~Mt. Lemmon~

Today, we ventured up to Mt. Lemmon for a picnic with Kevin's brother's family. Duane & Emily, and their two kiddos, moved to Tucson in January, so we're pretty excited to be so close and get to spend time with family. The unique thing about Mt. Lemmon is that it has 3 entirely different ecosystems on it. You start out at the bottom (at 2000 ft above sea level) where there are cactus all around, then you pass oak trees as you climb the 5000 feet to the top (7000 ft above sea level), where there are pine trees. It took us 20 minutes to drive to the top and we got to see all 3 - cactus, oak trees and pine trees. Pretty crazy. Mt. Lemmon even gets snow on it during the winter.

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Anyways, we finally found a picnic spot...although we were a little worried as it seemed everyone else had the same idea.

Daddy & Payton enjoying the pine trees.

Cousins: Alexa & Ainsley.

We had fun doing a little photoshoot!

Then I tried to get a picture with her and this is all I could get...

She finally conceded and said we could take a picture of our shadows! Silly girl.

Needless to say, she wasn't having anything to do with a family picture...so here's us without Alexa!

Once she was on her daddy's shoulders though to make the trek back to the car, all was good so she allowed one picture!

We had a fun day and look forward to many more outings with family and friends!

~More of the House~

Well, here are some more pictures of the house now that the majority of boxes are unpacked. I have a lot of hopes and dreams for our house...many of which will most likely take years to come to fruition, but that's okay. For now, I'll share those hopes and dreams with you...and maybe one day....well, we'll just have to see what happens!! :-)

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Here is our Master Bedroom. Nothing exciting! I would love to have a dark wood or black matching bedroom set with a king size bed...eventually!!

The living room/dining room...there really isn't much going on here. But doesn't my corner shelf look fabulous in black??!! I LOVE it. I guess we really should call this the "piano room" since that's what it will be for probably a long time. But what I'd like in here: 2 dark leather arm chairs on either side of the corner shelf and a nice dark wood dining table to seat at least 8. And that's pretty much all we need in here....some place to entertain when we have friends and family over, with a little extra seating. We spend the majority of our time in the family room anyways!

And thanks to a sweet new neighbor who wasn't using her crib mattress anymore, we were finally able to set up Payton's crib and get her out of the pac-n-play! Poor thing had been sleeping in it for almost a month. And with her crib set up, I felt like I could finally set up her room too. On my wishlist...a cute white dresser for her.

And here's our kitchen/family room. This is where we live pretty much all the time! On the wishlist...which will most likely be a priority once we are able, is a loveseat (as we REALLY need more seating in here) and an area rug (that tile floor isn't very forgiving on little bottoms!!).

And finally...a bit of a change to Alexa's room. I found a steal of a deal on a twin mattress set and so we were able to put away her toddler bed and get her into a bigger bed. She soooo needed it....she was pretty much as tall as her toddler bed and with all her "friends" that she requires to sleep with her, there wasn't much room left at all. And back when Payton was born, my mom had also made Alexa a quilt and pillowsham but did a twin-size quilt so we were excited to finally bring that out.

And that's it folks...I think I've pretty much updated on all the rooms in the house. No need to post a picture of our UPSTAIRS laundry room, just know that I LOVE it!!! And the spare room/office...well, that is a major work in progress, it's kind of our catchall room for the moment!

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We finally feel settled in and are really enjoying home ownership...even with all the new responsibilities that come with that!! :-)

::GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN::

THIS is what goes on at our house a lot of the time!!

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What would we do without this little lady who, despite her issues with throwing fits right now, brings soooooo much light, life and love into our home and family!

We love you Alexa!!

...:::Payton: 13 Months:::...

On Saturday, May 29th, Miss Payton turned 13 Months Old!!

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What a BIG girl we have on our hands now! May was a huge month for her! We started off the month with her 1 year well baby check up on May 3rd. Her stats:

21.8 lbs (50th percentile)

28 3/4" (50th percentile)

According to her stats, she's right at average but Payton is ANYTHING but average! She's our little sweetheart and we just love her way too much!! :-)

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*She stood up unassisted - May 7th

*She took 3-4 steps on her own - May 15th

*She took multiple steps on her own - May 17th

*AND SHE'S WALKING!!!! - May 19th

*She stood up to walk unassisted - May 22nd

*She says: "Yay", "tane too" (thank you), "dis" (this) and babbles non-stop

*She points to everything she wants and shakes her head "no" vehemently when she doesn't want something!!

*She got the stomach flu - May 16th and it seemed to last FOREVER!

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She's just our little peanut and we can't get enough of her. Her little BIG personality is sure starting to shine through and we love what she adds to our family. We really couldn't imagine life without her!

..::Family Pictures::..

The week before we left Louisville, my wonderfully talented friend, Amanda, took our family pictures. We're sad our own personal photographer lives so far away now!! :-(

I love LOVE them Amanda, thank you soooo soooo much!

And since it was recently Payton's first birthday, Amanda took her one year pictures as well! What a cutie we have! Happy First Birthday sweet Payton!!