Josh gets his MPA…so, we Travel!!

As you probably already know, Josh went to The University of Kansas (KU) for his Master’s of Public Administration Degree.  The first year was course work at the University in Lawrence, KS, and the second year of the program was/is a full time internship in a city.  Josh did/is doing his internship in Fort Collins, CO, but we went back to Lawrence for him to graduate!!

Josh flew out a few days before Payson and I, and then we joined him the night before he graduated!  Payson did great on the flights!!  Right after Josh picked us up at the Kansas City Airport, we went to the Kansas City Temple open house.  The Temple was being built while we lived in Lawrence, so we were happy that the open house was the same time we were in the area!  The temple was beautiful, and we ended up seeing a family from our old ward also going to the open house.

The  next day we went to Lawrence for the day.  We visited my old work, and then went to Josh’s graduation banquet- which included a reception, dinner, speakers, and the graduates to walk across the stage!  Josh looked good, and had lots of people talk to him, but Payson stole the attention away from his daddy!!  He was a Baby Jayhawk stud!!

Baby Jayhawk

Our little family

Daddy Jayhawk with his offspring

Josh and his classmates

We decided to make a trip out of graduation.  We had to fly to Kansas, so why not venture with a rental car to Arkansas!?  In fact, we visited 4 states on our trip. Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma

Payson is only 2.5 months old and he has been to 7 states already!!

In Kansas we went to Fort Scott.  It was one of the bigger highlights of our trip.  We have a National Parks Pass that expires in May, but wouldn’t you know that it just happen to be FREE week at all the National Park/historic sites.

This is what Payson did the whole time at Fort Scott.

In Missouri we went to Joplin.  First we ate lunch at a cute little park.

We ventured to the part of Joplin that was hit by the horrible f5 tornado last year the same night Josh and I chased the funnel cloud near Lawrence,  We saw a lot of destruction from the tornado.  It was really sad and brought the reality of natural disasters to life.

This is the hospital that was hit.  It was mostly still standing, but…

there were a ton of houses and buildings that were wiped out

.

One side of house

The other side

Elementary School

In Arkansas we went to Fort Smith. It was neat, but didn’t have as many buildings to see as Fort Scott.

The gallows

Baby boy ready for church!!

We also briefly saw Prairie Grove battle field. Many of the buildings were closed.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but there is a Confederate flag and an American flag.

Our last stop was Pea Ridge Battle Field.  Payson became the youngest Junior Ranger. Don’t worry we didn’t drive with his seat belt off!!

It was a huge battle field- 7 mile perimeter.  The union won this great battle.

It was a great trip, and Payson was a good little traveller!! 

Some News

1.) We are moving to Chicago the end of May for Josh's new job in the village of Oak Lawn, IL.  I will post another post later on dedicated to our move!

2.)  Payson had his 2 month check up.  He is/was 11 lbs 4 oz (40th percentile for weight), 23.5 inches long (70th percentile), and he still has a small cute head (25th percentile).

Payson is developing/growing so fast!  He loves to talk to us, and has even laughed a couple of times.  He likes to look at pictures of Jesus and little toys!   He is doing great with holding his head up.  He even held it up during tummy time (which he doesn't enjoy very much) and didn't slam it down to the ground!

Stay tuned for the post about our latest trip to Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas!

Easter and almost 2 months old

Payson is sleeping right now, and not in my arms- which is a rarity, so I thought- should I go lay down for an hour before he wakes up and wants to eat, or should I blog about how cute he is!!??  Well, the later won, and here I am blogging about Easter and the fact that Payson is almost 2 months old already!

I put a new outfit on him today for Easter. I wanted to get family pictures, but that didn’t happen, so I got some of just Payson. Josh took a few of me holding Payson, but Josh took his church clothes off too soon, so he didn’t get any Easter pictures.

 

He didn’t like the hat!!

   

For Easter I cooked a yummy meal!  In fact, we have had good dinners all week!  Payson is finally letting me put him down a little more,which allows me to cook!  For Easter I made pot roast, mash potatoes, corn, and bread! 

  

We didn’t do anything extra special for Easter.  We are in a brand new ward, and today was the first meeting for the brand new ward.  We only had Sacrament meeting, and then the new ward had a mix and mingle afterword.  It should be a good experience for us, even though we may be moving soon.

The rest of the day we pretty much just adored our little boy!  He is getting so cute.  He coos and smiles, and loves attention!  I think he is pretty social because he doesn’t like to take naps when daddy is home!

I took the following picture right before we left for church.  Compare it to the picture we took of Payson the day we went home from the hospital.  He has grown so much!!!

 

Payson's Baby Blessing

We blessed Payson on March 25, 2012 in Ogden, UT.

Josh did a beautiful job blessing Payson.  I am thankful that I married someone who has stayed worthy and has the priesthood. He is a cute daddy!  The spirit was strong, and of course I cried through the whole blessing.  I was overwhelmed by the love and support of our family and friends who came to the blessing.

My mom made Payson's blessing outfit.  It turned out very cute!  She made little puffy overalls, and I found a white shirt to go under them.  I checked a lot of different stores for the perfect polo white shirt small enough to fit him.  I finally found one at Old Navy and it was the only one in 0-3 size.

We chose to bless Payson in Utah because Josh's Grandpa Jones has a brain tumor.  The doctors gave him 6 months to live, and so Payson will be his only great grandchild that he will know in this life. 

Coming to Utah also allowed more family and friends to come, and we thought we would try the challenge of traveling with a 5.5 week old! It wasn't too bad. I think we stopped more when I was pregnant because I always had to go to the bathroom. These stops with the baby were less, but longer!  My little brother, Aaron, turned 10 on the day Payson was blessed.  He wanted to sit by the baby in Sacrament meeting.  It was so cute to see him hold Payson.  The following picture was actually taken the night before in my parents hotel room. 

Before the blessing, my mom got Payson ready by giving him a bath.  Then she took some cute pictures for me!  Payson sure loves his grandmas!

 
He sure loves his mommy, too!  Plus, I'm the one with  the food!!

 

After the blessing we had a lunch at Grandma Molly's (Josh's mom) house.  We had my whole family there including our new additions from last year and this year (Derrik, Kayla, and Payson).  I wonder if the growing family makes my parents feel old??  he he

 

 This is Payson's Great Grandma and Grandpa Mayo.  Payson is the first great grandchild on Josh's side for both his grandparents. 

Later Sunday evening we had a dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Steve and Deana's house (Josh's dad and his wife).  I didn't get a ton of pictures at either house, but at the church we were able to get some generational pictures with Grandpa and Grandpa Jones and Great Grandma Peabody.  This makes Grandma and Grandpa Jones Great Grandma and Grandpa Jones to Payson, and Great Grandma Peabody Great Great Grandma Peabody to Payson.

4 Generations

 

 5 Generations

We also got a great picture of Payson's Grandpa and Grandma Steve and Deana.  (I'm not sure what they want to be called, yet:-)!!  This picture is black and white because I was experimenting with my editing program.  I thought it looked good, so I kept it!

Overall, it was a great day!  The trip was fast, and messed up Payson's routine.  I got even less sleep than normal (and normal isn't a ton), but it was worth the trip.  It was a lot of fun to be with everyone, and to show our beautiful baby off!!

I wanted to throw in this last picture of Jason, my 18 year old brother.  He grew this fun mustache and goutee (however you spell it).  I think he looks like the biggest of the billy goats from "The Three Billy Goats Gruff."  To be honest, out of all my siblings, Payson looks just like Jason did when he was a baby.  Maybe Payson will end up with curly hair, too!

I have a cute picture of Payson and my dad, but I can't get it to work right now.  It has been an adventure trying to get this blog post done.  My little guy is so darn cute, but as you can imagine... loves my attention, therefore, the blog post has come second!