Washington DC!

Every year New York Life sends their top producers on a retreat somewhere to go to classes and workshops and seminars. Last year Jade went to San Antonio, TX, and I decided to stay home. This year "executive council" was in Washington, DC! So Jade and I left Peyton and Tinky at home with Noni and went on the first trip we've been on by ourselves since our babymoon. We stayed at a huge convention center/hotel, the Gaylord International in National Harbor, MD. Jade ditched all of the meetings besides one, so we were able to do so many fun things! We left our house at 3am on Saturday morning (it was awful) and took the Max light rail to the airport and finally arrived in DC at 4pm. Possibly the longest day I've had in years. We drove to Baltimore and were able to make it just in time for the kick-off of the Ravens/Giants game. It was my first professional football game, and I loved it! (Besides all the TV time-outs). It was especially fun to see 2 of our BYU alum play- Kehl and Pitta- both of whom did a pretty good job when they were playing. Sunday we slept in and then went to the ballpark to see the DC Nationals play the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a really fun baseball game to watch- but it was sweltering hot! We were so happy when the sun finally sank behind the stadium. That night we went to our first New York life dinner, and got to catch up with some of Jade's friends he made at last year's council. Monday was the day Jade went to his (1) meeting. I slept in... until noon. It was amazing. We took a shuttle into DC, then took the Metro downtown (my first time on a subway!) We shopped a little bit, then grabbed a cab and headed to the National Mall. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the Vietnam Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the White House, the National Treasury, the Capitol, the Boy Scout Memorial (bet you didn't know about that one!) and the Museum of American History. Tuesday was our 4-year Anniversary! We both slept in, and Jade surprised me with a hot stone massage at the spa! So I had my massage and sat in the steam room and sauna and whirlpool while Jade relaxed and watched ESPN. Then we had lunch and went to the pool and laid out. We went to a yummy steakhouse called Cadillac Ranch for dinner. It was great. Then when we got back to our room, Room Service brought up a bottle of sparkling cider and chocolate-covered strawberries! It was so sweet, and a great anniversary (and the first one we've been alone, besides our 1st). Wednesday was our last day, so after breakfast we took a shuttle into DC and tried to see as much as we could. We bought tickets for one of the open-top double decker buses that you can hop-on and hop-off all around town. It was much faster than walking. We went to the National Museum of Air and Space, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, the White House Visitor Center, Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon (not inside, of course). We were so exhausted by Wednesday night! New York life put on a "party on the Potomac"- a carnival themed party right on the waterfront by our hotel. There were carnival games, magicians, jugglers, musicians, acrobats, people on stilts, balloon artists, tons of food, and the mascots from the DC Nationals baseball team (human bobble-heads of the Presidents). There was lots of dancing and fireworks and we tried for an hour to win Peyton the perfect prize. The party was fun, and a great end to our trip. The only problem was that there is just so much to see and do in Washington, DC, that it's impossible to do it all in just 2 days. Luckily for me, I've been 2 times before- and both times were with tour groups, so I was able to get a lot of the historical information and spend quite a bit of time at each place we visited. This time my travel partner wasn't interested in history or museums- he was happy just to drive by everything and call it a day. So I wasn't heart-broken that I missed some things, because I had done them before. And Jade didn't have to spend 3 hours at a museum with me, looking at artifacts. Thursday we flew home on a (full) 5 hour flight from Atlanta (that's when I made a vow never to fly coach again). When we got to the airport, I was itching to see my baby girl. As we walked out of security, she saw us and started running... right around me and into Jade's arms. I cried. She only wanted to be held by him. My mom tried to console me by saying that whenever Peyton cried, it was for mommy. She did hold my hand the whole car ride home. We had a great trip, and I absolutely am looking forward to going back to DC!

At the Ravens/Giants game I LOVED Pitta when he played for BYU. The Nationals Stadium. Jade kept hoping for a foul ball to come our way, but none did.

Reflection pool and Washington MonumentI was feeding ducks and squirrels on the lawn of the National Mall. This little guy was eating out of my hand! WWII Memorial

Inscription I loved at the WWII MemorialVietnam Memorial Washington Monument

Boy Scout Memorial. I'm pretty sure the naked people next to the boy scout are supposed to be Greek gods. At the Museum of American History.

White House

A wax Abe Lincoln from Madame Tsusseaud's (there was a collection at our hotel)

Anniversary

Jefferson Memorial Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. It's probably my favorite place in all of DC.

We got to see the changing of the guard ceremony while we were there. It's really special. Google it. At dinner the last night, they had a few presidents walking around on Stilts. Here's Abe:This Abe is one of the mascots of the baseball team.

While We Were Out

Jade and I "had" to go on a vacation that he received as an incentive from New York Life (more on that later), so we flew my mom up to Portland to babysit Peyton while we were gone. She stayed a few extra days, so I could see a little bit of her too- no fair that Peyton got her all to herself. My mom and Peyton both had an absolute blast, though my mom did admit that when 7:00pm came around, she was glad Peyton was in bed so she could have a break. I was so happy she could come babysit our babies (Tink, too) while we were gone. I knew Peyton was in the best hands because she had my mom's undivided, loving, grandma attention. I don't know who was sadder when it came time for Noni to leave- Peyton or my mom (or me). My mom had taken lots of pictures of Peyton for me while I was gone (I missed that girl so much. I swear she was different when I saw her after 6 days. Her hair was longer, she was taller, her voice was different...) Thanks mom!

She's always loved to be naked. This day she stripped down to just her sandals and sunglasses to go potty.

Going for a walk- she insisted on bringing her bag.Apparently Peyton spent no less than an hour a day looking through pictures on my mom's camera. At one point she asked my mom to take a picture of her binky, so she could see it on the camera. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get rid of that thing.
Peyton has been obsessed with wheeled suitcases for about the past 6 months. The first day my mom was in town, we were at Kohl's and Peyton rolled around a huge suitcase the whole time we were at the store (and tantrummed when we had to leave). She told my mom she wanted a "bag pack" (she got that from me telling her I was packing my bag- so she calls all wheeled suitcases "bag pack") and she wanted a pink one. My mom searched high and low and was finally able to find her a pink suitcase that Peyton still loves (a huge compliment to the suitcase because usually she is "over" things in about 6 minutes)

Waiting for us at the airport.Lunch at Nordstrom Cafe. So happy to be with my little girly.

The Great Outdoors

Well, I just celebrated another birthday (mixed feelings about that as it is)... camping. It wasn't so bad- my birthday fell on our last day there, so on a positive note; for my birthday I got a hot shower and to sleep in my own bed! We went on our annual Thelin family camping trip with almost the entire family (Nipper stayed home with the triplets). We camped at Timothy Lake, on the base of Mt. Hood, OR. It was truly beautiful in the forest, and besides it raining and freezing on our last day there, the weather was mostly pleasant during the days. One day we went to Ski Bowl and did the Alpine Slides. They were kind of a bust because they didn't go fast and they weren't in the best condition, but the kids liked it. We went to Kahneeta, an Indian Reservation, where they have a big pool heated by hot springs with slides and hot tubs (guess where I spent most of my time). We played at the Lake (well, the kids and dads did- I just sat on the shore and read a book), rode bikes, ate a ton of good food, and stayed up late around the campfire and visited. It was a great trip, I absolutely love this tradition, and I am very glad to be home and showered.

Celebrating Kristin, Ashley, and JaNea's birthdays before we went camping. I let Peyton have a small piece of cake and some ice cream. She thought she had died and gone to Heaven. She was hysterical eating her treat!

Shoveling it in before I could change my mind and take it from her

Jerai and Boyd came in town a few days before the camp-out, so one day we went to the "beach" on a River in Washington. The kids had a blast. I didn't get any pictures except this one- can you spot my little beach bum? (Hint: it's dirty!) Alpine Slides [Remember how Peyton likes to fib about her age ("I'm 3!")? Well we used it to our advantage. They had an age restriction on the Alpine Slides- 3 and up. So when the girl asked how old Peyton was and she told her she was 3, she was able to ride with Jade on the slide!]Marley and I racing on the slides (I'm pretty sure she won)Kahneeta Swimming pool (having lunch on the lawn). I love this picture of the cousins all hanging out.Group shot on our last night- we all look pretty amazingMarley and Max brought Jerai and I each a bouquet of flowers they picked themselves (it was their own idea). It was so sweet!Jerai's birthday is a week after mine, but she left Oregon early, so we celebrated both our birthdays the last night camping.Kristin brought glitter to do glitter nails. It was a hit with all the girls, and the boys wanted to do it too, so instead they each got blue glitter "superhero tattoos" on their hands that they loved.While we were doing nails, Jade was...These 2 are going to be great friends.I mentioned how beautiful Timothy Lake is, right? On a clear day you can see Mt. Hood perfectly...On the day we left, you couldn't see Mt. Hood at all.I got voted "most white trash outfit" or as I like to think of it, the "best outfit" awardBirthday Dinner at BenihanaCan't believe I'm in my MID 20's! I'm only in a little bit of denial. (I think I would feel a lot younger if I didn't have a child)

Long Time, No Post

I can't believe that summer is almost over. I seriously don't know where it went! We have been doing all sorts of fun stuff, but since I haven't gathered all the pictures yet, I am posting in non-chronological order...

Peyton's best friend "Big" Peyton was in the hospital for 2 weeks, fighting Ecoli. Thankfully, she's totally better now, but when she was in the PICU, Peyton couldn't visit. She was moved to the regular pediatric unit for her last couple days, and Peyton was finally allowed to go see her best friend. The girl was so happy to be able to see Big Peyton! When we visited, Peyton was getting an EEG, and still to this day, my Peyton talks about "Peyton Janeck Hospital" and "Peyton hat. EEG" (They put a gauze "hat" over all the EEG wires).

Peyton still wears a pull-up to bed since once in awhile she doesn't wake up dry. Unfortunately for us, Peyton likes to sleep (and hang out all day) totally naked. So, she was stripping off all her clothes and pull-up every night before she would fall asleep. I tried seriously everything I could think of (zippered one-pieces- but she could unzip them, layering her clothes, having her wear a 1 piece swimsuit under her jammies so it would be much harder to take it off, etc.) and nothing I did worked. She is so tiny that all her clothes slide right off her shoulders, plus she knows how to unzip and unbutton. When I was telling my family about the problem, my brother-in-law Justin said I should duct-tape the pull-up to her. I laughed it off, but then Ashley said that they had to do it when Macie was a toddler. So we tried it, and... it worked! We don't actually tape the pull-up to her skin, we just make a duct-tape "belt" around the top of the pull-up and it makes it so the pull-up doesn't stretch and she can't pull it off.

Jade played in Pumpkin Ridge's Member-Guest Tournament a couple weeks ago. He and his partner didn't win, but they had a good time, and Jade played pretty well. At the end of the tournament, they had a big dinner and the wives were invited to come.

With my friend Kate; her husband Joe played in the tournament.

The weather in Portland was beautiful this weekend, and supposedly the weather at the coast was sunny (which is rare), so Justin, Ashley, Jeremy, Kristin, Jade and I brought all our kids to the beach. We apparently picked the only beach that wasn't sunny. I don't know how that happened. We all had a great time (especially the kids), and it wasn't too cold if you used your towel as a blanket and sat where the wind was blocked.Peyton and TarynPeyton playing with the "big boys", Trenton and Max

The kids wanted to dig a big hole, and soon enough the dads took over and the project became the dads'. Mostly they just stood around and talked, but eventually they did dig a deep hole- deep enough that they couldn't get out without a hand from someone outside the hole.

The kids each took turns being thrown into the hole with Jeremy. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Peyton got super messy gorging herself with Red Vines.

I am officially nominating myself for mother of the year this year. Or not. We've had so many little accidents and incidents that I feel astonishingly under-qualified to be a mom. Last month, I was buckling Peyton into her car seat, and I put the car keys in the cup holder of the car seat so I wouldn't lose them when I was buckling her. Well I forgot to take the keys with me when I was getting into my seat, because I shut Peyton's door, walked around the car, and while I was walking I heard a click and a honk. Peyton was playing with my car keys and I was officially locked out. Without a cell phone. I was looking in her window with my hand on the driver's side door watching her play with the keys; just hoping she would press the unlock button. I didn't have to wait long- she pushed unlock pretty quickly and I was able to yank the door open before she locked it again, but I felt pretty helpless. Then a couple weeks later we were getting ready to leave storytime and she was standing by the door. Somehow she pushed the heavy door open just enough for it to catch her little fingers and shut again. Luckily I was able to get to the door right away and there were no bruises or broken skin (or blood). Then that same day we were at Target and I was letting her sign my name on the credit card pad at checkout and she fell out of the shopping cart. I couldn't believe it. I cried, she cried, we were a mess. And then, to cap off our traumatic day, Peyton fell off the chair in my office when she was coloring. Again, no injuries, but seriously I felt like such a bad mom! Then yesterday, we were having dinner at JaNea and Nipper's house and she was playing with her cousins on the play structure. She is pretty fearless and she climbs really well, so she's been able to climb up the stairs and the slide for a long time now, and she's never fallen off. Apparently this time she was trying to climb down the stairs facing outward, and she fell from the top stair, hit her head on the 4th step down, then landed on her back at the bottom of the stairs. I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Our friend Marshall saw the whole thing happen, and he was able to get to her just a couple seconds after she fell, and with the help of daddy and grandma (and a popsicle) she calmed down fast enough for us to realize there was no serious damage- just a tiny bite on the side of her tongue, a cut on the side of her eye and a goose-egg on her head. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. About a half hour after she fell, she wanted to go play again, so we let her, and the first thing she did was run to the slide and climb up it. Apparently she wasn't too traumatized. Like I said, Mother of the Year (at least this month).

She was already feeling lots better by the time bedtime came around. To this day, she'll point to her head and say "Gabey's house. Bonk."

Like I said, the girl loves to climb

We went berry picking and ended up being in-between berry seasons, so there were slim-pickings (literally). We ended up just buying what the farmers had already picked. Peyton loved it all the same.

Like I said (again), the girl loves to be naked.

And now a few Peyton stories for my memories...

A few weeks ago in nursery, Peyton got a little cut on her ankle. She insisted on wearing a band-aid every day for 2 weeks. Since the ankle is a hard place to keep a band-aid on, her band-aids would keep coming off on one side, and every time she would about have a panic attack. She would say "MOM. BAND-AID OFF" and repeat until I re-affixed it or put on a new band-aid. One day I was downstairs and Peyton was playing upstairs with her shoes. I heard her whining, but I could tell she wasn't in pain at all- it was a frustrated whine. So I didn't go up to her right away. The whining persisted for about 5 minutes, so I went upstairs to find out what she was so mad about. I found her standing in the doorway of her room, frozen in place, clutching onto the door jamb for dear life. When she saw me she started repeating "band-aid off". She wouldn't move because her band-aid was off. I had to try so hard not to laugh.

We went to a neighborhood festival-type party that the strip mall by our house put on. All the stores opened their doors and there was a band and food and all sorts of stuff for kids and adults. Peyton had a blast, except when she saw the person in the bunny costume walking around. All of a sudden she started pulling on my skirt and crying, so I picked her up and she was saying "No bunny mommy. Scared." I had no idea what she was talking about, but I looked around and sure enough, there was a bunny, but it was no where near us, and it wasn't even looking at Peyton. She just did not like it one little bit. It was pretty funny.

Peyton has lately been aware that her mommy doesn't have the most beautiful singing voice. She will now tell me "no singing mommy" when I start to sing along with a song she likes. Also, if I start to dance around or even clap along with music, she will tell me "no dance" or "no clap mommy". I didn't know they started this so young!

I can't bring myself to throw out her artwork, so I take pictures. Here are her latest paintings.

She narrated this note for Jade.