4th of July!

For the 4th of July this year, we had to house sit for Jayson's parents but it actually was quite convenient. Cedar City had restricted fireworks to 4 school parking lots throughout the city and one of them was right next to their house. We went and bought a few small fountain fireworks and then spent a while watching the big ones that everyone else had bought (cheap, I know, haha!) Peyton loved it! He loved the flames and the noises. He especially loved the pop-its, because he could do those ones! Here are a few pictures from the night. 

So excited for the Pop-Its!!

Can you tell they're related?!?

This is what Peyton does when he gets excited. We squat...

and flap our arms back and forth as fast as we can without tipping over!

Wow!

My sweet boys :)

Peyton and Prego Mommy watching the big fireworks.

This was hilarious! I was holding him and taking the picture at the same time and had NO idea he was doing this smile. He did that completely on his own and it couldn't have been any cuter!!

Funny little family!!

Cheese!!!

Once I discovered he was smiling on his own, I couldn't help it, we just had to keep taking pictures!!

Hahahaha!

Watching the big fireworks.

All in all, it was a fun night. Peyton really enjoyed it and Mommy and Daddy got kicks and giggles out of the little Goose! :)

Baby 2 Ultrasound Pictures

So back in May, right before we left for Disneyland, I went in for my 20 week ultrasound to check on the growing baby. According to the ultrasound tech, this little one is also a boy but Jayson isn't quite sure if he believes her. I've had dreams of having a little girl, my mom had a dream that we were teasing her and only told her it was a boy as a joke and recently, Jayson had his own dream that it was a girl (which he never dreams stuff like that!!) so we aren't believing it until baby is here. We've picked Colton for a boy and Paige for a girl. We're still working on middle names for sure but like I said, we don't want to make too many decisions until baby is here. So for right now, it's just Baby :) Anyway, here are the pictures from the ultrasound. Baby was healthy, in the 83rd percentile for infant height and weight, which is great. Not too big, not too small. I'm still hoping for a regular delivery, not a c-section so I'm hoping that plays into my favor. Baby wouldn't turn it's face away from the edge of the amniotic sac so we didn't get a great facial 3-d pic but the one we got is hilarious! :)

This is the 3-D one I love. We got to watch the baby stretch into this position with both legs up and both arms up. It was really cool to watch him/her move like that. I find it amazing that technology is so advanced these days.

Temple Days

We've finally made it! Jayson, Peyton and I will be getting sealed on July 20, 2012 in the Manti Utah Temple. We were able to take out our own endowments at the St. George Temple on June 27, 2012. Jay and Debbie were our escorts and it was just an awesome day.Obviously, Peyton wasn't with us on this day but when we get sealed, he will be there!

15 Months and Disneyland!

I still haven't figured out how to stop my little man from growing so here we are, celebrating his latest milestone. On May 25, my little guy was a big 15 month old!

We had spent an awesome week in Disneyland with Poppa, Grandma, Felicia, Aaron, Jen and Derek. Peyton did really good on all the flights; I was pretty impressed with him. It was hot and humid in Disneyland and was quite a change from what we were used to in little ol' Cedar City. Peyton had recently grown quite attached to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV and I couldn't wait to introduce him to Mickey Mouse for real! I hoped that he would be okay with the characters and not be frightened but we were just going to have to wait and see.

Peyton had recently discovered that Mommy was getting slower and he was getting faster and he used that to his advantage every chance he got. He sure is a fast little guy, especially with those chubby bowed legs! Thankfully, Poppa stayed with us the whole trip so Jayson had a little bit of help (since I wasn't much help at all!).

We were able to see a couple of characters; not as many as I would've liked but Peyton is too little to understand why everyone is just standing around in line all day so I didn't push the issue. We got to see Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh and of course, Mickey Mouse! Since Tigger was the first one we saw, Peyton wasn't quite sure what to think about him. He stood for pictures but that was about it. Once we went around the corner to Eeyore though, Peyton lost all inhibition! He leaned over from my arms and gave Eeyore a big kiss without even being asked to!! It was one of the cutest things I had seen him do. My little lover man! :)

Leaning in for loves!

One of the SEVERAL kisses Mickey got.

For some reason, Peyton looks grumpy in this pic but it makes me giggle! 

And how is just Peyton? Great, growing all the time. He is starting to babble quite a bit and some words are very obvious. He says "ha-whoa" when he picks up someone's phone and he says "bye bye" when you're leaving. He doesn't really say Mickey Mouse but it's "um-mou" and we've come to find that is Mickey. He has a lot of cute little habits now. He does a strong face on command (Peyton, give me a strong face!) and he can point to several body parts including his belly button, ears, nose and when you ask him where his mouth is, he sticks his tongue out and goes "blah!" He is quite the little man and he makes his mommy very happy. :)

So that kinda catches up Peyton; now that he is over a year old, I am probably not going to be able to do monthly updates. I might still try but if nothing else, I'm going to hit the milestone months so the next one will be 18 months. And since this is a past update, I'm going to skip the letter to Peyton (don't want to make it up) so that will start again at the 18 month one. Hope you enjoyed this little catch up!

Surprise!

So many, should be all, of you know now that we are expecting our second child! Since I'm counting on the fact that most of you know, I'm going to tell you guys the story of how we found out number two was on the way!


Many years ago, I wrecked while dirtbiking and tore some cartilage in my right shoulder. For years, I dealt with it but shortly after Jayson came home from deployment, the pain was getting to be pretty bad and I decided to look into my options. After a painful procedure that was done to determine the extent of the damage inside, it was obvious that I would need surgery. I completed six weeks of physical therapy and had every intention of continuing with the surgery. I was graduating from Stevens-Henager in a few weeks and decided to wait until afterwards to set up the surgery. However, the surgery wasn't in my cards at that time; becoming a mommy was! I found out I was pregnant in June and the surgery had to be put back.

Fast forward a little more than a year and it was August of 2011. I had a six month old and was going back to school. We finally had health insurance again and decided that it was time to do the surgery. I had to redo the physical therapy section and we had to wait on approval from my insurance before we could proceed any further. Waiting for the approval took a lot longer than we anticipated; we didn't receive approval until the middle of January. Even though we knew it would be hard having my dominant hand in a sling for anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months with a soon-to-be-one year old at home and being math class that semester, we decided to go ahead and schedule the surgery.

February 1st. My surgery day. I was incredibly anxious because I was going to need so much help to do just the daily things, like getting dressed and washing my hair; let alone taking care of my family but I knew it needed done. We went to the surgery center to check in and do the last bit of paperwork before I had surgery. Jayson's dad, Jay, stayed home from work to watch Peyton and help us after we were done. We went sure how long the surgery was going to take since it was a pretty complicated one; I had gone through three doctors before I found one who was willing to take the case, but I was prepared for whatever needed to be done or so I thought!

Jayson and I were called back into the room and I was told that I needed to undress and put on the hospital gown and booties. For those women who have had surgery or that work in the medical field, you know that a pregnancy test is always customary for women before a procedure, just to be sure. They told me while I was changing, to go ahead and give them a sample to test. No problem, I knew I wasn't pregnant because I had just had my monthly visitor.

After I was done changing, my nurse came back into my room and started to hook up my IVs and the necessary tubes I would need during surgery. We started in on the small talk and I told her that we had one little boy at home who would be having his first birthday soon. I also explained to her that I had had to postpone this surgery back in 2010 because I became pregnant with him. She laughed and said "Well I'm glad I can take care of you today!" Seconds, if that, after saying those words, a voice called my nurse's name from beyond the partition.

"Julie, can you come out here for a second??"
Julie looked at me, smiled and said "I will be right back to finish getting you prepped." I told her that it was fine, that I was in no hurry to go because my nerves had started to kick in by this point.
Jayson was sitting in a seat behind my right shoulder, checking the latest news on the upcoming Superbowl and I turned to say something to him but was interrupted by the curtain in front of me being pulled back. I saw my nurse, Julie, and a second nurse who I assumed was the voice from a minute ago. Julie had gloves on and was holding a paper towel in her hand and she had a look on her face that was a mixture of shock, amusement and excitement. Before I could register what that look could possibly mean, she asked me the age old question....

"Jenifer, when was your last period??"
"....uh, a couple days ago, I thought..." was all I was able to say.
"Well honey, this test says that you're pregnant," and from behind her, the second nurse "And these tests are accurate within 24 hours."

As I turned to see the look on Jayson's face, all I could see was the top of his head as he was still reading the Superbowl news and was completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Jayson?!" I managed to say to him.
"What?" was the the response I got, almost like he was too busy to look up.
"Honey, we're pregnant again!"
"....hahahahahaha....." (I know, such a supportive one huh?? :))

Then it was Julie again, "Well honey, we aren't going to be able to do this surgery anymore. Looks like you're going to have to postpone it again!" She began to clean up the area, the other nurse took a quick Polaroid picture of Jayson and I for a souvenir and Julie and I continued to laugh about the recent turn of events.

Knowing that there was no way I was going to be able to go straight home, Jayson and I decided to go to breakfast and take a minute to ourselves. At this time, we were still living with Jayson's parents and had to debate on whether or not we would tell them right away. I had called my mom and aunt, both who knew I was having surgery that day, and told them a white lie. Something had happened to the doctor, some family emergency and he had cancelled all of his procedures that day. I was supposed to wait until he contacted me before rescheduling my surgery. I wasn't completely sure if they bought the story but hoped it would give me at least a couple days. However, not knowing when my morning sickness would start, Jayson and I decided that the best thing to do would be to tell his parents right away.

A quick trip to Wal-Mart later and we had a gift bag with two newborn size onesies, one in blue, and one in purple. We headed home and explained our white lie story to Jay and waited for Debbie to come home (she had a class to teach that morning). Shortly after we got home, she came in and we told them we had a gift for them. Debbie was the one to open it up but Jay was the first to understand it. After explaining it to Debbie, we all hugged and laughed. What a crazy morning it had been!

That was in February. It is now July and sometimes I still don't think it has entirely hit me that our second baby is on the way. I'm getting more and more excited but this pregnancy has been difficult for me and knowing that my due date is right around the time midterms fall in the semester has me a little worried but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we're just hanging on for the ride!

Baby #2 at 19 weeks

                                                               

Attempting to Catch Up!

Okay guys, these next couple of posts are going to be interesting; I haven't blogged in months because of the craziness going on but I'm going to attempt to get all caught up here in the next few days so please bare(is that the correct bare I'm looking for??) with me! Hope you all are doing wonderful and I can't wait to share the exciting-ness of our lives! :)

My Big One Year Old!

It happened. As much as I didn't want it to (or at least not so fast), Peyton's first birthday has come. My little man is a big, bad one year old!

He went from this:

To this:Peyton has changed so much in the past year, and so have his parents! The night before his birthday he decided he was going to start walking. Just like I thought, he wasn't going to attempt it at all before or practice at all. He just decided he was going to start walking and POOF! he's walking! The timing couldn't have been better. My mom and brother and sisters were able to come down for his birthday party and he started walking the night they got here. We missed the 'first' first steps (I was attempting to locate my mom in Cedar City to have her follow me back to the house) but it was awesome that he started walking that weekend!

We had an awesome birthday party for him. The house was packed with people and decorated to the max! Poppa Jay made an awesome lunch for everyone and then we got to have cake...the cake I made and decorated MYSELF! That's right, my self. No one else. The only help I had was asking Jayson's opinion on the icing coloring. Other than that, I did the entire thing myself. And all I can say is: I have such a deep respect for people who do that for a living!

Anyway, Peyton got tons of new stuff including his first car!! Okay, it was just a little Cozy Coupe car but he sure likes it! The twins and Jaxsen took turns driving him and his cousin Tru Lee around the house and it was pretty cute! He looks awesome in his little car, I must say so myself. But then again, I think he is about the most handsome baby boy ever so he looks good in EVERYTHING!
He did enjoy his day and then to top it off, Grandma's hotel room had a POOL so we went swimming with Uncle Tristan, Aunt Kaycee, Aunt Sydney and Aunt Chelsea. Even Grandma came down to chill with us! Needless to say, Peyton's birthday weekend was very fun and entertaining. It was busy but worth it.And what's new with Jayson and me? Not much of anything. We are not-so-patiently waiting for spring break to get here so we can relax. My spring break sounds like it is going to contain a lot of traveling. My Aunt Leah has graciously agreed to take my dog Annie for me. Annie hasn't been very happy since we moved to Cedar because she is a bigger dog and has to spend most of the day outside in a backyard that has NO grass. So after wrestling with the decision for months, I decided to give her away and what better person than someone in my family?! Leah has a HUGE yard and will be an awesome home for Annie. Plus, I will get frequent updates about her. So, over my spring break, Peyton and I will be driving to Logan and then Mom, Tristan and Kaycee will all be driving to Montana. Lots and lots of driving but I am excited to see some family!

But that's about it. Almost. (read the next post!) Anyway, as always when finishing these here is my little letter to Goose!:

My Big Boy,
How is it that you are already one year old?!? Time has gone by so fast, it isn't fair. I have enjoyed every minute with you; even the hard ones. You are such a smart, amazing little man. You know how to make me and Daddy laugh and that is one of your favorite pastimes. You will do almost anything to get a smile from us. Now that you are walking and you are more sure of your balance, you have quite the dance moves! Let's just say you get them from your mom; you can decide later on if that's a good thing or not.
One thing that I have been reminded of recently, Peyton, is that life is FULL of changes and surprises. Sometimes they are great surprises and sometimes they are ones that you'd rather do without. However, two things will always remain certain in your life: Mom and Dad will ALWAYS love you and your Heavenly Father will ALWAYS love and be there for you. With those two constants in your life, no matter what else comes your way, you will always be prepared to handle it.
I know you are going to do great things in life Peyton. You have such an amazing heart and at such a young age, are willing to do anything to make those around you happy. Keep smiling my big boy. I love you so much Peyton. You are surrounded by those who love you, both near and far. I love you Peyton. Thanks for an amazing year my sweetheart!

Love,
Mommy

11 Months

(To my readers: I wrote this in the proper time frame, just didn't have enough pictures so I didn't post it)


So Peyton's 11 month marker has passed. I'm down to less than a month before he turns 1. (I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry...) He is getting so big. I have no idea how much he weighs right now, I want to wait until his year check up to be surprised.Peyton isn't walking yet but I can't tell he is really thinking about it. He can stand on his own (even though he doesn't really like to) for about a minute now but then if he wants to move, he drops to his knees.

He is so 'helpful' these days. He loves to help with the laundry by pulling each piece of my clean clothes out of the laundry basket and onto the floor. He does this, smiling the whole time. Good thing he is so cute!

My new favorite thing that he does is 'talk'. He will have full conversations using nonsense syllables but will look at you just like you are talking to an adult. I love hearing him babble like this. He does like to say "Wow!" whenever he sees something new or something bright. I LOVE IT! It is so cute that he knows when to say it and he has the exclamation right. He will also say "oooo" if he falls down or if something scares him. It makes me giggle every time.

He is such a sweet boy. He has his moments, don't get me wrong, but he is a sweetheart. I'm really excited about his birthday but I'm really sad too. I can't believe that a year has gone by already since he got here. I just think about how tiny he used to be compared to how big he is now. I just really love him more than words can ever describe.As for the rest of us, nothing big has changed yet. I was supposed to have my shoulder surgery on the 1st but it got postponed; something happened with the doctor and we had to cancel the surgery until I hear from him again. I was pretty bummed but everything happens for a reason.

Jayson and I are still working on getting sealed and will hopefully be able to do so this summer. Keep us in your prayers! Also, this year marks Jayson and I's "first" anniversary since there is actually a February 29th this year. So, to celebrate, we are taking money from our tax return this year (gotta love the child tax credit!) and going to Disneyland with Jayson's family. It will be Peyton's first flight and mine and Jayson's first one together. I'm super excited to go to Disneyland and take Peyton to see all that color! We are also going to go to the beach one day and play in the water and we might go to the Los Angeles Zoo. I am super excited and May can't get here fast enough!! Anyway, that's about all that's new with us. School is about the same; busy, boring and we're only about half way through the semester, haha. Summer break is going to be a nice welcome. I hope you all are doing well and that life is going as well as you would like it too!


And as always,

Goose,
I love you so much. You are such a mommy's boy and sometimes, I worry that this could be a bad thing but it's so hard not to hold you all the time and pick you up when you are crying. I love that when I come home from a day at school, you have the biggest smiles waiting for your daddy and me. It makes that long day at school worth it just in the first minute I'm home. You are just the best. I've been a little worried lately about school and being gone so much but just remember that it is so you can have a great life. Someday, daddy and I will look back at this day and realize that it wasn't as hard as we thought it was. However, I hope someday that you can appreciate all that we do for you and for our family. I want you to have the best life possible. I even started you a savings account. It doesn't have much in it now but we add to it every chance we get and someday, you will be able to use it for college. I can't wait to take you to Disneyland this May. You probably won't remember it but I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures! It's going to be so much fun--this is supposed to be mine and daddy's 'honeymoon/anniversary' trip that we never got to take but I'm glad that we get to take you. I hope that you will be walking by then but I think walking is going to come just like crawling did--you aren't going to try, you aren't going to practice, you are just going to do it one day and you'll be a natural. I can't wait, even though life after that will never be the same. :) I love you sweetheart. You and daddy are my everything, always remember that.

Love,
Mommy

Peyton is 10 Months!!

On Christmas Day, my not-so-little man hit the 10 month mile marker. I can't believe he is that close to being one already. Every day, I think to myself "There is no way that he can make me smile anymore than he did today," and every day, he proves me wrong. He is the sweetest little guy I could have asked for and thank goodness that the Lord knows what I need more than I do because I got so much more than I would have ever even thought to ask for.

He is so much fun! He learned, quite fast, while we were at my dad's house that he can climb the stairs and boy, does he think that is just the bee's knees. He would start heading for those stairs, look back to see who was watching and then just take off. Before we knew it, he'd be at the first landing, giggling away. He is into everything now, which at our house generally isn't a problem but we got to see first hand why baby-proofing is so important while we were at my dad's. Thankfully, there wasn't any problems, just him being a nosy little boy.He finally has another tooth on the bottom of his jaw. It's on the right side and the one on the left is working on coming up. This boy is going to have a full mouth of teeth before he is 1!

One of the toys he got for Christmas is a walker style toy and he's learned to book it on that. It's a little alphabet train and it's tall enough that he doesn't have to bend over when he walks to hold onto it. He is still a little wobbly and sometimes, his top half goes faster than his bottom half but I think he might be walking on his own before his birthday. He is getting braver every day.

We recently found out that he doesn't appreciate fry sauce...at all...I gave him some tater tots on while I was cooking some more, Jayson dipped just one in a little spot of fry sauce and gave it to him. After he spit that one out, he wouldn't even touch the tots that didn't have fry sauce. I am pretty sure that this is the first thing we have found that he doesn't like...and Jayson plans on changing that as soon as he can (Jayson will eat fry sauce with just about anything).

Before school starts, I hope to get Peyton using sippy cups instead of bottles during the day. We tried to get him used to them today but he just HATES it. He fell asleep twice without a bottle/cup, which is very weird for him. He just refuses the cup and then daddy came "to the rescue" and gave him a bottle. I don't know what is going to be harder; getting Peyton on the cup or getting Jayson to put up with it while I do.

Oh, and the best thing I got him for Christmas??? He finally has his own Manning Colts jersey. I walked past a store in Logan that had them for 40% off and I just couldn't help myself! He looks quite handsome, if I do say so myself!!Anyway, that catches us up with Peyton the Tank, or as I have started calling him 'Goose'. He is, and will always be my little goose.


And, as always, my note:


My Goose:

You are getting so big and you are so smart! You know when you are getting into something that you shouldn't be and sometimes, it is so hard to tell you no because you are just so stinking cute. I love you more than words could ever describe and every day, that love just grows and grows. I can't believe we are getting so close to your birthday. I'm excited and sad at the same time. It's going to be fun, I'm planning a whole party for you with a Mickey Mouse cake that I am decorating myself. Daddy thinks we should just buy one but I want to make it for my special little guy.
I bought you Dumbo for Christmas and even though you don't like the whole movie, when the spot comes on that sings "Baby Mine", you stop and watch. Guess that's what I was buying it for. I love singing that song to you and I try to every chance I get. You are growing up too fast and I am afraid that I missing chances left and right but just know that I am trying. I love you Peyton. I can't wait to see what a good man you will grow up to be. But then again, I can wait forever. Stay sweet my precious man. I love you Goose.

Love,
Mommy

Christmas Trip to Logan

So for Christmas this year, we spent a week in Logan with my family. It was a blast! Peyton had tons of fun and once Tristan got over Peyton pulling the plug on the Nintendo game (mid-game) and Kaycee got over him throwing up on everything, they enjoyed having him there.
Peyton got a TON of new things. New clothes, new toys and new teeth. :) My favorite outfit has got to be the one Chelsea picked out--it's a new church suit! She got a 24 month size so it would last a little bit longer but I plan on trying it on him in a week or so. His best toy? Probably a toss up between the Alphabet Train Jayson and I got him and the Dance and Wiggle Puppy my mom got him. He loves the puppy but he loves the train because he can walk with it and the music plays when he does.

Jayson played with the twins and they really seemed to enjoy having him around this time.
Another highlight of the year: Chelsea turned 18 two days before Christmas; needless to say, she was pretty excited.

All of the siblings Chelsea, Sydney, Tristan, Kaycee, Jayson, me and Peyton went on a carriage ride around the Temple in Logan and it was beautiful! It was so much fun; it was a little chilly but it was so fun and we all enjoyed it a lot.Of course, Jayson got exactly what he wanted for Christmas: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. I think I scared him a little bit when he was opening the Battlefield 3 game...I had boxed it up in an old Huggies box, stuffed it with baby blankets, Desitin, and baby powder to add weight (I was in Peyton's room while I was wrapping and had to use what was around) and the first thing that my mom popped off when he was opening the box and pulling out said items was "Are you pregnant again?!?" Uh, no mom, but thanks :)
At any rate, it was a good Christmas. A little chaotic sometimes but I think that might just come with the territory. We had fun but we are glad to be home. Now comes the waiting game for student loans to come in and for school to start. I am getting anxious and we still have another week. Jay and Debbie got a treadmill for Christmas so that's what I've been occupying myself with lately (that Christmas weight really packed on) and will continue to do so even after school starts. Anyway, I hope all went well with everyone over the holidays and that you can ring in the New Year healthy and happy! Love to all! :)