A couple of weeks ago Clayton went to the fair with his friends Marli and Madison. He actually had a lot of fun although the pictures don't show it. He never looks like he is having fun while riding the ride but after he asks to go again. Even on the stupid quarter rides at the mall he rides, he has a straight face and looks miserable but gets upset when he has to get off.
June 2nd we had to put my pretty little princess down. I have had Coconut since I was 13 years old. She was my little angel. I call her my angel because she was always there for me. Through every boyfriend, every break up, every apartment, condo, and now our house. She has been there for all the good times and bad times in my life. It was literally the hardest thing I have ever done. I have lost great grandparents, and grandparents, but this didn't even compare. She was the most perfect cat. She slept with me every night, followed me around the house all day, took naps with me, and grew to love Clayton. 
A couple weeks ago, we took Clayton up the street to the Riverton fair. He had so much fun! He loves the big slides and the bounce house. He also painted Papa a ceramic golf bag to give to him. Not only is he very intellectual, but he is quite the artist. Seriously, look at how he is holding the paint brush, he didn't just slop it on. He took his time and put a lot of detail into it. 
Clayton and I went to Gardner Village this week with our friends Amber, Marli, and Madison. We tried to take some pictures, but for you that know Clayton, know that he doesn't pose for pictures. Madison and Marli on the other hand do. They are so cute together! I love the one of them from behind with Marli's shirt flipping up.
Clayton's friend Nadia turned 3 last week and had a party at Liberty Park. We had a BBQ, and had cake and ice cream. The two of them were so cute together. They pretty much just wanted to examine the tree and run around. It got a little chilly, and we had to go to Casey's party that night so we left early, but they had so much fun together.
Clayton's cousin Casey had his birthday party last week, and we had so much fun. He had the reptile guy come and he brought tons of snakes, spiders, and a turtle. The first picture is of Casey holding three snakes. The second is of Casey and my mom holding two. My mom couldn't get enough of the snakes. Her birthday is at the end of the month, and she actually requested a reptile party. The third picture is of Olivia looking tough with the snake. It seriously was such a fun party. Clayton wasn't so much into it though. He sat in Casey's room and watched his his shows.
This week we are starting the process of getting our basement finished, and it has been very loud downstairs. I didn't know how I was going to be able to get Clayton down for naps in the next 8 weeks, but I was very surprised when I put him on the couch to watch TV while I caught up on my reality shows, and came out 2 minutes later and he was sound asleep. I can't even tell you how loud it is here. They have their music on, and with the sawing and nailing, it is SOOO loud. Yeah, I am feeling confident I will be able to get him down still in the afternoons. Plus, it's hard to tire him out because the gate is open for the guys to carry things to the basement, so we haven't been able to go out and play.
I am SOOO not a nature or bird person but today Clayton and I were outside playing and saw what I think is a hawk flying around our backyard. This is the only picture that came out clear and I don't know if you will be able to see it, but still, kinda cool. Jared would probably tell me it's a duck. I got a picture of a fox last year and he said it was a cat until I proved him wrong and he saw one himself.
Today didn't start off too good. While I was in the shower, Clayton decided it would be fun to take Coconut's food (Coco is the cat) and mix it in with her water, and pour it all over my brand new quilt on my bed. He specifically laid out the throw pillows perfectly and dumped it all over the pillows. It was like it was in slow motion. I could see he was up to something, but didn't know the extent of what he was doing. Needless to say, he had a very long time out in his bedroom. So I decided it would be time to go outside and tire him out so while he napped I could get to work on cleaning my quilt and all he wanted to do was to swing. So we sat in the swing for a good 30 minutes watching the planes (he loves to watch the planes fly over our house) and one second he was talking about the planes and the next second he was sound asleep. I actually got him out of the swing and into his bed without him waking up which is a huge accomplishment. It turned into a really good day. He hasn't napped for me for weeks, so this is seriously the best day ever!!!
Now that it's getting warmer Clayton and I have finally been able to go out and play in the backyard, but here are a couple of pictures we took when it was cold outside and we were stuck inside. The picture of Clayton on the chair is my wonderful fort I worked so hard on. I know, very creative.
Jared had to work in New York last week, so my friend Amber and I tagged along and hung out in the city while Jared worked. I don't have any pictures of me and Amber (sorry Amber) so here is one of me at The Top of the Rock.
Clayton and his friend Will went to the zoo last week, but this is the only picture that came out. ( Sara, if you took pics, send them my way). Ummm, that's all for this post. Short and sweet!
Jared had to work in NY for a week, so Clayton and I went out to DC to visit my friend Jamil and meet baby Mikey. Clayton didn't do so well on the plane out (he pretty much screamed the whole way, no joke) but the flight home he slept the whole way! 
Jared has been doing a lot of traveling the last few months so Clayton and I decided last minute to fly to St. George and visit Papa and MaGra for a few days. Clayton loves sitting with Papa and having cheetos and watching golf. I wish I had a picture of it, but they also wash their golf clubs together and you can see the frustration with my dad dealing with Clayton splashing and trying to pour the water out of the bucket. We went to the park almost everyday and found a cute little place on Main Street where they have cupcakes, so we hit that place everyday. Sometimes twice.
Okay, so I know it has been a long time since I have blogged so I am going to try to catch up while Clayton is napping.
Not too much has been going on the last few weeks. Clayton and I keep passing a cold back and forth, and can't quite get back to feeling good, so we have been in the house most of the last few weeks. Here Clayton is in his Led Zeppelinn t-shirt he got from Uncle Logan just bumming around the house. Snoop (my dog I got from high school that lives with my parents) is here visiting for a week or two and Clayton loves having him around. I don't know how many treats Clayton has given him that I don't know about. I did catch him trying to give him Lucky Charms the other morning. He loves Snoop. They pal around with each other all day. I even found Clayton trying to read him books, and he tried to put him to bed the other day. He put a blanket on him and turned out the lights and shut the door and told him to go sleepy. So cute!
This last picture is of Clayton the other night on his love sac. Like I said, he has been sick and he didn't go down for a nap the whole day and at 6:00 pm I came up to get him for dinner and found him like this with the lights on and watching cartoons. He was so tired! He ended up sleeping until 5:00 am and he came down and turned on our lights in our room and announced "I'm awake" so that didn't start the morning off well.
Okay, so I know it is the last day of January and I am just now getting this post done, but better late than never.
Apparently Christmas is almost here. I know it must be coming soon because my wallet is hemorrhaging cash. But in the spirit of the holidays, we decided to take Clayton downtown with cousins Olivia and Casey to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. I think it was the first time I have gone to see the lights since probably before I was in high school. We thought Clayton would like all the lights, but he was kind of tired and cold and didn't think it was such a big deal. You can get a pretty good sense of how excited he was to be there in the picture above.
All the lights are pretty elaborate, and it must take an insane amount of work to put them up. But Temple Square isn't as big as I remember it being as a kid. It was a pretty quick walk through. Mostly I just walked around thinking that wrapping lights around the tiniest tree branches is a crappy job. There are other jobs I would enjoy even less than that (like phlebotomist, Ikea assembler, or "community organizer"--whatever that is), but Christmas light hanger is right near the top of the list.
Yep! I did it! I made Thanksgiving. Jared helped of course. For you that know me, know that I can't cook. I can bake cookies, cakes, and pies, but not "real food". I can't even fry chicken, yet alone make a whole turkey! I think it went pretty good, and I learned a lot! I am happy to say that I bought a free-range turkey so it had a happy life before it was slaughtered. (I do everything Oprah tells me to do).We had Jared's brother Logan and his girlfriend Ashley over, along with Jared's mom Souzzann and Jim. Clayton fell asleep at the top of the stairs, so he missed much of the dinner, which honestly was nice. I rarely get to have a meal without having to try to force feed
So, today is Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for, especially in these tough times. But mostly Clayton. That kid is rad. 
