Life Lately

 

Moments like this one are hard to find these days. Daddy is very busy right now...but we absolutely love these times!

  

Alan has been extremely busy with school. I won't go into details, but the class he is taking right now takes up most of his free time. If we happen to get a nice day at home he usually looks like this. 

 

The girls and I try to be quiet so he can work without interruptions, but that doesn't always work out. On this particular night we decided to go to the park to have a picnic so daddy could work on his paper. Madison built me a sand castle.

 

Kennedie stood, yes STOOD, by me the whole time. Can I just say that my girls are getting too big too fast? Kennedie is standing all the time now and she took a step yesterday. Give her a week and she'll be running around my house! She is 9 months now. We went to her appointment yesterday and she weights 14 lbs. 6 oz. and is 27 inches tall. She is a full pound bigger than Madison at this age. That was kind of fun to see. In the picture she is eating a leaf. She will eat anything she can pick up in her little hands. She is so busy and naughty, but smiles the whole time so you can't help but love her! So fun!

 Madison is getting so big too! (At least age wise...she technically hasn't gained weight since like 18 months...) This day she had gotten her outfit dirty so I had to borrow a onesie from my boss...it's size 6 months and it fit her perfectly. So funny. Madison is my little helper and LOVES to help with Kennedie. Whether I want her to or not. :) Today she told me Keny was her favorite sister. Which was adorable. She also has been telling me lately that she wants a little brother. It seems like everyone is having boys right now and I think she wants in on the action. All I have to say to that is hahahahhahaha...not happening. I think I would go crazy to add one more to the mix right now. Can you believe I have a 2 1/2 year old (going on 14)? I sure can't. It's crazy!

 This is one of Keny Mae's fits. When she throws a drama fit she stands on her head. It's quite funny. I laugh at her and she gets more upset. She is still as dramatic as ever and makes the saddest face when she gets her feelings hurt. I'm in trouble with this one I'm afraid.

 Lately I've been working out like crazy. I'm doing crossfit, which is giving me really good results, but I'm going to zumba too. I never thought that I would like to do zumba. I thought it was crazy and I am seriously the whitest girl in the world...I don't dance. But I LOVE IT! I took Madison with me one night in her tutu. She really had fun in the beginning, but got bored with it halfway through. But she keeps asking me if we are going to go to "dance class" again.

 This past week we celebrated my dad's birthday. He loves fishing and being with family so we tried out a pond that is up on the hill off of red hills parkway. It would have been fun if it wasn't so blasted hot. We lasted maybe an hour.

 Madison was sporting her new boots.

 Afterward we went back to my parents and had prime rib...so yummy...and just spent time with the family. Kennedie was attacking the camera here. But I love the face she is making...she's thinking "what trouble can I get into?"

 Such a sweet girl...Ken that is :)

 And of course a post wouldn't be complete without a picture of Madison on papas farm. He now has added rabbits, or as Madison calls them "funny bunnies", to the mix.

Gregory James "Jimmer" Olsen

Gregory James Olsen, or Jimmer as I like to call him, is here! Beth's water broke last night around 6:00 and they went to the hospital. Jimmer was born June 3, 2011 at 2:17 am. He is 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 18 inches tall. He is just the sweetest thing in the world. Mom and baby are doing great!

Grandma and grandpa are prouder than you can imagine :)

 Big cousin Madison was so excited for Gregory to get here. She jumped up and down when I told her he was going to be born today. She gave him a very special gift of her binkies. That's right, we are going to be binky free...scary!

 I was so excited to cuddle and snuggle this sweet boy. He is so fun!

 Congrats Beth and Jeff we love you guys!

Old McGrandpa has a farm

For quite some time my dad and Alan have been trying to talk my mom into letting them get chickens for their backyard...they finally got their way :) They have 18 chickens and 1 duck/goose...we aren't quite sure what he is.

 

 Madison and the other grandkids love the chickens. They play with them and feed them and it is really fun. We can't wait until they start laying eggs and we get fresh eggs everyday.

This is Mo the duck/goose. He used to be called Huey, but we changed it because of the rockin' mohawk he has on the top of his head.

We have lots of fun in grandpas backyard.

In the Garden

Alan has been super into his garden lately and I am proud to say it is doing awesome! We don't have a yard at our house so we have turned my parents backyard into our own little family garden. It is really fun!

Hard at work!

Our crops
We have all sorts of things. I think the few things I am most excited about is the Mammoth Pumpkins. They are pumpkins that will grow to be over 100 pounds. We are excited for them come Halloween!

I'm loving that Alan is so excited about it and it's really fun to get the whole family out there working in the garden together. It's a really fun experience.

We're Still Here!

So I know it's been forever since I've posted anything on here, but the Paxton's are still here! I'm so behind that I'm not going to try to catch up with everything we have been doing, but I will give you an update on what's going on.

Kennedie (mostly known as Keny) is almost 8 months old. Can you believe it because I sure can't. She is a pro at crawling and is now starting to walk along furniture. I have to watch out for this one. She is constantly getting into things and getting into trouble. Her very favorite things to do are to eat cords and shoes. I've even bought her her own flip flops just to eat so she stops eating mine. She still has no teeth although she has been trying to get her bottom ones in for months now. You would never guess it though because she is literally the happiest baby you will ever meet. If she gets attention she rewards you with huge smiles and happy noises. As happy as she is though, she is super dramatic. She gets her feelings hurt very easily so don't look at her the wrong way :) She is such a fun girl and we are loving having her around.

Madison Joy will soon be 2 1/2 and I can't believe how grown up she is. She is a huge helper when she wants to be. She loves to play with Kennedie and when Madison pays attention to Kennedie there is nothing that makes her happier. She is still a little mother and quite often I have to remind her that Madison is in charge of Madison and mommy will take care of Kennedie. She LOVES being outside and would be all day long if she could. I'm very excited that it's starting to get warmer because it's splash park time and that is one of Madison's all time favorite things...the water :) We've definitely had some really interesting days with the terrible two's and had to overcome that, but I'm hoping (cross my fingers) that the worst part is over. Now onto the three's which everyone says is even worse :)

Alan is still incredibly busy being daddy, student, and provider for our family, but it seems like we have finally (after over a year of school :) found our groove and gotten used to it all. He has been doing really good at work and recieved pinnacle for his branch of the bank. Which means that his branch was one of the top 6 performing branches of his group of 60 (or so) branches. (I don't totally know what it all means, but it's awesome and super prestigious). He's also doing amazing with school and should be done by Christmas. Yippee!!! He has been dealing with all this stress by starting a garden at my parents house. We have all sorts of vegetables popping up (pictures to come) and it's doing really well. He would be out there all day everyday if he could. He also has started working out doing cross fit and is loving that too.

And me...I'm just doing the same old stuff. Being mommy and trying to stay sane doing it :) I've been staying pretty busy with my calling as the relief society activity coordinator (which used to be known as the enrichment leader...does anyone know why they change the name so much?) and really enjoy this calling. It's a lot more work than I realized it was. I've also started working out again. I've been going to Zumba classes, which is very funny and not totally like me, but I love it, and I've also started cross fit. I will tell you that with this workout program I haven't been as sore as I am since high school, but I absolutely love it. It feels good to be active again. I've also been trying to adjust to being mommy of 2 young girls. The drama is definitely something I could do without, but I am completely in love with my girls and wouldn't trade them for the world.

So that's a little bit of what we have been up to. I'm going to try to be better about updating this thing. We have lots of fun stuff coming up this summer so hopefully I'll be better :)

The big 2-3

A few days ago I turned 23! I remember being a teenager and thinking 23 year olds were so OLD! Haha it's not that old :) But seriously I can't believe that I graduated from high school almost FIVE years ago. It seems like it's gone by so fast. I've known Alan for almost FIVE years. It seems like the older I get the faster time seems to go. It's crazy! So here's what I did for my birthday...I realize there is a recurring theme here...haha.

My boss took me and my coworkers out to lunch at the restaurant of my choice...I chose Red Lobster. Yum!

The night of my birthday Alan had to work late...I mean like he didn't get home until 3:30 in the morning late. They were switching systems (or something) and so we weren't able to do anything super fun for my birthday night. (We had known for months that this would be the case.) So...my family and I took the kids to the new McDonalds in St. George!

Haha you may think it seems silly that I chose this for my birthday dinner, but it was nice that the kids could run free and play.

So for my real birthday dinner, the day after my birthday, Alan took me to the Anasazi Steakhouse. If you haven't been there, you are seriously missing out. It is so yummy! They bring out your meat on a 700 degree stone and you cook it yourself the way you want it. We also got yummy chocolate fondue...YUM!
So it may seem like this post is completely about food. Sad day. But for my real birthday present Alan gave me some money to go on a shopping spree in Vegas with my mom, sister, and sister in law. We went and had a fun girls day out a few weeks ago. I was in serious need of some new clothes. My husband takes such good care of me! It was a good birthday and it was nice to feel like I was a big deal for a day.

Kennedie at 4 months...plus some other random stuff :)

Can you believe that it's been 4 whole months since I had this little one? I know I can't. She is growing way too fast! Here are her stats: Weight: 10 lbs. 6 oz. Height: 23.5 inches...I don't know the rest and I didn't get percentiles. But I did look back at Madison's 4 month stats and...they were almost the EXACT same. The only difference was that Madison was 10 lbs. 7 oz. at 4 months. It's crazy how alike they are. (well in physical attributes. they are nothing alike in personality...so far.)

This is Kennedie at (just about) 4 months.

Madison at 4 months. One HUGE difference in them is that Madison couldn't go anywhere without her binky...Kennedie gets mad at me when I try to put it in her mouth.

Another difference is hair. It was about 4 months that I gave Madison her first haircut to calm her craziness down (this picture cracks me up).

The little bit of hair that Kennedie has is pretty much falling out.

In any case, this little girl is quite possibly the sweetest thing on earth :) So happy and LOVES any sort of attention.

...And then there's Madison...I love this girl, but my patience is tried with her every day. Here's a Madison funny for you. Notice the shoes:

They are not her shoes. More often then not she is wearing someone elses shoes...usually McKinley's. Poor Kinley. At some point in the day we hear a little tussle between them, Madison yells, Kinley cries, then it's over. Seconds later, Madison runs in wearing Kinley's shoes, the pride on her face beaming. She looks at me like, "mom, look what I found!" You really can't blame her, Kinley just has such blasted CUTE shoes. And some of them squeak! I'm waiting for the day when her nursery leaders tell me they are having issues of Madison stealing other kids shoes...it hasn't happened yet, but you just wait.

I had to post this picture of McKinley. Look at those baby blues by the way! This girl is striking! McKinley gets herself into quite the situations...

And then she just sits there smiling until someone notices her and helps her out. She is so funny!

And speaking of baby blues...I haven't gotten a decent picture of Garrett in I don't know how long. So here is this handsome boy :)

Well I guess that will do for now. :)