Vegas!

Aaah, Las Vegas! It is so comfortable for me to be there. There's some combination of being taken care of by my mommy and the familiar desert landscape and the wonderful, dry heat, that feels so good to me. I love it! Jade had a big business trip to go on (2 weeks), so Peyton and I flew down to Las Vegas for some serious Noni time. It was amazing.

The first few days were a real disappointment. It was a spring storm there, which usually I would love, but since I was trying to escape the clouds and rain, it was a downer for me. What made it even worse was that Portland was having an unseasonably beautiful few days. I couldn't believe my bad timing. As soon as it cleared up I felt much better, and Peyton and I hardly spent a minute inside that wasn't absolutely necessary. My wonderful mom heated her pool to around 90 degrees, so we spent hours swimming and playing around in the water. Peyton really improved on her swimming, and while I would never consider her completely water safe yet, I at least feel like she is a competent swimmer. My mom spoiled me rotten by taking Peyton at 7am almost every morning and letting me sleep in until 8 or 9. That was amazing. I took advantage of Peyton's 2 hour afternoon naps and sat myself out in the sunshine and reread the Twilight series. I didn't even think about all the productive things I should have been doing. I just relaxed. It was great. I cooked dinner almost every night and forced a resistant JC and Chey out of their rooms and to the dinner table. It was really nice to spend time with my family.

Peyton and I had a few playdates- one with my cousin's wife and 2 cute little daughters, one with my girlfriend Alicia and her 5 month old son, and 2 with my mom's friend and her twin boys that are just a couple weeks younger than Peyton. Peyton played so unbelievably well with the twins. I was shocked. She actually was engaged with them (not just playing by herself) and she was so sweet. None of her only-child bad habits manifested themselves! She even played a game of catch with one of them, which she has never done before. Darling.

We went out to eat a few times at my favorite Vegas restaurants and we did a little bit of shopping (only a little bit). We went to a big Memorial Day party that my mom's community put on, complete with fireworks and bounce houses and carnival games. Peyton had a blast. And Peyton finally got her hair feathers that she's been talking about nonstop for about 2 months. My mom and I went to the movies once and saw Something Borrowed, which was darling. Basically we just had a super relaxing, really enjoyable vacation! (And I was able to soak up some much needed sunshine.) I'm so excited and ready for summer!!

PS- While we were gone, 20,000 honey bees moved into our house. I'm so glad we were gone! That was lucky timing. Lucky the bee man came and took care of everything while we were out.

My mom made brownies one night when we had Papa and Nana over. She let Peyton lick the whisk. I'm pretty sure Peyton thought it was the best thing ever.Usually my little fishie went skinny dipping. (She asked me to call her my little fishie.)So excited about her feathers, she couldn't stand still for a picture.Pretty much sums up our entire trip...Peyton and I experimented a little with stunting. She LOVED it- and I'm not just saying that because I want her to be a cheerleader (though I do). She kept asking for "more, and higher!" My arms got a killer workout.This picture was on our last day, packing up. She climbed in the suitcase. She has the greatest skin and gets so dark, despite SPF 60 every few hours. Lucky girl. She learned "watching goggles" in gymnastics, when the coaches needed the kids' attention, and halfway through our trip she started doing them while she would swim. I think she got confused with swim goggles. It was super cute to watch her try to scoop with her arms, while still using her goggles.

I can't wait to go back!!