audition for Newsies

If you haven't seen the musical Newsies you are lame. And if you did see it and didn't like it, you're double lame. A bunch of teenage boys selling newspaper, bursting out into song and dance... that's my kinda movie. And if that still isn't motivation enough to see it, Christian Bale is in it. Does that help?

Anyway, Lincoln in his little hat reminded me of that musical and so now, I'll refer to him as my little Newsie throughout the remainder of this post. 

A friend from church is a photographer who takes pictures for business who sells photography backdrops. She had a few backdrops she needed to take pictures of and asked if she could use Lincoln the Newsie... uhhh YES! PLEASE! & THANK YOU! 

I was pretty thrilled since I never had professional pictures of Lincoln the Newsie all by himself. Something about babies in hats and suspenders that really melts a mom's heart. 

And my Newsie is all ready to bust out some moves and sing!

Happy 10 months to this boy!

I haven't shared any of my Parenthood Club knowledge in awhile, but here's one I've learned recently. 

1. Pavlov's Law. It works on babies...or at least on Lincoln. 

We have our routine in the morning when it comes to breakfast time. I love my oatmeal, have it just about every morning. Sometimes I'll cook a big pot of oatmeal on the stove and have it for the week and just reheat some in the morning. Well, Lincoln's caught on to the beeping of the microwave. He KNOWS when I go and start pushing buttons, food will magically come out and it's time to eat. I'll try to set him on the floor to play with toys while I'm getting us breakfast. He'll play for a few minutes until he hears the microwave.... then I hear the pitter-patter of his hands and knees bolting to the kitchen until he gets to the microwave and pulls himself up and just stares at it. oooooh! aaaaaaaah!

mr & mrs smith

I love surprises. Like really love them. More so, I love surprising Ryan. The only problem, I'm terrible at keeping a secret because I have all this excitement built up and I want to tell him right away.

Well this last Christmas, I had something in mind I wanted to do and I was extremely proud of myself that I was able to keep his "gift" a secret until he opened it Christmas morning. He knew I was dying for him to open it and I wish you could have seen his face when he opened up a box and found..... 12 CARDS IN A BOX. Hahaha. What every guy wants to see right? I'll explain the 12 cards.....

I planned out 12 dates for this year. And not just any dates, but 12 unique dates that include things we have never done before together. I wanted to give him the gift of "us-time". Especially since Lincoln has been born, I want to make sure we continue dating each other. He read through the dates and was stoked for our first date I planned: the shooting range. We just bought another gun that we hadn't been able to shoot yet so we finally were able to take it out and exercise our trigger-finger. I loved it! I might be investing in a thigh holster. :)

My first time at the shooting range-- Not too shabby! Just call us Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

can i get a refill?

Just a little advice...

The food was good, the entertainment was good, but I advise you not to go during early-bird dinner time unless you want to steal a snow-bird's cane and fight them for a table because, frankly, that's your only option.

We were like vultures trying to get a table, hovering around our prey, breathing down their necks until we were able to swoop in and snatch up a table.

Did I mention the organ is pretty stellar?

Lincoln puckering up for the camera...

I'm sure no one else will find this as hilarious as I do but as I was going through pictures I came across this number. One of those pictures you take when no one is paying attention and you happen to photograph something really funny but don't know it until later on..... yeah, one of those.

Ryan's sister and her family were in town visiting from Rexburg over N.Y.E weekend. I remember one time, when Ryan and I lived in Rexburg, we went over to their house to hang out. Ryan had brought over a Big Gulp soda and left it on their kitchen counter when we walked in. We were hanging out with Lorie in the living room and Ryan went back into the kitchen to grab his soda. Austin, the boy pictured below, was sneakily chugging Ryan's soda and was caught in the act!

Their kids don't get soda very much, so when they do, they consume as much as they can as fast as they can. So when I saw this picture of Ryan giving Austin some soda, Austin's face because he was getting soda, and then Austin's dad watching Ryan give his son soda..... I had to share. Funny stuff. I also like how Grandpa, who is right next to Austin, is smiling as he is watching the whole thing go down.

Oh! And that Ryan's mom is using a disposable camera. People still use those?

We miss you Cannons! Come back and visit!

superstitions

On our last day with the Cannon family, we made a trip out to the Superstition Mountains to do a little hike. 

Technically, I don't think the mountain we hiked was part of the Superstition Mountains...more or less a smaller mountain next to the Superstitions for those who want to enjoy the Superstitions without putting in too much labor. 

But it was the perfect hike

and perfect weather

and perfect company 

and perfect view of the Superstitions. 

I don't know why I love this picture of Lincoln and Ryan so much. 

First thought is "who dresses this boy?"

Second though, "why does he only have one button fastened?"

Doesn't matter. 

Those are just trivial when what really matters is this boy scoring the best view while perched up on daddy's shoulders. 

NEW YEARS EVE!

I know everyone, and their mom, were taking sparkler pictures new years eve. BUT this was my first time taking them and it was freaking SWEET. We had so much fun goofing off with the sparklers and by "WE" i mean the girls. The boys were off being pyromaniacs! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

double feature for this growing boy

I promise Lincoln isn't ALWAYS smiling, but for the most part he is a super happy and easy-going baby. Don't get me wrong, he does cry and have tantrums....ESPECIALLY when you take his food away. Now THAT is some cringe-worthy screaming. 

He eats pretty much anything that's edible (EXCEPT avocados), and tries to eat some things that aren't (mostly paper, and any type of electronic device). He's still crawling around like he's always in a race, and when daddy gets home he will book it for the door.  

When I put him down to bed at night, we have our little routine. Before I lay him down, I'll hold him in my arms and sing him a little song. He lays his tired head on my shoulder and just listens to me sing. The other night, as I was singing a song, he busted up laughing. This has never happened. Like EVER. My singing usually has a calming affect on him, I guess not anymore. But his giggling got me to start laughing and so he laughed some more and then I laughed some. It was a contagious cycle we were stuck in. The best sound in the world is hearing your baby laugh.

It is THE. BEST. :)

Other news, we finally cut his hair and I'm deeply saddened by the loss..... the loss of hair. 

We didn't want to completely buzz it, but the sides were getting long and turning into a white-boy-fro and we wanted to tame the locks a bit. I bet I'm the only mom who has cut their child's hair while breastfeeding. We didn't have many options and it was the only way we could get him to stay still. Yep. Which is why it turned out pretty scary. When you can only cut one side at a time, getting even sides can be a little challenging. 

I only took a teeny-tiny bit off the top because let's face it, this mom is obsessed with his hair. My Fabio.

These pictures are pre-haircut. Even the sides were getting some height. Anyway, I was taking pictures of him and kept telling him to smile. Every time I did, he would squint his eyes and nose and give me the cheesiest smile. So I got a video to show you.

This boy cracks me UP! 

AND, for another video. 

Ryan's parents were in town this past weekend. They liked sitting in the back seat of the car to keep Lincoln company. His dad was fake sneezing and Lincoln thought it was HYSTERICAL! The fake sneezing made Barry cough, but grandpa was a sport and kept the sneezing coming despite him coughing up a lung inbetween. All for our entertainment... and yours too. :)

just testing out the new tripod.

don't mind us, just testing out the new tripod.

our inner-vogue shined through when you have the timer set to take multiple shots.
thanks for the new tripod, little bro.

well Christmas morning ended up being all that I thought it would NOT be. I was stoked for Lincoln to come down and be smiling and giddy and tearing off the wrapping paper..... but then reality kicked in and I remembered he's only 9 months old and he was not, in the least, interested in a toy he couldn't even see because of that dang wrapping paper.

It was still wonderful, of course, because it was still his "First Christmas" and we able to head over to Nana and Papa Z's for the day. He made out like a bandit with some new bath toys, cars, Buzz and Woody, and lots of books. And it was special this year because he was included in our Christmas Eve tradition of new pj's.

I'm pretty sure every picture I got of him that day was that same blank stare. I thought it was because he just woke up....but it lasted all day. I'm sure he was just holding back all the excitement because he was so overwhelmed. :)

Santa was waiting for Lincoln when we got to my parents. I think he was still traumatized from his Santa experience at the mall.

yep, later that afternoon and still sporting the same blank look. I gotta give it to him, he can keep a serious face for quite some time. Merry First Christmas Lincoln! :)  

she's for hire.

This post is to praise my mom and talk about how awesome she is....because she really is. And one of her many many talents is her table settings. Anyone who knows my mom knows how she can find the neatest things at thrift stores. So, whenever we celebrate any holiday with a dinner, the table is always perfectly embellished with her vintage finds. She's proud of her table settings and I'm proud of her and the boys are just happy when we're done taking pictures of it so they can eat. ha. We were taking pictures and decided the red and green Solo cups were a bit distracting so we took them off until dinner time. I'm just excited that one day all her decorations will be passed down to me. :) Shouldn't she start a business?

We had some people over from Peru who didn't speak a lick of English. So when I had a total brain fart and claimed I was 25 but found out I was actually 26... I was extremely happy they couldn't understand everyone correcting me as I sat in complete stupor and shock. I had the excuse that my birthday was only a few months ago and it takes me a solid 6 months to remember my "new" age.