Rockstar

Baylee was able to take dance lessons from a girl from our church. She's a freshmen on the dance team, and was doing the lessons to raise money for the dance classes she takes at a studio. It was such a great deal, and Baylee loved the class. She was so excited to go every time and couldn't wait until the next time she got to go. For the final performance the girls all got dressed up complete with hair and make-up.

I got this picture of Baylee right before we rushed out the door.

The whole group of girls. Baylee is at the bottom left corner. There were three different groups, you can kind of get an idea by age and the colors they are wearing. Baylee's group was the youngest. Their costume theme was rockstar, with the colors black, white, blue, and purple.

Baylee was the first one called out from her group right at the end.

I tried to get a picture of Baylee after. but she wouldn't let me. This was the best I could do, and for some reason her eye has some wierd light going on. There was a BBQ after and so her mind was on food.

Baylee and her dance teacher, Mykee. Baylee loved Mykee so much! Unfortunately a girl walked right into the picture and I guess the shutter was still a little closed, but this is the only chance I got.


Here's a video from one of the dances Baylee was in. Sorry it's so shakey, I was holding Payton and trying to keep him calm. Also, I can't preview it since my computer doesn't have sound right now, so hopefully I didn't say anything I'm going to be embarrassed about later!

(The video size of the one I wanted to put on was too big, so here's from the finale. It's really really jumpy and horrible quality. Sorry! I will try to get the other one one later)

One thing I'm sad about moving is that I can't stick Baylee back in Mykee's dance class! She loved it and Mykee was amazing!

Halloween Fun

I'm finally getting close to being all caught up on our blog! This means time for all the Halloween fun. Ok, our camera is doing funny things, so sorry the pictures aren't the best. Here's some of the Halloween activities we did.

After preschool one day, we headed over to The Vans for a little Halloween fun they were having. Baylee had a Halloween party at preschool so she had her costume on, which worked great since Trey and Connor wanted to wear thier costumes that day too. I didn't get any pictures of the fun, excpet for of the kids decorating cookies (or any pictures from preschool either).

Baylee and Trey

Little man Payton

Baylee loaded her cookie up with frosting and sprinkles, and that ended up being all she ate of it.

Later that night, I got a picture of Baylee with the pumpkin she decorated at preschool. She was pretty proud and excited about it.

Every year, my Aunt Patti and Uncle Warren do a pumpkin carving party at their house. Usually Ben carves with Baylee, but since he wasn't there, I got to do it.
Baylee and me digging out the guts.

I tried to carve as fast as I could since everyone else was already done. I didn't think out the carving very well.

Baylee liked poking holes in the pumpkin while I was carving. I think it was her way of feeling like she was helping more.

All the pumpkins all lit up.

I liked our owl pumpkin. It turned out ok. Baylee liked it too.

With so much going on that week, we went to the store every day. I think there might have been one or two days within about 1 1/2-2 weeks where we didn't have to go to the store for something. Maybe even three, but that's pushing it. The kids were troopers, and I thought they were so cute sitting on the diaper box together in their Halloween shirts. (And I don't know what Baylee's hairbow is about. I didn't even realize she had it in)

Saturday night we went to the Halloween party at our church. They had food and games, and then the kids went trick-or-treating to different trunks of cars, some of which were decorated. There was even one decorated as Yo Gabba Gabba and playing the show's music. The husband was DJ Lance, and the wife and daughter were the pink one. It made me laugh, and my kids had to go over and listen and dance when we were done.

Payton had a lot of fun running away or dancing as much as he could.

I thought these pictures of the kids after the party were pretty funny:

We got home and they just sat on the couch with their candy buckets and watched tv for a little bit before bed. They really only had a couple pieces of candy.

On Halloween, Baylee really wanted to get the other pumpkin we had gotten carved. It was pretty big, and even though I thought I had scraped the walls thin, both carving saws ended up breaking. I had to finish carving the pumpkin with a butter knife and steak knife. A few hours later we headed over my aunt Melissa and Uncle Doug's for Halloween. We all sit outside and pass out candy while we eat and watch a movie on the garage. I love it!

This is the only picture I could get of the two kids together on Halloween. Baylee is Jessie from Toy Story, and Payton was supposed to be Woody. Yeah, I know his costume is a real stretch. Next year I will try to do better.

Baylee with our two pumpkins. The second one is Ariel. Pumpkin carving isn't complete for Baylee until there's a princess. Unfortunately, the owl kinda sunk back into the pumpkin.

Payton was wandering all over the place again. He was so cute, trying his best to get as much candy as he could.

Baylee was being the rootin'-est tootin'-est cowgirl in the wild wild west.

We had so much fun at all the different festivities. There are just a few things I want to be able to remember about this Halloween. Just some cute things Baylee said or things the kids did while trick-or-treating. So skip if you want, this is more for me to rememeber:

*A couple of times people asked Baylee if she was Jessie, and she replied "I'm really Baylee."

*At one point in our trick-or-treating, Baylee decided it would be a good idea to hide next to the door after she knocked, and then pop out and yell "Trick-or Treat!"

*Payton loved trick-or-treating. I carried him the whole time, but he wanted to hold his bucket the whole time. He stuck it out for everyone, and after people had been letting the kids pick the candy he started opeining and closing his hands for it. Then he would wave to say thank you to everyone.

*Baylee got really tired trick-or-treating and wanted to be carried. My hands were full with Payton, so Melissa was so sweet to give Baylee a piggy back ride. I overheard her tell Melissa "Let's make a deal. I'll be Jessie and you be Bullseye." I don't think that's quite what Melissa was thinking she signed up for.

*After we got back to Melissa's, Payton still held onto his bucket, and took my hand to drag me into the street to go some more.

*On the way home, Baylee said to me "Halloween wasn't very fun. I thought there were going to be really a lot of spooky costumes." She also told me that she still liked it though.

* We went to Target before Halloween and Baylee had to get a bucket. I tried to talk her into the orange pumpkin, but she had to have the pink skull. I finally gave in, and right before trick-or-treat she had to have the orange pumpkin we got for Payton. When I asked her about it, she told me she really wanted the pink skull because she thought Payton would really want it. Sure enough, Payton ended up with a pink skull bucket this year.

We had so much fun and can't wait for next year!

Our Little Ballerina

Baylee just finished a couple of dances classes. They were just for about 3 months, but she had so much fun. Here's some pictures from the ballet class she took from the city. This is her final class, and parents were only allowed in the classroom for this one time. (Most of my pictures were blurry, my camera is having issues, so these are the not-so-blurry ones)

Warming up- I guess everyone but us decided on pink that day.

Attempting leaps or jumps?

Showing off the different ballet positions.

Getting ready to start the dance they learned.

The dance was to "Someday My Prince Will Come" (Disney), so they are whispering "I Love You".

More dancing.

This is when Baylee realized she wasn't on the dot she started on. I actually preferred this dot (she wanted purple though) because I could see her a lot better.

I had a video, but it wouldn't upload. Maybe another time?

Horsing Around For A Weekend

A couple weekends ago, the kids and I got to go with my parents for a quick little weekend trip to visit my grandparents. They recently moved to a small town in southern Utah. Baylee was so excited to see their horses and chickens and to play with two of my cousins. We hadn't seen my grandparents in a few years. I think the last time was when Baylee was still one? Payton had never met them before, so we were overdue for a visit. Here's some pictures of our fun at my grandparents:

Payton loves "birds" (one of the words he can say), so he had fun checking out the chickens.

Like I said before, Baylee was so excited for the horses. Kayla was so sweet to take her out and show her how to pet and feed them. It was really muddy that weekend, so she didn't get to ride them, but she was still happy just to be so close.

Payton loved that he could play outside! We've been cooped up for too long in our heat! He loved the trampoline.

Oakland was so nice to share his playground with us. Baylee and Oakland had a blast playing together and were like two peas in a pod.

Payton found a car his size!

Payton was obsessed with this guitar. It played two Backyardigans songs and he loved to dance along. Santa might be needing to bring one this year.

Baylee loved to feed the horses with Oakland.

My mom is probably going to kill me, but here is a picture of her and her mom.

Payton was a little scared of the horses at first, but by the time we left he would actually walk around them without being held.

It was so fun to spend the weekend at my grandparents. My grandma makes the best food (I love her breakfasts-especially the chocolate chip muffins), and I think I had gained about 5 pounds by the time I had left. I really needed a break from packing and single mom-ness too. Thank you so much for having us!

One Of My Yearly Favorites

I've really started to love fall. There's just so many fun things to do. One of my favorite things that we've done the last three falls is going to Schnepf Farms for their Pumpkin and Chili Festival. We've gone with my Aunt Melissa, Uncle Doug, and cousin Ryan all three times we've been and always have so much fun. This year we went at the very beginning of October. The weather was perfect that week- not too hot and not too cold, and there weren't very many people either, which was perfect too. So, since this is one of my favorite things we do each year, please excuse the picture overload. I can't take credit for some of them- so thanks Melissa for the great pictures!

Each year we've started off with a picture on the hay bales right when you walk in.

Baylee and Ryan got their faces painted and posed for more pictures.

I love this picture my aunt got of Baylee.

We took the hay ride to the corn maze, and it stopped so we could see and feed the deer.

Ben and Payton walking through the corn maze.

I like this picture I got as we were walking through the maze.

Ben and the kids hiding from us in the maze. Him and Payton actually tried to scare us, and when Baylee saw them she wanted to hide too.

Baylee in her cute sweatshirt. The hood has kitty ears.

Hooray! We actually found our way out!

Food time! We split a pulled pork sandwich, chili, corn on the cob, cornbread, and hot dog. Yummy food!

I think Ryan was a little disappointed that they wouldn't let him ride with Baylee on the planes this year. He was too tall.

Baylee and Ryan did have a blast on the bees though! Payton loved them too. However, we discovered that certain people may be too big, so they can't get their bee up in the air. Payton and I were able to get up, but someone else who took him couldn't.

These pedal cars are so fun. They also have ones that hold four people.

Payton had fun hanging out and running around while the boys were on the pedal cars.

Ryan, Ben, and Doug- I think they might have been racing?

Baylee loves the slingshots, and I think Ryan hit a few of the targets.

Friday and Saturday nights they have fireworks. I always love fireworks!

We had so much fun (as always) and hope we can go again next year! There were so many other things we got to do too, but no pictures. It was also a fun way for us to spend Ben's last weekend here. Thanks so much to Melissa, Doug, and Ryan for coming with us and to Melissa for the amazing pictures! I love having a photographer with us!