the one from Easter

Lincoln is going through a funk right now. I think the genes he got from his mom are taking over with a vengeance because all he wants to eat is bread. I promise I had a bunch of food on his tray before I took this picture. Anything that isn't bread gets a quick swipe onto the floor. He's slowly breaking out of his bread funk and actually ate some tomatoes and carrots yesterday. It's quite unfortunate he is being so picky during this Easter dinner. He missed out on some of Gma Tina's ribs and sweet potatoes. :)

And guess what was part of Lincoln's Easter basket but not necessarily IN it. 

Papa and Nana Z built his first fort!

I really need to take more pictures to show off their awesome work. His fort came equipped with a little bow & arrow and basket hanging from the entrance....thank goodness for awesome grandparents who go above and beyond to compensate for the parents who didn't even by their own child an Easter basket. :) That's just in their job description of being a grandparent right?

Happy Easter!

our prince turns 1

And here we are, almost a month later...

I've finally found some time to sit and write a post on Lincoln's birthday.....and not just the cliche, "Where does the time go?" and "He's growing up too fast" remarks. I've ran those lines into the ground this past month and even as I'm typing it, I'm thinking, "Seriously, this year has gone by too fast. Please slow down." 

We have a little tradition around here when it comes to birthdays. Ryan was the one who started this tradition actually. Naturally, I didn't love the idea since it started on his birthday, but once I had mine, I was completely on board. The tradition is terribly abused, but hey, it's only once a year. 

Our birthday tradition is as follows: Your birthday celebration isn't just one day, it's the entire week of your birthday!

See why this tradition can get terribly abused? We try and milk it for all we can get by saying

 "......but it's my birthday week!!"

Well, Lincoln had his birthday week alright... and then some. His birthday fell on a Thursday and his birthday party was planned for Saturday. But family got sick and we reschedule his party for the following week, which meant this boy had 9 days of wearing his birthday crown. 

And here we go, pictures over the span of his "birthday week +2 days"

Actual birthday morning.

I was completely stoked to go in there the morning of, video camera in hand, singing happy birthday and cheerfully starting his birthday week celebration. He knew it was a special day alright. He hammed it up for the camera when usually, on any other day, he would have been fussy having to wait any longer than necessary for his breakfast.

Some may think this is bed head, when in fact it's not. That's his hair 24/7. And it's become one of his characteristics I love most about him. 

He suited up for the day in his outfit and crown....

Showing off his teeth....

& smiling for all of mommy's pictures......

......except for this one. 

Maybe because our lunch date with daddy was over. Yes, I'm sure that's what it was. He has a keen sense of when it's time to get back in the car seat and he really dislikes being in his car seat. Almost as much as his dislikes when all the food is gone. Lincoln is weighing just over 23lbs at his one year appointment. 85% for weight, and 95% for height. He's a big boy.

So about that birthday party we were going to have- Well, Papa Z was recovering from being sick, Great Gma had just caught bronchitis, and Uncle Zach was throwing up all night from some food poisoning. Considering we only invited 6 people over and 3 of them were sick, we had to ixnay the par-tay till the following weekend. That just meant more time wearing his crown he loved.  

And the conclusion of his Birthday Week +2 days, we had his party.

We have realized there is a form of true happiness that can only come through being a parent
and we are blessed to be parents of Lincoln. We've rocked with him, sang to him, changed his diaper, fed him, changed his diaper again, stacked blocks with him, re-stacked them after he knocked them down again, read to him, taped pages in the book he tore while we were reading to him, cleaned out the fridge trying to feed his erratic picky appetite, changed his diaper again, bathed him, took him on stroller rides, bike rides, hikes, trips, dressed him, drove him to the doctors, comforted him after shots, hugged him, kissed him, chased after him, gave him piggy-back rides, clapped for him when he rolled over, cheered for him when he started crawling, clapped AND cheered when he started standing, and went full-blown crazy when he started walking.
We do this, happily, because of what Lincoln has given us: he's given us the gift of being HIS parents and all the happiness that comes with it. We love you Lincoln!
At the end of the party, I wanted to get a picture of everyone with Lincoln. Lincoln was everything but cooperative. I can't blame him. He partied hard and it was time for his nap. So even though he wasn't smiling on the outside for these pictures, I'm sure he wanted to on the inside. :)

one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. MOAB!

I'm completely behind on here. March was a busy one... and a special one too might I add. Our little prince turned the big 1, bu I'll have to save pictures and my ramblings of how freaking awesome my son is and how ridiculously happy our lives have been since he joined this Shideler clan in a later post. I have a gazillion pictures to go through first; yes, a gazillion.

First things first. Beginning of March we drove 7 1/2 hours up to Moab, Utah for another half marathon my sister-in-law and I were running. She's pretty much the best girl ever. We're convinced we were best friends in heaven. She ran the Canyonlands Half last year and when I found out she ran in one of my favorite places in the world, I had to convince her to do it again this year with me! It really didn't take much convincing even though she had a baby 3 months prior!!!!! She's pretty hard core.

Our weekend was short so we tried to pack in as much as we could considering we had a 5 year old, 3 year old, almost 1 year old, 3 month old, and 2 mommy's who just ran a half marathon and were a tiny bit sore on our hikes.

We rented a house to stay in, which was BEAUTIFUL. A big porch with amazing views of the red mountains...sigh.....I love this place. Moab has a special place in my heart because Ryan and I had spent a week there for our 3 year anniversary. Since then, Moab has nuzzled its way into a corner of my heart and found a permanent home there. We have a picture we took for our 3 Year anniversary last time we were at Delicate Arch and I wanted us to replicate it again this trip almost 3 years later. Lincoln looks thrilled huh?

Pictures of our 3 year Moab SMOOCH and  Moab Trip 2011.

Not only did she run her half marathon, Alicia also hiked up to the Delicate Arch carrying her precious 3 month old, Sydney. Hard core I tell ya. Hard core.

Okay I love this picture of Lincoln..... but what's so crazy to see is him wearing shoes. Seriously, this may be one of the first times he wore shoes this long. And by "this long" I mean a few hours. He usually rips them off.... who am I kidding? More like we just never put them on him.

  Shideler boys-- they're a special breed alright. 

february date hike(s)

^I was setting the camera up to take our picture and as I was running back to Ryan, I almost fell off the ledge. I looked worried and Ryan's just laughing. Typical. 

Leave it to us to go out on our date night the very last day of the month. Leave it to us to also go on our date night hike on the only weekend there's a rainstorm. And leave it to us to hike the mountain as the rain clouds come rolling in. It's actually great motivation to pick up the pace and finish the hike as quickly as possible. 

We had enough time to have a rock throwing competition and sing some Mest and Radiohead and a little bit of Sound of Music.... okay, just me on the last one. 

We hiked the Kiwani trail on South Mountain right by our place. It was an improvise to our original February date plans. We wanted to hike Camelback Mountain, which is like the Mount Everest of the valley, but with limited time to sunset, and a storm coming in, we chose a shorter, easier, and closer hike. 

Take II of our February date (which we were able to finish up last weekend) was hiking Camelback Mountain. Ryan got off work early and although 3pm on a warm AZ day isn't the prime time to hike, we dropped Lincoln off at my neighbors and went on our "February date" for real this time. 

The up-side to hiking the Camelback at 3pm? It's less busy and you can actually find a parking spot. The only people who are hiking at the hottest point of the day are people who are incredibly slow and need plenty of time to finish before dusk....or people on vacation who just don't know better.... OR people like us who go on dates and like to be home before 7pm sharp. 

I've got the itch to go again; this time to watch the sunset. The view was amazing, obviously, but at least during sunset you can get some beautiful colors to disguise the city haze. :)

the time when I tried to be a hero

I told Ryan we should go for an evening walk up by the mountain and watch the sunset. I even looked up what time the sunset was earlier in the day so we were prepared to catch it. No excuses. I told him 6:30, but then he said he was going to the gym first. In my mind, we would be cutting it too close for my comfort. Did i say 6:30?? I meant 6:10 (which was the truth, I just had my times wrong). Ryan figured I was joking (the sunset is not something to be facetious about) and left without clarifying the real time.

He got home, I was already frazzled because I learned he didn't take the earlier time seriously, and we I frantically threw the camera, stroller, Lincoln's treats into the car to take off. We tried to savor most of the sunset in our car and caught the tail end 10 feet into the trail. As we put Lincoln in his stroller, lined up his snacks to keep him satisfied, and scurried over to the bike path, we barely had enough time to take a few pictures.

 We had a few laughs for the short 10 minute hike we had. The biggest laugh came from a tiny pinky, Lincoln's pinky. Apparently we are raising our boy to be very proper? We'll need to work on this. He's practically raised by wolves as it is, so I'm not sure what we can do to make him eat messier... ?

And now for the time I tried to be a hero-- or not so much. Recently, we were in Idaho for my grandma's funeral. I had just dropped my mom and Lincoln off for his nap and was leaving to head back over to my aunt's. I walked out our hotel room and I saw this guy walking towards me. The elevator was down a hall in between both of us. I already made it awkward in my mind because the guy was kinda freaky looking and I was dreading having to share an elevator with him. He was tall and lanky and was wearing a black hoodie, black shirt, black sweater, and black coat, black pants, and black boots...AND one black glove. Mind you, it was like 20 degrees there so the warm clothing was suitable, but all black??? I've watched way too many scary movies.

I picked up the pace trying to reach the elevators before him. Maybe the doors will close just as he got there and I'll act like I'm trying to open it for him but secretly be pushing the "close door" button. Yes, this was all playing out in my head. Just beyond the elevators, there was a huge window and window sill. And do you know what was on that window sill? A black glove sitting there by its lonesome self. That's weird. I got inside the elevator just as he turned the hall as well. I thought he was going to get in with me, but instead, he walked past the elevators, jumped up onto the window sill, and was trying to open the window! I stood inside the elevator and pushed the "open doors" button so I could see what he was doing. I saw him struggling to open the window and figured I should get the heck out of there before he realizes I'm witnessing whatever it is he was trying to do.

I hurried to the front desk and frantically explained what I saw "he was wearing all black and looked scary and suspicious" and then ended with, "I think he might jump!" She stared at me not really knowing what to do or say.

I figured she was thinking one of two things:
1. I don't get paid enough to deal with these types of situations or
2. If you thought he was going to jump, why didn't you stay there and try and talk him out of it?

She was probably thinking both. Either way, she could tell I was panicked and worried which made her panicked and worried. And THEN.......

a guy standing right off the front desk with a shovel said, "Oh he's one of my guys. He's going to shovel some snow off the ledge."

Doh'! FACE PALM. and then as I tired to rewind that whole scene in my head, the creepy guy appeared. And by this time they were laughing and explained to him what I thought and so he started laughing..... DOUBLE FACE PALM.

They had bowl at the front desk with some candy, I grabbed a handful trying to act all nonchalant about the situation. "oh cool man... yeah... whateva... i was like just makin sure ya know.... but uh... thanks for the candy."

and then a zip line out the hotel lobby.

my 5 star reservation with Ron Swanson

Lincoln has been sick all weekend..... including Valentine's night. But that put no damper whatsoever on our plans. Ryan and I didn't even go out of the house to celebrate. But why would we? Going to some busy restaurant, not being able to hear each other? Not our style. Instead, we decided we would put Lincoln to bed, dress up, and cook what we want to eat TOGETHER at home in the comfort of our own kitchen. We had some lights strung, a candle lit and my flowers in their vase, and Jack Johnson on Pandora. Now THAT'S a 5-star reservation.

^^ oh ya know, just chugging the sparkling cider like a champ.

 ^^ when I asked Ryan what he wanted us to make for our valentines dinner he said "my number one favorite food, wrapped around my number three favorite food." Bacon-wrapped shrimp it is, Ron Swanson.