Sunday, July 5, 2015

Toys galore

The toys were taking over the basement. Which we currently use as a family/tv room. Which we hope in the next year to turn into a 4th bedroom (between guest quarters and master suite...still deciding). Anyway, under the stairs was WASTED space. I hate the idea of wasted anything soooo off to Home Depot we went. We did a quick drywall job and then painted and moved all the toys in there. We cut the door in half so Lincoln can play in there and we can see him (truth be told, it was originally going to be Harleys room but he jumped RIGHT over the half door) and Lincoln LOVES it in there! The toys are outta sight and he plays for hours in there! SUCCESS!!!


Oh Harley

I love dogs. I love dogs. I love dogs. I often find myself repeating this numerous times during the day. Harley is a 1 year old lab. So yes, I know he is still a puppy, and I know labs love to chew. But seriously, between his chewing, his jumping on people, and his excessive shedding, my work is cut out for me!!! We are getting him a training collar next week to help with the jumping on people because that habit needs to be GONE by the time Brynlee comes.

This was one morning a few weeks ago in Harleys room. Thank goodness we hated the idea of carpet in the basement bathroom...it just came up sooner than we had originally thought! I think we might stain the concrete down there...I love that look!


Let Freedom Ring

Happy 4th of July!!! I feel guilty skipping out on this holiday this year but I am too large and miserable to go anywhere...daddy to the rescue after work tonight! :)




Little Fishy

Ever since Lincoln was a tiny tiny baby we have put him in the pool. My sisters in laws in California had a heated pool so we could swim all year round and he ALWAYS loved it. His favorite part is actually going UNDER water. I swear, if he could, he would live underwater.

He started official swim lessons 2 weeks ago and he is the best in his class. I am not just saying that because I am his momma, I swear he really is. They have to just put their face to their nose in water and then there is Lincoln under the water with his belly on the bottom of the pool. His teacher was impressed. They have to start in lesson 1 here, otherwise I would have skipped it because it was mainly just getting used to water.

Tomorrow he starts the next lesson (2) where they actually work on kick boards, different strokes, etc. He will probably repeat this stage twice because he needs to improve his arm strokes but I am excited to see him ACTUALLY swim!!!


There used to be feet there...

Have you ever looked down at your feet only to see a huge belly in the way? Well everytime I go downstairs I have to turn slightly to the side so I dont fall forward. I laugh to myself everytime and think "hmm there used to be some feet down there" now they are just hidden. Lord help us make it through the next 9 weeks!


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Welcome Harley! :)

Saturday we decided to take a trip to the animal shelter in Salt Lake. Not exactly sure why...because if you step foot in one of those, you are TOTALLY bringing home an animal! I love animals, we had them all the time growing up. Shaun doesn't love animals. Lincoln LOVES animals! In fact, in California he kept asking if we could bring my sisters dog home with us! lol

The shelter is HUGE!!! It is a really nice facility. Shaun has said all along if we got a dog it had to be a lab. They are mellow, great with kids, and just all around amazing dogs. That is what my sister has too. When we were at the shelter guess what we saw?!? A black 11 month old, with a white patch JUST LIKE my sisters dog, and Lincoln WANTED IT!!! We took it out to "bond" with it, and it instantly fell in love with Shaun. It was so cute to watch! About an hour later, we were driving home with Harley!

Lincoln LOVES his doggie. And now that he knows his name is Harley, not Luke, they get along great. Harley is already house trained, knows simple commands, and super mellow. It's such a great thing! I love having him around...and he STILL loves Shaun! You should see his reaction when Shaun comes in the door from work! Now all we gotta do is work on being a good walking dog!

C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A

Did I tell you we went to California last week?! I didn't...well that is because it was a TOTALLY RANDOM spur of the moment decision. I am talking, Saturday night at 8pm we looked at each other and said, lets do it! Shaun had a week of vacation from his old job so we wouldn't be missing any work, and we were both ITCHING to get back to California. It has been raining NON STOP for 3 weeks and we needed some sunshine. So we packed our bags, loaded the new car (what better way to break in a new car than a long road trip) and went to bed that night with huge smiles knowing we would be where our hearts belonged the next day.

We left at 5:30am, made only 2 stops for gas and bathrooms (I am telling you I have the best traveling toddler ever!!!) and got to Antioch, my inlaws, a little before 3pm. Not too shabby considering we have a newly potty trained toddler, a pregnant woman, and about 900 miles between us and California! NOT A SINGLE PERSON knew we were coming! The reactions were great!

We sent Lincoln up to my inlaws door with his suitcase and bear, rang the doorbell and Shaun and I hid around the corner. When my mother in law answered, we heard, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?" Then we appeared and she was SHOCKED!!! Two days later I did the same thing to my sister. I put Lincoln up at the door, rang the doorbell and hid. I heard my nephew as he opened the door go "LINCOLN!!!" Then I walked inside, my sister came to the door and said, "I think you are going to make Auntie cry...let me look at you" It was amazing!!! I will NEVER tell people we are coming again! It had been 5 months since I had seen my sister and her family and their reactions were great!!!

Watching my little nephew Gio and Lincoln, who are only 9 months apart, and were ALWAYS together, be together again was so special. My favorite was when they both realized they can both talk now and they said to each other "hey you talk now" It was like they never missed a day hanging out. They were both so happy and in great moods! When we were leaving my nephew was crying which broke my heart and he said "but if Linky go home I have no friend again"...oh man pull on my heart little man!!! We were also able to go to Milo's kindergarten graduation...I have NEVER missed a big event in my sisters families lives so I was soooo thankful I could be there! Funny how I had all these ideas to go to restaurants I have been missing, donut shops, etc, and yet, I found myself just wanting to sit at her house and soak in every single moment because I knew it would be over sooo fast.

We ended the trip with a visit to AT&T park (of course!) and the Giants WON!!! What an amazing end to that really boring game! Sadly I was in the bathroom (thank you Brynlee) when all the exciting stuff was happening so I only heard it over the speakers in there. Oh well!!!

Oh did I mention I got in a car accident while there?!? In my BRAND NEW car!? Stupid girl was reversing in a parking lot, there was a car behind me so I couldn't go anywhere (I wasnt reversing, I was going straight). I honked my horn sooo loud CONTINUOUSLY and she never even ONCE looked! The CRASH!!! Lincoln was in the back seat, totally confused as to what happened. I was pist because I had my kid in the car, my baby in my belly, and my new car was now damaged! THANK GOD she had insurance, the damage isnt horrible, but we will be getting a new car seat, and they will fit the front bumper...when her insurance finally responds to ours! Longest process ever! UGH I am getting so mad again just thinking about it!!! She admitted it was her fault, I said usually when someone is honking you stop! She said her music was too loud and didn't hear anything...uhhh then turn it down next time!!!

The drive back was LONG!!! We made SEVERAL more stops on the way home than before. We left later, which I have learned I HATE!!! We left at about 8:30am and it felt like we drove all day! We didn't pull into our driveway till about 10pm! We did stop for an hour lunch break to let Lincoln out and play. Then at dinner we found a park by a gas station and let him play for about an hour again. So take away those stops and it wouldn't have been too horrible. Oh and add in his new line "how much longer"...oh brother!!! We will always leave early from now on!!!

I am so glad we got to visit. Originally we were going to fly home in November for a week, but with Shauns new job, I am not sure we will. He wants me to fly out still for the entire week, but with a toddler and a newborn, at holiday time, I am a TAD nervous!!! He would drive out and only miss 2 days of work instead of a week...then we would all drive home...just not sure about it yet. We will have to discuss it more. I want to go because I want everyone to meet Brynlee, but I don't want to go by myself. Maybe my mother in law will fly out here then fly back with me...who knows!!! For now, we are staying put, working on our backyard (thank you rain for FINALLY stopping) and will just have to figure out another time to visit. Our next FOR SURE trip is to Disneyland in February! So excited!!!