No April Fooling...

I am in first place out of our whole family in my March Madness bracket. I don't even like basketball- nor do I pretend to know anything about it. I am beating all the boys- even Justin... who made 4 brackets. Can you believe it? Also out of everyone on the website we used- over 40,000 people, I am ranked 403rd. That means I'm in the top 1% of everybody. Somebody needs to take me to Vegas! (seriously)

Caught red handed!

So a few days ago, my sister-in-law Ashley babysat Peyton for me for the evening while we were moving stuff into our new house. Peyton has a cousin, Taryn, who is 10 months younger than her, and they hang around each other quite a bit. Well, sometimes it doesn't pay to hang around an almost-2 year old...

This is her "do you think they notice anything funny" face.Peyton apparently found some (thankfully washable) paint in Ashley's laundry room and decided it would be super fun to open it up and play in it. Look at her face. It screams "uh-oh. I think I just got caught". For me, the funniest part of the whole thing is that poor Taryn was totally an innocent bystander! There is no red on her hands, which means Peyton painted her cousin and herself. Poor Taryn... Maybe you should be more choosy of who you hang around!

Moved!

In case you've wondered where we have been... we've moved! Nothing major- just down the road a little bit. We love the new place. It's a little 1990's (brass/"gold" fixtures everywhere and an awful crystal and gold chandelier) but with a little love, we have made it home. It's super open and light and bright- which in Portland is crucial. Anyway we have had a long week, but we are officially moved in, unpacked, and decorated (thanks to a ton of help from great friends and family). We seriously couldn't have done it without everyone's help. Now we're settling into life again. We've been getting ready for Easter and for visits from Jerai and my momma- back to back! It's bound to be an exciting few weeks!

So as not to leave this post totally barren, here are some pictures of what Peyton's been up to:

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Mashed potato mud-maskPainting her toenails with permanent marker (Apparently I waited too long in between pedicures. I found her tugging at her sock on her other foot after her first foot was done. Then I asked if she would like me to put toenail polish on her and she said "YES! Thank you.")Loving the new jaccuzi tub. She has a bubble bath every night. Though if it were up to her, she would just live in the tub. Seriously, if I had a dollar for every time I heard "Bubbles?"...

Can't take the Vegas out of the Girl...

Well, we're finally back for good after 8 days in Las Vegas, then a week back home, then 2 days in Vegas, then 6 days skiing in Utah, then 10 more days in Las Vegas, then 4 days in Utah Valley. Are you tired yet, because I am! It has been such a crazy 2 months! We are so happy to have been able to visit all our family and friends, but it does feel great to be home. I already posted about the first trip to Las Vegas and being back home and Utah, so I'm not too overwhelmed about all the catching up I have to do. The most recent trip to Las Vegas was pretty low-key. I didn't do too many exciting things- I basically just followed my mom around and tried to help her with all her chores every day. I did a lot of carpooling, some cleaning, and so many errands it made my head spin. My mom was sick for a little while, so I was back-up-mom. I laid out a little bit and read a lot (I re-read the Twilight series again...) I was lucky in Las Vegas- we had some nice warm weather and also some totally beautiful summer showers (I know it's not technically summer, but they felt like summer showers). Wednesday the 3rd we celebrated my momma's birthday! We went to Bunco (and I actually won a prize for the first time!) and we went to see Valentine's Day with a bunch of girls from my mom's ward. After the movie I went out with my best friend Bianca to hear her friend DJ at the Ghostbar and do a little dancing. We had a great time! Thursday I had super bad allergies which kick-started my asthma and left me in bed and resting most of the day. Friday I ran errands with my mom all day and then we went out with 6 of her friends for a birthday girls' night out! We had dinner at a tapas restaurant called Firefly in downtown Las Vegas- the restaurant overlooked Freemont Street, which is beautiful at night. After that we went to the LA Comedy club to see a very funny comedy show. Then we gambled for about an hour (I lost $20 in the penny machines). It was such a fun way to celebrate my mom's birthday! Saturday we went to visit my Grandpa Coy in the hospital (he was recovering from a neck surgery). We watched about 5 episodes of my mom's favorite show Cold Case and then I went out dancing with a bunch of my girlfriends to celebrate our friend Brittany's birthday! We went to Jet at the Mirage and we had so much fun we stayed until right before the club closed at 3am! Sunday was a great day because after 10 days of being apart, Jade came into town! We picked him up at the airport, then went to church, then to visit my Grandpa again, and then we had family dinner and a movie. Monday jade went in to my family's company and I spent the day running around with my mom. Tuesday was our last day in Las Vegas. Jade worked again and my mom and I had lunch with my Aunt Dawn and her kids who are 5 and 1 1/2- Fisher and Aizee. Wednesday at 5am (about 4 hours too early for me) we left for Salt Lake City. Jade worked all day every day we were there, and half of the nights (he is such a hard worker). We got to have dinner with our friends Peter and Amber and their 4 boys (Amber is finally pregnant with her girl!) I spent my best friend Steph's whole day off with her on Thursday (and her boyfriend showed me the ring he was going to propose to her with a few days later!!) We got to spend a night with our friends Tristen and Dan- we watched some lame scary movie and the boys played pool while Tristen and I talked for hours. I even got to see my best friend/sister Megan for about 5 minutes while she and her hubby Ryan drove through Orem on their way down to Las Vegas. Saturday we flew home, and besides Peyton acting up on the flight (I don't blame her- we were stuck for 1 hour on the plane waiting to be de-iced and she never napped the whole day) we got home in one piece, and as always it's great to be back home!

Sleepy baby couldn't keep her eyes open. So sweet.Peyton is really into copying people lately. She found my mom's reading glasses and put them on, then started "reading" a book. It was darling. She also stood up and tried to walk around, and then spun her head, threw her arms out and fell over. Apparently they weren't her right prescription.Birthday girlSweet reunion!Peyton is teasing Tink in this picture- she has Tink's bone and was seriously considering eating it. Tinky was very well behaved and just patiently waited for Peyton to drop it- even though she was dying to yank it away from her.

Peace and Solitude

Peyton and I are still in Las Vegas enjoying the gorgeous weather and sunshine! We came down last Tuesday and then left the next day with my mom, Cheyanne and Cheyanne's friend Emmalie to go to Utah on a ski trip. It was so much fun! We went to Solitude, where we stayed in a ski-in/ski-out condo at the resort. The drive up was horrible- it took us 8 hours because there was a bad storm, but once we got there we realized it was a small price to pay for the perfect weather we had the whole entire trip! Thursday we saw my mom's family in Salt Lake, checked in to the condo and got situated. We also met up with Steph and took Peyton to Discovery Gateway. She loved it and the teenage girls enjoyed it almost as much as she did. We shopped a little bit (and got an apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory- YUM), and then we went to dinner at Spaghetti Factory. Friday was a relaxing day. We explored Solitude Village, went ice skating, rented skis, went to the pool and hot tub and ate some great food. I stayed at the condo while Peyton napped, and sat on the balcony in the sun reading a book. It was so warm that I sunbathed in just my tee shirt and pants! Saturday was such a fun day. While we were renting skis, I had an epiphany- My parents started having us ski when we were about 2. Ski school starts for kids as early as 2 1/2. Peyton isn't too much younger than 2... Why not introduce her to the snow? So we rented her the smallest pair of boots and skis they had. I took her out with us Saturday morning and skied with her on the bunny hill for a couple hours. She absolutely loved it! At first when I put her boots on, she did not like it- it was hard for her to walk, and they are really uncomfortable. She refused to walk at all. Then when I put her in her skis and pulled her around she started saying "more more". So I took her down a run, in between my legs and holding her waist, and she was in heaven! She said "weee" and when I would stop she would ask "more". She was adorable. By our last run, she was exhausted. She and I were riding on the chair lift and I had pulled her legs up so she didn't have to hold all the weight of the boots and skis, and all of a sudden she wasn't moving or talking or anything. At first I was worried- was her helmet on too tight and she lost consciousness? I jolted her a little bit and then realized she was asleep! How that child could fall asleep in uncomfortable clothes, gear, with a blaring sun and on a chairlift was beyond me. After that we took her right to bed and left her with my Aunt Suzie to babysit while we enjoyed the beautiful day. It was the perfect ski day. It wasn't crowded, the runs were well groomed, and the weather was beautiful. We invited Pam, Brad and Marissa Beckstead to go skiing with us, so Marissa snowboarded with the girls while the 4 adults skied on the big kid runs. It was actually pretty funny- all 4 of us were wearing different shades of green. We joked that we probably looked like polygamists with one man and 3 women skiing together, matching. We had a good laugh about that. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that it's been over 8 years since I skied last (I had a tryst with snowboarding) I have retained about 70% of my skiing skills. I was shocked and super happy about that. I thought for sure I was going to suck and have to stay on the baby hills. It helped that for my first run Brad took us to a black diamond. All of a sudden I looked down when I was on the chairlift and I was like "Wow Brad you don't mess around." He had a lot of faith in me. It turned out great and I was so happy that I am still a pretty good skier. I enjoy it so much. Sunday we skied almost the full day while Steph babysat Miss Peyton. Then we had family dinner at my grandpa's house and then I went to Steph's salon to have her do my hair once Peyton was down. Monday Steph did my mom's hair and I gave Peyton a mani/pedi. Then we drove back to Las Vegas- a much better drive down than up. We even got to take a little pit-stop in St. George at a park to let Peyton stretch her legs and enjoy some warm sunshine so she was much happier on this drive, too. It was such a great trip, and I'm so glad we got to come down for it!

This is Peyton helping her Noni wash dishes after family dinner.

Me and my momma on the summit
Peyton relaxing after a long morning skiing. She's about to pass out here.
Me and my mom taking our last run with our tired little girl.

With my sleeping beauty on the chairlift.

"Weeeeee"

Me and Peyton, Cheyanne, Marissa and Emmalie

Love my little snow bunny

Ice Skating at the Village

Peyton remembered snow from our trip to UT in December. Right away she was like "I remember this- I LOVE this stuff!"

She seriously couldn't get enough snow!

My little grocer with the big girls at the Museum

She loves horses. Even fake ones.

This picture is before we left for Las Vegas. My mom's computer won't let me flip it but it's hilarious. She loves socks/leggings/leg warmers/tights and in this picture she took some of my socks out of my suitcase and decided to put them on. She also stole my headband "hat" out of my drawer. She looks awesome in this picture.

This picture is also before we left for Las Vegas. Peyton and I had been gone a whole week (again in Las Vegas) and Tink really missed us. One day when Peyton was napping, Tink left my side (which usually doesn't happen). When she had been gone awhile I started to wonder what kind of trouble she was getting into. She had gone upstairs, opened Peyton's door, and was laying in front of Peyton's crib just sleeping by her while she slept. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Opinionated Peyton

It literally happened over night. One day it was pouring, then the next day (Monday) it was sunny and warm and... there are blooms on the bushes and trees! Just overnight! We've all been enjoying this sunny weather so much. I'm not delusional, so I don't expect it to stay this way, but man we've sure loved it. I even caught Tinky outside lounging in one of our chairs, sunbathing for a half hour.

In other news, Peyton has become quite the Prima Donna. The girl has an opinion about EVERYthing. She now insists on picking out her own clothes (usually a dress- and she begs for her fur coat and snowsuit), her type of sock (leg warmers, ruffley socks and bright pink socks are the favorites), and which pair of shoes to wear (usually her pink sparkly Chucks or her pink jelly shoes). She picks out exactly which bow she wants, whether she wants a hat or headband, and which bracelet (or bracelets) she wants to wear. She chooses which food she wants, and loves fishies but only in the package- she will not accept a handful of fish under any circumstance. She picks which book to read and what toys to play with. She chooses songs on my IPod (She tells me "no please" when she doesn't like the song or "more please" when she wants to hear the song again). The girl knows what she wants! It's a little unnerving at times, but at least she didn't inherit my indecisive gene.

Also, Peyton reached a big milestone- she's finally in a convertible car seat and not just a baby carrier. The poor girl is still 15 pounds away from the baby seat's weight limit, but she was getting so tall that she looked like she could use a little more leg room. The new car seat can go front facing or rear facing, and even though she weighs (barely) enough to go front facing, after a great deal of research, we've made the decision to keep her rear facing until she is too big to do it safely (our car seat caps out at 45 pounds), as it is by far the safest way for her to ride. I'm just hoping that she doesn't get too sick of facing the back seat. I am counting on the fact that she has nothing else to compare it to, so maybe she'll just think that's the normal way to ride. I can see the whining in my mind's eye... I hope we'll never be in a bad accident, but if we were, and something happened to her because she was forward-facing just so I didn't have to listen to her whine, I would never ever forgive myself. I know not everyone feels the same way I do- everyone has their own opinion, and everyone does what's right for their own family. Hopefully I'm not known as the mean mommy for it!

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Sunbathing

Big girl chair

I don't know if this picture is gross or cute. She loves Tinky so much!

Priceless picture.

Back for a bit...

We're back for a bit from our Vegas Vacation. Last week Jade rented a booth at the Outdoorsman's Show in Portland (it's the largest sportsman's show in the country if you ask him- no wonder he loves it) for New York Life, which was great, but it meant he would be gone Tuesday through Sunday, 7am to 11pm every night. I decided that wouldn't be very much fun for Peyton and I, so we made a last minute visit to Las Vegas. The trip was so fun! The first 3 days it rained- poured actually. I love the warm rain that Las Vegas offers, so I was in heaven. The rest of the trip the weather was warm and sunny and beautiful. Perfect February weather. We did a ton of fun things in Las Vegas, but mostly we just relaxed and hung out with my family. Peyton and I were both sick for 4 days, so it was great to have my momma there to take care of us! Peyton competed in another beauty pageant. This pageant taught me a lot about myself. First of all- I am absolutely not cut out to be a pageant mom. I will never- NEVER- have my 3 year old spray tanned, eyebrows shaped to nothingness, and painted with a FULL face of makeup. It's just not something that sits well with me. So, that might have been the end of Peyton's career as a beauty queen. Sorry honey- momma loves you too much to do that to you. I have not, however, given up my love of getting my baby all dolled up- age appropriately- and letting her show off a little bit. We're just not going to do any more "high glitz" (read: TOTALLY FAKE) pageants. We'll stick to pageants where toddlers are allowed to walk around without makeup and fake teeth. Despite the 6 hour long pageant that made for an un-napped, cranky baby, Peyton did really well. She certainly had much more personality at her first pageant, where it was a one-hour ordeal where she didn't have to miss her nap. She was crowned Princess, and it was really fun for me to dress her up in her 3 looks: Party Wear, Casual, and Swim. Unfortunately by the time Casual Wear was over, Peyton was freaking out, so we didn't get any pictures, but she wore a darling yellow and white polka dot dress with daisies, and she carried a bouquet of daisies to match. My mom and I had a really good time, and it was extra fun to have Misha and Harli with us there again. Besides the pageant, we toilet papered and decorated one of my mom's best friend's houses for her birthday (what a sight we were- a bunch of women from 23 to 47 TP-ing a house), got to visit some friends, eat some really good food (gotta love Las Vegas), and spend real quality time with my family. We can't wait to go back (SOON) for another visit!

PartyWear

Back of the darling dress

Little girl loves her Noni

Finally a happy face

Little girls

This is the best shot I could get. Uncooperative baby.

After the pageant Peyton ate dinner and pudding for dessert. She made a little bit of a mess. My favorite thing is The Joker smile she drew.

Afterwards, she needed a sink bath. Dirty, dirty water.

But she loved it!

For the crowning ceremony, we had to bribe her with a pixie stick.

Princess

Wish we had gotten a better picture than a cell pone picture. The whole yard and house looked really good! Happy birthday Debbie!