3rd Birthday Interview

I have started a tradition of taking birthday pictures of my kids every year.  This year, starting at age 3, I am adding the the tradition by doing a birthday interview every year.  I got the idea from my cousin, who also does birthday interviews.  Anyway, here is Payson’s very first birthday interview done on his 3rd birthday.

In case you don’t want to watch the video, here is the questions and Payson’s answers:

What is your name? Payson

How old are you? 3

What is your favorite color? red

What is your favorite animal? frogs

What is your favorite book? Table Book

What is your favorite tv show? Caillou

What is your favorite song? ABC song

What is your favorite food? broccoli

What is your favorite snack? Ewwie (not sure what that is, but he said you eat it).

What is your favorite outfit? Annonly (Avenly)

What is your favorite game? car game

What is your favorite toy? police car

Who is your best friend? Annonly

What is your favorite thing to do?  (He showed me his trick where he licks his chest with his tongue.  You might want to watch that one on the video).

What is your favorite thing to do outside? (He spun around in a circle).

What is your favorite holiday? hot chocolate

What is your favorite place to go? Walmart

What is your favorite restaurant? Icky Wipes (He made this up- we have never been to a restaurant called this- lol).

Who is the President of the United States? Payson

Where do you want to go on vacation? city

What do you want to be when you grow up? three

What did you do for your birthday? cake

(The last part of the video is of Payson spelling his name, but he spells it “Poyson” instead of Payson).

Growing and Cute

I did a couple photo shoots of my kids, since they are cute and I love taking pictures of them. Avenly’s is a 6 month/Valentine photo shoot in her pretty pink $44 dress that I got on clearance for $5 last year.  Payson’s is his 3 year old photo shoot.

Avenly:

15lbs 15oz. (36%tile)

25.98 in. (42%tile)

head cir.: 43.5 cm (69%tile)

Payson:

28 lbs. 7 oz  (16%tile)

37.4 in (49%tile)

Payson Turns 3

We were so excited for Payson to turn 3 because he got to have a big birthday party.  Plus, we had some birthday fun in St. George while we were down there before his birthday.

In St. George we went to Red Lobster for Payson’s birthday dinner, and the “real fun” began- not!!!  While we were waiting for our food, Pay ran away from our table, I got up to get him, and he ran faster- laughing- like it was a game.  He turned around to smile at me which caused him to trip, and BAM- he hit his eye on the edge of a booth table.  We didn’t have to take him to the ER, but he did have a nice black eye in the morning.

After dinner we had cupcakes with different colored frosting.  It was fun to make pretty lipstick with our cupcake frosting! ha ha

We had the big party Friday night before Valentines Day.  Even though his birthday is on Valentines Day, more people were available Friday night, and it was easier to reserve a table for 17 people at the restaurant.  Payson shares a birthday with Uncle Jarom, so the party was also for him.

We went to Javier’s, and Mr. Javier himself came and greeted us.  The servers sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boys, and Payson and Jarom got to wear sombreros.  Doesn’t Pay look thrilled to have a giant hat on his head?

After dinner we went to Grandma Molly’s house for presets and cake.  Payson loves cars and vehicles.  Mater is his favorite, so I made him a Mater cake, and since Mater is a tow truck, I made a trailer cake for Mater to tow the big 3 for his 3rd birthday!

It was fun to have a birthday party for my big boy.  He got stuff he wanted and needed, and he loved every moment of it! 

 

Avenly has not been feeling well, and the day of the party she was especially clingy, but she still pulled off looking cute for her big brother’s birthday party!

Thank you, Mom, Dad, and Aaron for the St. George birthday fun, and thank you everyone who came to Javier’s and Molly’s house.  Happy Birthday, Payman!

Dinosaur National Monument

Josh had an interview in Rock Springs, WY, so the kids and I tagged along.  Since we were already half way to Dinosaur National Monument, we thought we would check it out.

On our way we took a detour to Red Canyon of Flaming Gorge.  We were pretty much the only ones there, except for the deer and mountain goats we saw.  I didn’t get a picture of the deer, but the mountain goat shot is pretty funny!! 

I guess they all just wanted to moon us!

Red Canyon of Flaming Gorge was “GORGE”ous!  It was a bit windy by the view point, and a little cold, but it was worth the .2 miles to see it.

We were almost the only ones in Dinosaur, as well, but we did see a few other cars and people.

We went with a park ranger to the quarry where real dinosaur bones are still in the rock wall.

Here is Payson touching one of the leg bones of a baby dinosaur.

This is a mold of a rare find.  Most dinosaur bones were scattered and not in the shape of their dinosaur owner.  I can’t imagine being one of the archeologists trying to put the bones together to figure out how the dinosaurs’ skeletons were.  This guy was found like this, and was only missing a few bones from his tail.

It’s hard to tell, but this is a view of part of the rock wall with the bones still in it.  If you look closely you can see different dinosaur bones.

After the quarry we drove around to see the other minor sites in the monument.  Of course we had to see the raft launch, so Josh and Payson could touch the river water.  It was actually really pretty water.

We saw pictographs from the Native Americans, and I realized they were people just like us in different circumstances.  They had talents and likes and dislikes.  Some liked to draw, whereas, others liked to hunt, but I bet not all liked to carve pictographs or hunt.  Each had their own personality just like we do today.

There was a little cabin homestead from the early 1900s that we visited.  Almost every room in the cabin had a door to the outside, and the property had an old chicken coop.

It was fun day at Dinosaur National Monument.  The weather was nice, and we love letting Payson explore and see new things!

A Winter of Hiking

The last month my little family has gone on lots of fun hikes.  Besides our Arizona Road Trip, we have been in Southern Utah, Nevada, and Eastern California, and the weather has been gorgeous! 

Pioneer Park in St. George

At Pioneer Park you can just explore the rocks.  There was some Indian and Pioneer ruins.  I went through the Narrows- and when I say “Narrows,” I mean REALLY REALLY NARROW.  At one point both my stomach and back were touching the rocks in front and behind me at the same time.  It was cool!

This is the Narrows at Pioneer Park.  I wasn’t joking when I meant narrow.  I scooted myself through the rocks and climbed out on top.

My parents and little brother, Aaron came with us. Aaron is almost 13, so he was all over the rocks- climbing, jumping, and he also went through the Narrows- twice!

We hiked to the top of the Dixie!!

Pipe Spring National Monument

Pipe Springs is actually in Arizona about an hour away from St. George.  I didn’t get to do the hike with Josh, Payson, and Aaron because Miss Avi Girl wanted to eat, but I did get to see the Historical Mormon Fort.  The interesting thing about this place is that it is a National Monument ran by the National Park Service, but it is a Mormon History Site.  It was unique in that I expected our tour guide- a park ranger- to bear her Testimony in every room in the fort about the Gospel, but in fact, I don’t even think she was a member of the church. We should have given her a pass along card. 

Anyway, the fort was cool.  It was built into the mountain!! It had a lot of historical furniture and we learned how butter and cheese were made for the church back in the day.

Zions National Park

We went on a hike at Zions that neither Josh nor I had been on before.  It was the hike that you go on to see Zion’s Canyon after you drive through the tunnel.  I forget what it is called.  Anyway, it was a fun hike because it was different kinds of terrain (rock stairs, bridge, sand, etc).  We saw lots of cool views and things, and again had great weather.

We also did Weeping Spring Hike in Zions. It is a short, paved, and steep hike to a canyons wall that looks like it is crying.

Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyons is located in Nevada, which by the way, has tons of mountains and valleys.  We saw a lot of them on our drive through Nevada from Western California to Ogden.  The Red Rock Canyon’s Visitors Center was neat, and had a lot to see. Since Avenly was sleeping while we were at the visitor’s center Josh and I took turns checking it out.  Payson showed Josh all of the things he saw with me.

We really enjoyed our hike in Red Rock Canyon, and would love to go back and do some of the more vigorous hikes there.   Most of the hikes were moderate to difficult level, and since we had two littles with us, we chose to do one of only two “easier” hikes.  In truth, the hike we went on was still rocky and Payson needed help in a lot of places, but it made the hike more adventurous.

While driving in Red Rock Canyon National Monument we saw a bunch of wild Burrows.  We almost hit a wild burrow coming out of Death Valley- our next stop!

Death Valley

When you think of death Valley, usually you think HOT, but it wasn’t hot while we were there.  I think it only got to 74 or something like that, so it was actually pretty pleasant.  We saw Death Valley from a great view point first.

We went to THE lowest point of elevation in the United States.  I don’t know if it was in my head, or if I really felt lighter, but both Josh and I thought it was extra easy to breath at that low elevation point!  ha ha

In the picture do you see that little sign in the upper middle of the picture?  It says, “Sea Level.”  That means we were way below sea level.

Here’s a closer picture of the sign.

Alabama Hills/Mt. Whitney

We didn’t really hike much in Alabama Hills near Mt. Whitney, but we did drive around a bit.  We drove as far as we could to Mt. Whitney- the highest point in the lower US- before the road was covered in snow.  Then we drove around the Alabama Hills, and got out to see a little cave in the hill.

We hope to do more hikes this Winter!  After all, we have to make up for all those years living in the mid-west with no mountains!!