I loved it! I can't wait for the movie of the first book to come out, which will be late November! My only complaint about the 4th book is that for a 'Juvenile Novel' it deals with some pretty adult topics. I think that the author does her best to skim thru it but still... Also I will read it again... this year. I will be reading Twilight again before the movie comes out & then read thru the rest of them after that. I'm sure that I will be able to be a little more calm about reading them this time around... at least to the tune of not loosing so much sleep! :)

This turned out to be a little bit longer of a post then I intended but I rarely get into a book, let alone a book series & wanted to share. She has another book called The Host that Sarah read & liked so that will be next.
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Which came first...

Which came first, Payton falling asleep or Granddad? Dad was home for lunch & was laying down on the couch. Payton was going down for a nap & I asked who she wanted to put her down to sleep, Mom or Grandma? She pointed to my dad & it was settled. We checked on them about 15 minutes later & this is what we found. So in the end it doesn't matter what came first as long as the result is the same!

First Sleep Over

We were able to watch Chloe one night & they had a blast. They played in the water outside!

Watched a movie on Payton's little couch... Chloe went to bed so easy & Payton was Payton. The next morning we went in to find Payton sleeping on the floor (which has been a regular occurance lately) & I couldn't resist taking a picture. She woke up part reptile!

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Santa Monica

We decided one Saturday to head down to 3rd Street Promenad & shop for a new rug that I'll post about later. Turns out Donald has never been down there. We walked around & had fun spending time together. We didn't have enough time to go down to the pier but decided to take a picture anyway. Payton loved spending time with Donald & I.

So cute. She loves her daddy so much!

Baby Blanket

I've tried to keep myself busy these last 2 months. Here is a baby quilt that I did for my cousin. I loved how it turned out & I loved the back of the quilt.

I ran out of fabric & was short so I used some of my left over strips to create this strip on the back & I love it! I love how it turned out so much that I think I will do something similar to this whenever I can. Donald liked it because I was able to use the fabric that I already had... priorities!

Fireworks...

This year we went to Lacy Park to see the fireworks for the 4th of July. Going into it I was not worried about Payton because she did so well last year. I was hoping that she would do a lot better this time because she was older... no such luck!

If you have never been to Lacy Park then let me explain... we were on a field & about 40 to 50 yards in front of us is where they were shot off from. Payton FREAKED OUT!!! She screamed with TERROR like I have never heard before. I thought it was the noise so I covered her ears, nope. I thought it was the lights so I shielded her, NOPE, while covering her ears, a double NOPE. When she started signing 'All Done' & waving bye to the fireworks so I decided to get up & walk around. She was fine as long as we were walking away from the fireworks. Then when we were further back (to where there was a tree between us & the show) she calmed down for a few seconds & watched before she'd started crying again. By the time that they show had ended I was dripping in sweat! I was so glad that my dad was not there to worry about her. Needless to say next year we will either fore-go the whole experience or we will find a show & be at least 2, 3, 4 miles away, if not more. It was a great show, from what I saw of it & maybe in a couple of years we will try it again. By the way Casey loved it, didn't even have his ears covered for most of it & Ryan liked it with the help of his mom covering his ears, even though by the time he got home his story changed.
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While in Texas we were able to visit with Gary, Janette & Ryan. It was so good of them to have us over because Janette & Ryan had just gotten back from a long trip the night before, thanks again Janette! Payton & Ryan became fast friends & partners in crime!

No we did not leave them out there, locked away on the tramp... which the net is a very handy feature & well worth it! (not just for the capability to 'lock' them in but so that I didn't have to join her up there to make sure she didn't dart to the side) I'm glad that they were able to play together & we were all able to catch up!

Texas/Oklahoma Trip

Back in June (During Donald's last break from school) we took a last minute trip out to visit family. We headed up to Donald's dads house & we able to stay for 3 days. It was a good thing because Payton was able to get comfortable & be more herself which was awesome. Don Sr. has chickens & feeding them was by far Payton's favorite thing to do everyday.

I was so glad that we were able to see Papaw while we were there. We we able to spend a few hours with him & I'm so glad that he got to see Payton.

My only regret is that we weren't there long enough for Payton to get more comfortable with Don. I really wish that we were closer to him so that she could get to know him better. Look at her face in the picture, the little toad!

The good news from the trip was that she has become a much better traveler & it has given us confidence that she doesn't always have to be difficult.

So I'm trying to get back on the blog bandwagon. It's been a long time & I apologize for that. Hopefully I will be good about posting... fingers crossed!

Donald officially graduates in 2 weeks but he 'walked' back in June. (To give you an idea about Donald's feelings about my 'lack of attention' to this blog he just walked by, stopped cold in his tracks & said 'Are you blogging?' **over exaggerate the ? **) Anyways back on the farm... He has been working so hard & has been doing really well despite his need to take at least 20 units each quarter. I don't know how he did it but that chord around his neck means he graduated with honors, Cum Laude, yeah he's pretty smart. We are just so glad that it is almost over! I think Payton more than anybody. She really misses her daddy when he's gone. Yesterday & today she's only gotten to see him for about 30 minutes in the morning & he doesn't get home till she's asleep. I hear 'I nee nee nee daddy' more times than I can count throughout the day. Donald is going to be able to more than make up for it because he has 3 weeks off between school & starting his new job.

Oh yeah details.... He will have a double major, Bachelors of Science in Finance & also Computer Information Systems. I don't know if I said it right but there it is!

It was fun to be there & support him. We are so proud.

His JOB! I mentioned it but didn't say anything else about it. Donald was offered a position at Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor (formally known as a Stock Broker, kinda). He will be in training for 3 years or until he hits a certain production level, that's the simple explanation, or at least the one that he has given me but I'm okay with that. He is so excited & I'm excited for him. It is out of the Pasadena office so it looks like we will be managing for a while longer... "& there was great rejoicing in the land"... yeah