Clearwater, Florida

We went to Florida a few weeks ago and had an amazing time.  We stayed in Clearwater which is 30 minutes from Tampa on the west side.  The beaches here are so warm and the people are so friendly.  We loved it.  Our week here went by way too fast.

Our flight there was a red-eye.  Payton slept the from 10pm on which was awesome.  

Cooper did not. But at least he wasn't screaming so no complaining here.  He slept a few hours in Ty's arms.  Great husband award or what?

Tyler's brother's family live out in Florida so they stayed with us part of the week.  It was so fun to have all the cousins together.  That doesn't happen very often.

Kristin and I had matching strollers and carseat covers and we didn't even mean to.  Great minds think alike.

These cuties loved getting buried

and then burying Uncle Brandon

They have a trolley that you can ride all down the beachfront.  The kids loved it....well except Cooper

He was happy by the end though

The plane ride home was during the day and was much better...

Such a fun trip.  I miss it already.

Top 5 - September 2015

Payton Millie

3 Years 3 Months

1 - Payton started preschool this month and she absolutely LOVES it.  She gets so excited on the days she gets to go and talks non-stop about it.  The very first day she came home and told me that Miss Connie taught her how to raise her hand when she wants to talk.  I have been trying to teach her how to not interrupt for months now and bless Miss Connie's heart for teaching her in one day.  She now raises her hand all the time when Tyler and I are talking and she wants to interrupt.  It is so cute.

2 - She just learned how to spell her name and she continually tells me that she wants to spell her name with two P's.  She tells me that her name is spelt P-P-A-Y-T-O-N.  

3 - She loves to dance.  Particularly "ballerina dancing".  She puts on her tutu and has me put on ballerina music and she starts twirling and turning and skipping.  She actually is quite graceful about it.  It is probably my favorite thing to watch her do lately.

4 - She is the sweetest girl and tries really hard to be friends with everyone.  I was watching her interact with a girl she had just met (without her seeing me) and the girl was telling her that she didn't have a mom or a brother after Payton had told her that she did.  The girl then began to yell at her that she didn't have a mom.  She was quite rude and the mom in me wanted to go in and deal with it myself but I just sat back and watched.  Payton folded her arms and scowled and walked away.  Later that day she was telling me about this situation that I actually already knew about and she told me that she made a bad choice and was mean to the girl.  She thought that scowling and walking away was mean.  Bless her sweet heart.  I love that girl.

5 - She is so inquisitive.  I swear she asks "Why?" fifty times a day.  I realized the past few weeks that  explaining the reasons behind everyday things in life is quite difficult.  She is putting my knowledge to the test.  I was showing her all the different colors in the leaves and ended up giving her a complete rundown on all the seasons and what happens in each season.  She loves to learn.

Cooper Seth

5 Months

1 - This boy is always happy.  He is very relaxed and easy going.  I feel really lucky having him as my second baby because Payton has been needing a lot of attention lately and he doesn't seem to mind.

2 - He decided to stop sleeping well again and consistently wakes up 2-4 times a night.  Especially the last few weeks since I'm pretty sure he hit his 6 month growth spurt a little early.

3 - I started to feed him solids and he HATES anything that isn't milk.  I've tried rice cereal, bananas (who doesn't like bananas), butternut squash, apples and carrots and he spits everything out.  I hope he starts eating solids soon.  We'll see...

4 - He discovered how to make the zerber sound (is that what it's called?) and he does it ALL THE TIME.  Payton thinks it's hilarious.

5 - He is a tummy sleeper.  No matter what I do he always ends up on his stomach.  He sleeps so much longer during the day and at night since we discovered this.

Manti Getaway

Oh Manti.  There is something about going to a small town and disconnecting from the hustle and bustle of life in a city.  We had so much fun.  Tyler's mom got this cute little cabin in Stirling close by the Palisade's Reservoir.  We went out on the lake, climbed trees, played countless games of three flies up, golfed a round of 9 holes, walked the Manti temple grounds, went hiking, and so much more.  It was a great way to spend our Labor Day Weekend. 

Wrapping Up Our Summer

We have had such a fun summer.  I am really sad that is already September.  My little P starts preschool this week.  So weird.  I am really excited for her because she is going to absolutely LOVE it.  She loves being around people and loves to learn new things.

Here are some of the fun things we have done the past month.

 Silver Lake up by Brighton

Play dates with friends

Fishing Trip at Strawberry

We caught crawdads

 Bike riding

Carnivals

Top 5 - August 2015

Payton Millie

3 Years 2 Months

1- This girl finally got over her fear of water.  Usually I try to be right by her and help her in and distract her from her fears, but lately I've taken a stand off approach and that seemed to do it.  I should have known because she only likes doing things if they are her idea.  

2 - She is starting to understand the concept of time now.  She always asks me "Can I do it now or in 5 minutes or in 20 minutes?"  Apparently those are the only increments of time she knows though.  The other day I told her that we could play with play dough for 10 more minutes and she immediately said "No mom, how about for 5 minutes?"  For some reason it always has to be 5 minutes.

3 - Payton starts preschool at the end of this month and she couldn't be more EXCITED.  She has this obsession with school buses and she always asks me if she can ride one.  A year ago before preschool was even talked about, I told her that she gets to ride one when she is 5 and goes to school.  Last month when I told her that she gets to start school soon she said, "No mom I don't get to go to school until I'm 5.  I'm only 3 mom."  I stand corrected.  This girl remember EVERY LITTLE DETAIL.

4 - She is the most thoughtful, caring person.  She is always gravely concerned when anyone is injured or hurt.  Not only that but one morning when I woke up I noticed that she had gone to the bathroom all by herself and forgot to flush (which she never does).  I went in her room and she was wide awake playing with some toys on her bed.  I asked her when she went to the bathroom and she said "I went this morning when I woke up all by myself.  And mom I didn't flush so that you wouldn't wake up!"  Are you serious?!? How did I get this lucky?  She is seriously so sweet and considerate.   

5 - Just this past month she has developed a love for dancing.  Especially her "ballerina dancing".  She puts on a big tutu and asks me to turn on ballerina music and she will dance all day long.  She is actually very graceful and it is my favorite thing to watch.  

Cooper Seth

4 Months

1 - Cooper officially mastered rolling over.  He can roll over both ways and he sure does it quick.  

2 - The day he mastered rolling over was also the glorious night that he slept through the entire night. Not only that but it has been a week now of continuous sleep that I thought would never come. It is GLORIOUS.

3 - He is not conservative with giving out smiles, but it is really hard to get him to laugh.  I have been able to do it twice now in the past month and it was HARD.  But it was so worth the effort.  His laugh is so adorable.

4 - This kid LOVES his feet.  He loves to grab his feet.  But he especially loves to suck on his feet.  If he is on his back, those feet are in his mouth.

5 - He doesn't cry a lot, but if I try to feed him when he isn't hungry it is the end of the world.  Sometimes he will go 4-5 hours without eating so I try to feed him thinking he must be hungry, but he will not eat unless he is ready.  

Tyler's 30th

Tyler turned 30 this year.  His birthday falls two days after our anniversary and most years it gets blended into our anniversary celebration.  This year I made sure to go all out just for his birthday.  Sundance just built a 2 mile zip line at their ski resort so I surprised Tyler with that.  It was so much fun.

This is the very top of the resort where the first of 4 ziplines started.  It seriously was so beautiful and such a rush.  I highly recommend doing this.

We went out to Tsunami to celebrate and surprised Ty with an apple watch.  He had no idea I was getting it for him and he was so excited.  So was Payton.