January 2015

Playing with her train set she got for Christmas.

LOVING her hair...just took her braids out :)

Churo from Costco

Amber had to go to the dentist so I watched her kids for her.

Payton loved having Brooke, Tatum, and Brandon over.

Love spending time outside when the weather is nice.

 Love that blond streak in her hair...it's curly too.

Never too young to put her to work ;)

All pretty for church.

Had a blast helping daddy wash his truck.

I think she had more fun playing with the soapy bubbles in the water.

We planted this tree in the middle of the backyard about a year ago.

It's fun watching these two grow together.

Bear Branch Park (again)

Grammy and Poppy got Pay this cute little swing set for Christmas.

She loves helping daddy!

Eating cereal is her new favorite.

Nick with all the (current) grand kids. Haha!

At the park Payton didn't want to play on the playground, she just wanted to wear the other kids' helmets.

Love these two more than anything!!

And I love how much they love each other.

Mommy and Pay are on our way to Arizona again!

First stop...In-N-Out!

Fun in Grandma Susie's backyard with cousins.

Dress up!

Silly selfies with mommy!

My little copy-cat!

December 2014

Payton is really starting to love Nursery.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!!!

Fun at Bear Branch park.

We went out to dinner and Pay would rather play with her food than eat it ;)

Fun at Bass Pro Shop!

What happens when momma leaves her alone for too long?? 

She plays with ALLLLLL the toys.

Grammy and Poppy got Payton a sand table for her birthday.

It's her new favorite!

McDonald's

Learning to cut her food.

Grammy and her girls.

23 weeks pregnant with Beck! We recently found out we're having a boy :)

The Christmas that Princess Pay was obsessed with Presents

Seriously people, Payton was absolutely obsessed with presents.

Having her birthday so recently did not help. In fact, I don't think it would have been an issue had she NOT just had her birthday and become completely infatuated with the whole unwrapping of presents and getting fun/new gifts.

Nonetheless, she loved 'em and Nick and I learned to never say the P word in front of her...or else a huge tantrum with screaming of the word  PRESENTS would ensue by a little tiny terrorist named Payton.

Christmas this year really was magical though! I've come to realize that I have so much more joy at Christmas when I get to experience it through Pay's eyes.  Even though she experienced it last year (and also technically the year before), she didn't remember so everything was new and exciting!  The Christmas lights.  The festive music.  The story of baby Jesus. The Christmas tree covered in lights in our living room. Pretty much anything to do with Santa Claus. Snow...even though we don't have it here she'd get excited if she saw it on a show she was watching. She loved everything about Christmas. Therefore, Nick and I loved it.

The hard part about Christmastime for me is that Nick isn't able to use vacation days during the months of November and December, so we can't spend the holidays with my side of the family. At least Nick's family is close by.  We spent Christmas Eve with them.  We ate fajitas and array of Christmas treats.  We attempted to play the White Elephant game, but the moment all the gifts were put out onto the coffee table Payton attacked them.  So we had to quickly begin the game so Pay could help open every single gift. It really was complete and utter chaos but we got through it.

Shortly after the game Santa came! The girls (Payton, Brooke, and Tatum) were totally surprised!  He started to pull out some gifts for the girls and Brooke and Payton walked right up to him. Tatum stayed glued to Shay. When Santa was about to leave I told Pay to give him a hug and she walked right up to him and gave him a big hug. It was adorable! And right after he left Brooke proclaimed, "I know that was Poppy!!!"  We all busted up laughing :)

Pay actually "slept-in" until 7 on Christmas morning. I think I actually woke up before her! Not to mention Payton usually wakes up more around 6. Once we were all out of bed we took Pay into the living room and brought out the play kitchen set from Santa.  She absolutely loved it!  She played with it pretty much all day.  We had a yummy breakfast of waffles with blueberry syrup, fried eggs, and bacon and then played with Pay and her kitchen set until Grammy and Poppy came over.

Once Grammy and Poppy arrived we opened the rest of our gifts. Pay particularly enjoyed the little wooden train set we got her. She also LOOOOOOVED helping to open everyone's gifts :)  Later on when Grammy and Poppy left we started feeling a little cabin fever and went for a walk.  Once it was dark we took a drive to look at Christmas lights.  Payton was in heaven and it was the perfect ending to a wonderful Christmas.

I'm grateful to have such a wonderful husband and a fun little daughter to share Christmas with.  And I'm so grateful for my Savior and that we are able to celebrate His magnificent birth!