galveston

 these moments right here, captured in these pictures, are one of the happiest of my life. 

we had a little weekend trip down to galveston, which is just over 3 hours from here so it was a perfect little weekend getaway. 2 days crammed of beach, food, beach, and food. 

and can i tell you how much this boy loves his daddy??!! Like crazy. Ryan and I both agree this was the best part of the trip was hearing Lincoln laugh hysterically as daddy chased him around in circles. Something small and silly was simply melting this mama's heart. 

All of us laughing on the beach, the boys chasing each other while me, myself, and my growing belly sprawled out on the towel watching the show-- yep, one of the happiest moments in my life. 

and we'll end with a blurry family photo. I love this one. :)

Dallas & Fort Worth Weekend-- the things we do for our kids........

5 day Labor Day Weekend. WHOOOOWEEEEE!

5 wonderful days of exploring some Dallas/Fort Worth. 

2 of those days spent right here at the Perot museum. Lincoln LOVED it. He was running around and with his little curious mind wanting to try everything, and play with everything, and throw everything....talk about stimulation overload. 

We weren't planning on going 2 days in a row, but someone gave us free tickets to come back for the next day. And when your child lights up like Lincoln did, you'll go to the same museum, to see the same things, the very next day, just to see him happy......until the following situation happens.......

This child of ours can sometimes be that child where you say under your breath, "Don't his parents teach him any discipline?" We do, but he has his days.... or in this case, he has his situations where no matter how sweet he is the moment before, he will flip a switch if someone tries taking him away from the wheel of any motor vehicle device, especially this big blue one at the children's museum. His chubby fingers are deceivingly strong. Go on, just picture me trying to pick up Lincoln so another child can have his turn and Lincoln clawing the wheel with all his might screaming bloody murder. I may have tried putting one of my legs up on the truck to get better pulling leverage....but try as I might, I cannot get that kid to let go. I can be yanking his legs high in the air until he's practically upside down... does he lose any grip? Nope. If anything, he may just rip the steering wheel off with him. 

Sigh. 

We had a few parents, heck, even children, watching the show of mother trying to defeat 17 month old son. He's one happy kid when he has it all to himself. But bless that child who happens to get a spot behind the wheel instead of Lincoln.... you're Lincoln's target now. 

 ^^^^They look thrilled don't they? I told them to tone down their excitement. ^^^

Ryan met up with his brother and friend for a preseason football game: Broncos vs Cowboys. Broncos won, so they were pretty happy about that. We stopped at these water gardens in downtown Fort Worth the next day before his brother and friend left town. 

 And our last stop before heading back home was walking around the stockyards in Fort Worth. We went there first thing in the morning on our way out of town. We fooled ourselves thinking we timed our stockyards trip right-- beating the heat, crowds, and Lincoln's nap time, but we were the suckers walking around the strip with all the stores still closed. DOH! No wonder why we had no trouble finding parking.

We walked up and down the streets, very slowly to kill time, with a few other out-of-towners like us who came too early. We stuck it out until the cattle drive, the "big" event that everyone comes to watch. It was getting extremely humid and hot and I was so ready to head back home, but I really wanted our fussy Lincoln to see all the cattle come through. So we waited and waited until FINALLY, the moment we had been waiting for all morning. 

10 seconds of only a handful of cattle???? Really??? Uuuuuggh.

The things we do for our kids. I'm sure the experience will be one Lincoln looks back on fondly throughout his precious life.  When he's old in a rocking chair and his grandchildren are asking him to tell them stories, he'll speak of waiting 2 hours for those 10 seconds of  watching the cattle come by and how magical it was. HA :) 

With a name like Deerdorf, how could this mountain not be special to us?

I'm usually the worst at keeping surprises. THE WORST. Especially with Ryan. And ESPECIALLY when it comes to telling him.... oh ya know... we're pregnant again. Yeah, it's a little hard. (That's what she said). But somehow, I managed to go a full week until we made our trip out to his family's ranch in Colorado. It was actually quite funny because the whole time we were there I was extremely tired, taking one to two naps every day. Surprisingly, Ryan just thought I was taking advantage of the vacation and available family to babysit.

I decided to tell him a few days into our trip. Lincoln was down for the night and the sun was just beginning to set. We decided to go for a hike and watch the sun go down. It was a good idea.... but a bad idea at the same time. I had no energy whatsoever and Ryan, who was unaware I was pregnant, was showing no mercy and we had few breaks as we practically ran to the top to catch the sunset.

We made it, barely. And the view was perfect. This is my most absolute favoritest time of the year there. Everything is green green green. Right before haying season so I had zero allergies while I was there. Could you imagine me telling Ryan this glorious news with blood shot eyes, a runny/stuffed nose, and a scratchy throat? Not a pretty sight.

We took in the beautiful view and then I asked him, "What would make this night better?" And his first response was.... "snacks?" Yes Ryan, snacks would have been nice. His second choice, "Having Lincoln up here with us." I finally told him, "What about having Lincoln and his sibling up here with us because 9 months from now we can!" One of the best parts of telling your husband you're pregnant is their reaction immediately after telling them. Completely priceless, which is why, like I did with Lincoln, filmed the whole thing and plan on showing our next child the moment daddy found out the happy news. We are ecstatic for baby boy 2 to join our family and eventually all 4 of us hiking this mountain together. :) And when he gets older, I can say, "Here are pictures the night your daddy found out you were coming. Look how cool your parents were and still are!"

one for the parenthood score board and the shortest trip to Tucson ever.

Lincoln's been on a roller-coaster with his eating habits: when he's up he eats anything and everything, and when he's down, he will only eat bread, applesauce, and now blueberries. It's a battle every time I try to get him to eat something else, a battle that he always wins.

I tell ya, I'm catching on to Lincoln's sneakiness and manipulations. Yes, for a one year old he's become quite the feisty one. What I've noticed is that he only wants what Ryan and I are eating, not what's on his own plate.....LITERALLY. We could all be eating the same thing, and he could have his own serving on his own tray, but if it's in OUR plates, he wants OURS instead. So we end up giving him our chunk of food and I end up eating the tiny scraps off his tray for myself. 

One night it hit me though. What if, just what if, I pretend to make myself a big bowl of veggies all for myself!!!! and I'd sit on the floor and eat them right of the bowl with my fingers and pretend like I don't want to share. I'll tell you what happened. He came over to me and sat next to me peering into the bowl, then peering up at me like, "Aren't you going to share?" And this is where your acting skills as a parent comes in. At first, you need to act reluctant because it's SOOOO DELICIOUS you want it all for yourself, but then after he bats his eyes at you, you have a change of heart and allow him to grab some. He takes a bite.....and then another. Worked like a charm.

It was Lincoln and I, sitting on the kitchen floor, eating a bowl of veggies straight out of the bowl, hovering over them and taking turns eating our carrots, peas, and corn. This was the first time he was eating something more than bread. I attribute my success to Lincoln's natural greediness to take whatever I have, but mostly to my amazing acting skills. And because of my success, this was the first time I started keeping score: 1 Point for Mom! :)

And as far as the shortest trip to Tucson ever? We drove 1.5 hours on Saturday down to Sabino Canyon, but Lincoln was really on one. He had a crappy nap beforehand, which made him extremely irritable. We sat to have a little lunch and if we didn't have the blueberries right in his lap he would scream. We stayed 1.5 hours and then drove 1.5 hours back home. It was rough. I think the only time he was being cute was when we gave him the map and let him lead the way on the trail. That was short lived though because he biffed it TWICE and did two face-plants onto concrete. That was the cherry on top of our disastrous Saturday day trip. Making memories right?

sedona half

This past weekend Ryan, Lincoln, my dad, mom, grandma AND myself went up to Sedona. My mom and I signed up for another half marathon together. This run was my absolute FAVORITE. I rate my runs on three things: 1. scenery 2. my race time 3. post-race spread. This race ranked really high in 2 out of 3 so it's officially taken the lead in favorite races.
1. You really cannot top the scenery of the amazing red rock mountains... but a close second would be the run in Ashton, Idaho. Potato fields can be gorgeous people, I promise. But Sedona mountains and running through a vortex... well, do I really need to justify my reasoning any further??
2. I was pretty stoked with my time. This was my first half since Lincoln. I didn't train as much as I would have liked, but I tied my PR time so I felt pretty stellar about that.
3. Post-race spread--- they had oranges, bananas, and Clif bars. Okay, I know I'm weird that this matters to me.... but after running that long, I want to eat. EAT. EAAAAT.

This was the 4th Half marathon my mom and I have done together.... now which should we do next?

Glenwood gondola

And some more pictures from our trip that were unintentionally forgotten. They were waiting patiently to be shared and just needed someone to get some free time to do some blogging. :)

This was from our gondola ride in Glendwood. Lincoln and I both shared the adventure as "first-timers". I'm grateful for not being scared of heights, because not only was the view from up top was beautiful, the ride up was quite enjoyable looking out. 

We ate at the restaurant up on top, hiding from the wind and freezing temperatures. There wasn't much snow, but dang that wind went straight to the ole' bones. 

The only aspect I like about cold temperatures is when I'm warm inside looking OUTSIDE on cold weather. Maybe sipping on some hot chocolate with warm fuzzy slippers. THEN and only then do I like cold weather.

And I shrunk!! Okay, it's actually just a really big chair. As Job (from Arrested Development) would say, "it's an ILLUUUUSSSION!!!"

using up those vacation days

The random weekend getaway when Ryan has a few vacation days left for the year. 

That one hotel that we thought we were staying at for our 5 year anniversary but a little mix-up left us in a dive hole.... well, we finally made our reservations in the correct little hotel right off the beach this time. When you have a baby, the less driving you have to do THE BETTER. 

Side story: Ryan loves Denny's. And we've made a habit to go once every time we go over to Cali. Why? I don't know. Ryan loves those grand slam breakfasts and he knows that we never go when we're home. I asked to go to a place called Kono's, right off the pier, for our first morning. I've always wanted to eat there, but during the summer months the line wraps down the sidewalk and I pitty the fool who would actually wait in such a ridiculously long line. But then there was the side of me that thought, "Any place where people stand in line that long for breakfast, it must be something special." Thanks to being there off season AND to the time change which allowed us to be up and ready by 630am, we were able to eat at Kono's with hardly any line. 

Important note, they only take cash. We made the mistake our first time when we didn't have enough cash and we're like...

" uhhh.... can you tell this is our first time and that we're lame tourists who didn't know??"

But the guy was cool and said we could bring the money back later, which we did because we went again the next morning, and the next morning after that. That's right. We went every day for breakfast! And when I asked Ryan if he wanted to go to Denny's and he said

 "No that's ok, we can go to Kono's again if you want," 

I felt pretty pleased the Denny tradition had gone out the window. I replied,

"No it's okay, we can go to Denny's. I know how much you love it."

I'm twisted okay? I just wanted to him hear say that he thought Kono's tasted much better and he wanted Kono's more than Denny's and he's so happy I suggested that place and that I'm the best wife ever. Is that so much to ask? haha. Well, he admitted it. It tasted much better, which is not a surprise. 

Case and point: go eat at Kono's. Oh goodness. Drool. 

Lincoln still isn't a fan of the sand. He runs to the end of our beach blanket, touches the sand, pulls his hand away and cringes, then runs away. It's rather cute, actually. Everything he does is cute though. :) He was a trooper as always, except for the night when we went to Joe's and ordered a huge bucket of crab. Of course the one time when our hands are messy and our dinner requires some serious "hands-on" to eat, Lincoln is trying to crawl out of the high chair, choking on a pear, throwing silverware, throwing up pear over the floor, and crying. I don't think we scarfed food down that fast in so long.