I feel like I have so many little tidbits to blog about, so here it goes: My totally random post.
First of all, for those of you who haven't been to our home in Oregon, Jade and I each have our own rooms. Mine is a craft room and Jade's is his Man Room. This is the room that is totally, 100% his. He is able to do whatever he wants to this room. He doesn't have to clean it, or put things away in a certain place, I don't nag him to clean it, I don't nag about decor, nothing. Well, awhile ago I mentioned this around his dad and brothers. That was my downfall. The bold statement caught their attention, and so the search for animal trophies began. First was Jade's pheasant, then a small deer head that he shot in Germany, then his dad's (huge) deer head, then his brother's goose, then his brother's bear rug. Well, a couple nights ago, Jade's brother Justin came over with a little surprise for me... All the taxidermed animals from their Northern California hunting trip. 8 exotic sheep and goats in total, plus 2 coyotes. I really should have gone with my first instinct and made that into a second guest bedroom.
While he's busy driving me crazy at home, Jade is also busy doing great at work. He got the "big dog" award for New Agent of the Month at New York Life again for May. He also got the Agent of the Month award for May, out of the whole office! He's definitely on a roll. Great job, babe. Thanks for working so hard.
Peyton and I have been having some seriously fun adventures, too. A few weeks ago we went with Peyton and Brittney Janeck to Rose City Ceramics, a place where you paint ceramic things, then they put them in the kiln, and voila- you have a ceramic something that you painted yourself. We had the girls paint mugs that said "I love dad"
We also went to a place called "Pump it Up, Jr." It is a warehouse full of inflatable play structures. They have a "Pump it Up" for older kids, but this whole place was for kids 6 and under. They had a bounce house with balls in it, a big slide, a 2-slide slide that you race down, a huge obstacle course, and 2 smaller play structures with different things inside. The day we went, it was toddler-only, so there were about 10 kids ages 11 months-3 years. Peyton wasn't so sure about it in the beginning, but after a little prodding, she really liked it. She didn't like it quite as much as the older kids because she can't run or jump, but she would stand up and bounce, and she loved crawling on the obstacle course. We'll definitely be going back.
Tinky has been busy being super pathetic. She's a traitor to her species. If she were ever in the wild, she would be shunned by all the "real" dogs. She's still sleeping under the covers, riding in the front seat of the car, and she sits on and lays on us. She loves us to give her love-bites on her chin and cheeks. She also loves kissing Peyton, especially since Peyton gives her open-mouthed kisses. Peyton loves crawling all over Tink, and Tink loves the attention. She's a little needy, as one might observe. The other day, I was cleaning my room when I noticed that Jade had left the shirt he had worn the previous day on the floor by our bed. Since I was busy, I didn't pick it up. A few minutes later I walked into our room and found Tink laying on our bed, with her head cuddled up on... get this: Jade's shirt! She had seen it on the floor, and smelled Jade on it, and decided she wanted to use it to cuddle on! So cute. In the picture below, Jade was laying down talking to me, then Tink laid down right next to him, and put her head on his mouth, so he could bite her. It was so cute, and just a little pathetic. 
By the way, Tink is scared to death of the new animal heads. For 2 days after we got them, she would not leave my side. She refuses to go in that bedroom, and she starts barking when the door is open. The last thing I'm going to blog about my oldest baby is that if given a choice, she would prefer not to sit or lay on the ground. She will always choose a chair or couch over the floor. One night we were in the office, and Peyton's pack-and-play was open. Tink decided to make herself a little bed, and she stayed there for a good hour before she got up.
By the way, Tink is scared to death of the new animal heads. For 2 days after we got them, she would not leave my side. She refuses to go in that bedroom, and she starts barking when the door is open. The last thing I'm going to blog about my oldest baby is that if given a choice, she would prefer not to sit or lay on the ground. She will always choose a chair or couch over the floor. One night we were in the office, and Peyton's pack-and-play was open. Tink decided to make herself a little bed, and she stayed there for a good hour before she got up.Since Peyton and I are going to be out of town for Father's Day, we decided to surprise Jade and celebrate Father's Day early this Sunday. It happened to be a fast-Sunday, so he had "presents in bed" instead of breakfast in bed, then we let him sleep in for a change. We had a fun little "Father's Day" with Dad and his 3 girls.
Jade has been working late a lot lately, so when he was home for Peyton's bedtime routine on Saturday, I thought it would be nice for him to get to do the bedtime thing with her. Well, I'm sure it won't surprise you that Jade got a little creative with his job. I was cooking dinner when I heard Jade over my shoulder, "Peyton stuck her finger in a light socket." (All my sockets are covered, so I knew he was trying to scare me, and I intentionally didn't turn around.) Me: "Oh. Which one?" Jade: "One that's not covered" At this point I turned around... 
They're pink, sparkly chucks. Confession: I liked them so much I bought them in every size they had... Sorry Jade. But hey, now they'll grow with her!
She would take fistfuls and shove it in her mouth. I'm not even exaggerating about the fistfuls. At one point my friend Lauri gave her an Animal Cracker, and Peyton put it in her mouth, moistened it, then dipped it in the sand and put it back in her mouth. It was like sand"dip-dip". Another time she was sitting up, then looked at the sand, as if just remembering how much she liked it, then plunged (intentionally) face-first into it, and came up as happy as could be. It was pretty gross. Her diapers the next day were even grosser. Then we went to one of our friends' house for a BBQ. It was such a great day, and I'm so grateful for good friends in Oregon!!
***Notice how her eyes are rolling into her head with sheer delight, and her chest is soaked from watermelon juice***
Exhibit B: Peyton during a meal
Exhibit C: Yogurt everywhere, Rice Krispies in her hair, and plastered on her face and chest
It's hard for me to believe my baby is almost a year old. She's growing up way too fast. She's already standing on her own, doing the stairs, and mini-tantruming. Also, she's signing a lot, which makes me very happy! I'm hoping her toddler years will be manageable since she's learning to sign. She signs: more, all done, up, down, dog/tink, food, milk, please, hurt, medicine, and I'm sure there are a couple more that I'm forgetting. All you skeptics- take that! As I said, Peyton has mastered the stairs. You can see what her motivation was on this particular adventure...
We've still been taking advantage of all the sunshine, hanging out in everyone's yards, making a slide-slip-and-slide combo for the kids (the walking kids), having picnics, and playing in the water. People are right- summers in Oregon are basically perfect (I'm not delusional- I realize it's not yet officially summer, so there will be some more clouds and rain before the sun is here for good). Outside fun makes for dirty kids though! Peyton's cousins Max and Ike wanted to get in the tub when I was bathing Peyton- these kids are so cute!
As you can see, she didn't mind it at all. The only thing that could have made it better was:
Her big sister in with her! I love my girls!
Also, Nipper blessed all 3 of his babies. It was really beautiful/spiritual/touching/heart-warming. Then we had a barbeque at JaNea's house for Mother's Day dinner. The other exciting event of Mother's Day was having all 13 of the cousins together under the same roof. This was a first, since the last time everyone was together, Taryn still was in-utero and the triplets were really newborn. Let me tell you, 13 kids 9 and under, including 6 babies under the age of 1, is madness. It was crazy; babies everywhere, kids running around! We managed to wrangle everyone down for a cousins-picture. Adorable. You can't really tell unless you look closely, but the girls (not counting Charlotte and Lucy, who were in their blessing outfits) are all matching. I love matching. It's actually a miracle I don't try to match Peyton every day. 
Peyton was so funny- she hated when the dogs would play fight. She would be totally fine one minute, then the second they started to (play) fight, she would start crying. Apparently she's a little sensitive about Tinky. Peyton and Boyd were so funny to watch together. The whole time they just wanted to play with a nasal aspirator and an infant tylenol bottle. They didn't really share them though. 
Boyd would be sitting there, minding his own business, playing with the toy, then Peyton would decide she wanted whatever Boyd had, then she would crawl over and take it. She was being a bully! My little angel (who is 3 months older and over 3 pounds smaller than Boyd) was being a bully! 
It was innocent enough though, I guess, she just better watch out for Boyd when he starts crawling... payback! Friday morning we woke up at 4 to drive to Las Vegas. We made a quick pit stop and had breakfast with our friends the Walls in St. George. Then Jade and my brothers went golfing and I hung out with my momma and sister. Jade's favorite part of the day was dinner. We went to his favorite restaurant: Texas de Brazil. Saturday we left for Miami. Leaving Peyton was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was heartbreaking. Seriously. Although I don't know if my day was half as bad as Jeremy and Kristin's- they had major troubles with their flights, and spent 24 hours in airports. Sunday when Jer and Kris finally got to Miami, our cruise began! We ate lunch, laid out, and ditched the lifejacket drill. Jade and I hid under our bed, so we didn't get caught. Kristin was sitting on her bed when they came to check, so she got caught. Luckily she charmed her way out of it. We also got our first taste of the FlowRider... the coolest invention ever. It's a wave simulator. I can't do it justice in the blog, so if you want a better description, Google it so you can see exactly how cool it is. 
Each of us gave boogie boarding a shot. The good news is: no one got hurt. The bad news is: my top got a little messed up and I flashed Jeremy, Kristin, Jade, an employee, and about 5 other passengers. Oops. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and wore a shirt from then on. At least it was my top and not my bottoms! We also had a formal dinner and met our waiters; Song from China and Marlon from the Philippines. 
We basically fell in love with Song over the course of 8 days. I wish I had Song at my house right now. Monday we cruised the whole day. We worked out, laid out, played at the casino, played shuffleboard (I totally dominated), and saw a magician and acrobats. 
Tuesday was the only day with bad weather. It was overcast with scattered showers and really windy. This became my downfall. I got burned, big time. 
I was burned so bad that it hurt to bend my knees, arms, even fingers. I was still burned when I got back to Vegas 6 days later. It was awful, and it almost ruined my cruise. But I digress. We got to San Juan, Puerto Rico around 5:30 at night, which was weird for us. Out of the 8 cruises I've been on, I've never had a night port before. I actually didn't like the night port. We didn't get to explore Puerto Rico. We did get to shop around old San Juan and have a great dinner. 
Oh also we went to an internet cafe and got to check emails and even call home. It was great to talk to my mom and to Peyton, though it did make me a little homesick. That night we also saw a comedian, which almost soothed the sunburn. Wednesday we were in St. Thomas. 
The port was a little scary, but the beaches were beautiful. Let me go on record and say that I hate snorkeling. I've never had a great experience. It's always cold, and besides that, I've never even seen anything really cool. We went snorkeling on Coki Beach in St. Thomas, and let me tell you: it was awesome. The guys who rented the snorkel gear to us gave us dog biscuits to feed the fish. When we went out in the crystal clear water, by the gorgeous reef, we broke up our biscuits and were swarmed by hundreds and hundreds of fish. It was insane. There were fish literally bumping into me. They ate out of my hands. It was an incredible experience. When we got back to the ship we competed in the ship's "longest drive" tournament in the golf simulator. 
Jade won first place out of a ton of guys. I won first place too, which isn't impressive as it sounds, considering my only competition was a girl who barely golfed at all, and Kristin, who had never before swung a golf club. But still, a gold medal is a gold medal. We also played mini golf and rock climbed. 
Then the boys tried their hands at stand up surfing on the FlowRider. It was really neat- surfing on the end of the ship, 14 stories high, overlooking open ocean with a beautiful sunset behind you... Not an experience you get every day. The boys did really well, and were so fun to watch. 
Thursday we were in St. Marteen. We went to an absolutely beautiful beach and played in the ocean, catching waves and just relaxing. 
We did a little shopping, then headed back to the ship for our most anticipated activity of the trip: the Amazing Race. The 4 of us competed in the ship's version of the show. We totally dominated. We took first place in every single event except for one, and we won first place (by a long shot, if I don't say so myself). 
We also went to an ice skating show, and another formal dinner. Friday we were at sea all day again, so we took advantage of all that our ship had to offer. We went ice skating, went on the FlowRider again, the boys played in a dodgeball tournament, watched the Scintas (yes the Scintas from Las Vegas were performers on our ship!), and went to the Battle of the Sexes game show, which Kristin and I participated in (and both of us scored points for the girls). 
Saturday was a sad day, the last day of our cruise. We did all the things that we hadn't done that we wanted to do before we left. 
We rock climbed again, went to the arcade and had air hockey tournaments and did Dance Dance Revolution, and did the most fun thing we did the whole trip: rented out the FlowRider all to ourselves for an hour. We had SO much fun!! Over the course of the cruise we became friends with the sports staff, and so they let us do all sorts of fun stuff that normally wouldn't be allowed. We did boogie boarding, surfing, and tandem boogie boarding (Jeremy "rode" Jade). 
It was great. Sunday was sad because we left our cruise, but really happy because I got to see my baby. I was so excited. My mom pulled up to the curb at the airport, rolled down Peyton's window, I looked in at her, and... nothing. No reaction at all. I was crushed. Then Jade looked in at her and she smiled at him and kicked her legs. She wouldn't nurse either. My little heart broke. Luckily she started liking me again after about a day and a half, and started nursing (well) after about 2 days. That will to teach me to leave her for 8 days again! Jade and Tink left for Portland on Monday night, and I got to stay in Vegas with my family for another week. We did so many fun things; celebrated my daddy's birthday, visited lots of friends and family, and went to a baby expo. We even met Rachel, as in Rachel from "Signing Time with Alex and Leah". So fun! 
Now we're back, Jade's super busy working, and I'm trying to recover from our vacation. We had such a great trip, but it's good to be home again. A big thank you to my momma for watching Peyton (and Tink). I can't tell you how good it was to leave my baby and not have to worry about her, knowing that she was safe, loved, having fun (and being spoiled) just as much, if not more, than if she were at home with me. You are the best momma.
