Utah Trip (Part 2)

While there we had 2 family reunions to attend. The first was the Hafen Family Reunion at a really cool park. Payton really liked the play structure & played to ENTIRE time. The picture below was taken as proof that Donald was allowing her to go up the wrong way on the slide. Such a bad example!One good thing was that Payton tried a lot of new things. She usually doesn't like to play on things where the floor moves, she'll reach for me & I'll give in. But with Donald she knows better because he makes her do it herself.
They had a slip n' slide set up on the hill & Payton wanted to go up the hill & finally got Donald to go with her.
Us with Grandpa Hafen! You can tell that Payton is absolutely thrilled!
All the Church Fam with Grandpa Hafen.
Below is Payton's cousin Ryan... I just loved this picture & couldn't leave it out!

Trip to Utah (Part 1)

We drove up to Utah at the beginning of August to spend time with the Church's. I was really nervous about the drive up but Payton did really well in the car. We had to stop to get gas after being on the road for only 2 1/2 hours, which was a mistake, but she got over it pretty fast. I thought this was a really good picture of the 2 of them!
The reason that Payton did so well in the car is because of the new DVD player we bought. It is awesome & honestly I do not think that we could have done the trip with out it. Well actually we could have of coarse but...
She has this thing were she wants to have 'Beeee' & 'Pooooh' watch with her. I don't think that it is very comfortable but that is how she was for more than 1/2 of the time.
We saw JD & Jamie the first day we were there. Payton didn't sleep that day & she fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got to their apartment. When I was getting her out of the car I hit her head on the door & nothing, didn't even wake up! So we let her sleep for an hour & wanted to go out to eat. In hind sight we should have just let her sleep & brought dinner back but we didn't. She cried the whole way there. It wasn't just the regular whining cry it was the dry heaving cry that JD apparently has yet to experience... yet b/c they are expecting in February & since it will be a girl (fingers crossed) there will be lots of dramatics on the way. ;)

She was fine as soon as we were in public & we ate dinner in semi peace (as peaceful as a dinner can be in a restaurant with a 2 1/2 yr old). Payton would not give JD the time of day the whole time. When we got back JD had to go play a softball game & almost immediately after he left this was the scene.
JD it's not that she doesn't like you... she just likes Jamie more!
It wasn't until this trip that I really noticed... Payton loves her babies! When we take a picture of her she wants us to take a picture of her babies too. I'm just grateful for digital cameras so that I can just delete them!

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!