April 2013

Ahh, April.  You were full of family events on the Paxton side.  First off, Uncle Ron and Aunt Karen Paxton got sealed in the Brigham City Temple.  It was a cold and windy day, but the inside of the temple was breathtaking and warm with its pale blues and gentle greens adorning the fixtures.  Ron and Karen have been married awhile, and decided that it's time to get sealed after all these years.  There was a gathering after at their home in Perry where I met some of Scott's cousins for the first time. Thanks to my mom for watching our kids.



Ron and Karen



The men and Grandma Paxton

The ladies

 Next up, we headed down to Cedar City to celebrate my father-in-law, Marv's birthday.  Marv is a wonderful guy and so much fun to be around.  He is always good at making people smile and has a great personality.  The adults went to a fancy restaraunt up the canyon called Milt's.  Afterall, it was his 65th birthday! Then we ate cake and ice cream with everyone at Scott's brother Bryan & Candi's home after.

 

Scott's Grandpa Hayes (his mom's dad) passed away on April 22, 2013.  He was 82 years old and living in Swan Lake, Idaho.  Sad to say, we were not very close to him because Scott's grandparents were divorced when Scott was a teenager.  We were much closer to his grandma, who died in 2007, when Makayla was 8 months old.  We went up to Idaho for the funeral and visited Grandma Hayes' grave in Logan on the way.  Grandma Hayes was upbeat and loved to go camping and boating with our family. She was a joy to be around.

We saw Grandpa Hayes probably 3 or 4 times ever in the 10 years we have been married.  He came to our wedding, we saw him in Cedar City passing through once, another time at the airport, and Scott visited him with his parents 2 weeks ago when we found out he was dying.

Grandpa Robert Hayes



I just love the carefree lifestyle this picture portrays!

 Swan Lake, population 84, is where the funeral took place.  Basically you drive 50 minutes northeast from Logan, to the sticks, a tiny town where if you blink on the highway, you would miss it.  And no, there is not a lake in that part of the country. The church was so miniature! It was probably 1/4 the size of a normal gym, 1/4 the size of a chapel, and a couple of classrooms and a mini-kitchen.  But the yard was very impressive! They had a swingset and a playground and horses sharing a fence. My kids were in absolute heaven there. And the funeral was good besides Lincoln, who is very hard to manage in church these days.

Some of Grandpa's friends loaded him up in a horse and buggy and gave him a ride to the cemetary in style where he received a special military gun salute for his service in the Navy.

We took several photos that afternoon, because with people living several states away, we won't see them again anytime soon.  Not the most formal pictures since our kids had already changed into playclothes.


Scott's mom Vickie and her brothers Bobby, Larry, and Mike.

I came across some old photos on the display table at the funeral that I was excited about because there are not that many photos of Scott in his younger years. Here are Brian, Christie, and Scott on their grandpa's horse.  Scott is the youngest child in his family.

Scott is the littlest kid on the right.

Everyone from Scott's family stayed at our house the next night on their way back to Cedar City. That is 13 extra people!

Some other events from this month were:

 Going to the library for some more story and art time,

 Getting the kids a random balloon one day,

Having lunch at Grandma Diane's house,

Looking at the baby chickens at Cal Ranch,

And popping a tire on the freeway!

I wouldn't care to repeat getting a flat tire on the freeway ever again. It was pretty scary! We were close to home and we heard a loud POP! We asked Makayla what that was and of course, she didn't know. Then we started going on the off-ramp to our exit, 2000 East, when our car started uncontrollably shaking. We knew we had to pull off the side of the freeway right  then. Sure enough, the tire was completely f-l-a-t-. If you look towards the left there is a huge gash in the bottom.  Pulled off the side of the road is also where we discovered that we didn't have a spare tire, nor is there a place for a spare tire, since it's a hybrid car and the battery takes up the entire undercarriage of it..  Yeah, so we had to call a tow truck, to tow the Tahoe about 1 mile to Big-O-Tires. And the kids and I started walking home up the exit ramp.  Well, wouldn't you know it, a very sweet old man picked us up and gave us a ride home.  Yup, parent of the year right here, no kids in car seats, and Lincoln on my lap in the front seat, since the man had some other things in the backseat of his car.  I was so grateful for him and his willingness to be our angel that night. We could have walked the 1.5 miles, but it was cold and we didn't have jackets, and there are some crazy intersections that I would have been nervous to cross with little kids, and it was all uphill.  Nice old man, I hope he gets a lot of blessings.  I did google the spare tire thing with the 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, and I guess they just throw in a can of fix-it-flat and call it good.  That makes no sense to me and I am surprised we had not thought about that in the year and a half of owning that car. Wow, I am so glad that we didn't pop our tire in the middle of nowhere!

At least we ended the month doing something fun.  We met my sister Wendy and her family at Hollywood Connections and went miniature golfing, rode on some rides, and went to dinner after.  And Scott and I also got a babysitter and went on a date the next night to end the month right.

March 2013

Lincoln has grown up so much!

Happy Birthday to Lincoln who turned 2! He is a handful, but we love him. He is always getting into something if he is alone. He broke our sound system this month by unhooking the wires from the main speaker and connecting them in a different outlet, which fried the machine! Good thing he didn't get electrocuted! He is very snuggly and loves to be held.  He is also Mr. Independent sometimes.  He thinks he is big enough to do most things all by himself, even if it means making a big mess.  He is talking so much more and learning a lot. We are glad he is part of our family.

We met Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Maria, Uncle Dallin, and baby Phillip at Jungle Jims for the birthday celebration. Then at home, Lincoln blew out his candles and opened his presents.  He had some fun Disney gifts and books this year.

Next, we visited Grandpa Hebdon's grave for his birthday and brought Grandma a piece of birthday cake.  We watched some home videos of Grandpa which were very touching, like he composed a song for Grandma at their 50th wedding celebration and sang it to her. So sweet!

Another day we visited one of our favorite parks, because it was such gorgeous weather.

We had lots of fun outside, just loving the sunshine! We have some gophers which are driving us nuts! Sterling and Lincoln were helping scoop up dirt from one of the gopher holes in our yard.

Makayla was chosen as Student of the Month by her teacher, Miss Pulley.  She was chosen for being a good friend to everyone in class and especially the new kids.  She is quick to include them and make them feel welcome. She was also noted for always following directions quickly. Yaaay, Makayla!

She also got to go to a carnival put on by the 6th graders. She happily paid to have her nails and face painted.

For Saint Patrick's Day, I made my first ever batch of corned beef and cabbage. I had to consult my mom on that one, but it was fabulous! Definitely doing that again.

The leprechauns  brought some cupcakes for the kids.

Makayla was thrilled about this hat she made at school, and when she was gone to recess, the leprechauns shrunk it, filled it with candy, and messed up their classroom. Makayla is a believer, thanks to her preschool teacher Miss Shirley who instilled the magic in her. :)

I took the kids swimming after finding this note from Makayla.  How could I resist?

 (Sterling, I want you to come swim with me outside.)

I tried a community co-op food order thingie.  It seemed to be a decent value for what you got.

We attended the Hebdon Pie ~ Pi Party and that was enjoyable enough.

Finally, we fixed our trampoline.  Enough said there!

More art time at the library was in store.

We decided to play hard on Makayla's spring break from school.  We kicked it off by going to The Pizza Factory and Fat Cat's Arcade on Monday.  Our favorite thing there is a motion machine that takes you on a movement ride like a roller coaster or a car race.

Tuesday we went to Clark Planetarium and watched a cool butterfly movie.

Wednesday we went to Nickelmania, a monthly must for us game lovers!

Thursday was the Zoo!

Friday we took it easy and Saturday we went to the opening day of Lagoon!

Easter we enjoyed  even though Miss Makayla was so excited that she was up 1.5 hours earlier than normal and she woke up both her brothers too!  We had a nice morning and I made golden rod, so delicious! We went to church and then to dinner at my parents' house and enjoyed the cousins and an egg hunt.

Happy Springtime!