Siblings?

As I was taking pictures of Peyton at Rog's softball game Thursday night, I couldn't help but think I'd seen that face before. The one on the left is Corbyn on May 26, 2011 - 22 days away from turning 1. And the one on the right is Peyton on April 25, 2013 - 1 day away from turning 1.



What do you think? Are these 2 siblings or what?!

6 Years!

6 years ago on a beautiful spring day, I married a cute redhead. 6 years later, he has a little less hair (or maybe a lot less), but I love him a whole lot more!



Happy Anniversary to the best husband a girl could ask for! I love you!

Flashback Friday

One year ago today we welcomed Little Miss Peyton Joan into our family. And what a quick year it has been! We love her so much and can't imagine life without her.



Happy birthday baby girl! We're so happy you're ours.

Weekend sans Pictures

Last Saturday was Rog's mom's birthday. She was in town for Taylor's graduation from BYU-Idaho (on Friday), so we got to spend the day with her and many of the Phillips (Mike, Taylor, Martha, Anthony, and McKae).

In the morning I hurried to put together a little craft for her. It had been on my list all week, but didn't get done until that morning. (I have pictures of it, so technically it wasn't a weekend completely without pictures. But I'm making the same thing for my mom's birthday, so I can't post them until August.)

8/20/2013 Update: Now that my mom got her version of this present, here is Dixie's - modeled by the Corbs.

We met them at the Traverse Outlets in Lehi and did a little shopping at Carter's. Dixie bought Corbyn a block puzzle - he loves puzzles and it was a big hit!

We went over to Taylor and Martha's town home in Saratoga Springs and did FaceTime with Kenzie. She had an ultrasound to find out if she is having a boy or a girl... It's another boy - meaning there will be 7 boys and Peyton the lone girl.

We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Dixie made it very clear we were not to tell them it was her birthday - no saddle action for her!

 On Sunday after church we took dinner to my Grandma Ford. We had a good time visiting with her. 

It was a fun weekend with family (even if we have no pictures to show for it)!

Five on Friday

1. Peyton's birthday is 2 weeks from today, so it's crunch time to finish her play kitchen. I've spent almost every night this week out in the garage priming and painting.



2. I decided to try out my green thumb this year by planting a tomato plant and a few flowers in pots on our front porch. I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing and the kids in our neighborhood are known for picking flowers, so I have pretty low expectations. If I get any tomatoes at all, I'll consider this experiment a success!



3. Corbyn used to love hanging out in the kitchen sink, so I let Peyton try it out. It's so deep now, she could practically take a shower in there!



4. I watch Charlotte for Mariah every other Friday while she goes to a work meeting. Today Charlotte was awake and happy for more of the time she was here, so Corbyn and Peyton had an opportunity to check her out. (Most of the other times I've watched her she's either been asleep or held the whole time.)



5. We enjoyed a beautiful, warm afternoon at the park today. It made up for Peyton being a total grump this morning after waking up super early. (She is working on some more teeth - we think.)

#LDSCONF

Conference weekend - so different with kids. We know this, but every 6 months it rings more true than 6 months before. It's a really good thing we can read and study the messages later!

This Friday night was a lot like last Friday night. We got Cafe Rio for dinner and then Rog and my dad golfed while my mom and I took the kids to the park.

{You might think my parents are moving to Spanish Fork because that's where we live, but that's not the only reason. It's 15-20 minutes away from my dad's free-for-life golf course and you better believe that was a huge factor for him!}

Corbyn is so independent at the park these days. He runs around exploring, climbing up slides, and having a great time.



He also loves to climb up this huge rock. He needs help for that, but pretty much everything else he can do on his own.



His newfound independence is great because it leaves me free to follow Peyton around and push her on the swings if I'm alone.



Saturday morning I made these Orange Muffins. They were a bit dry - I think I overcooked them by a few minutes, so now I'm itching to make them again because I'm sure they'd be really good if cooked properly. Bill and Mariah came over to watch the morning session with us.

Then my parents came for the afternoon session.



A miracle occurred, Corbyn took a nap and he wasn't even sick, just tired!



While Rog went to the Priesthood session, I took the kids to get a treat and then back to the same park as the night before. We shared a strawberry banana shake from Arctic Circle. Corbyn ate his portion for a few minutes and then said it was yucky and went to play. He came back a few minutes later and wanted more, so I think he really did like it. He just wanted to play.

{Today when we were doing our grocery shopping for the week, Corbyn cried when I told him we couldn't go play at the park. It was raining, otherwise I probably would have obliged!}



Sunday morning we went up to Salt Lake for the Ririe Waffle Breakfast at my Grandpa and Grandma Ririe's house. I made this breakfast casserole and it literally vanished. It's on our menu again this week because Rog and I only got a piece each and we didn't feel like we got our fill. It was that good!

We watched the morning session there.



Peyton gave us a little dance show on the fireplace hearth. Don't worry, she can get down safely.



Of course Corbyn wouldn't be outdone and had to get up and join her.



In between session we went over to my Grandma Ford's house. I fed Peyton right before we were about to leave and she totally zonked out for the ride home. We listened to the afternoon session on the radio while we drove home or rather, Rog did. The rest of us fell asleep. Oops.



We got home in time to watch the last few talks and then I gave both Rog and Corbyn haircuts while we waited for our dinner to finish cooking. Peyton chowed down on her umpteenth muffin - I guess they weren't that bad after all!



And that was Conference weekend!

Six on Saturday

1. On Monday this recipe for Hawaiian Fried Rice showed up on Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I had ham from Easter to use up, so I made it that very day. It was really good - like I won't just be making it when I need to use up some ham good.

2. Peyton took a little tumble this week and got a cut right under her eye. It's one of those things that looks a whole lot worse than it actually is. Everyone asks me about it and as there isn't really a very exciting story to go along with it, I've gotten really sick of it. Luckily it's getting better every day - soon our little scar face will be a scar face no more!



3. On Wednesday Peyton's little friend, Calla, turned one and her family invited us over for a little birthday party. Calla's brother, Rhys, is one of Corbyn's best friends and as these two are only a couple weeks apart, they are pretty much destined to be best friends too. Peyton was very interested in trying out Calla's cake. She'll be giving us a pretty good show in a couple weeks (unlike Corbyn who didn't really want anything to do with his cake)!



4. We spent a lot of time at different parks and the swings this week. Corbyn is way too big for a baby swing, but will always pick a baby swing over a big boy swing given the choice. One of the times we went, a little girl was using the baby swing, so I jumped at the opportunity to get Corbyn used to the big boy swing. He loved it and has been asking for the big boy swing ever since!



5. On Thursday I went to hear the Food Nanny speak at a Stake Relief Society Activity. I'd never heard of her before, but apparently she's pretty famous. What she teaches isn't too different from what I've been doing already and I wholeheartedly agree with her quest to bring families back to the dinner table. It was a really enjoyable activity.

6. I finished my second book of the year - Crossed by Ally Condie. It's the second book in the Matched trilogy. I know I said I probably wouldn't read it right away, but I hadn't started reading anything else, so I figured, why not? I actually liked it more than the first book because I thought it was less predictable.

Celebrating Easter

We spent our weekend celebrating Easter.

Friday evening was golf for Rog and my dad. Bubbles and chalk for the rest of us.



And later an impromptu date night watching The Proposal.

Saturday morning was the Spanish Fork Easter egg hunt. Both kids ended up with a few eggs, but they went FAST!



Corbyn insisted we play at the park before we went home.



Peyton thought the slide was just eh, but loved swinging.



When we got home we dyed eggs. Peyton was supposed to be taking a nap, but she didn't want to miss out on the fun.



We did a few errands in Orem (Kohl's, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Old Navy) before heading up to my Grandma Ford's house for another Easter egg hunt. Corbyn dominated, but Peyton understood the concept better than Corbyn did for his first Easter. What a difference a few months makes.



We went to Little America for our Easter meal with my parents and grandma. Corbyn said he wanted a hot dog and even though I was sure he wouldn't eat it, we ordered it for him. Go figure, he ate the whole thing! What do I know anyway? After Corbyn was done with his meal, Peyton got her hands on his fries. How could we say no to this face?



We finished the day at a wedding reception for one of Rog's old roommates, Handsome Rob. We had a really hard time finding it and almost gave up, but we did finally find it and had a great time catching up with old friends from our Monticello apartment days.

Sunday morning the kids woke up to find that the Easter bunny had visited.

Corbyn got some Jake and the Never Land Pirates figurines - Jake, Cubby, and Izzy. As soon as we opened them for him he ran over to put them on Bucky. He also got a mini basketball and Have a Laugh (a collection of old Mickey Mouse cartoons - he watched them in our hotel room at Disney World and thinks they are so so funny).



Peyton got some mini Princess board books (she loves Corbyn's mini board books, so we thought we should get her some of her own), the book I am Ariel, and a princess fork/spoon set.



The Easter bunny also hid some eggs.



And yes, that was 3 Easter egg hunts in 2 days.



Peyton loves our Easter stuffed animal collection. She fits in perfectly with them.



While I was getting ready I decided to listen to Elder Holland's talk, The First Great Commandment, from last October's General Conference. It is a beautiful talk and it really helped me get in the right spirit for the day.

After Sacrament Meeting we came home for a few minutes to get the ham in the CrockPot and send my parents back home to St. George.

We also attempted a family Easter photo, but it was not meant to be. I was sure glad we did pictures in the kid's matching Easter outfits with the Easter bunny the week before! We did get a cute one of me and my little girl.



And some good ones of Corbyn playing with the bubble gun he got from Great Grandma Ford. He loves that thing!



Then Peyton and I headed back to church for Relief Society. Rog and Corbyn were supposed go up to Saratoga Springs to help Taylor and Martha finish moving in, but right as they were leaving they called saying that they were done. So they went and checked out my parent's lot with them for a few minutes instead. (They have decided to build a new home in Spanish Fork - just about 4 minutes from us! We are so excited!)



That night we had Bill, Mariah, Charlotte, Taylor, Martha, Phat Tony, and KD over for a traditional Easter dinner. I made Slow Cooker Maple Brown Sugar Ham, Word's Best Dinner Rolls, Creamy Fruit Mousse, Citrus Water Punch, and Carrot Cake. And Bill and Mariah brought mashed potatoes, salad, and deviled eggs. It was a delicious feast if I do say so myself!

We had a great time celebrating, but more importantly it was good to spend a few days focusing on the atonement and resurrection of our Savior. We tried to explain it all to Corbyn, but I think he's still a little young to really get it. I ran out of time this year, but next year I want to make something like this to help teach him. (Thanks Rachel for the idea!)