Taylor Swift!

What a great surprise Shaye gave me this year for our anniversary. Well he gave it to me for our anniversary but he said he was going to do it anyways. Shaye and my brother-in-law Jerron had apparently been conspiring together to do something nice for their wives during hunting season since they are gone so much. I must say I was happy they were even thinking this way:) Anyways they decided to get mikkel and I tickets to the Taylor Swift concert! I was so surprised and excited, I do love Taylor Swift but I would have never got tickets on my own so it was so nice of Shaye to do something for me. The best part was I would be going with my sisters, Emily came too she already had a ticket and would be sitting with some of our cousins. It was perfect, Em came up and we all drove up together.

Sydney, Kenzie, me and Em getting excited!!

Getting some dinner before the big show.

My close up with Taylor:)

Getting anxious for the show to start, it seemed to take forever between the opening group.

Then finally she appeared, ha ha:) We had great seats on the floor. We were towards the back which was fabulous cause she had a little stage in the middle back, like 10 feet from us where she came and sang 4 songs!!

Here she is on the stage right by us! Maybe I sound like I'm 12 but I really like her. I thought she did a great job and she really seems like a very nice good person. So I guess I appreciate her being a decent person that young girls can look up to:)

Mikkel enjoying the show. Now Mikkel, well she is known for her good luck at concerts getting to meet the performer or getting free tickets or something and so of course when Taylor was walking back to the main stage she walked right past us and Mikkel went up and stuck out her arms and Taylor came and totally hugged her! Not just a brief half hearted hug but a full on two arm squeeze, ha ha. Yes I know now I really do sound like I'm 12. See the video at the end of the post to watch. I was videoing when she came over and hugged her but you don't see the hug cause right when she came over of course there was a lot of pushing from the people around me and I lose my view:( But you can see her and you get the idea.

It really was a great show, it wasn't just her singing on the stage it was quite a major production lots of special effects and stuff.

She came right by us again during her last song as she went around the arena on this thing.

Yes it was quite a show. Thanks Shaye for letting me go!! It was just fun to be with my sisters and hang out. Since we were up in Salt Lake Mikkel got us a seat in the audience for Good Things Utah the next morning. It was fun and interesting to see how that all works and if you were watching that day you would have seen Mikkel and Emily on t.v. for a few seconds.

Us with all the girls after the show.

On our way out of town we met up with Brandon for some ice cream and some good conversation. It was fun to be with my siblings, so glad we are all good friends and enjoy spending time together. What a great trip! Plus I survived my first ever night away from Peyton! I missed him lots and was so happy to get back to him but glad he also survived without me, although I'm sure he missed me too:)

Lake Powell

We took a quick trip to Lake Powell last minute last week. Shaye decided to go with a guy from work that had invited him but they would be staying all weekend and Shaye had to work Saturday and Sunday. So he went with them early Thursday morning and then Peyton and I went and picked him up on Friday. Since we were there I decided to take a little picnic and we would have a little lunch on the beach and let Peyton play in the sand. I didn't know how it would go or if Peyton would like it but it turned out to be a great time. We stayed even longer than I thought we would, Peyt was loving it and it was so nice and relaxing.

Isn't it so pretty?! This was off the back of the boat. Shaye said they mostly fished but he also did a lot of wake boarding and was way sore the next day, he's just getting to be an old man!:)

So we set up our little shade tent and enjoyed a nice little lunch. Peyton loved dipping his crackers in the sand and then eating them, silly boy loves the taste of dirt I guess.

Don't they look so relaxed? Man this is the life!

I was kind of surprised how much Peyton liked it, he wasn't scared at all he just headed right in.

He liked when the little waves would come up past him. I had to stay close by to keep him from diving right in.

Peyt's favorite way to have a drink is a cap full of water, got to stay hydrated on a hot day:)

What a great day we had. To bad summer is over so we won't be able to enjoy a day like that til next year. I bet Peyton will enjoy it even more next year:)

Bonus shot, just to cute not to post:)

Peyton's Frist Birthday!

Look who turned ONE!! This was taken on his birthday at the exact time that he was born a year earlier!!

Wow you sure have changed a lot over the past year and our lives have been changed forever too. The past year has been crazy with many ups and downs. I remember the days I thought I would never get a good nights sleep again. Now you sleep like a champ for 10 to 12 hours a night!!! Nothing is better than that:)

Here's Peyton all ready for his big party, just waiting his guests to arrive.

The first guest to arrive was GG, Peyton sure looks happy to see her. They enjoyed a lot of good play time together.

Let the party begin! So glad it turned out to be a nice day. I was worried it might rain but it was perfect.

I had to take a picture of his cake before it was frosted in case it didn't turn out. I am good at a lot of things but one thing I am not good at is decorating cakes. So lucky for me Mikkel is really good at that kind of stuff she saved the day and made it look cute!

Here come the presents! It was a little overwhelming for Peyton, (and me) but he did enjoy it and he got SO many fun new things. I have had to clear out more space in the closet so all the new things don't take over the family room.

Peyton had lots of helpers to get the job done. These were some old pros at the present opening business and they showed Peyton how it is done. Thanks Nate, Traj and Tav!

Checking out the cool new cars.

Shaye the garbage man taking care of all that warping paper.

Even CeCe wanted to check out the new toys.

The before pic...

Peyton all ready to dig into his cake...well sort of.

.Peyton liked the frosting..

...but that is all. Shaye broke off some cake and put it in his mouth and he threw it on the ground. He didn't care for it much and couldn't quite understand why we were all making such a fuss taking pictures, videoing and trying to get him to stuff his face. It didn't last to long and he was done.

The after photo. Not to much damage, he really wasn't digging it.

He did love playing with all of his grandparents. They were growling at eachother, which is one of Peyton's most favorite things to do. Gramps isn't to bad at it either, looks pretty scary.

Silly guys.

It was a wonderful day and we were so glad that so much of our family could spend it with us. I really can't believe a year has gone by and Shaye and I are so grateful to have sweet Peyton in our family. He really does bring us so much joy, we love watching him learn and discover new things. Which it seems like all the sudden he is learning and figuring things out at a extremely faster rate just in the past two weeks! He has taken his first steps and is busier than ever. I can't wait for what the next year holds, we love you Peyton!!

BFR 2011

A highlight of every summer is the annual Brown Family Reunion. It is something always looked forward to and this year was no exception! It was a fabulous weekend and we had a blast visiting with everyone, enjoying some great food and fun! This year was extra special because we were celebrating Grandpa Brown's 80th birthday. We are so lucky to still have him with us and we had a great time celebrating his life.

To kick off the festivities we enjoyed a dip in the pool.

Peyton did not want to pause for a picture, he just wanted to get in that water!

He was off exploring everything on land as well. He looked like a little stink bug crawling every where with his bum in the air.
This was the perfect little spot for him, just the right amount of water and it kept him contained...until someone wanted to come down the slide then he got a big splash of water:)

Peyton headed around the lazy river with Gramps and Shaye with McKay chasing them from behind.

Always a good game of basketball.

Nate right where he likes to be, with all the girls:)

After the pool it was off to Grandma's for some fun in the backyard. Here is Shaye putting some serious effort into the party hat contest.

Every family made a hat for Grandpa to pick his favorite for the party. Everyone was so creative.

Grandpa sporting the nice crown we made him (well Shaye pretty much made it:)

Peyton and his new best friend. Peyt and Uncle McKay really hit it off and became fast friends.

My fam vs. Brant's family in the finals of Brown Family trivia about Grandpa. We were so close but Brant pulled out the win right at the end.

Peyton and his Auntie Ems ready to head to the big birthday party.

Us with Brittany and cute little Bridger so glad we got to spend lots of time with them...Aren't you glad you stayed Britt:) ha ha

Peyton had a great time exploring everything.

After dinner Natalie had put together a nice program where each family covered a decade of Grandpa's life. Each had someone dress like Grandpa during that era and then the family did a lip sync performances off a famous song from that time. It was pretty funny to see what every family came up with. Here are a couple of my favorites:)

Caiden stole the show when he came out in this get up. You can't quite see the picture on the slide show in the back ground but there was a picture of Grandpa Brown with some friends after they had gone swimming and this was what Grandpa was wearing. It was pretty funny and had us all asking, Grandpa what were you wearing?!

Brant's family also did a good job, he grew out his sideburns and such to look like Grandpa from his era, and I must say he really did look the part:)

Here is our family doing a little hula to Kokomo from the 80's.

It really was so fun to see what everyone planned I wish I would've got pictures of everyone.

On Sunday night we enjoyed a slideshow of reunions pasts in my parents backyard. Peyton enjoyed stacking cups with Grandma. I just love my Grandparents and can't even thank them enough for there great example and all they do, they are the most amazing people ever!!

Roasting mallows

Peyton and cute little Blake playing so nice enjoying all of Nate's toys.

Bath time with Tavin

Tav found his musical talents and was quite pleased with himself:)

All the boys were loving there time with Gramps Brown. He spent the whole day with them Monday playing outside and they were loving it! He is a great wrestling buddy and there was plenty of that going on.

Thanks Dad for entertaining the boys, they loved it!!