The Best Christmas Vacation Ever!

Can you just see the euphoria?! Oh my goodness, I was the happiest preggo lady in the whole world that day. We were visiting my grandma Dolly in Mississippi for a couple of days. The weather was 80 degrees and just beautiful, so we had to take Lincoln to the beach for his first time. He just loved it. He just wanted to run right in. Notice how he's only in a t-shirt and diaper and it's Christmas time! Crazy awesome! We had such a blast. Gosh, that kind of weather and being in a beachy atmosphere make me want to live in Hawaii even more. Oh, Air Force, please send us there. Even if it's only for a couple of years. I would love to be a surfer mom. I would totally teach my boys how to boogie board (that's all I know how to do. But man, is it sooooo much fun! My dad and I used to go when I was young, and I'm still hooked. It's so easy and so fun. Gosh, I gotta stop thinking about this or I won't get through winter! ;0)

Rachelle!



Kissy faces at our wedding. I have this photo in my house and when Lincoln saw it he said, "Mommy, Mommy, and Daddy!". Even my own son can't tell us apart. Love it!

My graduation from dental assisting school. Rachelle and Jeff had only been married for a 3 weeks, and Jon and I were off to the temple in two! How fun that so many of my bridemaids got married right around the same time as me.

Above: Rachelle was there at little Lincoln's birth. She even helped hold one of my legs (lucky for me, she's a trained nurse). What a memory that crazy experience was. Thanks for the perfect positioning :0)

Below: We did Thanksgiving together while Jon and I still lived in Provo. Lincoln was a couple months old. Jeff and Eric, Jon's brother, were celebrating with us, too. Look at that tiny table! We all barely fit around it. lol

My girl, my best friend, my twin, my missionary who shared the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with me! I love you, Rachelle! I miss you; I wish we weren't so far apart. Look at all these great memories that we have shared. I hope that there are many, many more. (Gosh, you get me crying so easily!)

Jared & Paige

We miss you guys! These photos were taken back in Provo, almost two years ago. Now, Jared and Paige have a little boy of their own. We had so much fun with them. Paige helped me with Lincoln when he had colic with holding and nurturing him. She was such a natural mother. Jon was just talking about Jared the other day and all the great one-liners he would come up with. Our favorite ones to say are, "blah blah blah just biffed it!" (Paige, you were the origin of that one from your gymnastics class) and "that was clutch!". Jon and Jared were great organic chemistry study partners. Oh, the days when studying seemed so hard. Little did we realize how much dental school would kick Jon's butt. Anyway, shots out to Jared and Paige. We miss you guys! Hope we can see you soon. Oh California, how I miss you, too!

Christmas (at our home)

Kinda the same expression, no? 'Sa-prise'! (Lincoln lingo)

Super boots! For the month of December, Lincoln was on a fettish with his super boots. He absolutely loved them. He would squeal with excitement when he saw them, and would run to put them on. They were so convenient to have on the road trip. Just slip 'em on and Lincoln was ready to go! His favorite stop: McDonald's playland. It had been since June since he had been to a McDonald's playland with all those tubes. Back then I had to go inside and help him climb up through them. Not this time! Man, for some reason I was so touched to me my little guy just climb all over those things. He reminded me so much of my childhood. Like mother, like son, his favorite part was climbing up the tube slide. Su-eet (as Lincoln puts it)!

My mom hooked me up with some new knives. My girl Giada always uses this Japanese-style chefs knife in her cooking show, and I had been dying to have one for a while. I was so excited to start using them. I just made a stew tonight (one of Terrie's recipes :0) and it was soooo easy cutting through everything. Now I want 12 more! They're awesome. I highly recommend them.

Christmas came early this year at our house. Since we we're leaving two weeks before Christmas for our road trip down South, we decided to open all the presents we had already at our house with my Mom one Sunday. Lincoln got so many great books: a bunch of fun Dr. Seuss books and some of my childhood favorites, like Corduroy and Goodnight Moon. They were perfect presents to bring with us in our long car ride. My mom was super excited to get the lastest sonicare. I think she loves teeth just as much as we do!

Girl Par-tay!

This my favorite friend to hang out with. Claire is a second year dental student, like Jon. Her husband, Jason, is a second year, as well. Jason and Jon look super similar--tall, thin, and curly hair, plus, they both love the same sports. Lincoln's even mistaken Jason for 'Dadly' (as Squeekers says it). We like to get together with them whenever the three of them have a breather from school. They are not LDS, but are super strong Christians and share a lot of the same values as us. We're so glad that they like to hang out with us because they are a lot of fun. I even convinced Claire to take some kind of hobby class with me this summer, when Jon can play daddy and mommy for a night (finally!). Yea, only one semester left of craziness!

I felt very privileged to be invited to this exclusive end-of-the-semester party. Reason being: I was the only one there that was not a dental student. Luckily, I've got some connections. lol. Anyway, it was the first time that I met most of those ladies, and boy did I have a blast. We stayed up so late just chatting and being girls. I really enjoyed it. The conversations were quite refreshing, and a little risque.

What a Ham!

My mom's life-long friend, Barrie, knitted this sweater for Lincoln. I've known her since I was around Lincoln's age. She wanted me to take some photos of Lincoln wearing her work of art so that she could enter a knitting contest. Here are the results of our photo shoot... Pretty cute. Thank you, Barrie, for this handmade sweater. I love the color and the style. It's super cute!