Michaela's Wedding

It's official, Michaela is married.  We were in California last week for Michaela's wedding.  It was nice to see family and friends that we haven't seen in a while.  Lincoln was so excited to play with his cousins, Caden and Vance, and to play with the new toys at Grammy's house.  We tried to fit in as much in as possible while we were there. We spent a day at the Orange County Fair, went to Disneyland, met up with a few friends, went to the wedding and reception, attended church in Whittier and I had lunch with the girls from work while Rick met up with his buddies.  I'm not sure we could've squeezed in anything else.  Because of our move and Micah's wedding all happening within a month, we had to shorten our trip by a week.  Luckily now we're only a 5 1/2 hour drive to So. Cal. 

Now it's just two weeks away from Micah's wedding.  Nothing like being 7 months pregnant in two of your siblings wedding pictures!

Sorry, I know this is picture overload but I tried to just put in a little of everything.

New Orleans Square in Disneyland.  

Isn't he just the cutest!!  His room is all Disney Cars stuff so we waited in line to take his picture with Lightning McQueen and Mater.

Mr. Independent.  We are at that stage now where Lincoln wants to do his own thing.  We were walking onto the Monsters Inc. ride in California Adventure. 

Lincoln wanted to go on the slide really bad so it was either Rick go with his bad back or my and my prego belly.  As you can see...Rick had to go.

Lincoln ran up to this and knew exactly what to do - he was a few inches short though so daddy had to lift him up to see out.

Uncle Lee taught Lincoln to give "knuckles" so he's giving Uncle Micah "knuckles"

Extended Family

My siblings minus Genesis.  The photographer said squeeze in...this is my brothers idea of squeezing in. 

Michaela and Jared

Vance, Lincoln and Caden.  Lincoln's two cousins on my side of the family.

Baby Logan

Quick update on baby...in case you haven't heard, we're naming him Logan Spencer.  I'm now 28 weeks and I just went in for a doctor's appointment.  He seems to healthy and all is going well. He is very active and luckily I'm not so sick anymore...just tired.  I'm measuring 29 weeks but they did an ultrasound and Logan's measurements are about 10 days bigger than average.  The doctor said not to worry, they will keep the same due date.  He might just be a big kid.  Yikes!  I thought Lincoln was big at 8 lbs 8 oz so we'll see what's in store for us.  Good thing I decided that this time I want to get an epidural!  

Here is a 3-D ultrasound picture of Logan.  It's a picture of his profile (looking down on his right cheek)...which I happen to think looks a lot like Lincoln's profile did in his ultrasounds.  I have to admit that I think 3D ultrasound pictures are cool but also a bit creepy.  I was a little freaked out when the ultrasound tech showed me the picture and I could see Logan's head, just the face.  He laughed when I asked him where the rest of his skull was but he explained to me how the technology worked and that it won't show his head in this picture.  I felt much better after that!

Our Big Move

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything but that's because we've been so busy.  We have finally moved into our home and we're loving it!  We are totally unpacked and believe it or not, we're somewhat organized.  There's only a few things hung on the walls but we're getting there.  Lincoln is loving his new room and playroom.  I love my new office which has a big window right in front of my desk with a great view.  Our guest room has already been put to great use by Grandma and Grandpa Tutu and also by Grammy.  We've been working with a landscaper for our front yard and hope to have plans finalized within the next couple of days.  Thank goodness!  The last several weeks have been spent on projects around the house.  Some are more exciting than others.  I have a feeling that the projects will be never ending!  

Most of our neighbors have come over to introduce themselves and they all seem really nice. Our neighborhood definitely has a lot of young families in it.  There are about 6 kids on our street that are under 3 years old and our next door neighbor is expecting a baby girl a month after Logan is due. 

Rick and Lincoln have been to the community aquatic center a couple of times and have really had a good time. Lincoln is quite the fish and is loving the opportunity to swim often.  Unlike Idaho, we are close to a big mall, a ton of chain restaurants, and all the good stores. Even though the temperatures have been averaging about 110 degrees, it really hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.  Since we inside most of the day anyway, you just go from one air condition building to another.  Today was actually in the high 80's and mid 90's....not so bad. 

We feel really blessed to be in our home and feel like it's the right place for us at this point.  We love the house, the city, and the neighborhood. 

I will post pictures soon.

A Fourth of July to Remember

We had been talking to Lincoln for days about going to see the fireworks on July 4th.  The city puts on a little fair and fireworks show at the fairgrounds.  Our day started off nicely as we attended the local town parade.  We enjoyed the homemade floats, the patriotic music and BEAUTIFUL sunny weather.  It's not often that I say Pocatello's weather is beautiful.  After going to lunch, shopping and a nap, we made our way to the fairgrounds.  The first thing we did when we arrived was purchase tickets for Lincoln to ride the few kiddie rides and to play a go fish game.  After one motorcycle ride and one game of fishing it started to rain.  We were literally there for all of 15 minutes.  We hadn't even made it over to the band and dinner booths.  We pulled out our jackets and umbrella took cover next to a candy cotton wagon.  I guessed we thought it would pass as quickly as it came. Well, it didn't....it got worse!  Within about 5 minutes it was hailing marbles size (or bigger) chunks of hail...in July!! I couldn't believe it.  Snow in July!?!?! What kind of place do we live in??  It was suddenly freezing, wet and miserable.  The fairgrounds turned into chaos and pandemonium as people were running to find protection, parents were screaming to find their lost children, and the entire time we were being pelted by hail.  A potentially great day was ruined. After realizing that it was not letting up, we jumped into a game booth (I don't even know what game they were originally playing because all of the booths were overrun with people) but it got us out of the freezing rain for a little while.  After poor Lincoln started to shiver we sent Rick to go get the truck, which was about a 10 minute walk away.  Driving back to pick us up he saw roads that were washed out from flash floods, cars that had rolled on their sides from roads giving way and just an all around mess.  Lincoln did get a little money from the carnie guy running the booth.  I think he realized that Lincoln was such a trooper through it all. When Rick pulled into the closest parking lot Lincoln and I made a break for it.  I covered his stroller in a blanket trying to protect him from the inevitably painful hail hitting him and I ran ...flip flops, pregnant and all. My feet froze for a minute.  My toes wouldn't bend.  I'm sure that's the closest to frostbite that I've ever had.  After standing in the rain for about 30 - 45 minutes by the time we ran to the car it appeared that we had jumped into a swimming pool with our clothes on.  We were soaked. We drove straight home to get warm clothes on. So much for Lincoln getting to ride the rides, enjoying cotton candy or getting to watch fireworks.  Did I mention that this is July!?!?!  We couldn't be moving to Phoenix soon enough.  I will take the sun any day over snow in July. Needless to say, once we got home, dried off and ate dinner we were ready for bed.  It was definitely a 4th of July to remember.  Too bad it couldn't have just been one to remember because of a great non eventful day. 

I still love fourth of July.  Besides Christmas, it's one of my favorite holidays.  I grew up being taught to love our country and to feel blessed for living here.  I'm excited to teach that to my children.  Regardless of your political party, views on war (or other political issues) and with an understanding that things can be better, I feel very strongly that every person should feel proud and blessed to live here. Luckily my patriotism isn't based on a rained out fireworks show. 

Enjoying the small hometown parade.

Don (left) with Grandma and Grandpa Tutu.

Lincoln loved the fire truck!

Lincoln's favorite ride is was the motorcycle (vroom vroom as he calls it) but it was also the only ride he got to go on before the rain/hail hit.

This picture was taken just a few minutes after the rain started.  I didn't take more pictures because my camera was getting soaked.

This is a late post but for Father's Day Rick got to go ride on the Miller Motor Sports Park Motorcycle track in Tooele, Utah.  It's called track day and you can sign up to ride around the track (at ridiculously fast speeds) and he's wanted to do it for a long time.  It's one of the same tracks that the professional riders ride on so it made it even better.  When Rick got home Lincoln wanted to sit on his bike.  I think he loves it as much as his dad.  Every time he sees a motorcycle he immediately stops, points at it, and makes a vroom vroom noise.  Considering Rick's been riding since he was 16 it's going to be hard to tell Lincoln he can't ride a street bike anytime soon.  I imagine since we'll be living in the desert that we'll be stating on little 50 cc dirt bike soon enough. 

He's making the vroom vroom noise.  

This was the calm before the storm. He did not want to get off.

Isn't he the cutest!?!?!  I love my little guy.

My Little Fireman

Lincoln has become obsessed with motorcycles, race cars, tractor and fire trucks.  All things boy! We live right around the corner from a fire station so every time we drive by his makes the noise the sirens of a fire engine would make, including the horn.  It's absolutely adorable.  Before we even get to the street the station is on he starts pointing and making the siren sound.  He knows exactly where it is.  When we drive by the station we point and wave and they've invited us to stop in for a closer look.  We decided to take Lincoln there on Saturday afternoon for a visit.  He loved it!  He did get a little shy around the firemen but they were so nice, eventually he warmed up.  Lincoln sure wasn't shy about wanting to climb on the trucks.  He wanted to touch anything he could get his little fingers on.  I was nervous he was going to break something but the fireman was pretty confident he couldn't break anything and said not to worry, let him play with it.  We spent about 30-45 minutes there.  The fireman showed us several different types of trucks and lots of hoses and tools.  I was surprised they were willing to spend so much time with us.  They even gave Lincoln a little fireman hat and a sticker of a fireman's badge.  He thought he was pretty special, especially when they let him sit in the driver's seat and play with the steering wheel.  Thanks to the Pocatello Fire Department!

Fireman Lincoln!

He couldn't wait to get into the trucks.

Knobs, levers - he loved it all.

Who knows...maybe he'll be a firefighter one day!

This ladder truck saved a building from burning down across the street from us just a couple weekends before.

I can only imagine what Lincoln was thinking about driving. 

This firefighter was our tour guide.  He opened up ever door on every truck for us.

Our First Home!

This has been an exciting week.  First we found out the baby's gender and today we just found out that the offer we put on a house was accepted!  We're moving!!  Rick and I spent the last week house hunting in Arizona.  After looking at hundreds of houses online and over a dozen in person, we finally found a home that is perfect for us!  It's in a new home in a new subdivision in Surprise, AZ.  We love the neighborhood and the growing city.  If all goes well we will be moved in by the end of July.  We are looking forward to the sunshine, especially since it's been raining in Idaho for the last three weeks. 

The builder will give us money to put in the front yard.  We will get to meet with a landscaper and design our yard which I'm really excited to do!  More details to come later.

It's a boy!!

We were wrong.  We thought we were having a girl but turns out, it's a boy!  We had the ultrasound yesterday and he appears to be healthy.  He was quite the little ham during the ultrasound.  The tech said he was the model child.  He even waived at us and make several cute poses.  We're happy that Lincoln will have a brother to play with.  I can only imagine the mischief the two of them will get into.  Another good thing is that we already have tons of boy clothes and boy toys.  My due date was revised to November 2nd so if all goes well the boys will be two years and one week apart.   I'm definitely feeling pregnant and I can't believe I'm already half way done!