~Payton is THREE~

Our sweet and sassy Payton turned THREE today!!

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We started out the day with presents from family.  Then we got ready for church.

Here's our beautiful birthday girl all ready for church!

After church, we had some friends and family come over for a little birthday party.  The kids had a picnic in the backyard (Alexa is SUCH a supportive sister of the birthday girl!!). 

Then the birthday girl was spoiled with even more presents!!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who love our kids!!

Payton has been requesting and "Ariel Birthday" for a very long time! And after spending hours and hours on a Spongebob cake for Alexa's birthday, I swore I would never do another one of these Wilton type cakes.  But how can you refuse that sweet face??  And actually, after having taken those cake decorating classes last year, I knew how to do it more efficiently so it all worked out for the best.  And she LOVED her cake...that's what matters!

What can I say about our spunky 3 year old???

*She has personality oozing out of her!!

*This past year she graduated from her crib to a big girl bed (June 2011) AND started sharing a room with Alexa!  We had a "big girl party" to celebrate all that and make it fun!!  Thankfully both girls transitioned relatively well!

*She made her first trip to the Grand Canyon (July 2011) and still randomly brings up the fact that she fell on the bus while getting off at one of the stops there!

*She had a playgroup last fall with two of her friends, Allison and Maggie.  We'll have to look into doing something like that again this fall.

*She got to go to her first UofA basketball game with her daddy (December 2011) and thoroughly enjoyed it.  She even made it through the entire game!!!  :-)

*She graduated from diapers to BIG GIRL undies (January 2012) and we were all soooo excited!!  We had attempted to potty train last October but it didn't go so well so I put it off for a couple more months and it was totally worth it!

*She loves her brother and sister, but also loves to torment them!

*She instigates things ALL the time!

*She can be super sensitive sometimes...usually crying if someone else is in trouble.

*She loves anything princess related.

*She prefers pretty dresses over wearing anything else.  We even had two "bubble" (polka dot) dresses that she would alternate wearing over and over until they finally got too small!

*She knows how to push buttons and get her siblings or parents riled up!! :-)

*She can be sweet as pie when she wants to be!

*She loves, and I mean LOVES, to sing.  I think she would sing her way through life, if possible!  And she's actually quite a good little singer...might have to look into voice lessons in a couple years!!

***

Her 3 year old stats:

33 lbs (75th percentile)

38 " (75th percentile)

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Life would be so boring without our Payton!  We sure are glad she was sent to our family!  She keeps us on our toes and we wouldn't want it any other way!

Happy Birthday Payton Jae!

Pump It Up

It was our sweet little neighbor, McKenna's, birthday a couple days ago...and she invited the girls to her party at Pump It Up.  To say they were beyond excited is an understatement!!  I just realized though that we didn't get any pictures with the birthday girl! :(

Thanks McKenna for inviting them though, they had so sooooo much fun!

{Fabulous Friends}

You know that kind of friend, the kind that comes along only a few times in a lifetime, that kind of friend that you just totally connect with, the kind you can talk to about anything and they listen when they need to and offer advice when necessary, the kind of friend that you can be 100% yourself around, the kind you can be completely goofy with....yeah, I've got a couple of those friends.  Waveney is one of them!  And she came to visit me this week!!! :-)

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The first day she was here, I took her to the Desert Museum...a must for out of town visitors, especially ones from Kentucky where the desert is such a stark contrast from what Waveney is used to!  The girls enjoyed digging...

Wave enjoyed all the different types of cacti! 

We also enjoyed some YUMMY food at Mi Nidito (another must for out of town visitors), followed by shopping and more shopping and topped off with a slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory...but we forgot to take pictures of any of that!  Woops!

***

Yesterday, our good friend, Erin, whom we both knew in KY (and now lives in Mesa), came down to visit for the afternoon.  It was fun to see her and her cute kiddos!  Thanks Erin for making the drive!

See what I mean about being goofy??  It just comes natural, I guess!  But seriously, I had such a great with one of my bestest friends.  Her time here came to an end all too quickly. :(

But we're already planning a girls' weekend for in the Fall!

Thanks Wave for being such a wonderful friend and for coming to visit me!  I sure hope you got the rest and relaxation that you truly deserved!

~Birthday Surprise~

I have been planning Kevin's surprise for his B.I.G. 30th Birthday since last July, ever since we went to the Grand Canyon with my parents.  We happened to see the helicopters taking off on tours and thought "now that would be the way to see the Grand Canyon...without kids, of course"!!!  And so the plans were set in motion!  It was sooooo hard keeping it all a secret, but I did it!! 

So I booked Kevin off of work on last Friday, I had called his front desk lady WAY back in December, I think.  And I just kept waiting for the day that he would ask me why he wasn't scheduled to work that day.  But that day never came...and the closer it got to this last weekend, the more nervous I got that he knew what I had planned!!  I even arranged to have his parents come stay for the weekend and planned for them to show up Thursday afternoon, then Kevin would get home from work and I'd have his bags packed and we'd head out the door. 

Well, Kevin got off work a little early on Thursday and so he got home about 10 minutes before his parents were set to arrive.  I hadn't told the girls anything until Thursday after Kevin had gone to work because I knew they would spoil the surprise if they knew in advance.  So when he walked in the door, they were so excited that mommy and daddy were going somewhere and I told him to go upstairs and make sure what I'd packed would do for two days.  Then Alexa yelled, "yeah, you're going to Flagstaff".  He said once he heard that, that he hoped it meant the helicopter tour but he still didn't know for sure!

Once we were on the road, I told him all the details and he was completely surprised.  He said he'd known since about February that he was booked off from work and figured it had something to do with his birthday, so it was best not to ask questions! 

We got to Flagstaff late Thursday night, so our first thing on the agenda on Friday was to have lunch at Salsa Brava, a Mexican joint featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.  These were our meals and they did NOT disappoint!

Then we headed to the Grand Canyon.  We got there right at the same time as a HUGE tour group from France.  Thankfully though, we ended up with only one other couple on our helicopter so we weren't cramped and it was perfect!  Here we are waiting for our tour to start!  Soooo excited!

Our fellow tour companions took our picture....almost on our way!!

ON the helicopter now!!

And I'm rockin' that headset!! :-)

Coming over the edge of the Grand Canyon!  This is most definitely THE way to see the Grand Canyon!  The views were breathtaking!!

Our friendly tour companions took another picture of us during the tour. 

More breathtaking views!

I just had to take a picture of the guy on our tour....we were matchy-matchy that day.  He was wearing a hot pink top and capris!!  It's like it was meant to be that we were on the same tour!! :-)

Man, I was sad when the tour was over but it was soooo completely worth it!

That night, after getting back to Flagstaff, we headed to Oregano's for dinner.  And we couldn't pass up the free dessert for Kevin's birthday!  Yum!!

Then we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the hot tub!  It was the perfect night for it...still kind of chilly up in the mountains but the sky was clear so the stars were beautiful and it was so relaxing just the two of us!

What a wonderful little getaway we had!  I'm so glad I was able to surprise Kevin.  I'm so grateful for all he does for our little family and I wanted to spoil him on his 30th!!

Yesterday, on his actual birthday, we had cake and ice cream with the kiddos!

Happy Birthday Babe!  I hope it was the best yet!  Sure love you tons and tons!

..::Barrett's Birthday Video::..

..::Bubba's 1st Birthday::..

I canNOT believe it's been a whole year since this:

And now he's THIS:

The happenings this past month:

*Got another tooth, Bottom Right Lateral - March 26th

*Says "Eh-Oh" (Hello) while holding a phone (or anything resembling a phone) - March 30th

*Took TEN steps - April 10th

*Starts WALKING for reals - April 11th (one week shy of his 1st birthday)

*Yet another tooth came in, Top Right Central - April 11th

And his stats at ONE year:

25.3 lbs (95th percentile)

31 inches (95th percentile)

Head: 48.5 cm (95th percentile)

******

The birthday boy woke up super happy...especially once his big sisters threw balloons in his crib!

We spent some time at the park because the birthday boy LOVES to be outside!

What a handsome little ONE year old we have!!

(he was too excited, I couldn't get a non-blurry picture!)

This mama LOVES her birthday boy just a little bit!! ;-)  I sure don't know what I'd do without him!

And of course, there were presents!   You can't turn ONE and not have presents!! :)

We had a football-themed party for our little man!  Or sports-themed...definitely boyish, because Bubba is ALL boy! I'm pretty happy with how his football cake turned out!

Bubba liked it too!!  It took him a minute or so, but then he dug right in!

  

I thought it'd be fun to see how our little man has changed this past year!  He came out weighing in at almost 10 lbs but those are sure some SKINNY legs on him in his 1 month picture!!  Didn't take long to chub those legs out though!!  Man alive, I sure love baby chubs!

What a crazy/long/stressful/fun/fabulous/hard/rewarding/tiring/fast year this has been!  We are sooooooooooo blessed to have Bubba in our family!  He is full of so much personality and we just love him to bits!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRETT!

(I had some videos of singing happy birthday to him and of him eating cake but for some reason, they wouldn't download...so if I can get that figured out, I'll add them later!)



Spring Football

Anytime something is going on with Arizona Sports, Kevin is so there.  And anytime the girls get a chance to go on a daddy/daughter date, they are so there!!  So the UofA spring football game was a win/win situation for all involved!  Kevin took the girls and they had so much fun with their daddy!  I think they are more excited for the popcorn and lemonade than the actual sporting event...but one day soon, I'm sure, they'll be rooting their little hearts out for their home team right along with their daddy!!

It's Official...

We have a walking bubba man!!  Woohoooooo!!!

Barrett took his first steps well over a month ago and has taken his sweet time in deciding to really REALLY walk!  He'd take several steps here and there but then just sit down, all controlled and everything.  I KNEW he knew how to do it, he just didn't want to.  All in his own time!!  But he was soooo proud of himself.  I just love this little guy!

{Old Friends}

My dear friend, Holly, and I have known each other since Jr. High.  She was my saving grace when my doubles badminton partner told me last minute (like the day before) that she wouldn't be able to make the tournament that weekend.  I remember going from classroom to classroom, searching for someone who was willing to play doubles with me!  And Holly came to my rescue.  We'd known each other before then but really became friends after....and 20ish years later, no matter how much time has passed between phone calls/emails and catching up, or how much distance is between us, we are still good friends!  I love those kinds of friendships! 

Anyways, she emailed me last week to tell me that she was going to be in Phoenix for a week with her little family and wanted to get together!!  So they made the drive down to Tucson to hang out with us for a bit.  And what did we do???  Take them for yummy Mexican food, of course!! :-)

Thanks Holly for the visit, it was great to see you and your cute family!

~Melt My Heart~

..::Happy Easter::..

Our Easter morning started off with the kiddos opening their goods that the Easter Bunny managed to sneak into our house during the night!!

Then we enjoyed THIS yummy breakfast!

And then got ready for church.  Don't my little peeps look so cute in their Easter garb???!!

Oh and can't forget my handsome Mister!!

How grateful I am to know that my Savior lived and died for me,

and was resurrected so that I too may live again!

Happy Easter everyone!

..::Easters::..

The kiddos all ready for the Easter Egg Hunt at our community park!

Barrett enjoyed finding some eggs!

So did Payton!

Check out Alexa's haul!

 

We had a lot of fun at the Easter Extravaganza put on by our community association today.  We're so grateful to live in such a fun and family-friendly community!!



Happy Easters everyone!