Playtime at the Mall

Last week I took Lincoln to the mall...nope not for shopping time, for play time!! There is a play area for kids that I have been hearing about so we finally went. Nothing is better than a free inside air conditioned play area...especially when you are 32 weeks pregnant! He had fun running around, climbing on the toys and benches. He even figured out how to climb up the slide...typical boy! He has been attempting the upward slide climb for a while now when we go to parks, but this time he finally mastered it and boy was he proud of himself...and I was too! He liked spinning the bats and hearing all the sounds the animals made. He also learned some new things from watching the other kids play and run around. I even had a funny interaction with a seven year old girl what came up to me, looked at my belly and said "that baby is going to come out soon". She was probably thinking soon as in any time now and for me soon is 7 weeks. Her father thought it was pretty funny and tried to get it on video, I just kept thinking I don't really want to be a part of some strangers home videos. I always admire kids and laugh at their funny comments. It was a good day and Linc had fun running around playing in a new place. We will be visiting again soon...

Law School Picnic

Dave has been busy busy busy with his summer school class. It is only 3 weeks long so they have to cram a whole semesters worth of information into a short period of time, which means extra long study days. Linc and I have gone to visit Dave a couple of times for either lunch or dinner. Sometimes it's the only time we get to see him, before Linc's bed time! Lincoln loves it because it means outside play time with daddy...his favorite! They throw the ball, catch the ball, kick the ball and just run and chase after each other. Of course I love it too because I just get to sit and watch my two boys have the time of their lives. It gives Dave a good little break too...all that reading and studying can be super exhausting! There will be many more law school picnics...but the next time it happens we will have two little boys for dad to play with =)

Linc loves bins...

Lincoln has been doing this new thing for several weeks now...he climbs inside of his toy bins and will hang out and play, read, eat, or whatever else he feels like doing. He has always loved getting inside boxes and the laundry bin, but now he is doing it more and more. I also should add that during bath time he loves to be in a little white bin that we keep in the bath for him. He likes it much better than the big tub, although he will get out of his little bin and walk around the tub, get what he needs and then go back to his little bin. He is a silly little guy. The other day I was in the kitchen cleaning or cooking and as I walked around the corner I saw Linc in the ball bin by the dining table....he dragged it over and then climbed right in. I didn't even hear him and it was a fun little surprise for me to see him sitting there. He is such a sweetheart!

Lincoln and the Fork!

Lincoln gets more adventurous every day! He has been experimenting with utensils and always loves playing with them while I'm in the kitchen. He even know where they all go when I'm putting away dishes...such a great helper. I have found a really good trick! When I want him to finish his meal or eat something that he is not totally up for that day I give him the fork and he will do it! He has really good coordination, but of course I help him actually stab the food onto the fork and then he does the rest. And of course, he doesn't want to use his forks...he wants to use the forks that mommy and daddy use. I guess it's just another way to show us how big he is getting. I love my growing little boy!

Happy Mother's Day to me!!

Mother's day morning was kind of rough since we had gotten in from Kansas City super late. Linc slept in so that was nice. Dave got up with him and they brought me breakfast in bed. My boys got me an ice cream maker and the ingredients to make raspberry ice cream.  I opened it up after church and then took a nap...so wonderful!!

 Dave took care of Linc the whole day. We all went down to the garage and Linc sat on the chair while Dave got the grill ready and I cut the watermelon. I couldn't resist, I just had to take pictures of Linc on the chair. He looks so sweet when he sits on chairs or benches and his feet dangle.

Dave and Linc finished up the grilling. Linc is going to be a professional griller by the time he is 6. We had a delicious dinner...ribeye, elotes, salad, watermelon and raspberry lemonade. It was perfect. After dinner I got the ice cream churning and then we went on a nice walk. It was a nice evening. When we got back I checked the ice cream and it was perfect!! I served us up some delicious homemade raspberry ice cream. I loved it! Linc and Dave enjoyed some too. It was a really great day...I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Kevin got MARRIED!!!

This past Saturday we had the chance to go to Kansas City, MO for Kevin and Hayleigh's wedding! The Kansas City temple was just dedicated on Sunday and they were the 23rd wedding already...that temple has been super busy. Hayleigh's friend was able to watch Linc for us so we both were able to go in and be there for the sealing. It was amazing! We loved every minute of it and the temple was beautiful!! The crazy part is that Lincoln never falls asleep on people's shoulders, but that day he did. We walked out of the temple and we were both surprised to see him fast asleep!  Well, the couple was very happy and they totally compliment each other. Dave and I made the awesome sign in the picture...he does the woodwork/paint job and I do the vinyl/design. We make a wonderful team. We were so happy with the way it turned out that we are now starting to sell our products and already have a list of orders waiting to be completed!!

 After the temple we had about 5 hours to kill so we went to Liberty Jail. We had a picnic lunch in our car because it started raining. As we were getting ready to go into the jail I ran into a friend from my social work master's program at BYU. She is serving her mission in the area and is now serving half the day at Liberty Jail. We just missed her shift so she did not give us the tour, but it was good to catch up with her and to see that she is doing well.

It was really neat to see the jail and to see that some of it was still original. Lincoln had a great time giving out a little scream here and there during the presentation, but overall he did really good. At the end of the tour he had a chance to run around a bit while we talked with the sister missionary. She gave a tour to the prophet earlier that week...so cool!

 After the Jail we decided to head to the Independence Visitor's Center since the reception was in Independence anyway it worked perfect. We parked and I decided to look up where the reception was, to my surprise it was at the other end of the parking lot!! I didn't even realize there was a church building over there, but it worked out perfectly and we were able to spend about an hour and a half in the visitor's center before heading over to the reception. For some reason we didn't get any pictures, but it's okay.

The reception was really nice and fun! Not to mention all the delicious food! We met lots of new people and were glad to see Kevin's family again...they were so nice to us (as usual). Dave was asked many times that night if he was Kevin's brother, well he kind of is I guess you can say. We were so glad to have been there and participate in such a special day. The happy couple is now on their honeymoon in Chicago enjoying their new life as a married couple. Linc took about a 20 minute nap in the car on our drive to the visitor's center so by the time 11:30pm rolled around and he was still awake, well he was completely exhausted!! His eyes were so tired looking and he was kind of like a zombie. He zonked right out in the car and slept almost the whole way home, but woke up the last 30 minutes and sounded completely awake. Luckily, he went right to sleep and we were able to get some sleep that night.

A fun (mostly free) family weekend

 Cinco de Mayo weekend we enjoyed a lovely family fun weekend together. Dave had Thursday/Friday off of school after finishing his last 1st year final on Wednesday. He only had a short break since summer school started Monday so we made the most of it. We hung out and took it easy Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday we decided to go to opening day of the Hay Market Farmer's Market! It was a pretty hot day, so we took water bottles with ice water to stay cool. We got to the farmer's market and walked around. About half way through we saw this big fountain with a bunch of people sitting on the edge cooling off their kids. We walked over and Dave held Linc as he sat and splashed his feet around in it. I'm pretty sure Linc would have jumped in if we would have let him. He splashed around and got them both pretty wet and then we continued to walk the rest of the farmer's market. Our purchases of the day...fresh honey ($1.50) with a free stick of mango flavored honey because the guy was convinced that even though I didn't like honey I would like that and bag of kettle corn ($1.50), which was soooo gooood!!

 After the farmer's market we walked many many blocks away to the children's museum. Since we have a family pass we don't have to pay admission! Linc loves the museum. This time he spent lots of time flying the airplane...

 

and playing volleyball! Just look at his moves...this little guy sure is a sporty little guy. We spent about an hour there and then headed home for Linc's nap, which we all enjoyed! Since it was cinco de mayo Dave grilled up some carne asada and we had a delicious dinner with some flan for dessert. It was a good day.

For dinner on Sunday we decided to do a picnic in the park. Dave had been wanting to do a picnic all week, but the week got a bit crazy or the schedule was off or the weather or something seemed to come up. So we decided that Sunday was a good family day. Linc loved being outside and the weather was nice...but then got a bit chilly. 

Dave planned the menu and since he is a fan of cheese and meat that's what we had...a good variety of it all! We also had some crackers, bread and fruit to go with it all. It was really good...until we realized that one of the meats was raw and needed to be cooked!! Luckily, Linc and I only ate a little and none of us got sick. 

Linc walked around after he was done and enjoyed the big green cup. He loves drinking out of real cups and doesn't really care for his sippy. He just wants to be like his mom and dad and always notices when he gets something different than us. He is such a sweetheart!

I'm pretty sure Linc always has some kind of a ball (or 2 or 3) with him. He is seriously the most active kid we know! Everyone notices his constant exploring and energy...and everyone loves it. He isn't partial to any particular sport and loves all sports. He is starting to do a little jump shot in front of the basketball hoop. He actually throws the ball in and makes practice jump and throwing baskets motions...it is really cute! I'm so proud of all his skills.

 Linc walked around for quite a while throwing the ball and running after it. He was even trying to engage the tree in his playtime activities.

Of course, he loves playing with daddy best. They run and tackle and chase after each other. I love watching them...they always have such big smiles on their faces. 

Linc loves finding sticks at the park and this time the boys played sword fighting. Lincoln really enjoyed it! I think this might have been his first time playing this type of a game, but let's just say he caught on super fast.

He was not afraid to swing back at his dad's stick and you could hear the clack as they hit together. Dave looked a bit worried at times and almost fearful that he was going to get hurt! I remember him saying that Linc swings and hits pretty hard. They both had fun and no one got hurt.

Before we left there was some time for a little hide-n-seek. Dave would run and put Linc behind a tree and tell him to stay there while he went to hide. Linc would stay behind the tree and then slowly poke the top half of his body out from behind the tree bending over sideways...it was the cutest thing and I kept trying to get a  picture, but never was able to. I guess my mental picture will have to do. Linc loves finding daddy and runs to him as soon as he sees where he is at. He is also good at hiding. Sometimes at church he will even play hide-n-seek with the other kids, just the way daddy plays with Linc.

It was a wonderful family weekend and you can't beat the fact that we spent less than $5 for it all!! Dave has been busy back at school, but I know that Linc and Dave (and of course me) enjoyed the time we had to relax together.

Olives and Spaghetti

One day Linc and I were eating lunch. I made him his lunch and then I had made myself a nice big salad with all the fixings. He opted for my lunch instead so I kept giving him bites and pieces of the salad. He loves olives and once he saw that I had olives in there that was all he wanted. This time however, he discovered that he could put his finger in the olive and it would stay on there so he could pop one in his mouth! He kept doing it over and over and over until we ran out of olives. I tried to get a better picture, but between my camera and how fast he was eating...this was the best I could do.

Our most recent spaghetti night was a night to remember and a night of happy regret! Lincoln was pretty much done eating and decided to start throwing his spaghetti off his tray. He made one land on the wall and watched it as it slid down slowly...he thought it was absolutely hilarious. Then he basically started a food fight just throwing little pieces of spaghetti everywhere. He was seriously laughing so hard and had the biggest smiles! How can you tell a kid to stop having fun when you can see the joy all over their face...now I get to deal with stopping the new found fun at every meal, but it was totally worth it!!

31 Week Pregnancy Update

Wow does time fly! I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by and how lucky I am to have such a wonderful time being pregnant. Dave keeps telling people, whenever they ask how I'm doing, that I am meant to have babies because I have such easy pregnancies. I just say he is lucky because he doesn't have to deal with a sick pregnant wife who has random cravings, but maybe I should take advantage of this pregnancy thing one of these times...haha! Well, maybe I should wait til he is out of law school =)

Overall, pregnancy is going great! No water weight, swelling, pain or anything else that usually goes along with pregnancy. I always just smile when people tell me to hang in there because it's almost over...really, having to get up off the floor from playing with Lincoln is probably the hardest thing for me right now. Although Dave does laugh when I have to switch sides and roll over grabbing my belly. Before we know it this baby will be here...time to narrow down a name for the little guy!!

Until next time...I'll be sure to get a better picture than the 31 week pic. It was a crazy weekend and with all the pictures we took I forgot to get an "official" 31 week pic.