It's already July?

After a whirlwind of a month, we're finally back to normal life. June was crazy, with my sister then the rest of my family coming to town. 4 Days after they left, Peyton and I went down to Las Vegas, and we just got back last week. We had a blast! My mom had to go to Girls Camp with my little sister, so I was house-sitting/baby-sitting my brothers for a few days. We had a great time. Mostly we just played in the pool, visited with some of my friends, and read (I re-read the whole Twilight series in record time...4 books in 4 days!) Then Jade came to town, and brought a friend with him; his Mission President's daughter, Livia, who is from Brazil but has been doing a study abroad in Eugene, Oregon for the past year. She was going back to Brazil Monday, and she had never been to Las Vegas (and didn't know when-or if- she would ever be back in the States), so we had her come spend the weekend with us in Las Vegas. She had a great time, and it was fun getting to show her around. We took her all around the Strip one night, which was fun, but mostly just hot and tiring. She liked it, though, and that's what counts. It was hard to leave Vegas, but good to be back home. Peyton started swim lessons last week, and she actually is doing pretty well. She certainly isn't swimming, but I can tell she's starting to get more comfortable in the water. At least she doesn't hold onto me with a strangle-hold anymore. Jade and I went to the New York Life "council" kick-off party for the managing partners and the top 18 guys in his branch of the company. It was a great way to celebrate Jade's achievements. Peyton and I went berry picking with Peyton and Brittney Janeck. The girls ate so many berries it's a miracle they didn't get sick. Actually it's a miracle that we even made it to the berry place. On the drive there, "little Peyton" (we all know which Peyton this is) decided to exercise her vocal chords by screaming for 15 solid minutes. Just when "LP" stopped screaming, "BP" got car-sick and threw up on herself. The humor in the situation was that we didn't have a change of clothes, so she just went topless while we picked blueberries and raspberries. She didn't seem to mind. Brittney and I were a bit frazzled by the time we got there, but picking was cathartic, and we ended up having a great time and a peaceful car ride home. Her first taste... after this it was over for me. Luckily I had her wear "camping clothes"She has the raspberry on her finger like an olive. She thought she was pretty cool for figuring that one out.Big Peyton is a great sharerWe went to our 1-yr. doctor's appointment with my angel doctor, Dr. Moshofsky this week. Peyton is doing great, she's healthy (he actually said she was "perfect"). She's still teeny; in the 1st percentile for weight, but she's gaining weight steadily, so it's not a bad thing. She's in the 24th percentile for height. We're still doing our sign language class, which is going great, and taking advantage of every sunny day we get by going outside to play. Peyton is tanner than me. It's so not fair. Peyton has been getting into everything lately. Her favorite things are 1. sucking on stray bits of dog food, 2. pulling every pair of my shoes off the bottom 2 shelves in my closet and 3. pulling down everything within reach in the pantry, then feasting. All 3 are pretty funny, but I have learned my lesson about closing doors and watching Peyton while Tinky eats.

Here she is pointing to her messYou can see Tink was happy to help me with clean up.To celebrate Independence Day, we went to a fun parade that my nephews Sam and Gabe rode their bikes in. Peyton didn't know what was going on, but she loved waving to everyone as they went by. Tinky thought it was cool, but she was really suspicious of Uncle Sam, who walked around on stilts. She growled a little as he went by. Apparently she doesn't trust anyone with a fake beard. And of course I got emotional as the Honor Guard came by with the flag.

A baby for everybody!In the afternoon, we went to the Oregon Coast with all the Comcast guys that are out here working with Jade. We had a huge bonfire and watched fireworks.

beach baby

I liked this picture with the sand, the fire, a firework, and the flag. At the end of the night, we threw all the wood we had left, and the fire got so big people drove over to take pictures of it! It was very cool!We even saw a seal and a whale in the ocean! Peyton rekindled her love of sand, and celebrated with a handful every few minutes. She also liked the way the warm sand felt on her skin, so she would lay in it; face and everything. It was pretty funny to watch, but it was hard to clean off her!

We had a great holiday, and we're so grateful for the beautiful country we live in and the men and women who give up so much so that we can enjoy it! Happy Independence Day!