5 Months

Lincoln is now 5 months old. He is growing so fast. He is such a sweet baby and loves for you to talk to him. He is so giggly and Grant can get him laughing pretty hard. Tonight I had both boys in the bathtub and Grant was talking to Linc and Lincoln was just a giggling it was so cute.

Linc can officially roll over from front to back and back to front. Now hopefully we can get him moving in the next few weeks.

Linc is also getting very very heavy. At his 4 month appointment he was in the 90% and weighted just over 17 pounds. However, that was a pound less than Grant when he was that age. We will have to see at his 6 month appointment to see how much he has grown.


Two boys hanging out at Mike's apartment


Don't you just love that smile

Disaster of Being on Vacation

The first of the month of September the boys and I spent about 10 days in Utah enjoying the cooler weather and spending time with family. However, I did spend a lot of time canning and I came back with a loaded car full of bottles.

As we arrived home my house suddenly became a disaster zone and I really didn't care.

After I arrived home and the mess I created:

(Grant showing off his breakfast spill on the carpet and I really didn't care)

And Finally the finished product after a few hours:



(Just a box of peaches remaining to give to my brother and the cute little boy that kept saying 'picture of me')



What does your house look like after you come home from vacation? (Probably not as bad as mine).

Saving Summer

As a child I grew up with a mom and Grandma that canned and canned. I HATED it and would usually try to get out of it with every possible excuse. However, I loved it when we had peaches and corn in the middle of winter but I hated the whole process of peeling, cutting, and jarring the fruit and vegetables. Now as an adult I love it because I know the outcome is going to be great. (Maybe I won't love it anymore once I have done all the work, but thankfully there is a whole year until I need to do it again so maybe I will forget the work that I put in).

Arizona has a totally different growing season than what I grew up with in Utah. So I have already canned stewed tomatoes and froze spaghetti sauce and I even made a special trip to Utah to can peaches, green beans, salsa, and freeze corn. Thankfully I have great family members that grow great gardens.

Just thinking about those yummy peaches and sweet corn is making me hungry. Hopefully I will be enjoying the fruits of my labor all winter (if I can only keep Mikey's hands off the peaches).

Who needs a HUSBAND?

This was our first week without Mike and we seemed to survive just fine. Grant and Lincoln were so great this week. Lincoln survived by playing on his play mat (lion blanket) for hours on end. He would talk and coo to his toys. Lincoln did great during the evening which is usually his fussy time. Grant started out the week asking for 'dad' but I told him he was at work in Cottonwood. He got to talk on the phone to Mike a couple of times which was good. On Friday night when Mike walked through the door Grant busted into tear telling Mike "Luke pushed me." Grant was super tired from playing at his cousin Luke's house most of the day and I am pretty sure he was glad to see his dad so he just thought of the first thing that came into his mind. Most of the time he tells me "Preston bite me" and it will have been days since he has even been to Preston's house.

The boys went to the sitter's house two days this week when I need to work in the office. Thankfully I have a great sitter that LOVES Lincoln and pretty much holds him most of the day. Grant loves to go to the sitter's house because she has a son, Preston, that is just a few months older than Grant. Grant usually yells "hooray Preston's house" when I tell him we are going or when we pull up to the house. I think maybe he likes it there despite the biting.

I kept the house clean, the kids clean and fed and worked 30 hours. So it was pretty much a great week.

Don't get me wrong I do love my husband and there will be times that I will desperately need him and he won't be here, but I know that I can survive without him if I have to (well at least for a week).

Change

"Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights." ~Pauline R. Kezer

Change is a funny thing. We all seem to like it but hate it at the same time. Why is that?

Well as changes enters my life over the next few months I have mixed emotions and I hope I am able to let myself stretch and grow to reach new heights.

We will be MOVING to a small town just north of Phoenix named Cottonwood (it is near Sedona). The population is just over 11,000 people. As you drive through Old Town Cottonwood you feel like you just stepped into the movie "Cars". It seems like a great little town but the word 'little' scares me slightly.

Picture of Old Town Cottonwood

The move seems to be happening so quickly. Mike had the interview on a Friday got offered the job on Monday and was scheduled to start basically two weeks later which just happens to be tomorrow. He is so excited about the opportunity and can't wait to get started.


(Where Mike will be working.)

For the next few months I will basically be a single parent while Mike is working in Cottonwood during the week and I will be living in Mesa taking care of the kiddos and working pretty much full time. We are trying to get a lay of the land before we move the whole family up. Hopefully we will be able to find something.