Happy 18 Months

Yesterday my little guy turned 1 1/2, so happy half birthday Link! Can someone please just stop the time right here, because this has been such a fun age. Link loves sesame street and can name all the characters. His favorite is Abby and when her cartoon comes on, he starts dancing and squealing. He started to say love you (He said it to Dave first.), which makes this momma so happy! I don't miss going to work everyday at all: I feel so lucky to be able to stay at home and spend time with my 1 1/2 year old.

Potty news

I'm so excited! Lincoln told me "Poop" this morning, and sure enough he had a poopy diaper. I know this might not be so exciting to some, but this made my day! Lincoln can say a bunch of words, but he isn't that good at communicating them before today. Plus, this is a good step towards potty training.

I met some mommies in Hickory at the library who are so inviting and fun to be around. They have kids the same age as Lincoln and some of them are using the potty already. So, I bought a Cars potty that sits over the toilet just to see what Lincoln would do. He was scared of it at first, but on Sunday he started playing with it. I asked him if he wanted to go pee pee and he seemed interested. I sat him on the potty and he smiled so big. All of the sudden Dave and I both heard a tinkling sound...music to parent's ears I tell you!! After his nap I asked if he wanted to go potty and he did it again. Woohoo. I'm trying not to get too excited. I know this is just something new and he will probably get sick of it soon, but I will enjoy knowing there are a few diapers I DON'T have to change.

Meet Penny

My brother Cleve and his wife Kristin welcomed Penelope Elizabeth into the world this past week. She weighed almost 10 pounds and came 2 weeks early! Besides her size, she was the talk of the nursery because of her white-blonde hair and there's lots of it. Dave called her little Hulk Hogan! She is much more pretty than Hulk, take a look for yourself...

Even her big brother Carson (3) is in love with her already. He rarely sings and especially hates it when other people sing, but yesterday he was caught singing Penny the ABC song.

I love having nieces and nephews, and I'm thrilled to have another one arriving in September!

Promised hair pictures

Dave doesn't like pictures of just him, so he grabbed Link when I begged him for a picture of his hair.

It's hard to resist tickling a baby's neck.

It's also hard for Link to resist a hug from Dada.

You won't believe it...

Dave bought hair gel today!! I'm not even joking, he bought it after his haircut. If you know Dave, you would be shocked when you saw his new do: I have never seen his hair this short before, and it looks fabulous!

Goodbye Winter...hopefully

These past couple days have been gorgeous in North Carolina. It has been such a nasty winter, so Lincoln and I have practically lived outside to soak up all the sunshine! I did yard work during Lincoln's nap time today, and I don't even like yard work. The sunshine has brought lots of runners outside, and it makes me want to come out of my running retirement (I haven't had a regular running routine since I ran a marathon in November 2007.). Another reason for my return to running is the book "Born to Run," which talks about how the human body is built to run. The author had lots of research on barefoot running (it's better than the most cushioned shoes) and bios on some ultra-marathoners. So lately I have been wanting to be real crazy and train for a 150 mile race without tennis shoes. I just have to imagine how nasty my feet would be, and then I get over my craziness.

Lincoln also loves to be outside and brings me his shoes when he gets the urge to be out. He is so dang cute, but he has needed more discipline lately. I wanted to cry a couple days ago when he hit me for the first time. I just couldn't get his milk fast enough for him in the morning, what an awful mother I am! I think the combination of Dave not really being around and getting 3 teeth has contributed to his crankiness. All is good when he gets a bath though (see below). He loves his duck towel and can make some great duck noises.

Dave is so rad...

I really don't know how I ended up with such a rad husband. He was gone for a while last week, and he has warned me that I won't get to see much of him this month, so I have been thinking about just how fabulous he is. One thing I love about Dave, is that he has TONS of hobbies. I'm not sure what else there is for him to try.

This is where Dave started to become the Ninja he is today. Seriously, how cute is he??

Then he got older and earned his black belt. This is why Lincoln can kick and say, "Waaachaa."

He played just about every sport (except hockey, he's envious of Corey's skills).

His favorite was football. I never got to see him play in HS, but I loved to cheer him on during his intramural days at BYU.

Dave is an Eagle Scout, and he earned his Order of the Arrow. I don't know a lot about scouts, but I guess that's a big deal. Are you jealous of me yet??

He did some welding in his teens...completely normal

How could I get this far without mentioning scuba? He and two of this brothers were scuba instructors at BYU. Now, all three of their wives are scuba certified, they just really like to scuba dive!

My favorite Dave Hobby has to be cooking. I don't really like it, but he does and he's good at it! The first summer we were married, he and a friend cooked in 3 BBQ competitions. Even though it was their first time, they won some prize money and a trophy.

Although he hasn't done a race in a while, he competed in triathlons and an adventure race. This isn't one of his favorite things to do, but I had to include it for one reason only...calf muscles. Yep, go ahead, check them out. He claims they came from walking 2 years on a mission in Brazil (oh yeah, he speaks Portuguese.).

All that's left to write is snowboarding, screen-printing, straight-razor collecting, woodworking, and he has just started blacksmithing. So, here's to you, rad husband. I can't wait to spend more time with you after you graduate!