This is where we call "home."

Dave starts work on Monday, and this is where Lincoln and I will be.

This is where Lincoln gets to play. You can't see from this picture, but the backyard is huge, and it's fenced in!

I was 17 again

I sure felt like I was 17 again when I went to a Maroon 5 concert with my good friend Rachel. We had so much fun at the concert singing along to all the songs and watching the band perform. I went to a M5 concert in 2004 with my roommate Meg: we barely knew their songs, but still had a good time. The band is very entertaining and talented. The main singer Adam Levine also plays the guitar.

Rachel is so crafty and made t-shirts for us. Sad that we were the only ones there with homemade shirts...I guess people don't do that after a certain age, but we did.

Rachel bought the tickets at the beginning of the summer, while I was out in Oregon. I read her email too quickly and didn't notice that she bought tickets for the Georgia concert instead of the NC concert. I found out the day we left, so we quickly made plans to stay with some old friends that live outside of Atlanta. It was fantastic to visit with the Cygielman's! I went to elementary school with Michelle and hadn't seen her since the beginning of high school. We stayed up until 2:30am talking, even though I had to wake up 3 hours later to ride home.

It was my first night away from Lincoln, and we both did just fine. I'm not ready to leave him for a while though. I guess I am just as clingy to him and he is to me.

Moving Week

The lack of posts is because we have been so dang busy. Because I announced to the entire world out of excitement, most people know that Dave got a job! He will be working for Aon in Winston Salem, NC as a Benefits Specialist. Just when I was about to doubt prayer and fasting, this job came along. I am very thankful for our friends and family who continually thought/prayed for Dave in his job searching.

Dave starts work on Monday, so we needed to hurry and find a place to live. I called the Bishop (head of the local church) and he told us about a family who moved away but needed to rent their house. It happens to be a great starter house that we will purchase in a couple months, if everything looks stable with Aon. We had the house inspected today, and everything is gravy. Mom and I will drive down tomorrow to a little cleaning, and then our moving crew (Reed and his friends) will help move us in on Wednesday. Dave and I have been sleeping on our king bed in the living room of my parent's house, so we are thrilled to get in our own place!

Meanwhile, Lincoln has been having fun with his old playgroup buddies. He even gets to go to the fire department this week. His vocabulary is getting bigger and he continues to crack us up. Lately, he has been saying hi to everyone and waving. He won't quit saying , "Hi Momma (or Daddy, Papaw, BB, Reed, Maggie, etc.) until you say hi back. The other day after he got done with his "hi" rounds, he waved to himself and said, "Hi Ikies (that's how he says Lincoln)." As most little boys he is so into trucks, airplanes, trains, cars and boats. I'm excited that we have tickets to see Thomas the train on his exact birthday.

Lots of pictures and more information to follow...

Humidity

Oh North Carolina and your humidity...the only thing good about you is how you make Lincoln's hair curl.

Family Fun

My whole family was together this past week. It was the first time we have been together since my wedding reception. This is a warning...if you are baby hungry, DON'T look at the pictures. My niece Penny is just too dang cute!

The 3 Shinsels flew in last Friday. Poor Dave barely made it: Dad took him to Urgent Care right when we got to Hickory and found out he had strep throat, a sinus and ear infection. So that is why Dave isn't in a lot of these pictures: he was in the sick room for the first half of the week.


It didn't take long for Lincoln and Carson to get along. They played so well together, even though there is a 2 year age gap. They had fun going on adventures outside of the house, but mostly there were content to play trains in the basement. Here they are watching Thomas on the tv (this was a rare quiet moment).

We took the kids to Hickory Dickory Dock, an arcade game place. Lincoln's favorite part is putting the tokens in the game and pushing start...he's done after that, so I had to take over driving for him. Cleve is beside me and I'm blocking Carson's head.

Mom and I also took Carson and Lincoln to Kool Park, a small water park. We had fun going down the long water slide. It was a great place for them, because there are so many shallow pools to play in.

Cleve was a groomsman for his good bud Travis. We have known Travis since we first moved to Hickory, and it was wonderful to see him so happy. He was beaming when his bride walked down the aisle. Mom was so sweet to let me go to the wedding as Dave was still sick, and she stayed at home with my crazy toddler.



Penny looked adorable in her flower dress at the wedding.



Reed's good friend Hawke came over a couple times, and we played board games. This was the first night Dave ventured outside the sick room.



Remember the tutu I made for Penny? She posed in it for me, and I'm pretty sure my heart melted.

We ended the week with a trip to Tweetsie Railroad up in the mountains. The boys loved the rides, especially the bumper cars and the train. Dave, and I took Lincoln on the Ferris wheel. Every time we went over the side, I could feel his muscles tense up. He did really like the ride and when I asked if he could do no hands, he slowly took both hands off the railing.

Mom bought the boys matching outfits. They got dirty even before we left for the park.

Carson is all geared up as a cowboy.

The boys checking out the scenery on the train.

I warned you...

We had a great time with the Nebraska Williams'! I don't know when we will get to see them again, so thank goodness for Skype.

Cleve took his family back to Nebraska today. Lincoln and I are going through Carson withdrawals, and I miss holding Penny already!

Oregon Recap

We have been back in NC for a week, but I still need to recap some events from Oregon.

July 4th: I know I am going way back now, but I have some great pictures of Lincoln being patriotic. He loved watching the small firework show that Dave put on and he made great sound effects noises. We didn't make it to the big fireworks show, because Dave had to leave for an interview early the next morning.

Airshow: Andy's family, Grandma and Papa, and our family headed to Baker City for an airshow. Sydney and Lincoln are both going through an airplane/helicopter phase right now, so they had a fantastic time. They took turns flying a toy plane around and making plane noises. I am really surprised at how long they lasted! This was one event that was even fun for the adults. Andy, Dave and Papa were impressed with the huge WWII planes that flew in formation.

Wrights visit: Kim came up to visit some high-school friends, so we had a chance to hang out with the kids before we left for NC. They are so good to play with Lincoln and he adores his older cousins. I have decided that Lincoln just needs some older siblings to keep him entertained: if only I could give birth to a 5 year old. The kids slept outside in tents, and Andy hooked up a projector so they could watch a movie on the old garage.




Papa's Birthday: For the 2nd year in a row, we have been able to celebrate Papa's birthday in Oregon. Sydney and Lincoln made cards in the morning. (The reason they are outside and Lincoln doesn't have pants on is because they were using markers.) The Huntsmans came over for peanut butter cookies (Papa's favorite, that Lincoln helped make) and milkshakes.

Cleve and his family are leaving tomorrow, so there will be lots of recaps of our adventures of them. Actually the thought of blogging it all makes my hair do this: