15 months later

Dear Lincoln,

My dear sweet, temper throwin, stubborn, adorable, claw someone when you can, butt scootin, silly and did I mention stubborn child. You are now so close to your 15 month mark and are finally walking. You never had a desire to walk, therefore you wouldn't. I think you like all the attention you get from that awesome butt scoot you do so well. Who wouldn't? But I am happy/not sure I'm ready, for you to start this new phase. I can tell already how much happier you are that you can keep up with your big bro. Don't get me wrong, I am happy it took this long. Thank you for keeping my sanity in mind.

Love mommy :)

Surprise trip

Aaron didn't have to work this weekend and I had a few things planned so it was nice to have him with me. Saturday night we went out to Moapa for my cousins Reception/ homecoming. It was so nice seeing some of the Taylor family. Their house looked amazing! My cousin, Heather, catered it and it was basically the yummiest food and ever. She did awesome! I had a great time. We got back kind of late and I needed to prepare my lesson for church the next day. Last min, I know! Anyways, I was looking all over for the manual and finally I asked Aaron where it was and he told me the subs had it. It took me a few mins to realize what he was saying. So, I asked what was going on and he said "oh, I didn't tell you we are going to California?" Aw... I love him! He knew just what I needed :) We headed out the next morning bright and early and got to Laguna Beach around 1 ish. We...

contained Ezra for a moment

played with our friends

attempted to take family pics

ate some food

played in the sand

and played in the waves

We stayed with our friends sunday night. They were so kind to let us stay with them. Then monday we went to Huntington Beach and played all day. I didn't take any pics though. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Then headed home at 9:30. It was short but sweet! Aaron, I love you! Thanks for the wonderful mini vacation. You are the best:)

Red Rock

It's not very often that we are together as a family for a day, so on Sat. we decided to head up to Red Rock. We LOVE it up there! When Aaron and I dated we hiked up there all the time. We definitely have been slacking since we've had kids but we try. I'm becoming the crazy mom though. Ezra loves to climb and explore and it makes me so nervous. It's hard for me to relax up there because I feel like I can't watch him close enough. I know, I'm crazy! Lincoln loved it too. We put him in the backpack but he wanted in on the action. He wanted to climb and hike like his big brother. Unfortunately for him, he still isn't walking so that wasn't really an option. Aaron walked around with him for as long as he could. It was the perfect day to be out there. Oh, there is something I have to document. At the end we had to hike up this nice little hill to get to the car. At the bottom of the hill Ezra is exhausted and hurt his leg, so he will not walk the rest of the way. Since Aaron had Lincoln on his back I gave Ezra a piggy back ride. I didn't even make it half way up the hill and I told Ezra to get off. (Nice, huh) There was no way I could carry him up the hill without killing myself. So I was thinking I would take Lincoln and Aaron would take Ezra but no, Aaron carried both kids up the hill. And not only that, he beat me up the hill. Seriously, that's sad!

Random Shenanigans

Life is good...

Greek Festival

Yard work

Park fun

We've been busy! Aaron is one busy man, so when he is home we try to do fun things as a family. Aaron's brother was working at the Greek Festival this year so he got us in for free. Then he also let us do the trampoline thing for free too. Sweet! We went to the Town Center park, which is fun. My grandparents are finally home and that means we had to do some yard work. Yes, Lincoln hung out in his diaper the whole time. White trash anyone?

My ramblings

Before you start reading I should warn you, this post is just my thoughts on my life and anything else that pops into my mind. I am all over the place with my thoughts so just be prepared for this to not make a whole lot of sense. Oh and it's going to be long and boring :)

The fam and I moved in with my grandparents the first of Aug. We are very grateful for them for letting us pretty much take over their house. With Aaron taking 6 classes at UNLV and trying to take more at University of Phoenix, he is pretty dang busy. With books, tuition and gas to get down there it is pretty expensive. Living with my grandparents is the best for us financially. It's going to be hard but we are up for the challenge. Aaron decided to change his direction in school. Totally fine but I told him this is the last time he can do that so he is stuck with this decision :) He is now working toward med school to be a neurologist. He is still going to graduate next April/May with his bachelors in Psychology. Then he will still have a few more classes to take of prerequisites for med school. To add on top of Aaron's crazy schedule he just got a job. It might be the greatest job ever. He pretty much gets paid to sleep!
I am... busy! Life is crazy but I am trying to live it up. Part of the agreement with moving in with my grandparents was that I need to help take care of them. I am making dinners, doing the shopping, cleaning the house and so on. I got a membership to the gym for an outlet and also to get in shape. When I am going crazy from the kids and grandparents I can go workout. I am trying to find all the fun things on this side of town to do. Finding some good things and fun parks. Still trying to find a job but I am thinking that taking care of the kids and grandparents is a pretty demanding job so I don't think I need another one.
Ezra started preschool. He loves it. We are currently getting him "tested" to see if he qualifies for the Child Find program. We just finished our last app today. We will see if he qualifies in a week or 2. We went to the speech therapist today and she said he is at a 5 1/2 year old level when it comes to understanding questions and different situations. Ezra is a crack up! He says the funniest things. The other day I took him shopping with me and I was trying on a dress and he said "MOM, you look perfect!" Ha, I should take him shopping with me more often :)
Lincoln is starting to have quite the little personality. He has a temper and it's funny! He growls, screams and grunts anytime he wants something. Such a boy, right! He took his 1st 2 steps last night and then clapped for himself. It was totally cute. I'm thinking he will be walking before Oct. I am not sure I am ready for that.
Life is good! Aaron and I have had few bumps in the road. We were talking the other day and I realized that almost every "plan" we've made hasn't really work out the way we've "planned." I don't even know if that makes sense. Let me explain... When we got married our "plan" was to get pregnant after 2 years but 3 months into our marriage we found out we were going to have a baby a week before our anniversary. We bought a house 5 years ago and "planned" on selling it 2 to 3 years later. Um... yeah that didn't work out. The house had a lot of defects the mortgage more than doubled in one year, so let's just say that didn't work out to "plan." When Lincoln was born things were on our side. Aaron had a great job. I could be a stay at home mom and we were starting to pay off some debt. Our "plan" was to get out of debt have another baby sooner than later and life would be easy and wonderful. Aaron lost his job and we completely changed our "plan." Aaron and I try to pray about all our big decision and we feel like we have done and are doing what Heavenly Father wants us to do. We have learned a lot of life lessons along our journey. I am sure we were supposed to learn these for a reason. Now, I really don't want this to sound like I was complaining. Because I am sooooo grateful that Ezra has been in our life for 4 years. I have learned more from being a mother than I thought was possible and I keep learning everyday. I have learned that when trying everything possible to keep your house and you still lose it, it sucks but there are things in life way more important than owning your own home. I have learned the importance of have a savings and food storage. We lived off of it for months. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my life. Sure, things haven't happened to "plan" but I feel like I am a better person for it.

The Happenins

Man, so much stuff has happened the past month or so and I just haven't had the time to blog. So here is a pathetic version of whats been going on.

We are officially moved in. I hate moving! And we will be doing it again in less then a year when Aaron graduates.

The kids, my mom and I went up to the cabin for a couple days before everyone else could join us. We had a ton of fun but we were happy to finally see them 3 days later. We went on walks and picked flowers, listened to a cool thunder storm. Don't worry the first thunder was so loud and took us by surprise that I screamed like a little girl and scared the crap out of my kids :) We went on a beautiful drive and rode the ATV's around like crazy. It was so nice, my whole family was up there. We played a ton games, people lost their temper (I may or may not have been one of those people) and all in all we had a really nice time! Thanks mom and dad for the wonderful little vacation.

We had a little party for Lincoln's 1st b-day with just the family. Lincoln LOVED his cupcake :)
And here is our attempt at a family picture.

We went to the docs for the kids well appointment and here are their stats...

Ezra's stats at 4 years old:
Height: 42 1/2in- 95%
Weight: 40lbs- 75-90%
and at 4 they don't do the head measurements.

Lincoln's stats at 12 months:
Height: 29 1/2 in - 25-50%
Weight: 20lb 2oz- 10-25%
Head: 48 1/2cm- 90-95%
Haha my kids have big heads!

1 year old

Holy cow! Lincoln is 1! I love this little guy so much! At 1 year old:
he still does his sweet butt scoot
he is getting really good at standing by himself
he has 4 teeth and two on the way
he loves banana's
he is still is size 3 diapers
he is in 12-18 month clothes
he has quite the little personality
he is a little copy cat
he loves playing with Ezra
he sleeps through the night- most the time
he loves swimming
he love baths with big brother
he has a temper and it's kind of funny
Lincoln, we love you more than words can say!