New Blog

Apparently we have photo limits on Blogger now, and I have exceeded my allowance. You can find us at our new blog:
thethelins2.blogspot.com
I know- super creative titling.

July

July happened. I'm still not quite sure where it went, but I know we had fun. We've been taking full advantage of the outdoor pool at our gym, and at Peyton's cousins' house. Well, that is of course when we've had the sunshine for it. Peyton went to 2 weeks of summer camp; one for gymnastics and one for her preschool. Here's our July recap, in photos.

:

:

Love good girlfriends

We went to the golf course with grandma and grandpa. Peyton was happy to ride in the cart with them to "look for baby deer". Piper called the deer we saw "dogs".

Grandma and Grandpa hosted their annual cousins' campout for all the kids 4 and over. Peyton had THE BEST time. They slept under the stars and had their own olympics and went geocaching and ate all sorts of good stuff. Peyton came home and was like, "we had s'mores for dinner and Swedish pancakes and s'mores for breakfast and hot chocolate!"

Peyton 

Piper loves Tinky. Her first word besides "mama" and "dada" was "duh" (dog).

Our stake had a Pioneer Day party. Peyton was excited to ride in the hand cart.

 I recently started running (boo) and adopted Tink as my running buddy. On our first run, I was practically dragging her, and she kept wanting to lay down and rest.

 Piper went through a phase where she constantly sucked her top lip in. It was SO cute.

 Peyton got a tattoo from Princess Jasmine

 Peyton got herself ready one day with every piece of non-dress-up jewelry she has, plus a sparkly belt and my shoes. 

 Piper's second tooth came in! Now she has super uneven bottom teeth. I love them.

 Stuck.

 She looks just like me when I was younger.

 Thank goodness for baby food pouches! I can just open them while I'm driving and hand them back to her. She does make a little bit of a mess though. You can tell this was a particularly cranky car ride because it was a 3-pouch day.

She's got some curls!

Tinky makes me laugh. She leads a pretty posh life.

I babysat my niece and nephew one day and all the kids took a bath. Too cute!

Independence Day

We had a great Independence Day. We started off with a low-key parade in a nearby neighborhood. Peyton loved it- though she was a little upset that her older cousins were faster at getting the candy than she was. I didn't mind. As far as I'm concerned, the less candy that makes it home, the better. We came home and put the girls down for a nap and then went to a family pool party. The weather was beautiful, the company was great, the food was good and the water was warm. What more could you ask for? After 6 hours outside (we take advantage of every sunny minute we get in Portland), we went home, put the girls down for another nap, then woke them up at 9 to take them to the fireworks show. We went to the same show that we have gone to the last 2 years. It's huge- exactly 30 minutes long, which is crazy considering it's just put on by a neighborhood. They loved it. Neither of the girls could take their eyes off the fireworks. They just stared. I was a little nervous about taking Piper, but she did great (even if she was a little cranky). The National Anthem brings tears to my eye. I know I was only in the military for a few short months, but I have a love for my country that I find hard to put into words. I especially love the men and women who serve so honorably. I am so proud to be an American. 

:

:

I saw this hair-do on a blog. There was no tutorial on how to do it, but I was so happy I was able to make it work.

 (back: Justin, Layla, Erin (Ashley's sister) holding baby Beckham, Katie)

(front: Trenton, Marley, Taryn, Brek, Macie, Peyton, Nipper, Henry, Charlotte, Lucy, Gabe) 

 Peyton, Piper and sweet baby Sutton

(can you see the flag on the bottom-middle of the picture?)

Almost Summer

It's almost the 4th of July, which means it's almost summer in Portland. Until then, we're keeping out our coats and rain boots. Jade's client gave us some tickets to the Oregon high school all-star football game. It's an annual football game between the high schools in North Oregon and southern Oregon. The boys chosen to play are the best players from each area who have just graduated, and almost all of them will be playing for a good college this fall. The tickets were great- we were right on the sideline in the VIP tent with food and drinks and even a bounce house for the kids. It was a great time (even though it went from 60 and sunny to 50 and cloudy in a matter of minutes). Jade went on a 4-day business trip, so the girls and I tried to keep ourselves entertained. We went to Justin and Ashley's house one day and went swimming. It wasn't warm enough for me to get in the pool, but the girls had a great time. Jeremy and Kristin took their oldest kids on a cruise with their extended family, so we got to watch Layla for a couple of days. It was really cute watching Piper and Layla crawl around together, but man- twins are hard!!! Luckily little Layla is an angel baby and was just as sweet as could be. One day we had some of our old friends over for a BBQ. They were at a family reunion in Washington, so as they drove through, they stopped by. It was so fun seeing them all. They are 3 brothers who Jade worked with before I had even met Jade. They're all married to cute girls with 3, 2, and 1 [on the way] kids. We loved getting to catch up with them. We miss our great friends we had in Utah! Also, 9 weeks and 3 days after she got her first tooth, Piper's second bottom tooth came through! She is no longer my one-tooth-wonder. The girls had checkups with the doctor for their 4-year and 9-month birthdays. Peyton jumped on her growth chart from the 12th percentile in weight to the 37th percentile (33 lbs)! She stayed on the tall side at 65th percentile for height (3' 4.5"). Piper is following her sister's growth chart almost exactly (she's a little bit bigger, but when the doctor put their charts next to each other, the pattern was almost identical). She weighed in at 16.9 lbs, putting her in the 12th percentile for weight and 28.5 inches long, putting her in the 81st percentile for height. She has an enormous noggin- 45.5 cm around, which puts her in the 88th percentile for head circumference. WOW, that's a big head. As proof of that, I had to have grandma extend the head hole in one of Piper's shirts by 2", just so it would go over her huge head! Jade said it's because she takes after him and has such a big brain.

:

:

 We are so excited for football season!

 Twins!

 Piper put herself in "prison"

 My last picture of Piper with just the one tooth!

Father's Day!

On Father's Day, I had a 7:30 meeting at the Stake Center with the rest of the Primary Presidencies in our stake with the General Primary President, Sister Wixom. It was so great to be able to meet her and hear from her in such an intimate setting. She has such a great spirit about her- you can feel her love for Primary children and the Savior. I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to be there. After I got home from my meeting, my mom had almost finished our special Father's Day breakfast for Jade- eggs, bacon and Kneader's french toast. YUM. Jade hasn't had any refined sugar in 8 weeks, and I gave him a free pass for the morning. He was loving it.

Peyton gave a great prayer in Primary- all by herself! Most kids in Jr. Primary (even some of the older ones) still want help giving the prayer. Peyton did great, and I was a proud momma.

For dinner, we went over to Jade's parents' house and had yummy BBQ steak and chicken. Then we played a little trivia game with the kids, using clues about each of the dads in the family. It was so fun to see the kids react to funny stories about Grandpa and different uncles.

Monday Peyton, Noni and I went and had a pedicure (it was Bill's birthday present to Peyton- which also benefited us big girls!). Peyton was so cute in her own little chair. She was really good until her pedicure was over, then she got bored waiting for my mom and I to be finished. We might have to wait until she's 5 for her next pedicure. We ran a couple errands, came back and had nap time, and then headed toward the airport early to beat the rush hour traffic. We had dinner at Red Robin (I've noticed we go there a lot when we're taking my family to the airport), and we even had the waiters sing "Happy Birthday" to Peyton one last time for good measure. It was a sad "goodbye" at the airport. Peyton was inconsolable, and since she was wailing, Piper started wailing. Not the best drive home, to say the least.

It was so great having my family in town, and I know Peyton had a fantastic birthday weekend.

 Peyton took 17 pictures on my phone of her Father's Day gifts for her daddy.

 She was very proud to give daddy his gifts.

 We have a neighbor who is a single guy in his early 50's, and who is an avid biker. He loves the girls, and bought them matching Harley outfits. So cute.

 I love sleeping babies.