THE DAYTON FAMILY

Last Wednesday, Taylor finally had surgery to fix his hernia. He was so nervous before, but then on the way home decided that it was fun because he got food and a stuffed animal. :) That first day he was sore & tired, but now he feels great and I just have to work to keep him from running around too much for a couple of weeks!   Waiting Room: Getting ready to go back: Recovering: Ready to head home: Ice-cream on the way: A card & present from grandma :) I'm glad that it's over with!!! Even minor surgery always makes me nervous!

Dayton Baby #4 is starting to create a nice baby bump: Taylor got a haircut yesterday - Air Force style :) I already miss his messy long hair!  I couldn't get him to take even one normal picture, silly boy!

We spent most of Labor Day about 2 hours south (& a little east) of Great Falls in a little town called White Sulfur Springs - population 950. We saw a cool cemetery with lots of birth & death dates in the 1800's - it was pretty neat! Then we watched the awesome parade that went up Main Street and then turned around and came back. Playing tag while waiting for the parade to make another pass: Oh yeah, and this crazy tiny baby girlie started walking this weekend! (She has a pack of smarties in her mouth - I guess she needed both hands for balance! Haha!) As the flag went by: The kids made out like bandits with tons of candy! (It's now in a jar hidden on the top shelf of the pantry...I'm letting them pick one a day, haha!) Then we had lunch at the Branding Iron Cafe, it was pretty delicious, but definitely a bit of a dive! After lunch we took a tour of a castle overlooking the city (actually a Victorian Era ...

Tay had his first day of kindergarten this week.  He had chocolate chip waffles with homemade syrup, bananas, and orange juice for breakfast: He got a little nervous walking in: Luckily he knew a couple kids in his class already, like Janessa: I had to try really hard not to let any tears show up in my eyes while I followed him into the classroom and said goodbye! The girls missed him at home all day long! When I picked him up, he'd actually had quite a rough first day, including scraped up and bleeding leg & elbow from a fall on gravel, being hungry because he didn't finish his lunch before the bell - he eats slowly, and from being too scared to ask to use the bathroom all day: It broke my heart to see him so upset! But after a little time with his silly sisters and a shake, he was back to his happy self: By the next morning he was still a little nervous, but excited to try again, and luckily day 2 went much better than day 1! By ...

So basically, we've had a ton of things happen in our lives the last 7-8 months and I've been a terrible slacker and not blogged about it at all! A Summary: *December 25, 2012 - We packed up our car with a few things and headed to Montana. We lived in Temporary Lodging (the Air Force Base Hotel) for about 8 weeks. *January 2013 - We mainly stayed holed up in our cozy living quarters and waited out the freezing, windy, and snowy Montana weather. We loved having our family back together after the 4 months of separation during David's training that was Aug 2012 - Dec 2012. *Mid-February 2013 - We got into our house on Malmstrom AFB! We did a whirlwind weekend trip back to Utah to load up our moving truck with all our boxes and furniture and bring it all back to Montana. It was a scary drive home through snowy, icy canyons. I don't think we'll be doing a DITY move again. David was also promoted to Captain! *March 2013 - Another whirlwind Utah trip to watch th...

Christmas @ Grandpa & Mimi's House: Christmas Eve @ The Dayton's Christmas @ My Mom's House: 'Mary' & 'Joseph' while acting out The Nativity Late-Night Christmas Eve Dinner: Christmas Morning: Grandma & Tay waiting for everyone else to wake up: We left around 11am for Montana: Grandma gave us the perfect gift for driving between UT & MT: Our car was PACKED! I didn't even have any foot room: This is how much was in our little Honda Accord, I have no idea how David packed it all in there:  David's big surprise for the kids when we arrived - new comforters!