June 16 – 1 year old!
First birthday party (rubber duckie theme), first time going down a water slide
June 21 – 12 ½ months – “attack-nurses”- she pulls my shirt down and tries to nurse. Also once when I was taking a bath with her, I reached up to get something, and all of a sudden I felt something attach to my chest. I looked down, and it was Peyton- she had crawled over to where I was, and latched on when I wasn’t expecting it!
July 3 – 12 ½ months – gives “high 5” and blows kisses!
July 31 – 13½ months – went to Sea World. Fed and pet Sting Rays, and also pet dolphins and starfish!
August 1 – 13½ months – little monkey- climbs on everything and everyone, picks up things with her feet. Other cute things she does: yells at me (not in a bad way, just talking very loud), latches onto things with her arms and legs as we walk by, crawls to Noni and waves bye to me (indicating that she wants Noni to take her on a walk), loves to have her chin rest on her chest (thinks it feels good or something), waves “bye-bye” to random strangers that walk by (like all the people we walk past on the airplane, or who walk past us), smiles, then when you smile back, she smiles really big, with squinty eyes and an exaggerated smile, loves to sit on things then bounce up and down and up and down, still loves putting as many things in one hand as she can get, clenches her fists and locks her jaw and says “uh uh uh” when she’s frustrated, gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth.
August 9 – 13½ months – started walking!!
August 11 – 13½ months – started opening cupboards and got her first molar
August 17 – 14 months – still loves shoes; always wants to play with shoes, puts them on her hands and feet, tries to walk and crawl with big shoes on. Says “duck duck” as a combination of “duck” and “quack quack”. Had her first protest: I fed her dinner, bathed her, and put her to bed at her normal time. About 20 minutes after, I could tell she wasn't asleep because I could hear her making loud, annoyed noises, the kind she makes when she's real bugged at me. I went to go check out what was going on, and I found her standing up, yelling "MA" "EH" "NA", everything thrown out of her crib. When I walked in, she immediately quieted down, and started repeatedly signing "more" "food" "please" "food" "more" "please" "food", frantically. It was so hilarious. Apparently she wanted some more food. Well, she must have been really hungry, because she ate another dinner. Holy cow!
August 19 – 14 months – first time camping! Honeyman, OR. Also her first time on a real 4-wheeler ride, first time to the sand dunes, first time on a zip-line (with momma), and first time on a paddle boat
August 25 – 14 months – cute things she does: falls into me head first to kiss, cuddle, or nurse, signs “milk”, then pulls down the front of my shirt [signs ”milk” by rubbing her fingers together with her thumb], calls out for Tinky or daddy when she first wakes up. Also points to her mouth when I ask her “where is your mouth?” Not so cute: on the drive home from camping, she went poop, then dug in her diaper, pulled out poop, and got it all over her whole body, including her face and hair!
August 27 – 14 ½ months – first tantrum, at Munchkin Playland. She wanted to have a drink of my drink. She started to cry, then flung herself to a sitting position on the ground, legs outstretched, and belly flat on her legs, (fake) sobbing. It was actually funny and I had to try so hard not to laugh.
September 1 – 14½ months – signs: more, milk, up, down, food/eat, drink/water, all done, please, book, bed, cold, cheese, dog/Tink, ball, cat. Says: daddy/dada, momma, Tinky/Tink, duck or duck duck, cat, hot, thank you, grandpa (papa), fish (sss), up (puh).
September 16 – 15 months – cute things she does: jabbers all the time, sometimes for minutes at a time- she has quite a bit to say! She even “talks” to Noni on the phone for 10 minutes or more! Asks for her “binky”, which sounds a lot like “Tinky”, shakes her head back and forth when she hears music, then starts bouncing up and down, and sometimes pelvic thrusting, calls out to dogs “do-de” then smacks her lips together like she’s calling them to her, claps when she hears music that she likes, but stops clapping if you change the song, claps when she hears someone else clapping, or when she hears someone say “clap”, she started to grunt a little, but it’s an exhale-grunt combo. She does it when she’s trying hard to do something, squatting, or going #2. She’s still obsessed with shoes: she puts them on her arms, in her hands, and on her feet, and will walk around in them (even in my high heels), if she sees shoes, she drops whatever she’s doing to go play with them. She even signs “shoes” and will look all over for them. I’ve been slowly weaning her, but she will not drink cow’s milk- she spits it out. She’s a little monkey- she climbs on anything and anyone. She is so flexible that she’s a great climber. We even had to put the restraining straps on her high chair because she was climbing out! She loves to make people laugh, and she does things she knows are silly so you will laugh at her. Her favorites are putting her binky in her mouth wrong-side in, then she smiles and laughs at herself (she also likes it when you take it out of her mouth with your mouth, then she takes it from your mouth with her mouth- she loves that game), she also puts silly things in her mouth (like a shirt or Tink’s ear), then looks up, smiles, crinkles her nose, then starts to giggle. She loves being silly and making everyone laugh.
October 26 – 16 months – started potty training (“potty prep”)
November 6 – 16½ months – Peyton is such a happy girl! She continues to learn more new words, and she is learning more new signs, as well. She eats more than her boy cousins who are 2 and 3. She is incredibly focused and so stubborn. If she is trying to figure something out, she refuses help, and won’t stop trying until she figures it out. She is fiercely independent and is becoming less clingy to me, but no less loving. Yesterday she was sitting on my lap, rocking, and she looked up at me, took out her binky, and kissed me on the lips. It melted my heart. She still loves Tinky so much. She loves to dance and sometimes sing. She is also a little bit obsessive-compulsive, just like her momma. She likes to clean up, and put everything right where it belongs.
November 9 – 16½ months – had to get 3 tubes of blood work. She was so good. She didn’t even flinch when they stuck her with the needle, she just kept playing with the gum I let her chew. She didn’t cry or scream, or even pout. When it was over, the doctor told me that was the first time in her career that she has ever had a baby not make a fuss.
November 14 – 17 months – Funny things she does: still jabbers all the time, loudly, to others or even just to herself. She also pretends to talk on the phone, speaking jibberish, walking around the house. She knows how to take off her pants, and she tries to take them off about every 20 minutes. She also tries to dress herself- shirts, pants, socks, and shoes, and she actually does a really good job of getting them on. She shakes her head “no” a lot, but does it really cute- she puts her chin to her chest and bobs her head side to side. She randomly comes over to us and gives us kisses on the lips, unprompted. She loves to clean-up and put things away. She also picks up things on the floor or in her carseat or high chair, and hands them to me to throw away. She likes things very neat! Whenever someone is paying attention to her, she gets very flirty. She smiles really big and squints her eyes, and shows off big time. There is a wall next to the staircase, and every time we go down it, Peyton likes to scratch her nails on it, and hit it. She doesn’t do it on anything else, just this one specific wall. She sometimes pulls my shirt down and looks at my chest and smiles. Once is awhile she even leans in to nurse, but then just looks up at me and smiles.
November 19 – 17 months – First time out of the country- in Jamaica!
December 1 – 17½ months – words she says: up, down, hot, more, mama, dada, noni, papa, Ike, Chaz, Jimmy, buttons, Tinky, shoes, hi, hurt, ow, uh-oh, dog, banana, light, fish, teeth, burr, light, muah, please, baby, and just about anything else you ask her to say.
December 12 – 18 months – won her first beauty pageant, in Utah. She won best hair, best eyes, cutest face, best smile, best model, personality plus, best attire, back cover girl, Miss Photogenic, and Mini Queen!
December 16 – 18 months – She absolutely loves to give kisses and hugs, loves babies and animals, is so outgoing and loves to have fun, is very strong willed, and a little OCD. She likes to have things done a very specific way. She climbs on everything, loves brushing her teeth, and also loves to stuff things down her shirt. So far I have found money, a small bottle of mouthwash, some golf tees, her binky, her face blankie, lots of food, and many accessories. She is learning to pray, and now folds her arms by herself during prayers. She also loves the word “ow” and points to old injuries and says “ow” a few dozen times a day.
January 5 – 18 months – She started this funny habit where she walks over to the trash can, bends over, and spits a few times into it. Not quite sure where she picked that one up. Also, she likes to put things away, like laundry, dishes, and toys. She loves marshmallows, and repeats everything you say to her.
January 24 – 19 months – Absolutely loves bows. She asks me every day for a “bow, bow”. She is currently obsessed with leggings- she loves to put them on and take them off all by herself. She sometimes even uses other things as leggings, like fingerless gloves and shirt sleeves. She still loves shoes, but likes to pick out her own. Almost 100% of the time she picks her pink jelly-shoes, which are sandals. The only problem is that it’s winter!! She also still loves toothbrushes and toothpaste. At JaNea and Nipper’s house the other day she actually went into their bathroom, found their toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste, and brought it to me, asking “teeth, teeth”. She also loves to smell flowers, trees, and plants. She will walk up to any kind of vegetation (even fake stuff) and lean in and sniff. It is so adorable. She loves to copy everything we do- from dipping our bread into soup, to disciplining Tinky, to hanging up clothes. Also, she thinks the lines in her hands are cuts, so about 25 times a day she will point to one of her hands and saw “ow”!
February 3 – 19 months – Her first bedtime request: she told me “no” when I asked if she wanted to read a book, then when I asked what she wanted she signed down please. Then I put her down and she puffed out her chest and very purposefully walked into our room and stood by the base of the dresser and said “up please” “shoes please”. She wanted to take her shoes that were on my dresser to bed! When I laid her in bed she put the shoes on her feet, then smiled at me and took her binky and face blankie and she went right to sleep! The girl knows exactly what she wants.
February 20 – 20 months – We switched Peyton to a big kid’s car-seat. She’s still too small to face forward but now she’s up a little bit higher so she can see out the windows.
February 27 – 20 months – went skiing for the first time. She LOVED it! She would say “weee” when she skied, and when we were done with each run she would ask “more, more”.
March 16 – 21 months – She is getting so old! She is a total little girl. She loves to carry around purses and wear jewelry. She is sometimes a little bit defiant. She loves to say the word “no”, but lately she’s getting better at using different words. She picked up the word “yeah” somewhere, so we’ve had to teach her “yes”. She climbs all over everything. She wants to be just like the big kids, and sometimes she wants to be just like me. The girl has an opinion about everything. She now insists on picking out her own clothes (usually a dress- and she begs for her fur coat and snowsuit), her type of sock (leg warmers, ruffley socks and bright pink socks are the favorites), and which pair of shoes to wear (usually her pink sparkly Chucks or her pink jelly shoes). She picks out exactly which bow she wants, whether she wants a hat or headband, and which bracelet (or bracelets) she wants to wear. She chooses which food she wants, and loves fishies but only in the package- she will not accept a handful of fish under any circumstance. She picks which book to read and what toys to play with. She chooses songs on my IPod (She tells me "no please" when she doesn't like the song or "more please" when she wants to hear the song again). She knows what she wants! She is obsessed with horses. We have to go across the street several times a week to pet our neighbor’s horses. She also loves cats. She doesn’t care to hold them or even touch them, she just likes looking at them. When we were in Las Vegas she would beg us all day for “mow” (accompanied by the sign for “cat”). She loved going all over the house to find the cat and stare at her. She picked up this cute habit where she crosses her pinky finger with her ring finger. She also has started carrying things around the house- large toys like her sit-and-spin and her shopping cart and stroller.
March 31 – 21 months – She is such a character! She is bubbly and outgoing and so fun to be around. She tries to make people laugh by making silly faces or doing silly things like spinning around or putting things on her head. Everyone that meets her is enchanted by her- in fact there are about 6 older ladies in our ward who beg for me to let them babysit Peyton sometime during the day! She loves hip-hop music and likes to dance in her car seat, head banging, rocking back and forth, and pumping her arms. She runs away when she knows she is caught doing something naughty- but when she runs, she squeals and flails her arms out, so it is hysterical to watch. When she doesn’t want you to put her down, she lifts up her legs or just wraps her legs around your legs so you can’t put her down. She also tries to climb up into your arms, and now knows how to climb into her high chair! She talks all the time and surprises me with how many words she knows. She loves to talk on the phone, and will pretend anything is a phone to talk into. She even puts the phone up to Tink’s ear sometimes to let Tink talk!
May 1 – 22 months – Potty Trained! Started wearing panties all day. She was fully “poop” trained first, then got better at peeing on the potty.
May 16 – 23 months – funny things she does: will hide and say “Peyton, Peyton” when she wants me to play the “Peyton, where are you” game- also if she can’t run and hide, she will cover her eyes and say “Peyton, Peyton”. Her favorite color by far is pink, and she only wants to wear pink bows, shoes, socks and clothes- she points out anything that is pink and says “pink mommy, pink”. She loves young guys. She would much rather hang out with Jade and his brothers or friends than me and my friends. She is obsessed (again) with “owies”. She will point to really old “owies”, or even invisible “owies” and say “owie momma, owie” until I acknowledge her “owie”. She has started making up songs and singing them to herself. Usually they go like this “mommy, Tinky, daddy, mom, daddy, Tink…” When I asked her how old she was turning at her birthday party, she replied “PINK”- the girl loves pink, and calls anything she likes “pink”.
June 14 – almost 2 – Whenever she is asked how old she is, she says (with a huge smile) “I’m 3!” She tricks us to get treats by sitting on the potty and pretending to pee, then saying “potty mommy, treat.” When Noni was packing her bags to leave for Paris, Peyton was getting really sad, and saying “I go.” Eventually she disappeared for a minute, then came back with an armful of her own clothes and started to put them in Noni’s suitcase. For the last couple weeks, every night when I ask her what song she wants me to sing to her (as a lullaby) she requests “Imma Be”
June 16 – 2 years old!
We weren't able to be with Jade for Father's Day this year- he was in Oregon and we were in Las Vegas. She's lucky to have such a great dad, and I know his strengths as a father aren't lost on her- the girl loves her daddy so much. I'm glad that my little girl gets to have him as her dad. He really is quite remarkable. This one's for you Jade. We miss you and love you.
Fremont Street Experience. When we had someone take this picture for us, an Asian couple came up and the woman started snapping pictures and the man was video taping us. I think they thought we might possibly be famous or something because of our matching sashes.
We played a game where we got points for doing silly things when we were country dancing. This was our bridal veil we had to walk around the bar with
We convinced my mom to come dancing with us!
So cute!
Remember how I said Peyton wasn't cooperative the whole luncheon? This was one of the games my mom made up to try and entertain her... She was trying to bite the lemon out of my mom's mouth.
Her 2 favorites- shoes and toothbrushes. Jamie commented "she walks better in heels than I do." She's had lots of practice.
The other day I gave Peyton a sucker to eat, outside. A few minutes after setting her loose, I heard "mommy, mommy, ow, sucker". I found her holding onto the stick of the sucker, with the top stuck in her hair. Definitely photo worthy.
Peyton likes to stick her peanut butter toast on her chest. Since she was wearing jammies one morning, she decided to stick it on her face instead. She clearly has no problem getting messy.
At the water feature (drinking the sick water- nice)
Dress ups
She was apparently super excited about the ketchup
Our entry- with banner, balloons and a shoe pinata.
Some of the adults had to eat in the living room since our outside BBQ idea didn't pan out.
Food Table
Peyton's cupcakes topped with "glass slippers"
The birthday girls! (right when I went to take a picture, Peyton started hugging on grandma)
Sweet little Trenton and Peyton hanging out
Peyton and Peyton eating (Big Peyton is a little blurry- I guess that's what you get when photographing toddlers with a point and shoot camera)
I wanted to take a picture of Peyton in her birthday hat. This is what I got:
2nd try: gave her a little gum and snapped before she could rip the hat off. 
These pictures aren't birthday related, but they're classic Peyton, so I had to include them. In the first picture she had just stolen Brek's binky, and she was running away laughing. Then when she felt like no one was going to take it away from her, the binky went right into her mouth.
Remember how sweet Peyton and Trent were being at the beginning of the party? Not anymore. Power struggle over the ball.
Pinata time! Peyton went first, then the kids from youngest to oldest. Even without the blindfold, none of the kids could break it.
Jade finally broke the pinata (it took him 3 hits) Check out Uncle Justin worrying about the pinata hitting him.
The race to fill the goodie bags. I think our guests might have felt a little gypped. I'm not a big fan of loading kids up with candy, so there were only ring pops and bubble gum in the pinata- everything else was inedible. Bouncy balls, finger skateboards, shoe notepads, shoe pencils, shoe stickers, shoe tattoos, crazy straws and confetti poppers.
Out of everything on the floor, Peyton went for a pencil.
Peyton and Peyton put themselves in prison.
Singing "happy birthday". She was a little intimidated by the flame. I was just happy she didn't touch it.
It took some persuasion, but she eventually blew out her candle all by herself.
The girl was in heaven. She had been asking me for a cupcake all afternoon.
Opening presents. I had kids all over me. The best part was when Gabe told Trenton "It's not even your birthday Trent- move!" And then to Taryn (1 yr) "Taryn don't go over there- it's not your birthday!" So funny.
Hugging her Brock for the present he saved his own money to buy.
Hugging Peyton and saying "thank you".
