Grandma Dolly's Visit

We have been so fortunate to have so many visitors during this summer break. My grandma from Mississippi came and stayed with us for almost a week. It was great. She was so helpful to me with my sewing projects. She used to be a professional seamstress, so she took me to Joann's and we picked up a pattern and some material for my dining room valances that I'm trying to make before Jeff and Rachelle come out at the end of this month. Wish me luck! Those aren't the only projects, either. I'm endeavoring to finish my bed set by sewing some standard shams and euro shams. I already made the duvet (the material sat in my room for a year before I started working on it!). I'm also making valances for our bedroom, too. I'm learning to quilt, also. Yeah, all at the same time. I'm kinda wondering myself how I'm gonna pull it all off on top of everything else I'm responsible for...

Lincoln loves to play with bubbles. Sometimes he calls my mom bubbles since she's the one who introduced them to him. It's really cute. Can you see the humongous bubble right in front of my mom?

My mom and Lincoln before church.

The four generations: 82,54,26,1. This is taken at my mom's apartment. She lives about 15 minutes away. I drive to her place two nights a week to work out at her gym. So far, I'm doing a good job. My sister Jen, and a pep talk from Robin, helped inspire me to become more physically fit and start working out again. I'm loving it. I'm also watching what I eat and I've created a weight loss plan that'll hopefully help me reach my goals. Wish me luck!

Our Dear Lages

Jon and Elizabeth horsing around. Elizabeth was mezmerized by how tall Jon was. The girls had a little crush on my husband. It was cute. They were always trying to get his attention and climbing all over him. He loved it. I think it even boosted his self confindence to think that he was cute enough to be a crush.

This is Jon's other love. He lulled their bearded dragon to sleep and was able to move his limbs and tail around in any position without the lizard, Spiro, even opening one eye. It was pretty remarkable, really. I have to admit... I got a little jealous of all the loving the lizard was getting. It's okay, dors, it's just a lizard.

Look at the guns on this girl! Dang. This is my sister Jen and her oldest son Jonah. We had so much fun with them. Poor Kraig wasn't able to join in on any of the celebration. He was busy working really, really hard. Some of the highlights of our trip to their new house in Columbia, Missouri were going to this huge park and playing tag with all the kids and us parents, going to yoga with Jen, how sweet all the kids were to us, and all the good conversations I got to have with Jen. It was so nice to reconnect with my sister. It had been a long time. Ironically enough, we were so impressed by the city of Columbia that we put it on our list of possible places to settle down and start our practice. Wouldn't that be a trip?!

Little Zeke in his cute underwear. The kids were so great with Lincoln. Isabelle played really well with him, too. They got to hang out together during the day while the other kids were in summer school. It was a nice, relaxing visit. So glad we went. We almost decided not to go because we were scared to go on another road trip, but it turned out to be a breeze. The drive was only 6 hours long, and with a nap in there to break it up and a stop at a McDonald's playground, it went quite smoothly.

Zoo Pics III

I forget what these things are called, but Lincoln loved watching them. They totally look like they came right out of the Lion King. I think he thought they were dogs because he started making dog noises.

Ally is in nursery with Lincoln and was trying to hold his hand. This is one of those bouncy wooden bridges they're standing on. When Linc first got on it he dropped to the floor and started crawling, like it was an earthquake or something. He must take emergency preparedness classes in nursery or something :0) Anyway, Ally was trying to help him stay up, but he was not interested in holding hands with her. Just give him 15 years, then he'll be dying to!

Don't these kangaroos look a tad lathargic to you? I hope that's normal for them. Okay, so in this exhibit there was an emu or something, and it had reached it's head over the railing and totally made Lincoln crack up. I'm gonna try and blog the video I shot of the most adorable laugh you have ever heard, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Let's find out...

More Zoo Pics

They had a shark petting exhibit. I was just a little freaked out about it. I touched a shark's slimy skin and my whole body cringed. My friend Amanda was just cracking up at me. (I forgot to mention before that I had organized this zoo trip with my friends as a monthly fieldtrip thing with any of the mom's from my ward. 5 of us showed up with 6 kids in total. Yesterday, at the last minute, I thought about inviting the first year LDS dental wives to come with us, also. 5 of them said they could come with their kids. So, there was potential for a really big group. Two of the dental wives ended coming, but it was right when I was leaving to get Lincoln down for a nap. It was great, though, to get all of us out to the zoo together. So much fun.)

Lincoln in front of the penguin exhibit. He loved it because of the layered effect of being able to see under the water and above at the same time. The penguins were super playful. I would love to find some books at a garage sale or something that have a bunch of these different animals that we saw today in them. I bet he'd love that.

Below is a picture of a baby walrus. Don't be fooled by his size, he still is considered a baby. He was so funny. He would totally interact with the kids at the glass and move around and be all goofy. It was hilarious! I've only seen a dog be that playful before. It was cool.

A Day at the Zoo!

Yea! We went to the zoo for the first time in Lincoln's lifetime. The Indianapolis Zoo was awesome. What was even better is that we didn't have to pay for the parking or entrance fees because my friend's membership covered us. Free--now that's pretty awesome. Couldn't fit any better into our budget :0)

How funny is this?! Poor Jon had to be at school and couldn't come with us. But his favorite car was right smack in the front of the entrance to the zoo. It was in celebration of the Indy 500 happening this weekend. They even had their annual tortoise race at the zoo in honor of the 500. So funny. I love living here. There's always a lot of fun things going on.

In honor of my husband and any corvette fans out there who check out our blog, I had to take a couple of photos of the official Indy 500 pace car. Pretty sweet. Jon's gonna drool when he gets home today and sees these pics!

Obama! Obama!

Both of my parents are democrats, so needless to say, it has been quite an adjustment to have so many of my friends now be republicans. Jon is just the opposite. He grew up in a republican household with most of his friends supporting the GOP. Amazingly, this contrast in our upbring has not tainted our marriage. Rather it has helped us keep an open mind about all candidates. More than a year ago, Jon and I made a vow to educate ourselves about the candidates by reading their personal websites (or rather, by watching their video speeches on their websites) and recording and watching every debate from both parties. I can proudly say that we have done a very good job at doing that, although I cannot say that I am anywhere close to being an expert on the candidates. I have, however, had my favorites. I was a die-hard Mitt Romney fan. Not just because he is LDS, but because the man is brilliant and has all the abilities necessary to do exactly what our economy needs, our healthcare needs, our immigration problems need, and so on. He was amazing. And if it weren't for his religion, which people were scared of, and the nasty tricks played by McCain to confuse and sway voters, he could've rocked this primary race. Now, my #2 has been Obama from the start. Although, I was willing to change my mind about him if facts proved necessary. But after going to this rally with my mom and Jon in Indy, there's no way I'm ditching him (unless he doesn't become the nominee, of course. Then I have to make a choice that I would not be thrilled about). The rally was so amazing that it even convinced my mom that he's the best person for the job. She was a die-hard Hillary fan, but once she felt the enthusiasm and the soul-stirring energy from the crowd of supporters and Obama, himself, she changed her mind. Good job mom. Her side of the family wasn't too happy about that, though.

We went to the Hillary rally two nights before and there were maybe 6,000 people. When we approached Obama's it was a whole different story. It was so sweet. There were all sorts of people who showed up. And for the sceptics, no, they weren't all black. They were all ages, poor, rich, everything. It brought tears to my eyes to see so many people care about politics, and for probably getting involved for the first time in their life. It was so moving. Everyone had a smile on their face and was so friendly and happy. People's eyes were just shining. It felt so good, the spirit was strong, really good vibes. In terms of numbers, there was around 21,000 people. A whopping difference to Clinton's turnout. Yea Indy!

Why is Jon smiling so big? Well, to top off the whole experience, we were all surprised by a performance given by the one and only Stevie Wonder! He is one of Jon's favorites. It was super cool. And it was free! Sweet.

People wanted to be able to see Obama so badly that they even climbed trees to get a better view. I was stunned. These people really cared a lot. We found some spots on a little hill next to a ton of people and right in front of a group of handicap people. It was so crowded that everyone was practically sitting on each other's laps. The people sitting by us were pretty cool. Just really good people. We were so glad that we went. Gosh, that would be great if Obama picked Romney as his VP (yeah, that's just a little unlikely and too contradicting, but then I would get the best of both worlds. If only politics were perfect).

My Little Helper

Lincoln loves to help me water the lawn. He comes up to me and says, "Help". He does pretty well when I ask him to move around to different spots, too. He even waves the hose up and down, coping the way his mom waters. So cute. Another awesome chore he loves to help with is vacuuming. We have an attachment to our vacuum that looks like a mini vacuum. Every day Lincoln will take it out of the closest randomly and just start pushing the vacuum back and forth along the kitchen floor. It's so awesome. I love my little helper. It makes me so excited to see him catching on so quickly and naturally.

Lincoln's saying a ton of words now. Every day he adds new ones. Yesterday, while I was prepping our vegetable garden, he was playing soccor with a little 4 y.o. girl. I kept on saying the word 'kick' and then he started repeating it on his own without any prompting from me. I love this stage. It's so much fun. The funniest word he says right now is 'slide'. He can't get the 'l' to work with his tongue so it comes out like he just got back from the dentist and he's trying to talk with his mouth all numb and slurring all the letters. It's really funny. If only you could hear it.

Daddy Time!

Great smiles. It's pretty rare that we can get Lincoln to smile for the camera. Good job Dad!

Dad's helping Lincoln dance with his arms and be goofy. He likes to spin and stomp a lot when he dances--Lincoln, that is. It puts a smile on my face when he starts groovin' to music. I hope he ends up loving to dance. If he's got some of his mom's blood in him, then he just might.

Random Photos

This is a picture of the Elders that we worked with as ward missionaries for 4.5 months right before they were transferred. They were in our area for a long time and you could tell the elders were feeling it. They were hard workers, though, and pulled their weight. They did a good job. The Elders we have now are really awesome, too. We have a greenie and this is my first time being around one. It's so much fun! They're so awkward and cute. I think that we'll make a lot of progress with them in our ward. I'm excited.

Lincoln was putting this box over head and walking around blind and bumping into things and laughing. It was pretty funny. What a goof ball!

Spring came and then disappeared one morning. It was so cold that Lincoln had to put on his winter coat again. I love his expression here.

Spring Is Here!

And Lincoln is lovin' it. He has just discovered how much fun grass can be. He loves playing in our backyard and around our house with the neighbor kids. It's awesome. There are so many kids that live around us and everybody's starting to play together. It's a lot of fun.

His newest joy is running through the water while mommy is watering the garden and lawn. He just laughs and runs and get's drenched. The other day I didn't stop him from getting soaked to the bone. It was fun for him to be so carefree and quite funny for me to see him so soaked. I'm thinking that one of those plastic toddler pools would be fun to get for the backyard to put on that cement patch we have there in the next photo. That would be so much fun.

Lincoln loves when the older kids play basketball. He always tries to join in on the game. The older kids do a great job of avoiding running him over. It's pretty funny. These are definitely the joys and laughter that come from the blessing of having kids around you.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

Lincoln got to ride the carousel for the first time. His patience was tested while we waited in line and also for the carousel to get started, but once the music started playing and the carousel started spinning, he was a giggling boy. He had so much fun that he was begging me to take him on it again with his sweet hand gesture for please. (Can I take a minute here and say how happy I've been with the results of taking the time to teach Lincoln some sign language. It's so awesome. It has given him a way to show manners before his voice could say the words. Without being cued, he will say please and thank you. I love it. He's still a normal toddler, but it's so cool to see that he understands how those words work already. If anyone is thinking of teaching their baby simple signs, I definitely recommend it. It's so worth the time, and pretty easy to do.)

I love Indianapolis. It has so many great aspects. It has an awesome zoo. It has the most amazing Children's Museum (which we went to today). Great sports with successful teams. Beautiful greenery. Very friendly people. We live in the best neighborhood. Great housing prices. Better diversity than Santa Rosa and Provo. Our ward at church is amazing. Needless to say, we're really liking it here, especially since the weather is finally warming up. And this Children's Museum is sensational! It's 5 stories high and has a bagillion things to play with and interesting things to look at. It's the best baby entertainer in town. If it wasn't so expensive and didn't take so long to get to, we would be there every day. Today was a good day. (Lincoln note: this boy is such a great climber. He'll climb up anything he can. I love how adventurous his personality is. Right now he's in love with slides, going up or down them. It's so cute when he tries to pronounce the word slide because he slurs the word and sounds almost German or Russian. I've got to remember to record him saying it. It's hilarious!)

Lincoln loved the sand box. He did really well keeping the sand inside the box and using the shovel to scoop and poor. Hey, looks like he's ready to help with Romeo's litter box! Nice. Speaking of Romeo, the parents have decided to make him an indoor kitty (so sad). The reason being that he vomits in the house almost every time he returns from being outside, and it's been happening for over three years. Reason being for the vomiting: he has an annoying habit of eating grass. Poor cat, though, cause he really loves the outdoors, especially since he's such a keen hunter. We'll see how long 'the parents' can hold out.

These are some of my friends from church (Amanda and Tashina). Amanda's son (middle) is exactly one month younger than Lincoln. Their personalities are very different, but they play around each other very well since they're both pretty gentle boys. Plus, I really like Amanda's personality and how she thinks, so I love to hang out with them. I get a lot of good insight from her. All of us here planned to keep up this playdate/fieldtrip every month. So next month we're going to the zoo. We're trying to incorporate all interested moms, so I've been announcing it at church and calling friends. Hopefully we can get a nice group going. It's fun to get out and do cool things while hanging out with friends and other kids at the same time.

"More, more, more! Mocha, choca, latte. Yah, yah!"
Wedding Post IV

Aww, Kraig looks so sweet with a little dog. Will he ever have one again? That's my dad's dog Haus (sp?). Big dog in a little body.

Terrie with her old neighbors. She loves them. They're hilarious people.

Stephanie and her husband (the daughter of the above mentioned hilarious people, and Eric's childhood best friend). She's pretty funny herself.

Isn't this the sweetest photo you've ever seen in your life?! This is Morgan's daughter McKenzie (sp?). She reminds me of the the girl from the movie "My Girl", don't ya thing? (This has been one long nap for Lincoln. I think I'm gonna go check on him. Hope you enjoyed the new blogs. I had an itching to post some new ones. Not to mention the pressure Robin was giving me. Sorry Robin that there aren't any new ones of Linc; I still have to transfer them from the camera downstairs. And by the time I go downstairs to retreive it, I'll get distracted by some other chore to do. And so is life, but aint it fun!)