Updates

I know I haven't posted in a little over 2 weeks. There just hasn't really been anything overly exciting to post about, but I will update you the last 2 weeks.

Ever since High School I had wanted to go to hair school. It just seemed like it wasn't the right time for me, until the other day.....I talked to Mike and I threw out the idea that if I don't go now I may never get the chance. So we decided that I should go and get it done. I explored a few schools and decided on a Paul Mitchell Partner School. I am soo excited. I am not starting until November 4th because we have many vacations coming up and I don't want to miss any schooling. So there it is! And to top it off I am working towards getting my Loan Officer License. I figure I will always have a back up plan...Medical Billing and Claims, Loan Processing, Loan Originator and Hair! Nice huh?

Mike has just been working and working and working and working :)!! We are getting our debt paid off though so it all works out. He is also doing his online classes through BYU! It is nice that he works at Boeing because they pay 100% of his tuition and books. We are going to soak it up as long as we need to. Other than that Mike has been busy spending time with Payton and just recently installed a hard drive into my old laptop and so he has been busy getting it all set up.

Payton is getting SOOO big! She has been in the terrible 2's far sooner than I hoped for. She is a lot of work and keeps us all on our toes. For example, she LOVES yogurt and has to have some pretty much everyday (several times). She eats it and then uses it as lotion and covers her arms, face, and hair in this stuff and it ends up being a ton of work in the end. She yells NO at me all the time when I ask her to do something, she even walks herself to timeout and will sit there for a little bit. It's kinda funny as she knows she is in trouble but makes things a little easier on me. She has a FULL mouth of teeth and likes to use them. She will find any skin on your body and bite down when she doesn't get her way or use her fingers to pinch you. I have such a nice child. I guess I should talk about the wonderful things she does as well, so everyone doesn't think she is the devil :).

She is probably the most friendly little girl ever. She says "Hi" to everyone and waves. She gives random strangers hugs especially the little boys. She is saying a lot more words to the point we can understand her. She is a great little blessing in our lives and I couldn't ask for anything more. We love her!

We have a lot more to do this week and probably will not post anything until we get back from Hawaii on August 12th. We will be taking a ton of pictures so stay tuned....

Feeding her baby! She does this everyday after she eats!

Her favorite place to be....Outside!

We put her up in bed and when we went and checked on her this is what we find. We laughed for a long time!!!

Austin, TX

So I had the opportunity to go to Austin to check it out for Mike and I to move there. I took Payton along with me and Alyssa was also able to go. The Jones family live there and we had a ton of fun with them. They have been long time family friends and it was good to visit with them and see them again. I also work with Lindsey so it was good to get there and do work (we really didn't do any though) haha! It just so happened that I spent my birthday there. They decided to rent a boat and a jet ski and go out to Lake Travis for a few hours. We all had a blast. It was a ton of fun and the water was so nice! On our last day there we went to downtown so I could see the University. We also saw the Real World Austin House. We also saw some other random things. It was a nice city and enjoyed our time there. Thanks for everything guys!!!!!!

Here was the crew on the boat (minus a few people)

All of us in Lake Travis. It was so pretty!

Just hanging out riding around

Ben and Payton hanging out while in downtown

6th St. in downtown Austin.

I thought this was funny! This was near campus!

MTV's Real World Austin House!

Jetty Island

On Wednesday July 9th we went to Jetty Island with Kalei and her kids, and Erin and her son Tristan. It was a super nice day and it was fun to go, as I haven't been there in years. The kids were able to walk out really far as it was low tide and it was going out further as we were there. They had fun making sand castles and playing in the sand. We also had to get on a little ferry that took us to the island. Payton wasn't so sure about this but it grew on her. We all got fried (except the kids of course). We all didn't think that we would get so burnt. I am actually still feeling the effects on my shoulders. We took a lot of pics so here are just a few.

Kari's Birthday!!!

So today is Kari's birthday and I'm posting instead of her so to let everyone know so you can wish her a great one!!! She's been in Texas since Thursday the 10th and is having a fun time with friends on her birthday today. So I'm sure she'll be posting when she gets home to update everyone on all the exciting events. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETY!!!

Samantha's baptism and Emma's Blessing

On top of being so busy on the 4th we had Samantha's baptism on Saturday. It was neat to see all of the kids so interested. It was a good experience for all of us! We had a lunch over at Jason and Audrey's aunt and uncles and we proceeded to eat MORE food. Mike and I specifically ate crab that was freshly caught in the puget sound the day before. You can't get much better than that! On Sunday we had Emma's blessing. Of course all of the family was there and a ton of cousins and Payton would not be good to save her life. We spent most of the hour taking her out and bringing her back in. She was screaming and hitting and biting. She has a big attitude, and I am lost on how to fix it. We then had another lunch at Jason and Audrey's house. We had tacos and apple pie. Nice mix huh? It was super good! We left a little early so Payton could go take a well needed nap. We pretty much spent the rest of the day relaxing. We hope everyone had a great weekend as well.

4th Of July

Wow this has been a crazy weekend for us. We started the 4th off by going to a ward breakfast at Lowell Park. We were cooked pancakes, ham, eggs and some hot chocolate. Mike had never bought fireworks or even lit them off before so I took him to a firework stand and we bought a few things. He was so excited about even the Smoke Bombs. It was kinda funny. He is my little nerd that has been deprived all his life! We then went over to Jason and Audrey's house (My Brother and My sister in Law) to have a BBQ and watch fireworks. We had SOO much food it was disgusting. It seems like most holidays are filled with eating! Nathan (Audrey's brother) and Mike had a blast lighting off fireworks the entire time. They had some M-80's that shook the house and made all of our ears ring for quite awhile. Payton on the other hand wanted NOTHING to do with the big bangs that she wouldn't even go outside. Mike got a hole in his nice golf shirt and even burnt his finger. I guess that's what he gets for being a first timer right? After all the loud stuff was done, Payton decided to make her appearance and actually held a sparkler. Mike helped her! She had no facial expression and I'm sure she thought it must explode because everything else does. So since it doesn't get dark until like 10:00 pm here, it seemed like we were waiting forever to see the good fireworks. Payton was about to lose it but I sat her on the grass with me as we watched all around us and the show that Nathan and Mike put on for us. She was doing good until a firwork that was in the middle of going off tipped over and part of it flew in Jason and Audrey's garage and almost came right on top of us. Kinda scarey but nobody was hurt except a Golf bag. It was a fun day but very exhausting. Hope everyone had a good 4th.

You can't see the burn on his finger but you can see the white spec on his shirt.

Willis Tucker Park

It was a nice day again and I wanted to try out the new water park that is really like 1 mile from the house. I called up my friend Kalei and her kids to see if they wanted to come. Of course they did and we headed to the park. It took Payton FOREVER to get in! I finally started walking around with her and she jumped right in and started playing with the smaller water things. Here are a few pics of her! She had fun and I hope to go back soon!!