Sunday, June 26, 2011

Conversations With Lincoln

This last week or so Lincoln has started to sound more like a little teenager more than ever before.  Here are just a few of the conversations from this week.  As you can see, there is a little trend with his new found "cool" words.  I have no idea where he came up with these from.

Typically Lincoln will watch a TV show or two upstairs in our bedroom before he goes to bed.  He knows if his show is over then it's bedtime.  A couple nights ago I was downstairs working on somethings when his show ended.
Lincoln: "Mom, come turn off the TV upstairs."
Me: "Okay, I'm coming."
Lincoln: "Okay, but I'm just coming downstairs to hang out with you for a little while."
**********************

After picking Lincoln up from school one day we stopped in to pick up some take out from Pei Wei (yummy!) Since I called in the order a head of time and knew it was ready, I decided that I would leave the boys in the car really quick while I ran inside.  (Don't judge me.  I was like 10 feet from them, the air was on, the car was locked and I watched them the entire time.) Anyway, when I got back to the car I knew Logan was crying.
Me: "You guys okay?  I see Logan was crying. Lincoln were you okay?"
Lincoln: "Yes, I was just chillin in the car but Logan was crying."
***********************

While Ricky was gone on his motorcycle trip we cherished the few minutes in the evenings that we got to talk with him on the phone. The boys faces would light up and a huge smile would come to their face when they heard their daddy's voice.
Ricky: "Lincoln bud, how you doing?"
Lincoln: "Good. I'm just hangin with Mom and Logan."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

115

 There is no doubt summer is upon us. Yesterday's temperature...115 degrees.  It isn't the most fun time of the year to be outside but we always manage to get through it.  I forget it's that hot until I go outside. Thank goodness for fabulous air conditioners, flip flops, sunglasses, hats, Schwan's Home Delivery, malls and other fun indoor places. Here are a few things that have kept us busy and cool this last week.
Lincoln loves Chuck E Cheeses so we spent an evening there last week.  Logan just like to run around and be in the birthday area with the characters.  
We took a tour yesterday or Cerreta's Chocolate Factory.  There chocolate is SO good but I wasn't all that impressed with the tour.  There wasn't much for us to actually see. 
 Lincoln was able to watch trays of chocolate on a conveyor belt so he was pretty happy with that. 
The best part...picking out his treats when we were done. 
 Logan picked out jelly beans and managed to bite a hole through the plastic bag while he was holding it.   Next thing I know there were jelly beans all over the floor.  Lincoln quickly picked them up and threw them away.  He was a good helper and earned a sticker for his nice chart. 
Logan picked out hats for the boys to wear. 
 He has quite the little sense of humor.  He thought he was so clever when he got a laugh from his brother by doing this. 
 
 Evenings around here are beautiful. It cools down and makes for the perfect time for walks. 
Lots of baths to stay clean and cool. We tried some new bathtub markers this time. 

Our Family

Our situation isn't the most traditional but it works for us.  Ricky was in court reporting school and I was already established in my career when we decided to have kids. We knew we definitely wanted one of us to stay home and given the situation, it made sense for me to continue working and Ricky became a stay at home dad once Lincoln came along. I've always had flexibility with my job and started working from home consistently about four years ago. I love working from home.  I had to learn how to do it successfully over the years but it really is a great blessing.  I can eat lunch with the boys, help put them down for naps if needed.  I'm here when Logan is sleeping if Ricky needs to go pick up Lincoln  or run an errand.  It provides a great deal of flexibility. I also have no commute and little prep time so I have more time with my family.
Because of our situation, it allows our family to be together A LOT. I know a lot of couples that would struggle if they spent as much time together as Ricky and I do.  I know a lot of women who essentially have the lifestyle of a single mom because their husbands are working so much out of the home. Not that it's anyone persons fault if that's the case but it's just what they've grown used to.
This week with Ricky gone I've done a lot of thinking and it's been very eye opening for me. I miss him.  Funny enough...I need him. (It's funny because I consider myself a very independent person.) Ricky and I have been apart before. I think the longest was for 12 days. I'm enjoying my time off work and with the boys.  We've done a lot of fun activities, accomplished some projects and had great one on one time but it's just not the same as when daddy's around.
What I realized this time though is that even though we sometimes want and need a short break from each other or the boys, our situation is really a blessing.  We love spending our time together as a family.  We love being able to support each other in raising our children together.  I love that neither of us have to miss out on important milestones in the boys' lives.  I always love some time to myself; I think it's important for both Ricky and me to have that.  Everyone needs that alone time but when given the option/chance, I want to spend my time with Ricky. I hope one day our boys will appreciate the fact that we are able to be around as much as we are.  I feel lucky. I'm blessed in many ways and I am grateful for my family.
I took this of the boys right before Ricky left on his ride. 

Ricky sent this from Mt. Rushmore today. 

Friday, June 17, 2011

And He's Off!

Today Ricky left for a ten day motorcycle ride through Colorado, South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.  He will be spending for first three days on the road with our neighbor, Jon.  He will then meet up with his friends from California, the Rizzo brothers. It's been an annual tradition for Ricky to go on the Rizzo brothers ride.  After all, they call him the brother from another mother!  They are Ricky's closest friends and he really is just like another part of the family.  Ricky is excited to finally get out on his bike and just ride. It's hard for him to get away sometimes so I'm happy that he can take this break and go.
We will miss him but I've got some fun stuff planned for me and the boys!
 Ricky spent weeks packing - trying to figure out how to get everything in a tank bag and tail bag. 
 Jon rides a Harley and doesn't use protective gear - quick the opposite from Ricky so they look like a mismatched pair of riders. 
And then they were off! 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Sharky Brush

Logan recently took pictures so that his adorable little face could be on the packaging for the Sharky training toothbrush/teether by Live-Right.  These shots are before the graphic artist gets to them and he of course will fix the background, lighting and possibly even the color of his shirt!  Here are a few of my favorites...
(PS - this product is available on Amazon.  There is also a Baby Banana Brush and banana teether available too.)
 This one makes me laugh every time I see it.  Where did that face come from?  It's as if he saw a shark in real life. This one will not be used in the advertising. =)

 Lincoln was feeling a little left out so we snapped a few of the brothers...

 The classic tackle and then Logan was done. 
We can't wait to see the finished packaging!

It's Summer Time!

Things I love about summer:
flip flops...
 water fun...

 and cold yummy treats...
I'm not going to lie...it is hot! We've made it to the hundreds the last couple of weeks. Summer is so fun though.  I love everything about it! There is just this feeling that comes along with summer. It makes we want to travel, work on projects, clean the house and just have fun!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Logan Goes to Nursery

Since Logan turned 18 months old a few weeks ago he now can finally go to nursery at church!  He's been going to nursery with me (since I'm the 2 year old nursery leader) but it will be nice for him to be in his own class with the younger and smaller kids.  He seemed to like it the first couple of weeks but didn't do so well last week.  He is very different than Lincoln was at this age so it's a new experience for us. Lincoln was happy to be away from us and didn't even say bye when we dropped him off.  He was happy to be with the other kids and play with the new toys.  Logan...not so much. 
I was always a little bit jealous of kids that wanted to be with their parents. Lincoln was so independent that sometimes I thought the grass was greener on the other side.  I thought it would be so nice that your child loved you SO much that they didn't want to leave.  Be careful what you wish for.  Now that we have Logan, who has a much more clingy personality, I don't know that it's necessarily better.  It comes with it's challenges too.  Logan will cry for about 2-3 minutes when we drop him off but then he seems to get over it pretty quickly.  Last week I took him out early because I could hear him crying from down the hall.  He does really well with a babysitter and at the gym daycare so I'm sure a few more weeks of getting used to nursery and he'll be fine.  
It's pretty fascinating to me that at such a young age, being raised the same way, that my boys are different. They have a lot in common too. They are definitely born with their own personalities and it's our job to guide them and help them develop that. I love them both so much and I'm thankful for what they bring to our family. 


My sweet baby boy is growing up. This was before church on May 29, the first Sunday in his nursery class.





Friday, June 10, 2011

Conversations With Lincoln

Sometime last month as Lincoln and I walked downstairs early one morning, we rounded the corner to the playroom and Lincoln jumped back as you would if you were startled and then he blurted out, "Ahh, brown wall, you scared me!"
Later at some point in that week he told me his brown wall was beautiful.
****************************
While we were up at Tutu's house last month there were tons of hilarious things that Lincoln said. I tried to capture a few of them.  One day I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day.  Lincoln was in the sitting area of the bathroom looking into the mirror while this conversation took place.
(see picture of mirror below)
Lincoln: "Okay, talk to me!"
Me: "Who are you talking to?"
Lincoln: "The mirror."
Me: "The mirror is going to talk to you?" (I said in a slightly surprised yet sarcastic voice.)
Lincoln: "Yes."
Me: "What does it say?"
Lincoln: (In a small high pitched voice) "Let me out of here!"
*************************
The day that we went to the Pocatello Zoo we first went to out to lunch.  On our way from lunch to the zoo we saw a life size stuffed gorilla standing on the sidewalk that was holding a sign advertising a local business.  We were stopped at a red light and could see this gorilla right outside our window.
Lincoln: "Are we there yet?"
Me: "Where?"
Lincoln: "At the zoo."
Me: "Do you see animals?"
Lincoln: "Yes."
Ricky: "What kind?"
Lincoln: "Gorillas."
*************************
Over memorial day weekend we hung out at the house cleaning, doing projects and playing with water in the backyard. We were all in the backyard with the water table when Lincoln ran inside to go potty. We were making our way back inside when Lincoln came running out.
Lincoln: (in a concerned voice) "Um, Mom, Dad."
Us: "What?"
Lincoln: "I think I need to go back to the pee pipe doctor. (This is what we call the urologist.)
Us: "Why?"
Lincoln: "So he can make my pee pipe lots lots bigger like daddy's!"
Needless to say Ricky and I instantly started busted up laughing.  What else do you do!?  I immediately went and wrote the conversation down while Ricky tried to explain to Lincoln that pee pipe doctors are for fixing owies and that only time will help what he's asking for.  Who knew we would have that conversation with our three year old.
**************************
We are realizing now more than ever that kids are like parrots.  They repeat what they hear.  I'm grateful that Lincoln has so many positive experiences at school but he's picked up a few bad habits here and there too...like when he told Ricky and I that we were getting on his nerves.  You can guarantee that we had a long follow up conversation with him about that one.

The Griggs Project

Charles Wilfred Griggs, Ph.D. is a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. Griggs is an Egyptologist. He was educated at BYU and Stanford University. Griggs received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.Griggs currently holds the University Professorship of Ancient Studies at BYU. In addition to being a scholar of early Christian and Latter-day Saint history he is also an archeologist. In 1975-1976 he was part of a team doing excavations at the Nag Hammadi site in Egypt for UC Berkeley. In January–March 1981 he was the field director of the joint BYU and UC Berkeley excavation at Seila, Fayum, Egypt and he has been the head of BYU's Fayum excavation since 1982. Also in 1994 he was invited by the government of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea to do excavations at Ancient Greek sites on the Crimea. At BYU, Griggs has served as the director of ancient studies for the Religious Studies Center. He has also written several works on the Early Christian Church, mainly published in LDS-owned or - related periodicals. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)


Ricky studied from Griggs during his year at BYU. He has read everything he's published and followed Griggs' work over the years. Years ago when Spencer and Kristin attended BYU, Ricky asked them to record Griggs' class for a couple of semesters. When I met Ricky he had a huge box of tapes that Spencer and Kristin had given him with all of Griggs lectures.  Over the course of the last eight years (sometimes not working on it for months at a time) he transcribed approximately 30 cassette tapes, with approximately 60 hours of lectures which ultimately turned out to be over 700 pages of text. Well, after spending approximately 500 hours on this, his project is finally finished. Last month he had several copies of the transcripts bound. One for Griggs, one for Spencer and Kristin and one for himself. I can't believe how bigw the book ended up being. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it and seeing it through to completion. I hope Griggs appreciates the number of hours that Ricky spent transcribing, editing and printing this work. Ricky has read over it and uses the material for his studies.  I look forward to the day when Ricky is the author of his own book. 
Three stacks of paper eventually were bound into beautiful books. 


Saturday, June 4, 2011

Welcoming Baby Nolan

JJ and Jennifer had their baby boy while we were in Pocatello.  We got to Skype with them which was fun. We're glad that they are healthy and doing well.  We're also excited that we have a new boy cousin close in age to our boys. So fun.  Congratulations to JJ and Jen!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Idaho Trip Day 18 - Flight Home

Our trip finally came to a close.  It was bitter sweet.  We had such a fun trip and it was so nice to see our family.  The boys love being at Tutu's house but I think they were ready to come home. We always have a great time and it's fun to escape the Arizona heat for a while.  I'm so glad that I have a job that allows me flexibility to work from anywhere. I worked half day and then we were headed to the airport.

Luckily our departure timing couldn't have been better.  We got to the airport, checked in, went through security and as we got to the gate the had just started boarding.  Perfect!  Unfortunately, our actual flight experience was pretty miserable.  Logan and Lincoln both missed their naps and neither would sleep.  The sun was shining and was so bright that they were mad they couldn't open the window to look out. No food, toys or treats we had would calm them down or entertain them.  It was pretty much a nightmare.  We were those people with the crazy kids on the plane.  Luckily, there were a ton of kids on the planes so at least we weren't the only ones.

We got home without incident.  Our house was fine and the boys went right to bed.  Now we are getting back into the swing of our normal routines.
Who knew that this deer would be such a big part of our trip.  One the way down the hill from Tutu's house we found this deer on the side of the road.  We pulled over to see it.  Lincoln asked what we were doing and we tried to explain to him that the deer died and his spirit went to heaven and his body was going to get washed away and back into the earth.  After our discussion as we started to drive away, with a matter of fact tone, he said, "Yep, he sure is dead."  We just started laughing. It was so cute.  Through the rest of our trip he called this the broken deer.  Every time we would go up or down the mountain we wanted us to drive slow so he could see the broken deer.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Idaho Trip Day 17 - Visit from Mom

Since mom now lives in Logan it only takes here a little over an hour to come to Reed and Sandi's house. I'm glad that on Sunday we planned to have her and David come up to visit. They went to church with us and then hung out at the house for the rest of the day. The boys loved having them there and I enjoyed visiting with them. Logan took a special special liking to Grandpa. He talked and talked to him like they were best buddies. Sandy was gracious enough to host a nice dinner and it was nice to just spend the day with everyone. Lincoln woke up the next morning asking where Grammy was because he missed her and wanted to play with her. Both boys really love their grandparents. We are sad we didn't get to see Papa Tutu on this trip and hope to see him soon! He comes back from teaching in Africa next month and then we get to see him in August!
 Aunt Natalee, Logan, Lincoln and Grandpa
 Grammy and Grandpa
 Grammy helped Lincoln do some art projects. 
I never take pictures with my mom so I thought this was the perfect opportunity.  



Idaho Trip Day 16 - Pocatello Zoo and Lava Hot Springs

We spent the morning at the Pocatello Zoo. Thankfully we had beautiful weather and it made for a fun visit. The boys were only mildly interested in the animals but loved running around.

Later that evening Ricky and I ventured off to Lava Hot Springs. We had never been before and I wanted to check it out. After a quick 40 minute drive we were there.  A tiny, old Podunk town all of six blocks long. Nit much to see other than some run down motels, a couple mom and pop restaurants and the beautiful hot springs. 


The hot springs were natural but the water was piped into huge pools ranging from 102-112 degrees. The best part about these hot springs is that they didn't smell like sulfur, which most do. Something like 2 million gallons of water and it cycles through in two hours so the water is kept fresh. We tried a few different pools with varying temperatures. After about an hour and a half we were done. We took a short walk to the little ice cream parlor for a treat and then headed home. I always love to explore new places. The town was smaller than I thought but the hot springs were really nice. It was a great date night activity and I'm sure we'll go again next time we're in Idaho.

 Up close to a grizzly bear for the first time. 
 They had a new baby black bear. 
 Aunt Natalee, Daddy, Lincoln and a porcupine up in the tree.
 The boys went after the roaming peacock.
 Tutu helped the boys explore.
Just like his daddy.  Lincoln made it up the rocks pretty quickly.  Next thing we know he will want to climb mountains like his daddy.
 Logan will be climbing rocks in no time too!
 Family Picture!
 Tutu and her boys!
 I think he is so adorable when he wears hats.
 They are definitely brothers.  I don't think they look that much alike until I put them side by side. 

 Logan looking at deer and bison.  Common sights for folks around Poky but exciting for us to see. 
 Lincoln's little legs needed a break. 
 He is so animated. 

 Logan's first time to pet a donkey. He kept meowing at it.  He was so excited.

This is the entire town of Lava Hot Springs.  One main drag. 


 It was such a gorgeous view.  The pools were tucked away at the end of town. 
Who still advertises color TV?  I guess when the motel was built before the TV as invented, I guess it's a pretty big deal.