Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! We had such a great and festive week around here! First, my sister-in-law Ashley and I decided to take on a cute, crafty Halloween project. About 4 hours later, we decided that although time consuming, the "witches shoes" were well worth the effort.We filled them with candy and gave them to our visiting teaching girls.Jade and I carved pumpkins. He carved "Tinky" and I carved a vampire girl ("Renesmee") Peyton's baby punkin stayed cute just the way it was.Can you see the resemblance?So... Although I consider myself pretty "crafty", I am not necessarily very patient. When we lit our pumpkins, you could definitely tell who spent the most time making their pumpkin beautiful, and who gave up and ended up watching reality TV. Mine is the one on the left.Thursday night my mom and sister came to town! I could not have been happier! We spent about 3 hours in Ikea, then came home and laughed and laughed until midnight. Friday we took Peyton to her Grandma Marianne's work Halloween party. She was totally cute, and she absolutely loved everything about the party- the trick or treating in the offices, the face painting ("makeup"), the other kids, the food, and of course the candy! I only let her have one sucker, but between two big hearted grandmothers and lots of cousins, I'm pretty sure she ended up eating more candy than just that.Tinker Bell, Hermione, Skeleton, Ginny, Batman, Indiana Jones (x2)Later that night, Jade and I went to a superhero Halloween party for grown-ups. We had such a fun time! Jade and I dressed as Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

Here is our Super Family, in a picture plagiarized from Ashley's blog:

Clark, Lois, Wolverine, Storm, Joker, Poison Ivy, Dead Girl, Nacho LibreSaturday was a busy day for us! We woke up early and got in our costumes. We went early to the Beaverton Farmer's Market (Since my family lives in Las Vegas, which has almost zero local produce, my mom always loves to go to the Farmer's Markets when she comes to visit.)

Had to show the back of this costume. My favorite part is the glittery bun (pixie dust)Chey went as a darling little witch. Love those girls in purple!

Tink and Nana. This picture makes me smile because the real Tink is giving me a look of Death

Then we went to our ward trunk or treat. It was so much fun to see everyone in our ward all dressed up! My favorites were Cruella DeVille (JaNea), Jasper (Nipper), and 3 Dalmatians (Charlotte, Lucy, Henry). Cute idea Nea!!

Peter, Tink, Wendy (not Robin Hood, and not Alice in Wonderland)Jade especially loved his dagger.

About 3 minutes into it, Peyton got the idea: walk up to someone, smile, and get candy. She was pretty pleased with herself. The only problem is she didn't want to put it in her bag- she wanted to hold it all in her hands. She also ran away screaming when I came around because she thought I was going to take away her candy. Which I did, that night while she was asleep. Don't judge me- she's only one!

Trick or Treat

Showing her swag.

Peyton called my mom "mama" the whole time she was here. When I dropped her off at the airport, Peyton cried, then eventually cried herself to sleep on the way home. I am a little worried she likes my mom better than me.

We also went to "trick or treating at the zoo" which was fun, but PACKED, and probably not something we'll do again.

This is my daughter, up WAY past her bedtime, recovering from a serious sugar high, wrestling our 70 lb dog.

It's my Chick in a box.

All About P and a link to our pictures.

Mari the Miracle worker (our photographer)put some of our pictures up. I don't know how she did it, but they actually turned out! I thought for sure either the distracted dog, uncooperative toddler, or dismal weather would have ruined the shoot. You can check them out here

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So, Today I was telling my mom all the funny things Peyton does, and I decided I needed to write them down, so I don't forget. Little Miss Peyton is quite a character. She's starting to get things she knows she shouldn't have (like the dog bowls), then when we see her and go to "get her" she squeals and laughs and runs into the corner. It's pretty adorable. She also sings to herself while she walks around and plays. It's so cute. Today in the car the song was "da, da da, da da, da dee, dee dee, da", an homage to her daddy. Monday we started potty training her- kind of. We're letting her lead us, so I just let her watch me go potty, and let her sit on her potty chair while I go potty. We've been signing "potty" for a long time now, and she says it. Oh, and I can't forget all the potty songs. On Monday we could tell she needed to "go", so we put her on the potty and she actually pooped! Tuesday a really good milestone happened- she was going #2 (in her diaper) and she walked over to her potty chair and "went" right next to it. This might not seem special, but it is! She's getting it! She is associating the potty chair with going potty. And today, after we got out of the shower she signed "down", then I asked her what she wanted and she said "potty" and went over to her potty chair. I asked her if she wanted to sit on her potty chair and she climbed on. Then I sang her the potty song and put some leggings on her (she loves tights, leggings, socks, and shoes), and then she signed "all done", got up, and guess what- she had gone "poo-poo" in the potty! We flushed it and said "bye-bye", and then had a potty dance party. What a great moment! That's one big step in the right direction! In less gross news (sorry if it was T.M.I. maybe I should have written a disclaimer), Tink has learned to open doors. Now when Peyton wakes up, Tink will open her door and walk right on in. The first time it happened, I was down the hall. I heard Peyton fussing, then all of a sudden I heard "TINKY. TINK." Tink was standing right in front of Peyton's crib, just hanging out and watching her. So cute. I'm happy that Tink waits until she knows Peyton is awake to go in her room. Tink and Peyton are kind of in cahoots with each other. Peyton feeds Tink off her high chair, and Tink provides Peyton with endless entertainment and near-constant companionship. I love my girls! Oh, and Peyton is starting to bring me things. Just barely she brought me a package of chocolate bars and handed it to me, then signed "food, please". The girl's got good taste! She now can open our doors with handles (as opposed to those with knobs). It's a little frustrating, but we're working on Peyton's self-control (and we just got a bunch of door and drawer locks). She got a singing card from my mom for Halloween, and she loves to carry it around and dance. And yes, she still is obsessed with shoes. I've heard so many parents complain about shoe shopping with their kids. Yesterday I took Peyton, and she was in Heaven. Shoe shopping was even better than the zoo! And I often catch her in her room, in the corner, reading. I love when I see her read to herself. She signs "up" and "down", but her sign for up [which is really just to point up] is to wave her hand high above her head, and her sign for "down" [which is really just to point down] she points up. It's really funny- I ask her if she wants to get down, and she points up. Love it. It's so fun watching her little personality develop. She's so engaging, and sneaky, and she loves to make us laugh. And she gives me infinite kisses. I love that little girl.

So this is totally unrelated, but I was looking at a store online, and I had to post these. My apologies if I'm the only one who thinks they're funny.

Funny Baby Tees (that you would never actually put on your child)
- "I'm Proof Mommy Puts Out" - "Dude, your girlfriend keeps looking at me."
- "Step 1. Crawl Step 2. Walk Step 3. (Picture of a golf club and ball)"
- (Picture of a bottle with an X through it) "I drink straight from the tap"
- IPOOD (In IPod writing)
- "My entire life is being blogged."
- "All mommy wanted was a back rub..."
- "Who needs Santa when you've got grandma?"
- "BOOB- It's what's for dinner"
- "I'm with the MILF"
- "Cute little tax deduction"

Another Week (Or Two), Another Post

Autumn is officially in full swing in Portland. I must say, it is great having a real change of seasons. Fall is beautiful in Oregon, absolutely beautiful (even if it is pretty short). It's funny weather- clear one hour, then heavy showers the next. I'll go into a store with an umbrella and puffy jacket, and when I come out it's sunny and warm. Very tricky...

We have been making our rounds of pumpkin patches in the greater Portland area. So far we've been to all of them except one, which we plan on going to soon! The last one we went to was the Roloff Farms pumpkin patch. Those of you who watch TLC will recognize them from the show "Little People, Big World". They live about 10 minutes from my house. Their farm was pretty fancy! They had a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, a hay pyramid, a pumpkin house, a corn maze house, a baby lion, and of course tours of their place. Peyton and I both had a great time.

We got to meet Miss Amy. She was so sweet and didn't even mind that Peyton was obsessing over her pumpkin earrings.

As you can tell, the earrings were pretty captivating. She's still trying to grab them.

Cute girls in the wagon

...And on a punkin

My little baby on the hay pyramid, the farm is in the background.

The Roloffs

The girls were more excited about the family dog than any other part of the farm.

I wasn't lying about the baby lion. I wanted to pick her up and kiss her cute little face!

Little People, Big Chair

Llama with dread locks. Peyton was so happy feeding all the animals.

She started getting really silly toward the end of the day. She was running in front of me, then laying on the ground. I think she was trying to make a grass-angel. She just looked up at me and laughed and laughed. She knew she was being funny.

We went to the zoo with Max, Ike, and Trenton. We found a new favorite rainy day place- Papa's Pizza, which is a huge indoor playground, complete with a mini-carousel and ferris wheel! We finished up this round of our sign language classes. I had a girl's night with my girlfriends, and we stayed out until 12:30, which is very late in mommy-time. We had a BBQ with some friends for the BYU-TCU football game, which turned out really sad.

We also tried to get some family pictures taken. Peyton is at a really hard age right now. She's too young to be able to do a whole lot, but she's too old to just hang out and relax. She gets frustrated when she can't do something, and she's becoming harder and harder to entertain. Needless to say, family pictures were a nightmare. Not only was the weather bad (it was clear for about 25 minutes before beginning to pour), but Peyton didn't smile. Like not at all. Our wonderful photographer was so patient with her, but she just wasn't feeling it. She wasn't crying or fussing, she just didn't smile. I am more than a little disappointed about it. So, I don't think I'm going to be trying family pictures again for a while. We'll just keep the one where she's 6 months old for another couple years. Thanks for trying, Mari (and Hallie). Sorry it didn't turn out like planned.

So this disgusting picture is ketchup- all over the place. She was as happy as could be, dipping goldfish in ketchup. Eventually she decided she liked it so much, she would just eat it straight out of the cup. She definitely gets that from her daddy.

My little autonomous girl doesn't even like to drink out of a sippy cup. She likes to drink out of a real cup, and she usually refuses help, too.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E learned how to open the pantry. The picture is really dark, but you can see the important part... a full bag of Rice Krispies, dumped out all over the floor!! By the way, Tink was in heaven.

Weaned

It is with a really heavy heart that I write this post. I weaned Peyton. It's so sad for me. I know every mother does it, but this time it wasn't my choice to stop, and I just wasn't ready yet. I've been dragging my feet- prolonging it for 2 months, but finally she is done nursing. When I nursed her for the last time yesterday, I cried and cried. A couple months ago I went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling well. He discovered that my hormone levels were that of a post-menopausal woman, and my body wasn't producing estrogen at all. Bad news. So the way to get me back to normal was to get me on an estrogen pill. Obviously when you're throwing exorbitant amounts of estrogen into your system, your milk dries up, so no more nursing. I know that this is a good thing for me, and it's good to take care of myself, so that I can take care of my family, but it was just such an abrupt thing: "okay, stop nursing your baby". So sad. She has been a angel, and hasn't been acting out because of the change, so that's good. There have been a few really sad times when she comes up to me and signs "milk", then looks up at me with sad, expectant eyes. It breaks my little heart. Other than that, the weaning was fine, and we're both adjusting. Now my challenge is to get her to drink milk. I even stooped to giving it to her in a bottle, but as soon as I stopped mixing regular milk with breast milk, she wouldn't have anything to do with it... oh brother.

And It Tasted Like Crap...

We've been at it, again- loving the beautiful fall weather (notice I said beautiful fall weather, because even though it's nice out, I would still rather it be 100 degrees), and getting out to make the most of the last dry days. Peyton and I went to the zoo with Brittney and Peyton. They finally finished their ROAR exhibit with the African animals, and it is truly spectacular. They now have 3 lions, 2 cheetahs, 4 African wild dogs, and some other really great animals. And their exhibits are really great, and interactive, which is always a plus. This time Peyton's favorite thing was the African goats at the petting zoo. She didn't want to leave. She walked right up to one of the little goats and started petting him, and even tried to kiss him several times. She got her hands on a brush, and was brushing the goat. She loved it! At one point she had 3 goats around her, and she was so happy- not even scared a little. Everyone had a great time. We've come a long way since October 2008:Look at how big these girls are!When we got home, Peyton made a bee-line for the cupboard under Jade's sink. I always let her play in there, since there is nothing inside it, so I wasn't worried. All of a sudden she started pulling out shoes. Apparently she's been hiding my shoes! We all know she loves to play with shoes- she even walks around in my high heels, but I didn't know she was a hoarder, too! When we were about to leave the house later, I couldn't find Peyton's shoes, so I took a chance and checked the cupboard. Sure enough, they were right there! I never knew a 15 month old could be so tricky. She must get that from her daddy. We went to the Children's Museum with Kate and Annika. That was fun, too. We saw "Jam with Johnny", where Johnny plays his guitar and sings songs and the kids sing along. Peyton LOVED it. For the majority of the "jam", she stood right in front of Johnny, about a foot and a half away from him, just starting. It was super cute. She loved when he did a remix of "If You're Happy and You Know It", which is by far her favorite song, since she loves to clap her hands. We had our missionaries over for dinner, which is always nice. We went to the park with Peyton's Aunts and their preschool and under kids. We went to the Plumper Pumpkin Patch with Peyton's cousins. We had already been to that one 4 days before, but we can never resist the chance to hang out with the family. Everyone made it, even the triplets! Well, everyone except Dennis and Jade. Those party poopers. Peyton was so happy to be back there. She even tried the slide, which was fun at first, but about half way down she fell backwards and started bawling. She went right back up the stairs to do it again, though! I just made her cousins go with her. She also loved the pigs. She even tried to kiss them. On the nose. Which is covered in their excrement. Gross. Nipper bought some kettle corn, and put it in the stroller. Miss Peyton started digging in the kettle corn and shoveling it in her mouth when she didn't think anyone was looking. Peyton started a new tradition with her Noni: talking on the phone. It all started when I was on the phone with my mom and she started tantruming for me to give the phone to her. After she asked politely, I turned the phone on speaker and let her have it to "talk" to my mom. Up to this point, whenever I did that, it was really my mom talking to her and she just kind of stared at the phone. Not anymore! She took the phone and started doing laps around the kitchen, babbling non-stop. My mom would say something, then she would go on and on and on, talking gibberish. It is hilarious. She doesn't quit! She just gabs and gabs and gabs. Who knew she had so much to say to her Noni?! I went to see Fame with my sisters-in-law, and then to happy hour at Stanford's. The movie was a little ADD, but the company was great! We went to the park again with Kate and Annika- Peyton for some reason refuses to play on the toddler play structure. No matter what I try to do to get her to stay in the little kids' area, she always goes to the big kids' play structure to play. I think it's because that is where she sees her cousins play, and she loves her cousins. Peyton has started singing to herself. I've only caught her doing it a couple times, but it is so darling. She doesn't sing a specific tune, and she doesn't hum or anything, she just sings while she's walking around. I'm dying to catch it on video because it is so adorable! Friday my ward had Fabulous Friday project night, and with the help of A LOT of friends, I got all the projects I signed up for done. I even sewed 4 little blankets- my very first time using a real-life sewing machine! The ladies helping me were cracking up. At one point one lady told me to "put your foot up". I lifted my right foot up, and they all started laughing. Apparently they meant the foot on the machine [I thought she was telling me to make sure my foot wasn't on the pedal]. At least I provided them some comic relief for the night. Saturday Jade was out with his dad and brothers, so Peyton and I tried to get some stuff done around the house. Something totally gross happened. I hesitate to retell this story, but I think someday I will laugh about it. Someday. So I was working on a project in the backyard, and apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to Peyton, because she started to eat something. I got worried and went to see what she was doing, and before I could see what it was, I could smell it. My stomach dropped. Dog poop. My sweet little angel princess baby girl had poop on her fingers and face. I cried. Then, for your viewing pleasure, I took a picture. I know I'm not the only mom this has happened to, so don't judge. Just laugh.

Fall Fun

This week we've been celebrating fall in Oregon with an indoors/outdoors combo. We joined a mommy and me music class, which Peyton loves. We sing songs and play with instruments, and she gets quite a kick out of it. I've been busy with lots of projects (why does it seem like I'm always doing projects), and Jade has been working hard selling insurance and wrapping things up with his Comcast summer business. We went with Peyton's best friend Peyton and Brittney to OMSI- the girls had such a good time. The moms had a good time, too, because we could just let the girls run wild. That was a great afternoon. Meanwhile, Jade was on the golf course with some clients, and he had a great day of golf. On hole #6 he hit his second shot from 195 yards, right into the hole. Eagle with a 4 iron! For those of you who don't know golf, that's a really difficult thing to do! He even has 3 witnesses. We spent conference weekend with our family and friends, and took a power break to go to the pumpkin patch with Trevor, Brittney, and Peyton. It was so fun! The theme was pirates, and they had a fire dancer, lots of themed activities, exotic birds we got to hold, face painting, games, and delicious caramel apples! There was a mini hay maze that the girls did, with just a little prodding. Neither one of them liked the idea at first, but then they realized that it was actually fun! There was a lady there who brought her weimaraner. Jade was holding Peyton and she started whining all of a sudden, so Jade let her down. All of a sudden she was running away- making a bee line for the dog, yelling "Tinky, Tinky, Tinky" and smacking her lips together, calling the dog. It was so cute!The girls were cooperative for about an hour and a half, then they were sick of it and tired; so the pictures show:Then the boys went to Priesthood session and I got to babysit my nephews Max and Ike. That was a treat. We turned the music up loud and danced for a good half hour, maybe 45 minutes. I played Lego Batman with Max on the XBox for about 5 minutes, then Max said to me "Maybe we should just put this away. I'll play it with my dad when he comes home. Only he and I know how to play this game." Apparently I wasn't a very good teammate. The best part of the night was watching Ike and Peyton play together. They're 10 months apart, which has always seemed like a lot until Saturday. They played SO well together. They wrestled and rolled around together, and followed each other around, and they even both shared! When the boys got home we had pizza and wings and watched football and played games. It was a great night. Sunday we went to one of Jade's old Young Men's adviser's house and had a reunion dinner with the Janecks and another old family friend. It was funny listening to them all tell stories about when Jade and Trevor were 12, 13, 14 years old. I'll say this: not much has changed. Then we stayed for their son's mission farewell open house. It was a really great night. Today we went to another pumpkin patch: Plumper Pumpkin Patch. It was AWESOME. Let me just tell you a little about pumpkin patches in Las Vegas... they're in a parking lot. All of them. Vendors just rent a 20' square section of a parking lot and sell pumpkins there, on a tarp. The really good ones sometimes have a bouncy house. It's pathetic. In Oregon, pumpkin patches are on a farm- where they actually grow the pumpkins! This one had so many cool things- a pumpkin cannon, pumpkin slingshots, a 30' and a 40' slide, a kids hay maze, an adult hay maze, a corn maze, duck races, a playground, and a real farm! We got to pet pigs, ponies, horses, cows, llamas, goats, sheep, and we got to see chickens, turkeys, and bunnies. We had a great time! Peyton ran all over the place- with all the animals, she was in heaven!

Back to Reality

It has been a crazy few weeks for our little family. My mom went on her yearly girls' trip with her best friend Pam, so I volunteered to come house-sit/dog-sit/baby-sit while she was in Spain and Paris for 10 days. Boy, was that an adventure! The night I got here, my mom threw me a surprise belated birthday party with my family. My mom is so thoughtful, and she knows just how to brighten my day, even after the plane ride down, which was worse than a plane ride through hell. Peyton screamed about one hour and 25 minutes of the one hour and 55 minute plane ride, which by the way was already delayed almost 2 hours, and completely, 100% full. Not a good experience, to say the least. I became the maid/chef/taxi/secretary/house-keeper for the next week and a half.

Assistant Driver:It was actually not too bad, but I will say that my mom is one busy lady. I managed to squeeze in enough time for Peyton to get her naps and me to get some sun. I really miss it there- I got to see all of my friends, and the weather was perfect- in the 100's and sunny the whole time. Just the way September was meant to be! Jade flew to Vegas the following Friday and stayed the night, watched the football game Saturday with our friends Brad, Ashley, and Ryder, then took my little brothers on a camping trip to Zion with our friend Brad (who happens to be the afore mentioned Pam's husband). The boys had a great time hiking the Narrows and Angel's Landing. Unfortunately we have no pictures to show for it. Silly boys. After the hiking trip, Jade drove to Provo and did some business while I was in Las Vegas. Besides the trip being lots of really hard work, it was so fun, and Peyton and I went on lots of adventures with my siblings. Cheyanne and I took Peyton to Springs Preserve, which is a new attraction in Las Vegas. It's a huge educational facility in the middle of the desert that has interactive exhibits, playgrounds, gardens, trails, and lots of educational galleries. It was so cool. Peyton's and Cheyanne's favorite exhibit was the flash flood demonstration, where you stand on a platform and within seconds you are caught in the middle of a flash flood. My favorite part of the Preserve was the animal exhibit. We saw some great movies, had a party with Cheyanne's friends, went to see my little brother at his new seasonal job: dressing up in costume to promote a Halloween store.

Cute Killer VikingThe most fun thing we did was the Mandalay Bay shark reef. We got to see all sorts of cool things: jellyfish, piranhas, sharks, and best of all; a sting ray touch tank!! I was so happy with the sting rays that I spent about 25 minutes in their exhibit. This is Peyton after she discovered the flour jar. If you look carefully, you'll notice that she brought 2 souvenirs in the pantry with her (shoes, of course)The reason I put this picture in is because it's a different day, same flour jar. Someone really should have been paying better attention to that girl! Right before my mom came back to the country, Peyton and I flew up to Utah and met up with Jade. We stayed with my surrogate sister Stephanie. I miss that girl so much. Jade got to do something he's been wanting to do for years now- hike Mt. Timpanogos.

Kaz, Whitney, and Jade (they joked that you could only hang out with them if you had a weird name) He also went to our friend Ryan Stronk's Bachelor Party, and then Friday Peyton and I took Jade to our favorite place: the "working farm" (not "petting zoo", as I was very harshly corrected by an employee) at Thanksgiving Point. She loved the baby animals, especially the horse, and she kept "calling" them by smacking her lips together.We loved this big horse. Peyton is fearless.I put this picture in here because Jade's face is priceless. He did not like that cow licking his hand!Daddy took Little Miss on a pony ride. A very short pony ride.We went to The Stronk's rehearsal dinner, and Saturday their sealing in the Salt Lake City Temple. It was wonderful (of course) and Jazzy looked SO beautiful. She was not amused:Parker, Jade, Peyton, and Whit. Whenever Whit came around, Peyton got really smiley and silly. She might have had a little crush on him.Saturday evening we went to the BYU-FSU game, and what a disappointment that was. It was even worse in person than on TV. Sunday we disrupted Steph's singles ward with our noisy toddler, then we went to visit Jade's best friend from his mission; Jesse Clark, and his wife Kimmie and their 2 1/2 year old Abby. It was so great getting to see them again, and we're so excited because Kimmie is pregnant! Jade loved getting to hang out with Jesse, and we all loved Kimmie's Feijoada. Monday we wrapped up all our loose ends and then we finally made it home. It felt so good to sleep in my bed that night! Last week was a very busy week of catch-up. We did get to do some fun stuff though. We got to watch our niece Macie's first piano recital, we started a second series of sign language classes, I started back up with my Activity Days again (we took a break for summer), I had a girls' night, and we got to watch the Cougars sort-of redeem themselves against CSU. We had such a great trip (trips, really), but we're so grateful to be back home, and back to normal life.

So long, sweet summer.

I cannot believe that August is over. My summer slipped right through my fingers! Lucky for me I'll be in Las Vegas for a couple days this month, so I'll be able to soak up some Vitamin D to get me through at least a couple months of fall. Not that fall isn't beautiful in Oregon- because it is. It's warm and hardly rains, I just don't like fall because summer never seems to be long enough. Peyton and I have been out and about, trying to relish these last few days of summer. We went to the golf course with Jade and watched some of the LPGA tournament that was going on. They had a special viewing section for members of the golf club, so we got to sit there and watch everything up close- it was great! Then we got rained out, which wasn't totally unexpected. We went to the zoo with our friends Kate and Annika. Peyton got tired after a couple hours, and ended up asleep in a couple seriously cute positions:Leg hanging overboard

And squished in a peanut

Last Monday Jade and I celebrated our third anniversary! Jade took Peyton in the morning so I could sleep in until 8:30, then woke me up with a smoothie and a smile. Peyton and I spent the day running errands and Jade worked. Then Jade's mom came over and babysat Peyton [thank you very much!] and Jade took me out. We went to Portland City Grill, which is one of the best restaurants in the city. It's in downtown Portland, pretty close to the waterfront, in a high-rise, on the top floor. We watched the sun set over the city and the beautiful lights come on, lighting both the city and all the bridges over the river. Needless to say, it was pretty beautiful.

The staff put a card and rose petals on our table for our anniversary, and we enjoyed a delicious meal- and I ate one of the best steaks of my life. Then they brought us out a dessert with a candle, and told us to wish for many more years of happiness.

It really was a great night, and I can't believe I've already been married 3 years! Sometimes it seems so recently that I was planning my wedding- yet at the same time I kind of feel like I've been married to Jade my whole life. Funny how that works out.

Peyton is learning to feed herself. Sometimes this goes reasonably well:And sometimes she's less successful:

We have several fruit trees and bushes in our yard. In the summer we had blueberries, and now we have red apples, yellow apples, and a green apple/pear hybrid. Friday we decided to pick them off our trees. If you look in the picture you can see a red bucket. We filled 2 of those full, plus an extra box. We had so many apples! We kept a few good ones, and the bad ones we put on Jade's brother's and parents' lots for the deer to eat.

We also took a bag full to our neighbor's house and fed the horses with Peyton. She liked them right up until they started nosing around in the bag for more apples. That was too close for comfort for her.

And Saturday we got together with a bunch of friends and watched the BYU/Sooner game. It was awesome! We were all so happy - screaming, cheering, clapping. Peyton got scared several times during the game and started to cry. Here are my 2 cougar fans, enjoying the game:

And the last thing I have to blog about is a funny story about my little princess. Sunday we put her down for a nap, and she didn't really sleep. She was over-tired, and so she stayed up- we could hear her talking, yelling, fussing a little bit. So finally after about 30 minutes we decide she's obviously not going to take a nap, so Jade went in to get her. He started laughing right when he opened the door, and called me in to see a very funny sight. Peyton had thrown every single thing out of her crib, and I do mean thrown. It wasn't just dropped by the side. Things were all over the room. Her lullabye lamb, her teddy bear, throw pillow, quilt, face blanket, and binky. Also she had totally dismantled her mobile. It was in 4 pieces strewn about the room. It was like my little baby went into a rage and just started throwing stuff all over. It was so funny! When we walked in, she was just standing up looking at us, smiling. I love that girl.

Honeyman

We just got back from our annual family camping trip in Honeyman (Florence), Oregon. We survived! Almost every year as long as Jade can remember, the Thelins have gone on a family campout to the Oregon coast, and the tradition is going strong. This year we had a great time. Everyone was able to make it except for Nipper and the tri-ples (but we don't expect them to be there any time in the next couple years), so we had a huge group: 11 adults and 10 kids (age 9 and under), plus 2 really energetic dogs.

Jade and I decided to go down a day early so we could set up everything, since we brought our huge trailer and hauled a ridiculous amount of stuff. We ended up having to make a couple unexpected stops, and so we didn't get there until after dark. So, we set up our tent in almost total darkness, lit only by Jade's head lamp. Surprisingly enough, we managed to set up our new tent right the first time, and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately, Peyton didn't get the memo that she was supposed to sleep through the night. She woke up every hour and a half to two hours, until waking for good at 6. Tink followed Peyton's lead by waking us every 3 hours, once to move from her own sleeping bag into ours (I don't know which is more pathetic; the fact that we gave our dog her own sleeping bag, or the fact that we let her sleep in ours), once to get out of the sleeping bad because she was hot, and once to get back into the sleeping bag because she was cold. Needless to say, the night was brutal, and we kind of wished we would have just stayed in Portland that extra night. Jade was an angel in the morning and took both babies on a nice long hike so I could finally get a couple hours of sleep. We set up camp for everyone else, then went on a drive to the Sea Lion Caves, which are the biggest and most populated in North America. Just my luck- it was overcast to the point of zero clarity, the sea lions weren't in their cave at all (not one of them), and you couldn't see anything on the shore. It was a total bummer. Instead, we settled on brunch in a little cafe in town, which was almost as good. After lunch, the whole family started arriving, little by little, and the fun started! We hiked and played in the dunes, rode our bikes, played at the playground, and ate some really good s'mores.

Jerai had a genius idea to bring a huge blow up pool to keep the babies in, and the big kids out. It worked out great for the most part [besides when Peyton objected to being confined]

Friday the boys went off on a 4-wheeling adventure and when they came back, they announced that they had a big surprise for us. (I should note that ever since our last trip to the dunes, 3 years ago, Jade has been talking about making a zip-line down the dunes. I cannot tell you how much he has talked about it over the past 3 years. The guy was fixated on the zip-line. The last trip we made one with Jade's wench on his truck, but it was a really small one, just for the kids, and since then he has thought endlessly about doing a really big one. Over the past 3 years he has accumulated all the supplies for a big zip-line- a long cable, the actual part that goes on the zip line, a braking device for at the end, etc. He was bound and determined to make a real zip-line this time around.) We all knew what was coming, but were so surprised when we saw the actual zip-line. It was huge! The guys did such a great job of setting it up, and almost everyone took at least one ride down. Everyone that went by on foot or 4-wheeler stopped to watch a run or two. It was such a fun activity!

Here are Jade and Peyton, manning the brake

Here's a little look-see at the zip-line. Not the best pictures, but you get the gist of it:

Peyton and Ikey are great friends because Peyton doesn't bug Ike, and Ike pays attention to Peyton. Look at those cuties!Peyton LOVES her cousins. Even if she's just sitting there watching them, she's happy.Vagrant Child

That night we made cobbler and home-made ice cream! SO GOOD!

Ashley organized an edible necklace-making craft for the kids. Peyton loved the one they made for her! She ate almost the whole thing that day!

Saturday was my 23rd birthday! Peyton had another bad night on Friday, so Jade took her in the morning again so I could sleep in until 9:30! Then he brought me hot chocolate and a sweet birthday card from him and Tinky and Peyton. When I came to the "home base" of our campsite, my mother and sisters-in-law had this setup:They even had pink tablecloths for me! And my nieces and nephews all made me several bouquets of flowers! It was so sweet. We had a really tasty breakfast of rice cereal, and then I got a really heavenly birthday present: a hot, steamy shower! I also got one other amazing birthday present: sunshine! (We had beautiful weather the whole trip, which is a miracle for the Oregon coast! It didn't rain at all, and the days were all warm and mostly sunny, just a little bit of wind. We got really lucky.) I got the best weather on my birthday; warm and sunny, no wind or rain, and not a cloud in the sky! We took advantage of the weather and went to the lake. The kids played in the sand (Peyton ate some sand), and swam in the lake, and we rented a paddle boat for a couple hours. It was beautiful being on a like in the middle of the forest, with the sand dunes and the coast just across the lake.

Little Sand Baby

Our little family ride on a paddle boatAfter the lake, we ditched Peyton with Grandma and went for a ride on the dunes with Phil and Jeremy. It was really fun, but got cut short due to the lack of goggles and excess of sand flying in Jeremy's and my eyeballs.That night we had my absolute favorite dutch oven chicken and rice, and Jerai made me a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was a great birthday.

We all had crowns.

Sunday it was time to go (the trip seemed so short!), so we packed up our camp. Peyton was really short on sleep, and not feeling super well, so she was being really fussy. In a moment of weakness, I allowed Macie to give her a Ring Pop. She didn't make a peep for an hour and a half.

Ikey and Peyton ate yogurt off the ground, and dipped Red Vines and Cheez-Its in it, and of course the Ring Pops, but they were happy the whole time we were packing!

My little princess is definitely not prissy!

We went to the beach and the boys got to go on one last 4-wheel ride while we watched the kids entertain themselves. They rilled down the hills, found seashells, and ran themselves tired.

Beautiful Oregon Coast Then we all said goodbye to the Pacific and headed home. It was a quiet ride home- both our girls were exhausted, and slept, well, like a baby! But then, about an hour into the drive, Jade and I smelled something bad, so we knew Peyton had gone #2. After a minute, she started crying. I turned around to check on her, and what did I see? Poop, everywhere. She had pooped, then started digging into her diaper and pulling out the poop! She had poop in her hair, on her face, hands, arms, legs, all over the car seat; everywhere! We pulled over to the first gas station we saw and had to do emergency clean up. It was ridiculous, and so gross! I cannot believe my child was playing in her own excrement. After it was all cleaned up, we had a good laugh, and then threw the car seat cover in the washing machine immediately upon arrival home. After some long, hot showers, we all went to bed, and everyone finally had a good night's rest! We had a really great trip this year, and we're all already looking forward to next year!

And lastly, I just wanted to make a side note of what Little Miss Mischief has been up too lately:

Have you ever wondered what an entire roll of toilet paper looks like, balled up? Here ya go!

some good news, and some bad news...

Well, the good news is, she's WALKING!! The bad news is she finally learned that my cupboards open up and have all sorts of good stuff inside... It's over for me!

The past few weeks have been busy but so fun! On the 30th Peyton and I flew out to San Diego and met my mom and brother. On the plane there, Peyton fell asleep in my arms for the first time in a long time. It was the best feeling. We went to the beach; surfing, skimboarding, and playing with my baby in the sand. No one had a camera, so we only got a camera phone picture, but we had such a great time. I decided to try surfing again (on a real surf board, not a foam longboard). Surprisingly enough, I rocked it! I did so good some random guy came up to me and told me I was doing great. Chaz and I even got Peyton surfing. She loved it. Kind of. She was totally happy on the board, but she didn't love being in the water. We had such a great time! Friday I made my mom go with me to Sea World. We had such a fun time! Everything was so great- it wasn't too crowded, the weather was beautiful, all the animals were out and about. I LOVED Sea World. If I lived near San Diego, I would definitely have a season pass, because I thought it was just about the coolest place ever! We saw the Shamu show, saw the Cirque de La Mer acrobatics show, held the starfish, pet the dolphins, fed sting rays, fed sea lions, saw the flamingos, turtles, otters, penguins, manatees, polar bears, belugas, and fishes galore. We went to the pasture where they have the Clydesdales and we got to feed and pet them. Peyton loved petting the "dee-dee" (Tinky, which means any animal). The best part was feeding the sting rays and petting them. It was so cool! Peyton cried when the sea lions would yell over food, and she didn't want to touch the sting rays at first, but after she got used to it, she couldn't keep her hands out of the water! We had such a great time!

You can tell she's not too happy about feeding the sting raysThey were so smart! They would hoist their bodies flat along the wall to "climb" to get the food!Eventually she liked it...What a fun show!My baby shamu with her shamu lunch pail.Feeding sea lions. When this one started barking at me, Peyton started bawling.Such a fun day!Happy as can be with a bag of chips to munch on (don't worry, they're healthy ones).

That night, my little sister met us in San Diego with some good girlfriends of ours; Pam, Lindsay, and Marissa Beckstead. We all went to see WICKED! It was above and beyond what I hoped for! It was so good. The girl who played Galinda was a superstar. She made the whole play! It was so cute and we laughed and we cried and we loved it! The only downfall of the night was that Cheyanne, who is close to legally blind, forgot her glasses, and couldn't see a thing. She said it was just a bunch of different colored blobs. I guess we'll just have to go see it again!

My mom must have been saying something really important in this picture.

Saturday was our departure date, but we were having so much fun with the Babcocks (my parents friends from college whose house we were staying at in Carlsbad) that I "accidentally" missed my flight, and we stayed the whole day. We went to Legoland! It was really neat. We went on a Lego safari, a fairy tale boat ride, went through a castle with knights and dragons, went on most of the rides, and saw TinyLand, which was miniature replicas of big cities. The best one was Las Vegas! It was so detailed! And so right on. Peyton started doing the funniest thing that day; yelling at me. Not in a defiant/Super Nanny kind of way, but in a protective way. It all started with the teacups. My mom didn't want to go on the ride, so she volunteered to hold Peyton while I went (let's be honest: my mom held her most of the day, while I enjoyed the rides). So I'm getting on the ride and my mom points me out to Peyton and she started yelling. "MAMA.. AAH.. UH. NANABOBOBA....." Then the ride started and she lost me, and right away, she quieted down. As I came around, my mom pointed me out again, and she did the same thing, still really loud. At this point some other grandmas noticed what was happening and started laughing. Then she lost me again. Finally the ride stopped, and we were all winded, so we just sat there for a minute. She did not like that. She was yelling again. Then I got off and started walking over to her and she quieted right up. My mom said it was hysterical, she was like "You get right back here, young lady, do you here me? Those cups are dangerous and moving too fast. Get over here!" Anyway, I'm not doing justice to the story, but it was so cute and so funny! She did the same thing when I was on a boat ride later that day, and has been doing it ever since when I'm not paying attention to her; like in the car or when I'm cooking. It's so funny. [Don't worry, we always make her sign "please" and then whatever she wants, so that the yelling isn't rewarded. No supernanny intervention needed.]

YellingYelling again. I wish I had video. Pictures don't do it justice.Chey, Chaz, Me, Hayden BabcockOn the teacups: Hayden, Chaz, Chey, me, Jeff BabcockSassy with potato chips again.On our safari. She loved the steering wheels!Lego prison.Kathy, Chaz, Hayden, Jeff, Chey, Peyton, Me, Momma
Cheeser smile. I love it.

After Legoland, we went to this amazing little Mexican restaurant and had a delicious dinner, fireside, while we listened to this great band. It was such a fun night! The drive home was peaceful, too, since Chey, Chaz, and Peyton all slept the whole time!

Chaz teaching her to skate. Never too young.She was so tired she fell asleep with her hand in her treat ball. Look at those lashes.

We stayed in Las Vegas for a couple days, enjoying the hot weather (pool), and shopping. Our cousins the Pettyjohns were in town from Florida, so it was really fun to get to see them for awhile! Peyton started doing some really cute things when we were in Las Vegas. First, she started latching onto things when we walk by them and I'm holding her. It usually is people that she latches onto. It started with me walking past my mom, and Peyton lunging out and latching onto her with both arms and legs. We laughed so hard. The other cute thing she does now is a tradition she started with her noni. We were all sitting down talking and all of a sudden Peyton crawled over to my mom, signed "up", then my mom picked her up, and Peyton signed "bye" to all of us. She wanted my mom to take her on a walk. This became a special daily routine for the 2 of them, and it was so, so cute that she knew just what she wanted, a walk with Noni, and how to get it. She also started climbing... everything. It started with an obsession with climbing up and down stairs, now she climbs chairs, people, animals, walls (unsuccessfully), boxes, furniture, toys, basically anything she can get her hands and feet on. I think I've maybe taken her to the zoo too many times and as a result of overexposure to the primates, she's starting to act like a little monkey! She even grabs things with her feet now.

Tuesday we flew to Salt Lake and got to see my grandpa. Peyton did more cute things in Utah. It must be her age, because every day she does more and more fun, adorable (and mischievous) things. She started intentionally resting her chin on her chest. She must think it feels cool, because any time she does it by chance (like if she's looking down into her lap), she repeats it a few times. She also is becoming more and more outgoing. At the airport, we were the first ones off the plane, and while we were waiting for our stroller, she waved "bye bye" to every single person that walked by. It was so cute! We also got to visit my girlfriend (since high school) Misha and her new beauty, Harli. She is such an adorable and sweet baby, and it made me miss when my baby was that age!

Mohawk
Great Grandpa GeneSink baths are the best! Dee-DeeOh yeah, and she LOVES balls too.Kuma. She loved him.Aunt Steph

We went to my good friend Stephanie's salon and got our hair and glitter toes done. We saw 500 Days of Summer. We went with my sister Jamie to lunch and then to Liberty Park, a park in Salk Like with a gutter and fountain system made for little kids to play in. Peyton loved it! Whenever I flip her upside down, she always laughs, then goes into the fetal position, legs criss-cross applesauce, and folded in half. It's totally cute.Love that little white butt!We played at the playground, we spent the night at Stephanie's and got to meet all her friends. Steph's roommate has 2 dogs; a cute little one named Bentley, and the sweetest, biggest baby named Kuma, an American Mastiff. Peyton loved them, of course, and it was so cute watching her play around that monstrous dog. Steph and I went out one night. We went to the Q-Tip concert in the park, which was way too crowded, and then hip-hop and country dancing. We had such a fun time! We danced every dance, and didn't leave until they shut things down in the wee hours of the night. Steph and I took Peyton to the Petting Zoo at Thanksgiving Point. It was awesome! They have lots of different kinds of goats, sheep, llamas, ponies, horses, cows, decks, geese, peacocks, pheasants, other birds, pigs, bunnies, all sorts of fun animals. We had such a great time, and Peyton liked it, too. Peyton went on her first pony ride. She loved the horses, but got bored riding. I don't think she understood that she was adtually on a horse, because she kept looking around at all the other horses and wanting to go to them. She totally missed the point. We also got to watch them milk a cow, and the best part was the baby cow and baby horse. They were unbelievably cute, and so nice! Peyton absolutely loved the baby animals, because they were right at her level. It was such a fun afternoon! Then Steph and I shared the biggest and most delicious banana split ever and watched Benjamin Buttons while Peyton slept like a baby after all the excitement.

Goat love.She loved these two.We gave her loves while she was being milked. Poor girl. I know how she feels.Baby cow. I love.
Baby horse. I love.

We came back to Oregon on Friday, just in time for me to go with Jade to the dinner part of the Pumpkin Ridge Member-Guest tournament that he played in. He did all right in the tournament, and he even got KP on one of the holes! I taught Young Women's that Sunday, and it was a great experience. I have to admit I was a little nervous (read: WAY overprepared), but I had a great time. On Sunday, Peyton started walking! Not just a step and a pause, followed by a series of squats that ends with her sitting down and crawling, but really walking! Jade's dad and I decided to see if she would actually take the plunge at family dinner on Sunday, and little Miss finally decided it was time! So she's walking now. She still prefers to crawl, but hopefully that will fade soon, and her clothes will get a little cleaner, too! Luckily I have been a little bit crazy the last month and have carried both video and still cameras around with me everywhere, ensuring that I don't miss those first steps on camera, so I got them! Peyton's darling first steps, on still camera and video camera! (So I have first time mom syndrome, or what?!)

There she goes... Her first real steps!

Last week we were sick. Peyton got a molar which either caused or was unrelated to a fever that she had. I had fever, chills, sweats, sore throat, and was dead tired for about 3 1/2 days. Luckily we were better by the weekend. Peyton and I took Jerai and Boyd to OMSI, which Peyton always loves, and the moms enjoyed too, then we celebrated Ike's 2nd birthday in style complete with a lego cake that was so cool!

And lastly, tonight Peyton staged her first protest. I fed her dinner, bathed her, and put her to bed at her normal time. About 20 minutes after, I could tell she wasn't asleep because I could hear her making loud, annoyed noises, the kind she makes when she's real bugged at me. I went to go check out what was going on, and I found her standing up, yelling "MA" "EH" "NA", everything thrown out of her crib. When I walked in, she immediately quieted down, and started repeatedly signing "more" "food" "please" "food" "more" "please" "food", frantically. It was so hilarious. Apparently she wanted some more food. Well, she must have been really hungry, because she ate another half enchilada and rice and beans and raisins. Holy cow! How on earth is she so tiny?

I told you we've been busy!

At dinner on Sunday, one of the kids abandoned their dinner plates. Peyton crawled right over to it and started helping herself. I didn't even know until she had eaten almost everything.

Ever wonder why Peyton almost always eats naked, instead of just with a bib like normal children?Even Tink didn't get away unscathed. (Look closely and you'll see Go-Gurt droppings on her nose)
I caught Jade using poor little Tinky as his own personal pillow. That guy has been working so hard lately!