1st Born Tag

First Born Tag!!! Kimmie tagged me....

1.Where were you when you first found out that you were pregnant?
In the bathroom at my house in Riverton.

2.Who was with you?
Just me, but Chris was on the computer in the other room.

3. How did you find out that you were pregnant?
Home pregnancy test

4.What was your first reaction to finding out you was pregnant?
I was ecstatic, but Chris’ first reaction was, “Oh, are you sure?”

5. Who was the first person you told?
Chris, then a while later, Chris’ family.

6.Did you plan to get pregnant?
Yes, we had been trying for 10 months. We were going to be moving put of state so Chris could go to law school so we gave ourselves a deadline date. The day I took the test, we had 4 more days left, after that day, it would have been back to birth control.

7.Did you tell everyone else right away?
No, we waited until we went to Chris’ parent’s house for thanksgiving.

8. Was everybody happy for you?
I think so.

9. Did you go out and celebrate?
I honestly can’t remember

10.Did you want to find out the sex?
Heck Yes!!

11. Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you knew you wouldn't put on your baby?
Yes, not only did she get a lot of things, but she also was given a few things that just weren’t my/her style.

12. How much weight did you gain?
About 35 lbs.

13. What did you crave the most?
Butterfinger candy bars.

14.Did you crave anything crazy?
I don’t just love sea food and had never had crab before but one day, I needed it, BAD!!

15.Who or what got on your nerves?
I hate people touching me, and I really hate it when people would touch my stomach, but I especially hate it when strangers would try to touch my stomach. I developed karate like move to deflect their unwanted gestures.

16. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
No, I don’t think I have ever felt better

17.Where and when did you go into labor?
At 5:00 am I woke up for my usual potty break. Only I was hurting and didn’t know why. I waited till 5:30 then called my mom. She said to go to the hospital, and the rest is history.

18. Who drove you to the hospital?
Chris

19.Who was in the room when you gave birth?My mom and dad, Chris’ mom and dad, and my sister, the dr, and 2 nurses.

20.Did you go early or late?
Paiton was born 1 week early

21. How long were you in labor?
I didn’t start to really hurt until 7:00am, soon after that I had the epidural, then Chris and I took a 2 hour nap. Then Pater was here around 11:00am. Short answer 4 or 5 hours.

22. Did you have any drugs for the pain?
Heck yes, are you kidding!!

23. Did you go natural or have a C-section?
Natural

24.What was your first reaction after giving birth?
I was very overwhelmed. It worked out okay though, because I think that Chris felt the same way throughout my whole pregnancy, but was fine as soon as I started going into labor. We just traded emotions with each other when she was born.

25.How big was the baby?
7 lbs 12 oz, and 21 in long

26. Did your husband cry?
No, he stepped into daddy mode, and was taking care of Paiton and I.

27.What did you name the baby?
Paiton Rose Christensen

28.Does his name have any significant meaning?
Paiton came from Peyton Manning, but we changed the spelling so it would be more feminine looking. Rose came from my side of the family. The first born girl is named Rose; Paiton is the 5th generation.

29. Did you have any visitors?
Yes, lots of family and friends.

30. Did the baby have any complications?
Yes, I don’t think I was ever really told what the real problem was, but Paiter wasn’t able to breathe very well, so the last day and a half in the hospital, she had to get oxygen. The really terrible part was she had to have a clear bucket looking thing sitting over her head. It looked like a form of torture.

31. How old is your baby today?
On Christmas day she will be 2 ½ years old.

32.When is the next one coming?
Hopefully soon, I have wanted to start trying for another for the last 6-8 months, but it takes two to tango ya know.

33.If you could would you do it all over again?
Most days yes, but she is 2, so sometimes I think “remind me why we did this again“.

Tag five: Megan Finlay, Suzanna Rowley, Nikki Batista, Summer Anderson, Angela Anderson

Not such a girly girl

So, I am totally fine with boys wanting to do “boy” stuff, but Chris has Paiton walking around the house making deer and elk noises (the elk bugle is actually quite accurate, well as accurate as a 2 year old can get). Her favorite thing to do is watch hunting videos on youtube. I am NOT exaggerating about this at all. She walks around the house randomly making all these crazy noises, or says her baby is doing it. Chris is a great dad and spends as much time with Paiton as he can. Her favorite thing to do with him is go out behind our house to look at the deer.

Going to look for deer

A little background info, we live near a wooded area, and deer come close to our house to graze. Chris has a wild animal fetish; he likes to watch them, chase them, and hunt them. Since we moved to Michigan, Chris has not had the opportunity to go hunting, so he makes sure he gets to at least watch the animals. He takes Paiton with him and they sit in the field, or on a small hill in the trees and wait for the deer to come. There are a couple apple trees and they shake apples out of the trees, so that the deer will have something to eat. Paiton will usually munch on one while she waits. If we have apples for a snack or treat or something, Paiton will almost always hold it up and say something to the effect “save for deer mommy?”

Getting apples down for the deer

She sees one

Chris said sitting and waiting for the deer are some of the only times he has ever seen her sit still and quiet, other than when she is sleeping. I guess I can’t complain though, I always said I didn’t want any little “girly girls”. She definitely is not girly, other than she totes her babies and purses around with her everywhere, even to go watch the deer.Here are some random pictures we took on sunday while out on a family walk/hike. (I just started using a new camera, and I am not so good with it yet. I ended up deleting a ton of pictures because they were really fuzzy)

Halloween Pics

I don’t understand how people pick which houses will have good Halloween candy, but I need to fix something. We had a grand total of 6 trick-or-treaters at our house this year. I did leave and take the kid out treating for about an hour, but I am pretty sure we didn’t miss anybody, because we stayed in our little neighborhood, and I didn’t see one child (or adult) out begging for candy.

That is a whole other blog session in and of itself. I have spent Paiton’s whole life trying to teach her not to beg for food or snacks, and especially not from strangers. Just as soon as I think she has got it mastered, we put on a silly outfit, then drag her to the neighbors houses, then get her to beg, I mean trick or treat . The whole time we were trick or treating, she was begging for, or
trying to open her candy. What a fun time we had. Here are some of our pics. Paiter is the pink dragon, her friend Ellie was a frog.
Sooo cute!
































Just a random cat hat she made for Halloween story time at the library.

Jesus fed them lunch.

I haven’t dedicated much time to blogging lately, but I think I have been a little more busy, oh wait, I think I have just been more lazy. Due to the laziness, I haven’t done anything fun with “the kid”, at least not anything noteworthy. However, I did think of something really cute that I had forgotten to blog about. Paiton colored a picture of Jesus in nursery; the cool part though was when you ask her about it, she will tell you that the people didn’t have lunch, so Jesus made bread and shared it with them. I thought it was really cute. Her nursery teachers must be doing a good job.
I took Patiter to the church Halloween party, but it didn’t go over so well, I think maybe she was a bit to overwhelmed, which led to tantrum/damage control. Hopefully it was just a dry run for the real thing. Her costume was sooo stinkin’ cute; she is a little pink dragon. I LOVE IT!! Hopefully, she will do better when we try the real thing on Halloween.

Mommies little Diva!

I never thought we would have a little cheerleader. We even had to make a megaphone one day so she "can be weal" (can be a real cheerleader).

We're Almost Finished!!!

Chris and I moved to Lansing Michigan, a little over two years ago, and it seems like ever since then we have had a ton of little projects to do. We cause ourselves most of the stress, but there was still plenty of projects that our “old” house decided to get done as well. Since we have lived her, we have…
1. Made flower beds
2. Made a garden
3. Put up a fence so the kid can’t escape (at the very least, slow her down)
4. Installed a garbage disposal
5. Switched out the sink and vanity in the bathroom
6. Paint the siding
7. Paint every single wall, indoors
8. Ripped out the carpet, so we could have wood floors (I knew they were there, I saw them when we bought the house)
9. Scrubbed every square inch of the wood floors on the main level.
10. Decided I didn’t like the wood floor, so we put down new carpet in the living room (on top of the wood floor that I had just spent 2 ½ days scrubbing).
11. Built an office in the basement for Chris (my parents [mainly my dad] did this one).
12. Fixed a sewer back up (that is as terrible as it sounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Raw sewage coming out of the laundry room drain.)
13. Replaced the front door
14. Replaced the front storm door
15. Replaced the back door
16. Painted the back storm door
17. Put up shelves for storage in the garage
18. We are almost finished with ½ bath remodels, that we had to do when a pipe burst, oh yeah, did I mention that it was the night before we were leaving to go to Utah for Christmas!! That was one of the most fun things I have ever done! Can you detect the sarcasm in my voice???
I think there is more, but it is all starting to be big blur, so these are just the ones that I can remember participating in.

I think we are just about done. Can I get a hallelujah?!?! I think we have decided to fix/update our bright yellow (Mickey Mouse color) bathroom, only because it is bright yellow with a green bathtub. When I say green I need you to envision a cross between a lime green and a mint green, and there ya have it. Now put it in a Mickey Mouse yellow, tile bathroom. Sounds like a 7o’s disco party if you ask me. Well anyway, we have decided to do something more with the bathtub. We also need to do new flooring in the kitchen, but haven’t decided to do tile or just do linoleum. Decisions, decisions.
Hopefully, after that we will seriously be done. The other really crappy thing that I will remember for next time (hopefully there won’t be a next time) I don’t really have any before pictures. Oh well, I know what it looked like in my head.

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if you drew all over yourself with a Sharpie???

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if you took a Sharpie and drew all over yourself? Well you are in luck I can show you. It doesn’t look as cool as one might think.
A few days ago I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, trying, but with no avail, to get Paiton occupied with something other than wreaking havoc in the kitchen. Well she finally settled down in the living room playing with her toys and reading books. I finished up dinner and even had time to wash a few dishes. I was so proud of myself, acting a bit like super mom with a wonderful hot meal almost finished, a clean kitchen… that’s when I remembered that little girl of mine. Something was not quite right. You know when they are being too quiet, nothing good (except maybe an occasional nap) can ever come from those quiet times. Well let me tell you what… I walked into the TV room to find my litter Paiter covered in blue Sharpie. To give her credit, she did have a small notebook sized piece of paper covered almost completely on both sides. She at least tried to fight off the urge to use her body as a fresh piece of canvas.
I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. After all, it did look really funny. I think she tried to draw a mustache on her face, only it happened to be on her chin.
Just then Chris called from school, he wanted me to come and pick him up. Great… now he will know I really am NOT a supermom; he will have actual proof. Oh well, there goes that title.
Chris helped me figure out how to get it off, but it was kinda confusing for the kid, because later in the week we went with some friends to an apple festival, where I let her get her hand painted. So much for the “we don’t draw on our skin, only on the paper”, speech.

Back to Life…Back to Reality

Chris Paiton and I have gone our first, official, family vacation, since Chris has started Law school 2 years ago. Well I guess we can’t call it an official family vacation, because during part of it, Chris and I dumped Paiton off with grandma and grandpa Christensen, while we went to Moab with my parents (the Anderson’s). It was fun being able to do whatever we wanted to do without worrying about her wellbeing, but at the same time, we missed her terribly. It all worked out okay though and she wasn’t to upset with us for leaving her. I think she had just as much fun as we did.
We drove to Moab Wednesday afternoon. Once we were there, we drove around and looked at some of the sites in downtown Moab. On Thursday we woke up relatively early (by my standards…) and rented a Jeep. We had originally planned to rent it for only ½ day, but when my mom and dad came back to the hotel to pick us up they informed us they had rented it for the whole day. We ended up going on a trail called ”Fins and Things”, and “Baby Lions Back” I hope I am getting the numbers right, but The Fins and Things was rated 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the most difficult. My mom and dad let Chris drive the jeep the whole time. He was in HEAVEN!!! Chris and I have never done anything like that before (other than with 4-wheelers or motorcycles), and it was sooo much fun. Chris and I told my mom and dad that we probably would never have done anything like that before. When they first told me that they wanted to rent a jeep, all I could think of was the guy I used to date who was waaayyy into the whole 4X4 thing. Anyway, I wasn’t really looking forward to the whole jeep thing, but now I really like it (as long as I am not driving).
So we drove on the trail called Fins and Things and it took around 4 hours. It was really scary sometimes, but I did like it. I even liked it enough that I would do it again when I grow up. We all decided that it is better to rent a jeep versus beating up on your own vehicle though. Luckily we were safe and we didn’t have to worry about anything. The best part of the whole thing was Chris driving. He is kinda dramatic… well it was really funny when my dad would act nervous, or if he really was nervous, Chris would go CRAZY!!! Any time my dad was nervous (not very often, but every once in a while) he either grabs the “O crap handle”, or he braces himself against the floor boards, well if Chris saw my dad do anything like that, he would be hilariously scared. I guess I just don’t know enough about it, but I think there were times I should have been scared, but I just figured my mom and dad wouldn’t take us to anything that would/could kill us.
Then on Friday, we went down the river. We had a blast and totally want to go on the river again. There was some big drama right at the beginning of the day. We got to the tag-a-long (the river guide company we were going down the river with) around ten-to-seven. My mom went to check in, but there was a huge line, so we decided that we would run to the bathroom and then go back and check in. When we went back they told us that the bus to take us to the river was gone. We ended up speeding through the canyon, driving dangerously fast trying to catch up to the bus. Later we found out the bus had to stop at some ranch on the way up, and we passed the it. We ended up beating the bus to the river, then we found some random guys camping on the river, and paid them to drive our car to Cisco, that ghost town right before the river. I think I was more anxious and stressed from missing the bus, and the car ride, than I was actually floating down the river. After we floated down the river we packed up and drove to Richfield, where my mom and dad dropped us off at Chris’ parents house.
So spent that first night in Richfield, then the next morning we went to Fishlake and rented a pontoon boat. Fishing was probably the best part of the whole “Richfield trip”, because Paiton caught her first fish. It was only a perch, but she still did most of it by herself. It was awesome!! I never thought I would enjoy helping kids fish. I didn’t even drop a hook in the water until after lunch. Even then I think I caught 5 or 6 perch and 1 trout. It was one of the most fun fishing trips I have done in a long time. We started dropping in a bare hook, and we couldn’t get the fish off fast enough.
On Sunday we went to church at Fishlake Lodge, and you just can’t beat church on the lake. The view was AWESOME!!!Then after church, Chris’ cousin had his baby blessed. It was a great weekend. Oh yeah, did I mention that we stayed in one of the big cabins right on the lake. Ya know the ones right next door to the lodge, it was one of those.
This was Chris’ first real vacation since we have been in school. We have been blessed enough to get to come home quite a bit, but it hasn’t ever been a real vacation, it’s just been flying home to do normal stuff, not fly home to go on an actual vacation.
All and all we have had a really good vacation, and now we are headed back to Salt Lake so we can get on a plane with a squirmy 2 year old.
I just thought of something else… While we were in Moab, there was some big biker gang called “the Banditos” coming into town. I don’t really know anything about them, but people told us they were comparable to the Hell’s Angels. There were a couple that we saw, that seemed quite hard, but there wasn’t any trouble while we were there. Anyway, while we were cool maxin’ relaxin’ (people watching on main street Moab) my dad and Chris saw a scrawny guy driving a scooter/moped type apparatus. Anyway, my dad piped up to Chris and said something like “here comes our first Bandito”. (This moped had a flame sticker and the number 34 on the side) Chris then replied “Yeah, it’s the 34 flamer” And on top of that Chris could never remember the actual name of the biker gang, so he continually (the whole time we were there) called them the bambinos. Anyway the whole time we were there anytime we saw any kind of motorcycle dad and Chris would comment on the flamer 34 bambino. I know it may not sound very funny to you, because you weren’t there, but it was SOOOOO FREAKIN’ FUNNY!!!

Where, oh where has my sweet little girl gone? Where, oh where could she be??

Paiton has hit the “terrible two’s” stage with full force, and Chris and I are praying that it doesn’t last long. She used to be the sweetest little girl in the whole world. She was caring, loving, friendly, etc. Now we have Paiton, the tantrum throwing, screaming, whining, two year old. She always seems to do the exact opposite of what you ask her to do, unless you are trying reverse psychology, and then she does exactly what you ask of her. She is too freakin’ smart for me. This stage better not last much longer. I think I am going crazy!!!!! The real kicker is at times she can still be so cute and loving, that is as long as she is getting whatever she wants, when she wants it. What is a mother to do??
Another fun thing Paiton has started doing is taking off her diaper/underwear and peeing on stuff. Chris had put her to bed last night and later looked in to check on her. Guess who was laying diaper-less, on a pee soaked blanket? I think she can tell it bugs us, so she does it even more. Somehow I have to hide my frustration, I don’t know how, but I am sure I’ll figure it out. I think it doesn’t help that both she and I are really stubborn. She doesn’t want to give in to me, and I don’t want to give in to her. Oh well, this too shall pass…and if it doesn’t, we will send her to and all girls boarding school.

I can't think of a good title.

I struggled with what I wanted to title this blog post. I don’t have much to talk about, but I just wanted to explain a thought that ran through my head today. I think I am finally starting to mature a little. Well maybe I won’t go that far, but I found it really interesting that I was sitting on my duff at my in-laws house, when I decided to watch a little TV. I started flipping through the channels and got to a channel that was telling a little bit about President Monsen (the president of the LDS church), giving his credentials before he was going to speak. To my surprise, I decided I would stay on that channel, and then the real kicker was, I sat and watched the whole talk he gave. I think I must be growing up or something. The other “grown-up” thing I have been doing is going to church. Anybody who knows me or my family knows we go to church, but the crazy thing is I go now because I want to, not because I think I have to (ya know so I won’t go to “HE double hockey sticks” or anything like that) . I usually don’t even complain anymore. I want you to remember that I have a 2-year old, so if I wanted to complain I could, but I usually don’t.
Oh yeah, something funny happened last Sunday; I was in Salt Lake City visiting my sister and her husband, and Paiton went to their church’s nursery. Now here comes the funny part… Another kid in nursery bit Paiton on the cheek. Kinda weird, I know. How would her cheek be the first thing he got a hold of? I later found out the little boy that bit her is the son of first or second counselor in the bishopric. I think I am going to tell him we no longer want to be LDS. Just kidding, but it was kinda random. Anyway, the part I really wanted to tell you was that because of the bighting Paiton will randomly throughout the day say “MOMMY, kids hurt me”. It sounds really sad and tearful, but the way she says it makes me laugh every time. She yells my name (MOMMY!!!!), and then says, in her saddest Paiton voice, while touching her cheek, “kids hurt me”. I should record it so you can laugh as much as I do. I know that sounds cruel, laughing, but it really is funny, because it happened a week ago, and she is totally fine, the mark is gone, and there is nothing there, but just randomly through the day she will pipe up and tell me how “the kids hurt me”.

what year are you from??

You Belong in 1984

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/">What Year Do You Belong In?

Kids and Prayers

I wanted to take a minute and tell you all how cool my 2 year old is. I am certain that any of you who have already met Paiton know she is gorgeous, smart, funny, and just about every other good thing a kid can be. Once in a blue moon, mostly when she is sick, she will act like a regular tantrum throwing 2 year old. But I am trying to focus on the positive here. Anyway, Chris and I are really focused on Paiton learning to say her prayers; let me just tell you how stinkin’ cute this is. Every single time we pray, (even after she tells us she is not going to pray this time) she folds her arms, bows her head, looks to make sure everybody has their eyes closed, and starts in with “unwonah, heanly fotter, jesus, daddy, mommy, airpane, gamma, papa, Jesus, AMEN!! (I still can’t tell what she is saying right at the beginning, I’ll keep working on it) Oh yeah with the “amen” part she throws her hands in the air like she has just finished hog typing a calf (If you have ever seen or been to a rodeo, you know what I am talking about). On the few occasions that she will let either one of us help her with the prayer, she will repeat the last word of every sentence or phrase we have said. I have a hard time keeping a straight face during a prayer. I love it though, we as a family have never been so excited to say prayers.

GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO!!

I need to start out by saying that I wrote this as something funny that we all go through in life, not as a tool to ask for something, or to get help with anything. That being said, I have officially decided that being an adult is way more difficult than being a kid. Thus, "Growing up is hard to do".
Let me take you back...

Remember when you were a kid and something around the house broke, who bought a new one, or paid for it to be fixed? The adult(s) of the house did, right. Well I am learning that Chris and I are the adults around here. And it seems as though all the "things" around our house had a malicious plan to break or start on their last leg all at the same time. I know how this must sound; I'm telling you that things like vehicles and kitchen appliances, had a plan with all the other household common luxuries, to break. I would think it was CRAZY too, that is if it wasn't happening to us. Let me give you a run down of the list of the things that have either already broken, or are on their last leg, (these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head) so you can see why I think it was an evil plot.

1. Washer
2. Our 1 and only car (that is a whole blog posting in and of itself)
3. Microwave is on its way out. What used to take 30 sec. to cook now takes 3-5 min.
4. Blow dryer
5. Any and all CD players in the house. (thankfully aunt Mar just sent us a new Ipod/cd player thing).
6. Garage door
7. garage door opener
8. Light in the basement stairwell
9. Central Air Conditoner (dind't work 100% when we bought the house)
10. Electric skillet

the last one doesn't really count, because it has been used a ton, and it still runs like a champ, but the handle is starting to fall off. I guess I should take it of the list, but I will leave it for now just to add more dramatical effect.

As I grow older, wiser, and hopefully more mature, I get more and more greatful for my parents, my in-laws, and all the other family and friends who continue to help and support us while we continue to grow up. Neither Chris nor I can imagine life without the great support system we have. Thanks guys you are the best.

Also a special thanks to both of our parents for raising us to be (hopefully) responsible adults. We both know we gave all of you our fair share of grey hairs. Thanks for being our parents. We love and appreciate all you do for us, but especially the things you do for Paiton.

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

This year is kinda weird feeling as far as birthdays go, its the first year where I had to sit down and figure out how old I am. You always hear other people count back to figure out how old they are, but I haven't had to do that, until now. I have been reiminding Chis about my birthday comming up for quite some time now (probably since christmas), but never gave a second thought as to how old I will be. It was kind of a strage feeling not knowing the asnwer to the question of how old I will be. So I did the math, and I hope to remeber it from now on.

26. That is the magical number.

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Saving Money/Time!!!

I wanted to take a second to give myself a pat on the back. Good job me!!! I am saving our family both time and money. How, you ask; I planted a garden (really Chris planted it, I just told him where and how, then provided the plants). Well anyway, "we" planted a garden with all the summer vegetables we love. I even saved us money in the planting aspect. I went to a plant sale hosted by the Michigan State Univ. "plant" department. I spent like $15 on the the whole thing. Pretty Freakin' Rad if ya ask me. Anyway we will end up with enough stuff that I can bottle salsa (with all the bottling supplies from freecycle). Now if anybody is reading this that knows me I can imagine you are asking yourself, "when did Deb learn to make and bottle salsa?" Well that is the one problem in my plan. I just figured I would look up some detailed instructions on the internet. Details, Details. I decided that planting a garden saves me time because I don't have to run to the store to get the fresh fruits and veggies. I just have to run out to the back yard.
Continuing on with the other way I am saving our family money. I line dry our clothes whenever possible. I know it is a bit hickish, but you do what ya gotta do. There are quite a few rainy days in Michigan, so I can't always do it, but when I can I feel a big sense of accomplishment. Also the clothes seem to dry so much faster, thus saving myself time.

This is the life!!

Last week was crazy busy, but in a good way. On Tuesday we went to the Michigan State Univ. Dairy Expo. Paiton LOVED it!! She was a little bit scared of the adult cows, but she loved the calves and wanted to play with them for a long time. She also was given a ton of free stuff; coloring books, a bag to put it all in, chocolate milk, ice cream sandwich, stickers, and crafts. I liked it because we spent the whole morning there and she was pooped by the time we got home. Needless to say there were no objections at nap time.


On Thursday we went to Lake Lansing with a bunch of ladies (and their kids) from church. Paiton had a good time playing in the water, and chasing the boys. I hope this isn't going to be her "thing"; she loves playing with the boys. There were little girls about her same age there that she could have played with, but she seems to be drawn to the rough and tumble type play of the boys. They usually are faster than her, so she just runs behind them and copies whatever they are doing. It is kinda funny to watch.
(This water pic isn't of the lake obviously, but I had forgotten the camera when we went. We did have a pool day one day last week, I just can't remember what the exact day was...they are all running together.)

I was being a responsible parent and lathered Paiton up with sunscreen 2 or 3 times in the 3 hours we were there, but somehow forgot about myself. She came home with a slight golden skin color, while I on the other hand had a very definite red skin color. It is hard to get anything but red on a pasty white body. It is kinda funny to see the bright red on bright white contrast. Oh well better luck next time.On Friday morning, Paiton and I drove 4 hours to visit my brother in Cleveland Ohio. Paiton played with her cousins, whom she LOVES!!! My brother and sister-in-law have 2 boys and a baby girl. Paiton was really funny with them; she would run and chase the boys, then all of a sudden out of nowhere she would spot "baby Hannah" and run over to give hugs and kisses. Then she would start chasing the boys again. This went on for quite a while. She is still talking about "Woan", "Andew", and "Baby Hannah".

On Saturday we drove form Cleavland to Sandusky Ohio and went to Cedar Point , a ginormous amusement park (one of the top five of the world's top-rated thrill parks rated by the Travel Channel). It was AWESOME!!! I loved watching Paiton ride the rides. I think her favorite were the cars with horns, and the carousal. She loved riding the horses that went up and down. She picked a horse one time that was stationary, and that didn't last very long. It was an exhausting day. We woke up around 7:30AM and didn't leave the park until 11:00PM. Then we sat in traffic for another hour and a half, just in time to make the 3 hour trip back home. Oh yeah did I mention I had to teach a relief society lesson the next morning. But I was prepared, because I had my lesson prepared from the week before. I am CRAZY, and had it in my head I was supposed to teach last week, but later realized my error. It worked out OK, so no harm done.

Anyway, we finally made it home around 4:30AM. We woke up around 9:30AM and ran around the house in a panic trying to be ready to leave the house by 10:30AM so we could be on time for church at 11:00AM. It didn't work, we were late. I did make it in time to teach though and I think...that it went okay.

All that and she is still happy as can be. I am glad kids are resilient!!

Paiton is the best!!

I never thought I would want to start my own blog, but I am caving into peer pressure. What ya gonna do?
Paiton is growing into the coolest little girl in the whole wide world. (I know every mom thinks their kid is the best, but mine really is) She is chuck full of energy, and has a thirst for knowledge. She loves having books read to her, that is about the only time she will sit still unless she is sleeping. I love reading books that have funny words in them, or I read something really fast just to have her try to copy what I have said. It really is quite funny!
Chris taught Paiton to do some magic tricks, but my favorite part of the whole thing is when she says "abadaba"(abracadabra), and "tada".
She has also started potty training herself. I LOVE IT!!! I bought a Little potty for her and she loves using it. She will set it up all by herself, and then yell to Chris or I "book". The bathroom is where we do some of our best reading. She could sit there all day and be great as long as we are reading her books.