Other fun stuff.

I had my first paying cake pop gig!  My friend Jackie asked me to make some ASU and Olympic inspired ones.  I wanted to do a Sparky head or something super neat, but couldn't find anything on the internet.  I can copy anything, but it's hard for me to create it from scratch.  So I had to revert to simple ones.  Honestly, I wasn't too proud of these, but she loved them and said everyone else did too.  I'll take it!  

Pitchforks and Maroon & "Gold" ASU (the "gold" was peanut butter flavored - yum!)

With the Olympic ones.

My dad bought Peyton a classic red wagon and brought it over last week.  They put it together and that was half the fun for Peyton.  He enjoys filling it up with water, which is perfect for Ginger, who enjoys drinking out of it.  :)

We had a nice storm roll through a few weeks ago.  It lasted all of but a few hours.  Here's Steve and Peyton enjoying the aftermath.

Here's what happens when you hand a toddler a bag of goldfish... they all end up outside the bag.  I guess we're not out of the snack cup stage yet!

Here's a typical meal with Peyton & doggie -- Ginger sits patiently waiting for something to drop or for Peyton to deliberately hand something to her.  I get mad and yell at them both.  Rinse & repeat.  :)  This time it was actually funny because she couldn't reach the yogurt on the tip of her nose.  HA!

My mom and I took Peyton to Julie's last concert of the school year.  She did great and they sounded fantastic!!

Here's a video of us waiting for it to start.  Peyton was so cute looking for Julie!

This video was actually on our way home from Prescott.  Peyton took two toys, one was a bus.  He was obsessed with this bus all weekend.  I told him before we left to pick a few toys to take, and he choose a bus and a truck.  Well he knew that these were his only two toys and he was glued to them.  It was like he knew they were the special toys he picked out and he didn't need anything else the whole weekend.  This video cracks me up because he's in some sort of trance or something and I LOVE the way he's saying "bus" and "yes."  =)

Julie asks me to send her videos of Peyton once in awhile, so I usually end up taking one since I don't have any to send.  Here's one that I took for her:

Happy 95th Birthday, Grandma Cortney!

My Grandma Cortney turned 93 (WHOOPS!  It was actually NINETY-FIVE!) 95 years old on Friday!  Ninety-Five!  Could you imagine taking your life (if you're my age) and living it two more times and then some?  Amazing, and I do hope that's me!

We've gone to Denver to "surprise" her for as many years as I can remember.  However, this year we put a stop to it since she's at the point to where she can't really enjoy everyone all at once - it's too much for her.  So we decided that instead, we're gonna make separate trips to see her throughout the year.  So my dad and I are gonna take Peyton to Denver in June sometime for the day.  It'll be a long day, but soooooooooo worth it.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!  xoxo

This Weekend.

This weekend was one of those where you don't have much planned then it suddenly fills up quickly.  Love those!

Friday afternoon, my friend Genny came over and brought In-N-Out for lunch.  Ever since we moved, I find myself wanting that and Chick-fil-A all.the.time.  We used to have those everywhere near us in Gilbert and now that we're in the city, it's a drive to either of those places.  So that was a treat!  After Peyton went down for his nap, we sat on the couch for 2.5 hours and talked.  If you didn't already know, Genny's pregnant!!!!  She's 13 weeks and I am sooooo happy for her and Ryan!!  She's gonna be a stay-at-home-mom, and I couldn't be any happier about all of this.  She's due November 22nd.  We had lots of fun stuff to talk about.  It's weird being the mom giving advice to the mom-to-be.  :) 

Saturday, Steve went golfing with his dad and brother while Peyton & I headed over to my friend Melanie's to see her new place.  She moved into a beautiful condo on 44th St & Thomas, which is awesome because it's about a 5 min or less drive from my house.  Score!

That evening we went to my friend Amanda's house for a BBQ.  It was so fun to hang out with friends and see Peyton play with the boys.  Peyton played non stop with the dogs, then the boys, then outside on the play set, then he discovered JJ's room and that meant we had to pry him away from all the fun at 10pm and finally head home.  It was a great night!

Sunday afternoon was my friend Lauren's baby shower.  I've known her since grade school, along with my other friend Melissa who's in the picture.  Melissa is also pregnant, she's around 20 weeks and Lauren's around 35 weeks.  Since we're on the topic, I have two other friends who are also pregnant, Siobhan and Mandy, they're both around 20 weeks!  Yes, everyone is pregnant right now!!!  :)  Anyway, Lauren's baby shower was beautiful.  I had a great time.

That evening, I came home and was playing outside with Peyton when suddenly the sky got all weird (I know, I know.  I wasn't aware that a solar eclipse was supposed to happen.)  It was pretty cool to be ignorant about this, because trying to figure it out was a trip.  Steve was inside & I didn't bother telling him what was going on since I figured it was a cloud cover that I couldn't see.  (lol).  Still, I was super confused that one minute I was cleaning our trash can and the next I couldn't even see the inside of it hardly.  Then my dad texted me, saying to check out the solar eclipse!  Ahhhh!  Mystery solved!!!  And I vaguely remember hearing this was gonna happen.

So Steve came out and we did the pinhole in a paper thing that he remembered learning about in school.  Another thing that I vaguely remember learning about.  I can't wait until Peyton's old enough to get excited about these things!  (wait, yes I can, because that means he'll be a big boy and I don't want that to happen too soon).

Hope you all had a fun weekend too!

Mother's Day!

It's hard to believe this was my third Mother's Day already!

We woke up in our hotel in Prescott and had a nice continental breakfast.  We got dressed and headed over to Laurie's good friend Debbie's house for a delicious brunch with the rest of the family.

We attempted some pictures but Peyton was EXHAUSTED from hardly any nap the day before and a 7 1/2 hour night of sleep.  So, that didn't go so well.  And that was our cue to get home!  He slept the whole way home and then we had a very nice evening and a Barro's dinner.... :)

Real quick, the cutest thing in the entire world happened the night in our hotel after Laurie's party -- we decided to let Peyton sleep between us because we didn't wanna hear him bawl in his pack n play.  So we turn the lights off and he's SO excited and happy.  It's pitch black and he can't see a thing.  But he wants to make sure we're still there.  So he starts feeling for my face with his face and then once his little nose touches my face, he gives eskimo kisses.  Then he goes to Steve and does the same thing.  He goes back and forth actually kissing our faces now for about 5 minutes and I was the happiest mom in the world - it was SO SWEET!  We were just laying in bed silent during this whole thing.

Then Steve had enough and rolled over (haha) so Peyton started feeling for me to make sure I'm still there again.  Eventually he starts getting rough then BAM!  He hits me in the face.  I told him to lay down and go to sleep.  So he lays down, then sits up and BAM!  Hits me in the face again.  I realized this was no mistake and so I picked him up and put him in the pack n play, prepared for some major tears.  Instead, I hear nothing but him lay down and get comfy, then he's OUT.  OMG!  I think all he was waiting for was to get in the pack n play!  I was so relieved and so happy that we got some time in the bed together without having to actually sleep with him in it.  It was a great start to my Mother's Day.  :)

Leaving the hotel, getting in a sweet ride.

Learning how to blow the train whistle. 

My little angel.    

Family picture =)

Happy Mother's Day!

I also want to give a shout out to the best mom in the world - MINE!  And another shout out to the worlds best mother-in-law, MINE AGAIN!!  =)  I love you both!!! 

Here's a beautiful quote that reminds me of my mom:

"Your arms were always open when I needed a hug.  Your heart understood when I needed a friend.  Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson.  Your strength and love has guided me and gave me wings to fly."

-Sarah Malin 

Happy 40th Laurie!!

My oldest sister Laurie turned 40 on May 13th!  So, that called for a big celebration!

When we asked what type of party she wanted to have, she said she wanted a nice little party with her family and closest friends.  So, that's what we did!

Saturday we drove up to Prescott and headed straight to the Gurley Street Grill right by the famous Square.  We got the place decorated and had a nice evening with friends and family.  She had a great time.  :)

Saturday actually happened to be my moms birthday and Sunday was Laurie's real 40th birthday, along with Mother's Day - it was a big weekend!

Colors!

Peyton is really starting to learn his colors.  He has red, yellow, green, and blue down perfect and is 95% there with pink and gray as well.  He's picking up black and purple very fast too.  

If I point to an object he's never seen, he'll tell me the color.  When we're driving in the car, he'll start saying, "blue, yellow, green, red..." Actually, anywhere we're at, he'll start pointing out the colors that he sees!   

He's also starting to "read."  I taught him a while ago what letters stand for (like "D" is for Dada) and I also taught him what the letters sound like (like "S" is "ssssss") and of course, I taught him the name of the letters (like "A" is "A" :)). 

So when he "reads", we hear a combo of these things.  We were at the grocery store the other day when suddenly Peyton starts saying in a very monotone voice (his reading/ thinking voice), "Sssss... O... O.... Dada..." and I look up only to find he was reading "Seafood" on the wall!  

I'll ask him to read me a book and he'll go through the letters in the title, "O...P...P...O...Ssss...I..." and the rest of the word is forgotten about if he doesn't know it.  (the book was called Opposites!)  It's so cute and of course we think he's very smart!  :)

I'll have to get a video of him reading, but here's a few of him saying his colors!

Catch-up.

Here's what we've been up to!

Playing games on daddy's iPad (non-stop)

Notice the stickers - his new favorite thing to do

Playing in the backyard

Library class (he's in yellow)

Keely's birthday party 

Zoo with Grace

Grandma Wednesday's 

I LOVE when he plays with his trains/cars/anything 

on wheels, like this

 Splash pad

Sprinkler in the backyard 

Hose in the backyard - can you tell its HOT here?!

(don't mind the oversized Choo Choo I'm 2 shirt, which 

Steve suggests we add a "1" to it & he can wear it at

his 21st birthday, HA!)

 Big car line-up

There was a city worker on a huge truck in one of those carts that go way up in the air so they can reach tall trees.  Well, this was in our alley the other week.  They were trimming our tree that hung into the alley.  The "guy" in the cart was basically in our yard and Peyton thought the whole thing was pretty neat.  My mom was over and told Peyton to look at the guy trimming our tree.  Ever since then, he's been pointing outside and says, "GUY".

Here's Peyton at library class on Monday.  He was too cute the whole time!

Peyton loves to watch either Thomas and Friends or The Little Engine That Could (modern version.)  He now sings the Thomas song to let me know he wants to watch that, or he'll sing, "choo choooooo" the way it's sung in The Little Engine That Could.  If I put one on and he wants to watch the other, he'll let me know by some very aggressive singing.  :)