Fun Times

The last couple of weeks we've had a few fun adventures.  We went to the the Spring Fair, saw the Monster truck show, Ricky and Lincoln went to the rodeo and the girls had a night out at a dinner theater.  I bet you didn't think there was that much to do in Pocatello, huh?  If there is something fun to do in town, we will scout it out.  We had a nice Easter and Lincoln got his first Easter basket.  Roo and Annie came up for the weekend which gave us an excuse to play the train game! Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Lincoln on our way to see the Monster trucks.  That outfit (minus the crocs) is the most Idaho looking outfit he has so we thought we would try to blend in.

Since Lincoln is now almost 35 inches, Ricky got him a new basketball hoop.  He has to practice now for the NBA - check out his form!

For girls night out Sandy (my mother-in-law) Natalee (my sister-in-law) and Anne (my sister-in-law) went to a dinner theater and saw the play Grease.  It was cute and I think Danny Zuco had a crush on Annie.  The girl who played Sandy is on the left.

The train game!!  Ricky won this time.

Grandma and Grandpa Tutu got Lincoln a little Easter egg cake that had his name on it.  We let him have at it and this is what we got.  He actually was cleaner with it than I thought.  You have to admit this kid is adorable!

How Many Red Envelopes Will You Send?

RED ENVELOPE DAY

What: 
Get red envelopes or postcards and mail them on March 31st to the White House

When: 
March 31st, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington , D.C. 20500

On the back, write the following message.
This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion.
It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to offer anything to the world.
We will mail the envelopes out March 31st, 2009 (or before).

http://www.redenvelopeproject.org/

http://www.redenvelopeday.com/

Road Trip!!

Last week we took a road trip back to California.  We wanted to go to Disneyland, see family and get out of the cold.  (The getting out of the cold part didn't go so well since it was cold in CA - not Idaho cold - but cold for California.) We took a couple days to drive down with an overnight stay in Vegas.  We thought it would be fun for Lincoln to see all of the lights and big hotels, and it was.  Thanks to Wyatt for getting us into the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay! He gave us a great tour. Lincoln loves sharks so it was the perfect tourist attraction for us.  We saw the water at the Bellagio, played in the arcade at New York New York, went to the M&M store and ate In & Out!!  

The next morning we headed the rest of the way down to Anaheim. We stopped and saw a couple of friends and then checked into the Disneyland Hotel.  We met my family at the Cheesecake factory at the new Garden Walk in Anaheim.  It was fun to visit with everyone, especially with Vance and Caden!  We spent the next couple of days at the Disneyland Resort.  Some friends met us for dinner in Downtown Disney.  Lincoln had so much fun in Disneyland.  His favorite ride is still the carousel although I took him on Dumbo for the first time and I think that ties it for favorite ride.  He loved moving us up and down.  I on the other hand am not so fond of that ride but I wanted him to go on it.  He got so excited when we saw the characters.  He really likes Pluto.  Right when it was our turn to take a picture with him he practically dove out of my hands to give Pluto a kiss right on his nose.  We thought it was so cute that he did that without us even saying anything.  To my surprise, that is exactly how he greeted Mickey as well.  Just too cute!  

Thursday was our errands day.  We spent a couple hours at my mom's house so that we could visit and so Lincoln could play with his cousins.  We headed down to Temecula to see Rick's brother Barratt but not before seeing the tax man, going to Michael's and Target and giving Lincoln some time to play at Chuck E Cheese's.  We spent Friday and the San Diego Zoo.  I was surprised how many animals we saw.  Last time we went there I wasn't very impressed.  Lincoln got most excited about the rhinos.  If I had to guess why it's because they look most like dinosaurs.  We also really liked the giraffes and the polar bears. Friday evening was movie night at Barratt's house and then we started our drive home Saturday morning.  Lincoln was such a great little traveler.  We have a portable DVD player in the truck so of course that really helps.  

It was a fun trip and we made a lot of great family memories.  My only regret is that it was so short.  We didn't have time to visit everyone that we wanted to or do everything we wanted to do. Luckily we will be back in August for Michaela's wedding so hopefully we will have more time then.  I tried to limit the pictures down to my favorites but still there a quite a few!

We stayed at the Luxor and Lincoln liked the little statues.

Ricky promised Lincoln we would see the water and listed to the pretty music.  Unfortunately it was only an 8 minute show but it was still really pretty.

Welcome to Disneyland!

Lincoln loves Mickey!

Caden, Vance and Lincoln

Lincoln's favorite puppy!

Like father like son - of course he loves the Star Wars show.

Our room at the Disneyland Hotel overlooked the swimming pool.

The swimming pool was too cold so Lincoln made the best of it in the hut tub!

No fear - this is on the sky buckets at the zoo and Lincoln wasn't the least bit scared.

Last week he learned to growl like a lion so here he is making a lion noise. 

Lincoln got to pet some goats, sheep and pigs at the petting zoo.

My Big Greek Wedding

Congratulations to my brother Asa and his girlfriend Theresa who got engaged a couple weeks ago.  Asa proposed to her while they were in a gondola ride over the water. (You can see the gondolas in the picture going under the bridge.)  I thought it was a cute and well thought out proposal. They will be married in Greece next fall.  We are excited to have Theresa in the family! 

February Update

It doesn't seem that I am able to update the blog more than once a month right now so I'm just posting another monthly update.   February has been a bit of a roller coaster.  We've had a lot of fun but we've also been sick too.  Lincoln was sick for about 10 days with a pretty bad cold.  He's also gotten two more molars in which caused him to be a bit irritable.  

Our weekends have been filled up with little adventures like going sledding, going to the park (in a snow suit because it's still dang cold here) and going up to Grandma and Grandpa's new house - which is still under construction. Rick, Natalee and I have become "Ticket to Ride" fanatics. have been playing about five nights a week.  It has become our routine for after Lincoln goes to bed. If you haven't played the train game, Ticket to Ride, I would highly recommend it.  I've also gotten into online scrapbooking.  I've always been a scrapbooker but I've switched to an online program. It is so much faster and cheaper.  Costco will print 3 12x12 pages for $5.00.  I could never make three pages for five bucks before.  The other thing I really like about it is that there aren't any supplies to get out or put away and there's no paper mess all over the floor.  With Lincoln around, online scrapping is so much more convenient!  Anyway, not much more going on with us.  Just staying busy and trying to stay warm.

Ricky and Lincoln sledding from the top of the hill.  I couldn't believe how fast they went. 

Lincoln loves sledding!  The faster he goes, the bigger the smile!

I love this pondering face.  I wish I knew what he was thinking.

Since it was sunny and about 40 degrees we decided to spend sometime at the park.

It's not so easy to play with the toys when you have huge snow gloves on!

Lincoln's first attempt at a snow angel. 

Another Wedding

My little sister, Michaela, is engaged!!  Jared proposed to her a couple weeks ago down in Arizona (where he lives) while she was visiting.  I have only met him once but he seems like a nice enough guy.  She seems very happy and excited!

January Update

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted so I thought I would just do a quick update and post some of my favorite pictures from the last several weeks. 

• The weather has actually been nicer than I've expected it to be.  The temperature has been in the high 30's and even 40's over the last couple of weeks.  It has been sunny, beautiful and warm for an Idaho winter day. We just got snow last night. 
  
• My brother Asa and Theresa came to visit from Spokane, WA for a weekend and it happened to coincide with Micah and Kolissa's visit to Pocatello from CA.  It was really nice to see them and to hang out and visit.  
  
• Lincoln has started walking!!!!  Well, he has been taking steps for a long time but now his first instinct is to walk instead of crawl.  I think he's learned that he gets a lot of attention when he walks because we make a big deal of it and he thinks that's funny. 
• Lincoln now has 10 teeth!  Four up front on top middle, four on the bottom in the middle and now two top molars.  He has been a trooper!
• This week Lincoln started daycare or as we call it "school."  We decided that it would be good for him to be out of the house and around other kids.  It also allows Rick to focus more on school. Luckily he is just about 5 minutes up the street from us.  We tell him he gets to go to school and he gets excited and raises his hands.  So far he seems to really like it!  I think it has been harder on me!
• We went to Idaho Falls for a day to do some shopping!!  They have some bigger stores like Best Buy, Toys R Us and a nicer Mall.  We had a great time.  As always, Lincoln made out like a bandit. It's always fun to shop!!
• My birthday was January 12th so Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Natalee took Lincoln for the night and Ricky and I went to dinner and to see a movie (Seven Pounds - which I really liked!)  Not much else is open in January in Pocatello but it was an enjoyable evening.

In front of Lincoln's new school.

On our way to school!!

Micah and Kolissa

Asa and Theresa

Lincoln loves to eat!!

What a little ham!

Lincoln is learning about temper tantrums.  Luckily they don't last long.  Once he realizes that we don't put up with that he can get over it pretty quickly.

Unfortunately we don't get to swim much here so the bath tub will have to do for now.

Nice teeth shot.  This is the face that he makes now when you say "cheese!"

Nothing like having 250 balls in your living room!

Modeling his new snow suit and super cute little boots.

You have to admit....he is dang cute!!

Chuck E Cheese

Grandma Tutu took the boy cousins (Lincoln, J, Sam and Knox) to Chuck E Cheese's one day to let them out of the house without having to play outside in the cold. Here are a few cute pictures of the boys.

Cousins Knox and Sam. 

Lincoln learned that tickets came out of the machine.  I don't think that he comprehended points but right after he was done playing he would look for his tickets.

Cousins J, Sam and Lincoln.

He loves going around and around and going up high.