Our Lincoln Turns 2

Monday was Lincoln’s birthday. I can’t believe that he is 2. Lincoln was given a tower of rice krispie cupcakes that started to fall while we waited for Adam to come in from helping with the cow. Lincoln was a little confused at us singing to him, but loved the attention. He shared one of his toys with Addy. They were so cute lying on the floor on their tummies driving little cars and a tractor around. As I mentioned earlier about the cow, we went out to the flat for Family Home Evening, in which the activity was for Adam and his brothers to kill one of Wynn’s cows that was barren. The brothers were discussing how she didn’t look barren to them and looked somewhat pregnant, but Wynn was just sure that that was not the case. After killing her my nephew Zac came in the house and told us all that the cow was pregnant and we were thinking how horrible that was and then my niece came in later and corrected the confusion that she really wasn’t pregnant, so we were glad to hear that cleared up. Tuesday night apparently Larry (the family dog) was in a fight with some Husky dogs, I don’t know if you could say he was technically in a fight, but more that he was getting picked on and having to defend himself. I asked Phyllis about it on Wednesday and she said the following is what happened:
She found Larry on the back lawn/driveway area with 2 Husky dogs on top of him having pinned him on his back with him, “fighting for his life, for what it was worth” (I just loved how she put that last part). She came running in the house yelling that they were killing Larry. Daniel, Tim, Jimmy, and Jared were downstairs playing video games, so Daniel ran up the stairs and out the door to handle the situation and after kicking the dog and it not doing much then he grabbed it and threw it off of Larry with that dog turning to bite him in the process, but missing. Daniel told Tim to kick it which he did with great force and Phyllis had to tell him to stop. In trying to find Larry outside in the dark they were unsuccessful, but after coming in the house they found him under the table bleeding in a few places. The police came out shortly after Daniel and Tim found one dog down by the pond and resisted to shoot it when Phyllis told them not to. The animal control said they knew who the dogs belonged to and the owners came out searching for the other dog. So Larry lives again for others to tell another story about.
Wednesday I escorted my two little boys down the road to the top of the field in front of the flat where g-pa was doing the water. Tyson was determined that he wanted to help g-pa with the water so he dragged a big shovel all the way there and tried to copy what g-pa was doing. Lincoln was right in tow with one of g-ma’s hand trowels ready to do the same. Lincoln was prepared to start marching back to the house when we were done, but realized the offer to ride in the back of g-pa’s truck was much more inviting. These boys are farmers that is for sure. I know I have to make sure to keep an eye on them more as Tyson recently climbed in the backhoe, started it, popped it into gear, and released the emergency brake. As soon as Adam had realized that the backhoe was moving he went running from the upper part of the driveway towards the backhoe only to find that Tyson had popped it into neutral. He pays attention way too much as to how machinery is ran, which worries me. When the boys wanted to use the forklift to hoist up the cow to hang it over night they couldn’t find the key. We asked Tyson about it and he said it was in his new pants at home. When I got home I checked in all of his dirty pants and couldn’t find it. I noticed that my ring was missing on Wednesday when I was walking down the road with the boys. After looking in the bathroom when I got home and any other possible place that I could have set it I began to get very worried that it was lost and decided to pray about. During my prayer the thought came into my head to ask Tyson, which I approached him about after he woke up. I said, “Tyson, mommy lost her ring and is very sad about it, do you know where it could be?” He got off the bed and walked to my closet, lifted up Adam’s boot and there it was on the carpet. I remarked, “I wonder how that got there!” I then thought that since we were on a roll then maybe he would know where the forklift key was, so I asked him about that. He said, “It’s in my yellow pants!” (which I swear the kid does not own any yellow pants) I went to transfer the laundry and at the bottom of the machine was a single key. I asked Adam if that was it and then took it to Tyson so he could return it to Adam and see his excitement for getting it back. So, beware my child is obsessed with keys and just about any machine on wheels.

What do you Harvest in January?

This past week I set my goal to file my personal papers, so that I could rotate those out for this new year. I did manage to get that done, so it feels good once again. Amidst all of that we spent quite a few days helping Wynn and Phyllis gather and hull pecan nuts from under their trees. It is quite the process and you feel a little more productive in food storage since around here this is about the only thing you can harvest during the January winter month. Gathering nuts was our Family Home Evening activity and then I brought out some makings for taco soup for dinner that night and then we had a good gospel centered discussion around the table afterwards with Stuart and Heidi as well. On Friday night a group of us went to Texas Roadhouse for our date. Wynn & Phyllis and Daniel and Susie had gift cards from Christmas that they wanted to use and then Caleb & Stephanie, Ben & Tia, and Aunt RomaAnn came as well. I had planned for Adam and I to go look for some mirrors for our bathrooms afterwards, however we didn't feel much like checking it out and Tyson called a few times wanting us to come home and we couldn't resist that plea so we went out to the flat to pick him up. Saturday morning we made it to an early morning session at the temple and then ran our errands that we didn't do last night. Today I taught the CTR 5 class at church and boy were they a challenge. I was really wiped out after church. We ended up staying home the rest of the evening since Adam had a Stake Priesthood Meeting at 6 p.m. and I was so exhausted. These pictures I took this last year and since I wasn't the best at blogging towards the latter part of the year then I wanted to have some pictures since I didn't take any this past week. The boys just love it when their dad reads to them and they really appreciated it this last week with Adam being home from his work trip the week before. I found Tyson sitting on one of my couches posing like this and couldn't resist snapping a pic of it.

He Did It!

Adam passed the trade portion of his test yesterday morning. It has been quite a bit of money to get to that point since he had taken it once before and missed it by five. He was a little frustrated with the test because the area he missed the most was roofing components and since he has been roofing most of his life you would think he would pass with flying colors, however when the questions on the test have to do with built up roofing (which is an out of date way to roof) and was before Adam's time then he could be considered a rookie. Anyways paying for a test he failed, another one he missed, studying, and then the test yesterday, that all racks up to quite a bit of money. Adam returned at 5 am Friday morning from spending the week in Arizona (10 hrs away) finishing up an LDS church re-roofing job. At around 8:45 am I drove him to Salt Lake, while he slept, so he could spend a couple of hours studying for the test ($250 just to study). It was a very cold day so I wrapped up in a blanket in the car and worked on business stuff on his laptop while I waited and for as long as I could take the cold and then walked to the front of the building and found a 'Ross' department store and greatly appreciated having some shopping time for once to kill time. I think that is the type of situation that causes me to like shopping (since generally I avoid it if I can). My sister Lillie watched the kids until 1:45 and then dropped them off at my mother-in-law's on her way to work. Phyllis watched them until Lillie got off work and then she brought them home. After Adam's test we hopped back in the car and drove straight home. Probably the quickest 8 hour trip I have ever had. Yesterday morning Lillie watched the kids again while I went with Adam to his test (sat out in the truck, for Taylor a pickup :) and kept turning on the heated seat to stay warm since diesel trucks don't idle giving you heat to stay comfortable. After his victory test we went to the temple and did sealings. A perfect way to end a very nervous and stressful week.

A funny thing that happened on Thursday morning was when I came out of my bathroom and found my clean pile of clothes strategically shoved up against the bottom of my bedroom door. After asking why they were there Tyson said, "I locked Santa Claus out, so he can't come in." He's back on his, "Santa Claus scary" kick. I mentioned it last year, while attending a family Christmas party at Adam's Aunt Angelyn's a very jolly, jingling, ho hoing Santa came bounding down the stairs and terrified Tyson. Everyone in the room was laughing at the scene of this 2 year old crying out in fear of this jolly character. Ever since then he is scared in his room because, "Santa Claus will get me" or he cries very worried and scared if I've locked him out of my bathroom and him and Lincoln are left alone in my room, he'll go and lock themselves in my bedroom to protect them from Santa. If he only knew. The other picture is just a random one I took of the boys before Thanksgiving after realizing that I don't have too many pictures with Lincoln in them.

To Prove the Saying...

...my face broke my fall. That is pretty much what Adam is sporting here. I called him this afternoon to check up on his day and heard the words that I dread "I fell of the roof." As I collect the details I find out that it was really from the top of the ladder. After asking him if anyone saw him he said "yes" and then asking what that person did in response and the guy said, "It hurts your pride the most." to which Adam replied, "not yet, but it will" and here I am helping that statement along. I had just finished taking the kids for a late afternoon walk through the neighborhood and found them both like this when we got home, so I pushed them inside and let them be. After pulling out the camera I couldn't help but ask Adam if I could take a picture of his face, just for documentation purposes and a good laugh down the road. As for Tyson and Lincoln as you can see in the pic they are quite the pair. If Lincoln were a little taller they would be mistaken for twins I think. Tyson has great fun wrestling Lincoln on the floor to which Lincoln is always coming to me and crying. Sometimes I try to ignore it but most of the time I have to step in and rescue Lincoln before he gets smooshed by Tyson.

Adam left Tuesday afternoon with his cousin Jordan and headed to Phoenix, Arizona to pack up for Jordan's sister Kara and her husband Skyler all their stuff and bring it back to Hurricane. They stayed that night and then headed back Wednesday morning with the goods in tow. We had quite the ordeal before Adam left as Tyson wanted very much to go with Adam. For this kid seeing the truck, horse trailer, and Adam's lemonade container he just knew it would be the time of his life. Adam told Tyson, "you don't want to go with dad. It is just sitting in the truck for a long time driving. You'll have more fun staying home with mom" to which came the reply "I don't want to have fun, I want to go with you." What does that say about me and all my fun huh- quite a blow. Anyways as usual Adam walked out the door with his boys screaming and hollering that they have to stay home and have fun. Yes, Lincoln is right in tow making a scene of despair. At one point during the day when I let Tyson talk to Adam he said, "Daddy, come home right now, grandpa needs the trailer." The kid apparently calls the shots for grandpa now too. Whatever it takes to be with dad. So we are glad their trip was a safe one and then of course today Tyson told me, "Kara coming to my house today." So Kara there is your invite when you get into town.

Accident Prone

So last week ended with quite the accidents. Adam has been helping a friend of the family frame his house and earlier in the week he managed to pull the trigger on a nail gun only to find it having shot through the side of the board straight down to have stopped at the bone on the top of his foot (no picture) and then on Thursday he was framing again and will tell the story as "WE" forgetting to nail down a board and I will politely interrupt to make sure that he truthfully tells the story as "HIM" forgetting and the board falling down and hitting him on the head inflicting a nice gash that exposed alot of blood to which that night he begged me to pick off the mound of scabbed blood so that he could go shower without having to worry about it opening up again...not an enjoyable chore for me (shown in picture). He finished off Saturday night spraining his other ankle and almost staying home for church, however managing to get some movement after some help to the bathroom and getting a shower. Then there is Tyson, who while we were helping my sister-in-law Shelley clean and unpack in their new house he decided to try climbing up their shelving in their closet and we think that one of the shelves slipped out and wacked him in the nose splitting open a couple of gashes. And then there is Lincoln who while trying to crawl to me from our bathroom to the closet he lost his grip and wacked his forehead on the tile floor (shown in the duo walker picture which I turned around today and found Tyson having invaded Lincoln's space- love my boys). I came away from the week without a nail, sprain, cut, bruise, or scratch. Feeling pretty lucky!

De Ja Vue

The legos that I got the boys for Christmas have been a big hit and the best thing is that I don't have to worry about Lincoln swallowing them. The two love to play with them together and Tyson is always wanting Lincoln to join him. We have enjoyed them for a FHE activity making some homemade guns (Adam's invention), so it was a good buy. Lincoln turned 9 months on the 12th and I have noticed a couple things that remind me of when Tyson was around this age. 1. He doesn't care to master the crawling thing and 2. He is more interested in trying to stand and pull himself up to things. I took this picture to illustrate what I am talking about. Although I can say that a few days after this he did start crawling. He doesn't do the army crawl but does the actual all fours and it is pretty cute. I also noticed that he has some pretty long eyelashes, not as close as Tyson's but they did stick out during this shut eye picture. I attempted some ties on the boys for church today and it was a hit. I had to use the "don't you want to be like dad" phrase to get Tyson to try it. He saw his tie in the closet yesterday and pointed it out to me and then said, "I want to go to church." It was cute.

Linky is 7 Months Old

So I'm not the best at documenting milestones for my children, however something is better than nothing. These pictures were taken a week ago documenting Linky's 7 month old mark. I couldn't resist the picture of him falling asleep in his walker as he waited patiently for me to finish office work (actually this is his patient shot as opposed to the unpatient shot earlier). The next picture of him in the 6 month outfit that The Bowns' gave to him when Julene and Stevie stayed one night. I thought it was very stunning on him. Although he didn't get to wear it very often due to his rapid growth. and it still being winter time. Of course we can't get the camera out without having Tyson strategically positioning himself to get in the snapshot. As you can tell in the pictures Linky does very well sitting up and has been doing that for a while. He's a bright boy and we are sure glad we get to have him in our family.

Pesky Pest Control

Yesterday I cleaned all day long to prepare for the Pest Control guy to come and spray, only to have the scheduled hours between 2-4 to pass and calling to find out if he had forgotten and then getting a call from his wife around 5:30 informing me that their work truck was in the shop and she thought he would have called me. I wasn’t the happiest and when she wanted to just schedule it for Monday morning, I informed her that it would be fine but that I had my house torn apart specifically for him to come. It kind of dampened my attitude for the evening. I told Adam that I needed to get out of the house as I had been slaving away in it all day long and was going to go insane. We ended up taking the boys to Phyllis’ and then using the 2 gift certificates to JBs that Monica had given me back when I helped with the peach canning. We enjoyed the time alone, especially me to enjoy a cooked meal that was actually warm when I ate it, as with feeding the boys food isn’t quite the temperature it is meant to be when I get around to eating it. Phyllis said the boys were great for her, which was nice plus Tyson didn’t cry when we left without him. After driving home, Ben brought over his date, Tia and we all watched Hoodwinked. I finished cleaning by doing the dishes during it all. Ben stayed the night and watched the kids this morning as Adam and I attended the 6 am session at the temple. We then headed over to Wal-Mart to get some diapers and milk and I was glad to still find the sale my neighbor had told me about on Campbell’s Cream of Chicken and Mushroom cans, so I stocked up for food storage on that. While heading out of the parking lot I called Ben and asked him to get the boys ready for Jarem’s baptism as it looked like we weren’t going to make it back in time. After arriving at the church and not finding very many cars there we found out that the baptism was changed to 9:30, which made everyone who was rushing through the door after 9 am on time. Ben managed the two boys just fine and we are glad he was willing to do that. After the baptism we went out to the flat and since it was a blustery cold and windy day it was a great day for football. I spent a good amount of time changing diapers, bathing Lincoln in grandma’s sink after relieving some constipation pressure, and then rinsing off Tyson in the tub after Phyllis gave him a haircut. I also spent time throughout the day shelling Phyllis’ pecans that she had cracked and by the time we left that evening I managed to finish the whole bowl. We went over to the Steele’s to have cake and ice cream for Gage’s birthday. I never thought I would say this, but at the end of today I found myself not caring much for football at all, though we are glad the Cougars won. The picture I included here is from one morning earlier this week, when I found Tyson giggling and Lincoln chewing on his toes. I managed to snap a picture of the attach right as Lincoln looked up at me. He sure enjoyed Tyson's big toe.

Rainy Saturday

Today was quite nice as it was rainy and overcast all day long. It's rare to get that around here so you enjoy it when it comes. Perfect day for having the windows opened and watching general conference, along with starting a fire in between and eating some yummy vegetable cheese soup that Phyllis made. Soup tops off a rainy day. It was funny because Adam prepped this fire with most of the junk from a dump truck and odds and ends lying around the flat. He thought it was too wet to start, but Phyllis and I encouraged him to get some gasoline and help it along. When it was burning alot of black smoke Adam had 2 different people drive up making sure everything was okay. I told Phyllis it is nice that people are concerned and watch out for them. This fire came about as Adam needed that dump truck to drive over behind the cow fences and transport dirt to the new location of the meat shop that him and his brothers will be building along with financing from other siblings. It's going to be a great place for butchering, canning, and any other major projects like that that have previously been done in the shop and Phyllis' kitchen.
As for this other picture it is one I took in September one morning after I had gone for the phone and when I returned I couldn't find even a little space for me to squeeze back into my spot on the bed as my boys took over what little space that was left. Lincoln does not sleep with us at all and quite often Tyson ends up in our bed sometime in the night from whatever it is that wakes him up, but I'll feed Lincoln his bottle in our bed during some early morning hours when I'm not quite ready to get out of bed. So after not finding any room to lay back down then I went for the camera to document the intrusion. How cute and innocent they are. Love my boys!