November 2014 Videos

November 2014

Lauren had a Mickey Mouse obsession for several months. She wanted a Mickey Mouse cake. Vance and I spent at least and hour or so just decorating this cake. We thought it turned alright!

 

She got her doughnut for breakfast (not in bed, though) on a Mickey plate that Vance hand drew for her.

 

Opening her baby stroller

 

Lincoln spent a lot of his time doing workbooks. His reading is getting better and better.

 

Rachel and Scott Murray, and their children, came to Minnesota for Thanksgiving! We loved seeing them. Unfortunately, Lauren was pretty sick that weekend, so Thanksgiving day was quieter for Lauren and I. Right as we were about to head out the door, she spilled her cookies and was running  fever. We hung out at home. It continued the whole weekend, which was a bummer, but we got some great cuddling time in. Above are a couple of pictures of the big feast.

 

We made a family of snowmen in our backyard.

 

Avely and Brynn, I believe.

 

Miles and Avely

 

We had a playdate at our home. Lauren, Hannah, Elizabeth, Lincoln, Hudson.

 

 

 

 

My parents got the loudest toy for Lauren for her birthday! It is payback, right? She continues to love this gift. Thank you Mom and Dad.

 

Lauren and I flew down to the Atlanta area to visit my brother Joe, his wife Carrie, and their kids!! It was so fun. My parents were there as well. It turned into a mini reunion of sorts. One day we played at TopGolf. It makes you feel like you are really good at golf, and I love the variation on the game.

 

Hunter and Sawyer, showing their swing.

 

Three levels

You hit the golf ball into these holes. Certain holes and parts of the holes are worth more or less points.

 

Dad, Joe, and Hunter

You swing your club over a certain point, and your golf ball comes out.

 

Baby Reed, Dad, Mom, Joe

 

Sawyer and my gorgeous sister-in-law, Carrie

 

Me and my mother. She's my hero!

I got to have some bonding time with little Reed. He's such a cutie.

 

Joe and Carrie have a trampoline in their backyard. My dad is always such a great sport. Here he is with Sawyer and Hunter.

October 2014 Videos

Lauren loves her cousin Norah. We loved watching her show so much affection towards baby Norah.

 

My parents have the BEST swing in their backyard. Even the neighbor kids come over just for the swing. They have declared it the best swing! Here Lauren is trying to push Rosie in the swing. Pretty good for a not quite two year old. Jared is there as well, and Lincoln playing in the vegetable garden.

 

 

Here is my sweetheart showing you his skills at Footgolf. He's pretty darn good at it.

 

 

This is Lincoln talking about his first time on a school bus. He felt like such a big kid on his preschool class's field trip.

October 2014

 

One day Lincoln wrote his name with little dots/circles on the ends. I'm not sure where he learned this, but I thought it was cute. I remember writing like this for cute sayings for quotes or things like that. He had a time when he'd love to write out everyone's names on their plates (we went through a paper plate phrase).

 

 On October 1, Lincoln turned four!!!! As you can see in the picture above, he was THRILLED to have breakfast in bed. He got a doughnut and a yogurt, and a sippy cup of milk. He does not get a cap to his cup, but since he was eating in bed, we decided to make it safer!!! No spilled milk, please:)

For about six weeks before his birthday, Lincoln would talk about his birthday daily. He kept changing his mind about what he wanted his cake to look like. In the end, he decided it should be a strawberry cake with chocolate frosting. Then he wanted balloons and the number four on it. So we made it happen.

 

Beautiful sunset in our neighborhood

Sitting on the porch while it sprinkled. Our lawn looked so brown-eek!

 

Picking pumpkins! Our realtor that helped us buy this home invited to a fall pumpkin fest/games/food/jumphouse activity. While we know its purpose is for the company to stay in touch with clients in hopes to get future business, we love seeing her and enjoy the fun!

 

Halloween!!! This was right before trick or treating time. This was the first year that Lauren was old enough to go and understand how it all works. Lincoln was Captain America and Lauren was a ladybug. We went to THREE stores to find Lincoln's costume. There were so many great costumes. In the end, he just wanted to go to Costco and pick one there. He had no idea who Captain America was, but because it was a costume from the magical Costco (he started asking to get one in August every time we went to Costco!!)

 

Enjoying the fruits (or candies) of their labors. Vance said that when he was younger, after Trick or Treating, they would spread out all their candy on a cookie sheet. Then they could organize or possibly trade the goods. So the tradition continues.

 

Lauren and I had a great time eating ice cream at the Mall of America for a date together.

 

We went to Wisconsin for a visit. One day we went to Hobby Lobby to find some great things! This car was in the parking lot. How cool is that? Just put a skeleton in the passenger seat to make someone's day even better. Lauren wasn't so sure about the skeleton:)

 

On this trip, Kelsey and her kids were there. Lauren, Lincoln, Jared, and Rosalie. Every night Lincoln prays for his cousins Jared and Rosie. He loves them so much.

 

My dad thinks all his grandchildren and perfect and they can do no wrong. He also loves to read to them whenever he gets the chance. I love the bonding time they have with their grandpa.

 

Vance and I played "Footgolf" together. They have a few courses in the area that are new, including one that just opened in our town. You play the game with the basic rules of golf. Except you use a soccer ball to kick, instead of a club and golf ball. We loved it and would definitely do it again.

 

Lincoln and his Nibley. One of my coworkers at Geneva Elementary in Orem gave this bear to me as a baby gift even before Lincoln was born. This is his Nibley. When Lincoln was a baby, we asked my dad what he thought we should name the bear. My dad said, "Nibley!" He is a huge Hugh Nibley fan. Somehow the name just stuck! While Nibley is currently missing, we still love him and it is cute that Lincoln has a bear to love on.

September 2014

 

Last summer we harvested our carrots! While they weren't very large, we had planted a variety with a mix of colors (red, purple, white, yellow, and orange). Lincoln and Lauren LOVED harvesting them and enjoyed the surprise of what each carrot's color was going to be. I think we'll do carrots again this year.

 

 

So here is a deck picture when we had taken almost all the spindles out to sand them (NEVER again!!) I felt bad and a little embarrassed and wondered what the neighbors though about our deck. At least they knew it was a work in progress;)  Now our deck looks awesome!!! I don't think I ever got a finished picture.  A week ago on a Saturday, Vance and I decided to buy a patio dining set and a grill. So about two hours later we came home with a dining set and grill! We were so spontaneous and proud of ourselves:) We have been eating outside for dinner and occasionally lunch often these days, and love it!

 

 Above are the kids playing in the magic sand (you know that kinetic sand that stays together and never dries out?) Ya, I got this entire tub and all the toys to go with it for $1 at a garage sale.

 

This may have been day two of preschool. But Lincoln was so excited to start! He loves going and is a smaller afternoon class. He has learned so much. This kid reads, and can read easy chapter books. Not kidding!!! Poor Lauren was cut off in the picture. She wanted to stand in front of the door like him, but really, this day was about him.

We got rained on during our walk by our home. Lincoln wasn't wearing a coat, so he used mine.

 



 

We gathered a lot of leaves this day. My hope was they could trace over them on paper with crayons. Lincoln ended up stapling the different varieties of leaves to make a "tree" on his paper. Very creative! Lauren sort of drew with crayon, traced some and stapled some.

 

 

 

Our kids love eating snacks and lunch in their camp chairs. Lauren, not even two at the time, would pull both of the chairs to this spot for herself and Lincoln. Then she'd get me and ask me "snack outside?" It was sweet.

 

I don't even remember which zoo this is. St Paul's zoo? Apparently we saw some giraffes. This is why I should have recorded this earlier!

 

The bridge closest to our home. The kids love to throw a stick or leaf on one side, and lay down with what seems half their body over the other side's edge, and patiently wait and watch for their leaf/stick to flow to the other side. It brings them so much joy.

 

Lincoln's first field trip. He loved the school bus ride! We sat on top of a haystack hill. They got a train ride, saw a scarecrow festival, got to pick a pumpkin, etc.

The kids got a pumpkin cookie at the end of the field trip.

 

So one day Lincoln bonked his head. I don't think there was a mark. But he insisted on having a head wrap. So he got one. It made it feel so much better!!! Of course, Lauren had one too to be just like her big brother.

 

One morning, Lincoln came to me and said, "Look, mom!" He had a plastic cup suctioned to his mouth. He was so pleased with himself and his new trick! Then a few minutes later this showed up. It was basically a round hickie around his mouth! It looked so funny! I'm glad we got a picture. He'll really appreciate it in years to come, I'm sure. Two days later, it was virtually unrecognizable.

They were SHARING an umbrella. The coveted umbrella was shared without any whining or fighting. Such a cute sight.