Washington Girl's Trip!

One of my very best friends in the whole world came all the way from Utah to visit her family in Washington for Christmas. Peyton, Tinky and I decided to escape the city and spend a day and a night on her family's farm, just outside of Seattle. We all had a fantastic time! It was so great to spend time with Steph's awesome family. Highlights include:

-Bowling. Girls vs. Boys. We each won one round. The girls had bumpers and I was still awful! I did bowl one strike though- and it never even touched the bumpers.
-riding the horses

-feeding and petting the cows

-the chickens

-the kitties

-the dogs

-the swing set

-the hay bales

-playing a 3 hour game of Life (and winning!)

-UNO flip!

Thanks so much Holt's for letting us come and play! We had a really great time. Thanks for sharing Stephy with me!

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Peyton kept saying "bawk bawk" and following the chickens around. She even got to pet them and feed them!

Steph's brother Brandon was holding a chicken that tried to escape! Peyton thought his reaction was pretty hilarious.

Steph's sister Andrea was Peyton's best friend the whole trip. She looked out for Peyton like a mother hen!
Tinky was so funny- she really wanted to climb the hay bales with us, but she was too chicken.

My little lady. She was having such a great time playing around and climbing all over.Riding Gunner. Gunner thought Tink was the most intriguing thing he had ever seen. He kept following her around and sniffing her. It scared Tink pretty good!

Riding Dakota. She isn't trained quite yet.

Peyton giving Gunner "loves"

Peyton giving Dakota kisses. Watch those fingers!Steph's dad showed Peyton how to give the horse "loves" There were cows on the other side of this fence. Peyton loved watching them and she kept laughing so hard at them! She called them "oooooohhhh" (instead of "moo")

A Very Merry Christmas

We were so lucky to be able to celebrate Christmas with our 2 wonderful families! Christmas Day was wonderful! We got back to Portland and put Peyton down immediately for a nap. We were able to get our hands on some of Jade's dad's rice cereal (a Swedish tradition), which was delicious even though neither one of us had the lucky almond (good job, Jerai. Again.) Jade and I opened up our stockings. Jade was so thoughtful, and among some other treasures, I got a bunch of Portuguese story books to read to Peyton, lots of warm wool socks, and a card shuffler since I don't know how to shuffle.

When we started getting ready for dinner, Peyton was cracking me up. We had opened her new dress up shoes (thanks, Aunt Buttons), and she was walking around in just her diaper, with one shoe on and one shoe off, holding the other one. She was obsessed with her high heels. She kept saying "shoes, shoes!" ("ssses, ssses") and signing "shoes". It was darling.
We had a lovely and delicious dinner at Justin and Ashley's with the entire family, plus the missionaries, plus Nipper's parents. It was so great! We put the kids down early and played games, and talked, and laughed all night! We had 7 babies 2 and under, so we had to be creative with sleeping arrangements (picture SEVEN pack-and-plays!!) Charlotte, Lucy, and Henry all slept in the master bedroom, Taryn and Peyton were in the master closets, and Ike was in the master bedroom. Needless to say, it took awhile for them to all get to sleep!! This was the only picture where Peyton was smiling. I had to put it in because she looks so sweet!! We had such a Merry Christmas, and we are so grateful for the MANY wonderful people who we got to share it with. Jade and I feel so blessed to have so many loved ones we hold dear. This is my very favorite time of year, and there is absolutely no one else who I wanted to be with as we celebrated the birth of our Savior. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! One of the dinner tables

Peyton was very serious when opening up her present from grandma and grandpa.

Post-Christmas humor: This morning while we were getting ready for church, Peyton decided she wanted the marshmallows that were on the middle shelf in the pantry. She decided to improvise a step-stool. Jade caught her red-handed! Please note- the empty oatmeal box isn't even dented from her weight!

A Very Vegas Christmas

I have a problem. My problem is that I can't spend Christmas Eve away from my family. I know I will have to get over it sometime (probably sooner than later), but Christmas just isn't Christmas unless I'm with my mom and siblings (and on Christmas Eve, all my Pettyjohn extended family). This year, even though it was technically the Thelin's year for Christmas, we spent Christmas week with my family in Las Vegas, then flew back to Portland Christmas morning to spend Christmas Day with the Thelins. We had the best of both worlds!

I was our event coordinator in Las Vegas, and planned all sorts of fun stuff for us to do. Tuesday we went to the Bass Pro Shops to see Santa's Wonderland. The store was totally decked out, and we had such a fun time! Highlights include seeing the sharks getting fed, the sting rays (always a big hit with me), and Mrs. Clause- who had a super inappropriate crush on Jade.

Seconds before this picture was taken, Cheyanne knocked the North Pole sign over and almost decapitated Peyton.

The whole family with Mr. and Mrs. Clause. I don't know who decided it was a good idea to take pictures in front of a sunny window. Then we went to the brand new City Center. If you haven't heard about it, look it up. It's so amazing. Peyton loved the light up stairs. There was also a water feature with these light-up cylinders that you could use your body heat to turn on and start a whirlpool. It was so neat! Peyton and her Noni played peek-a-boo around the water feature.

That night was the BYU-OSU Las Vegas Bowl. Jade was able to be on the sideline for the game and got to hang out by the team (he even got to use their heaters!)

They always bring out this HUGE flag (the size of the football field). It was so windy that the resistance was pulling these large men over! Jade and some others ended up needing to help the Army guys hold down the flag.

Cosmo
Close to the actionJade and Jan

Wednesday we did more Christmas stuff, then we went to Town Square. They have snow machines that blow for 10 minutes every day for "Snow in the Square" It was so cool! There was Christmas music (my favorite) and a huge tree. And snow! In Las Vegas!

Peyton wasn't too sure about the snowflakes at first.

Poor Chaz had to work. We missed you bud.

Peyton wouldn't stop trying to catch snowflakes so we could take a picture.

On Christmas Eve, we decided to go to Lake Las Vegas and go ice skating on the lake. Well it's actually a rink on a dock on the lake, but in Las Vegas, you have to make do. We had such a blast! Peyton loved to be with us on the rink. She also liked to pick up the ice chunks and eat them. Gross. For Christmas Eve dinner, we went over to my Grandparent's old house, which is now my Aunt and Uncle's house, for Christmas Eve dinner. We have done this same thing, at this same place, just about every single year I have been alive. It is the best tradition! Almost everyone was there this year, which made it so special. We just ate and visited for hours. There is a new generation in the family, headed by my cousin Fisher, so there were plenty of kids to keep Peyton entertained. My Aunt Pammy got them all Christmas jammies, and we had them take pictures on the stairs that I took so many Christmas pictures on.

Fisher (4 1/2), my cousin's daughters Aliana (3), Lauren (4), Azie (1), Peyton, and Julia (1 1/2). The only one missing was Beau (1)

My girls Peyton with her Papa and Nana

Not long after I took the first picture, my grandpa decided Peyton should have her first try of soda...She was his best friend after that.

She brought him her cousin's shoes to put on her. That child loves shoes.

Peyton and Fisher were cracking each other up!

Fisher, Ju Ju, and Peyton giving a group hug.

Mi familia (Aunt Dawn and cousin Jake in the background)

Thelins

All too soon, our last day came. Christmas morning came early, since we stayed up most of the night playing games and laughing. We always line up on the stairs, youngest to oldest, and come downstairs together.We open up our stockings first- Peyton was just happy with Santa's leftovers!

She absolutely loved opening presents. She thought unwrapping was so great!

A priceless face in this picture. She was over-excited.Trying on Cheyanne's nerd glasses.

Peyton was great on the flight home, but she would not take a nap to save her life. Then something horrible happened- [literally] as the plane's wheels were landing on the ground, she fell asleep. UN-real.... That child has horrible timing!