Derek's 30!!!

Last Thursday was Derek's 30th birthday! He woke up to Peyton calling him an old man! I loved it because I was the instigator in that one of course! He seems to have taken it quite well. It did hit him pretty hard at first that he was no longer in his 20's, but he's adjusting ok. I remember what it felt like to be 18. It still feels like it was yesterday and I thought that people in there 20's were soo much older and more mature. They aren't...  at least not as much as I thought they were..:) I mean I have more life experience and more responsibilities now, but I still feel like I'm 18! Now I'm married to a 30 year old! Crazy! Anyways, back to Derek's birthday! Derek and I have been blessed by having family that gets along so well with each other. Derek's grandparents and mine were very close friends since way back when. Crazy that Derek and I didn't meet each other until I was about 20 years old. Our families have had a friendly tie together since before we were born. Derek and I were the ones to turn that tie into a family tie! Which to me is soo awesome! Having our kids makes it even cooler because our grandparents who have been friends for years share great grand kids now! I guess what I'm trying to explain in such a short few sentences is that whenever Derek and I have events that we invite both his family and mine to it seems like we're all just one family and I'm soo grateful for that...

Thursday night we went to Casa Lupe in Gridley with both our families and it was soo much fun! This is Derek and I with Jason(Derek's brother) and his girlfriend Amanda. They are soo much fun!

My aunt Brenda, my grandma Ramona and Derek's grandma Auda

My brother Brad, Uncle Brian, Aunt Brenda and cousin Rob

My brother-in-law David(Janeane's husband), Jax, and my sister Sarah

My dad and Jax

I'm sad this picture kinda turned out blurry because of the candle, but I love it so I wanted to include it too! It was a lot of fun visiting with everyone. Peyton is so used to seeing our family now that she gets very excited to hang out with all of them and she makes her rounds soaking up all the attention. Jax still gets pretty nervous at first and takes a little while to open up, but once he does he definitely is an entertainer!

Before going to casa lupe we decided to take the kids by Grandpa's shop. My dad let Peyton drive in a few mowers and she loved it! This picture means soo much to me. Having children definitely brings back many fond flashbacks from the past. I spent so much time with my dad at his shop growing up. My earliest memory of being at my dad's shop was when I was in Kindergarten and I would go to work with my dad until school started at noon. Back then his shop was right down the street from the school so he would watch me walk there every day. Now I have a daughter that is only 2 years younger than I was then.

After Casa Lupe that night some of us went to my parents for dessert. When we were getting ready to leave I was asking the kids if they were ready to go home and go to bed. Peyton started whining a "no".. My mom turned to my dad and asked him, "Doesn't it remind you of when the kids were little?" I thought that was kind of a trip because there I was at my dad's shop reliving my childhood through Peyton and then here was my mom reliving her early parenthood through me. One day hopefully I will be reliving my early Parenthood through my children. It kind of makes the phrase, "Carpe Diem"(seize the day) take on a whole new meaning to me. Or "living in the moment" also. One day I will be reminiscing on today wishing I could go back, if only for a second, to cuddle with my babies again. They are already growing so fast and this definitely makes every kiss(butterfly, Eskimo, or regular) soo much more special. I'm not going to take anything for granted because one day I will wake up and it will all be memories.

I'm so grateful for my husband. I'm hoping for a long life ahead with him. He is such a great dad who cares for our children so much and is always considering how everything we do would effect them. He does so much for our family and asks for so little in return. He is the love of my life and I'm excited to see what the next 30 years has in store for us! :)

Fifth disease...

We thought Jax had developed a really bad sunburn when we were in Fort Bragg, but we couldn't figure out how it was that bad. At first he looked like his face had just gotten a really bad spray on tan. Then the next morning when we woke up the right side of his face was swollen so bad he could barely open his eye. At that point we thought he might have been having an allergic reaction, but then I googled sunburns and read that they could cause swelling. I decided to call his doctor anyway. They told me the nurse would call me back, but I ended up having to call again hours later and finally got her. She told me to call back in the morning to schedule an appointment. I was a little upset because their office is usually not so flakey, but I didn't want to wait another day. I felt like a horrible parent. How could I have let him get such an awful sunburn? So I took him to urgent care and the Dr said, "He has fifth disease." Immediately I was freaked out because disease sounds like a long term problem. Then he told me it was kind of like a flu virus that lasts from 3-5 days which explained his fever. They also call it "slap cheek" as well because it causes a red rashy face and swelling. It was soo sad because he looked like a completely different baby, but when you looked into his eyes he was the same. He didn't really seem uncomfortable at all. He was playing like normal and Peyton never even noticed that his face was different. She was clueless. I love how innocent kids are. She played with him and yelled at him for not sharing, never once did she ask me what was wrong with his face. I still can't figure out how he got it. This might sound awful, but I was almost relieved that it was a virus and not a sunburn because the blame didn't completely fall on my shoulders and I didn't feel like such a horrible mother anymore. It got pretty bad with blisters on the right side, but its finally starting to heal. His fever broke and he is almost back to normal. I feel like I'm becoming one of those parents who's always complaining about their kids being sick. This has definitely not been easy. Peyton was literally never sick. Then we had Jax and it seems like our family is picking up every virus you can think of and even viruses that we've never heard of.

Our Vacation!

Derek had vacation this week so we ended up taking the kids camping in Fort Bragg! It was soo much fun! I hadn't been camping in years and I forgot how it felt to sit around a campfire, sleep in a tent and relax out in the wild... It was overcast almost the whole time so all my pictures turned out a little gray.

Derek did most of the work including the cooking. I have to admit I was very skeptical about taking the kids camping, but he was really good at doing so much and letting me focus on taking care of them and keeping them occupied.

Keeping Peyton out in nature for three days wasn't easy. I don't know how many times she told me she wanted to watch cartoons. It seemed to be the worst at night when it started to get dark she would say she was ready to go home.

Before we got to the campsite all she could talk about was having a campfire and telling "spooky stories"!  The night we actually had our first campfire I asked her if she wanted me to tell her a spooky story and she said, "no, I want a silly story.." She chickened out on the scary ones...

Jax did soo well the whole trip, minus the melt down he had the first hour we spent driving there. He was tired and just wouldn't fall asleep. He screamed and screamed until we finally stopped to have lunch and when Derek took him out of his car seat he found a small toy ball that Jax had been sitting on the whole time which is probably why he was whining in the first place... oops!

Peyton is usually all about being clean. She hates getting dirty, but for some reason I could not keep her out of the dirt. At first I kept telling her to stay out of it, but then I realized that we were camping and it wasn't really fair to take her out there and expect her to stay clean. So I just let her be a kid and go crazy with the dirt... Every time I tell Peyton to be careful these days or not to do something her response isn't "OK" like it used to be. Now it's, "Don't worry!" She's a smart little girl because it's her way of not promising anything.

This tree was in our campsite and it was funny because when I first saw it I was reminded of all the times my siblings and I would climb trees in our backyard when we were little. My brother actually fell out of one of our trees and broke both of his arms once. My first thought was, 'that would be a good climbing tree'... Not that I would just start pulling myself to the top of it and Peyton's still too little, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. The first day we were there some kids from the campsite next to us came over and asked if they could climb it. Peyton just watched them for a while and kept asking me if she could go play with them.

Finally when I was finished with whatever it was that I was doing at the time I took her over and gave her a few pointers on how to climb a tree. She didn't get too high up, but she kept telling me, "wow, mama! I'm almost all the way to the top!" It's weird how things must seem soo big to her. It's like when you go back to a place you used to play at when you were little and it's always soo much smaller than you remember...

Peyton started laying out firewood and told me she was making train tracks so I brought out Jax's toy train that we brought with us and she was soo excited. It's fun playing with her and seeing what her imagination can do.

This was my attempt to be creative with my new camera... I thought this picture turned out pretty cool!

We were all excited about roasting marshmallows! Jax wasn't a huge fan, but he ate the gram crackers! Peyton was scared to eat her smore because it was going to be too sticky, but once she tasted it she didn't care... Derek was focused on roasting the "perfect marshmallow" that was golden brown. He was pretty good at it! Mine lit on fire and it took me a while to put the fire out so I ended up having to start over because it was completely burnt.

I wanted to get soo many cute pictures, but the kids were not having it. I honestly had to bribe Peyton to smile in over half of the pictures in this post. Jax is just in his own little world 24/7 so to get his attention for more than 2 seconds isn't possible.

We took the kids to Folsom Lake a while back and Derek showed Peyton how to throw rocks into the water so when we told her we were going to the beach she was soo excited to throw rocks!

Peyton called the campground bathrooms the "potty house". One time she went to the "potty house" with me to wash Jax off after snack time. We were standing at the sink when a Lady with short straight hair and no make up on came out of one of the stalls and started washing her hands. Peyton hid behind me and started saying, "I'm afraid of the boy, mama!" she said it about three times. I automatically knew what she was talking about, but trying to make things not so awkward I asked her, "you're afraid of brother?" Then she said, "No, I'm afraid of the boy.. I'm afraid of the girl... I'm afraid of the boy." She was soo confused and I am not the type of person to think of something right off the bat to make the situation better. This woman was obviously a woman, but Peyton didn't know what to think and I just kept washing Jax and acted like I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. I mean really what could I have said? "Peyton, that's a girl"?  I think anything I would have ended up saying would have made the situation more uncomfortable so I quickly finished and left. Later I explained to Peyton that girls can have short hair too. I still feel like I should have said something..

I love her so much! She has brought a smile to my face every day for the past 3 years almost! Yep, she will be 3 next month! Crazy!

Jax loved rolling around in the sand with Daddy when he wasn't trying to eat it! He's getting to be quite the little fighter these days and he can definitely hold his own!

 We had fun running from the waves. At one point we kinda hiked down this steep hill to our own private little beach. It was soo worth it!

There's something very amazing about standing on a beach watching the waves come in. It's beautiful!

I think I was more excited about the little animals that we saw then anyone. It was kinda scary how brave they were though. I think they're used to people feeding them so they aren't afraid and will come right up to you. I didn't take a picture of it, but we took the kids to Mendocino and had lunch on the patio of this little cafe. A bird came up and ate a cheezit that had fallen on the ground and Peyton thought it was the coolest thing so we threw another one down close to Jax and a bird picked it up and flew away. I think Jax was a little upset that the bird took his cheezit!

This was my favorite picture from the whole trip! I love it!!! I'm soo proud of our little family! I'm proud of how well Peyton has adjusted the past year and how much she's learned, I'm proud of Jax for all of his milestones, I'm proud of Derek for being such a great Dad and for all that he does to make my life easier and I'm proud of myself for everything I never thought I could accomplish so early in life...

Our Birthdays!!

I have soo much to include in this post! All the birthdays in our family are in the span of a little over a month. Mine is July 31st and Jax's is 4 days later on August 4th. I remember last year wanting him to come out on my birthday thinking it would be fun to share, but now I'm very glad that he has his own special day! We started my birthday a day early when my mother in law and Derek's aunt and uncle came to visit bringing cupcakes that were delicious!

The gift in this picture was my mother in law's camera that she only had for about 7 months and she decided to give it to me for my birthday because she bought a new one with better zoom. I have been talking about getting a new camera forever now because the one that I had was about 4 years old. We bought it right after we got married with some of the gift cards from our wedding. I was soo excited when I opened the box! It's such a nice camera and I'm stoked because the pictures on my blog are going to look soo much better! :) It was a great gift and I'm soo greatful to have such an amazing mother in law! Below are a few pictures I took that night while trying to figure out all the awesome features the camera has...

My Boys!!! I love them soo much!!!

My friend Stacie made these for my birthday! I was so surprised! She's soo sweet! I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but after eating these I think I could be they were so good!

I loved hearing birthday wishes from Peyton all day long in her cute little voice! It totally made my day!

We went to my parents for dessert with the family and they all surprised me with a few cards and gifts! I have an amazing family! My friend Sara came over as well with her new baby girl that I hadn't had the chance to meet yet! It was fun catching up with her and meeting her daughter! She's such a great friend!

My little boy isn't so little anymore and it's sad. Not only is he taking steps on his own he's learned to climb! He's about to give me a heart attack. He's climbing up on the couches, chairs and worst of all Peyton's little slide! He climbs up the slide about half way! He's teething right now too which is way fun (not)! It's his molars on the top which seem to be the hardest teeth to pop through. I'm thinking about taking his pacifier away, but I'm not really looking forward to that either. He's down to 2 bottles a day though and that is going pretty good. He's so much fun!

They all play very well together! Jax tends to be in his own little world. Peyton likes to hog all the toys, but Kinsley has no problem getting into everything and taking toys back from her!

These kids are the future of our family and I am proud of every little accomplishment they make. I think if I could be proud of Jax for walking, or Kinsley for sitting up on her own or even Peyton for sharing her toys how is it going to feel later on down the line when they start school or learn to read? What did we ever do without them???  

Peyton got her first bee sting on her big toe! Poor girl was in pain for a little while. No one knew what happened at first and we were all telling her she was fine and I think I even told her to quit whining... oops! Then we realized she really was hurt and felt pretty bad...

My parents gave me a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory so Derek and I took the kids to lunch! I wish they were looking in this picture, but it's a lot to ask of kids to sit still...

Love her!

I'm  blessed to have so many great people in my life! I felt so much love on my birthday and I couldn't have asked for anything more!!!

Jax's birthday was on a Thursday so we planned a party for Saturday with family and friends. I still can't believe he's 1! I feel like I was jipped a baby because he was only tiny for what seemed like a month. Time with Peyton when she was a baby seemed to go by a lot slower.

The other room I decorated before the craziness started!

Jax was very shy at first while he was trying to figure out what everyone was doing showing up at his house...

Kinsley was definitely a big hit at the party!

Aunt Sarah tried and succeeded in getting Jax to lighten up and enjoy himself... something she's very good at!

Jax likes to pull hair when we're playing with each other... this should explain all my little "fly aways" and the reason my hair looks a lot like Peyton's in this picture! Peyton was getting excited to help open the presents.

Mya and Peyton are soo cute together! Mya usually tells Peyton what to do and Peyton just goes along with it! It's cool how they have good friends at such a young age!

Peyton was all over the place at the party! She was playing pretty hard. This must have been the only time I really saw her taking a breather!

Sarah and Holly bought Jax this little four wheeler and he's been pushing it all around the house. He hasn't quite got the riding on it concept yet!

His cake before it was demolished!

Him demolishing the cake!!! What a mess he made!

He's such a funny guy! Janeane and David call him the fly catcher because his mouth is always open. I thought that was pretty funny! He's been trying to talk more, but hasn't really said anything but mama, baba, bath and ball. He had his 1yr well visit at the Dr. this week and he weighs 22lbs 10oz and is 31inches long! He's in the 48% for his weight and 85% for his height! So hopefully he got the tall gene! He seems to be thinning out and growing taller and he's starting to look less like a baby and more like a toddler! I love him so much and am very excited to see him through his next year!!!