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”.