Photographer Peyton

All of these pictures were taken when Peyton had my camera and nobody really thought he knew what he was doing, so they played along and cheezed it up for the camera. You better watch out when Peyton has a camera.....you might be next;) I sure hope nobody gets mad at these pictures....what is the saying? Dance like nobody's watching-smile like you aren't really getting your picture taken. (ok so I made the last part up, it is a good one;)

The Funnies!

IS THAT BOY A GIRL?

So Peyton and I were at Lowes in April before we left to come to Alaska. We were waiting in line and the kid working was African American and had both ears pierced with huge diamond studs.......Peyton was just staring at him and I was starting to get nervous of what was going to say. Well just before our turn he says to me "Mom, is that boy a GIRL?" I was dying....I said trying to be very quiet "nope that boy is a boy". "Well why is that boy wearing earrings?" I said "well some boys just like to." Talk about wanting to crawl into a hole, by this time the poor kid was listening to everything.....luckily kind of laughing about it.

BIG BAD WOLF!

We were in the store next door the other day and Peyton talked me into giving him a quarter for the candy machine, well they about all fell out all over the floor so the lady working gave him a little bag for his candy. He thought that was pretty cool and was swinging it around as we were walking around. Then this guy passed us......Yeah had gray hair and really long gray eyebrows, and a mustache, well Peyton thought he had a "mean" look on his face and he said "Mom that big bad wolf wanted to take my candy away!" I was dying.....the guy kind of turned around and looked at us. I don't know if he heard him or not! But after we left Katy and I had a good laugh about the big bad wolf. Peyton was actually kind of right he did look a little big bad wolfish!

There is a good and a bad thing about kids growing up and gaining their independence.......they so want to do everything on their own and prove to you they can do it. The down side is that they don't want any help from you and get very frustrated say when they can't do up their own pants. I love that Peyton wants to do things on his own.....even though it seems like it can soooo long. The other day he insisted on getting himself dressed. So with both legs in one side of his undies, and his shirt and pants on backwards here he is like nothing at all is wrong!!

I have been trying to explain to Peyton how important it is for him to listen to his body when he needs to use the rest-room, instead of waiting until the last minute and having an accident. So he said back to me "mom what does my bum say?" I said "your body tries to tell you when it is time to go potty". "My bum talks?" he says. So a few days later I see him dancing around obviously he needs to pee. I said "Peyton your body is trying to tell you it needs to go potty". And as he was running to the bathroom with his head turned looking at his bottom I heard him saying "o.k. bum I am coming I am coming".

What do you want to be when you grow up?
This is what Peyton asked me the other day. I thought about it for a second and said "a famous singer (my childhood dream). "I don't think you are going to be a famous singer mom, how about a princess?" Works for me!

I wanted to make a post that will help me remember all of the funny things that Peyton (and some day Addy) says and does. If you can think of anything that I have left off please remind me! I will be adding to this post as they come along so check it every once in a while.

BUSTED!

After about 3 (or was it 10) attempts to put Peyton down for a nap he finally gave up (or so I thought). I went down stairs to do some office work and had to make a few phone calls. Well after being on hold for what felt like forever I finally got a real live person, miracles do happen. About 3 minutes into our conversation I hear little feet running around over my head and down the stairs he comes. "Good Morning"(what he says no matter what time of day it is:). "No Peyton you didn't nap yet, go back upstairs and go to BED", he just looked at me and with this little grin said "ok mom". Little turkey knew that I couldn't make him nap right now. A few minutes later I hear the back door slam shut....(he is so busted when I get off this phone) was running through my head. When I finally got off the phone I went upstairs all set to give him a good scolding....well I looked out the door and he was chasing Stella with his shovel, with one cowboy boot and one flip-flop with his sock on. Well the one with the flip-flop was barely staying on so he was running really funny to keep it on. How could I be mad? I just started laughing and grabbed my camera.


Just RELAX mom!

One of Peyton's favorite things to do is to "help me with the dishes". Even if there are no dirty dishes he loves to get a bunch of water and wash my clean ones. It usually involves about a half a bottle of dish soap, and an inch of water over everything. One day I left him "doing dishes" by himself for a little too long and came in and said something like "oh mercy look at this mess Peyton, there is water all over the place." He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed and said "just RELAX mom, just calm down". Out of the mouths of babes......that was the first time he had told me that, but have to say it was pretty good advice.

I have a Button?

The other day Peyton and I were working out of a preschool book my mother-in-law gave me. We were looking at a group of things that go together, the first object was a needle and Peyton had to tell me what went with it a tree or a spool of thread. Well this whole needle and thread idea was new to Peyton so I was trying to explain to him the concept of sewing. I said see this button on your shirt? Someone took a needle and thread and put it on there. He just got this gleam in his eyes and said "I have a button?" I said "yeah right there see?" "Well can I push my button like Buzz Lightyear?" It was so hilarious, he was very disappointed to find out that his button didn't really do much. I catch him by himself a lot lately talking into his arm like Buzz Lightyear. On our way home the other night I saw heard him say to his arm "Dad this is Buzz Lightyear we are on our way cracks me up!

Happy Halloween!

I'm a SUPER HERO!!!!
GRRRRRRRRR!
Batman and the Little Leopards


Peyton had a Halloween Party at preschool. In the note they sent home it said no masks. So I had to tuck his mask into his hood.....which he wasn't very happy about. After he was in his room for about 5 minutes he come out sporting these glasses (which I didn't even know he had) and he just thought he was sooooo cool! We saw his preschool teachers when we went to "Trunk or Treat" (where a bunch of people get together in a parking lot to trick-or-treat). His teacher started walking up to me and said "I just have to tell you"......(I was just thinking to myself please don't tell me that Peyton did something terrible) she said "I could just steal him, he came in the door and jumped into a pose with his arms out and said 'I'm a SUPER HERO'". Then she said, "if you could clone a kid, Peyton is one they should do". WHEW! (so glad it was something good!)

Notice the addition in our family picture......his name is Frankie. Tim came home with him from Sams Club. He talks to you when you walk by. He has only made me jump about 20 times now. When he first came home Tim put him on the dining room table, and I am not kidding that every time I walked by, that little green head freaked me out! I never got used to him. Poor Tina was staying with us last weekend. He showed up down in her bedroom a couple of times and in her bathroom. Who would do something like that?? I tried to get Tim back for all of his meanness by putting him on a stool in the shower with a towel over the door. He said it didn't work but he wouldn't tell me other wise anyway.

First day of Pre School!

Yeah it was so weird to send Peyton somewhere and leave him all alone without my constant supervision. I have heard people say that it is hard to let go, but didn't understand it until now. I was so nervous the whole time. I mean he has been away from me plenty, with grandparents, aunties, uncles, and even at church. But this was different, he didn't know his teachers or any of the other kids. What if he needed something and they couldn't help him right away? Peyton was pretty used to being the center of attention, how would he react to the teachers having 20 other kids to look after. It was actually quite emotional for me, I didn't cry but I felt a lot of different feelings. It is hard to trust that someone else is going to look after the best interest of your child when you aren't there. Then hope that he adjusts well, doesn't cause interruptions, and gets along with the other kids. It was a lot to take in at once.......but we made it. The first few weeks were kind of tough, we had a few days that he didn't really want to go, one day I went to get him out of his seat and he grabbed on to me and wouldn't let go and started crying....the teacher told me to park the van and come in for a few minutes. So we went in and they tried to distract him with some toys, nothing seemed to work and he kept getting more and more worked up. I was afraid that he was going to cause the other kids to get upset so I asked the teachers if it was ok if I took him home for a few minutes and brought him back. They agreed. Tim was still home that day, he was just about to leave to paint my sister Tracy's house. I called him on my way home and told him what was going on......."I'll take care of it" was all he said. As soon as I pulled in the driveway Tim got Peyton and took him back. I was very curious to see who was going to win this battle. About 10 minutes later Tim came back alone, very impressive. He said when they got back there they were about to say "The Pledge of Allegiance". Tim was in all of his paint clothes, with his hat on (with major bed head hair) and he said that he had to take it off. He pulled his hat off and said "what does my hair look like", I was rolling on the floor, his hair was so wild. I so wish I had a picture of that! But after Tim sat there with him for a minute he just finally looked at Tim and said "I'm all better now, you can go back to work" and that was that.

Another cute story his teacher told me was about the first day. She said they were trying to explain to all of the kids that everyday they would stand and say "The Pledge of Allegiance", and when the finally had all 20 of the kids standing with their hands on their hearts and had them all under control......Peyton shouted "All Aboard"!! (don't ask me where he got that) She said everyone just started laughing.

Oooo-tah!

This is our lot!
This is the house we are renting.

That is how Peyton says Utah, it is so cute I say it that way now too. I have to say I was very glad to be done with Alaska this year. We are really liking it here (at least I am, I hope Tim is too). We bought a lot just down the street from this house that we are renting and are going to try to start building. We have been working on finding the right plans for over a month now. It is so hard when you don't really have any limitations. I like someone to just say you can do A or B. Not "we can really do anything you want"! But I just picked up our house plans today and hopefully if everything goes just right we will be able to start here in a month or so. Hopefully the Utah weather cooperates with us. I love the lot we got, it is in a cul-de-sac and the back yard backs up to a field like the house we are in right now.

The Boys!

Uncle Tony
Uncle Taylor
Uncle Tim
My beautiful sister-in-law Katy
Uncle Tim and Peyton playing "following the leader" from Peter Pan

Well before I move on from Alaska 2007, I wanted to thank my brothers (and sister-in-law). My kids are lucky to have so many people around them that love them and want to spend their time with them. I know that Tony and Taylor (my two baby brothers) wouldn't come out and admit it, but deep down they secretly loved when I would ask one of them to hold Addison when I was busy with something. They were really good about helping me out with the kids this summer.

Mama "K"

I love this picture, she stood out on the back deck the entire ride home and had the biggest perma-grin I have ever seen!

The next person to come to our rescue this summer was Tim's mom (Ma K). She was on the last shift and she had the dreaded job of helping us clean up, pack up and get ready to shut down. That is now officially dubbed my least favorite part of Alaska......I seriously can't even say how much I hate it. Anyways Alanna is sooo good at getting me organized, and helping me keep my spirits up about the situation. I felt so bad because we left her babysitting way too much. I swear one of these times we will actually get her out to see how beautiful Alaska is! Somehow in the middle of all the mayhem we did manage to get her out fishing a few times. The last time she was in Alaska we didn't get her out fishing for halibut. So she got her first experience deep-sea fishing with her three-month old granddaughter....thank goodness the water was flat that day!!

July in Alaska

My parents were so excited to meet our little sweetie pie, in this picture dad was telling Addison what a big double chin she has........wonder where that came from;) I love you dad!
I know, those of you who don't know who this is.....it is my mom, not my sister!
This was one of our really good catches this summer, I didn't have my camera that same day on the second trip.....but the fish were even bigger!

This is Tim's Salmon Shark......we only see about one a summer. Pretty cool!

For those of you who aren't familiar with a July in Alaska one word will probably sum it up.......ciaos! Last year when my brother Tim and Katy called to tell us that they were going to have a baby, of course I was totally pumped for them but was thinking "oh wow we are in so much trouble next summer without Katy to help us". Well about two weeks later I wasn't feeling well myself and discovered that hmmmmm I was prego too. The first call I made was to my parents to tell them the news, and to make them swear that they would come up in July to help us, now I was totally freaking out. I did not know how the heck we were going to make it through. After Katy's mom left my mom arrived a couple of days later, then a week or so after that my dad showed up......whew, once they were there I felt so much better about life. My mom had our office whipped into shape in no time. July is always our busiest month, we are pretty much booked solid with all three boats having two trips a day (6-8 hours each trip). The only way we get a day off is if the wind is blowing enough that the boats can't get out, which didn't happen to much this year. I tell you all of this because with having that many trips you can imagine all of the fish that comes into our office. That is where Dad comes in, and let me tell you that guy is a fish cuttin machine! I know that my parents probably worked more this year than they wanted to, but we couldn't have done it without them. Thanks!!!

Cousins, Cousins and more Cousins;-)

This was in August when Tina and Ava came up to visit, it was the first time that we had all three of them together......we took sooooo many pictures!

I love this picture, Peyton wanted a picture with all of the girls, they all started crying and he thought they were tickling him. I love the look on his face.

Addison is so lucky to have two girl cousins so close in age. Isabel is 3 weeks older and Ava is 3 weeks younger. We were lucky to be able to spend this summer with Isabel. Katy and I had so much fun being moms together in the same house (although with 11 people there it was a little crazy at times). But I thought it was actually a good experience to have someone to talk to about how they were eating, sleeping, pooping, and all of that stuff you aren't really sure if your baby is doing right. Katy's mom Karla was up helping us in June, she was my surrogate mom when I got home from the hospital and had to take care of both Katy and I. She was so good to us up there, I don't think I could ever repay her. She had to do just about every early morning check-in for us....which is very dreaded when it is 4:00 a.m.!! Then she would come home and try to make everyone dinner, and would usually stay up late making lunches for all of the guys for the next day, she was truly amazing, and I never heard her complain once. We are definitely so thankful to her for helping us up there!

Now that we are back in Utah we are loving being so close to Tina and Ava. Addison and Ava are just getting to the point where they are interested in each other and when you lay them down together they get really excited and just want to grab at each other. I can't wait for Thanksgiving to get them all together again.

California

Addisons first taste of ice cream.
Just like her mommy......she loved it!

Well this is my first go at blogging.......we'll see what happens. I was inspired to do this by my brother and sister-in law that have an awesome bolg. I don't know if I can keep up with them. But I would love to do this for friends and family that we don't get to see everyday. Also so that I don't have to send out huge picture emails anymore. We recently made a trip out to California to see Tims parents, it was her first time meeting Grandpa Kelly. She doesn't know it yet but he is going to get her in alot of trouble:)

It was a long drive but we sure had a good time. We had a chance to go to Marine World with Tims brother Kevin and his daugher Grace. They got to ride and elephant, see a whale and feed some birds. The guys also took Grace and Peyton fishing at a trout farm. Petyon loved it. I think Grace liked it but wasn't so sure about all of the mud....that girl definetly doesn't like to get dirty!

Addison Arrives!

Peyton meets his baby sister for the first time!

As much as I absolutely hate being pregnant and the whole birth process. I absolutely love new babies, the way they smell and the way their chin shakes when they cry. The whole experience is such a miracle.....and that just makes me want more and more . The experience having Addison was completely different than with Peyton. Let me tell you that the girl sitting on that bed had NO idea what she was getting into! Having been through both I think next time I will opt for the experience we had with Peyton (which was a c-section). Addison was born on May 17th, her great-great grandmother Olive Mills Putnam's B-day, and weighed 6lbs 8oz. She had dark hair and was absolutely beautiful. The day I had her my brother Tim was heading up to Anchorage to get his wife Katy and their 3 week old baby girl Isabel and Katy's mom from the airport. Luckily he agreed to take Peyton with him. They stopped at the hospital about an hour after she was born. Peyton didn't know what to think. He has adjusted pretty well, he had a few moments when he wished she would "just go back in my belly", oh and I don't want to forget one day when he was frustrated because I was feeding her and he really wanted me to get him something......he told me he wanted her to "suck down the drain" which was pretty bad in his world. He had this thing for so long that when he was in the bath tub and I would let the water out he would start screaming in fear that he and all of his toys were going to suck down the drain with the water. So for the longest time I had to first get him and all of his toys out of the tub before letting the water out. So for him to say that about her was really pretty mean. But after talking to him and explaining that she is a part of our family now and is going to be with us forever and ever, he has come to terms with the idea. He has actually been really good with her, he is very gentle with her and loves to talk to her and make her laugh.