GOING PRIVATE

I've decided to go private after having some weird comments left on some of my posts. Please email me at fieldstina@comcast.net with your email address or leave it on this post if you want me to add you so you can continue to read the blog which I plan on updating more often.

Snow Day

On New Years' Eve, we had a decent amount of snow on the ground and reasonably clear weather, so I stayed home from work and we got out to play. Clayton has been wanting to play in the snow but most days have been too cold or there hasn't been snow on the ground. He loved just walking around in the backyard, but also did snow angels (completely unprompted--I think he must have seen it on one of his TV shows).We also built a little sledding hill with launch ramp on the small slope from the side of our house down to the backyard, and Clayton thought it was great a few times. But he got bored of it quickly. So we put Snoop on the sled.
Clayton was all decked out in his winter gear. It is hard to describe how many layers he was wearing. Think of the little brother in "A Christmas Story" for a rough approximation.
And Clayton relaxing at the top of the stairs in his snow bibs. Happy New Year, friends.

Christmas morning

Overall, Clayton was apparently good enough this year to merit a visit from Santa Claus. Santa went with a bit of a sports theme this year, since Clayton seems to be interested in basketball and soccer in particular. He got an ESPN combination sports game for the basement, including a basketball hoop with ball return (see below--and yes, the shot went in). He also got a pop-up soccer goal that is currently in the basement but should also be fun in the backyard in the warm weather. Plus other miscellaneous stuff like a new sled and some race cars. Pretty rad.
Also a big hit was this simple toy, a building which houses Big Bird and Elmo.
And on Christmas Eve, pursuant to family tradition, he got a new set of Christmas pajamas, which he proudly modeled by the tree.

December Disney Trip

We are a little delinquent in getting this updated. The second week of December, we took a trip to Southern California to go to Disneyland and (theoretically) escape to good weather. As it turned out, it was unusually cold and rainy for Anaheim, even for December. We still made it to Disneyland, but we had to deal with some rain and some cold weather. Tina's mom, sister, and niece and nephew also made the trip down.
Clayton has always been a fan of carousels, and this was no exception.
We stopped in Toontown to take a picture.
It was a good time to visit Disneyland because they had all of the Christmas decorations and activities going. Clayton really liked the Christmas parade, which was a little surprising because Tina and I cannot stand parades. But as parades go, this one wasn't really too bad.

Photo Shoot

I attempted to do my own photo shoot with Clayton and Snoop but it didn't turn out as planned. He just isn't one of those kids that will sit still and take pictures. I was going to do my own pictures for my Christmas cards, but this was the best I could get so I might have to leave it to the professionals. Snoop did pretty well. He pretty much took direction, but Clayton was more focused on playing with his cars. But, the pictures did turn out cute and Clayton looks very handsome. As does Snoop.

Kathy Griffin

My friend Jamil and I are huge Kathy Griffin fans and got tickets to see her last week. We sorta jumped the gun and bought the tickets back in July when the airline tickets were really cheap. As time grew near, it would have cost Jamil a lot to fly out so she sadly couldn't make it. :( But, I did take my friend Cherie for a girls night out and we had tons of fun!

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Halloween 2009

This year Clayton chose to be Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba.  A lot of people in the neighborhood didn't know who he was so apparently they don't watch as much TV as we do.  He only went to a few houses but I think overall he had fun.  He also has a chicken costume that he wore to Jared's office party, but he didn't seem to like it so that is why we got Brobee at the last minute.  

Fall Wedding

Last weekend we went to Nick and Alli's wedding downtown and had a lot of fun.  In one picture we have Brendan and Nick doing YMCA which was very entertaining.  There is also one of us attempting to get a photo of the three of us but Clayton didn't want to participate too much.  This is the best we could get. 

Pumpkin Patch

This year we found a cute place up in Draper to get our pumpkins from this year.  Clayton wasn't too much into picking out his pumpkins but he did like climbing on them and getting pulled in the wagon.  

Summer Vacation - Part Four

The day before we left San Diego we went to Sea World.  They have this play area with rides, a sandbox, and a huge jungle gym that Clayton played in for a while.  Here he is with Jared on one of the rides and him playing in the sandbox.  I just noticed out of all the posts and pictures that I just did, there are only two pictures that Jared and I are in.  I am in the background of the one of Clayton just standing there and Jared is on the ride with Clayton.  I'm not one to post pictures of myself all over the blog, but I promise we were there.

Anyways, Clayton loved all the fish and loved the Shamoo show.  Although he called him Shampoo for the next few days.  So cute.  

All and all it was a good trip.  We rented a car the whole trip and learned our way around San Diego and I think we will do the same trip next year.  

Summer Vacation - Part Three

We hit Mission Beach the fourth day we were there.  It was really nice because a lot of the vacationers were gone so the beach wasn't too crowded.  We got up early that morning and had breakfast at a cute place on the beach where the "locals" go and then set up on the beach for a few hours with all our beach toys.  Clayton played in the sand for a few hours while Jared and I relaxed.  We knew it was time to go when all the surfers showed up in the afternoon and the waves started to get huge.  Once again, we had to drag Clayton away kicking and screaming.  One funny thing though was that Clayton kept getting sand in his mouth but he couldn't figure out that each time he tried to get it out with his fingers he would just get more in his mouth.  He was trying to lick his arm (which were covered in sand) or come over and lick us thinking it would get rid of the sand and would make it worse.  So funny.

Summer Vacation - Part Two

We stayed at the Hilton on Mission Bay and they had amazing parks right down the street.  We hit the park the third day we were there and Clayton played and played!  It seriously was the best park we have ever been too.  It was huge!  Here is just a few pics.  We had to drag him away.  I seriously think he had a better time at the park than he did at Disneyland.

Summer Vacation - Part One

Last month Jared finally took some time off from work and we went to California.  We flew in and out of San Diego and stayed in San Diego the full time but we drove up to Disneyland the second day we were there.  Here Clayton is with Minnie and Goofy.  We never did see Mickey.  We had a good time there but realized that one day just wasn't enough time to do everything, so we are planning on going back in December and doing a few days at Disneyland.