Payden . . . Cute or Gross?!?

Payden is such a cuddle bug. In fact, the girls and I call her "Huggy Bear" because she loves to cuddle with people. I absolutely love it. It feels so good to sit and cuddle with her.

With Mom

With Nana and Papa

With Joel

It's hard to believe that such a cute girl can also be SSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOO gross . . .


She loves to play with her food. A few days ago, she was squawking that she was all done with breakfast. I looked up and she was dipping her hands in her leftover cereal milk and then grabbing her hair and pulling the milk through all of her hair. She then redipped her hands and grabbed her hair; and then she did it again and again and again and again. Yuck!!! This is why she gets a bath only after she's done with breakfast.

Shelby's First Day of Kindergarten

(This is the picture her teacher took at school.)

Today was a day that I felt was far away. It seemed years before we'd get to this day, and yet I find myself here . . . on Shelby's first day of kindergarten. She's been ready; it's just Tom and I. It's hard to believe that she's all grown up and ready to go to school.

The morning actually went smoothly. We'd been practicing getting up and bathing quickly for a week, so it was no problem doing it again today. Then while Shelby and Taylor ate breakfast, I made her lunch, which we'd planned the night before. Then it was 7:30 and time to go. Tom came with us to see her off. Because it was so busy, he dropped Shelby and I off. We got to the cafeteria and found her class. I told her to give me a hug goodbye, which she did. She then went over to her teacher. Her teacher told her to say goodbye, so she reached her hand in my direction and sort of looked over her shoulder at me and gave me a very quick goodbye and that was it. She was done with me, and ready to be at school.

Now I haven't shed any tears although there have been plenty of moments when they've welled up (like when we met her teacher last Friday and walked around the school for a bit). I thought maybe today I might cry, but I didn't. As I walked to the car I wondered if I'd done everything to prepare her. If I had taught her to do what's right and how to stand up for herself and so many things . . .

(Scanning the driveway . . . trying to find us.)

Well, I was excited to pick her up to see how her day had gone. I could tell she was looking for me and couldn't understand why I hadn't picked her up sooner; apparently she thought I'd be there the moment school ended. Her teacher told me that she'd been a good helper, which wasn't a surprise because she really is a good helper. She enjoys it a lot.

(She finally found us!!)

In the car she told me everything. How she sat quietly while the teacher talked, but she did talk once while the teacher was talking . . . only once though. How she was shy about the boys, but not the girls (Tom told her that was fine with him). How she met Laura and Taylor . . . Taylor Shepard that is . . . and Adiana (not Adrianna like her friend from church, but A-Di-ana). How there was another girl who liked carrots and grapes like Shelby. How she didn't really get to do anything on the computer.

(Our BIG girl!!)

At one point she told me how they were lining up in order (they were each given a number . . . hers is 8). Well the boy who was number 7 pushed her and said, "You're not my friend." As soon as she told me this, I was eager to hear how she handled it. She used to be really sensitive about stuff like that. I'd hoped that a few years with Taylor would have toughened her up, but wasn't sure. She told me that after he pushed her, she thought, "I'm not standing by you because I'm your friend. I'm standing by you because we're lining up like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. . . . She said then she went and told her teacher and she got back in line and he didn't push her again. I was quite proud of her. Although I must admit, I wish she had actually told the boy what she had thought . . . that she was only lining up by him because she had to and not because she wanted to. Tom told her she should have pushed him or slapped him back. She told him no because she wanted to get a smiley face for good behavior. He tried to tell her that she could call him names or say mean things to him, but she told him again that she wanted to get a smiley face for the day. I told her she could just tell him not to push her and then tell the teacher like she did. Tom finally told her that she should tell the boy that her dad was going to beat up his dad. Poor Tom. If he could protect her from everything, he would. She handled things well though.

(Throwing a fit because she REALLY wanted her shoes off. She is a flip-flop girl, so this whole shoes and socks things . . . in Texas . . . is just miserable.)

There was another time she told me how they were lining up for class and some boys were being goofy in the line. She continued on, but after a few minutes Taylor interrupted. It went something like this . .

I said, "What, Taylor?"

"No, Mom. Not you. Shelby." (Ouch)

"What, Taylor?" said Shelby.

"Shelby, did you tell those boys to stop it?"

"No."

"You need to tell them to stop it."

I thought it was hilarious. I can see it now. The kids in Taylor's kindergarten class had better watch out because she's gonna keep them all in line. I thought it was too cute.

Anyways, it was a great day. Shelby did well. Taylor did well despite the fact that last week she tried to hide the card with Shelby's teacher's name on it in the hopes that Shelby wouldn't be able to go to Kindergarten. We had "Taylor's School" in the afternoon before we got Shelby, which I think helped Taylor not feel so lonely, which is what she's been worried about. It really was a great day, and I look forward to this year and the exciting things that come with school.

7 Facts about Me

My friend Jamie tagged me to do this, so here goes . . .

1. I am a nerd. I don't like to be called a nerd, but I have always done well in school. I was Salutatorian of my high school graduating class, and then I graduated cum laude from BYU. I love learning new things and somehow seem to remember lots of random facts that I read.

2. I love music. At the age of 5 I started playing the piano. I took lessons until I graduated high school. I participated in some piano competitions (not tons because I don't have the nerve to compete) as well as took music theory tests annually. I also sang in choir from 6th grade to 12th grade. I really do love music. Whenever I need to get away from everything, playing the piano or singing one of my favorite songs always lifts me up.

3. I skiied off a cliff once. I had only been skiing a few times when I went with Tom and my friend Lindsey to Sundance. They took me up to a blue for my first time. The trail wrapped around the side of the mountain so that on one side the moutain went up, and on the other side of the trail the mountain went down . . . the cliff. I was trying to zigzag as I had been taught, but the trail wasn't wide enough and I didn't know how to zigzag small enough. I didn't turn in time and went over the cliff. Fortunately I was going slowly and the cliff was only about 40 ft as the trail wrapped back down below. I landed about halfway down, sat for awhile to calm down, and then scooted the rest of the way to the trail below. I skiied some more that day, but the real test was the next time I skiied months after the incident. I remember sitting at the top of a hill at Brian Head ski resort . . . crying. Tom was a big help and helped me get down the mountain. It's not a problem any more, but I definitely do NOT recommend skiing off a cliff. It does make for a great story though. :)

4. I was a 6th grade English teacher for 2 years. I got my bachelors in Elementary Education and my minor in Computer Science Education. I taught in the same school district that I went to growing up, and even taught with a teacher who had been my 6th grade science teacher. The principal of my school happened to be the mother of a boy I went to Prom and Homecoming with in high school. I really loved teaching, despite the fact that English is not my favorite subject and sometimes the kids can be punks.

5. I love organization. I really LOVE organizing. My closet now is organized by collared shirts, shirts, T-shirts, winter shirts, etc. I used to even have it organized by color as well, but decided that was a little much. I don't always have everything as organized as I would like, but I love organization, and it makes me feel good. I'm even passing it on to my girls as we have our playroom organized with everything having a certain place it belongs.

6. I am a number person. I love numbers and math. In junior high and high school, I made 100 or more every grading period (except once I had a 99) in all of my math classes. I was also 1 question away from having a perfect math SAT score. I just love numbers. I could do math all the time. In fact, I've had the opportunity to tutor 4 of the YW & YM in our ward in math, and it was so much fun. They felt indebted to me . . . they just didn't realize how much I enjoyed it because I love math that much.

7. I love reading. I don't read often because then I get nothing done, and my girls don't get enough attention. Lately, I read Harry Potter books 6 & 7 in 4 days (which is quite a feat for a mother of 3). I was one of those kids who you'd find reading in bed until all hours of the night. It's so relaxing to be curled up in a book.

4 Things

My friend Jaime tagged me to do this a bit ago, so here goes . . .

4 Jobs I've had:
1. Office Manager at a energy industry staffing service
2. 6th Grade English teacher
3. Research Assistant for a Study on Missions
4. Secretary at BYU's Department of Sociology

4 Movies I can watch anytime:
1. The Bourne Movies
2. Batman Begins
3. Ocean's Eleven
4. National Treasure

4 Places I have lived:
1. San Antonio, TX
2. Houston, TX
3. Richmond, TX
4. Orem, UT

4 TV shows I love:
1. The Avatar
2. Burn Notice
3. Iron Chef America
4. Project Runway

4 Foods I love:
1. Brownies
2. Homemade Pizza
3. Pototo-Cheese Chowder
4. Fajitas

4 Websites I visit daily:
1. E-mail
2. Blogs
3. That's it. Don't have much time to spend online.

4 Places I'd rather be:
1. Done with dental school!!
2. On vacation with Tom and the girls
3. Europe
4. Doing anything with Tom and the girls

Summer of '07

All in all, this was a pretty stressful summer. Although it was such a relief to finally be done with Tom's 2nd year of school and move onto clinic, summer clinic and the Dental Boards Part I really didn't allow for us to destress. By the time Tom finished his boards, he had 1 week before school started, where he was thrown into clinic to fend for himself.
Despite all the stress, we were able to have some good times here and there. Here are some pictures from our summer.

Shelby has enjoyed grabbing the camera and snapping away. She also stops, often, to take a few self-portraits. She's a funny girl.

Shelby took this . . . not bad for a 5 year old.

Shelby lost her 2nd tooth.

Playing Mario Double Dash with Dad.

Goofing around after eating some delicious chocolate (see the mustache).

My messy girl!!

Stealing Cousin Avery's bottle . . . and of course Avery stole Payden's sippy cup.

Everyone else's stuff is always better.

My sister Angela made these bags for the girl. Payden took one look at the bag, snatched it out of Angela's hands, and put it around her neck like a necklace. It was hilarious.

Payden is quite the goofball. She loves to say "cheese" and then this is the goofy face that goes along with it. She will then look around trying to get everyone to look at her and laugh. She loves making everyone laugh and will repeat something over and over again just for the laughs.