Trip Out West Part 4

Old friends are one of the best things. I am so grateful for the great friends I have had in my life. I saw a few of my best friends on our trip and it was absolutely wonderful. I wish the night could have lasted longer, but we had already kept Lincoln up way past his bedtime.  I wish I could have seen more friends, but we didn't have the time.

We spent an evening with Jenni and Brock and our great friend Hawley. It was great talking about old times and just catching up with each other!

Trip Out West Part 3

Vance's parents are selling the home that he originally grew up in. After we attended his home ward for church, we stopped by his home to reminisce. I think it was fun for Vance to be there and in a way special since this will likely be the last time he will be able to be there. Vance's family took a cute, funny picture of Vance going down this slide and they got a picture when he was "mid-air" or between the slide and the ground. So we thought we could get one with Lincoln on the same slide. Since he just turned one, he wasn't really ready to be let go on the slide by himself.

 

Trip Out West Part 2

 I had the opportunity to visit my old workplace, Geneva Elementary. Sometimes I miss that job so much it really aches inside!! It was one of those jobs where when I woke up each day, I was genuinely excited to go to work. I looved being there and making such a difference in those student's speech and language. I got to see many co-workers there. I felt like I was walking on clouds there! I got a picture with some close friends there. From left to right, Cyndi, Shannon, me, and Kendra.

We also visited Lincoln's great grandma Shirley Thompson (Vance's mother's mother). She is so sweet and I'm glad they got to meet.

My sister Kelsey happened to have a baby shower thrown for her. I missed getting my other cousins, Eliza and Caroline, who left earlier, but got some Kindt cousins in. From left to right, Ruth, me, Kelsey, Lauren, and Emily. What a joyous reunion it was. We had dinner with the Kindt cousins another date as well which was a blast.

I have such wonderful sisters. We stick together and have become even closer throughout the years. Aren't families wonderful?

Trip Out West Part 1

Vance, Lincoln and I took a 5 day trip out west this past week. We felt like we did so much when we were there. We saw many friends but wish we had time to see even more. These pictures aren't in any particular order.

Lincoln is over a year younger than Jared, but he had a great time with this cousin. Above they are taking off all the magnets off of the fridge.

They sure had a good time together. I got to spend some time with my sisters, Kelsey and Ruth, and that was so fun.

Vance and I went back to the place where we had our first date, Sam Hawk, a Korean restaurant. Someone told us that they saw a picture of us there. We had forgotten that someone took our picture. We had lunch there this week and found the picture of us on our first date (October 14, 2008). It was laminated directly next to hundreds of other pictures so instead of asking them for it, we just took a picture of it. We are so thrilled to have this picture.

 We stayed with Vance's brother Scott, his wife, Rachel and their two children, Mason and Brynn. They were such sweet and generous hosts and we had fun staying with them. We got a picture of Mason and Lincoln, but couldn't get Lincoln to sit still! Mason was about to go to preschool that morning.

Vance's side of the family threw Lincoln a little birthday party with cupcakes and he got some new books! He actually ate the whole cupcake. Below, Lincoln is observing his Uncle Austin.

More pictures to come soon...

August/September Pics

I wanted to post a few pictures I found this week.  This first one was taken on Purdue's campus in August. We went to visit Vance on campus one day. After we played in the water we went out to eat. We were amazed that Lincoln was so brave with such powerful and large fountains.

At the end of August we lent our car seat out to a friend. We have a larger convertible car seat for Lincoln now, so we don't use this any longer. Before we put it back into storage, we thought it would be funny to put our little (not so little) one in it! He is huge in this!! It made me think of how tiny he was in this when we took him home from the hospital. He did not like being in here, at all. This is before he started whining to get out.

At the end of one somewhat disappointing day in September, we decided to go out for ice cream at a cute place nearby. They have a miniature train that goes round and round. Lincoln loved it!!! It was definitely his favorite part, not the ice cream.

First Birthday

We celebrated his first birthday last Saturday. My parents sent such a cute gift. It is a book called All the Ways I Love You. It has my parents voices recorded in the book that plays as he turns the pages. We love it!

 

Vance served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Korea. In South Korea, for a child's first birthday, they have a tradition of determining what they will do for their profession in life. They line up a series of items in front of the child, and based on whatever they choose, that is what they are destined to become! Vance thought it would be fun to do this for Linc's birthday, so we did. 

 

 We had three families over who are some of are really good friends (Pett's, Jensen's, and Woodland's). We would have loved to had more people over, but our apartment probably isn't large enough! Anyway, we had pizza, cake, and ice cream. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Lincoln, but I'm not sure what he thought of  it all. We had a blast though!