A Trip to Utah

On Thursday Oct 15th Daxton and I headed out to UT to be there for the birth of Peyton, Court and Joe's first baby, and to catch up with old friends. We flew Jet Blue and luckily I was informed of the wonder drug called "Melatonin" prior to our flight. I gave it to Dax before we took off and while he had a total MELTDOWN in the airport waiting to board the plane, he konked out as soon as we were seated and slept like a ragdoll the ENTIRE flight! It was so wonderful! We arrived in UT around 10:30pm and mom and dad were so sweet to come pick us up and take us to their house where we would be staying for the remainder of the trip.

The very next day Courtney's friend, Kari (who I recommend HIGHLY), cut and colored my hair into an actual style! My hair has been so extremely out of one for some time that it felt so good to chop it all off and start out fresh again.

That night it was off to the Ballash home to scrapbook our Guatemala trip and talk each others' ears off. Unfortunately I got so involved in the talking and catching up that I did hardly anything as far as scrapbooking goes. But it was such a fun night!

Me, Mom, and Dax played throughout the weekend with Court as now she is officially finished with work and we tried prompting Peyton to come soon, but not until after the baby shower on Tuesday.

Sunday was the Spencer family dinner over at Ryan and Ashley's place. We had Empanadas and Cheesecake for dessert. We talked, oo-ed and ah-ed over all the amazing Halloween decor, and watched "Edward Scissorhands". It's always so fun to get together with the family.

Monday Mom, Court, Dax and I went to Pine Needles and drooled over all their amazing fabric. Court got some fat squares for Etsy projects and I purchased a jelly roll of Moda's Figgy Pudding line to put together a Christmas throw. I love fabric! (Chantel, I blame you for this). Then we went and stopped off at Cafe Rio (oh how I've missed you!) to grab some lunch and headed back to Mom's to hang out the rest of the day.

Dax kissing "baby" in Court's belly.

Tuesday, Oct 20th, we got ready for Courtney's openhouse style shower for friends and family. Dax even pitched in and helped where he was able ;)

We had a wonderful turn out! We had so many friends come that we used to work with several years ago and it was so much fun catching up and seeing where everyone is at and what they're up to today. I'm very disappointed in myself, but unfortunately this is the only picture of the shower I have.

On Wednesday Daxton had his 18 month checkup with his doctor (only 2 months late) and the doctor was very pleased with his growth and development. Here are his stats:

Weight: 26lbs 10oz = 45th percentile

Length: 34 1/2" = 90th percentile

Head Circ: (didn't get the cm's) = 90th percentile

So he's still tall and skinny, but now with a big head ;) He got 4 shots (one being the flu shot). He cried and said "Owie!" while they were doing it, but once they stuck those little band-aid dots on him he was fine and in awe at the stickers on his legs.

Previously in the week my friend, Brooke, who was originally due with her baby boy on Halloween, had her baby. So on Thursday the 22nd, Courtney and I went to visit her and see her new little bundle of joy. He is so cute and how peaceful he seemed! Mom and baby were doing great and I was so excited she had him before I had to leave back home so that I was able to sneak a peak.

On Friday I had my old college friend Michelle and her little boy Brody come over to my parents' house for a play date. We ate pizza and talked while the boys played and it was so much fun to catch up!

Brody and Dax

(We tried several times to get us all in a picture, but my arms just aren't long enough).

Poor Brody was so tired and wasn't wanting to "cheese it" for any pictures. So Dax made up for it by saying "cheese" to EVERY picture and then some.

Courtney still hadn't had Peyton (not that she was due until Sunday the 25th) so Dax and I decided to go see what grandma and grandpa Ballash were up to.

Daxton got to meet their 9 chickens and Grandpa let him feed them oats. Dax thought that was all sorts of fun!

Sunday the 25th came and went and Courtney still didn't have Peyton. But early the next morning we got a call that Courtney's water had broken and she was off to the hospital! Mom and I dropped off Daxton to the Ballashs, who were so sweet and willing to watch him, and went to the hospital to await the arrival of baby Peyton. Unfortunately, due to the numerous cases of the flu this season, rules were that each patient was only allowed 2 visitors in the entire hospital at any one time. And the dad even counted as one of those visitors.

So after going in and seeing Courtney to tell her good luck, I headed back to pick up Daxton as I wasn't even allowed to wait in the waiting room. I kept everybody up to date and later that afternoon started coming down with a scratchy throat. I thought I was getting a cold and knew that I'd probably not get to meet Peyton. I was so bummed! Peyton Jade finally arrived at 6:27pm that evening (Oct 26th) weighing in at 7lbs 14 oz and measured 21 1/2" long. While I didn't get to be there, my mom went and took some pictures with my camera so I could see her and also post them for all of you to see :)

Proud new Mommy

She has dark hair and is so precious! She looks a lot like Courtney's baby pictures.

The next couple days were kinda boring because I had a cold so had to stay home while my mom went and helped out Courtney and ran other errands. But on Thursday I was feeling a lot better so Court allowed me to come over to see the baby as long as I didn't hold her.

She is absolutely beautiful and I was so excited to get to see her before I left back to California. I forget how tiny they are at first.

Daxton enjoying an ice-cream cone that night...compliments of Nana.

While in UT Greg and I decided that we will be moving back there and staying with his parents in their basement for a while. So arrangements were made with my parents to keep Daxton for a few nights while I flew home and then drove back with Greg.

So, Friday around 5pm MST I flew by myself back to Long Beach California and arrived at 5:30pm PST (Aw, that lovely time difference). Greg was there to pick me up and it was SOOOO good to see him. It's been like a little vacation for us not having Dax and that night we went to dinner and a movie. It's like dating all over again!

It's so good to be back with you, Greg!