My Buddy and his Buddy

It's been awhile since I've posted a picture of Peyton somewhat looking at the camera. It's so hard for me to believe he's going to be two next month...and that he'll have a brother soon after that! I guess I'm still in denial that I'm 26 so whatever! I just wanted to express my overwhelming love for my son. He's such a sweet boy and genuinely loves his Mom and Dad. When his grandparents watch him, they always say it's fairly easy because he is so entertained by cars. Give him a basket of them and he's set for hours (and I'm not kidding when I say hours). This age is so fun because they can communicate and he's a little parrot...he repeats anything you tell him. He's been so great to have in our home and I love him!





















This is Peyton and Porter just relaxing on the bed watching "Woody" (I hear "watch Woody" at least 20 times a day!) McKay and Davy have dreams of coaching their sports teams together (if they hopefully get to play together...Porter is a late summer bday and Peyt is spring...so technically their ages don't fall in the same "school year"). We love Porter (and Khloe) and are blesssed to have the McArthurs as neighbors and best friends!

Sister Beck

I had the opportunity to go to a fireside done by Sister Beck, General Relief Society President for the Church. It was a great evening (thanks Dad for taking Peyt!). There were a few things she said I wanted to remember...

*At the beginning, they were thanking Sister Beck for taking time out of her life to come and be with us. The first thing she said was..."Well, I don't have any personal time anyway! All of my time is the Lord's and he does what he wants with it!" I loved that!
*"This life is not going to be the dream...it's just the experience. We must go through this experience to then have the dream."
*"Life's motto: Enjoy it!"
*Crisis + Time = Laughter

She is a great lady and I appreciated the time I got to listen to her.

Also...wanted to express my sadness about Larry Miller passing away. We are big Jazz fans at our house and he did so much to bring and keep them here along with many other successful Utah ventures that have helped our economy. I just hope everything he's built will stay strong now that he's gone!

And...I'm so excited to go out on a date with my husband tonight! I was gone over Valentines so this is the replacement evening!

California Trip and Dreaming of Summer

We had a wonderful trip to California last weekend. The only bummer was that it was cut a day short due to bad weather threats the day we were suppose to drive home. It's a good thing we left Sunday instead of Monday too because one of the high passes in California was shut down due to snow! We picked a great weekend for the weather! Luckily it warmed up just enough on Saturday for us to take Peyton to the park. Poor kid has been couped up all winter because I really don't like the snow. He is SO excited for Spring as am I! Again, our camera is so dumb and I barely got any pictures...it worked for a few minutes at the park. We're going to have to buy a new one before the baby comes I think...if you have any good suggestions on a good one, let me know!





















I love that my Grandma loves Peyton so much. She is so sweet with him and adores him. She bought him some fun toys to play with while we were there. She bought a little car toy that plays songs and Peyton thought it was the best thing to push the music button and dance around slapping his legs to "Dinah Won't You Blow" and "ABC". I'm sad I don't have a video of it. My goal this week is to get our camcorder out to do something documenting of all the fun things he's doing right now!






















Having fun on the swing with Grandpa. Thanks Dad for taking care of so much during our trip!




















Peyton loves the slide!

We had a wonderful time visiting Grandma. She is the perfect host and made delicious meals and made sure were were taken care of the whole time. Of course while we were there we snuck in some In N Out and Taco Nazo (great fish tacos). Vacations are so fun! (I just don't recommend going to a pregnancy appt. the day after you get back where you have to get on the scale!) Thanks again Grandma and Steve for a wonderful time. Hope our next trip isn't too far away!


I'm also SO excited for Spring/Summer to arrive. I'm dreaming of warm days where I can let Peyton out in our fenced backyard and play on this...













I think this is a purchase we're going to have to make for this summer. This one is pretty inexpensive and I think Peyton will love it. These playgrounds can get SO expensive! So between this and the trampoline Grammy and Papa gave Peyton he should be set! BBQ in our backyard anyone? CAN'T WAIT!

P.S. - There's a fun post below...good luck to the first three commenters!

Pay It Forward

My friend Jessica had this on her blog and I thought I'd join in!

"The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade (or possibly store-bought) gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!"

P.S. - a post about our trip is coming hopefully later today. I promise!

Something New

I needed to look at a new post on my blog. Darn my camera because it really doesn't work and I need to take new pictures of Peyton. I need to figure out how to make it work for next week because we are taking a road trip to CALIFORNIA! Unfortunately my hard-working husband won't be able to come, but my Dad and Chels are coming so it should be a fun time away! We are going to visit my Grandma and Uncle. It's so funny because Peyt keeps bringing up "Caleefoneea" and Uncle Steve's dog. He vaguely remembers our trip last August...I think at least.

Other than that we've been hanging out at home a lot the past little while. I did find some good deals for Peyton for his 2T wardrobe. I don't think he'll need anything now until 3T! I love to find good deals because it's such a waste to pay full price for kids clothes! And it's nice to know our second child will be able to use all of them too!

I'm sorry for all my family and friends who have been dealing with sickness/sick kids the past few weeks. I think I ended up with the 24 hr. stomach flu and blamed Chilis...oops! You still aren't excited to eat there for awhile after something like that happens! Anyway, hope everyone starts to feel better soon. We are thinking about you!

Oh DEAR

If you have ever had food poisoning before, I AM SORRY. I experienced this yesterday and wish to never have it again. I'm almost positive that's what it was because after I had EVERYTHING out of my system I felt a little bit better. Let's just say I won't be eating at Chili's for a REALLY long time.

I'm really telling you this because I owe a big THANK YOU to my family for their help yesterday. McKay stayed home until about 1 when Peyton was down for his nap...my Dad showed up shortly thereafter until 4 when my Mom came...followed by the last shift of my sister around 6. Can you say SO LUCKY! I don't know how mothers do it when they get that sick and still have to take care of their kids. Thank you so much...you really don't know how much it meant to me.

Also...I got my blog book in the mail yesterday and LOVE it. I'm definitely going to make one once a year as my journal...since I'm not so great writing in one anymore. I highly recommend blurb.com for your journal book making needs!

Happy Birthday McKay!

Yesterday was McKay's 29th birthday! 30 is going to creep up fast on him :) I've only got 3 1/2 years until I'm there too! My hard working husband didn't get home until after 11 p.m. last night so we weren't able to do much celebrating...hopefully tonight will be better! We love you so much and are so grateful for the wonderful man that you are! I love watching McKay interact with Peyton...he loves his Dad so much! And when McKay is available, he's so willing to take Peyton so I can get out for a bit. Thanks for all you do to make our family so great!

Also...I've been meaning to put a congratulations note on my blog to Barack Obama...our new President. I'm hoping he can get this country on the right track and get us going where we need to be headed. I understand that it's not just his responsibility but all of ours to play a part in keeping our country great! I'm very proud to be an American and love where I live!

I'm also excited because I finished my first blog book yesterday and it should be coming in a few weeks. I'll let you all know how it turns out. It will be nice to have a hard copy (also known as my journal!) I've heard eventually blogs run out of space and you either have to clear it out or start a new one! I don't want to lose all the things I've documented here...what a great family history right!

We've Got A....

Little BOY on the way! I am so excited for Peyton to have a little brother! They are going to be little buddies! Everyone who knows me knows I'm pretty feminine, so it's pretty funny I'm learning all about boys (and will soon be outnumbered 3-1 at my house...) but it's great! I will take healthy and happy children any day!

Baby Boy Erk #2 looks great...is strong and healthy and is measuring 5 days ahead of his original due date! Looks like I'll probably have a May baby! Because I've been pretty sick I kept saying if it was a girl it would be two kids for quite awhile...now that it's a boy it will motivate me for #3 thinking that maybe the girl will be coming...but if heaven decides I'm suppose to be a mother of all boys, I'll take it too! I'm just grateful to be able to carry children and have them develop healthy! I took a few pics of the ultrasound pics (I'm too lazy to scan them in!)














His profile















The 3D pic of his little crossed legs (I'm glad he uncrossed them for a bit so we could see what he is!)

I've always loved the name Chase so we'll see what happens in the name discussions!

Best Age or Worst Age?

I can't decide if Peyton is in my favorite stage or worst stage as a mother. He does and says the funniest and cutest things, but he can be such a little tornado sometimes too! Of course we love him the same no matter what...it just makes my job a little harder sometimes. Here are some funny things he's done/said lately...

I was getting ready for church on Sunday and had just finished getting dressed. Peyton comes walking by me in the bathroom and says "Coot (cute) Jacket"

McKay has his deer head sitting in our bedroom until we find a better place for it. Well, it's actually just the antlers and a paper mache type head. (The man who was working on it actually died! Sad!) Anyway, Peyt lays on the nose of the deer and says, "Aw...Puppy!"

Whenever something crazy/funny/weird happens to one of us or on T.V. he says "Oh My Gosh" Another favorite is "Goodness Sakes"

He repeats the ABC's with me and when he gets to Q he says "Coot"

I had to get a few of these things down so I don't forget! I love Peyton so much. He's such an awesome little boy!

It Leaves as Quick as it Comes

The best time to be pregnant is in December. It's the fastest month of the year and before you know it you're a month further into your pregnancy. That's the only good thing I can say about December being over. It was a sad day last week to take the Christmas decorations down. My house feels EMPTY. I'll be over it in a few weeks I guess.

We had a great holiday season. Other than our camera decided to act up and only work sometimes. So we didn't get a whole lot of great pictures, but enough to remember the year. We have been SO busy in December I've decided I'm not going much of anywhere in January. So if you'd like to see me come visit!

I want to thank our families SO much for the great Christmas you provided for us. We were spoiled again (too bad I have to say this every year :) The best part was the time we were able to spend with everyone. I love it...it should be more a focus throughout the year to get together! I got my beloved Wii and it's as fun as I thought it would be. I really enjoy it. McKay also spoiled me with a laptop which we've been needing so it was a very nice surprise. Peyton has a whole fleet of cars now and enjoys his slide. Porter came over to play and the two of them went down it at least 50 times each. I'm glad we bought it :)

I'm really hoping for a great year in 2009. First and foremost I pray that this baby comes healthy and strong...a little active firecracker just like Peyton. What a blessing to be a mother. We'll be finding out on January 15th what this little sweetie is. I can't wait.

I hope this year brings lots of happiness to you too and if it doesn't...I hope you're given the strength to endure it well (as I hope I am as well :) Thanks to all of you who take time to read updates on our lives in our little corner of the world. I love to read about your lives too and see how you are doing. Blogs are one of the greatest inventions!

Anyway...enough of my rambling. Here's a little recap of Christmas in pictures.














So I guess Santa is a great person as long as you don't have to sit on his lap




















This is how Peyton plays with his cars...loves to carry at least five around at a time...using his chin as an extra hand!




















Christmas Eve at the Ercanbracks. My parents treated us earlier that evening to Outback! Thank you!















One of the many cars he opened Christmas morning.















The slide became a better gift a few days after Christmas. That day he just drove his cars down it!




















McKay and I have a picture in front of my parents Christmas tree every year from the time we started dating! So of course we had to attempt a photo, but Peyton didn't really want to. Oh well! I found the cutest Christmas shirt for 6 bucks. It's an old fashioned Santa and reindeer.