September / October 2011

Family life has been busy around the Paxton household. Here are some things we've been up to:

* There are 2 photos from my phone in here than I am unable to edit to turn the right way.

Makayla started preschool! She is super excited about the "Giraffe School" and so are we! Every day she is really happy to tell us about school and show us her work and art projects. She has already learned how to write her name with lowercase letters instead of uppercase letters. She loves the theme days they have and the show and tells. We're happy to have her there.

I got in a car accident on September 13th :(   You never think it's going to happen to you, and then it does. What happened was a lady turned left in front of me. Who got blamed? Me! I know, I couldn't believe it either, but when people jump a yellow/red arrow and the only witness who stops says that the arrow was still green, then the blame falls on the other person.  It happened in Sandy on Highland Drive and 8600 South. The light had just turned green and as I was coming around the curve, I noticed that. What I didn't notice was a silver Saturn turning, until it was too late. I slammed on my brakes and tried my best to avoid her. Instead I T-boned her car and broke one of her windows and smashed in both of her passenger doors. Everyone behind me kept driving because it was a green light and we ended up stopping on 8600 South. Makayla was the only one with me and luckily we had our seatbelts on and were unhurt. But the worst part is, I am the one who got the ticket for running a red light, which I did not do. And my insurance is now going up, which is totally unfair.  The Jeep's bumper and grill fell off and I had to put it in the inside of the Jeep which was sad. But at least the engine still worked. Sterling was sad because he loved the Jeep. Every day, even 1 month later now he says, "Jeep. Broken. Jeep. Broken." The Jeep was up for registration in October and we assessed the damage and weighed the cost of fixing it to pass inspections. We decided to get a new car, so the next week was a blur of over a dozen car lots and perusing the online ads. We ended up getting a 2008 Tahoe SUV. The best part about it is that it's a Hybrid, so it gets at least 20 miles a gallon.

We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and gone camping a few more times. We went up to Coalville to a great campground with playgrounds, swimming pools, a little fishing pond, and a river running through it. We checked out the Devil's Slide which is just a few miles away, and we checked out East Reservoir and saw some beautiful elk along the way.

A few weeks later we camped up by Kamas in a little town called Woodland. We were able to listen/watch  General Conference up there, which was neat. There happened to be a bunny rabbit competition right in that same area, so we got to look at some rabbits and enjoyed that. There was an arcade and playroom at this campground, so Scott and I had fun playing pool and foosball while the kids played with toys nearby. There was a river trail nearby, so we took a little hike there and took in the beautiful fall scenery.

Our family went to the State Fair and the kids loved the farm country.

We went to the circus and enjoyed the show.

We have been to the Zoo a few more times, getting some good use of our family pass. Looking at the animals in the late afternoon is really great because the Zoo is empty. You really can get up close to the animals and not worry about blocking other people. Plus it's easy to keep tabs on our kids. 

 Cheers to Autumn for being so beautiful!

Summer 2011

 I know, I'm a blog slacker. My excuse is I have just been playing too much with my little family. We had a great summer! We kicked it off by finishing our backyard. Scott and I decided that since we had an important occasion, we ought to finish our backyard. We went from weeds to grass and a playground in 8 days flat. The deadline was Lincoln's baby blessing. It was really a lot of work including: building a fence-leveling dirt- moving rocks- putting in a sprinkling system- laying sod- trampoline hole digging- trampoline assembling- playground assembling- ground cover spreading-  rubber mulch laying-, but oh so worth it! Now the kids have a safe place to play and we don't need to worry about them getting lost in the neighborhood.

Lincoln's baby blessing turned out well. Family came from out of town and stayed with us. We enjoyed the nice day and the togetherness time.

A few days after Lincoln's baby blessing, we went to Yellowstone for a week and rented a condo. Just being together and in nature was loads of fun. Sterling turned 2 years old there and we had a little celebration for him. We went miniature golfing for his special day, and of course looked at some bison and bears.

After we came back, we had to start getting ready for our Fish Lake Trip with Scott's family. We pulled out our trailer and decided that if a better trailer for the right price came up, we would replace it. It turns out we found this beauty on our anniversary and decided to jump on the deal. Much to our delight, it made camping really fun. We enjoyed hanging out in our trailer much more because of room to roam. Fishing was great also. We ended up throwing back several fish because there were already plenty. Our brother in law caught a Tiger Muskie fish as big as Sterling! Fun times!

For my birthday, we went to lunch at Buca de Beppo. Scott then let me go on a kid-less shopping spree for a few hours. I had several calls and notes from loved ones which helped add to the specialness.

We then just had a great time going around town and seeing what it had to offer. We went to arcades, the Zoo, Thanksgiving Point Gardens and museum,  the Aquarium, Clark Planetarium, Snowbird, Heritage Park, Lagoon, and Tracy Aviary. With Scott working for himself, we really have some flexibility. It's been a wonderful summer, too bad it's over!

Code Adam

I just experienced something more scary than any haunted house I've ever been to. Something that I would not care to repeat in this life ever. Never ever again. We had just finished a nice random dinner out with the family last Tuesday. We happened to be driving past a large WalMart on our way home.  Thinking to myself that we could really use another bookshelf, I suggested that we stop.  We went in and didn't find what we were looking for, but that is beside the point. I remember Sterling getting restless and wanting down from the cart. Makayla begged to hold his hand and stay with him.  I was keeping my eye on them while Scott was pushing the cart with Lincoln.  The only thing was Makayla thought it was so fun to run away with her brother and play hide and seek while we were supposed to be staying together. I was actually chasing them trying to round them back up when Sterling darted out of sight in the men's clothing area. I helplessly doubled back and forth around the aisles and racks with Makayla following me. A gentleman noticed my franticness and joined in the search for Sterling. On one last hope I went to find Scott (who was now checking out) just hoping and praying to myself that Sterling was with him. (Makayla still following me). Well I did find Scott and Sterling was not in sight. My heart sank. My little boy was lost in a SuperWalMart. Fantastic. We told the checker and she suggested I go to Customer Service. I ran over there and explained the situation and described Sterling (2 year old blond boy, tan pants, plaid shirt, sandals). Then came the guy on the speaker "Code Adam, Code Adam." And he described what Sterling looked like. While they locked down the doors, my mind was racing. "What if some crazy person kidnapped him? Will he be found? Will I see him again? I can't believe this is happening to me!!!" All the while I was praying as hard as I could that we could be reunited. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, a sweet Asian lady brought Sterling in her arms up to me in the front of the store. I thanked her and hugged her twice through my tears. I am SOOOO glad that she was honest and helpful and in the right place at the right time. I was completely relieved, finally. As for the Code Adam, I don't think I'll be letting Sterling out of the cart any time soon. And even then, I'll have to keep him under my wing.

New Baby!

Introducing:



Lincoln Scott Paxton

Born: March 5, 2011

Time: 5:36 p.m.

Weight: 7 pounds 6 ounces

Length: 21 inches

Well, now that little Lincoln is 10 days old, it's time to update my blog. We were officially due on March 4th. My doctor was on call on Saturday March 5th and thought inducing me would be a good way to spend her weekend so she talked me into it. I was on a list to go in at 8am to Intermountain Medical Center, but at 7am I had to call to confirm the appointment. The nurses said that there were no available rooms at that time and to call back at 10 am.  They ended up calling me at 9:45 am and told me to be there by 10:30 am.  By the time we got the kids ready and dropped off at my parents, it was 11:15am, so we had missed the "ideal time" of the hospital being ready. 3 other pregnant ladies in labor also walked in behind me and, of course, they got to go first, which is understandable.  I offered to come back on Monday, but the staff was convinced that in another hour they would be able to get me in. They gave Scott and me some coupons toward meals at the cafeteria and told us to go hang out for an hour and a half.  Scott and I had a nice meal in the cafeteria and were back at the delivery floor at 1pm. The staff told us to go walk around for another 45 minutes and then come back. We were back at 1:45 and they were just finishing up preparing our room. At 2 pm we were admitted to room 18 and they started the petocin. At 3 pm my Dr. came and broke my water. I was definitely grateful to get the epidural then. At 5:36 pm our new baby was born. It was such a smooth delivery, 3.5 hours was a breeze compared to Makayla (23 hours). I'm so glad things went smoothly with zero complications. We were definitely blessed. He came out howling which was great! He is so calm now though. He only gets upset when we are bathing him or changing his bum. When he's hungry, he mostly just grunts to let us know. He is a great baby!

Baby Lincoln

Thanks to my mom and dad for taking the kids while we stayed at the hospital.

Lincoln's Mama

Lincoln and big sister Makayla

Big brother Sterling who found the chocolate milk powder and enjoyed himself.

I opted to not to set up messy boy for a picture with Lincoln.

Thank you family and friends for thinking of us and little Lincoln.

We appreciate your thoughtfulness!

Random Update

I know, I know that I have been a slacker with the blogging. But at-least it hasn't been a whole year yet. I do know that there have been a few things on my mind that have kept me from blogging. The first thing is my work. I had to gear up and prepare to take a college exam called the Praxis II in the Middle School Language Arts field. After 9 years of teaching in the Granite District, this is the thanks I get.... To have to prove myself as a "highly qualified" teacher.  Needless to say, I studied my butt off! I studied for 3 solid months. This was pretty challenging learning and reviewing things from 7th, 8th, and 9th grade curriculums when I teach my seventh grade resource classes on about a 5th grade level.  But, wahoo, it paid off! I had to get a score of 155 out of 200. I ended up earning a 172 out of 200. I feel great about that! Out of the 7 special ed teachers at my school, only 2 of us have passed it so far. The others are retaking it again because our principal has told us that if we don't pass it by June, then he will replace us with "highly qualified" teachers. There ought to be some sort of "grandfather clause" of people that have been teaching for awhile, but so far, there's not.  I took the test January 15th and found out my score on February 15th. I also know that the Holy Ghost definitely supported me through this test; thank you !!!!

Another thing on my mind is this baby boy that is soon to be joining us! I'm due March 4th, but I really don't know how long he will stay in there. As of today, I'm dilated to a 3.5 and 90% effaced, so really, any time.....Good thing my lessons are done and ready for school. I'm planning on taking off about 7 weeks.

Scott's parents arrived at the MTC on Monday of this week. They have been called to serve in the Seminary and Institute Mission of Frankfurt, Germany. They will be an asset, helping to balance the books and keep the budgets in check. It'll be weird not to be able to see them for 18 months, but I guess we'll just have to settle for Skype and talk online and through email.  I know they will have the time of their lives.  So that's what's been going on with us.  I will have to update November, December, January, and February at a later date.