We're gonna party like it's your birfday!

Before I delve into the past, I'll start with an event from today. 

Peyton and I went for a long walk today. Despite the concrete-jungle-like surroundings and the fact that we were on our usual roadside route, I felt a bit pioneer-ish. Why? Well, first allow me to set the scene. Our usual route follows two major roads near our complex. It's a nice, winding sidewalk shaded by tall oak trees running alongside the street. On the other side of the sidewalk, there are a few open fields next to the American Airlines Center. After exorbitant amounts of rain (such as what we received earlier this week), the fields turn to marshes and parts of the sidewalk turn into lakes/rivers/ponds (depends on how much you like to exaggerate). So now you can picture it. As Peyton and I approached a humongous lake of a pond spanning a generous portion of the sidewalk, I thought to myself ... 

Can't go through it ...

Can't go under it ... 

Can't go above it ... 

Guess we better go around it! 

Unfortunately, on the right the water went clear to the street and on the left, there was a miniature gorge. I opted for the gorge. Just before heaving our double jogger across the gorge and through the stream, I spotted a coyote in the field. What draws these coyotes to the open, empty field surrounded by corporate offices? Who knows. As I pushed our double-wide, eyeing the coyote as he eyed me, I reminisced on youth treks of yore (the jogger felt oddly like a handcart, but with better handling and less weight). 

That story really had no point, but I really wanted to share it. 

Now for the good stuff -- Peyton's birthday! 

Everyone knows I don't celebrate birthDAYs, I'm all about the birthWEEKS! Birthdays should never be celebrated for less than a week. That's a fact. So, to kick off Peyton's birthweek, we went to the Dallas Zoo! Peyton loved feeding the goats in the children's petting zoo. He chased them around and yelled "goat!" The goats were justifiably scared out of their minds. 

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Let's flash forward to Peyton's birthDAY. We kicked off the morning with some cinnamon Cheerios (because Peyton REFUSES to eat plain ones), milk, and Peyton's favorite fruit: bananas.

Isn't he such a goofball? I love this kid. 

Then we headed out to our dog-crap infested grassy area to take some birthday pictures. Seriously, people should not be allowed to (1) live on their own, (2) own pets, property or vehicles, (3) eat anything but dog feces if they are too lazy to pick up after their stupid (but not as stupid as them) dog. And I WON'T step down from this soap box. These people LIVE in this complex! How can they care so little about their surroundings? If I knew the perpetrator, I would shovel every last bit of fecal matter and dump it on their carpet. Dis.gust.ing. It's seriously a minefield out there.

When the poop became too overwhelming and we realized there were no safe places on the grass, we headed out to the basketball and tennis courts. Thankfully, people don't let their pets poop there.

After a VERY sad morning at the doctors (50% in everything except for head circumference. Again. He likes to hover around 95% there. Anyone seen So I Married an Axe Murderer? "Look at the size of his head! It's like an orange on a tooth pick!"). Kiddo did great when the pricked his finger for the iron test. Didn't cry or wince! The three shots he had to get ... not so much. I will say, my son can KICK! Hard. To make up for the fact that I scheduled his well-baby appointment on his birthday (I know, bad mom), I took him to the park to play!

I sneaked Mr. P an Oreo while I frosted his cake. He loved it, of course.

Opening presents. Thanks Emily for being photographer! Sorry that since you did that, you're not in any of the pictures. =(

For some reason, Peyton really loves Brian. So much so, that he didn't want to sit with me while he opened presents (frankly, he wasn't all that interested in presents, period), he wanted to sit with Brian. 

Because of Peyton's obvious lack of present-opening interest, we had the other kiddos open his presents.

Peyton LOVED his cake. See for yourself!

"I'm one-year-old!"

Gonna put my hands up ... it's a party in the USA! 

Please, please! No more photos! 

I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed ...

Peyton's first spaghetti dinner! Peyton figured out the whole slurping-up-spaghetti-thing pretty quick! He made quite the mess and loved every minute of it. Yummy!

Picture update!

***Just a reminder before we begin: I'm deactivating my facebook and privatizing the blog come SATURDAY night. If you want to be added to the blog list and have NOT given me your email address, message/comment/facebook it to me! 

Peyton got a toothbrush from the dentist for his 9-month checkup. He LOVES brushing his teeth and watching us brush ours! Future dentist, maybe? He is a Young.   

We took family pictures at the Arboretum with the Tomaka family. It was beautiful AND a lot of fun! 

Peyton playing in the grassy field at the Arboretum. 

Family picture on the bench. Peyton is such a ham!

After church one Sunday. I think Peyton's face here is priceless. 

Grandma and Grandpa Condie and Uncle Seddi came to visit the weekend before Thanksgiving! 

Note to self: don't play airplane with Peyton after he's just consumed large quantities of food. You might get puked on. Nasty. 

After Peyton's bath time during Thanksgiving break. Peyton LOVES his bath time! 

Clockwise: Peyton, Unkie Collin ('s butt), Munkie Brady, Aunt Clare and Daniel
Thanksgiving break. I forgot to take pictures of all the awesome food we made. I suck.

For some reason, Peyton likes to lounge at the table like this. Though I wouldn't really call it "lounging," since he's folded in half. Frankly, it doesn't look comfortable at all! Nevertheless, he sat like this for his entire breakfast. 

Gross, right? Wanna know what's grosser? This was pulled out of Peyton's mouth. Still grosser: we couldn't find the legs.
I don't know how this creature made it into our apartment and into Peyton's mouth ... and let's be honest, I don't want to know any more of the story than what I've written here. 

Such a happy boy! 

Rat tail? I loved Peyton's long, curly hair. Dan kept asking me to cut it, but I refused. When it stopped curling at the back and started to look "girly," I finally caved. Now he looks like such a big boy!

Peyton with Great Grandpa Santa! 

At Great Grandpa Santa's apartment complex. 

Daniel's sugar cookie "masterpiece."

Peyton LOVES dogs. He even says "dog" more than he does "mama." He had so much fun with Shadow in Kansas! 

Grandma Nene opening presents. 

Daniel striking a Christmas pose. 

This is Brady's "man pose" since now he can "smell like a man. man." 

Daniel got me beautiful pearl earrings! I love pearls! 

Clare got lots of boots and tights for Christmas. 

Collin got every sort of toy gun you can imagine. 

Brady got a gag gift -- a clown. He's terribly afraid of clowns. 

Peyton liked to run off with the wrapping paper more than the gifts ... But by the time we got to El Paso, he had the hang of it. More or less. 

Family photo op on Christmas morning.

Peyton had his first candy bar while we were in Kansas. Milky Way. He went NUTS!

Grandpa's usual occupation. 

Mmm. Here's a doozy of a story. So we land in El Paso at 11:40 p.m. on the 26th. No bags come out the baggage claim. Neither does our car seat. So we go to find help from United. Huh. No United reps ANYWHERE. For two hours. That's right, we sat there with no way of getting our kiddo home and none of our checked baggage for TWO HOURS before a United rep showed up. Guess what they told us? Go buy a car seat and we'll reimburse you. At 1:30 a.m. So Dan's dad heads out to Walmart and picks one up. Good thing we got it, too, because some idiot left a giant pile of branches in THE MIDDLE OF THE FREEWAY. Oh, and United? No refund for our checked baggage. Nope, just a voucher for the WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD. I seriously hate United SO. MUCH. And the voucher wasn't even very much. 

After holding Peyton for nearly 5 hours straight (including the layover, flight and United debacle), I had to lay the poor baby down on the airport floor. 

This one's for Ross -- Peyton's wearing his Blink 182 onesie! 

Playing outside in El Paso.

Such a cutie pie. 

The cupboard Peyton ended up pinching his fingers in. I have no idea why he was so obsessed with this cupboard! He is also holding his favorite toy. It plays classical music and he walks around with it everywhere, all day. 

Love his little bath robe. 

Heading out for a walk! 

Playing in the grass on a nice, sunny, warm winter's day! 

Handsome little man. 

Well, there's our last few months in pictures!

Fare thee well, facebook!

I decided to quit facebook recently. I suppose you could say “it’s been a long time coming.” Why, you may ask, did I do such a thing? Well, there are many reasons, some more embarrassing than others. Let me start with the things that made this decision difficult.

·         Easy access to friends and acquaintances. Let’s be honest. It’s much easier to find, friend and contact someone on facebook than any other venue. 

·         Being in “the know.” I don’t just follow friends and sort-of-friends. I follow my favorite bands, books, companies, news sources – you can pretty much follow anyone or anything on facebook.

·         Nabbing those great deals. Dan and I found out about a survey you could take through a university research group that would give you up to $75 based on referrals. We did it. We actually got $75 each. I’ve also seen posts about awesome sales and steals.

·         Pure nostalgia. I’ve been on facebook since I was a junior in high school. I had to be invited by a friend with a college email address at that time. How cool is that, right? Riiiight. As pathetic as it sounds, I like to occasionally flip through my old photos, conversations, etc.

·         I can’t shake the little PR voice in my head. I can’t tell you how many times I was taught in my PR classes that I need to be involved in and familiar with social media sites and trends. Even as I type this entry, the little voice keeps nagging me.

·         The stalking. Yeah, I have a tendency to stalk friends, random acquaintances, estranged friends, random friends-of-friends – you name it. The sad part? I kinda enjoy it. When someone says, “Did you know so-and-so just got married to what’s-his-face from freshman year?” I like being able to say, “Yes! They’re actually expecting! Can you say, ‘honeymoon baby?’”

The last one is a problem.  It’s even more of a problem when you consider the fact that it was on my list of reasons NOT to quit facebook. Which is also why it made #1 on my second list.

Reasons for quitting:

·         The stalking. I remember sitting on my laptop in class at BYU one day. I was looking at my husband’s facebook page (then boyfriend) when the guy sitting behind me leaned forward and said, “Hey! You know Dan Condie?”

“Yes, we’re dating …” I replied, feeling awkward for some reason I couldn’t quite place.

“So good to meet you! Dan and I served in the same mission! Tell him you met Elder Insert-name-of-mission-buddy-here! So random that we have a class together, huh?”

“Haha, yeah, I’ll tell him I talked to you!” still feeling awkward …

Why did I feel so uncomfortable? I thought about it for a while. Really, it wasn’t that weird. So I was looking at my boyfriend’s facebook page and a friend of his saw. But … what if I had just looked at his page and the friend hadn’t said anything? What if he just watched for a little while? What if I proceeded to find one of Dan’s ex-girlfriends and stalk her for a bit? What if I was just stalking a friend of a friend and when my classmate asked me if I knew the person? I’d have to respond with, “Umm, no.  Just a friend of a friend.” Or if I felt too embarrassed, would I have made up some connection?

Awkward? Yes. Granted, I shouldn’t have been on facebook in the middle of class. In my defense, it was Physical Science, so really there was no harm done. But still. I have stalked random friends-of-friends. And that’s a problem. And that’s reason Numero Uno for deactivating facebook. 

·         I can’t shake the little PR voice in my head. Here are the facts: I’m not a PR professional. I may never be, actually. I’m a wife. I’m a stay-at-home mom. I LOVE my “job.” I do much better at my current job when I’m not distracted by everyone’s lives on facebook. I enjoyed my major. I’m so glad I studied what I did and finished my degree. But right now, facebook is not where I need to be. I need to be at home with my little boy. I need to be giving him the attention he deserves. I need to get things done so that when my husband comes home from grueling days of studying, he doesn’t see a house full of filth.

·         Accessing but never communicating. Earlier, I mentioned how I’d miss the easy access of friends and acquaintances. What I won’t miss is the lack of actual communication. When my husband asks, “Have you heard how so-and-so is doing?” I shouldn’t begin by saying, “Well, I saw on facebook that …” Whatever happened to a good, old fashioned phone call? Or even an email (Ha! My grandpa would love the idea of email being “old fashioned!”)? I mean, hi, my cell phone is tethered to my body 95% of the time. Why not hold it up to my ear every once in a while? If I can tell you all that has gone on in the life of what’s-her-face in the last week, but can’t recall the last time I actually spoke to her – or even just communicated directly with her – that’s a problem.

·         Getting pissed off at things that have nothing to do with me and I’d never even know about if it weren’t for facebook. Please excuse my language. You know how they say “ignorance is bliss?” Well, I’m of the opinion that ignorance usually isn’t, but I’m pretty sure obliviousness can be. Why am I getting worked up about other people’s lives or decisions that don’t actually affect me? Because I saw it on facebook? Pa-thetic.

·         Being able to remain nostalgic. Guess what I found out? You can actually download all of your past messages, photos, notes, etc. and save them to your hard drive for FOREVER! How sweet potatoes is that? You can’t download wall posts or other people’s photos (unless you want to go through them one-by –one), but isn’t the idea of having a permanent record of your facebook to flip through whenever you so desire just so … heartwarming?!

I could provide you with more reasons, but this post is getting a little too intense in the length department for me. What really solidified my decision, however, occurred over the past week. We decided to switch ISPs just before winter break, but we misjudged a couple of timing issues and have thus been without the luxury of internet in our home since December 16^th (don’t take a deep breath of aghast-ness just yet. We left for our long vacation the evening of December 16^th and only returned on January 2^nd). Still, from January 2-10, we had no internet unless we trudged up to the apartment office during office hours and used the super-slow, archaic computers they have there. During that period of time, I learned that I actually DON’T need to check my facebook too keep the world from careening out of orbit and into oblivion.

So that’s that.

Farewell, facebook! By the end of this week, you will no longer be a part of my life (unless I decide to nostalgically flip through your permanent record on my external hard drive). Ha.

P.S. In case you haven’t heard, I’m privatizing the blog, too. If you haven’t given me your email address and would like to be added to “The List,” comment or email me with your addy! 

Farewell ...

I've decided to quit facebook. And, I've resolved to update this ol' blog here at LEAST once a week. And make it private. A lot of changes, huh?

Well, I'd post something substantial right now if I could, but unfortunately, we don't have internet right now (we're in-between providers), so I'm in our complex's office and Peyton is getting anxious to leave. This'll have to do for now.

Email/comment/facebook me your email if you want to be added to our blog list! I estimate all changes will be finalized by the end of next week. I'm pretty sure we'll have internet in our home by then ...